[Fishboy08]

Hey,

I am a seasoned aquarist and have been keeping African Cichlids in my 55 for about 3 years now, and have many other tropical freshwater tanks in my past. I have an old 20 Gal Long sitting in my room with nothing in it. I have recently been in awe with planted tanks and decided to join up. I was wondering if you all could help me out with my setup. Ya know the usual. Which kind of filtration setup (canister, power, ect.) Good brand of lights to use, and possibly a good plant stock. As for fish in the tank I am looking to get a beautiful male betta, some mates and possibly some tetras or other of the sort to fill it in. All input would be appreciated. I have also read that "Rex's guide" but I want some input on what kind of plants and such would be good in such a "short" tank. I have a 20 Gal Long like i said, so any info would be appreciated.

 

[mrbelvedere]

Call me and we'll get this sorted out, Nate. I was beginning to think all my preaching in study hall was fruitless.

20 long? a 1x55 watt or better yet, 2 AH Supply 36 watt Kits.

Canisters are always best, as they save CO2, and are all around a more efficient filtration. They also allow for inline equipment, which means less of it is in your tank. Eheim is the best, Rena is great also, and a skosh cheaper.

Short plants are your friend.......Cryptocorynes, Anubias, Saggittaria, etc. We can get all these at Sailfin so all the better.

 

[TINNGG]

Believe it or not, but you can grow pretty decent plants with the standard lights sold for that tank. It's so darned shallow (shallower than a 10) that most all the light reaches the bottom. I'm setting up my old one currently using a Tetra living world filter/stump for a 10 (eh, one of the local pestmarts had it for $15, couldn't resist mate), soilmaster select, and the ancient strip light off the hood (noticed the splash glass in the hood was broken so tossed it). You're probably not going to grow glosso like this but crypts and anubias will be happy.

 

[Naja002]

I have a 20L with a few pix of it here:

Chinese Watersnake Upgrade 20L-56k-warning

The Specs of the tank and plants are listed in that post. It has grown in some and I have added a few more plants that are now on the list, but not in the pix.

I like it. I needed Long and Low for the Watersnakes, which is the main focus of the tank. Now I just wish I would have had one made that was 30" x 18" 14" instead. But maybe I'll upgrade to that next Year.....Maybe Not. Who Knows....

Most of the plants in it are lower light, slow growers that don't get very tall very fast--which is what I wanted.

HTH

 

[TheOtherGeoff]

i run a pretty basic setup on my 20L and have great results. i use a stock light strip and a coralife t5 strip and the plants go crazy. filter is a whisper 20 and thats about it. no co2 and no ferts and the plants sure do well in it

 

[Fishboy08]

Thanks for all the input guys. I have looked over many of your tanks, and I have to say they all look very lush for being as small of tanks as they are. I guess that is what really drew me to this type of tank, no matter what size it can be full and beautiful. All the tanks look just great guys keep up the good work. As soon as I get some cash, I will start up a new thread to log my progress and that way I can get some help along the way! Thanks again for the input, and more is welcome.

 

[BlueRam]

If you are in the beginning stages of equipment buys you might want to build around something other than the 20L as it is slightly more difficult to light at 30". Most lamps are sold as 2' or 3'. That said, I like my 20L even though the edges are a little dim.

 

[Fishboy08]

Actually I have accessed that problem already. I have a family member that also is into planted tanks, I'm not sure if he is involved with this site or not, but he has been an aquarist for over 20 years and mentioned this to me. He gave me this light setup with reflectors and he said that they should reflect enough light into the corners and outer edges. The only thing I don't have equipment wise is the actual light bulb which I could easily pickup this weekend. Thanks for the info though, I really appreciate it, as it could have been vital info depending on my stock list and setup. Thanks!

 

[TINNGG]

I like it. I needed Long and Low for the Watersnakes, which is the main focus of the tank. Now I just wish I would have had one made that was 30" x 18" 14" instead. But maybe I'll upgrade to that next Year.....Maybe Not. Who Knows....

Those are interesting. I can see having something like that in a house with a 7 year old though.

Sounds almost like a 40 breeder there. I saw one a week ago. That's a cool tank. Not practical for angels but great for most anything else. (and it's shallow enough I wouldn't have to go swimming. Hee!)

 

[Naja002]

Sounds almost like a 40 breeder there.

I have a 40 Breeder, but sadly, its 36" long and won't fit in the space that the Chinese watersnakes are in.....

 

[TINNGG]

waitaminute - that would be a 29 wouldn't it?

 

[Naja002]

I have a 29g too and its roughly 30" x 12" x 18" H.

What I was refering to was 30"L x 18"W x 14"H. I'm not aware of any standard aquarium of those dimensions. The height wouldn't be that important---12"-15" would work. But this stand that I am using has a 30" x 18" "footprint"......

sorry, not intending to hijack......:icon_eek:

 

[TheOtherGeoff]

a 30x18 tank would be one sweet footprint. sorry for adding to the hijacking..

 

[Fishboy08]

Haha, no worries, I think this thread was dead anyways...

 

[TheOtherGeoff]

oh one more piece of advise, be careful with sword plants and apongentons, they get too bog for them and block out large portions of light. hahaha.

 

[TINNGG]

Aponogetons for sure. Especially with lots of fertilizer. I had 2 of them potted in a 20 long. the fish had the bottom half of the aquarium to swim in. Hahah.

The Kleiner Bar sword was recommended to me for my 20 long. Apparently it doesn't as tall, especially in a relatively low light tank.

 

[TheOtherGeoff]

yeah my apogentons got freagin monsterous in the 20 with just flourite and light. the lace plant is getting big but nothing too big yet.

i do have a red melon in there that is staying small and good lookin still. if only i could keep an ozelot

 

[xcooperx]

i just bought a 20L and planning to make it a iwagumi style (did i pronounce it right, sorry )

 

[Naja002]

if only i could keep an ozelot

I have a Leopard sword in my 20L. Its kind of shaded and off to the side, so its staying kind of small. Throwing out leaves, but overall size is fairly small. Right now, it fits well. But I have a couple in my 40 breeder and one has gotten pretty good size for a leopard sword, somewhat larger than the one in my 55g.

Depending upon the setup--a leopard sword might just fill your hunger for an ozelot......

Echinodorus schlueteri 'Leopard'

The Kleiner Bar sword was recommended to me for my 20 long. Apparently it doesn't as tall, especially in a relatively low light tank.

The Kleiner Bar that I have is just like Hoppy's in the Link below. Mine also is in a 29g and it is 1"-2" from the top. I have 3 smaller ones that it has produced, but the mother plant is much bigger than "they" say....

Hoppy's kleiner bar sword


I have 3 small Echinodorus parviflorus ''peruensis'' and right now I don't know how big they are going to get, but they are growing slowly and fitting in well in my 20L.

Echinodorus parviflorus ''peruensis''

My favorite small sword right now is: Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'. The emersed version looks like the pic at the link below, but the submersed version looks like a miniture Amazon Sword! These are seriously overlooked plants IMO. The one in my 20L is only 5-6" high Tops. I have 2 in a 2g nano, and several in the 29g. They are a Great small sword!

Echinodorus parviflorus 'Tropica'




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