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Marko's College 20 Gal Long: home for the summer 5/19/13

25K views 133 replies 32 participants last post by  @marko@ 
#1 · (Edited)
now that im situated in my college apartment i will be setting up a 20 long.
right now, i have the stand, filter, heater, light, and CO2 system. hopefully i will soon get the substrate (ADA aquasoil) and hardscape, and the inline CO2 atomizer (dont want to use my old crappy inline reactor).
its gonna be a high light tank, with 2 65 watt PC lights. one will be used only for a few hours as a noon burst, though.

here is a tentative sketch of the layout:

let me know what you guys think.
 
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#2 ·
just filled up my CO2 bottle for this tank. im hoping to be able to set up the hardscape and equipment some time next week.

im also trying to figure out what kind of fish i want. i know i want shrimp, so they need to be shrimp-safe. rigth now im leaning toward CPDs.
 
#3 ·
just set up my DIY dosing solutions. i have 1 500mL bottle of macros (will dose 8mL to get 1/8 tsp KNO3, and 1/16 tsp of KH2PO4 and K2SO4), and 1 500mL of micro (8mL will give me 1/16 Plantex CSM+B and 1mL of Excel (for a touch of extra carbon and to keep mold from growing).
really excited to get this tank going.
 
#10 ·
thank you

What are the plans for the fauna, Marko? Shrimp?

Are you going to be able to fit all of those plants in there??
yeah, im thinking CRS/CBS and blue velvet neos. and a school of CPDs. maybe 5-6 otos too if i can find a group that seems active and not too shy.

i can try. :)
the tonina is only gonna be 2 rows of plants, and the p. sao paulo is only 1 row of plants. the rest are gonna be bushes in proportions to the sizes seen.
plus i tend to put a bunch of plants in a scape, and then move out some as i determine which grow and fit the best in that particular arrangement.
 
#11 ·
first round of planting done(ish). will get the remainder of the plants in a few days.
i harvested half of the downoi from my ADA30C, and half from my emersed setup. im curios to see how quickly the emersed adapts compared to the submerged.

FTS:


submerged p. helferi:


emmersed p. helferi:


freebie, not sure which sp it is. help?


other freebie, anyone know what it is?



e. aussie II:


e. parkeri:


p. sao paulo:
 
#14 ·
figured out whats going on with my CO2. my solenoid is broken. my ph controller is turning the CO2 "off" and bubbles just keep going. no fauna in the tank though, so its not a big deal. i doubt the plants will mind the extra CO2. anyone want to sell me a solenoid cheap, lol?



both are rotalas. shouldve mentioned that i was just having trouble determining which rotala was which out of the three i got for free (r. yao yai, r. m. variegated, and r. butterfly). only posted pics of 2. but i got it all sorted out now thanks to an ID thread i made in the plants section. 1 is the yao yai, and 2 is the variegated. the one i didnt post then must be the butterfly.

thanks. :)
 
#15 ·
so with my CO2 blasting for a few hours and my noon burst being on, i had to take some macro shots of the resulting pearling. plants must be loving it. although ill have to be extra careful to bring it down slowly once i get a solenoid after my tank cycles in preparation for fish.

p. sao paulo:


r. yao yai:


h. lancea:


d. diandra:


e. aussie II:


r. m. variegated:





t. f. lotus blossom (this one is still straightening out, offering me a perfect view of the growth tip):


e. belem showing new growth after just 48 hours in the tank:


r. butterfly:
 
#19 ·
got the remainder of my plant species (excluding e. hydropiper and n. pedicellata golden, still looking for them if anyone has), and planted tonight. pics tomorrow.

also noticing new runners on the e. belem, and new growth on just about everything. im expecting to be growing out the plants for about 3 weeks or so, and then be able to start shaping.

trying to figure out what fish i want. i definitely want shrimp, so they need to be shrimp safe. any suggestions?
 
#24 ·
collectoritis at its finest. lol
i will probably tone down the amount of plants i have as the tank progresses, and i see how well each of the plants does and how it looks in this particular scape.
the h. tiger on both sides is definitely going out. its just there to add plant matter while the other plants fill in.
 
#25 ·
the plants are growing alright, but im noticings diatoms starting to spread.
its not too bad yet, but i dont like em. i know its probably just due to the new tank, but my erios, tonina, and d. diandra wont do well if any significant diatoms grow on them and shade them.
have good CO2 (i think)- 3-4 bps all photoperiod long via a GLA inline atomizer. high flow too. dosing EI and doing 50% daily WCs.
still not testing any nitrites, so it will be a while before i can add amanos and otos to clean this mess up.
 
#26 ·
finally got nitrites. hopefully they will drop within a week or 2.
i need to add some otos and amanos. the diatoms are starting to get out of hand. it happens every time i use a new tank, and it always goes away as the tank matures; but they are starting to spread extensively onto the foliage of the plants, and im worried for some of the slower growing plants (namely the erios and tonina) that they may be shaded out before the diatoms clear up. any suggestions?
 
#27 ·
nitrites are on the decline . but the diatoms have been getting worse. since classes were canceled for 2 days i went in and manually removed as much as i could (even cleared it off the lower leaves of the r. colorata leaf by leaf). im hoping the diatoms will run their course soon, but in the meantime im planning on adding tank-bred otos and some amanos as soon as my nitrites hit 0.

here are pics of the before and after cleaning
before:


after:
 
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