Overwhelmed newbie, please help!

[Megann194]

Hi all,

complete newbie but so happy i found this forums considering the overwhelming information that’s out there these days!

Basically, im planning on getting a 50ltr tank in the near future and i want to make sure i am as prepared as possible and know what im doing. I’ve had a read up this week and joined a few facebook groups but in all honestly, it’s left more confused than i was in the first placE.

I want to have a male betta in a live planted tank, preferable with a soil substrate ( im under the impression this is best option for the plants). I’ve also thought about having a ‘clean up crew’ in there with the lil fella too, I’ve been advised amano shrimp and nerite and horned nerite snails.

I’m under the impression i need to fully cycle the tank with plants before adding any live fish but can add the shrimp/snails during cycling process.. is this correct? I had no intention of putting the betta in until cycled anyways but adding the shrimp/snails during cycling thrown me but also.

so, without rambling like a confused lunatic ill cut to the chase. I have a few questions and looking for any good advice for a new live planted/betta tank owner if possible please

is it worth having shrimp/snails? Do i add them during cycling or leave till after?
is soil substrate the best way to go? If so which type/brand? And how on earth do i clean muck of the top without disturbing the soil?
whats the best plants for a beginnnger? and lastly am i biting off more than i can chew with this task?

Any advice is much appreciated and thank you in advance

 

[seedoubleyou]

Have a look at a YouTube channel called green aqua, they have a whole playlist dedicated to setting up your first planted tank.
This will give you a good foundation to build on.

Have a look through the beginner section on this forum too.

If you do Instagram, then check out plentyofbettas, she’s an employee at @Horizon Aquatics and has a niche for Betta fish, you may find some inspiration and good advice there.

(You’re right to be baffled about adding any living creatures during the cycling process, this absolutely should not be done)
Cheers,
Chris.

 

[Megann194]

Have a look at a YouTube channel called green aqua, they have a whole playlist dedicated to setting up your first planted tank.
This will give you a good foundation to build on.

Have a look through the beginner section on this forum too.

If you do Instagram, then check out plentyofbettas, she’s an employee at @Horizon Aquatics and has a niche for Betta fish, you may find some inspiration and good advice there.

(You’re right to be baffled about adding any living creatures during the cycling process, this absolutely should not be done)
Cheers,
Chris.

Oh amazing I’ll definitely have a look at that YouTube page. And ofc the instagram page anything betta related is a winner!

didnnot many any sense to me about adding them during the cycling process but then again there’s so many different ways of cycling that I’ve found too!

 

[MichaelJ]

Hi all,

complete newbie but so happy i found this forums considering the overwhelming information that’s out there these days!

Basically, im planning on getting a 50ltr tank in the near future and i want to make sure i am as prepared as possible and know what im doing. I’ve had a read up this week and joined a few facebook groups but in all honestly, it’s left more confused than i was in the first placE.

I want to have a male betta in a live planted tank, preferable with a soil substrate ( im under the impression this is best option for the plants). I’ve also thought about having a ‘clean up crew’ in there with the lil fella too, I’ve been advised amano shrimp and nerite and horned nerite snails.

I’m under the impression i need to fully cycle the tank with plants before adding any live fish but can add the shrimp/snails during cycling process.. is this correct? I had no intention of putting the betta in until cycled anyways but adding the shrimp/snails during cycling thrown me but also.

so, without rambling like a confused lunatic ill cut to the chase. I have a few questions and looking for any good advice for a new live planted/betta tank owner if possible please

is it worth having shrimp/snails? Do i add them during cycling or leave till after?
is soil substrate the best way to go? If so which type/brand? And how on earth do i clean muck of the top without disturbing the soil?
whats the best plants for a beginnnger? and lastly am i biting off more than i can chew with this task?

Any advice is much appreciated and thank you in advance

Start out with getting the tank up and running and matured before worrying about livestock!

Setup the tank with some decent substrate. Plants will grow in just about anything. If you plan on bottom dwellers such as shrimps, Cory's, Oto's make sure the substrate is not too coarse - finer substrate is better.

