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New Hi-Tech Rimless 20 Long - *Dutch-ish / Iwagumi* +20L Reef dual setup

38K views 152 replies 42 participants last post by  SomethingFishy16 
#1 · (Edited)
Tank as of May 11.












And so it begins again... starting a new tank is always the most exciting part I feel like.

I just recently tore down my 55g planted tank to make way for a new 20L tank. This will be my 4th planted tank (RIP all others now)along with my other 20L reef. Water changes in the 55 were becoming too much work along with my reef tank, and honestly, I was ready for something new.

The tank is a standard 20L from Petco de-rimmed (I've done this multiple times now, plenty sturdy.. but wouldn't go any bigger)

Lights - right now 4x39 FishNeedIt with a Geiss Midday, WavePoint Tropical, FNI 10k and Pink (sometimes replace the pink with another wavepoint)

Substrate - Ecocomplete, white sand

Filtration - Eheim 2217, Ista Surface Skimmer

CO2 - 5lb tank with Milwaukee regulator and Maxmix inline reactor

Hardscape - Seiryu Stone, Wood

Fertz - PPS Pro'ish with 1.5 liter mix of KH2PO4 KNO3 daily & dry CSM+B every other day
 
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#83 ·
Thanks! Plan on switching things up a lot in this tank, so hopefully there will be a lot more to come.

May get new custom tanks in the near future to fit the stand better. I built each side 37" to accommodate 36" t5ho fixtures and bigger tanks in the future. Probably go with 36x12x16, only around 200 a piece for the rimless on glasscages. Still pondering, haha.
 
#84 ·
#85 ·
#88 ·
Thanks! They are awesome little fish... just wish mine schooled more. Mine were very unhealthy though, only 2 survive now. Most died in the first day. They were supposed to be Chili Rasbora and ended up being boraras urophthalmoides.

Got them from Bob's Tropical Fish. All but two died.. Emailed about it and he offered me partial store credit. Would have to pay all that money for shipping again for fish I didn't originally want anyway.

Can't really say I had a great experience with them (BTF that is). Hope others have had better experience. Side note - stay clear of their "blue" berry shrimp.
 
#91 ·
Haha, thanks man.

They started out a bunch of work, but not so much now. The reef pretty much sustains itself. Just gotta top it off once a week. The planted tank is a little work but I just knock it out on Sundays usually... Trim, replant, clean glass with a filter pad, try to get the substrate off the sand, then siphon two 5 gallon buckets and fill back ... about it haha.

I enjoy the work to an extent though lol
 
#94 ·
This is insanely awesome! Good job man. Wish my skills were this good.
Haha, thanks a lot!

We're all our own worst critics... Don't beat yourself up lol. I don't think this tank is amazing, just finally have one I'm somewhat happy with... But I've had a lot of tanks lol. Learn something new on each one. I'm finally learning to plan and take things slow.

Thanks though! Means a lot.

Happy tanking.


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#95 ·
Stuff is starting to grow in nice know. Been trimming a lot, replanting tops, etc... Been trying to maintain a small dutch-like scape... small areas of plants and stark contrasts. We will see how it goes. Rotala sp green is starting to get dense and grow nice now, so I will continue to expand the "bushes" of it around the tank a bit more in clean trimmed areas. Also, starting to trim and attach the riccia to a bit... Going to get some more nice super bright green areas of it around the tank.

Got some new plants from Ebi... Mini Pellia on the wood, Ludwigia Senegalensis and UG. UG took a minute to take hold but I think it has now and its going to start spreading soon. Lud Sen is growing nicely and coloring up, Ill propagate it soon.

Soo... Here ya go.




Few plant close ups


 
#97 ·
Not yet but I've had that happen with other plants... I trim and replant almost weekly with it, so might not have the chance to develop it. Perks of having such a short tank I guess haha. It grows pretty fast for me, seems to like RO water more than tap in my experience so far.
 
