# Fluval Spec 2g Planted Betta Tank



## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Well, time to start up my 3rd tank build thread on plantedtank, though this is finally the first tank I've owned so breaking new ground!!

I've been planning out an epic high-tech ADA cube build and the last tank (a low tech 25g cube) was a good learning piece for that!! On that journey I caught a bug for a betta and haven't been able to kick it, which led me to my 2nd personal tank.

I've got a 28g SPS dominant reef that's been running for over 2-yrs that got me into the hobby. After that built out a 29g planted for my mom thats still runnin strong, and most recently built out the 25g Kessil powered planted cube for a friend. Coming from an SW background the allure has always been bright colored fish and corals. What better substitute than a betta and planted tank!

Ended up going with a Fluval Spec 2g cube (I love cubes btw). Threw in some ADA Amazon substrate, some stones, dwarf hairgrass, and a hand selected (after 2-wks search) crowntail male betta. The lil guy seems totally impressed with his new "large" living quarters.

Here it is not long after setup. Better pics to follow as the tank is still clearing:


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

Hi, it will look great when the grass grows into a dense carpet. And yes betta's are really awesome fish.


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## d2creative (Jan 24, 2013)

Cool! And nice Radion over the reef.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Green_Flash said:


> Hi, it will look great when the grass grows into a dense carpet. And yes betta's are really awesome fish.


Thanks! And yeah, looking forward to some good growth!







d2mini said:


> Cool! And nice Radion over the reef.


Lol Dennis, I didnt know you were into planted tanks too!


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## Smitty06 (Mar 25, 2012)

I hope you are doing a lot of water changes, or have a bunch of cycled media in the tank because amazonia leeches ammonia like a b****.


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## d2creative (Jan 24, 2013)

ange062 said:


> Lol Dennis, I didnt know you were into planted tanks too!


LOL, well that remains to be seen. I just started my first planted nano for a Betta over in the Tank Journal section. We'll see how it goes! roud:
And like Smitty says, i have amazonia and have been doing (almost) daily 75% water changes. So far no ammonia is registering.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Careful Dennis, the simple beauty and ease of care on a planted (and low cost relative to SW) becomes very very attractive!! You may end up tearing down that nice new reef of yours... 

You found any good FW / planted specialty shops locally? Im so used to my reef ring of shops that I've never really looked. Have found City Pets is pretty good and Houston Aquatics has a nice fish selection (though not very good presentation, lol).

My experience with Amazonia is the same, used it in the 25g cube with no NH3 readings, though I did do daily 50% WC's for 10-days. Will be doing the same with this tank.


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## d2creative (Jan 24, 2013)

I too have been looking for a decent source. Picked up a couple things at fish gallery today. Most of my other stuff came from city pets and petsmart. Nothing outstanding though. ADG might start bringing in some cool plants for retail sale.
As long as I'm keeping ammonia levels down with water changes, you think the betta will be ok in there? For now he's in a fish bowl.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

d2mini said:


> I too have been looking for a decent source. Picked up a couple things at fish gallery today. Most of my other stuff came from city pets and petsmart. Nothing outstanding though. ADG might start bringing in some cool plants for retail sale.
> As long as I'm keeping ammonia levels down with water changes, you think the betta will be ok in there? For now he's in a fish bowl.


Yeah, pretty much the same LFS search results for me... I am going to check out ADG this week though.

And as far as the fish, I dont see how a new tank can be any worse than sitting in an unfiltered bag or cup for weeks at a time. They aren't as sensitive as all the crazy reef fish/corals we are used to dealing with


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

A better shot of the lil guy, will pull out the real camera once the hairgrass starts to root and spread and there is a little more to show:


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## defender.TX (Jan 29, 2013)

How does the Betta seem to deal with the flow? When I had a Betta in my Spec he seemed to dislike the flow a lot. I finally bought an extra piece of tubing and cut a few holes in it near the top to slow down the output. He seemed to perk up after that. I've gone back to the stock tubing since I don't have him anymore.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

defender.TX said:


> How does the Betta seem to deal with the flow? When I had a Betta in my Spec he seemed to dislike the flow a lot. I finally bought an extra piece of tubing and cut a few holes in it near the top to slow down the output. He seemed to perk up after that. I've gone back to the stock tubing since I don't have him anymore.