Make sure your filter provide decent surface agitation - add aeration if possible. Since you're going to keep Betta eventually, you don't want it to be a torrential storm in there of course.

Plant as densely as possible from the get go - buy cheap fast growing plants in the easy category - you can always slowly exchange plants as the tank grows in.

Remember some floating plants such as Frogbit to provide shade and security for the livestock - and the floating plants is an excellent gauge for the nutrient health of your tank.

Don't add too much hardscape such as rocks to compensate for the lack of plants - plants, that's the key!

Add a complete fertilizer such as TNC Complete / ATP Complete from day one!

Add some botanicals such as Indian almond leaves. (don't forget this one!)

Do frequent water changes for the first couple of weeks. Say 50% twice a week - remember to dechlorinate the water especially if your using straight tap water, and don't forget to add fertilizer afterwards.

When you start seeing some good new growth and a bit of mulm/dirt buildup from plant decay etc. then take an ammonia measurement which at that time should be near zero (unless your using rich aqua soil - in that case, it may take longer).

Wait a week or so, do the test again, If its all zero your can add livestock, but do it SLOWLY - one species at the time. If you do not have much biofilm or algae at this time you shouldn't add snails or fish that predominately eat algae unless you supplement with algae wafters - shrimps would have to be fed that anyway if you add those.

Often you would have some Blue Green "Algae" (Cyanobacteria) and Diatom "algae" at this time - don't worry about it, it will go away as the tank matures further.

At this time you can dial down the water change frequency to once a week.

Thats it! Enjoy! ... for long term success make sure you keep everything stable - maintenance, water changes, fertilizer dosing etc.

Welcome to UKAPS

Cheers,
Michael

 

[The Miniaturist]

Hi there,
I can appreciate you feeling daunted, there must be dozens of "how to plant the perfect tank" videos out there & they will all be different! A far cry from the fish book, air powered filter & bag of gravel I started with!
I say yes to the above posts regarding starting a new tank, the last thing you add is the livestock but ramshorn snails can be added as the tank matures to act as cleanup crew.
Why don't you start a journal & document each step of the way then you can ask questions as you go along?
That way you will get answers as you need them & it will make more sense.
A lot of keeping low tech tanks is routine, water changes, fertilizing, plant trimming etc. though sometimes getting a stable environment can be tricky. The rest is just enjoying your hard work!
I would suggest if you plan on having a betta with long flowing fins that you don't have too many twiggy branches to snag them on & cause damage.
Anyway, looking forward to photos & questions, don't be afraid to ask. 😊

 

[Myrtle]

Hi! For reference, this is the tank I've recently set up for my Betta; they're B. imbellis, so not the fancy finned type, but still in the splendens complex.

This tank is a 60cm one with sand over a tropica substrate. The most important environmental factors for Betta are lots of nooks ad crannies, good overhead plant cover (mine is lacking this right now), multiple levels of hardscape or stiff leaves to rest on higher up the tank and, importantly for the fancy finned varieties, no sharp edges/sticks that they can rip their fins on. The imbellis are short finned so this isn't an issue for me, but it's a consideration for any long finned fish anyway. Betta do prefer lower light levels, but the domestic splendens usually labelled as Fighting FIsh are less fussy. Obviously tastes in tank styles can be very different and it doesn't have to be in this style, I just thought a pic of a planted Betta tank might help This one was made using the contents of a previous tank, so the fast growing stems are already gone. If you're interested in a dirted/soil tank, the Betta tank in my signature documents that

 

[Megann194]

Hi there,
I can appreciate you feeling daunted, there must be dozens of "how to plant the perfect tank" videos out there & they will all be different! A far cry from the fish book, air powered filter & bag of gravel I started with!
I say yes to the above posts regarding starting a new tank, the last thing you add is the livestock but ramshorn snails can be added as the tank matures to act as cleanup crew.
Why don't you start a journal & document each step of the way then you can ask questions as you go along?
That way you will get answers as you need them & it will make more sense.
A lot of keeping low tech tanks is routine, water changes, fertilizing, plant trimming etc. though sometimes getting a stable environment can be tricky. The rest is just enjoying your hard work!
I would suggest if you plan on having a betta with long flowing fins that you don't have too many twiggy branches to snag them on & cause damage.
Anyway, looking forward to photos & questions, don't be afraid to ask. 😊

