This is my first tank journal. The only other planted tank I have had is a 10gallon, which was also "dirted" (for those of you reading who are noobs like me, "dirted" means having dirt as your main substrate so plants will grow better). For this 10g, I had a 24W "daylight" bulb in a reflector I got from walmart. I bought some HC (also known as dwarf baby tears) from PetCo, thinking they'd die after reading how hard they can be to grow, low and behold they grew even with that crappy little light. No CO2, only a little fert. dosing (Seachem Flourish I think). So 6 months later, my wife let me buy a 20g long tank, and for my birthday she upgraded my lighting situation a bit with a T5 HO fixture (it was on sale at PetCo). Starting this tank new, I thought I'd record my experiences for those like me who glean anything they can from tank journals. Here goes...
Great thread! Love the excitement! Your growth has been ridiculous, especially since ive read that HC without CO2 was useless! Maybe your idaho dirt helps more than you think!
I'm attributing the successful HC growth to the dirt AND the paperclips. And adequate light. And good water and probably luck. Anywho, LyzzaRyzz and marioman72, you've talked me into trying CO2. Didn't need too big of a shove, really.
I've found a few different recipes for CO2 concoctions littered across the intraweb... Any recommendations or words of wisdom before I get to it?
sorry didnt even see this response! there realy isnt much to give for words of wisdom other then the basics of co2 stuff. and the paper clip trick worked wonderfully!
Do you have any links to the hood and light your using? I am setting up a 20L right now and would love to have a carpeting plant. I prefr the look of a tank with alot of rock and driftwood but, yours looks great with the carpet.
Throw "Zoo Med AquaSun T5-HO Double Light Linear Fluorescent Hood, 30-Inch" into a web search and the fixture model I'm using will pop up. The bulb is "Zoo Med Flora Sun Plant Bulb T5 High Output 24 Watts, 22-Inch." I just have one bulb, but I'm ready to put another one in next to it since it can hold two - probably the 10,000K or "Ocean Sun" bulb. Maybe it will help the HC grow even more, but I'm getting it mainly for the aesthetic factor.
If you try the paperclip tactic with your new 20L let me know how it works. Good luck!
I'm glad your tank survived the move, this is a very entertaining journal. I think 48W of T5HO will prove too much light over a tank of this size, but maybe DIY CO2 will keep algae in check. Best of luck, looking forward to future updates!
The POM bottle is where the yeast mix goes, producing the CO2 that goes through the tube and into my little homemade bubble counter/nasty yeast mixture catcher. I don't really need it for bubble counting since I can hear the bubbles get chopped up in the filter impeller, but it should stop any alcohol that forms in the tube or top of the POM bottle from making its way to the tank.
The HC growth has slowed... which is why I am going to start DIY CO2. Maybe the dirt has been sucked dry of all it's magical nutrients, or maybe that plant on the right is rough competition.
looks like u def could use some co2 the HCs looking a little bit yellow compared to how it looked. but still looking awsome love the color of the platies
Yup. I agree. The HC was losing its color and a bit of brown algae was growing on most of the leaves.
Now that I've had co2 going for about a week, I can already see the color coming back and new little leaves popping up through the old stuff. And talk about pearling! About six hours after the lights go on, tiny TINY bubbles stream up from all over the place. I've had "fake" pearling after I do a water change, but nothing like this. Guess that's a good sign.
Along with adding co2 a week or so ago, there's a few other changes to the tank.
First, the hardscape situation: I never really liked the right side of the tank. If you look in the past pictures, there's always been this little rock with java moss attached kinda thrown on that side of the tank. Totally out of place. So in October I bought that plant to put next to it. Beautiful plant, but it grew big enough to become the focal point of the tank, taking away the emphasis from the rocks and HC. I'd known that something had to be done for quite a while. Yesterday I took out the two rocks and put others in that I found in my backyard.
Second, more plants: I was down in Provo over Super Bowl weekend and found a local pet shop called Animal Ark. Freaking rad place. They had a great planted tank on display.
Anywho, I bought some glossostigma and another plant that's tall (can't remember its name). Just planted the glosso last night and still deciding where the other one needs to be stuck.
It took for-freakin-ever. Like an hour for the whole process. But my shrimps really dig the tall plant. And speaking of shrimpies...
In October I bought some "supreme cherry shrimp" from speedieaquatics. Same dude that goes by speedie408 here on TPT. Started with 12 or so, now I've got 25+ swimming around. Love it! However...
Whenever my filter flow slows, I open it up and rinse out the little pad that catches poop, leaves, whatever. A few weeks after I had my shrimp, I did that and found 10-20 little shrimp on it. Depressing. So I cover the intake with pantyhose and it still happens. I have no idea how they get in. And recently, bigger shrimps have been getting past the pantyhose AND the filter pad AND the foam and end up in my spray bar. Right now I can see five in there. ?
So I decided to get a canister filter. I have wanted an Eheim for over a year, but could never talk my wife into spending $80 bucks on a quality filter, until now! I'm pretty pumped to not have my Fluval Nano inside my tank, taking up space, being a shrimp trap. It's a good filter, I should do a review on it since I couldn't really find a good one when I was wondering if I should buy it, but the external canister is gonna be pretty sexy.
After working my tank over a little the last few days, I am pretty darn pleased with how it looks and where it's headed...
I now have an Eheim classic 2213. Talk about the Cadillac of filters, wow.
A friend of mine just started his first planted tank and gave me half a bag of Eco-Complete substrate (made my CaribSea) he had left over. So I scooped up the sand on the right side of my tank and re-planted the glosso-starts in that instead. This tank DID start out as a dirt tank capped with sand, but the layer of dirt on the right side was really thin. That might help account for why my HC didn't really spread farther. Just shootin in the dark.
The tank looks great, love seeing the progress over time. In my opinion you have no real background plants. The back left corner would be more appealing with jungle val if u want real hieght. Or nice piece of driftwood similar to the photo of the tank you liked at lfs. Add some moss to it and shrimp paradise lol... keep up the hard work it lookss great
I'm with straightaddicted background plants would be nice as well as some driftwood covered in some sort of moss. It would give your shrimp babies a place to hide and provide a good forage patch for them as well. And plus moss and driftwood is just awesome.
Now that you are using a 2213, I would recommend constructing a PVC pipe c02 diffusor. They are cheap and easy to make with a trip your local hardware store.
Now that you are using a 2213, I would recommend constructing a PVC pipe c02 diffusor. They are cheap and easy to make with a trip your local hardware store.
Your HC grew A LOT before your CO2, AND it was submerged, not even dry-started. Your soil in Idaho has to be super nutrient rich or something, compared to the east coast where I am at. I'm on the 3rd week of dry-starting my HC and don't see anything near the growth you got with non-CO2. I think you've shown how much of a difference the soil makes in the substrate!
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