# 2.5g Mini bow - Do I dare?



## Impatient (Nov 12, 2007)

Got a betta through a friend back in July. Named him Murray and decided that he needed bigger digs.

Murray now calls a 2.5 gallon Minibow home and he seems fairly happy. Only have enough room in the tank for one friend for him: Todd the Inca Gold Snail. Since he's on the kitchen counter, I won't be getting a bigger tank any time soon. (And apparently, Murray loves to watch me cook!)

It's been about 5 months and aside from a frustrating algae issue, things have been going well. The tank wasn't planted _at all_ but I figured if I can grow algae that easily, plants might do well too. Now I'm addicted and Murray loves the plants! I've got some Rotala, a couple of Crypt wenditii and 2 Anubias nanas.

So after surfing around the forums and articles online, I think I could probably set up a nice little "nano" style NPT for Murray. Dying to just jump in and go for it, but I'm kinda chicken.

-How dangerous would it be to start up and start cycling with Murray and Todd in the tank? Pros/Cons?

-If I set it up, can Murray go in right away? I don't have space for another tank if not. He'd be relegated to a bowl (aka big honkin' beer stein) until he could go in.

-The crypts have been in for about 2 weeks, the Rotala and Anubias have barely been in for a week. If I uproot them now and start from scratch, will it kill them?

-For the bottle test, I would treat the water as I would for Murray, right? So soil, gravel, conditioned water. How long should I let that sit to know if it's okay?

-I've been having a hard time keeping my GH and KH up but I just found out the "unsoftened tap" I thought I was using actually puts out softened water - could this be the culprit? If not, suggestions for correcting?

I've changed some of the original equipment that comes with the tank: 15w incandescent replaced by 11w compact fluorescent since the 15w was making the water too warm. The light is on for about 12-14 hours per day. Whisper filter to be replaced by Red Sea Nano unit (thanks to a poster on this board for that heads up!)

I think I've bucked myself up enough to do it, but I have to wait. I just bought a piece of driftwood to go in and it apparently needs to soak for a week or so before using it.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Yea, it should work great. the main issue is finding plants that won't get too big for the tank. you want a mix of rooted plants and fast growing floating plants.

Your water softener swaps sodium for calcium and magnesium. You could use bottled drinking water since the tank is so small. I'd test it first to see what it's like. You can also add crushed coral or crushed oystershell to the soil.

I'd think you'd know if the soil is going to cooperate in a week from the bottle test. if it does, you should be fine to set up the tank and add the creatures back. The soil I'm using is instantly cycled, so I generally set up the tank, test the water the next day to confirm if's happy and then add creatures.

Here's a couple of articles on how I do it
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTankDmeo.html


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Impatient said:


> Got a betta through a friend back in July. Named him Murray and decided that he needed bigger digs.
> 
> Murray now calls a 2.5 gallon Minibow home and he seems fairly happy. Only have enough room in the tank for one friend for him: Todd the Inca Gold Snail. Since he's on the kitchen counter, I won't be getting a bigger tank any time soon. (And apparently, Murray loves to watch me cook!)
> 
> ...


Due to errows I made with play sand, I ending up with a recyled tank. The ph spiked a bit but the plants kept the amonia down. I had let the dirt air out. I use cheap organic top soil from home depot. It only cost $1. I couldn't find small gravel so I used sand. First play sand. Then went to pool sand. I ended up with a white misty look in the tank. Read at this site that it's normal for a newly set up tank. I added activated carbon to the hang on filter. After about a week and a few water changes the white cloud went away. Now the tank looks great. My betta and 2 cory's didn't suffer. Here are 2 sites that give a brief synopis of Ms Walstad book on a NPT tank: http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTankDemo.html


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