100% planning to keep a journey throughout the process form planning to set up and ofc the maintenence so least then if god forbid anything goes wrong i have some sort of record of everything from water levels, to when changes were done, anything added or taken away from the aquarium. It’s just gettting my head around the initial set up that’s got me puzzled. But im so glad i found this site, I’ve had more reliable and consistent information in the last 24 hours than i have in two weeks on various better/aquascaping pages, so a lil less overwhelmed!

I’m planning on having a log finned male betta so i think I’ll avoid twigs all together just to be safe. ive had a look at the coconuts on Tropica site that Have the moss growing on, do you think theyd be ok for the betta i was thinking the one with double entrances, there’s also a tree on Tropica with moss growing on and doesn’t seem to have twigs from it.. would this be a lil too complicated to start with or just not worth bothering with, more for my taste than anything so not fussed if i dont have the tree thing or the caves hides with moss growing on..

Hi! For reference, this is the tank I've recently set up for my Betta; they're B. imbellis, so not the fancy finned type, but still in the splendens complex.
View attachment 205550
This tank is a 60cm one with sand over a tropica substrate. The most important environmental factors for Betta are lots of nooks ad crannies, good overhead plant cover (mine is lacking this right now), multiple levels of hardscape or stiff leaves to rest on higher up the tank and, importantly for the fancy finned varieties, no sharp edges/sticks that they can rip their fins on. The imbellis are short finned so this isn't an issue for me, but it's a consideration for any long finned fish anyway. Betta do prefer lower light levels, but the domestic splendens usually labelled as Fighting FIsh are less fussy. Obviously tastes in tank styles can be very different and it doesn't have to be in this style, I just thought a pic of a planted Betta tank might help This one was made using the contents of a previous tank, so the fast growing stems are already gone. If you're interested in a dirted/soil tank, the Betta tank in my signature documents that

that’s amazing to see i think that’s a lil too woody for my fella as ill be planning to get a long finned one but amazing to see some ideas. I’m definitely thinking of soil so ill take a look in the signature documents you included.

Start out with getting the tank up and running and matured before worrying about livestock!

Setup the tank with some decent substrate. Plants will grow in just about anything. If you plan on bottom dwellers such as shrimps, Cory's, Oto's make sure the substrate is not too coarse - finer substrate is better.

Make sure your filter provide decent surface agitation - add aeration if possible. Since you're going to keep Betta eventually, you don't want it to be a torrential storm in there of course.

Plant as densely as possible from the get go - buy cheap fast growing plants in the easy category - you can always slowly exchange plants as the tank grows in.

Remember some floating plants such as Frogbit to provide shade and security for the livestock - and the floating plants is an excellent gauge for the nutrient health of your tank.

Don't add too much hardscape such as rocks to compensate for the lack of plants - plants, that's the key!

Add a complete fertilizer such as TNC Complete / ATP Complete from day one!

Add some botanicals such as Indian almond leaves. (don't forget this one!)

Do frequent water changes for the first couple of weeks. Say 50% twice a week - remember to dechlorinate the water especially if your using straight tap water, and don't forget to add fertilizer afterwards.

When you start seeing some good new growth and a bit of mulm/dirt buildup from plant decay etc. then take an ammonia measurement which at that time should be near zero (unless your using rich aqua soil - in that case, it may take longer).

Wait a week or so, do the test again, If its all zero your can add livestock, but do it SLOWLY - one species at the time. If you do not have much biofilm or algae at this time you shouldn't add snails or fish that predominately eat algae unless you supplement with algae wafters - shrimps would have to be fed that anyway if you add those.

