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****Triggers 20G Long Journal****

22K views 191 replies 37 participants last post by  xxstitch69xx 
#1 · (Edited)
Started a new 20 long on 1/17/14.

Lighting: Aquaticlife dual 24w T5HO with one Geisemann Aquaflora and one Geisemann Midday. 30" Finnex Planted+ LED. 10hrs a day

Substrate: 100% Eco-Complete

Fertilization: dry ferts. N-P-K mon, weds, fri. Csm+b tues, thurs, sat. Sunday is 50% water change

CO2: pressurized at 2bps through a GLA atomic diffuser

Hardscape: a few lava rocks I had laying around and a few small pieces of manzanita.

Other Equipment: 100w Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm heater. Hydor nano powerhead. Eheim 2215 for filtration.

Plants: Downoi, Hydrocotyle sp. Japan, HC, Eleocharis Parvula(DHG), Fissidens Fontanus, Starogoyne Repens, Anubias Nana petite

Inhabitants: PFR cherry shrimp, 4 Otto cats and a small school of cardinal tetras

Other notes - going for more of an Iwagumi scape here. Going to add some Hygro Pinnatifida in the back and maybe another stem plant. Still unsure on the stocking. The mini cycle is pretty much done with. Only lasted a few days. Was thinking of going with some cardinal tetras and some cherry shrimp. I like the look of schooling fish in iwagumi scapes. Any suggestions on fish or stem plants?

Will update as the plants fill in!
 

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#19 · (Edited)
Quick update. Decided to replace my coralife fixture just because I dislike the color it gives off and replacement bulbs are expensive. So I ordered a 30" Finnex planted+. Heard good things so I'm excited to see how it looks. I saw the PAR data Finnex released on it. They used a 24" fixture for the test. At 12" it was showing 61 PAR. With the 30" I ordered, I'm gonna take a stab and say I'm going to be in the low 70's range. The light will sit lower than the coralife fixture and put it at around 11" off of the substrate. I'll post before and after pics for those interested in the Finnex fixtures.
 
#22 ·
It's been a little over 2 weeks now. The HC is filling in nicely and the rest of the plants are showing significant new growth. My Finnex Planted+ will be here tomorrow and will replace the coralife fixture. I also am going to be replacing the lava stone with some seriyu stone I ordered.
 

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#26 ·
No I've actually found the Coralife fixture to be the dimmer of the two. The midday aquaflora combo is actually quite bright. They give off a bright white hue even though the aquaflora is a pink bulb. The new Finnex fixture coming tomorrow should put the Coralife fixture to shame. Hopefully it will give me the color I'm looking for :)
 
#29 · (Edited)
Well my 30" Finnex Planted+ fixture finally arrived!







This fixture is VERY light and extremely thin. The brushed aluminum housing is pretty cool looking. Very sleek and low profile. First impressions are it is quite bright, much brighter than my 65w coralife fixture and the LEDs span the entire length of the tank as compared to the two thirds(21") coverage I was getting with my PC bulb. The reflection off the surface of the water also looks very cool :)

 
#35 ·
I looked at the most recent pictures and thought, wow that sure is a lot of light.... LOL
Any reason you went with the finnex one and not current+ satellites?
What kind of algae is that green stuff? Are you not worried about it because it's still a young tank?
It's looking good though! When I started my tank I was thinking of something like this where it'd be mostly foreground stuff but collectoritis + the depth of the tank led to me going plant happy haha.
 
#36 ·
That's exactly what I usually do....go buck wild with plants lol. I controlled myself this time around and decided to go mostly foreground and mid ground plants; not my usual forte. I think I'm going to add some hygro pinnitifida as my one and only stem plant. As for the algae; I'm not too concerned about it. It's very mild green algae only growing the the rocks and glass. It's a new tank so I find this normal considering experience with my previous setups. Once everything starts filling in and my plant mass increases, it usually dies off and becomes non existent. My co2 is pumping like crazy and all the plants are growing fast and pearling so I can't complain. As for the light; I went with the finnex because of the consensus on this forum. Did a little research h and just decided to roll with it. It looks great and I'm hoping to get good results with it.
 
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