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

[@marko@]

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.

[@marko@]

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.

[@marko@]

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.

[keithy]

C. wendtii gets very big in high tech tank, at least in my experience. You may want to move it back or simply use some other smaller crypt species.

[@marko@]

yeah, i decided a while ago that ill probably put an erio(s) there instead anyway, as i sold off all my c. wendtii (got bored of it).

[@marko@]

i am way too excited to get this tank going. so as i have nothing to do for it until my aquasoil and rock get here, i took a shot of my fert mixtures out of desperation.

[@marko@]

the hardscape is in. and the first round of plants comes tomorrow.
heres what it looks like:

[.Mko.]

Solid Hardscape.

[crazydaz]

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

Are you going to be able to fit all of those plants in there??

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by .Mko.

Solid Hardscape.

thank you

Originally Posted by crazydaz

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.

[@marko@]

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:

[@marko@]

having some issues getting the CO2 to run smoothly. im not sure if its just an issue of me being bad at setting it, or if i may need a new regulator.

[crazydaz]

Freebie #1 looks to be Rotala sp....maybe "colorata"? Freebie #2....a Hygro sp. of some sort?

Looks like a solid start Marko!!

[@marko@]

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?

Originally Posted by crazydaz

Freebie #1 looks to be Rotala sp....maybe "colorata"? Freebie #2....a Hygro sp. of some sort?

Looks like a solid start Marko!!

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.

[@marko@]

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: