Tiny Tank Ideas

Hi All

I recently acquired a tiny curved glass tank , I want to maybe put a Siamese fighter in here(if the tank is not too small)
I just want to know if people make tiny planted tanks with this.
something low key that adds colour

How much would it cost to set a tank up like this? or is it even viable

Im use to the bigger tanks with big cichlids. I just need something that's easy to maintain, and quiet.

Regards
Jason

 

people make nano planted tanks out of anything that can hold water these days lol, and it will cost as much as you are willing to spend, the more hitech the better it will look but the more it will cost, this is not to say that great planted tanks can't be had going lowtech though. In the right hands a mini tank like that can out shine huge tanks at a fraction of the cost, enjoy it bud

 

@Reedfish, I would guess that this tank is just under 15L .

@Ray Port Elizabeth , I just want it to 'shine green' haha. I'm clueless when it comes to planted tanks so I'll have to do a bit of reading.
It will have to be a low tech tank as a result of the student budget. I would assume I need the correct soil , lighting and co2? To get this looking decent?

I have small pieces of spider wood and rocks that fit comfortably .

Again in im not knowledgable on the plant side, know more about the larger cichlids . So excuse me for any ignorance

regards Jason

 

So little bit of quick reading shows that a 12L is too cruel for a single betta.

 

12L that is little more than a bucket? I can imagine it being rather ok for a betta as they are slow swimming fish, and it is 10 times bigger than those 10ml cups they keep them in at the LFS. I rate LED lights and a little DIY Co2 and you can grow smallish plants in there, for instance different moss types, or HM or something of the like, I'm still new to plants and I'm in the process of setting up my first nano planted so perhaps someone a little more experienced in plants can give you a better idea on plants

 

Measure it and calculate the volume, looks bigger than 12l to me??

 

@Ray Port Elizabeth , thanks for your time and advice, very helpful

@KiazerG, I measured it to be just over 12l so I'm assuming its a three gallon tank, it's just an estimate because of the curved glass. It's very odd but I you tubed it and it seems people often make tiny planted tanks out of these. I may put a single betta in here.

 

@Jay

Looks a bit bigger to me as well.

I've got 3 planted 15 liters. Stock - Siamese Fighter, Threadfin Rainbow, Galaxy Rasbora with a pair of Scarlet Badis. The Threadfins were put in the 15 liter originally to grow out, they were minute when I got them and would've ended up as a yummy snack in my community tank, but they are happy and content and I've decided to keep them there.

Heaters for them go for around R110. Your greatest challenge will be filtration. Many people suggest a small hob but most I was able to find creates too strong a current for my fish. I settled for ugf combined with internal sponge filters - miniature ones. (if you manage to find a suitable hob, please let me know) Other suggestions by people on the forum also keeping small tanks was small corner filters.

With regards to keeping a Betta in a 15 liter or similar tank. If you consider their life in the pet store, staying in a minute tub of highly overfed water until death... a heated 15 liter with clean water and healthy food is heaven by comparison. Mine is actively swimming about, building bubble nests, flaring at himself in the glass...I add a live shrimp to his tank ever so often, he loves hunting it down.

I don't run CO2 on the tanks, just add Excel. I have a variety of plants going in them. Staurogyne repens, HC, Wallichi, Rotala Rotundifolia, Cryptocoryne and some or other grassy plant. a "manual" pressurized CO2 system will set you back around R100 and will still keep it in line with a student budget.

A desk lamp fitted with a 6500k globe will suffice as lighting to the point of being hi-tech without the huge expense. Desk lamp R100, globe R35.

Hth

 

@Dinky, yes it does thank you so much. I was thinking that it could be an 'initiative' to 'rescue' a betta but then they'd just get more in anyway, but I think ill ad one to the tank.

what sort of soil, fertilizer do you use for your 15L tanks? I'd like a sort of small ground cover . I'll try attaching some moss (not sure of the scientific names) to some small driftwood pieces and try be creative

thank you for your input. And I'll look for suitable filtration and let you know if I have any luck

 

@Jay

At least one will have a great life!

I've got Seachem Fluorite for substrate. Currently I'm only using Flourish Comprehensive but got some Flourish Trace as well yesterday. My plants have all been doing very well.

I've tampered with EI dosing before that, but that turned out disastrous! All sorts of imbalances popped up and resulted in almost every kind of algae you can imagine. (not giving the EI the fault, more probable my calculations - working on such a small tank with calculations can be very complicated)

With the Flourish range it's much easier to convert to drops and just add x amount of drops per day. Comprehensive, Trace and Excel will set you back another R200 (for all 3) but since you only use a few drops of it per week it really lasts a long time. Excel is about 7 drops per day. Just take note of how many liters of water you add to your tank after you've done your scaping. I use a 1 Liter jug and just note them as I pour them it. It will help knowing exactly how much water your tank holds for the calculations.

Attaching the moss with a roll of thread (used for sewing) works the best for me. Tried and tested other methods but it did NOT go down well.

 

@Dinky, thanks again for all the help, it is really appreciated.

I'm not looking to put any hitech plants in, more the easier stuff to maintain. I'm in no rush to get this tank up an dunning, I should be studying for my exams anyway, so I'd rather just make sure I get the right stuff once off rather than being impulsive and buying stuff which won't work.

at my Lfs I have seen tiny HOB filters before, not sure how effective these are but will see and ask around. The guy at the Lfs near me knows his plants so when I get time, or a study break, I'll definitely go speak to him so see what filtration they have to offer.

after the tank is set up ,and running I just need to source a nice betta, I'm not sure if anyone on the site is selling. Or as mentioned previously I'll just rescuer one from a small ,cruel bowl in the pet shopspet shops

 

Just a little update.

Decided to ditch the 15L and I decided to use a 30L tank.

I've put in an aqua soil and rocks. Bought an Led light from a member on the site which I think will be more than sufficient.

The tank has 23L and the rest is taken up by the soil and rocks. I'm thinking of doing a 'grassy' foreground.

The reason I am using the 30L is to offer the betta I'm planning to get more swimming space.

I still need to get plants , I'm just letting my tank cycle for the mean time.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. To see whether or not I'm taking the right steps in getting this tank up and running

Regards
jason

 

What! hope you did not discard the 15L? heck if you were in PE I would buy it from you...

 

Haha no it hasn't been discarded. Still a very nice tank. The one I'm using isn't as nice. Just bigger

 

ok cool, it can still make a nice nano dude

 

have you ever seen a planted pico? that is a tank with a water volume of less than 1L I still want to try my hand at that some time

 

I'll upload pics of it as soon as I can. I haven't planted anything yet. I'm not sure what would make the best ground cover for the tank

 

Update

I went to jungle aquatics today from wits, it took me an hour to get there because of traffic which caused me to get there literally 4mins after they closed. Then took another 45mins to get home :sad2:It was the only time I've been able to go for a while so just my luck haha.

ive planted a few tester plants to see test my green fingers and so far, it seems okay.

Can anyone offer me more advice as to :

• • what plants I should add that are fairly easy for a beginner.
  • is 24 degrees suitable for the plants ?
  • What plants I actually have, I just picked them because they looked nice without any background knowledge, which I think was a bit ignorant:worried:
  • Please comment on the scape and what I can do to improve it. I've tried to build it up towards the back.

Thanks for reading and any future advice
regards Jason

 

Ive only bought two small plants so the tank is really empty. I also have spider wood which can fit nicely.
what type of fish fit well in this size tank? I must admit the aqua soil I bought was the cheapest I could find. no places near me had any stock of the better quality aqua soils regards Jason