# 10g Beta tank build



## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Hi Everyone,

I've been keeping fish for 3 years with success, only have two tanks, a 20 gallon long with Guppies and a 46gallon with Rummy nose, White clouds, Tetra neon's, Rasboras and a yellow Chinese algae eater, which by the way doesn't algae at all (so lazy).

Every time I go to the local fish store it pains me to see how the Betta's are being kept on a little jar with a bamboo stick in it, Argh!

I can't same them all, but I can at least save one and make her/him happy.
That's what I'm doing, going to put together a planted 10gallon tank for a betta.

Unfortunately this is not going to be a fast project, with Christmas around the corner, money needs to go to other stuff first.

Here is the first step I've taken.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

I've decided to make this tank a low tech planted aquarium.
What you see on the bottom is Miracle Grow "organic Choice" plant dirt that I borrowed from my wife's stash of flower "stuff".
I had a small piece of driftwood that is the perfect size for the 10gallon aquarium.

I did go to the LAS today and bought some rock, it's been washed and it's drying right now.

Here is a photo of what has been done, of course anything can change one I start playing around with the rocks.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Rocks have been put in place, feedback is welcome.
The section outside the rocks where you see glass will be white sand and substrate everywhere inside the rocks.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

I like it! I find this approach interesting, the slow and steady tank build. I tend to be impulsive so this is fascinating to see what happens when someone really takes their time. Are you going to put a sand cap over the dirt? Lucky, just so happens your wife had the right kind of dirt! What kind of plants are you considering? Crypt and java fern would look pretty with those rocks and work in most lighting. I love that driftwood...


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## Sadist (Jan 1, 2015)

Interesting! This is the sort of project I'd like to do, but I get too impatient and rush everything together. The plants you use will at least partially depend on what lighting you get in the future, too.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

I haven't decided what plants I'm going to use, I can't figure out where or what kind of lighting to get, I should have a few more photos this weekend, I went to the LAS a spend a few buck, everything was 20% off.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

We up on the North (Canada) now also have a black Friday sale event.
Spent $25 and picked up the following items, keep in mind guys our prices are much higher than the USA, this was a bargain deal, saved over 50%.
Filter wasn't my first choice, but for $7 how could I say no.

Marineland Penguin 75 - $7
Marineland 50W heater $15
Fluval prefilter $3


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Subscribing, I love projects like these!


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## the fish king (Nov 24, 2015)

the filter might be to strong for the betta fish. I tried what you are doing and my filter wasto strong.


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## the fish king (Nov 24, 2015)

and how do i post me own threads


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

the fish king said:


> the filter might be to strong for the betta fish. I tried what you are doing and my filter wasto strong.


I'm also thinking it will be strong, however I have a couple of things in my mind that I'm going to try, hopefully it will work and slow down the water.

I'll post what I have in mind in a few days, working on white sand and a few more rocks, should have a photo for tomorrow.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

A few more rocks have been put in along with white sand.
Tank is a bit dirt, I'll clean it another time.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Nicely placed! I can't wait to see the final product! I may need to start a project like this too!


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Carlos Vicente said:


> I'm also thinking it will be strong, however I have a couple of things in my mind that I'm going to try, hopefully it will work and slow down the water.
> 
> I'll post what I have in mind in a few days, working on white sand and a few more rocks, should have a photo for tomorrow.


I have the same filter in 2 of my 10 gallon betta tanks. I like them a lot. The prefilter sponge is a good idea, I am going to look for those. (sometimes their tails get sucked into the intake! :shock: ) For the output I put a rubber band and a piece of filter sponge (Fluval bio-foam) and the water goes through that and down into the tank and completely reduces flow. You can use a smaller piece if you want some flow. Some bettas like it. I can post a picture if you decide the current is too strong. I like my bettas to build big bubblenests and they can't if there is too much water movement.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Wow, it looks REALLY good with the sand and the darker (is that gravel?) mounds in the back. Very nice.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Today I had a chance to open and and look at the Marineland Penguin 75 water filter, let's take a look what in the box and I will express my opinion about this filter that cost me $7, was it worth the $7?

It advertises on the box it filters 75g/h, very reasonable, every hour the 10g tank gets filtered 7.5 times, should be enough to keep the aquarium clean.
When you take in consideration what's in the tank, gravel, rocks, driftwood, substrate, you really only have 9 gallons of water.











