[TFKLeo]

Mini Garden ina Goblet - 1 gallon Freshwater fish tank
I just set this up today.
Wondering when I should do my first water-change and how much.
Here are parameters...
one gallon goblet.
1" of organic soil, covered with 3/4" sand.
Planted with four little Peacock Ferns and two Kyoto.
Lighted from a window only.
No filtration. I will ad a betta fish when water is stable and balanced.
I also wonder when I can ad the fish.
I'm hoping to see new growth on the plants by two weeks from now.
This is my very first planted nano tank.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Well, I hate to break it to ya, but those plants aren't aquatic, at least not fully aquatic. They may survive for a little bit, but they'll end up rotting and making a mess of your water. There are some people here selling plants if you'd like to look around the marketplace. Some plants I suggest for your set up: Dwarf Hairgrass, water wisteria, Amazon Sword 'Tropica', java fern, anubias, cryptocoryne, just to name a few.

If you're keeping with window light only, be aware that you're going to get some algae and that most plants need more light than just a couple hours, six hours is minimum for low light plants You can definitely get away with Java Fern and Anubias in there with just window light, but again, algae because of the soil you have in there, it's seeping excess nutrients which slow growing plants like java fern and anubias won't suck up so quickly. It's not the end of the world though! You can also add floating plants like Dwarf Water Lettuce, Frog-Bit, or Salvinia to aide in keeping algae at bay! :-D I think it'd look super cute if you had a nice big bush of Java Fern in there with one nice big node of Dwarf Water lettuce on the side.

All that aside, Betta's are tropical fish and they do need at least heaters. Filters aren't necessary (though they do help out the fish keeper), the heaters are, unless you live on or near the equator. There are some small cold water fish you can keep, but most of them need more than just one gallon unfortunately. Or you could do Shrimp! They need a very well established tank though, especially if it's small; you need it up at least 3 months or so and growing well before adding shrimp--if you want to do it successfully that is, you can add them early and you might get lucky, you might not, it's a gamble sometimes.

 

[beaslbob]

I would try some micro or chain swords and perhaps a "twig" or two of anacharis.

I would plant them for a week to lets things stabilize and they try a "feeder" guppy and not add food for a week. Then feed a single flake per day.

Once the feeder guppy lives for a couple of weeks or so then return it or give it away and try the betta.

Feed lightly like a couple of pellets per day for the betta. Good idea also that during the first week of the betta to now add food.

FWIW I had a betta live for years in that type of environment.

my .02

 

[lilnaugrim]

I don't really agree on the guppy thing. This would be fine if the tank had a filter to start the Nitrogen Cycle in, but it doesn't. Plants will grow just fine without the fish waste to feed off of since the soil in there will feed them for a long time now. No sense in adding more ammonia to the mix at the moment since the soil will be leaching that for a while.

Just get some plants that are actually aquatic, let them grow at least 6 weeks (or replace if they die) and monitor ammonia levels. Once levels are safe (.25ppm or less), then you can add the Betta. You'll have to keep an eye on those ammonia levels though to make sure it remains safe if the plants go downhill or something.

I forgot about the water changes part though, for now, do no water changes. You can top it off when it get's low, but don't change it. Let the nutrients sit there for the plants to absorb up first, test for ammonia at least (if you can test for all three; ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, definitely do it) just to make sure it isn't getting too high. If ammonia get's high, it can kill off plants as well.

But you can worry about that when you get some actually aquatic plants ^_^ and no worries, a lot of us have fallen victim to the PetCo/PetSmart tube plants that aren't actually aquatic!

 

[beaslbob]

I would try some micro or chain swords and perhaps a "twig" or two of anacharis.

I would plant them for a week to lets things stabilize and they try a "feeder" guppy and not add food for a week. Then feed a single flake per day.

Once the feeder guppy lives for a couple of weeks or so then return it or give it away and try the betta.

Feed lightly like a couple of pellets per day for the betta. Good idea also that during the first week of the betta to not add food.

FWIW I had a betta live for years in that type of environment.

my .02

corrected copy. :shock:

 

[TFKLeo]

lilnaugrim and beaslbob

Thank you both very much for your experienced input.
I already removed those plants from my nano "Goblet" and now it's just this empty globe with substrate... thank, I think .. LOL

I can't wait to restock it with real aquatic plants... how naive could I be.
I can't believe PETCO would do that to me!
I'll try to re-use those plants in a terrarium.

I will definitely try out both your recommendations in terms of plant selection to my particular set up and "design" recommendation.

One more question... I'm very interested in mosses, like the Java Moss. I like the way they look. Is there a moss that would work in my particular environment? I know they don't use the substrate.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[beaslbob]

lilnaugrim and beaslbob

Thank you both very much for your experienced input.
I already removed those plants from my nano "Goblet" and now it's just this empty globe with substrate... thank, I think .. LOL

I can't wait to restock it with real aquatic plants... how naive could I be.
I can't believe PETCO would do that to me!
I'll try to re-use those plants in a terrarium.

