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Re: Small 1-gallon tank



>Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 13:00:12 -0500
>From: "James Purchase" <jpurch at interlog_com>
>Subject: RE: Small 1-gallon tank
>
>Hoa is having trouble keeping Otto's alive in his 1-gallon, filterless tank.
>I am concerned about a statement he made about treating his gravel with
>acid. What was wrong with your gravel that required treatment with acid? I
>know that some people recommend treating calcium containing gravel but I've
>never really understood the reasoning - if the gravel is CaCO3, it's all
>gonna dissolve in acid, provided there is enough acid. Wash out the acid and
>what remains will continue to dissolve in your water.
>You have a one gallon aquarium. Hardly a big volume of gravel. Why not just
>go buy the proper substrate? The acid probably cost you more than a pound of
>quartz gravel would cost.

James,

The idea is to continue to soak and rinse the gravel until it stops
bubbling. Then the CaCO3 will have all been washed away--we hope.  That's
what I did. And the gravel was bought at a LFS--Cambrian gravel.  The acid
was really cheap, really--swimming pool Muriatic acid.

>From: Steve Pushak <teban at powersonic_bc.ca>
>Subject: Re: Small 1-gallon tank
>
>There are at least two basic problems to solve with small tanks and
>plants: pH and oxygen. Let's assume that you can keep ammonia levels in
>check by the plants and water changes.
>
>It's good that you have sunlight but its best if you can prevent full
>strong sunlight from hitting it especially in summer. Venetian blinds
>can help to regulate the amount of light. The problem is heating the
>tankw ater up so high that there's no oxygen left in the water. You can
>also get cyanobacteria in such conditions unless you are changing water
>faithfully. The Betta won't mind the warm temps (won't like cold though)
>but the Otocinclus won't be able to tolerate low oxygen.

Steve,

The sun only hits it directly for about 1 hour in the morning.  The
temperature never rises above 75F, and I see bubbles coming off the leaves
when that happens, so I don't think O2 is a problem.

>The pH problem can be solved if you use a cotton bag of sphagnum peat.
>Aeration is another way to keep the water moving and supply ambient CO2
>to the plants. Enough aeration to keep the plants supplied with CO2
>adequately would probably stir up anything laying loose on the bottom of
>the tank and might disturb the Betta. Peat or peat water buffering keeps
>the pH stable so its not necessary to have really vigorous water
>movement. With enough water movement (no fish), I think you could keep
>the pH stable without pH buffers and still have reasonable plant growth
>rates.

Ok, I'll try the peat bag.  Thanks for the suggestion.  Also, do Otos need
driftwood in their diet like many plecos?  I do not have any wood in the
tank right now.  I wonder if that's the problem (or another problem anyway).

>As an alternative, why don't you go to a 5 gallon tank? This will be
>easier to keep stable.

I like the challenge.  ;-)

Thanks,
Hoa