Cracked my tank today...

[h2oskierc]

and instead of replacing the 10G with another, I "upgraded" to a 20G.

I will be watching the water parameters really closely for a couple days to a couple weeks in case I get a mini-cycle (is that the proper term?).

Once I am confident that the tank is running well, what should I add? It is a 20G Tall. For filtration I have a Penguin 100 (from the old tank) and the Aqueon Quietflow 20 that came with the new tank. I also now have a fluorescent light, the fixture holds one bulb, and I have an Aqueon Full-Spectrum Daylight T8 17 Watt, 8,000K bulb in there.

My tank currently has
3-Fancy Guppies
7-Neon Tetras
1-Swordtail
1-Albino Cory
10-Ghost Shrimp (They were cheap...)

For plants I have 1 Anubias hastifolia

What should I add? Looking to add something yellow in color perhaps. Any rams that color? Or would that be too much bioload?

 

[HUKIT]

As the saying goes "when one door closes another opens", congrats on the new tank.

 

[h2oskierc]

Thanks Hukit!

I also would like some more plants, so I'm open to ideas. How can I determine about what level of light I have in my tank?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

That 17w 8kK bulb will support low light pants only IMO/E. You can see what will work by going to www.plantgeek.net and checking out the low light plant section.

 

[Atxpunx]

17 watts on a 20 gallon tall is low light if that. Plants that could survive are maybe java fern and java moss

 

[eco23]

Personally my first priority after ensuring the tank is stable would be upping your corys (they love to be in schools of 4+ minimum). Bolivian Rams have beautiful golden color as a centerpiece fish. I think that might overstock you a bit, but you'll need to use common sense on how much room is in the tank, how your levels are maintained (how quickly nitrAte rises, etc...) and how committed you are to water changes and other maintenance to determine how suitable that stocking is for your tank.

 

[h2oskierc]

Thanks for the feedback guys. After doing some research, I may just stick with the low-light plants. It seems like it would be expensive to upgrade the lighting, can you recommend a good light setup if I decided I wanted to do that? Like I said, it is a 20G tall, so it is a small tank. I love the grass look that Microsword so I would need high light levels...

 

[h2oskierc]

Personally my first priority after ensuring the tank is stable would be upping your corys (they love to be in schools of 4+ minimum). Bolivian Rams have beautiful golden color as a centerpiece fish. I think that might overstock you a bit, but you'll need to use common sense on how much room is in the tank, how your levels are maintained (how quickly nitrAte rises, etc...) and how committed you are to water changes and other maintenance to determine how suitable that stocking is for your tank.

Thanks for the advice. I could add three corys, and see how my maintenance schedule is, and then decide from there if I want to add something else. Water changes don't bother me, pretty quick and easy, so that isn't a big deal for me. The fish on the other hand may not like it.