What do you think of my first tank (low-tech)?

It was initially an old 20 gal high I had as a kid. Nobody in the house including me knew anything about fish-keeping so the hobby lasted about three months before all the fish died in an accidental water change with soap water.

I started reading a lot about fish-keeping during my four month vacation just this past summer in Hong Kong after I visited the famous Tung Choi street fish market. So once I went home to Toronto, I started my first tank with an old 20 gal high. After some changes, here is what it looks like. Not sure if it's a true planted tank, because there are a lot of fish. The fish/invert/plant list is on youtube descriptions.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fPDg8I5UlXw

BTW I tried to get close-ups of the Cherry shrimps at about 0:50 but couldn't get clear focus. At 1:09 I tried to look for the Otos but they were hiding.

It was initially an old 20 gal high I had as a kid. Nobody in the house including me knew anything about fish-keeping so the hobby lasted about three months before all the fish died in an accidental water change with soap water.


It came with a measly 18 inch 15 watt regular fluorescent Perfecto Hood / Light combo. Thus the obvious need for an upgrade.

After some horrible DIY attempts, I gutted the original Perfecto hood and stole two undercabinet hood lights from the kitchen to build a 3x 15 watt (18 inch fluorescent tube) lighting canopy out of $1 Home Depot wood. I used an acrylic sheet as the cover. I'll probably do a new lighting/canopy system next year after the fluorescent tubes wear out.

I'd say it's low tech because I don't do ferts, it's low-medium lighting, low-maintenance (nitrate levels are always < 10 ppm, ammonia/nitrite = 0 ppm even after two weeks since WC), General specs:
Filtration: Aquaclear 50 on 24/7 (with sponge inlet to prevent shrimp deaths, and filter media = sponge foam + ceramic cylinders/pebbles + filter floss), sponge filter on a night-time
Heater: 75w Jager
Substrate: Initially Home Depot sand-blasting silica sand, last week added Flourite Black on top, some peat on the bottom layer.
CO2: DIY Yeast-based, with bell diffuser.
Ferts: Fish waste, detritus

I've learned a lot reading about the hobby on forums/online/books and first hand experience so far. It's gotten to the point where I am already planning for a new, larger tank with lots of plants / lower fish load. :icon_cool