ko57 wrote:
Thanks for your input, Gill-

I'm waiting to introduce any fish, keeping an eye on the heater-plugged
in and unplugged, how it relates to our fluctuating temperatures day &
night. So far, inside today, no house heaters-it's moderate at 74
degrees, the tank heater's not plugged in and hood light off the water
was 74 also. About half an hour ago I plugged it in, barely nudging
the lever, it hadn't come on and if so not right away, so at least it
does have an off or close to that setting. About 74.5 degrees now,
nudged the lever a bit more. If I put it to the arrow that it suggests
my tank the first night got up to 84d, so I unplugged it.

I realize the water especially in the smaller tanks might need more
careful maintenance. Gill, can you give me an idea of how much and how
frequent your water changes are? I'm wondering if you do something
like 20% once a week for say 3 weeks then at the fourth week maybe a
larger percentage? Any tips on this would be appreciated also. I got
my equipment at WalMart; I've seen testing strips that include the
ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph and perhaps a couple of other things on
one strip that I can order off the web if Wal doesn't have that. I
wanted to get those little strip thermometers that go on the outside
glass-about $1.49-for a quick look, and noticed they have the gravel
vacs, so will probably stop in this evening.

I notice that gravel dust looks like it's on the surface of the water
like a "pool", maybe slime?? Doesn't cover the top totally but it's
floating-I'd definitely say from the gravel. I'll check the filter
inlet tube, I don't think it would be clogged but... Do you think the
vacuum would clear that and the dust that settled on the rocks? If not
I guess I'll take everything out & do a final rinse with anti-chlor
added to my rinse water. When I got the kit, I noticed the blue filter
packs were out of stock. I'll probably order a supply of those to hold
me over.

I read where tetras might want cooler water-74-76 or so, where as I
believe the bettas can have a little warmer water, perhaps not so much
an issue in the summer. I think the tank will be fine in the summer,
the ac is opposite the wall of the tank, I can turn vents toward or
away as needed. I am leaning toward a betta, just need to get the tank
water right and take the plunge.

Thanks Gill, your comments opened my eyes a bit more, the bettas are
cute, they are playful, I just would want to keep it healthy. If you
have any more advice, especially about your water changing routine I'd
love to hear about it, I'm sure that would be helpful to a few of us
newbe's out here.

Best regards,

ko57
in s.e. Louisiana, where the weather seems to change every 5 minutes


Basically I have a weekly maintenance routine on all the tanks....the
betta tanks get around a 15-20% change once a week. The water is treated
for chlorine/chloramine and heavy metals....this is no different to the
way I treat all of my tanks unless there is a specific problem. A 15-20%
change on a small tank though is a lot quicker to do than on one of the
47.5UK gall tanks :-)

On the dust problem, I would say almost certainly it is coming out of
the gravel. As you have no fish as yet it might be worth taking it out
and doing a few more rinses....I'm a little bit fanatical on rinsing my
gravel before putting it into a new tank mainly as I see a little bit
more effort at the start gives better results....I do know others that
are not so fanatical that still get very good results as the dust
settles....very much how you feel about it and how important it is...

The temp control in these small tanks is forever worrying me but then I
look at the fish and see that they are happy and content and wonder if I
worry too much. In the summer when it gets really warm I vent the tanks
by leaving part of the hood open - you get a bit more evaporation but I
compensate by doing an extra water change if nec (I don't top up as this
just concentrates minerals etc....).

In terms of heating, I just checked my two betta tanks that are in the
same room within a couple of feet of eachother...the heater was on
briefly in Boris's tank next to the back door but off in Bob's tank
which is further into the room. In the summer, unless we get a chill
evening, I don't expect either heater to come on...they are just there
to stop any wild temp fluctuations especially as the house cools
considerably at night at this time of year when the heating goes off at
night - this is more to keep a constant minimum rather than heat the
water up to a max. The best bet is to set the thermostat to the optimum
temperature required by the fish that you chose and just watch for any
over heating and address as necessary. That way you ensure that they do
not get chilled....

Gill

In UK where the temp has suddenly dipped from 15C to around 2C max in a
few days...sneezing like anything - got my winter cold :-(