Daven's low-tech 20long tank

[Daven]

I want to keep track of progress with my first planted tank and have been loosing track of timeframes, so here is my build thread so i can keep track. I also am very new to growing any kind of plants, so i am bound to have a few questions and concerns, which i will also post here to keep things relevent and cleaner. My main goal is to create a nice low tech/light planted tank both for looks and to create a better home for the fish. Advice and opinions are greatly appreciated! Here is the quick rundown of the tank...

-20 gallon long tank (30x12x12") with pool filter sand
-Tank started around Oct 23/15 using the established AC30 off my girlfriends tank when we upgraded hers. Some of the older plants have been in there for almost a month i believe, with some of the newer java ferns a couple weeks ago
-Aquaclear 20 and 30 filters and a small airpump with stone hidden in the corner for some more gas exchange
-Heater set to 75*C
-30" Finnex Stingray 17w LED light mounted above glass top
-Plants include hornwort tied to a rock in the corner to grow to the top and over driftwood, various java fern tied to rocks and put just below sand (trying to keep roots out in water), a large and smaller variety of anuibias (i beleive anubias nana and barteri?). Also some various small grasslike plants that ended up coming with the plants when i bought them. Idk the kinds, but im trying to grow them out at the top with the hornwort
-Fish stock goals are 10 rummynose tetras, 8 panda corries, and i also have my favorite male guppy that joined us as well.

Pics to follow

 

[Daven]

Currently I have the guppy, 10 rummynose, and i just added the first group of 4 panda corries on friday! Previously my tests were reading good and tested again today, API liquid test kit. Seemed to show 7.8 or 8 PH (Hard to read i find), .25ppm amonia, 0 nitrites, and 5ppm nitrates. Amonia is to be expected as im still adjusting to feeding them all vs my food-crazed mbuna tank lol Will of course be keeping it at a low level with water changes as needed and im still adjusting my feeding habits. Just finding it hard to get the food to my corries as my tetras go after the wafers too. Anyways im hoping my nitrates keep up as it seemed to have always stayed at that low level. Im definately not used to worrying about having too few nitrates with my poop-machines in the 75g

 

[TheresaM]

Beautiful colors on that guppy!

 

[Daven]

Beautiful colors on that guppy!

Thanks! He was always a little too soft spoken in with the others we've had but he fits in well by himself with the tetras. He swims around with them like one of the group lol


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[Daven]

Hey, here's kind of an odd question for you guys. Would using water changed out from my 75 gallon mbuna tank (no plants and fully cycled of course) be of any use to my planted tank? Clean water taken from top, not gravel vacuumed. I posted my test results yesterday showing 5 ppm nitrates. I do my water changes on mondays, so that means after my 25% or so change today, ill be even less. The tanks not established enough for me to judge for sure if im going to eventually drop to no nitrate, but it is something i will have to watch apparently considering the tank has been up for a long enough time to accumulate some. My thoughts on this is that the elements used for plant growth would still be in the water due to nothing being used, it would add some nitrate (i keep my tank below 20 ppm, usually around 10 or less as they are young), and also right now there is the added benefit of some BB coming along to seed the tank as well. I havent been able to clear this up quite yet with my research, but if there was usually a CO2 spike from the tap water, that would also be negated using the tank water.

Thoughts? lol

 

[Daven]

Its been a week and i just tested the water again the day before my water change. Looks like no ammonia and once again 5ppm or slightly less for nitrates. So i dont seem to be bottoming out at least, and once i get fully stocked it should be increasing again i think unless the plants are very dense at that point. Will start looking for the last group of panda corries in another week so im sure its not going to be too soon. I dont like to stock too quickly incase of an ammonia. I am also going to change out my regular air stone for a sponge filter instead since i figured i may as well lol Hidden again in the back left corner

For plant growth, the hornwort is growing dense and fast as usual. I have to keep looping it back over itself so it doesnt grow past the top left half of the tank lol The other plants dont seem to be looking much different, maybe slightly taller but still brown spots and alot seem kinda withered and holey. BUT i am seeing new sprouts from the java ferns and smaller anubias that look healthy, and i think some starting on the larger anubias as well! So seeing as im not familiar with plants yet, maybe the old leaves wont change too much, but the new sprouts might grow to be healthy and full after all. I took some pictures of the newer growth which to me look ok so far.

For fertilizer i was previously trying a homemade liquid fert that i had been given with another tank i had bought, but it didnt have any info on what exactly was in it. I was going to try it until i learnt more about what is best to use. I bought a bottle of seachem flourish and will use that instead starting with my water change tomorow. From what ive found, that should be all i really need considering i am lower light. Hopefully i dont run into issues with macro deficiencies, but i wil;l cross that bridge once i get there.

 

[aalbright]

Looks great! I just started a 20 long and hopefully will have pics soon.


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[tiger terror]

Hey, here's kind of an odd question for you guys. Would using water changed out from my 75 gallon mbuna tank (no plants and fully cycled of course) be of any use to my planted tank? Clean water taken from top, not gravel vacuumed. I posted my test results yesterday showing 5 ppm nitrates. I do my water changes on mondays, so that means after my 25% or so change today, ill be even less. The tanks not established enough for me to judge for sure if im going to eventually drop to no nitrate, but it is something i will have to watch apparently considering the tank has been up for a long enough time to accumulate some. My thoughts on this is that the elements used for plant growth would still be in the water due to nothing being used, it would add some nitrate (i keep my tank below 20 ppm, usually around 10 or less as they are young), and also right now there is the added benefit of some BB coming along to seed the tank as well. I havent been able to clear this up quite yet with my research, but if there was usually a CO2 spike from the tap water, that would also be negated using the tank water.

