The makings of a 20 long

[confuted]

I started this 20 gallon long tank about a month ago as an upgrade to my 10 gallon tank. New apartment, new city, new school, new degree - time for a bigger tank.

Some of the details:
Tank size: 20 gallon long
Substrate: 2 bags of Flourite
Hardscape: Some local rocks
Filter: Aquaclear 30
Lighting: Coralife 2x18W 30" fixture (initially)

I dumped one bag of flourite into a 5g bucket and started trying to rinse it in my bathtub. Thick, muddy brown water came out in unending quantities, making a horrible mess in my tub. It was a huge PITA and I felt like I was wasting tons of water, not to mention worries about clogging the drain with sandy particles. If I stopped stirring the flourite, I could get the water to run almost clear, but as soon as I mixed it up a little, it'd be back to mud color.

Eventually, I gave up on rinsing my flourite and let it settle in the bucket (still wet). I added a completely unrinsed bag to the tank first, then the "rinsed" stuff. I tried to avoid adding the dirty water from the bucket and the fine particles that made their way to the bottom as I stirred.

I added a little water to the tank (slowly), and it clouded up but settled within a day (no filter was running). I added some rocks for hardscape...




... and a small java fern plantlet, just for kicks. It wasn't tied down to anything, but it'd just been floating around my 10g anyway.

[confuted]

My previous post contained a small fib. I said the lighting was a Coralife 36W fixture initially. That was, of course, the intent, but Big Als Online provided less than satisfactory shipping.

When my fixture arrived, it had two broken bulbs. I contacted them and they promised to put two new bulbs in the mail for me. Meanwhile, I got anxious, and transfered the plants and inhabitants from my 10g to the 20g - lighting be damned.

I don't have pictures from the initial setup, but I have some from soon afterwards:




Lighting: the canopy from my 10g, balanced precariously on top of the 20g long. 56W of spiral flourescents with no reflector, it illuminated about half the tank at a time, and did that poorly. I began to suspect that the piddly little 38W coralife fixture wasn't going to be enough for me when the new bulbs finally arrived.

Nevertheless, I set up some DIY CO2, my first foray into such technology.

[chase127]

id recommend two of those fixtures for that tank

[confuted]

A full tank shot at this early stage:


You can see the canopy balanced on top, with the lid duct taped shut to prevent the thing from falling into the water. It fits the 10g, but this tank is bigger and I had to get innovative.

The plants were suffering from the poor lighting and some of the "care" my mom gave them over the summer in my 10g while I was away on an internship:

As you can see, there was a fair amount of death, destruction, and algae.

The fauna at this point: a 3 spot gold gourami, an albino cory, three african dwarf frogs, seven black neon tetras, and two white clouds. These were all holdovers from my 10g and were about a year old.

Two new bulbs arrived from Big Als. One was broken, the other was a "colormax" bulb that lit up a ghastly shade of pink. I decided it was unusable, and ordered a 10K bulb to go with the 6.7K bulb that I still didn't have. And the crappy lighting continued...

[confuted]

Around this time, I added a paradise fish to the tank. He appeared to get along well with the others, which was a bit unexpected, given the presence of the large gourami, but they seemed friendly. I went on a trip for a few days, and returned to find that he'd expanded his territory to include the carpet. So much for the paradise fish; RIP my crispy friend.

One of my frogs died, and I decided it was time to stock up on them again. I added five more to the tank, but two made the transition poorly. I ended up with four. I also added what was sold as an otto, but I suspect is a siamese algae eater.

Eventually, the new 10K bulb and an unbroken 6.7K bulb arrived for my fixture. As I suspected, it was only a fraction of the light I wanted. Plants under the light grew well, but half the tank was dark. Not wanting to spend the money to order another of these underperforming fixtures, I decided to investigate DIY. I also had no desire to mess with Big Als shipping department any longer; it just takes too long to get a working fixture.

[confuted]

Comment, people! I'm not writing this for my own amusement

To add some more light to my tank, I decided to hang a 24" shoplight from the ceiling. Mounting it was a bit tricky, as I was drilling through drywall over the tank and didn't have anything good to stand on ...

... but eventually, I got it up there. It's a little off-center, but that's ok; that asian ambulia on the left grows fast enough WITHOUT more light. Really, I'm trimming it weekly. The fixture also hangs a little crooked, but by moving where the power cord dangles, I can straighten it, so that isn't a big deal.

I used two hooks that came with drywall anchors rated to 35 pounds each in the ceiling. From there, I took 1/8" galvanized steel cable from Lowes and added little metal pieces to make loops and hammered on some ends. I forgot what those things were called, but they were sold right by the cable. On the light end, I used the s-hooks that were provided with the shoplight and more loops in the cable. To adjust the height, I employ a simple knot held in place by friction - it's just one half of a square knot.

I replaced one of the bulbs in the shoplight fixture with a bulb with a bluer spectrum. I tried replacing both, but that was too blue, so I need to find another source. Right now it has one bulb meant for aquariums and one that came with it (rather yellow). My tank has four bulbs total, and all four of them are different

I think perhaps I should lower the light a little more, as some light spills over onto the top of the other fixture, but then the light spread would be more uneven. It's a toss up - thoughts?

Next post: flora and fauna

[FrostyNYC]

Originally Posted by confuted

Comment, people! I'm not writing this for my own amusement

Hahaha. That's how I felt sometimes when updating my own tank journal.

My comments on yours: I love the left side of your tank, the rock, the bright green ambulia. I like it. The right side looks a bit haphazard. It looks like it's growing in very well, but it doesnt appear aquascaped. I do like the hardscape, but its completely gone on the right side now that those large stems have grown in.

