[MEandYouPhoto]

Well folks as the title says this is my Second tank. (and my wife said my last)

Going low tech this time around (and sticking with it)

Here is the breakdown on the tank

Equipment
10 gallon kit tank
Fluval Aquaclear 30
Hydor Submersible Glass Aquarium Heater 50w

Lighting
Current USA Planted Plus

Substrate
3 inches substrate of VERY WELL rinsed CaribSea FloraMax
Osmocote Plus under the substrate

Hardscape
2 pieces of Malaysian Driftwood (Boiled for about an hour each)

Flora
Anubius Nana
Cryptocoryne wendtii
cryptocoryne wendtii red

Fauna
30 Red Cherry Shrimp

So this little tank has given me some troubles to start with but it seems to be going better.

First I used 50% of the water out of my existing 10 gallon planted tank in an effort to kick start the cycle. This turned out to be a bad idea because my tank looked like I poured a gallon of milk in it for about 2 1/2 days

So after using something to clarify the water, and putting in some fine filter floss, The water cleared up quite nicely. But then I found a new issue. There was some white funk growing on my roots and leaves of my Windelof Java fern.





It wasn't on the Anubius Nana or on the driftwood so I wasn't sure what it was. I got in there and did another 50% water change and rubbed the funk off of the roots and leaves and now its starting to look a lot better.

Here are pictures of the tank and its inhabitants






Odd thing about these two pictures. It is exactly the same fish but he looks Orange in one picture and Blood Red in another. First one taken with a Cell Phone and the other with my DSLR (the first one is actually truer in color)




I know currently the light isn't adequate enough for the tank (even at low light) but I am going to be putting my Current USA Satellite Plus on the tank once my Satellite Plus Pro comes for my Hi-Tech tank. :hihi:

Below is the same tank with what will be its new light (in about a week)



This tank will be a non-CO2 tank so I am going to keep it very very simple but I would still love suggestions on plants to put in the tank that would look good and thrive in a non-CO2 environment.

 

[AquaAurora]

Yeh bettas can have quite a range of color appearances depending on the light used (kelvin and power) and the orientation of the fish to the light (directly under, in front of, etc). I have a double tail mustard boy whos scales are green but my camera only captures them as green in a certain lighting. I also have a multi color elephant ear betta who's blue body and fins can look purple or even pinkish depending on the lighting and orientation

Hows your betta with the neons? Does he school with them (not to be confused with stalking/chasing them)?

 

[MEandYouPhoto]

Yeh bettas can have quite a range of color appearances depending on the light used (kelvin and power) and the orientation of the fish to the light (directly under, in front of, etc). I have a double tail mustard boy whos scales are green but my camera only captures them as green in a certain lighting. I also have a multi color elephant ear betta who's blue body and fins can look purple or even pinkish depending on the lighting and orientation

Hows your betta with the neons? Does he school with them (not to be confused with stalking/chasing them)?

He does not school with them. As a matter of fact he usually stays separate from them. I had read somewhere that a Betta is a good fish to put in with a school of Neon Tetras because they will view the larger fish as a potential threat and they will stay in a school.

Now I don't think this is so much the case now that I have seen them all in the same tank. But at this point I have not seen the Betta be agressive to the Neon's or chase them down in any way... However... he does like to poke at the Assassin Snails. lol