# Tips for 2gal Tank please



## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

Hello~. I am moving to some dorms soon, and my best friend has offered to buy me the only pet I can keep: An adorable betta fish! I've owned several as a young child with the help of my mom, and one even lived over-around 5 years sharing one of those 1gal tanks with a frenemy (for most of his life, anyway. He got his own tank late in life). 

I am wanting to start off with a 2 gallon tank, cuz y'kno; not exactly my money but they're usually $10ish. I plan to have the pretty betta boy, and if the sale is still going on I'm going to get an Otocinclus, and if not a mixed nerite snail or two.

Now onto the plant stuff: _How do you clean with plants? Recommend any plants?_ I am thinking of going with a soil-gravel substrate. _Any words of advice on that?_ Oh, and if I have a soil-gravel aquarium with plants that do thrive; _Do I need to stop using a filter at a certain point?_


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## explicitlyperfect (Sep 12, 2014)

Please don't take this negatively, I'm not here to police you, just giving you information.

A 2 gallon is plenty for one boy. An otto or a snail will be too much of a bioload. I've not tried a planted tank yet, so I'll wait for a more experienced member. But I do know that planting smaller tanks can be difficult. At the very basic, plants need a good light to thrive. Good luck with your tanks though.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

Thank you for the information! I've been looking around the site (before and after I posted this) and have learned that I would need a bigger tank (5gal) if I were to have another creature. I've also found a really awesomely recommended light for <5gal tanks. It's better to be safe than sorry.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Planting a 2g is a perfectly good idea, I have a 2g NPT myself and a very happy fish living in it. Here's how to make one.

SUBSTRATE
You're going to want an inch layer of organic potting soil. The organic part is important; don't put anything in that has those white styrofoamy beads in it, or any pesticides or fertilizers.

Then you'll want a layer of either dark-colored sand or fine gravel. Either way, wash it thoroughly BEFORE putting it in. I've never had a non-dirt substrate that didn't have a metric ton of dust and dirt and crap wash out of it.

There are special plant gravels out there, like Eco-Complete or FloraMax. These usually come in giant bags though. If you do find a little bag, they'll work well as a gravel cap or on their own. However, if you choose to use this kind of substrate on its own, it won't be enough for heavy root feeding plants like cryptocorynes.

Put an inch layer of dirt in the bottom of the tank and cap it with half as much gravel. Put a plastic bag over the soil layer and fill the tank by pouring the water over it, then remove the bag gently. The water will stay clear when you do.

LIGHTING
A desk lamp with a "daylight" spectrum lightbulb (one where the color temperature is 6500K, give or take 1500; it'll look bluer than normal light bulbs) will be the best thing for this kind of tank. You should be able to find such a light bulb pretty easily if you look; if not, look online. Sometimes they're marketed as Seasonal Affective Disorder lights. If you can't find it at Wal-Mart, try a hardware store or a specialty lightbulb store if there's one nearby.

FERTS
You'll want at least a $5-$10 bottle of Flourish Comprehensive liquid fertilizer. PetSmart should have it. If you want to keep more difficult plants, or if you want your plants to grow faster, you should also get Flourish's iron and potassium fertilizers, and maybe Excel, which is liquid CO2. These aren't necessary for most plants to survive, but it'll make them look a little nicer. Get the smallest bottles they have; the stuff is really strong and you'll be dosing with an eyedropper.

PLANTS
You can grow a lot of things under the above circumstances.

I recommend any of the following plants:
Water wisteria
Green rotala
Bacopa (aka moneywort)
Green cabomba
Ludwigia rotundifolia or palustris
Myrio mattogrossense
Cryptocoryne "Wendtii", any color
Staurogyne repens (may need better ferts, I haven't tried growing it without)
Java moss
Floating plants of any sort

These are good at keeping water clean. The cryptocorynes are typically slow growers, but in my experience, they grow rather quickly under these sort of conditions.

Other acceptable plants:
Anubias of any sort
Java/el nino/windelov/tropica ferns -- NOT peacock ferns
Moss balls

Those are sloooow growers and won't do much for your water. The faster a plant grows, the more junk it's taking out of the water in order to feed itself, and the cleaner it makes your water.

MAINTENANCE
Sometimes you need to trim your stem plants when they reach the water line, and replant the trimmings, which will also grow. You may also need to remove algae sometimes.

A densely planted NPT doesn't need to be cleaned often. At first, you'll want to be cautious and change some of the water (say, a third of it) every few days, while the plants establish themselves. After a couple weeks, you can back it off to 1/3 every week, and then 1/2 every few weeks. Only if you've got a butt-ton of plants, though. You want to cover as much of the substrate as possible in plants.

Adjust this according to how your fish looks and acts. If he's colorful and active, you're changing water enough. If he's dull-colored and lazy, you need to clean the tank more. Water tests of any sort aren't always reliable, although there are those who'd disagree with me and say a liquid testing kit is essential; mostly, your fish is what'll tell you whether your routine is working. The strip tests are just about universally decried as a real waste of money.

HARDSCAPE AND AQUASCAPING
There's a whole hobby of making tanks look awesome with plants, even tiny tanks. Many people use driftwood or rocks in their aquascapes, but you don't need to. Make sure that any such hardscape is safe for your fish before you use it.

Try these links if you're interested in aquascaping:
http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/aquascaping-a-planted-aquarium
http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/how-to-hardscape-your-aquarium


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Here's my 2g NPT. It's a pretty recent build and still growing in the plants.

The second picture is a 1g temporary tank with FloraMax substrate. It's just got hardy low-light plants in it.

I can't seem to get good pictures today, sorry.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

I think water-tests are very useful, but I don't think they need to be used frequently. Just a regular once-a-month water test (or twice) was what I did growing up. Thanks for the suggestions, and all this beautiful advice! I'm looking into the plants now. c: I'm planning to start with just one or two (depending on how much they cost). When I clean the water in the beginning, will I just scoop the water out with a cup?

Wow! That is a lovely NPT! <3 It definitely looks like it will be populated well in the next few months, and fish buddy there is gorgeous. Thank you for the pictures and all the inspiration! It's good to see all the things you can fit in the 2gal tanks without overcrowding it.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Bamb00stix said:


> I think water-tests are very useful, but I don't think they need to be used frequently. Just a regular once-a-month water test (or twice) was what I did growing up. Thanks for the suggestions, and all this beautiful advice! I'm looking into the plants now. c: I'm planning to start with just one or two (depending on how much they cost). When I clean the water in the beginning, will I just scoop the water out with a cup?
> 
> Wow! That is a lovely NPT! <3 It definitely looks like it will be populated well in the next few months, and fish buddy there is gorgeous. Thank you for the pictures and all the inspiration! It's good to see all the things you can fit in the 2gal tanks without overcrowding it.


Yeah, just scoop it out and pour the new water over your hand or something so it doesn't stir everything up.

NPTs are super easy to keep, and I think they're the most beautiful tanks and the safest for fishy too. Like, if you go on a week's vacation, you can know your fish will be fine without you.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Oh, and if you want to start looking for plants and hardscape, you can start looking in the Marketplace section of this forum. The sellers there are quite reliable, I've bought from the forum members several times. RussellTheShihTzu is selling cholla wood which you can safely use as hardscape; there are small pieces for sale as well as larger ones, which you won't always find in a local fish store.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

Yea, I was browsing the marketplace earlier. Depends on if my friend is up for using paypal! Haha. Thank you. I saw the leaves thread, and wonder if you've had any experience with leaves in your NPT? I imagine they're good for light-sensitive fish, if they float that is.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum!

What is your budget and footprint? www.truaqua.com is offering Betta Fish members a 20% discount site wide. If anything interests you, send me a PM and I'll give you the code. I have their SC380 and love it; however, if you have substrate other than gravel you would need an internal filter.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

I am hoping to keep the start-up costs under $40. So that's tank, heater, water care, gravel, food, a plant or two, plant fertilizer, filter, of course the light bulb, and my fish buddy. Thank you so much for the link! This is a gold-mine and probably will be a bit cheaper than buying everything between Petco, Petsmart, and Walmart. 

Thank you for the advice, and I will definitely e-mail you when the time comes for me to buy my set-up stuff. <3 Oh, I also have a question. I might be able to place my fish buddy's home directly by the window and I am pretty sure it gets a lot of sun for at least half of the day (especially now that summer's coming). 

If I do get near-direct sun for say around 6-8 hours; will that be good for the plants in the first few weeks? That way I can save up some money of my own to get a light bulb of quality.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Bamb00stix said:


> I am hoping to keep the start-up costs under $40. So that's tank, heater, water care, gravel, food, a plant or two, plant fertilizer, filter, of course the light bulb, and my fish buddy. Thank you so much for the link! This is a gold-mine and probably will be a lot cheaper than buying everything between Petco, Petsmart, and Walmart. (Not to mention, I bet they educate their employees better on fish care!)
> 
> Thank you for the advice, and I will definitely e-mail you when the time comes for me to buy my set-up stuff. <3 Oh, I also have a question. I might be able to place my fish buddy's home directly by the window and I am pretty sure it gets a lot of sun for at least half of the day (especially now that summer's coming).
> 
> If I do get near-direct sun for say around 6-8 hours; will that be good for the plants in the first few weeks? That way I can save up some money of my own to get a light bulb of quality.


That's okay, but only if you've got a good heater to keep the temp constant. An adjustable heater, that is. Hydor's 25W adjustable is solid on this and not overly expensive.

You're going to need to help out your friend on costs.

5g tank: $15
Hydor heater: $20 on Amazon
Suction cup thermometer: $3
Fish food: $2
Prime water conditioner: $5
Fish: $5

That's already $50, and you'll need all of that right away. The tank will look kind of bare, though.