I will definitely try out both your recommendations in terms of plant selection to my particular set up and "design" recommendation.

One more question... I'm very interested in mosses, like the Java Moss. I like the way they look. Is there a moss that would work in my particular environment? I know they don't use the substrate.

Thanks again for your input.

I've never used moss in a fw tanks but recommend a moss like macro algae (chaetomorphia) for marine tanks. They just grow to whatever container they are in.
I have heard of people tying moss to background grids with success. So perhaps moss would be a good choice for your tank.

my .02

 

[lilnaugrim]

There are millions of freshwater mosses that you can use. Java Moss is one of the easiest to cultivate, it doesn't need a whole heck of a lot of light, but it will appreciate it if you can put some sort of desktop lamp over top with a nice little mini CFL in it that is one of those Daylight bulbs from wal-mart. (Desk top lamp = $10-15, mini CFL Daylight package of 3 = $2.88) and have that on a few hours a day! You can push parts of the moss into the substrate as well and it will grow out. I recommend getting some craft mesh from wal-mart as well, a couple bucks for a pack of 6 or so, and then you can tie the moss to that and have it almost like a backdrop, or you can lay it across the substrate for the moss to grow up and out of so it doesn't float away constantly. The idea's are endless! You can look up Moss wall on google to find some ideas ;-)

 

[TFKLeo]

Thank for Java Moss suggestions - my nano tank

Thanks lilnaugrim

Realy nice suggestions about the Java Moss... I would like to try this and ad light maybe later.

The pictures shown are taken only with ambient window light. And as you can see the container (Goblet) is quite small, but I think it will be fun trying to make the micro-scape inside this vessel.

I would like to ad fish, but I think its too early to see if even the plants will live or rot, and I don't have a way yet to find out if the water quality is OK for even a Betta.

Thanks for your input. ... I'll have to see what you're working on.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Looking good so far! Just be careful, on Java Fern and Anubias there is a little green stick thing called a Rhizome, it's where the roots come out of at the base of the leaves. That should not be buried at all and be clearly above the substrate so it can breathe. Sorry, I forgot to mention that earlier! You can still have the roots buried, but just not the rhizome is all.

The ambient light is okay, but you aren't going to see a lot of growth from your plants until you have real light in there. A regular desktop lamp will do just fine, you don't need anything super fancy ^_^

I can show you my nano tanks if you want any sort of reference. They're a lot different from yours, so don't be discouraged or anything!

 

[TFKLeo]

lilnaugrim I would be happy to see your tanks. 'Promise not be discouraged, I know I'm a newbie

 

[lilnaugrim]

Haha, okay. I need to take more pictures today but this is what I right now at least while I'm at work.
This is a 4 gallon grass tank I'm working on. Still trying to tame everything a little more. There is a young Paradisefish in there right now, he'll be moving out soon to grow up a little more


I'll update this picture when I get home but you get the gist. Another grass tank with a young Betta in it for now. This is a 1.5 Tetra Cube tank, upgraded light to a SolarFlare LED 6,700K to get my grass to grow ^_^


I have some java moss in a bowl with driftwood as well, no fish or invert inhabitants though. I can get that picture later. For now, because I can, here's my 29 gallon, my pride and joy as far as my tanks go ;-) It needs a trim on the dwarf water lettuce up top but, so far so good! Not a nano of course, but I keep primarily nano fish in this tank so I can have more fish versus just a few:

 

[TFKLeo]

Right.... Thanks so much for sharing ... this is very interesting for me.
I sent a private message.... because I'm so naive I could not figure out what happened to my first reply to you and then I notice a reply in my email from you, that I was expecting to see on the forum .... I did not realize my thread had HAS A SECOND PAGE ...so here I am <Chreshire Cat grin>. .. So now I see your reply with your latest projects... thanks so much for obliging. Really interesting stuff you have going on. You inspire me for sure.

'Can't wait to get me first betta, but I want to wait until the water is safe.... going about 6 days since nano tank was set up.
I will probably get a light sooner than later as you suggested to get a quicker plant growth... I haven't seen any changes in my plants yet... LOL
Chat ya later

 

[lilnaugrim]

Hah, no problem! I'm always happy for a chance to show off my tanks ;-)

Yeah...that happens sometimes, I'll look at a thread and not realize that there are like six more pages to read and then I comment and feel stupid after haha. It happens! No worries!

 

[TFKLeo]

Hey... I bet a lot has changed with your tanks since June... they were already LUSH when I had a look...
Well, I'm having some luck since your supportive input... The plants I installed just after I removed the first ones have grown quite a bit, no dying off at all... just nice growth with only window light. And no I have a betta!

'Not sure how this work ... posting this link to my albums ...
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/members/203658/album/my-first-low-tech-tank-28234/
Did that link work?
Cheers

 

[TFKLeo]

29 gallon tank .. well done!

 

[lilnaugrim]

Fantastic! Glad everything is working out better for you! The bowl looks nice