Filter dimensions:
Height: 7.5"
Width: 5"
Depth: 4"
Depth hanging behind tank: 2.5











Inside filter












Intake tube and strainer length 8", along with the Bio-wheel











Filter cartridge front and back - Not sure how this filter the water properly when it's just a 2mm thick piece of filter floss with a few pebbles of carbon inside.




















Filter cartridge installed inside the filter container











Intake tube and strainer installed











Bio-Wheel Installed











I have to be honest, this is my first time purchasing a Marineland Penguin filter and as far as I can see there is no way that this filter will clean the water properly, the filter floss attached to the cartridge is about 2mm thick, it has about a spoon of carbon inside and there is no other filtration besides the bio-wheel.

Would I buy a Marineland Penguin filter again, NO. I currently use Aquaclear power filters which in my opinion are one of the HOB filters available, they work in a similar way as of a Canister filter, water flows from the bottom to the top.

On my Aquaclear I have it setup with a row of Bio max, course foam filter, filter floss, bag of carbon, another row of filter floss and on top more bio max and the 3 row of filter floss still picks up some dirt.
There is no way this 2mm thick filter floss is going to do it's job.

I'll have to come up with a solution, stay tune, as I have a couple of things in mind.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

I had to take a photo of my 10-30 adjustable Fluval Aquaclear filter compared to the Marineland 75.

For $35 you get a top of the line HOB filter that just works like a canister filter, or you can get a Marineland Penguin 75 non adjustable for $20.

I got my Marineland for $7 I'm going to see what I can do with it, but geez there is no comparison with little price difference.

A picture says 1000 words and here it is:


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## megaredize (May 21, 2012)

Love the aqua clear filters, I never use carbon in them though, I use the extra room for even more filter pads/floss and biological media. If you really dont like the penguin I always used the aqua clear 20 on my 10 gallon tanks with bettas, worked great, just lowered the flow.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

This is what I'm going to do to the Marineland Penguin 75 to provide a bit better filtration on the 10g Betta aquarium.

Stating off with a Fluval pre-filter











Going to add a piece of Filter Floss to the back of the carbon filter.





























Also going to add Bio-media on the front empty space.
The media shown there is new media, however going to replace half of the media with used media from another tank to speed up the cycling process.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Here is the buffer I created using Filter foam and it works, not a ripple on the water while working, I put my hand underneath the fun, barely feel the flow of water. Once in the tank with water you can even notice there is a piece of foam filter.

More photos to come soon, I will be adding water in the next couple of days for the cycling stage.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Wow! Neat idea! I can't wait for photos! ^^


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Filter and heater have been installed in the tank, as you can see on the lat 2 photos there is a good amount of water flow coming from the filter, perhaps a bit less than when it's fully submerged, I wanted to show the water flow.

On the last photo not sure if you can tell or not, but with the buffer installed the way I did it, the water flow is still there, however there is no movement in the water at all, the water is pretty still.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Neat! I can't wait to see the end result!


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Today was an expensive day at PetSmart, I purchased the Aqueon OptiBright Led Light for the 10g Betta aquarium.

Many people have had issues with Aqueon products I'm a true supported as I believe the product is good and the one problem I had customer service dealt with in immediately.

Below are some photos of the product, I'm not going to do a review as there are many on youtube.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Here are the plants I've acquired today.


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## Bettabubble3 (Aug 17, 2009)

subscribing. It looks amazing and beautiful pictures


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Plants are in, yeah!!!


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## megaredize (May 21, 2012)

oooh thats gorgeous you will have one lucky betta


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Beautiful!!!!!!!


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

That. Is. Amazing.

My aquascaping looks pathetic in comparison.


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## magpie (Nov 7, 2011)

Looking awesome!

What are you going to stock the tank with?


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Thank you for the great comments everyone.
The will for a sole for a rescue Betta from Petsmart, I might add a couple of Otto's but that is not official yet.

Hopping to have a Betta between Christmas and new years, I'm not getting one before Christmas as I will be way for a few days, argh!!!! family thing


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## Julie7778 (Mar 20, 2015)

I Love the Stones (appear to be Seiryu stones) which store did you purchase them in? 

This is honestly the most beautiful tank I've seen on this site.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Julie7778 said:


> I Love the Stones (appear to be Seiryu stones) which store did you purchase them in?
> 
> This is honestly the most beautiful tank I've seen on this site.



Hi Julie, thank you for awesome comment, you are correct they are Seiryu Stones, I've purchased them at Big Al's, unfortunately they are not cheap, I think I paid 1.89 per LB


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## Julie7778 (Mar 20, 2015)

Carlos Vicente said:


> Hi Julie, thank you for awesome comment, you are correct they are Seiryu Stones, I've purchased them at Big Al's, unfortunately they are not cheap, I think I paid 1.89 per LB


Wow! What Location?