#98 ·
Every time I check back on this thread, I build up a little more incentive and motivation to set up a reef tank myself. I really like the contrast of the FW planted vs SW reef. I've always wanted to venture into SW but ignorantly told myself that it was more expensive, difficult, and required lots of maintenance. However, you said that the SW tank sustains itself? What's the maintenance like? The reason I ask, is I can feel the labor of love of trimming the plants, cleaning the filter, tubes, pipes, water change, siphoning poop, and wiping algae off the glass in a FW tank, so if the SW is actually better maintenance wise....I might just pull the darn trigger!
 
#99 ·
I'd say I do 3-4x more work on my FW than my SW. But hasn't always been the case (like in the first month or two of the reef) All I do in my SW tank is dump in RO water once a week when it evaporates and vacuum. Vacuum is super easy since its bare bottom... I just cut a 2 liter and stuffed it with filter media and I sit it in the sump and siphon water from the tank into it, which filters out all the poo and debris and returns that water into the sump which goes back to the tank... so no WCs required to do this. Wipe down the glass once a week with the magfloat too. Thats about it.

I call it a budget reef, lol. I got by doing things a lot cheaper than most people do. Cheap skimmer (sca301 - works amazing) got an old used wet/dry and pump for filtration for 25$, cheap tank since its just normal 20L with rim removed, got a steal on the PAR38 at 37$ on ebay and built my other fixture for under 50$. The live rock and coral were the most expensive thing, but perks of a tank this small is you dont need as much. I've never sat down and added it up, but broken down over time it wasnt too bad. You can EASILY spend as much as I did doing a larger FW planted by the time you buy hundreds and hundreds of dollars in substrate, ADA stones and rare plants and mosses.

Not saying SW is cheap, but I didn't go all out and get all this insanely priced stuff like some do. Every tank is different though, just gotta convince yourself to take that leap.

Words of advice - When you think you have a big enough filter - go bigger ( mines rated for a 125g tank), RO water is an absolute must, get a protein skimmer, get good quality live rock and plenty of it to start out with (do not get dry base rock or you will end up regretting it like my gf did in her tank covered in hair algae) and dont get many fish.

Good luck if you take the leap! I love both.
 
#105 ·
appreciate the kind words.




Great tank, like all the pearling on the riccia. I love the rock formation, I know you were mentioning removing it, but I wouldn't. Awesome job!
I actually just ended up moving at a bit and gained a lot more room for stems. About to post update now





Thank you! =)

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#106 ·
So I was toying with the idea of removing all or since of the rocks so I could have more room for plants.. decided not to do that. I moved the big rock out of the wood "pocket" it was sitting in and was able to wedge it in the back more.. opening up the inner part of the wood for stems. =)

This was a perfect area for my sp green trimmings so I can get a nice Dutch style hedge going on before too long. I'll end up moving the ludwigia senegalensis (spelling) so that the two sp green patches create one long hedge. Anyway... here's some quick cell phone pics.


Here's the full tank shot... continuing to trim riccia and add it to rocks and wood throughout so that I can get some nice green "balls" lol...

You can see how much more dramatically angled the rocks are... something that I like. Once the plants grow back up from their trim this will be a nice dramatic cliff look down to the white "plains". Ug is starting to turn green and spread a bit as well.. along with the hydrocotyle.


Here you can see the rotala sp green area in between the wood... helping me achieve the dutch look even more... I'll get there.





I plan on eventually removing the diandra from the back left corner and having the two sp green patches connect then fill in the back corner... if that makes sense lol.

Anyway... What you guys think?

Other ideas or plants that might help this look better?

Also toying with the idea of pulling out the limno... it's too yellowish. This might be okay now that I'll have all this sp green now, before there wasn't enough green for me. But any big bushy green stem plants that might look good?


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#113 ·
I agree, I was thinking the same thing ever since I moved the rock and got all that green in there (sp green). Now its not overwhelming like it was before. Also, changed the lighting a bit so looks even more green.

Thank you for the advice! Makes my decision easier.

Also, added some more sand (a path) and moved some stuff around a little. Ill get the camera out and take some pics or maybe do a video soon, have the week off work.
 
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