Floss Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Hi I have one Betta in a 30l tank. It came with a hang on filter but I'm not sure it is doing the job effectively. Is there a filter suited to such a small tank that is recommended for my guy? I have noticed zillions of "white" particles floating around everytime I do a partial water change - which can't be good for him? Should I do a complete change? The filter has a wool & what appears to be charcoal centre, but no control rate or anything like that. Thanks and looking forward to your comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenton Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 With no flow control, it may be a bit much for him with a HOB filter disturbing the surface and the current it may create. A sponge filter would do the trick, but then you'd need an air pump as well to drive it. The sponge filter is cheap but the air pump would be quite a bit more. You may be able to baffle the output of your current filter to make it more suitable. Do you have more than one tank, or plan on getting any more? If so, then spending $40-$60 on an air filter, and $10-$15 on a couple of sponge filters and some air tubing, and a dual valve control may be worth it. White particles...are these coming from your substrate or from your water source, or out of the filter? Any idea what the particles actually are? If it's from the substrate, then you either need to add the new water slower so as not to stir it up, or put your fella in a bowl or something, short term, empty the tank, and clean it, the substrate, and everything else that goes in there well. Make sure everything is rinsed and allowed to dry before putting it all back. Then put your new water in, treat, allow everything to settle, heat up, etc, and then add your boy back in and give him a good feed. If it's from the filter, it may just need a good clean and rinse. If it's from your water source, you need to filter it before adding it to your tank. A picture of your setup, and of the white particles may help everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 One betta.....30 litre tank I'd have sand substrate.....plenty of plants......water sprite, Anubis and Java ferns Malaysian trumpet snails......no filtration....just replace 1/3 water once a week.....remove any mulm from substrate at each water change If you have "floating particles".....you are probably over feeding with flake food.....;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floss Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 With no flow control, it may be a bit much for him with a HOB filter disturbing the surface and the current it may create. A sponge filter would do the trick, but then you'd need an air pump as well to drive it. The sponge filter is cheap but the air pump would be quite a bit more. You may be able to baffle the output of your current filter to make it more suitable. Do you have more than one tank, or plan on getting any more? If so, then spending $40-$60 on an air filter, and $10-$15 on a couple of sponge filters and some air tubing, and a dual valve control may be worth it. White particles...are these coming from your substrate or from your water source, or out of the filter? Any idea what the particles actually are? If it's from the substrate, then you either need to add the new water slower so as not to stir it up, or put your fella in a bowl or something, short term, empty the tank, and clean it, the substrate, and everything else that goes in there well. Make sure everything is rinsed and allowed to dry before putting it all back. Then put your new water in, treat, allow everything to settle, heat up, etc, and then add your boy back in and give him a good feed. If it's from the filter, it may just need a good clean and rinse. If it's from your water source, you need to filter it before adding it to your tank. A picture of your setup, and of the white particles may help everyone. Thanks for the replies. I only have the one tank, and not planning on getting more at this stage. I'm not sure what you mean by a sponge pump, is there any chance you could send me a pic of one? I have a spare pump here, so that may do the trick if I know what I'm looking at I think the particles are from the substrate, so will do as you suggested and wash them again. I don't have any live plants in there, just a few silk ones and some decorations. I didn't think of the photo until after I posted my question. This is all new to me, so thank you for answering. One betta.....30 litre tank I'd have sand substrate.....plenty of plants......water sprite, Anubis and Java ferns Malaysian trumpet snails......no filtration....just replace 1/3 water once a week.....remove any mulm from substrate at each water change If you have "floating particles".....you are probably over feeding with flake food..... Thanks for the reply Rod. Is a 30 litre tank ok? I thought the more room the better? I have gravel but can change it to sand if that would be better. I use Sydney Whhite Washed sand for my reptiles, so would that be suitable? Not sure about the plants, I will need to go to my pet shop and check them out. As above, I have silk ones at the moment. I don't feed flake food, I use blood worms, and I only feed him every other day, is that right? I was told not to over feed him, so I hope I'm doing this right? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 30 litres is plenty for a single betta…... Personally I prefer smaller tanks and do more frequent water changes I suggest sand because it doesn't trap waste like gravel does….and plants suggested don't need to be rooted into substrate the snails eat any food not taken by the betta and the (real) plants use the nutrients (fish and snail waste) Plants suggested don't need high levels of light Bettas prefer calm water and as they also breath air don't require water movement to maintain high oxygen content in water Might be worth varying his diet….blood worms are great….but look for occasional feed of live food Black worms are sold at Good LFS….mossie larva, daphnia are good too Dry food is also good…..I use NLS pellets Give him some exercise too…..show him his reflection in a mirror a couple of times a day to get him to spread his fins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenton Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Floss, Rod is right, but it depends on how much work you want to be doing. With or without a filter, you need to do weekly water changes anyway. Pellets once a day, or every second day would be fine with the occasional treat of blood worm or other live food - again, depends on how much work you want to do as to how varied you want the diet to be. If you plan on breeding, then you will need more variety. No breeding, then less variety will be fine. Sand is good, particularly if swapping to live plants (easier to plant), but you will need either plants like those suggested by Rod, or root tabs for grasses and rushes, or crypts, etc. Plenty of people with way more knowledge on plants than me on here (I kill almost everything ). But sand is also good because it doesn't trap the waste and other debris, as Rod said, but gravel vacs can help keep gravel clean easily enough. 30L = a spoilt Betta, and there's nothing wrong with that. A few suitable tank mates may keep him stimulated. Again, there are plenty of people on the forum with more knowledge in that area than me so I'll leave that to someone else also... (all of mine are housed in a Betta only environment for breeding purposes). Live plants will also help with your water quality, but can be expensive, especially from a LFS. We have a couple of members who run/work for businesses who may be able to do a better price for you. A sponge filter: Google Search Lastly, exercise - Rod is again correct in that occasional use of a mirror would be good for him, but some tank mates would get him swimming around as well. He doesn't necessarily need to be flaring, just patrolling his domain would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floss Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Oh wow, so much to learn....Thank you SO much, keep the info coming. I thought they had to be housed seperately, so what could I put in with him???? I will definately change to live plants and sand if that is better for my Betta lol. Thanks heaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissM! Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hey Floss, there are lots of fishy friends you can pop in with your man! Most of your peaceful tetra's will live happily with Betta's, also Corydora's do well with them. Just don't pop anything in that's too brightly colored or with a big flowing tail, so steer away from guppies, mollies platies etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floss Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thanks MissM! So the tetra's are the little blue/red fish? and the corydora's are like a catfish - that's awesome. Will definately look into that! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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