He does seem happier when the pump is off, and when it's on I find he tends to stay in certain areas of the tank that in theory should be the lowest flow or "dead zones". I had been brainstorming on ideas to cut down on the flow, so thanks for the idea


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## d2creative (Jan 24, 2013)

Hey angelo, what are you feeding this guy? I just have some of those hikari betta pellets but would like to find something better.

For cutting down the flow on my tank, i had a little ball valve laying around in a box from a little Rio pump. I used a small piece of clear tubing to attach it to the output coming out of my tank's filter box. You can clearly see it in my pics... big and ugly. lol


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## Jello (Aug 2, 2012)

That's a beautiful betta! Where did you find him? I've only seen Betta's like that from shops in Thailand...


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## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

Stuff some filter floss behind the overflow grate... it helps lessen the flow, plus it helps stop your betta's fins from getting sucked in and torn. Mine LOVES to rest against the grate


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

d2mini said:


> Hey angelo, what are you feeding this guy? I just have some of those hikari betta pellets but would like to find something better.
> 
> For cutting down the flow on my tank, i had a little ball valve laying around in a box from a little Rio pump. I used a small piece of clear tubing to attach it to the output coming out of my tank's filter box. You can clearly see it in my pics... big and ugly. lol


I've been feeding him New Life Spectrum Thera+A 1mm pellets that my reef tank loves (even my mandarin eats em!). He seems to enjoy them. I'll probably mix it up with frozen brine / mysis shrimp and blood worms. 

I just don't think I can afford the real estate to have an in-tank flow restrictor, so I am either going to plumb something like that into the back chamber, try the "holes in the line" trick, or give the filter floss a whirl. But then again, with the flow on the pump dialed to a minimum, it doesn't seem to bother him much. I noticed tonight that once the light goes out he is very active and likes to fight his reflection on the back wall, gill flares and everything. Maybe he just needs to get used to the light. 



Jello said:


> That's a beautiful betta! Where did you find him? I've only seen Betta's like that from shops in Thailand...


After a 2-week search across town, I finally managed to snag him for $7 at an LFS. Just got lucky I guess! Thanks for the comment!



Jaguar said:


> Stuff some filter floss behind the overflow grate... it helps lessen the flow, plus it helps stop your betta's fins from getting sucked in and torn. Mine LOVES to rest against the grate


That's a good idea, and easy to implement so I'll probably give it a whirl. Mine does the same! Thanks!


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Cool picture of him fighting his reflection with the lights out, hoping to start seeing some of this with the lights on!:


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## defender.TX (Jan 29, 2013)

ange062 said:


> He does seem happier when the pump is off, and when it's on I find he tends to stay in certain areas of the tank that in theory should be the lowest flow or "dead zones". I had been brainstorming on ideas to cut down on the flow, so thanks for the idea


Mine did the same thing. He also got stuck on the intake before I turned it down. I tried to put filter floss over the intake but the flow was still strong enough that he would hide all the time. Once I cut the two small holes the flow was nice enough that he could rest on the intake (which he LOVED to do!) and then swim off against the flow when he was done. As a side note, if you cut some holes in the line it stimulates flow in the back chamber and any heater you are hiding back there becomes much more effective. The trade-off is that you get reduced flow which for me led to some algae build up until I started dosing Flourish Excel.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

defender.TX said:


> Mine did the same thing. He also got stuck on the intake before I turned it down. I tried to put filter floss over the intake but the flow was still strong enough that he would hide all the time. Once I cut the two small holes the flow was nice enough that he could rest on the intake (which he LOVED to do!) and then swim off against the flow when he was done. As a side note, if you cut some holes in the line it stimulates flow in the back chamber and any heater you are hiding back there becomes much more effective. The trade-off is that you get reduced flow which for me led to some algae build up until I started dosing Flourish Excel.


