Cneon

Hello all,
I'm new to posting in the forums, but I've been stalking you all for the last few months gathering information and have been very happy with all the discussions I've found.

I've finally put together my first planted tank and was hoping you all could give me some input on the setup - to make sure I'm on the right path and all. The following is my set up from filtration to fish. This tank has been running for Three Weeks.

Tank:Standard 20 gallon (24" wide)

Filter:Fluval 205 (40 gallon rating, 185gph) - no activated carbon, just using the white bio tubes for cultures.

Substrate: API Root Tabs, 2.5" Eco-Complete, 1" Caribsea Floramax top

Flora: E. Parvulus "Dwarf Hairgrass" (forground - going for a carpet),
Cryptocoryne wendtii "green" (midground)
alternanthera reineckii "cardinalis" (background)
some kind of Val (background)
Anacharis (background - planted mainly for the purpose of ammonia/nitrite absorbtion
at start, considering pulling them)

Lighting: 2x24w T5 HO 5000k, resting ~4 inches above tank. Photoperiod of 8 hours (light and CO2 synced with timer)

CO2: Pressurized w/ regulator and diffused via airstone inside the hagan mini-elite mod method. Now, one of the main points for me is the rate of CO2. My bubble counter is going pretty strong (Hard to count, but I'd say about 4 or 5 bps. According to the CO2/Ph/Kh table I'm at somewhere around 55ppm of CO2, but fish are looking healthy and happy, so I feel comfortable. Even when I've added new fish, they've gone straight to their school and have no problems.)

Water Quality: Bad stuff: 0 and 0 ppm. Nitrates: 10 or 20ppm (I cannot differentiate between
the two colors on the chart at all.
Ph: 6.8-7.0 with CO2 (again, hard to tell the difference between color chart)
Kh: 11 degrees - yes, 11 degrees
Temp: 78-79F

Ferts: Seachem dosing - including Flourish, Trace, Excel, Iron and Potassium. I have ordered nitrogen and phosphorus. I dose for a 18 gallons due to substrate and rocks displacing the total volume of tank. I just started dosing last week (at week 2.)

Fauna: Red Cherry Shrimp x4
Oto Cats x4
SAE x2
Neon Tetras x10

Hardscape: Iowa Bluff Sandstone

Water Change: 1 50% change per week


How's it all looking? I have very small amounts of algae on the rocks, but the cleanup crew keeps it in check.

The plants seem to be doing well. I've trimmed the Crypts and alternanthera once and replanted the tops of the alternan., leaving the mother plant to bush out.

The replanted tops have grown an insane amount of aerial roots (aquatic roots?) from their nodes and are growing well. The underside of the leaves are a nice deep pink/red. The topside are a rust color (the combination of green and red).

The Vals are the only plant that visibly pearls throughout the day.

The Dwarf Hairgrass is discouraging. I'm getting a couple of runners growing in the back of the tank, where the substrate is higher (closer to the light). In the front there is a little new growth, but the new growth isn't growing beneath the substrate, but on top of it. I've started an experiment - I've placed several single-triple stems of DHG in an area where I've placed ~.5 inches of fine substrate sand. I'm hoping the compact nature of the sand will discourage new growth from wandering above the surface. How long until I begin to notice significant coverage with DHG?

The photo below was taken 30 minutes after setup. There are no fish and I'm missing a couple of plants listed above. This is also before I started my small-bunch DHG in sand experiment. I'll post a follow-on later today when I get the opportunity.

Please let me know your thoughts on the set up, especially regarding CO2, Lighting, and Dwarf Hairgrass Carpeting. Also, with the green crypts, what's the best way to prune to promote thickness - cut the big guys off close to the root or just hack it all down very short? Thanks in advance for all your help!

Regards,
Chad

Cneon

Well, the top picture changed itself to a close-up of my crypts and I can't edit that post for some reason, so here are the tanks at 30 minutes and at 3 weeks. Also having fun with the white balance on my camera... (Bonus points if anyone can tell me what's up with the leaves in my Crypts before the post in the Crypt channel is replied to.)

@30 minutes:

@3 weeks:

Endler breeder

wow cool tank

Cneon

Thanks, Endler! Unfortunately, the links are going wonky again - every time I post a new photo somewhere on this website, it changes the photo in my first post. It's odd.

I found out today that the tall grass in the background is Mondo grass, and not a true aquatic plant - any suggestions on a good plant that I can replace with it?

Cneon

Just an update on the tank if anyone is looking at this. This is at 6 weeks, and I've taken the anacharis out and added some amazon swords in the back left and some big crypts in the back right for some height behind the big rock. Again, any thoughts or input is appreciated.

I propagated each of the alternanthera reineckii once by cutting off the tops and replanting them. Any advice on how to get them to grow taller? I'm definitely happy with the thickness, but I'd like them to be at about half the height of the tank (a couple more inches at least.)

I'm most happy with the trio of crypts on the left-hand side, though. I'd like to see what it will look like once the baby amazon sword grows in and adds another layer behind those crypts. I think it looks kind of barren right now.

Silvering

I think it will look very nice once it grows in some more! (Not an expert aquascaper's opinion by any means.) I have a hard time waiting for things to fill in, myself.

Tikulila

so for the crypts, they "melt"(you will see this alot)

i just got a new kind, for example, and itll just melt, (but mine didnt melt somewhy)

lust leave it, they will grow back.

tip: buy big crypts, from my experience they return to their glory faster.

Michael

Looks good for 6 weeks! What kind of substrate are you using? (Sorry if I missed that in an earlier post.)

--Michael

Cneon

The substrate was kind of a mess. I started with about 2.5" of eco-complete. I didn't have enough to create the slope so I bought some of the caribsea super naturals black tahitian sand. I only bought one bag, though, and that wasn't enough either, so I capped it off with Caribsea Floramax. Then I pushed a whole mess of fert tabs in there for good measure.

Looking back on it, I wish I would have thought of putting some paving stones down under the slopes to help save on the substrate.

I found some baby tears at a LFS today and I replaced the smaller stone to the left of the biggest stone with a BT-covered rock - just to break up some of the monotony in the foreground a bit. Still hoping that DHG grows in better.

Tikulila

so im the only one who uses only sea sand...