Alan79's 2nd 20g journal

[Alan79]

Hi everybody.
In the last couple of months i have picked up 2x cheap 20g tanks ($5 each) that i hadn't had the time filters or substrate to set up. So today i will stop procrastinating about this and get the tank ready for set up. I usually rush through the setup process so i thought i would create a journal before i start and move more slowly. This and my running 20 will eventually be moved to the bottom shelf of a stand i am nearly done building for a 40g. I was going to wait till the stand and the 40 were ready to set this up but wound up overstocking my running 20 with some fish i saved from neglect. I'll have to get it started now.

The tank i am setting up is the first 20g i ever owned and used to house my Comet Brutus and a snail population. The tank still has the old substrate, is dirted and i am still harvesting some snails out of it. I have to clean it down before i start. I'm being stingy and will re-use the dirt from the tank for gardening so i will syphon it out then deal with the remaining gravel.

Here is my current list of equipment that will be used to run the tank.
Filter- Elite jet flo 100 (good for 27g)
Lights- 2x single retrofit T8s both with 6500k bulbs. (need to upgrade when i can afford LEDs or T5)
CO2- DIY
Substrate- Cheap organic potting mix that i will supplement with a bit of Osmocote plus.
- Fine black gravel with a few random differently coloured stones in it.
Hardscape- I have about 40ish small stones that are all marbled or have some colour variations that i will place randomly.
- 2 bits of driftwood to choose from
Plants- Java moss
- Ludwigia repens
- Pennywort
- Cabomba
- Cryptocoryne Lucens
- Cryptocoryne Red undulata
- Cryptocoryne Brown Wendtii
- Pongols
- Dwarf chain sword
- Pygmy chain sword
- Duckweed
- Anubias (not sure what variety) I would like nana petite though.
- 3 plants i harvested from local waterways when i first started planting tanks. No idea what they are called at this stage and my camera is no help in making images with enough clarity to identify them.
I will buy some different plants for this tank soon so both 20's have differences.

Not sure exactly what i will stock in this tank but possibly a dwarf Gourami, a school of either Neon Tetras or Harlequin Rasboras (will remove them from the other tank to get the stock level right). I would like some blue rams but was wondering if they dig up the substrate? I'm over replanting daily due to my Comets

Any suggestions on some other nice eye catching fish that will do well in a community would be appreciated.

I will post some pics when i have something to take photos of.

 

[Old Scales]

I'm subscribed Alan,
Good luck with the build. The fine black gravel will look great. I have Rams and no, they don't dig in my gravel. But hold off on the Blue Rams until the other fish have had time to get the tank aged and stable. They are sensitive fish. And not cheap. I have also had much better luck and stock buying from private breeders. Looking forward to seeing some pictures. OS.

 

[Brookster123]

Nice! Get after it Alan! Looking forward to the final product here. I'm with OS on the rams, I was foolish and got a pair of electric blues for my month old tank and lost them both within a month. What about a school of Cory's, hexazona barbs or cardinals, and wait for a pair of rams for the show stopper? Rummynose tetras look great with rams but they too are a but on the sensitive side.

 

[Alan79]

I'm subscribed Alan,
Good luck with the build. The fine black gravel will look great. I have Rams and no, they don't dig in my gravel. But hold off on the Blue Rams until the other fish have had time to get the tank aged and stable. They are sensitive fish. And not cheap. I have also had much better luck and stock buying from private breeders. Looking forward to seeing some pictures. OS.

Thanks OS. I have the same gravel in my running 20 and it shows the plants up nicely. It seems to allow decent root growth while holding the dirt down well. I'll wait with the rams. I think i may move my Harlequins into the new tank as the starter fish when i am cycled. I have a local cichlid breeder but he doesn't stock blue rams. He has a better variety than my LFS though. My LFS has a few nice ram pairs in right now which i was eyeing off. Maybe i could move a school out of the running 20 and add the rams to that tank. It's a bit overstocked due to the recent acquisition of 2 HRs 4 more neons and a medium sized Bristlenose from an abandoned tank.

Nice! Get after it Alan! Looking forward to the final product here. I'm with OS on the rams, I was foolish and got a pair of electric blues for my month old tank and lost them both within a month. What about a school of Cory's, hexazona barbs or cardinals, and wait for a pair of rams for the show stopper? Rummynose tetras look great with rams but they too are a but on the sensitive side.