In addition, you're going to want...
Substrate: $10
Plants: $15
Hardscape: $10
Desk lamp: $10 if you shop around, maybe cheaper from Goodwill
4pk daylight light bulbs: $10

This will be another $55, although you won't need it all at once.

Oh, and no, you don't need a filter. I don't use one on my little soil/gravel NPT. A lot of people don't.
After you have all your plants, you can fit certain other small fish in an established 5g NPT.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

Wow, a 5g tank for $15? Yea, I've definitely got a $10 I can offer to her (as of right now, possibly more by the time I am ready to get mah fish buddy), and I found a lovely 15watt heater on Truaqua for $12.99. It's gotten really good reviews and a couple people have used it with their 2-3gal tanks. I can get organic soil/substrate for free. (Yayy.) She also might have some of this stuff at her house still that should be in good condition. I am definitely going to be spending the most on the tank, heater, and filter likely. 

That is a really helpful list though. Gives me a good idea on how much to save up before I get everything.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

An adjustable heater? Like I said, that's important. Also, 15 watts would be enough for a 2g, but not quite enough for a 5g in front of a window.

Also, again, you don't need a filter, even with dirt, if you assemble the tank by my instructions. Neither of the tanks I pictured earlier have filters.


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## Bamb00stix (Apr 25, 2015)

Not even for the first week or two before the plants root and start to do their thing? That is honestly amazing. Thank you so much for all the help. I will keep that in mind. It doesn't announce that it's adjustable, but it goes for 77f and turns itself off when it's around 77f, and if it gets lower it'll turn itself back on to keep it stable. I assume if I manage to get my hands on a 5gal I'll need a 25watt heater for my tank, yes?


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Bamb00stix said:


> Not even for the first week or two before the plants root and start to do their thing? That is honestly amazing. Thank you so much for all the help. I will keep that in mind. It doesn't announce that it's adjustable, but it goes for 77f and turns itself off when it's around 77f, and if it gets lower it'll turn itself back on to keep it stable. I assume if I manage to get my hands on a 5gal I'll need a 25watt heater for my tank, yes?


The automatic heaters aren't reliable. I've tried several like that, they work for like a month and then they malfunction and you either end up with frozen or boiled fish. Heaters are the most flaky piece of equipment in an aquarium. Even with adjustable heaters, we use thermometers inside the tank (don't buy stick-on thermometers, they're unreliable).

A lot of people don't use filters on betta tanks, even unplanted ones. With plants, it's truly unnecessary; bettas don't strictly need them and the plants will keep things clean.

When you scrub algae away, you need to do a 50% water change if you don't have a filter. Your tank won't cycle without a filter, but that won't matter because you're going to plant it and plants can actually be more effective than cycling if you have enough of them. You also need to be willing to do plenty of water changes until the plants establish, but in 2-5g tanks, that's not so difficult. In a 2g, you should change half the water twice a week until you get plants; in a 5g, it's once a week. You can always do more if you think the tank needs it.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You definitely need an adjustable heater.

This heater:
http://www.truaqua.com/aquarium-submersible-glass-heater-gh50.html
This filter:
http://www.truaqua.com/aquarium-hang-on-filter-pfe1.html

20% off would make total $23.00 including shipping.

Another option is this $50.00 10-gallon kit if you have the footprint for it. Includes an adjustable 60W heater:
http://www.petsmart.com/supplies/aq...36-catid-300065?var_id=36-17600&_t=pfm=search

PetSmart has a 2.5 gallon with lid for $15.00 (a perfectly fine size for a Betta). The Hydor would be your best option for a heater.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> You definitely need an adjustable heater.
> 
> This heater:
> http://www.truaqua.com/aquarium-submersible-glass-heater-gh50.html
> ...


+1

A filter isn't a bad idea if you want it and can find it cheaply, as above. You just don't need it, is all.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Welcome to the Forum!
> 
> What is your budget and footprint? www.truaqua.com is offering Betta Fish members a 20% discount site wide. If anything interests you, send me a PM and I'll give you the code. I have their SC380 and love it; however, if you have substrate other than gravel you would need an internal filter.


Figures you get them to have a good discount *after *I've bought my final tank from them (no more room) =.=
btw stay away from the bowfronts with the black 'trim' on the sides... something about the silicone they used for these tanks it flakes white stuff that sinks to the bottom.. not very pretty on a black substrate.... No leaks yet though... perhaps its the silicone reacting with my hard water, but no other tanks have this issue.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Which tanks do you mean? I have the SC380 with no issues. I'm sure they'd be glad to know of any problems since they're coming out with new tanks in the next couple of months.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Myexplodingcat is right. Filter is optional but nice to have. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum will tell you it's better to wait and spend more $$ up front than to keep changing out equipment. This is especially true of a must-have like a heater.


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