The light fixture hanging from the ceiling is creative, but I think a normal fishtank strip light would have been much easier and would have made for a cleaner look. Maybe make a canopy or legs instead of suspension. Regardless, I would lower the light, as long as it doesnt create too much heat.

I'm curious to see your next "fauna" post, as I think this tank has a lot of potential, and your current fauna stocking list is unique for this forum.

[confuted]

Alright, nobody asked for it, but you're going to get it - the next post.

Flora:
On the left side of the tank, a large and healthy stand of asian ambulia:



On the other side of the large rock, some ludwigia repens in the front with an apongeton crispus growing out from underneath. The small rock in the middle sports some small java fern plantlets, and the hygro difformis in the back spreads well, but absolutely refuses to grow upwards.



A bit farther over, stargrass, and on the right, hygro ceylon and hygro sunset.


The ludwigia repens isn't growing very well so I'm trying to sell it, and I plan on repositioning the hygro difformis to the front right, and the hygro ceylon to where the difformis is now.

Want a full tank shot? Leave some comments!

Fauna:
In addition to the fauna mentioned earlier, I added a dwarf gourami and a honey sunset gourami. I know gouramis don't get along with one another, but I couldn't resist, and the fighting doesn't seem to be too bad. Though the honey sunset is the smallest of the three gouramis in the tank, it generally ignores any attempts to fight made by the much larger three spot gourami, or occasionally fights back. As a result, the tree spot has learned to tolerate this fish.

The dwarf gourami is more timid, and gets harassed by the three spot sometimes, but it has plenty of plants to hide in and no damage is being done to any of the fish. I'm considering setting up a shrimp tank; if I do, I'll relocate the three spot there for a few days before I get the shrimp; it might fool it into being a bit more submissive when it goes back.

Some fish pictures!







Can anybody identify the gender of the three spot?

This guy spent the day blowing bubble nests:

His back fins were clear when I bought him ... he's coloring up and they're turning black.




Is that 3 spot a female, or is this guy going to end up sexually frustrated?

[chase127]

the gouramis look awesome. and thats some nice sunset hygro

now an fts LOL ??

[confuted]

Originally Posted by FrostyNYC

Hahaha. That's how I felt sometimes when updating my own tank journal.

My comments on yours: I love the left side of your tank, the rock, the bright green ambulia. I like it. The right side looks a bit haphazard. It looks like it's growing in very well, but it doesnt appear aquascaped. I do like the hardscape, but its completely gone on the right side now that those large stems have grown in.

The light fixture hanging from the ceiling is creative, but I think a normal fishtank strip light would have been much easier and would have made for a cleaner look. Maybe make a canopy or legs instead of suspension. Regardless, I would lower the light, as long as it doesnt create too much heat.

I'm curious to see your next "fauna" post, as I think this tank has a lot of potential, and your current fauna stocking list is unique for this forum.

A comment!

I'm pleased with the left side too, and thing the same thing about the right side. I didn't really know how the stems were going to perform when I put them in there, and frankly, had no idea what to do with the hygro ceylon. I don't particularly like it - it seems impossible to create a clean look with it, at least in a tank this size.

I'm planning on switching the positions of the hygro difformis and the hygro ceylon friday ... today ... maybe I'll get around to it tomorrow. The difformis just won't grow "up", so it might make some good ground cover in front of that rock, and allow me to actually see my hygro sunset, which is coloring up nicely. I'm open to suggestions though.

Maybe something to replace the ceylon as a background plant? I'm thinking about getting rid of the star grass too; I got a starter package that had a lot of different stuff in it, and I don't need all these species.

Yeah ... didn't want to spend the money on another coralife, or wait for it to arrive. I'm not sure how well I could fit two of those lights on the tank with a HOB filter either.

[confuted]

Originally Posted by chris127

the gouramis look awesome. and thats some nice sunset hygro

now an fts LOL ??

Your wish is my command ... tomorrow, when the lights are on. The DIY moonlights just aren't good enough for a picture; they need some more work.

[chase127]

oh i forgot to ask, how many lights is the shoplight?

[confuted]

Originally Posted by chris127

oh i forgot to ask, how many lights is the shoplight?

It's two lights ... 17W each.

[Hilde]

Check out mizu-chan 20 gallon tank - clip on lamps – 2/ 26w CFL 6,500K bulbs. She only uses diy co2 and has great plant growth.

Have you checked EBay or craiglist.org out?

[roybot73]

So far, so good! A few comments however...

The rocks kind of have that chalky, limestone-y look to them. Did you test them before you put them in?

Your 3 spot/Gold Gourami will probably only get more aggressive toward the other tank inhabitants, not to metion that it could grow up to ~6" in length. I'd consider trading it in for another Honey Sunset or Dwarf Gourami.

You haven't mentioned any ferts yet -- are you dosing them?

I've got nothing but good things to say about the Coralife T5 fixtures. I think they're a great choice for a 20L, as they're one of the few (if not only) 30" fixtures whose bulbs reach both ends of the tank. Your hanging shoplight was a great idea, but you're really wasting quite a bit of electricity for the meager amount of light it's providing your plants. If you can relocate your HOB -- or better yet, get a canister filter -- you'd have room for a second Coralife which would lead to lush, dense growth

Back to the filter, it 's probably a bit underpowered for a tank of this dimensions. Once plant growth starts to fill in a bit more, you may find that there are "dead spots" with regard to water, CO2 and nutrient flow. Dead spots = algae.

Finally, speaking form experience, lots of stem plants in a 12" high 20L can be a real PITA Try to find some mid-ground low growers, some of the smaller Crypt species (Lucens, Petchii, Parva) work out really nice without a whole lot of hassle. Hygro compacta is pretty nice too.

You're off to a good start, can't wait to see what this grows into!