# Self-Sustaining Nano Tank



## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

i has that same vase at one time.

thats kinda neat


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## Cheapskate (Mar 24, 2010)

wow! that is very interesting. I have never heard of feeding spiders/flies or other household fish treats.


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

haha i have that same vase, and am gunna do this pretty soon with some moss and such next to the window. I also feed my betta flys and gnats whenever i can grab them haha. Looks great!


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

I put it under my dining room table halogen lights for a clearly, quick pic. Still has the glare, though.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Why is the water in your 60P red?
nice nano, though. I like it.


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

dosing maracyn t-c to get rid of bba :/


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## inghamb87 (Mar 10, 2010)

Nice tank! Consider this a newbie question : Isn't the tank a bit too small for that many fish (4-5 blood red female RCS, 1 female betta fish)? Just wondering out of curiosity.


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

it's alright, personally i'd have em in a 7+, but i wanted to save the betta from less than 1L of water, so this seemed pretty good compared to that. i actually originally put the rcs in as food for the betta lol, she just couldnt catch em


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

The duckweed is a nice touch


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

thanks  gets a little out of hand occasionally, though


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## rengb6 (Nov 11, 2009)

are you sure its a female Betta? It looks like a male crown-tail to me but when the water is hard its fins will break and look like your Betta's fins. Just a warning if he is male he may start eventually munching on the shrimp. Took one of mine months to figure out he could eat them!


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

Rengb, that is most certainly a Female betta, and there is no distinction of a crowntail fin type at all.... Also Females are just as likely to eat shrimp.

This is 4 of my females fighting over a shrimp lol








its a cell phone image sorry! You can see the shrimp in the yellow ones mouth


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

Plus she has an ovipositor lol


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## inghamb87 (Mar 10, 2010)

fishman9809 said:


> it's alright, personally i'd have em in a 7+, but i wanted to save the betta from less than 1L of water, so this seemed pretty good compared to that. i actually originally put the rcs in as food for the betta lol, she just couldnt catch em


Thanks for the reply. I guess the betta is being a bit too nice them rcs ;-)


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## heydude819 (Mar 17, 2009)

what do you use to create water flow in that tiny thing?


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

nada lol


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## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

That is a great tank. Not only does it look great and provide an interesting environment for the betta (and even company), but it's all natural. Self-sustaining. I would like to do one like that.

Right now, I have a 5 gallon planted betta tank that is doing well without any filtration. (But I do change the water) It has lights as it is an Eclipse tank. Do you think that I'd be able to add shrimp? I've never had any. What do they normally eat? 

I haven't added shrimp because I thought they'd increase the bio load and force me to use filtration but your betta home is smaller and the shrimp seem fine. 

What do you think?


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

it depends on a lot, anything besides a betta? any nutrients being added? wattage on the light? how many shrimp did you plan on adding?


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Neat vase.


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## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

The tank is a 5 gallon corner Eclipse, well planted and no filter. (There's a filter, but I'm not using it. Right now, there's only a betta and I'm wondering whether I could add 2 to 4 shrimp. The light is a 9 W compact flourescent (6500K) but it can also take a 15 W incandescent. The 9 W cf is apparently equivalent to 40W of incandescent or something like that, but it looks just fine. Not having a burst of algae or anything.

I've never had shrimp before, though. Don't want to kill them.

This is a very calm betta, personable, takes food right from my fingers. I wouldn't put shrimp with my female betta, who is in a bigger tank. She greets everything by biting it!



fishman9809 said:


> it depends on a lot, anything besides a betta? any nutrients being added? wattage on the light? how many shrimp did you plan on adding?


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## MissMTS (Oct 8, 2008)

I really like your tank. Its such a simple set up, but its gorgeous


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

macclellan said:


> Neat vase.


thanks!



Morainy said:


> The tank is a 5 gallon corner Eclipse, well planted and no filter. (There's a filter, but I'm not using it. Right now, there's only a betta and I'm wondering whether I could add 2 to 4 shrimp. The light is a 9 W compact flourescent (6500K) but it can also take a 15 W incandescent. The 9 W cf is apparently equivalent to 40W of incandescent or something like that, but it looks just fine. Not having a burst of algae or anything.
> 
> I've never had shrimp before, though. Don't want to kill them.
> 
> This is a very calm betta, personable, takes food right from my fingers. I wouldn't put shrimp with my female betta, who is in a bigger tank. She greets everything by biting it!


i would say go for it, shrimp add very little to the bioload.



MissMTS said:


> I really like your tank. Its such a simple set up, but its gorgeous


thanks!


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

Cool idea! Where did your ammonia (or nitrate) levels stabilize? I'm guessing since there's no flow you're relying on direct uptake of the ammonia by the plants, so I'd be curious is they're able to keep it at zero?

Very tempting to pull the nano filter off my 2g and try this with a capped MTS substrate...my Betta hates the flow anyway.


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

I just checked my parameters, and surprisingly, both ammonia and nitrates are at 0ppm. I guess the plants suffice to filter both out of the water. I never actually had a problem with either. Because i needed to set up a tank so quickly to make a home for the betta, i used well-cycled sand mixed with a little well-cycled filter media to quick cycle the tank, also, I used all cycled water


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