After a few more days of observation, I am not so sure it's too much flow for him after all. 

Did you know there is a flow adjustment knob on the pump itself? I have mine turned to the lowest setting, with the output pointed towards the surface. The betta does rest against the overflow grate, but he easily swims off when he wants. I've noticed his activity increases once the light goes out, so I'm starting to think that he may just be acclimating to the tank and light intensity, more-so than being bothered by the flow. Though, it could be a combination of all 3 things...


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Cycle looks like it's complete as I am registering 0 nitrite but about 2.5ppm of nitrate. I can confirm the ADA Amazonia is leaching ammonia though because levels have stayed constant between 0.5 - 1.5ppm. Still doing ~75% daily WC's until that subsides. 

Hairgrass is also growing and noticeably rooting and spreading, there are new sprouts emerging from the soil around each original plant. Planning to make an appointment with ADG to pick up some of the Amazonia "Powder Type" to cover the relatively coarse looking substrate in the 2g tank, as well as look into tiny pieces of driftwood and rock to replace the current rock scape. Hairgrass will stay but looking for a little more height via wood or rock, and also hope to add baby tears as a foreground plant. If driftwood goes in it's getting a moss wrap.


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

A couple of updates pics from today:


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## lotuslullaby (Feb 8, 2013)

Awesome looking betta. Have you considered floating plants? Floating plants with decent roots would give him a place to play and rest, but might shade your other plants. = /


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

lotuslullaby said:


> Awesome looking betta. Have you considered floating plants? Floating plants with decent roots would give him a place to play and rest, but might shade your other plants. = /


Thanks! I thought about it, but don't want to block light from the substrate, plus floating plants will interfere with the overflow style filtration system on this tank.


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## lotuslullaby (Feb 8, 2013)

*Good Point*

I have been thinking of trying to anchor a red root floater to the side of the tank away from the water circulation with a suction cup and clip, but it would still shade plants and might only work well in a larger tank over anubias plants. We have a betta log in our tank and I have been thinking of anchoring plants to it, it moves with the circulation of the water so it doesn't shade the same area all the time. Though the size of the tank always determines how things work. Maybe rooting something to a thin piece of driftwood that goes up one side of the tank? I have just found bettas to be incredibly playful and curious. Maybe other betta owners have some ideas. :smile:


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Unfortunately, the 2g spec sprung a leak a few weeks ago. I tried patching to no avail. Ended up replacing it with a 5g spec today as the leak got worse and was leaking over a gallon a day while sitting in the tank and I was afraid of seeing my betta crispy one morning... I'll work on the warranty through Fluval, but even shipping it back probably isn't worth it for a $50 tank.

So here is the new setup with 3 new cardinal tetras to keep the betta company:


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

Tank is still running


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Wow! I saw you're dosing metricide. Any C02 injection? Looks awesome!


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

The Dude1 said:


> Wow! I saw you're dosing metricide. Any C02 injection? Looks awesome!


Not sure what metricide is, but I've been dosing PPS system ferts that I got from GLA for a little over a month now. Started dosing that when I set up a new planted 60cm and have been doing daily dosing and weekly water changes. Never have run CO2 on this tank. 

Before that it was only occasionally adding Flourish Excel and occasional water changes. 

Have also recently switched out older larger fish for the small gold tetras, strawberry rasboras, and new betta seen. While at it I added two small amano shrimp and some gold, blue, and red neocaridina shrimp. 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## Mike16T (Jun 13, 2016)

What kind of LED light is that?


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

It's the stock LED light that comes with the Fluval Spec V


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## ange062 (May 9, 2011)

After years of not running CO2 on this tank, I have decided to give it a try after the success I have had with my Ultum 60cm. Just going with a cheap Fluval 88g all in one setup. If I decide to keep running it I'll either get another GLA reg with a paintball pin valve connector, or get a second manifold for my existing GLA reg and 5lb cylinder. The main challenge with the 2nd manifold is the location of the tanks will require me to do some interesting and long routing work with the CO2 line... 

Pics later today after I have a chance to hook everything up. 



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