# 2.5gal El Natural



## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

I'm seriously contemplating a 2.5 gal El Natural tank. Is this doable or is it insane?


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## Nilla_Wafers (Jul 21, 2007)

HEY!!!!

Goldbarb its me fish_monger from fishindex. when is the sitecomeing back up?

The answer to your question is yes its doable.


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## Nilla_Wafers (Jul 21, 2007)

Especially you i've seen your tanks.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

An NPT is doable in anything from a petri dish to a 200+ gal tank!

-ricardo


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## StevenLeeds (Jul 21, 2007)

I have two 2.5 gallon tanks. Both are setup exactly the same and have been running for about six months now. I don't think they would qualify as completely El Natural but I figured I would share my experience with them.

Lighting - 13watt CFL - 6500k and a couple hours of sunlight from the window they sit in front of in the morning hours.

Filtration - Red Sea Nano HOB - provides mostly mechanical filtration and water circulation. I wash the media weekly in city tap water so the bio filtration is minimal. I do it that way only because it is quicker.

Substrate - Common aquarium gravel.

Plants - Both are heavily planted with Wisteria and Water Sprite. I trim the wisteria about every week and a half and they stay quite short and bushy. Both tanks are jungles though...

Fish - One male Betta - 3 very small oto's - 2 very small julii cory's - 3 amano shrimp - There is a one eyed "ghost shrimp" in the one tank too. It's kind of fun watching him punk the cory's for the food wafer and disappear into the plants with it...

Feeding - Betta's are fed twice a day, flakes and dried shrimp in the morning and dried worms in the afternoon. The corry's get a wafer and three shrimp pellets every other day plus anything that sinks from the Betta. The shrimp and the oto's take care of the algae and the left overs.

I do follow seachem's dosing schedule using the full spectrum of their product line and the tanks get a small water change in the middle of the week and a 50% change weekly. Algae growth is normal and provides enough food for the oto's.

The fish are happy, well colored, active, they eat well and the water chemistry is spot on. Has been since they were first setup. First tank was setup using substrate, a hunk of filter material and water from a community tank. I over planted it and added the betta right away. It was a rescue operation and I didn't want to keep it in a bowl so I rushed the process and then slowly added the other fish.

The second tank was setup and the cycle was helped along with filter material from the other tank and planted with plant clippings from the first tank. Ended up with another betta rescue about the time the tank was stable. It's now heavily planted and both filters get washed in tap water.

They're beautiful tanks and the kids have a blast watching them. I suppose I could lower the bio load a bit and completely do away with filter and ferts but the cleanup crew do such a good job at keeping the tank looking nice I don't plan on changin things any. The fish in there will get relocated and replaced as they get larger to other tanks.

Hope some of this helps...

Cheers,
Steven


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Well, I'm probably gonna give it a shot. I'll be getting some natural soil and I'll probably grab a few plants from my other tanks. I'm thinking the only inhabitants will be a couple of Otos and probably a Betta or a pair of Dwarf Platies. Ferts will simply be by a little extra food.
One thing I'm not clear on with an El Natural tank is about the heater. Use one or not?


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

ILuvMyGoldBarb said:


> Well, I'm probably gonna give it a shot. I'll be getting some natural soil and I'll probably grab a few plants from my other tanks. I'm thinking the only inhabitants will be a couple of Otos and probably a Betta or a pair of Dwarf Platies. Ferts will simply be by a little extra food.
> One thing I'm not clear on with an El Natural tank is about the heater. Use one or not?


Of course you can use a heater! I have a heater in my 10g El Natural tank and all if fine.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

It depends on what your room temp is and if the fish need to be warmer.
With a heater in that amount of water you take the chance of toasting them if the heater malfunctions.

Betta do like it up in the high 70s. dunno about ottos.

What kinda plants are you going to use?
You need a mix of rooted and floating plants at first.
Here's how I set up my 5 gallon hex.
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTankDemo.html


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Red_Rose said:


> Of course you can use a heater!


It wasn't a question of *if* it was a question of do you use one in a NPT. My house temp stays at 74 year round and I can get my hands on a small low watt heater.

