Re-Designing My Tank

Hey Guys! Well since X-Mas I have had a 6 gallon acrylic tank with 3 female
bettas. And it is WAY over filtered! Recently my oldest female passed
away. I am guessing from old age. She was 3 years old. Idk why but it
inspired me to start fresh! I am going to clean up an empty ten gallon
I have laying around! I am also going to switch to sand because it is
so pretty and so easy to clean! I want to do like a Japanese/Buddha
theme with like Buddhas and ruins and stuff like that. I saw a video
today where someone had a ten gallon split into a seven and three
gallon with a divider. In the seven they had a few female bettas and in
the three they had one male betta. Does this seem okay? I kinda want to
try it out! I found a divider for a ten gallon at Big Al's Online for
only like $8. I have a twenty gallon Marineland filter that I would
like to use, but which side would it go on, the seven gallon? Do
dividers mess up the filtering? Any suggestions would be great!
-Thanks!

Hi and welcome :D That set up would be fine. Most dividers like the penplax type have holes already pre-drilled so there should be no issue with the flow circulating to the rest of the tank. If your divider doesn't have holes then I would drill them in but don't make them large enough for your Bettas to try to poke their heads through!!! We all know how quickly they can get into trouble :lol!:

Look forward to seeing pics once you get it up and running

Thanks! I was also wondering, what's the smallest tank a betta can be in? I will definitely post pics, but it might be awhile because I am planning on doing all this after my birthday which is at the end of the month! I can't wait!

I think its 3 gal per fish which is about 13.6 UK litres

Hi Reptileluver
The minimum size tank for a single Betta is a much discussed subject, and varies tremendously.
In my opinion 3 gallons (UK) would be the minimum. This would be big enough to allow the inclusion of a small heater and filter, and a few plants etc. Any smaller, and once you have substrate, heater, decor etc...the actually water capacity will be quite small.

I calculated some stuff and would 2.489 gallons be okay?

I also just tested my tap water pH and it came back between 6.4-6.6 So do you think it would be okay to use coral sand?

Or what about this sand? Sorry if the link is long-[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hi
Bettas are pretty easy when it comes to Ph :D Anywhere between 6 - 8 Ph is normally fine. The only thing to bear in mind is when you buy one from an LFS, their Ph maybe lower than that of yours, so remember to acclimatise them over a longer period of time by adding half a cup of tank water to their bag every 15 mins, over an hour. Ph shock is a bigger killer of fish than people realise, and is probably more of a shock than a big temperature difference.
With 2.5g, as long as you keep up regular water changes he should be fine :D

Black sand or white? Which do you think would look better? Also thanks for all the feedback!

Hi again:)

I wouldn't personally use sand design for a marine tank. It will raise the Ph as well as introduce lots of other minerals not suited to freshwater. That is unless it says safe for freshwater:)
There are the equivelant sands for freshwater, but perhaps one of the other American members will know what makes you have:)

White sand looks awesome when new and fresh, but unfortunately discolours quite quickly:(

So black? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Looks nice :D black really shows of the colours of fish well with nice white lighting :D

I am making a wishlist on Big Al's Online of all the stuff I want for the tank and oh I have already added like $120 worth of stuff. But I just love decorating a new tank! And do you think earthy gravel looks good or should I go for the sand idea?

:lol!: Dont you just love window shopping:)

Yeah I just can't decide if I want to do black sand or earthy gravel! Gosh!

Decisions decisions :D

Having seen a few tanks now with the black sand....I think that would be our next choice....it looks great and doesn't show the dirt so much and your decor would show up nicely against it

Ok thanks!

Black sand will always be my first choice now I have 2 tanks with it. I have white sand in one tank and white gravel in another and it looks dreadful after just 24 hours of cleaning it.