New betta tank

[sharkweek178]

I hit the Home Depot yesterday. Got some play sand, another 5 gallon bucket and some wood to make a drying stand for the 5 gallon buckets. For the first month or two of this tank, I'm considering it in quarantine. So I bought a separate set of equipment (gravel vac, aquascaping tools, net, etc) and will use its own buckets for water changes to avoid the risk of spreading any disease.
Added the sand yesterday. I have a plastic canvas mesh ready. I cut a couple pieces to size and used fishing line to attach them together. I just ordered a whole bunch of java moss and a big bottle of superglue.

 

[sharkweek178]

Try to get a refund for all the sand. Tell them what happened.

I got this at a local Petco. I don't buy anything living from there. But I don't mind getting things like nets, food, or hardscape.
Anyways, I'm a bit of a regular there. I showed the guy there the picture I posted and he was happy to make it right. It's been more than a month since the purchase so they couldn't do a straight refund. But they did do store credit. And that was fine with me. And since he also refunded the bag I used and threw out and not just the ones I brought back, I was pretty happy with the whole deal.

 

[sharkweek178]

I ordered a whole bunch of java moss for the mat last month. The shipment hasn't arrived yet. I contacted the merchant and they said that the stuff they had was brown so they waited to get more in and that they were going to ship it out immediately. OK. Still haven't gotten anything and tracking says that it's still in pre-transit. I send a message to follow up.
I don't really want to do anything else until I can get that mat put in to work around. I have some bacopa monnieri on order. I was going to float those until roots grew then plant them.

 

[sharkweek178]

I got my first batch of java moss the other day. Despite my expectations, it wasn't enough to cover the entire mat. So I ordered more. Now this is the part of fish keeping I have some trouble with. Patience. Right now, it looks terrible. But I know that it needs time to acclimate to its new environment and grow in. I hate the waiting. I have more moss on the way and some bacopa monnieri coming in. I'll float the monnieri until it grows roots then plant it.

 

[AJ356]

Any pictures?

 

[sharkweek178]

Any pictures?

I want to get a little further along. At least get all the moss down.

 

[MaloK]

 

[sharkweek178]

It's pretty bad how easy I am to manipulate lol.
It's the first steps of a work in progress. I got some more Java moss on the way. I thought Java ferns would be a good addition. And the moneywort is floating up top. The air stone is just so the water won't be completely still. And the sponge filter is cycling in another tank.

 

[MaloK]

Look, how easy it is to catch a fish... "lover"!

Thanks for showing a bit of back stage here...

It's what interest me the most... The pre-fish era, anything can happen, and will... Murphy said. What comes from it. is your base.

Like my guru always repeated. Keep ammonia high, no mercy for snails, add more fertilizer to encourage diversity. let it blow up, and settle down.


From your java moss buying experience... You seem a lot more patient than you sound...

 

[sharkweek178]

Look, how easy it is to catch a fish... "lover"!

Thanks for showing a bit of back stage here...

It's what interest me the most... The pre-fish era, anything can happen, and will... Murphy said. What comes from it. is your base.

Like my guru always repeated. Keep ammonia high, no mercy for snails, add more fertilizer to encourage diversity. let it blow up, and settle down.


From your java moss buying experience... You seem a lot more patient than you sound...

The thing I'm afraid of with overfertilizing is algae growth. I just have a small amount of ferts right now.. Once I get everything in there, including the fast growers hornwort and salvinia, I'll up the ferts.

 

[sharkweek178]

My next shipment of java moss has arrived.

 

[sharkweek178]

Phase 1 is complete.

Java moss is pretty amazing. I wanted all the moss to come from one source. I thought it would look more uniform that way. But as I was getting to the end, I realized I didn't have quite enough to finish the job. Then I remembered a jar of Java moss I have. I would just throw leftover in there. It caught some sun during the day and every few months I world add a few drops of ferts. I haven't even thought about it in months. Cracked it open and it was good to go. I mixed it with the remaining moss I ordered and was able to finish the job.
Now I just need to give this time to grow in and color up.

 

[sharkweek178]

I got my order of manzanita twigs today. I really like manzanita wood. I think it has a great color and texture to it. Since these are twigs and this will be a betta tank, I have to make sure none of them have any jagged parts.
I also decided to go with anacharis instead of hornwort. It also grows fast and grows just under the surface. Forms the same kind of bushy floating mass. But it sheds a lot less.

 

[sharkweek178]

Problem. Something I noticed and I just used my my endoscope camera to confirm. The inside walls of the tank are reflective. That can't be good for a betta. Any suggestions?

 

[sharkweek178]

My exciting Memorial Day weekend aquascaping. So I got the moneywort and manzanita twigs on the back wall. I always picture moneywort as straighter. And it will straighten towards the light. But I don't hate how this looks. Added another piece of driftwood to act as a hiding spot for the betta. I replaced the airstone with a sponge filter. It's just to move the water a little and be a placeholder. I have another sponge filter cycling in another tank.
Some of the moneywort leaves and stems were starting to rot. I left them in there. Not to cycle the tank. I figure they can provide some macronutrients to the plants that are in there.
I think I want to fill in the space in the back right behind the sponge filter. And I need to figure out the reflection issue.