brother bear Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 ok gang i've got an idea in my head for a betta tank i'm going to make myself that will house 6 or so fish as i have just spent a motza on aqua bid, but before i finalise my design i would like your thoughts on whether gravel is good or bad in display tanks thanks guys BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 it is good.. bacteria will colonise it. especially good with plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 good. Having said that, mine don't have any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitstyles Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 it looks gd but hard to clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 clean?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 I don't have gravel and I still have very dirty tanks. :welcome: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitstyles Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 I'm saying it will be hard for you to wash the tank .. I suppose you want your display tank as clean as possible right? I dunno... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beano Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 I don't know, I recon the gravel hides the poo. I don't have any because my boy house is a divided betta bay tank and I can never decide who is in or out so I'm forever adjusting the dividers. Plus if I wanted gravel in them, I want to make it alternating colours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 gravel is good for displaying tanks.. makes the tank look neater, more natural. i recommend using the natural style gravel because it's easier to deal with if you ever get a sick fish... with natural gravel you can just take the gravel out, bake it in the oven to kill everything evil and then reuse it, with some of the coloured gravels you can't do that as they melt! gravel will also hide the fishy poop making your tank look neater and give somewhere for good bacteria to colonize (good bacteria colonization means less water changes!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 There is gravel and there is gravel. In small tanks (less than 3L) I like large gravel as the waste falls down between them and keeps it away from delicate fins. This is only suited if you feed floating food though. I really don't like that middle-sized gravel, as it doesn't fully hide the waste but it does trap food. It really just makes the whole base unpleasant IME. Small gravel or large, try to avoid inbetweeny. And make sure it is smooth, you don't want snagged fins. The more stable the tank, the healthier the fish. Gravel will help keep your water quality stable as it provides a good substrate for the good bacteria. It also provides a solid base, which gives the fish a feeling of security. A backing will also help. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brother bear Posted June 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 thanks every one that's excellent i have another question would a betta be happy in a 6" x 8" x 8" is this plenty of room, it is bigger than the crappy ones in the stores BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 there is something called a betta cube which is 10 by 10 by 10, centimeters though, and i think its way to small for a betta, i think the one your suggesting should be a good enough size for a happy betta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 That is pretty decent, in that size you could keep it at least partially cycled if you set it up and maintained it carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brother bear Posted June 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 that's good, cause the idea i've got is going to be a cracker, i'm going to get the glass cut this weekend and start building it i will keep you all posted but if works as good as i think it will i can take orders ( ha ha ) there will be enough room for 8 betta's BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 give us a basic outline, how will the system be heated etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brother bear Posted June 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 i'll draw up some plans and give you a look, at the moment it's still in my head ( typical builder ) BB besides i want to make sure it's going to work the way i want it to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Elflett Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 I've seen a long tank, with about eight 'cells' of bettas, and the same space behind them open, filtered and heated, all sharing the same water... the 'run' at the back had enough room for other fish to go along in - don't know if that was intended to pop another male in to make 'em flare, or just something for 'em to watch... it looked like a neat setup - if I can remember which store it was in, I'll take some photo's... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brother bear Posted June 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 that's along the lines that i'm thinking but tweaked a lot better i've got one similar now that houses 2 betta's but it is a pain in the arse, it's got a mini submerged pump and dividing walls but the only way to get to work properly is to fill it up to the top, then what happens is the boys are able to swim into each others section and start rumbling, as well as the food floats to the back section were they end up jumpig over to get at and die i've lost 2 already this way then if the water level is low enough that none of this happens the pump only pumps water from it's section and nearly burns out because the water does not flow from the front to the back at all so i'm going to use a similar design but make it from scratch and it's going to be much better BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 would be great to see how this turns out.. what would one of these systems be worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 This is a divided tank that KitzLovesBettas had made. It has a power filter and heater at one end. The power filter is connected to a hose which runs along the back of the tank and pumps water into each compartment. The dividers are not permanently set. They're removable. Water just flows around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 ahhh thats nice! i just looked at age of aquariums website and they got a filter something along those lines on special for 5 buks this month, 200L per hour, what i would do is have heater and filter on opposite ends of the tank no fish would be allowed in those compartments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted June 20, 2007 Report Share Posted June 20, 2007 Make sure you search it well first, there have been quite a few barracks made that had rather irksome qualities that were discovered later. Mechanically they were sound, but once you added thing like fish and fishfood they started becoming a problem. Let google be your friend :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Ned, before you go out an buy a power filter online, make sure you check out the model at your LFS. They're not standard and you want to be sure that you can attach a hose to it and also that the thing isn't too big to fit into the intended tank. I just learnt that lesson the hard way with a UV filter that I bought online. I figured out a workaround but it's a bit lousy that I can't use my original design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Thanks guys, i will look into it lots before i start making my designs lol. this could be a new market avenue for me lol. Versace Fish Tanks... now theres an idea. i need a fancy name, Ned wont cut it. what about Nedulio :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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