Thoughts? lol

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Really no benefit from doing so as you won't transfer bb in that fashion..
Also not a good practice taking water from one tank adding to another,you run the risk of transferring harmful pathogens from one to the other...
This being lowtech I'd suggest using flourish comprehensive,api leafzone & seachem excel...

 

[Fresh2o]

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Really no benefit from doing so as you won't transfer bb in that fashion..
Also not a good practice taking water from one tank adding to another,you run the risk of transferring harmful pathogens from one to the other...
This being lowtech I'd suggest using flourish comprehensive,api leafzone & seachem excel...

I was thinking that it would be no big deal to do this and then I remembered it was the influx of new water (or prevention of accumulated substances) that helped ward off bouts of black beard algae.
You can use the old water to water house/garden plants.


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[fish wrangler]

Tank looks nice!
+1 to the reccomended ferts (API leafzone, Seachem excel, and Flourish comprehensive)

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[Daven]

Thanks for the input guys! It was a shot in the dark, i get bored and start developing new crazy theories sometimes So i got the seachem flourish comprehensive... Are the others you listed needed at my level? I know excel is like a co2 replacement and my plants would likely benefit from it, but seeing as im trying to keep it as simple as possible maintenance-wise idk if i should bother. I have no issue with regular maitnence like trimming plants, but ive been trying to keep the maitnence lower from my hobbies so i have time to relax and dont end up loathing it when the interest mellows out a bit lol From what i understand, it wouldnt be needed so much as an added benefit of faster growth from it? And API leafzone looks like it boosts the macros that isnt included in flourish?


And now another update on the tank. Tracked down all 4 corries and 1 of them has little to no tail left unfortunately. The rest look good and i assume this is the one that was always hiding since i could only ever find 3 at a time. I worry that the tetras might be nipping them since they both stay near the bottom and when i first introduced them the tetras nipped one. Hopefully he makes a full recovery once he settles in. And I had to stop in to the lfs to grab a filter sponge for my girlfriends tank, and can never seem to escape without a bag full of stuff. Among the stuff i picked up some water sprite to try in the tank now as well. Hopefully it can grow to be like some of the pictures ive seen online! I rearranged the tank a bit to try and work everything together. Let me know what you think!

 

[Daven]

As you can see from the water sprite i added, the stems are tall enough to take up like half of the tank. Is there a way to trim the stems down so its mostly leaves? I dont know much about cultivating plants, but i could see cutting the roots off killing plants lol

 

[fish wrangler]

You can cut the stems off a few inches below the leaves. If you recently added the plant I would wait for it to get used to your params and lighting before cutting it though

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[Daven]

You can cut the stems off a few inches below the leaves. If you recently added the plant I would wait for it to get used to your params and lighting before cutting it though

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So a stem plant will grow new roots as long as its got a bit of stem left? Thats good news if so! I was worried my java fern would soon be too long for my tank since a couple plants i have gotten in the groups came with stems almost to the top already lol

I am having a hard time with securing plants now that i have more plants than i do suitable sized rocks lol How do people plant theirs in non-soil substrates? I dont want to bury the roots because then id have to use root tabs on every plants as well right? So id assume im stuck to securing it to something to hold it down. Should i just go out and try and find more rocks or is there some magical trick i missed? lol

 

[Fresh2o]

What plants are giving you problems (securing)? Stem plants? If so, I use stainless steel tongs and shove them an inch and a half or more into the substrate (EcoComplete only). Stems with roots and no roots.
I don't always add root pellets. Initially I did every month or two. But the high CEC in the EcoComplete and other similar substrates should attract and hold nutrients for the plant [roots] to use.


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[Daven]

I don't have soil. I just have pool filter sand so I can't bury it from my understanding. I have mainly having issues with finding ways to secure my java fern and water Sprite. I'll probably need more rocks I suppose


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[Fresh2o]

Not sure about the water sprite, but with Java fern you can use cotton thread, fishing line, or superglue to affix it to rocks or driftwood.


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[Daven]

Yeah I have been usinbr rubber bands which seems to do the trick. But aside from my driftwood there's nothing around the tank but sand to strap to. So I guess I'll keep using small rocks


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[Fresh2o]

You could use lava rock. Small, ice cube size pieces for smaller ferns. Not sure lava rock will work with you decor plans. I do like the portable aspect though.


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[Daven]

Couple pics for progress on the tank. Corries are doing better now and have started to come out more with the addition of the new guys. I hope I don't see any ammonia, but I'll be watching levels. Found all 9 of them so no casualties from the first group, and the one that had no tail really left seems to be healing now! Also got a medicine syringe to measure out the ferts instead of going off of the threads on the cap lol dosing 1.5ml weekly of flourish and soon the leafzone I ordered will be here and I'll start dosing that as well. Still no excel until I find out it's hurting things not using it. I don't mind slower growth over having to dose daily and adding another thing to do with it

Pics are of the full tank shot, focused more on the new water Sprite and also a small group of random small scragglies that I want to see if they'll grow. Also I added a smaller terra cotta pot in the back corner for the corries since they seemed to like to hide back there. Pics might be a bit cloudy still from messing around in there


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