# 15g betta sorority tank, low-tech budget build.



## SubWolf (Jul 13, 2009)

Sorry for the poor quality picture, once I get everything up and running I will snap some better ones.

This tank has been an on-again off-again project we started last winter that we finally are getting near to finishing. The plan was to set it up as a "sorority" tank for our female bettas. We also partitioned off a 5 gallon section to move one of our male bettas into once we tear down his 3 gallon. The tank is a standard 15 gallon long we got on sale at PetCo, and all the plants and equipment are all scavanged off some of our old tanks and projects. We are trying to downsize on the number of aquariums we have so we ended up with the following bits and pieces from other projects.

Generic aquarium light bar (AGA?) with 15W GE plant and aquarium bulb.
ZooMed 501 filter
AquaClear 20 filter
Tetra (25W?) non-adjustable heater

The stand is some random piece of furniture (some sort of kitchen shelf?) that we found on clearance for $50, and not only looks good but is a perfect aquarium stand. If we would have bought it before the tank we would have gotten a 20L insead of the 15L, as it would have fit perfectly.

We will probably need a bit more light in the near future, as well as a better/larger heater come winter. I will probably also swap out the filters for a single canister filter as the ZooMed has a hairline crack in the case, and the HOB Aquaclear does not work well on the long tank (and it's direct-down flow is disrupting the sand.)

All the plants were removed from a 5 gallon that we tore down, and our 5 and 3 gallons, which were massively overgrown and in need of some pruning. I am not 100% on what plants we ended up throwing in, besides the _hygrophila difformis_, _hygrophilia kompact_ and _taxiphyllum barbieri_ (java moss). I think the stem plants may be _hygrophila polysperma_ but I do not remember what the needle leafed plants are. We were in a bit of a rush to finish as it was late at night, so we did not do any fancy scaping or anything, we kinda just threw it in there for now.










Here are some close-ups of the rock retaining wall we did. The dark shadowed area is actually a hidden PVC cave that goes all the way to the back corner of the tank. The rock is attached with aquarium safe epoxy and silicone to the bottom of the tank as well as the screening that separates the sand (CaribSea Tahatian Moon Sand) from the taller rear plant substrate (ActivFlora).











The java moss wall is gonna need some work, it was getting late so we just tossed it in there for now.

The tank is currently cycling, but both filters were taken off established tanks, so I think I may be okay to add fish very slowly. The only inhabitants right noware a few snails (including an assasin) that hiched a ride on the plants.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks like a really nice setup!

I think you've also got some Rotala rotundifolia in there, though it's hard to tell for sure.


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