Often you would have some Blue Green "Algae" (Cyanobacteria) and Diatom "algae" at this time - don't worry about it, it will go away as the tank matures further.

At this time you can dial down the water change frequency to once a week.

Thats it! Enjoy! ... for long term success make sure you keep everything stable - maintenance, water changes, fertilizer dosing etc.

Welcome to UKAPS

Cheers,
Michael

I’m definitely going to get the tank sorted nd thriving before adding any live stocks. I don’t want to risk any harm to life due to being impatient.
Would you say soil substrates would be too course? I’m thinking of having amano shrimp with my better, still not yet decided on snails.

With regards to plants i was advised by someone at aqua essentials to get the easy mixd box of aquarium plants from Tropica - have you heard of these or any experience? They randomly pick the plants and apparently no red plants in the easy box but can request them. For the sake of variety of colour I wouldn’t mind red plants but do their care differ i.e. harder to look after or easier to die?

They also recommended i got the neutro combo low tech plant fertilisters from them - im hoping their recommendations are sound rather than just a selling point so i can get it alright from the start or at least try to !

Some of the facebook groups have adv that when cycling to add ammonia to make sure the filters are able to cope when fish are in and producing amonia and other chemicals. But I haven’t seen any advice yet on here about use of chemicals during the cycling process. More a case of just the 50% water clean two a week for the first few weeks while making sure to test the water levels. Do you have any advise on this and do you have a recommendation on the best water testing kit ?

HUGE thank you to all who have advised me so far, its really appreciated!

 

[Hufsa]

I’m planning on having a log finned male betta so i think I’ll avoid twigs all together just to be safe. ive had a look at the coconuts on Tropica site that Have the moss growing on, do you think theyd be ok for the betta i was thinking the one with double entrances, there’s also a tree on Tropica with moss growing on and doesn’t seem to have twigs from it.. would this be a lil too complicated to start with or just not worth bothering with, more for my taste than anything so not fussed if i dont have the tree thing or the caves hides with moss growing on..

that’s amazing to see i think that’s a lil too woody for my fella as ill be planning to get a long finned one but amazing to see some ideas.

You can get wood pieces for decoration and mounting plants on if you like the look, it can make it easier to build a good amount of layers and structure because bettas tend to love exploring.
Epiphytes (plants that can grow on wood and stone) on branched pieces of wood makes it easier to "fill up a tank" with nooks and crannies 😊
You dont have to forgo all wood pieces if you dont want to 🙂 The key is really just to look a bit at the structure of the wood. If it has a lot of very thin branches that come to a sharp point, it will probably not be a good choice. Or if it has spikes or a very coarse structure that doesnt feel nice to run your hand across, its not a good choice for a long fin betta tank. But there are still a lot of very decorative pieces of wood to be found, and any decent size branches can be sandpapered quickly on the ends to make sure they are rounded at the tip and not sharp (like if they have been broken off or cut).

I’m definitely thinking of soil so ill take a look in the signature documents you included.

Soil makes some plants a little bit easier. Its a bit messy/dirty compared to gravel and sand, but the plants quite like it. It gives you a little help when it comes to nutrients, because the soil will give the plants some in addition to the liquid fertilizer you dose.
If you dont think you will be digging around a lot in there and pulling out plants all the time, then soil might be a good choice. But definitely not a requirement.

I’m definitely going to get the tank sorted nd thriving before adding any live stocks. I don’t want to risk any harm to life due to being impatient.

The absolutely most important factors to get a nice healthy aquarium the easiest way really is: time and plants. Lights, filter, substrate, thats all details really compared to that.
Every week you can give the tank to mature and the plants to grow before adding any livestock will be immensely valuable to you, its just really hard to see this when one is starting up. We've all been there. But you seem to be on a really good path already

With regards to plants i was advised by someone at aqua essentials to get the easy mixd box of aquarium plants from Tropica - have you heard of these or any experience? They randomly pick the plants and apparently no red plants in the easy box but can request them. For the sake of variety of colour I wouldn’t mind red plants but do their care differ i.e. harder to look after or easier to die?

