Jag's Betta Spec! Update 11/2

[Jaguar]

Bought a Spec on impulse today. It was there and I wanted it. It was expensive but I wanted it. I'm broke but I still wanted it. So I got it. Paid too much and it was out of the box but whatever.

I bought it mostly because I'm trying to downsize. I have a 33g community tank, an empty 60-P, and a derimmed 10g.

The 10g has 4 guppies in it. I intend to put 3 of them (the males) in the Spec tonight. Then I'm taking the fish out of the 33 (9 harlequin rasboras and 1 GBR) and putting them in the cycled 10 with the female guppy and then getting rid of the 33. My next paycheck is going towards a stand for the 60-P. Once the 60-P is ready and cycled, the ram and rasboras are going in that. And then I'm buying some new stock, and will use the 10g for quarantine, and when that's done, the 10g will be taken down and put into storage for use at a later time. That's the plan, anyway... sounds solid but it could change.

So my plans for the Spec.

I'm leaving the original sponge thing in it. But I took out the carbon and squashed some very dirty cycled sponge from the 10g in it. If that's a bad idea someone let me know lol.

I am going to take some sand out of my 33, boil it to kill the nasties living on it (cyano) and put it in the bottom, for now. I am going to soak some leftover New Aqua Soil in a container and put it in when the ammonia is done leeching.

I am going to heavily plant the tank with a small piece of driftwood or stone. Since I'm just putting guppies in it I want to make it sort of bottom heavy, densely planted on the bottom but open up top so they have a bit more swimming area.

And, if this tank really sets off and I'm liking it, I may move it to work. Or buy another Spec for work if I can get another for cheap. And stick a betta in it. Yay.

Fauna will be 3 male fancy guppies and maybe some cherry shrimp or something in the future. Might change to something like endlers or chili rasboras.

Let's go!

[Jaguar]

Initial planting



Guppies are in!! I'm gonna have to figure out how to turn the filter down because they are getting blasted around... lol. Plants so far are vals, crispus, narrow leaf amazon sword, crypt wendtii red/green, crypt parva. Going to scour the beach for rocks for a hardscape today



My first impressions are wow, this tank is pretty good for an all in one! Can't go wrong with a 40gph pump with a lot of media space in a less than 2 gallon tank, lol, but with the pump turned down all the way and some sponge crammed behind the overflow it's nothing guppies can't handle. The light is decent for a kit light, should definitely be bright enough for the low light plants I've got in there. It looks sleek too. I'd LOVE it if it was about a gallon bigger... but it's perfect for a betta, small fish like guppies, micro fish, or shrimp We'll see how it holds out over time.

[T3Knical5urg3]

A simple way to turn the filter pressure down is to cut some slits in the rubber hosing running to the outflow. This also creates more water movement in that chamber, which is often used for heaters.

Another option is to use a valve. I dont remember the one I got but just measure the inside diameter and google search it.

[Jaguar]

Ah, I should've thought about cutting slits in the hose.... I did cram one of those preset Tetra heaters back there. I will do that if the flow bugs the guppies too much. Right now they seem okay.

Unfortunately my rams are not doing very well. One of them is extremely dominant over the other and the submissive guy is looking very skinny and listless. I am going to have to separate them VERY soon. Today maybe. Stupid pet store gave me 2 males and they still fight in a heavily planted 33 gallon.

Water all cleared up, guppies stopped freaking out... it is SO hard to get a picture of 3 moving objects at once with an iPhone...

[GMYukonon24s]

Nice start and beautiful guppies

[Jaguar]

Thanks! They're not bad for Petsmart cheapies

[GMYukonon24s]

I figured they were but still nice. I've been lucky to get some that are considered show quality so now I don't get anymore from there.

[iRun]

i just bought one too. I probably need to be medicated for my absolute lack of impulse control. I'm taking mine to work. I'm thinking plants and shrimp for sure, beyond that...who knows

[Jaguar]

I don't plan on breeding them, but one day I'd like to have a ton of them in a long and shallow tank... they are small, very colorful, active and friendly... I think guppies are underrated

and iRun, I hope you enjoy yours as much as I'm enjoying mine! I'm a little worried the light isn't strong enough for some plants, but the 13w Fluval PC light for the Flora/Ebi is one I commonly see used as a replacement.

[iRun]

Thanks! You saved me some time researching alternate lights in case the LED isn't cutting it.

[Basil]

+1 to the fluval 13 watt. It is a great light for the Spec.

[Jaguar]

Here's the new scape



Rock in the back left is kind of meh, I picked up a few at the beach and only had those to work with. I'm liking the Aqua Soil, this is the first time I've actually had it underwater. The cyperus helferi is too long for the tank IMO, I hope to replace it with hairgrass or something eventually. There is e. tenellus in between the rocks, but it was almost all wrecked in my last tank so it will take a while to grow in. The c. parva is only temporary in there until then.

[FisheriesOmen]

where'd the guppies go? and I'm loving the new soil, I'm not much of a fan of bright soil in my planted tanks.

[Jaguar]

Haha, they went back in my 10g tank for a while since the Aqua Soil isn't cycled yet and it's doing the ammonia thing. They'll go back in when it's done

[Jaguar]

and its table: