Which power filter for 20L

Mcostas said:

I'm leaning towards flugal C3 or C2. The C2 is supposed to be able to filter up to 30 gallons. I'm concerned the C3 might be too strong for the shrimp I'm planning on putting in there.

But it seems like the accessories for the C3 are easier to find and there are stainless steel mesh pre-screens on Amazon, although none specifically say they would fit the flugal c.

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Mcostas said:

I also toyed with the idea of placing the pump more centrally but maybe it's better to have a "quiet side". Maybe have more plants and hides there and a rock feature on the other side.

I still haven't put water in it, planning is more complicated than I thought.
I'm doing fishless cycling, gravel, I'm having trouble finding small smooth gravel, and east plants, driftwood and rocks. Maybe dragon stone? I don't have to worry about the Bettas fins, they have their home.

I have to consider the water, I need creatures used to the not soft water. I honestly don't know my ph, that's what I don't like about the api kit, I can't distinguish between the shades of green for pH, it always looks blueish, so I go to "high" pH and get something that should have been within the linearity of the low pH.

None of the paper I have show that high, they all show 7 and that's using 2 square pH paper.

But it's always the same so at least there's that.

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Sgooosh said:

shrimp need hard water

by east plants do you mean easy plants?
any stem plant will do, they are easy to care for and will appreciate root tabs
java ferns , anubias, any moss because shirmp like moss. an lfs or online store sells plants (lfs cheaper)

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Mcostas said:

Yeah, easy plants. Now I have java Fern, Anubis, hornwort, and a hydrilla looking stem plant.

I like that you can attach the plants to things to make maintenance easier. My java Ferns are producing "babies"

Plan on adding other species and I don't mind one or two rooted specimens. I ordered some moss balls but haven't gotten them yet. I'll add other mosses.

I ordered these ceramic weight things with holes to make managing my stem plants easier. Right now I prune them from the bottom when they get big and weight the stem down again. I have them along the back.

I'm still on the search for the type of gravel I want, smoothe and small.

Here is a pic of my 10 gallon. The sponge filter isn't in there all the time.

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