You could look through the Easy category on Tropica's website to see if there are any plants you like the look of.
If you write their names here we can advise you on if there is something about that plant you might want to consider before purchase.

They also recommended i got the neutro combo low tech plant fertilisters from them

I think people have already suggested a few other fertilizer options for you in the other threads, but I would also like they have advise you to pick a fertilizer that contains nitrogen and phosphate.

Personally I like to steer clear of any "liquid carbon / liquid CO2", this is not actually liquid CO2, but a biocide/algaecide (disinfectant) that contains a minimal amount of carbon in its chemical makeup.
The primary effect of these products is killing algae, but the marketing is often highly misleading.

Some of the facebook groups have adv that when cycling to add ammonia to make sure the filters are able to cope when fish are in and producing amonia and other chemicals. But I haven’t seen any advice yet on here about use of chemicals during the cycling process.

Adding ammonia to cycle a tank is called fishless cycling, and this technique was a big upgrade to how many used to do it years and years ago. That was to add a lot of fish they didnt care about, let those fish suffer and get damaged gills from ammonia burn while they "cycle" the tank, and then later add the fish people "cared about".
Some of us found this practice to be very cruel, and fishless cycling was quickly adopted as a more humane alternative to the old school method.
In the time since then, science has found out more about the bacteria and archaea that live inside our aquariums (and filters), and it turns out the ones we "grow" when we fishless cycle, are not quite the same ones we find in a mature aquarium.
The ones that live in a mature aquarium dont like higher levels of ammonia at all.
So sometimes fishless cycling works, but sometimes it doesnt go as expected even if one "did everything right", because the tank did not actually have the right kind of bacteria and archaea living inside it that it would naturally have.
If you say this on facebook and some of the other forums you will probably get yelled at quite a lot, so its best not to do that. They will figure it out eventually.
If you havent already, check out this video on "seasoned tank time" vs "cycling" from Aquarium Coop.

Since we are really interested in plants on this forum, many of us prefer to use plants and time to "cycle" (mature) an aquarium.
This is not dangerous if done correctly, because plants also take up ammonia and nitrite, not to mention nitrate. So plants and microbes are real winning combo for keeping water healthy.
The key is to do it gradually and patiently. And its a real bonus not to have to mess around with adding ammonia and all that stuff 😊👍

Do you have any advise on this and do you have a recommendation on the best water testing kit ?

I recommend getting a liquid test for Ammonia (NH3), Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3).
If you can find your local area's water report (assuming you havent already posted it somewhere else, sorry), you may not need a GH or KH test and can save a bit of money.
A PH test for the range that your water will likely be in might also be helpful, but is not essential imo.
JBL brand is usually considered a better choice than Tetra, and I would avoid the stick type tests, they are not very accurate. I havent personally tried the API tests, but they should be ok.

 

[LFNfan]

Hello!

It doesn't have to be overwhelming!

Just to share a bit: I've been keeping a planted tank for a little over a year. I quite like the garden, and orchids, and a planted tank seemed like a fresh challenge and the idea of an aquatic ecosystem really appealed to me (still does).

I wasn't really interested in adding any livestock for a good couple of months or so after the tank was set up. Enjoying the challenge of getting the plants to grow and master how the filter worked and just how to change water (!) kept me busy all that time. And if a plant dies, so it dies - not the end of the world, so no stress (maybe some frustration but no stress )

Two months in, I think I was pretty comfortable that the growing plants plus the filter meant that the tank would be a comfortable place for a couple of Nerite snails. Then a few fish fairly soon after. I didn't really worry too much about 'cycling the tank' or the best way of starting the tank, or doing too much testing. Just growing the plants was absorbing for the first few months. Like Hufsa says - 'plants and time'. I also like the 'seasoned tank time' Youtube - it's the ecosystem approach.