I'm leaning towards moving my school of Harlequins into the new tank when cycled. It would make more sense to move the larger school of Neon Tetras but they might not do well in a newly set up tank either. Cory's are a nice option. I don't know that much about them and my LFS tends to only stock pairs rather than a school of one kind. I almost bought two Panda Cory's a while ago actually. I do like the Hexagon Barbs as well although i had to google them . My other thought was that i could remove my 6 Kuhlis from the 20 they're in and make the new tank a dedicated Kuhli tank. Stock almost as many as will fit a 20g. I love these little oddballs.


Anyway. The tank is pretty much emptied now. I gravel vaced, refilled a bit and did a second vac. The soil should be a great addition to my plants with all that fish waste it migh become the base of a grow out tank for plants to sell too. It got late though by the time i prepared for work tomorrow so i'll empty the gravel tomorrow clean and lay out my substrate. I may take a long walk and find a few more big feature stones. All my large stones right now are just black. I could raid the 36g for a few nice ones in there since the Comets would prefer easier access to the sand anyway. No pretty planted scapes or those guys

If my patience holds out i will post a few test layouts and get some opinions. I tend to get excited and just run with something when i start though. More tomorrow.

 

[Alan79]

I have two images for a tiered scape in mind. I will have some photos up of both fairly soon. I need about three more flat rocks to do what i want and i know a local creek where i can find what i want. Be back soon to complete the first scape and think about putting together the second. Pics soon.

 

[Alan79]

Terrible photo i know. i have to use my laptop which leaves a reflection in the glass.



Ok so this is basically what layout 1 will look like. Right now i don't have as much dirt in as i will have when i fill in the tiers. I will only add gravel when i have stone partitions to hold the dirt where i want it. That was why i needed flat stones. This layout leaves a big swim through section with the driftwood that i hope to see tetras or Rasboras taking school tours through through. Underneath the yellow strat stone there is a second cave and plenty of small swim through sections within the stone itself if i opt to have Kuhlis in this tank. By the time i add gravel the driftwood will reach about midway to the top and i'd like to mix some hanging moss (pending it's availability) around some java fern (readily available) so it has upward growth and draped plants.

Two stones in the foreground are just things i didn't remove for the photo shoot and actually obstruct the view a bit. Pity i don't have a decent camera. And you can't see from these shots but there will be three tiers.

 

[Old Scales]

Looks good. Yeah, the multiple cavy places will be Ram heaven. Corys will like them too. OS.

 

[Alan79]

With no further ado, here is the finalized scape.



I will get some water in this sucker and plants will soon follow. I have a cycled 101F Maxi internal filter in my 36g that is good for 20g plus a 40g filter. I will start cycling another filter in the 36 and drop the cycled maxi into my 20g. I can add some starter fish straight away if i do that i would think. Will allow the tank a day to settle first though and maybe run a new filter in this tank for the moment so the Maxi is in water with ammonia. I do have Ammonia to cycle but am not sure if it has additives.

 

[Alan79]

Now with water and plants.







I will add more plants but don't have what i want yet. A lot of my Crypts are fairly small at this time but will hopefully grow better without a lot of stem plants shading them.

 

[Old Scales]

Oh yeah! The plants brought the whole scape together. Looks really good! OS.

 

[Alan79]

Oh yeah! The plants brought the whole scape together. Looks really good! OS.

Thanks Brian.
I have some tweaking to do and moss to add but i'm fairly happy with it. DIY CO2 will start in the morning. I have a bottle prepared already, just have to fill and submerse the airstone. 1am arrived though so work for today is finished. I managed to skip dinner while i was completing the setup. Time for bed though, eyes feel like this

 

[Alan79]

At some point i decided this tank was going to have a larger population of Kuhlis. I bought 6 more today that i will QT in the 20g they live in then will add the 6 from my old tank. 6 Kuhlis are now acclimated to the tank and busily exploring every nook and cranny. I saw one dissappear into a cave i didn't know was there, two came out. Tank has 3 big structures with caves littering the underside of each structure. The Kuhlis don't know where to explore.

 

[Alan79]

The black background has fallen down but i got a few pictures today before i moved some plants about. It has livestock now so i'll get the CO2 running and add another light to boost biological filtration from the plants in the morning. A long while ago i also began a moss wall on some black mesh i thought would house extra BB. I may take that out of the old plastic tank i have it in and wrap my filter with it. Today I added lilaeopsis and hairgrass but don't have pics yet. The water is cloudy. But with no further rambling here are some tank shots.
I can count 4 Kuhli in this shot.


