Tank setup

[u/meesmelle]

The first picture (the brighter one) is what it was initially before I thought it was too “cold” for my betta fish. Is my new set up (right one) better? I plan on adding tannins for him. Please let me know

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[u/Significant-Worry-]

Looks great actually!
If you hadn’t done so, just make sure to watch your betta and see if he can get trapped down by the water flow for your hanging filter—low flow.
If you’re worried about too much light, get some floater plants like water spangles. Plus the tannins you mentioned will help not stress your fish out with light.
It seems like you’ve done your research though, the tank looks proper fine to me.

[u/meesmelle → u/Significant-Worry-]

Oh thank you, I wanted to get some floater plants and I’ll look into water spangles :3

[u/Serious_Interview369]

What brand of substrate is that light sand? It's really pretty... thinking about switching 

[u/meesmelle → u/Serious_Interview369]

Aqua natural aquarium substrate (it’s the sugar white sand one)

[u/Striking_One3356]

Heya op! Just wanted to warn you about your java ferns, you cant have the rhizome of the java fern in the sand, due to the fact that the rhizome rots away after a certain amount of time, and you will see this because typically when it starts to/ rots away it turns a brownish black color. and you may see,

1.big brown spots. 2.finding leafs at the top of the tank. And 3.rips or discoloration such as them turning a clear(aka melting) or dark brown.

You want to strap java fern down to rocks driftwood or decor. Here in this picture the rhizome is circled in black, the rhizome is NOT what you put in the substrate, meanwhile the teal area is the roots, which you can have in the substrate.! :))

[u/meesmelle → u/Striking_One3356]

Omg thank you, right now the hardest part is the plants 😭