Haven't quite decided on what fish to use. I more than likely will not be able go completely natural with this since I have no place to put the tank where it will get any amount of sun, I may just end up doing a regular nano planted tank with a soil substrate.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

ILuvMyGoldBarb said:


> It wasn't a question of *if* it was a question of do you use one in a NPT. My house temp stays at 74 year round and I can get my hands on a small low watt heater.
> 
> Haven't quite decided on what fish to use. I more than likely will not be able go completely natural with this since I have no place to put the tank where it will get any amount of sun, I may just end up doing a regular nano planted tank with a soil substrate.


[smilie=r: Chill out. I was merely saying that a heater can be used in this type of set up. Next time, be [B]specific[/B] when asking a question. Instead of saying _"One thing I'm not clear on with an El Natural tank is about the heater. Use one or not?"_ you should've said _"I don't know if I need a heater because my house stays a certain temperature year round"_. Remember that for next time.

Also, depending on what type of fish you get, a heater may be necessary even if your house stays at 74F. Bettas, for example, like their water temperature to be from 78-84F. They don't do well in cooler water so if you plan on getting a heater, remember that you get what you pay for meaning if you're just looking for something cheap, it's probably cheaply made. You can easily use a 25watt heater for a 2.5 gallon with no problems.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

My 10w buld warms the tank about 2-5oF, so in winter we keep it at 70-72F, so the tank is around 72-77.

It all depends.

Haven't gone through a winter yet with the betta, so well see.


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

I think I've pretty much settled on getting a desk lamp to light the tank with. I really have no place to put the tank to give it any sunlight of any kind. Any place that it could go would be withing reach of my 19 month old daughter.  I'll probably go ahead and pick up a small heater as well. Only thing I have left to figure out is my filtration. I'm still shopping around for a good HOB. I don't want an internal filter, I want as much room in the tank as possible. I've seen the small ones around, I just need to find them again.


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## StevenLeeds (Jul 21, 2007)

Red Sea Nano HOB filter. I have two of them and have had no problems. 12.99 at Petco. I've seen them cheaper online.

Tetra 50 watt Submersible heater - 9.99 at Wal-Mart I think it was. Small and easily hidden preset to 78 degrees. Keeps the bettas happy and the water at a stable temp.

Both of these have worked well for mw in my 2.5 gallon tanks

I decided against desk lamps for them because of cats and kids. Went with the glass top. Trimmed an inch or so of the width of the glass for the heater wire and HOB filter. If you can't cut it yourself I'm sure you could get someone at a local hardware store to cut it. I used the Perfecto 12" light strip and have 13 watt 6500k pigtail fluorecents in both.

Cheers,
Stven


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

I'm actually planning on an open top for this tank. I'm wanting my plants to grow submersed and immersed as well. I'm thinking a nice looking Crypt and some hairgrass would do really nice. More than likely gonna stick with just a betta and an otto.


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## StevenLeeds (Jul 21, 2007)

I'd really like to see some pictures of your tank when you get it going. I've been thinking about doing a tank similar to yours with an open top. I'm most interested in the light you go with. There are a few out there that would fit with legs on the tank.

Consider that bettas do sometimes jump from tanks. Mine get punchy when I feed them but I've never had them jump out. That made my decision for me when it came to a closed top.

Oto's are much more productive and happy I would assume in pairs or more. I had single oto's in the tanks for awhile and all they would do is hide. Three in each now and they are always out and eating... My cory's are the same way. Happier in pairs.

I planted mine with wisteria and water sprite. Weekly trimming for awhile has them growing more bushy than tall now. Both of the tanks are pretty much jungles at this point.

Cheers,
Steven


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

I've never really had a problem with my Otos in singles. They've always done fine for me. Never had a Betta jump on me but of course it doesn't eliminate the possibility that it might. Still got some time though so I'll see what I come up with.


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

I've noticed my otos seem happier in groups and without threats.


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## dymndgyrl (Jan 22, 2007)

cross posted, sorry


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