Advice And Guidence Needed

[mattyp84]

Hey all, im not completely new to fish keeping and currently have a health established 90l community setup, I just picked up a cheap 17L (3.9G) cube tank for cheap from pets at home

http/www.petsathome.com/shop/aqua-box-17-litre-aquarium-by-pets-at-home-(available-in-store-only)-36893

Ive cleaned it all out and setup the filter and heater etc etc. used a big chunk of filter media from my existing roma 90 - fluval u2 filter and added in one of my female bettas

As a substate ive used Silica Pure White Sand

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/2kg-PURE-WHITE-SILICA-SAND-AQUARIUM-SUBSTRATE-2kg_W0QQitemZ260625039880QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&rvr_id=&cguid=6e6628d01290a0aad2279df7ffb14ec4

Its at a depth of between 2 and 1 inch as ive thought it looked a lot better than just a flat bed of sand.

Now i have a few ideas and questions regarding what to next and what would be best as i really want to get a Dwarf Puffer or two, i also wanted a nice feature in the middle so I was thinking of getting a nice piece of bogwood and some anubias barteri, and maybe a few moss balls.

Ive seen some Moss Balls on ebay and they work out at about £3 for 2 inc postage, But im stuggling to find some nice wood, as i preferable want something small but intresting.

Ive read through the stickies on puffers and a few other sites, mainly im looking for inspiration or some good ideas for some decor for this tank, id like something thats reasonably low maintenance, how ever i know and understand that im gona have to be vigilant with my water changes.


Im just looking for some ideas would a small rock be better or wood ? a few moss balls and one anubias barteri ? is my sand too deep ? Cleaning seems more difficult with sand, whats the best way to go about this ?

Any ideas, suggestions or advice would be great !!

 

[Curiosity101]

Your sand sounds fine but doesn't need to be that deep if you're not actually planting in it.

If you want low maintenance then definitely stick to wood and mosses/java fern/anubias. I personally have gone off moss balls so I wouldn't get those.

As for cleaning the sand it's pretty simple, just waft the gravel van over the top, only put it as close as you need to to pick up the dirt. If you don't like how dirty it gets then you could hide it by growing java moss on some mesh and placing that on the bottom of the tank instead.

Oh and you can only have one puffer in there

Edit: ps. very jealous of the tank, I saw it when pets at home first released it and fell in love...now everyone seems to have one and I feel left out! lol. Definitely worth investing in a HOB filter for it if you have the money. It's good practice to always have a spare, and a HOB will give you more room to play with fishwise/when scaping.

 

[mattyp84]

Yer i bought it on a whim, as i just wanted to a new little project and fell in love with the dwarf puffers i saw, however the GF doesnt see it the same way i do and she doesnt want me spending much.

I have a nice piece of wood in my larger tank thats exactly the right size and has a anubias barteri growing well on it however i seem to have some sort of black gunk on the leaves, its seems to be clearing up a bit now ive sorted out my pump to allow more air bubbles into the water and dosed with green algea treatment stuff, would it be worth moving it to the new tank and see if it clears up now or leave it a few days in the existing tank ??

I kind of like the idea of moss balls, just two small ones and i have read they help with algea, and seeing as puffers require really good quality water i thought it was a good idea.

I too would like a HOB filter for it, i may see if anyone has one for sale on these forums.

Did a quick google search and checked ebay but couldnt find many............ are they obselete now or something ?? or maybe i wasnt searching for the correct thing.

Gona get a pic up soon of it how it is now, see if anyone comes up with any ideas for it.

 

[Curiosity101]

Moss balls are extremely slow growers so don't make a difference to anything. I think of them as purely decoration.

And the term you need to use is 'Hang on filter' I had some right trouble finding them when I was searching for 'hang on back filter' lol.

As for the black on the anubias, I have that on some of my oldest leaves... I tend to ignore it, if it annoys you I'd just snip the leaf off, I have found my shrimp/snails really help clean them up though.

 

[mattyp84]

ok cool i may move over my wood/anubias tommorow then, im think my betta is bored in a empty tank too so hope she will cher up with some stuff in there with her, and im not in a massive hurry to get mt DP, il move the plant over, look into what else i can get cheap etc or reuse. got a wedding party 2night so cant get much done today or early 2mo

il keep u posted how it goes and what it looks like if ure intrested