Lljdma06's 20g

Like the 10g, this tank lay fallow for about a year. Only sporatic water changes and no plant maintenance. I just let things be. other than replacing the aponogeton with Vallis nana early this year or late last. Probably when I was on Winter break from the university. Though they were doing well, the boraras and ember tetras kept getting stuck in the filter, so I had to rehome them with friends who kept smaller systems. Just too much stress to keep having to fish them out. I was adding sponges to the filter intake, but then the filter wasn't at capacity, which wasn't good. I kept the larger mystery rasbora that came in with an order, and the tank had been understocked for a long while. It had become infested with duckweed and it took me a long time before I had that under control when I got the urge to start cleaning up the tank. The crypts are a surprise and look lovely, really very dense, and the V. nana has filled out very nicely.

At the end of the semester. I started cleaning things up, and there was quite a bit of hair algae, but it has been steadily decreasing since I started waterchanges, so I'm on the right track with that, and it is mostly gone now. There is some algae in the back glass, but I always grow some for otos. I removed some of the front substrate and added some sand. I think it looks better.

Tank: 20g, up and running for 3 years now.

Lighting: 28W T5 Fixture, giving me about 1.4WPG.

Substrate: Laterite with small-grain gravel. Have only sand in some places, done by scooping out the gravel and adding sand.

Filtration: 2 HOB filters

Fertilisation: Rootabs when I remember

CO2: None

Hardscape: Mopani wood, which gives the tank a slightly tannic quality, though it isn't as dark as it used to be.

Plants: Vallisneria nana, anubias (guessing nana), various cryptocorynes (thinking mostly wendtii red and bronze). The anubias have been in the tank for about 2 years and the crypts since December of 2007, I think. The Vallis has been in there since January of 2009, I think.

Livestock: As of now, 10 Trigonostigma heteromorpha, 2 Rasbora pauciperforata (will hopefull be getting more on Tuesday), 10 C. aeneus, 1 oto (will be adding more, but they are not in stock very often).

Like the 10g, this is much easier to maintain and I like the reduced number of plant species, and the more subtle fish species. I will not object if the crypts send daughter plants throughout the tank, it has spread significantly and is quite dense. It is what it is, I can't spend the time anymore to have a really flashy planted tank and I don't think you need to.





Thanks for looking!

llj

I'll admit, not one of the flashy systems here, that's for sure, but it is healthy and the plants are growing well. The R. pauciperforata came today and they look great. I did a water change and the corydoras are just swimming all over the place. Very nice to watch. The C. aeneus seem to be more nocturnal, so I'll consider adding some moonlights for them.

Your moderator is pleased.

looking very nice!

I think it looks great!

mancin said:

I think it looks great!

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Thank you very much. Found one of the R. pauciperforata on the floor, dried to a crisp. Must have jumped, so now I've inserted pothos sprigs to discourage jumping. They didn't seem a jumping species, but it may have been spooked.

llj

No more jumping R. pauciperforata, so out went the sprigs.

llj

Wow i wish i could do something that nice! Awesome work!

Looks really nice lljd, amazed how well you get your tanks to look with such low maintenance..... hat off to you m8

Thank you very much.

Not much has changed. I thinned out the Vallis on Monday as it was getting rather untidy. Took about a year for it to get that way, but light wasn't penetrating to the bottom. Not good. Today, though, I was rewarded with fresh green shoots, so it was the right thing to do. I also scrubbed the wood pieces. After a year of not moving it, you do get some algae on it. It was time for a clean.

I've considered adding some more fish. I like what I have now, so it may just be adding more to those numbers or bringing a trio or two of my famous cherry barbs to live in that tank.

can you replant the trimmed Vallis?

i brought some yesterday and its really big

No, there was no room to replant all the trimmings. I've got to keep adaquate spacing between the vallis.

llj

oh no, i mean generally

as in just cut the vallis midway? or must it be a new spring of Vallis?

sorry for the bother mate

bagu said:

oh no, i mean generally

as in just cut the vallis midway? or must it be a new spring of Vallis?

sorry for the bother mate

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No, you need roots. It's like grass.

It's not a bother, it's a good question. You definitely would replant say hygro or cabomba that way, because they are stemplants. Vallis is a rosette plant, more like crypts and swords, though more prone to creating runners for that lawn effect.

llj

That tank has got some style mang! You've got some mad creative skills that I need to learn

Ace Of Spades said:

That tank has got some style mang! You've got some mad creative skills that I need to learn

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Style mang. Never heard that one before. I appreciate it, though. There is no special secret, I really just let the plants be plants. The crypts haven't been touched in over a year.

I've repositioned the wood a bit and thinned out the Vallis, as it was getting rather thick and messy. It doesn't look much different, but the corydoras now have more "cave space". I cater to my fish more than to planting at times and the C. aneaus like to hang out in the shade. I plan to add more corydoras and possibly some other fish, but I haven't decided yet. In addition, it needs another filter.

llj