I kept things fairly simple for my setup - fine gravel substrate about an inch thick, a few rocks to structure an 'aquascape'. Successful plants were siamensis 53B, limnophila sessiliflora, and limnobium laevigatum. I also bought and melted vallisneria torta and abandoned hydrocotyle leucocephala. Equipment-wise, I had a hang-on-back filter, heater, and DIY lights. I used TNC Complete fertiliser, and also added 'root tabs' which were probably unnecessary. A bit later I added an airstone (and air pump). The one thing that I bought that I really didn't need to, in hindsight, was sintered media for the filter - little advantage over sponges.

Broadly speaking, so far I think I have learned that successfully growing plants is to do with getting the right balance of light (duration and intensity), nutrients , and water parameters (hardness, broadly). Everyone here has been super-helpful and generous with their time, patience, and expertise.

Hopefully some of that's useful Welcome to the hobby!

 

[Megann194]

You can get wood pieces for decoration and mounting plants on if you like the look, it can make it easier to build a good amount of layers and structure because bettas tend to love exploring.

Yeah i want plenty of depth, I’ve also seen can make substrate higher at the back to help with that also. wood wise just make sure its something entirely smooth no sharp bits and try and avoid thin parts that make eventually cause damage?

If you dont think you will be digging around a lot in there and pulling out plants all the time, then soil might be a good choice. But definitely not a requirement.

im hoping once its all in its done and i wont have to dig about too much! I’ve seen some adv gravel types that are also nutritious to plants, but I can’t get my head around how gravel would be nutritious to plants.. would i need to add other things as well as fertilizer if i went down this route?

Every week you can give the tank to mature and the plants to grow before adding any livestock will be immensely valuable to you

amazing, so definitely worth waiting till plants have matured until ading live stock. I mean makes sense, cus then when betta goes in he’s got places to hid if he’s Stressed and same for shrimp. I wont even be getting my tank till august so im more than patient to wait it out until i get the livestock! As long as everything is right within the tank, I’ll wait as long as needed. i want to cause minimal harm to life and preferably none if it can be avoided!

Personally I like to steer clear of any "liquid carbon / liquid CO2", this is not actually liquid CO2, but a biocide/algaecide (disinfectant) that contains a minimal amount of carbon in its chemical makeup.
The primary effect of these products is killing algae, but the marketing is often highly misleading.

would you say liquid carbon/co2 is pointless at this point if having easy plants and having a betta? I’m still not about to get my head around this one!

Since we are really interested in plants on this forum, many of us prefer to use plants and time to "cycle" (mature) an aquarium.

i got the impression this was indeed a method. So technically my plants should be able to cycle the tank in time by themselves rather than me adding chemicals. I’d like to avoid checmicals if i can but im not entirely clear if that’s possible. I see a lot of people say use plants to cycle, but haven’t yet seem much emphasis on this. I will look at that YouTube video you posted too… ive got all the time in the world and hoping this will be a fun and interesting hobby plus i dont do much besides working so i have all the time in the world to get this right! I’m already inspired to do a aquascaping room, so i might have to start looking at houses ahah!

I recommend getting a liquid test for Ammonia (NH3), Nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3).

amazing ill have a look into the tests you adv. I’ll definitely be testing my house water too so i know where im starting with regards to that!

I kept things fairly simple for my setup - fine gravel substrate about an inch thick, a few rocks to structure an 'aquascape'. Successful plants were siamensis 53B, limnophila sessiliflora, and limnobium laevigatum. I also bought and melted vallisneria torta and abandoned hydrocotyle leucocephala. Equipment-wise, I had a hang-on-back filter, heater, and DIY lights. I used TNC Complete fertiliser, and also added 'root tabs' which were probably unnecessary. A bit later I added an airstone (and air pump). The one thing that I bought that I really didn't need to, in hindsight, was sintered media for the filter - little advantage over sponges.

Broadly speaking, so far I think I have learned that successfully growing plants is to do with getting the right balance of light (duration and intensity), nutrients , and water parameters (hardness, broadly).