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

I believe they are a standard product at any Big Al's, any store around the GTA should have them

I got them at the Barrie location.


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## Julie7778 (Mar 20, 2015)

Great thanks!


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Well, I came home to a disaster.....
A couple of days after planting the plants, I notice there were some snails on the glass, I decided to take one of my yoyo fish, put him in the tank to eat the snails, as they are snail eaters and have cleaned up a snail infestation I had one one of my other aquariums.

I came home to this.....
The net is holding all the loose plants so they don't float.

He was one pi&&ed yoyo

I have a busy weekend ahead of me.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

*gasp*

Oh no! Is the yoyo a loach? Your beautiful tank!


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

He is yes, I'm so devastated.
I don't have a photo of him, but this is what he looks like

https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl...d=0ahUKEwjJw_KqxPPJAhXxo4MKHUi0AA8QMwg7KAowCg


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

He is a cute little rascal. I will give him points for making the substrate match his coloring. The Blend Master. Naughty boy.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

BettaSplendid said:


> He is a cute little rascal. I will give him points for making the substrate match his coloring. The Blend Master. Naughty boy.



I was so upset, I didn't even looked at it that way....kind makes me smile now.

I did get the tank back together...after a few hours last night, the yoyo is back in his regular tank, he is happy and playing around with his friends again.

I went to Petsmart and rescued a male veiltail, my wife picked it and it was a good choice as he was in bad shape, did not move all the way home, just sat on the bottom of the jar.

The photo below shows him in his jar in the tank getting the temperature too match what he will be going into.
As you can the water he is in is filthy dirty, so disgusting, he is just sitting on the bottom not even moving











Next photo shows the water condition, makes things even worst than the first photo.











I have transferred him to his tank, light are off, lets hope tomorrow morning things are looking better.


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## megaredize (May 21, 2012)

aawwwww poor thing, i hope he pulls through, he probably has to get used to clean water now.


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

He is a beautiful betta. I hope he is able to recover and be the pampered and loved betta he was hatched to be. Those test results.  Those 2 pictures could he sent to Petsmart.


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

I have taken a video of "Kiko" that is his name as it was my wife's choice.

He is a totally new fish compared to yesterday, what a recovery, he is exploring his tank non stop, I gave him a bit of food today which he ate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glKAjjE2XYQ


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Oh! This makes my heart happy. Congratulations to you and your wife! He made it!

He looks like he is saying, "Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow! This is neat! Look at THAT! Pretty rock! The water is so warm! So clean! Oh! Oooo!"

He loves that current! My bettas enjoy playing in filter currents too and air stone bubbles. I know it wouldn't be good if he was in a small tank and couldn't get away from the current but in a bigger tank they do enjoy it. I enjoy seeing bettas in spacious tanks because they do make use of it!


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

BettaSplendid said:


> Oh! This makes my heart happy. Congratulations to you and your wife! He made it!
> 
> He looks like he is saying, "Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow! This is neat! Look at THAT! Pretty rock! The water is so warm! So clean! Oh! Oooo!"
> 
> He loves that current! My bettas enjoy playing in filter currents too and air stone bubbles. I know it wouldn't be good if he was in a small tank and couldn't get away from the current but in a bigger tank they do enjoy it. I enjoy seeing bettas in spacious tanks because they do make use of it!



Thank you, and to think people still think the betta fish only needs a bowl to be happy it breaks my heart, the one I got truly uses the whole 
10 gallon tank to it's fullest


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Kiko is doing well...I could not resist uploading a photo.
Plants are doing well, I think they are recovering from the last fiasco...argh!!


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Beautiful!


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## Julie7778 (Mar 20, 2015)

What an amazing improvement. I'm glad there's people like you, that betta now has a wonderful life ahead of him. 

Quick question, it seems like you have no co2 how is that blyxa growing? Dosing any flourish or Exel?


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## Carlos Vicente (Nov 15, 2015)

Julie7778 said:


> What an amazing improvement. I'm glad there's people like you, that betta now has a wonderful life ahead of him.
> 
> Quick question, it seems like you have no co2 how is that blyxa growing? Dosing any flourish or Exel?


You are correct there is no C02 in the tank, I'm hopping in the future to have it setup, I attached a photo of all the stuff I'm putting in the water, following the manufactures instructions.


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