The small grey rock in front of the driftwood downslope from the Kuhli hides a cave i didn't expect to be there. I've seen three Kuhli exit it like they were racing.


Next few shots is a convocation of Kuhli





And a full tank shot with an unfortunate reflection. This was my first shot with the camera and the only FTS i took today so sorry about the reflection.


Tasks for tomorrow are a partial water change and top up. Add a second T8 light, DIY CO2 and some fertilizers. Must remember to reattach the background properly this time. 3 bits of tape on each side clearly isn't working. It falls off twice per week. And these images weren't going t be posted due to the background falling off but i thought i'd do a before and after the replant.

 

[Old Scales]

Looking good. Khulis are SO fun to watch doing their thing. OS.

 

[Brookster123]

That scape works great with the Khulis! Bet they love whipping through all the dw! Keep up the good work Alan!

 

[Alan79]

Thanks guys.
OS- They were swimming laps at the top of the tank yesterday. Three or four were swimming together up and down the corner of he tank for most of the day while at times they swam hard across the top of the tank at the filter outlet then would turn and zoom right back. But they were a bit more quiet today. I can't blame them after some big oaf tore apart their new tank to put a few more plants in. I think they were a little well fed yesterday too and may have the after banquet bellyache.

Brookster- They seem to love the scape the three main structures all have at least one large cave they can fit in. Plus i arrange the rocks in the foreground to provide hides until the foerground fills in. Only one seems to hide out most of the time but it is distinctive and still moving occasionally.


After a WC to clear up some tannins i took some better photos with the new plants in, better lighting and more of an idea how to use the camera. The trick with this camera is to zoom to a point where it is close to focused then move yourself to complete the focus. Not a good camera for use but can take some decent shots with perseverance.
Full tank shot




I intend to cover this filter with a java moss plastic mesh tube that is pretty much established. It's first use was as a trial for a moss wall months back, then a tunnel for my small comet to hide from Brutus (larger Comet) who was twice her size and unhappy and cramped in the 20g pictured (before the rescape). The mesh came out along with another large rock structure when Brutus started losing scales. Eventually Brutus was given his own home again due to domestic violence issues. They patched things up when i gave them a tank twice as big but will still need to be moved within a few months given their growth spurt.




And while i was taking pics i decided my original successful planted tank deserved some limelight. This was a $5 tank, 2x T8 lights $10 and a free one ($12 worth of new 6500k bulbs), the original filters i used were both free i upgraded one to a big ugly 30g filter that i want out soon. I want to buy 2 cannister filters for these tanks. It originally housed the second Comet when the domestic violence saw her looking permanently stressed. Anyway enough rambling here are some pics.

Sunset Hygro changing from emersed to immersed leaf structure. Top leaves have nice pink veins.


Residents


Full tank shot


Momma Ramshorn with some bubs and Neon tetras and Harlequin Rasboras behind.


Almost got a good pic of my baby Bristlenose but the camera/photographer wasn't up to the shot.

 

[Brookster123]

Looking good over there! First tank has filled out very nicely. What are the foreground plants in the Khulis tank?

 

[Alan79]

Looking good over there! First tank has filled out very nicely. What are the foreground plants in the Khulis tank?

Thank you Brookster. The tank with stems was very overgrown a fortnight ago you could barely see the blue backing. Some of the crypts went to the Kuhli tank and 2/3 of the stems were tossed I'll trim and replant some tips to thicken up the groves tomorrow. I had some lingering BBA issues with the stems and thought a massive trimming/disposal would help.

Foreground plants in the Kuhli tank are Dwarf chain sword and Lilaeopsis (short answer).

The DCS is prolific in its expansion under low light and sends the runners a long way when the plant is mature. I had one bunch planted under the shade of the stems and it grew 2-3 inches taller than the others so in uninterrupted (albeit low) light it stays fairly short. All of the DCS came from 5 emersed plants originally. I'd say there are over thirty individual plants now and my Comet gardeners ate a lot when it first began to take off. I had 9 juveniles growing on one runner when i went to work one morning and no juveniles left when i got home . They eat the adult plants now too, I can't give them anything nice. Their tank will soon be getting clown vomit gravel, fake plants, Nemos and Spongebobs everywhere.

The Lilaeopsis is something i had never heard of. It just looked nice at the LFS so i bought some home. I had to separate all those stems off some tangled runners which took forever. I left some runners intact so hopefully it keeps filling in quickly. I will remove etmost of the DCS when the Lilaeopsis fills in. Getting a bit of melt from the Lilaeopsis but not much.