Thank you for that, it’s good to get an idea of experience from people who are not far into the hobby like some people with years experience haha! I think im on the same page as you thinking about getting plants sorted first, i mean I can’t keep a cactus alive to so im hoping aquatic plants will be more my thing haha! I’ve hears a lot about the TNC complete fertilizer, would that be suitable for ‘easy’ plants? I’m thinking Christmas time fish will be going into the tank if i get it in august and just really try to get things right and get the plants to mature and knowing my luck something will go terribly wrong along the way.

i agreee though everyones been so helpful and i really appreciate it
thank you to both hufsa and lenfan you’ve given me a lot to think about

 

[LFNfan]

Sounds like you have a great approach to this 👍

Yes, TNC should be good for easy plants.

Speaking from just my own experience, I found I had to dose additional iron (Fe) once a week too.

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I’m a big fan of the Dennerle Nano tanks. The rounded corners look nice and are easy to clean. This is my 60L on the left. The other is a 37L Eheim. I’ve also found that shrimp do a great job of keeping the tank clean and can be added quite quickly.

 

[Megann194]

I’m a big fan of the Dennerle Nano tanks. The rounded corners look nice and are easy to clean. This is my 60L on the left. The other is a 37L Eheim. I’ve also found that shrimp do a great job of keeping the tank clean and can be added quite quickly.
View attachment 205688

Wow what’s the big tree you have? I want a more landscape one as I’m having a betta so I was looking at the dennerle 55l I like the smooth corners at the front. Have you noticed with the glass top that heat escapes easily? Aaaaand what light is it youve got on yours by the way?

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

Both tanks have bogwood with moss growing on them. I only have a lid on the 60L to stop any Corydoras jumping out. The lights on both tanks are just cheap generic LED units from Amazon. According to my purchase history the one on the 60L is a

Chihiros A Series Aquarium LED Lighting with Brightness Controller​

And the other a

NICREW AquaLux LED Aquarium Light, Fish Tank Light with Blue and White LEDs​

 

[sparkyweasel]

I can’t keep a cactus alive to so im hoping aquatic plants will be more my thing haha!

Overwatering is a common cause of killing cacti. You won't have to worry about that with aquatics.

 

[Megann194]

So guys having to go back to the drawing board! Unfortunately I won’t be able to have a 50l upstairs due to support. So thinking a nano talk either for shrimp at 15/20l or a betta but unsure yet. What’s views on nano tanks for shrimp or Bettas?

 

[Myrtle]

That's a shame! Can you throw out some furniture downstairs to fit a bigger tank Joking aside, smaller tanks are harder to keep the parameters stable in as there is less water to dilute any nasties. That said, shrimp have a pretty low bioload compared to a Betta so I'd suggest going with the shrimp as a first time tank keeper.

 

[hypnogogia]

So guys having to go back to the drawing board! Unfortunately I won’t be able to have a 50l upstairs due to support. So thinking a nano talk either for shrimp at 15/20l or a betta but unsure yet. What’s views on nano tanks for shrimp or Bettas?

I’m surprised by that. I would have thought that a 50L against a wall and across a joist would be fine upstairs. The floor must be built to be able to hold significantly more weight …think double bed with two people in stood on only 4 legs.

 

[The Miniaturist]

Can you give more detail about where you were planning to site the 50l?
It would weigh less than an adult so the floor should hold it. If the furniture/stand isn't up to supporting the weight it can be reinforced.
A 15 or 20l tank is really only suitable for shrimp, I think fish would become very stressed in so small a tank.

 

[Megann194]

That's a shame! Can you throw out some furniture downstairs to fit a bigger tank Joking aside, smaller tanks are harder to keep the parameters stable in as there is less water to dilute any nasties. That said, shrimp have a pretty low bioload compared to a Betta so I'd suggest going with the shrimp as a first time tank keeper.

Haha I wish, just having to think about more about what size and where now .. I’m not totally convinced that a 50l won’t fit but I can’t find one that’s not square and has a cabinet.. and then looking at ones with a cabinet I can only seem to find 70l and above.. the idea not totally out the window just more planning needed I think