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I have a small one gallon tank which has a betta I just did a water change today and added water chlor out. I've had the tank setup for a week now, but how often do I need to clean the gravel filter?
Thanks for the advice
BL

As long as you do not overfeed your single betta and keep up water changes, it may be years before you have to break down the aquarium or clean the under gravel filter.

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Really that's awesome thanks again,
BL

in a 1g, i'd actually do it once every 6 months, unless its heavily planted etc, but you can just take the top off of the uplift tube and stick a small syphon down there and suck the gunge out from under the filter plate without removing it

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Not exactly the question you asked...but if you do decide that the UGF becomes too much trouble to maintain. The 1 gallon with a single betta will be fine without a filter. I've kept a betta in 5 gallon hex that had no filtration at all.
I will say that I really don't like UGF's especially in a community tank. In a tank with as low stocking as yours it may not make the mess that I saw in a used tank I bought. The UGF plates weren't even maintained so that when I picked it up the water that was pulled out from under the plates was almost solid brown !. YUCK!

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it could be a while before it needs cleaning with only one betta

Not being derisory or anything but surely you could get a bigger tank than one gallon? Seems a bit mean to me to give a fish that little swimming space.

If you got a bigger tank perhaps you could get it a friend and if you had more room you could get a nice internal filter and grow some nicer plants too. Were not talking about spending a fortune here.

Must be a boring life sat in a one gallon... no friends...I could count the silicone seals.. 1 ...2 ..

Well I had a problem without cleaning the bottom of the tank. my bettas fins started rotting away so I took him out and saved some of his water and cleaned the whole thing by rinsing it out, then putting it bk together.
BL
Ps. what type of syphon could be small enough to fit down a 2in tube? What brand is it?

I am thinking of setting up a bigger tank could you go to my post: 20 gal or less at college in "getting started" and what plants do u recommend LHG?
Thanks



Last edited by bettalife at 22-Oct-2005 21:57

Ive had great luck with echinodorus palaefolius (big but beautiful) ,echinodorus latifolius,limnobium laevigatum ( indestructible floating plant),java fern,proserpinaca pectinata ( supposed to be hard but a doddle if you keep nipping the tops off and replanting them and lastly hygrophilia polysperma ( tough as they come).

All these plants are tough,and grow really fast, thusly actually making an impact on the nitrate.I cant be bothered with co2 but do use fertiliser. My tanks generally have one plant growth bulb and one tropical light, beyond that I can be bothered to make special efforts for the plants, so you should find the species I mentioned suitable, and fast growing.

Heres a piccy of my 30 gal tetra tank with most of the aforementioned plants included. Should be just as easy in a 20.

I dont really bother with them much,its not bad, the plants are there more for the fish than for me.Low maintenance is my thing.All the plants in this tank were uprooted a week ago when I made the change to black gravel,point being they survive abuse and keep doing so. The echinoda is 5 years old and I have 6 others that are bigger in my other tanks.All the plants in that tank are from cuttings and splittings , and theyve been going collectively for over 4-5 years in tanks with hugely varying water conditions. Cant go wrong with them. If you put a bit more effort into aquascaping than I do, you could make them look really good.Myself , I like the slightly scruffy natural look.

Between the ottos and the siamese flyers in that tank I never get algae problems on them either, although algae is prevented from getting a foothold partially by the plants themselves.It should be noted I havent scraped any algae off that tank for 3 months or more.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/longhairedgit/IMG_3902.jpg



Last edited by longhairedgit at 29-Oct-2005 01:27

Well, I'm really not a fan of ugfs in general. Too many ppl say they've had problems. But in a one gallon tank? really, what's the point. I'd pop him in a five or a ten with a low flow filter. I just put mine in a ten gal and the whisper filter was very weak with almost imperceptible flow (I know, bettas don't like current, they like stagnant pond water), but when the film appeared on the water's surface I immediately upgraded to an AC hob. The smallest one they make and it works great.
I kinda agree with LHG, a one gal is kinda little, I'd go with at least a five, and mebbe put a cat or two in with him.

Yeah undergravels suck bigtime, although a good buddy of mine grows java fern with them no problem and has some other plants bound to his bogwood, so its not totally impossible to grow plants with a ugf.Java tends to have a solid wood base and doesnt tend to extend large root networks into the gravel, so ugf's dont really bother them. My tetra tank runs on a four chambered eheim aquaball. Its my afterthought tank, but hey it works, and the water tests ok. A good fertiliser is a must though, ive used the tetra stuff just fine before, although at the moment I use tropica master grow.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 12-Dec-2005 04:11

Hi Betta,
I think you would get more knowledgeable answers, faster,
if you deleted this last post and instead asked the
question in the Hospital Section, or the Labyrinth Lounge.

Frank


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