amanda's 20g cat-warmer

[amanda huggenkiss]

I think this pic speaks for itself...



So far I've got hairgrass (still kinda clumpy, but I didn't have the patience to spread it out more ), a few crypts, a lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea', a cardamine lyrata, and a few clippings from my h polysperma (just to kick-start things -- I'll remove it later). And my LFS is keeping an eye out for some pearlgrass for me. I'll eventually be adding a piece of driftwood at the right -- either the piece from my 6g or a new piece if I can find "that perfect piece".

Substrate is aquatic soil, topped with fine gravel, topped with sand. I know the sand and gravel will eventually mix, but I'm ok with that. They're both natural colour so it won't look too weird, and I'm hoping the hairgrass will eventually fill out and you won't be able to see the substrate at all.

Lighting is a double 65W Coralife fixture. Since a lot of my plants have high light requirements, I'm going to run one light for 10 hours/day, with an overlap of maybe an hour when both lights are on. Does that sound like a plan? Or do you think a single 65W would be enough?

A Hagen ladder provides CO2. Since it's just a 20g tank, and it won't have too many fast-growers, I'm hoping this will do.

Filter is a submersible Fluval 3 Plus. It doesn't take up too much space at all, and because it's black in colour, it totally blends into the background.

I've had it set up for a few days now. I'm trying to speed up establishing a cycle by using Sera Nitrivec. My LFS swears by it. So I've already added a few fish (the furcatus I've had my eye on for awhile). Once things settle down more, I'll add a few more, and eventually will move the apistos over from my 6g.