🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW - October 2023 Tank of the Month Contest (17 to 30 gallons)

POLL IS NOW CLOSED

Please Vote Now
We have 6 awesome tanks entered in Fishforums' October 2023 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 17 to 30 US gallons . View all the tanks and descriptions below and then go to poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice for TOTM, and then click the "Cast" button.

Please DO NOT post any comments about any specific entry in this thread...such posts will promptly be deleted. You are not allowed to update your entry picture or video once voting has started.

Please Note:
Any attempt to influence competition results, other than by casting your allocated vote, is not permitted and may result in your entry being removed and / or further action being taken. You are not allowed to have friends or family join TFF for the main purpose of voting for you. This is a public poll so source of votes can be viewed.

Winner will be awarded a neat "Tank of the Month Winner" banner in their profile area and will be featured in a "TOTM Winner" thread for all to see and to comment on. Winner will also be added to our TOTM WALL OF FAME

You are allowed to change your vote if you wish.
This poll will end on October 15th at 5:30 PM (ET) US.

Here is my 25 gallon aquarium, I have it stocked with:

8 neon tetras

5 sterbai Cory catfish

2 honey gourami (the second one hides when I get the close too the tank).

1 apple snail

1 unknown plant

1 java fern

2 anibius

a bunch of hornwort

Water parameters:

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 20ppm

Ph: 6.3

The aquarium is currently two years old, so it is well established. I have had my ups and downs with it but lately it has been going pretty well.

Inhabitants:

• 14 trigonostigma hengeli (glowlight rasboras)
• Hitch-hiked ramshorn snails (belonging to the gyraulus genus, I believe)

Equipment:

• Aquael Leddy 75 (Tank) (105 L, 75x35x40 cm)
• Retrofit Day & Night (Light)
• Aquael ASAP 500 (Filter)
• Bonlux 100W (Heater)
• Zacro dual outlet (Air pump)
• Airstone, heater guard and homemade pre-filter

Hardscape and substrate:

• Mangle wood
• Seiryu stone
• Bottom layer of lava rock and Maflora light
• Top layer of ADA La Plata sand

Plants:

• Ludwigia repens 'Rubin'​
• Cryptocoryne wendti ‘Broad Leaf’​
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green'​
• Cryptocoryne parva​
• Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini'​
• Rotala rotundifolia (dwarf rotala)​
• Sagittaria subulata (dwarf sagittaria)​
• Microsorum pteropus (java fern)​
• Bacopa australis​
• Hydrocotyle leucocephala (brazilian pennywort)​
• Helanthium tenellum ‘broad leaf’​
• Helanthium tenellum ‘red’​

Background:

• Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort)
• Echinodorus bleheri (amazon sword)
• Eleocharis vivipara (dwarf hairgrass)

Floating:

• Salvinia auriculata (water spangles)

Water Parameters:

• Ammonia: 0ppm
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate: 10ppm*
• PH: 7.8
• Hardness (German Degrees): GH 4.2, KH 2.3
• Temperature: 25° C

Lighting:

• Retrofit Day & Night (LED)
• Aquarium light on for 7 hours each day
• 6500k (kelvin rating)
• 14W

Maintenance:

• Weekly water change of about 25%-50%
• Plants are trimmed regularly where needed
• Seachem Flourish Comprehensive used as recommended (for plant fertiliser)
• Uneaten food/debris removed during water changes

Feeding:

• Six days per week
• Oase Organix micro granules or flakes for breakfast
• Fluval Bug bites micro granules for dinner
• Starting to feed live moina macrocopa, that I've raised indoors

OK here goes. This is my 29g tank that I've had set up since the end of June. Originally had some other fish in a tank that was much too small and lost a bunch, so upgraded to this one before I lost everything. I don't have quite as much detail as others but will do my best!

Stocking - 12 pygmy cories, 5 julii cories (3 adults, 2 juveniles), 4 panda cories, 4 mystery snails, and 5 African dwarf frogs. I call this an attempt at the most peaceful community tank, everyone is super chill and hopefully happy! With the exception of the adult julii cories everything has been added over the past 3 months. No more to be added (I also have a backup tank in case of any issues between frogs and fish in future/medication needed etc).

Decor - my nieces picked the decor hence being stuck with a skull and a barrel, but I kinda like it now! It could've been worse, they originally wanted a flourescent pink castle... I also have a betta log in there, I keep it for the frogs to chill in while the plants mature.

Plants - this is my first attempt at a planted aquarium so I have low maintenance plants - elodea densa, java fern, java moss, marimo moss, some crypts (can't remember which ones), a tiger lotus bulb that has just started to sprout, amazon sword, and today I just added some rotala wallichii. I also add Indian almond leaves regularly.

Equipment- light is the one that came with the tank and is 17w/1800lm. Light is on for 8 hours a day. The filter is a brand called tiger lily, not used them before but it's decent and very quiet. I also have an air pump.

Feeding schedule - for the fish I use a combo of bug bites, tetra min flake food, algae wafers, and daphnia/brine shrimp. The snails get some blanched veg every few days too. The frogs get a mixture of bloodworms, daphnia and brine shrimp. They are target fed with a pipette and trained to come to the top (most of the time anyway!). Feeding schedule is 3 days on, 1 day off.

Maintenance - 70% ish water change every 8-9 days including vacuuming substrate. I test parameters using my 6-in-1 kit every 7 days just for peace of mind as well. Liquid fertiliser added with each water change. Currently using API but plan to switch to TNC Lite when that's run out. Root tabs added on set up and have also added a couple more when I have added batches of new plants.

Thanks for reading, and also for everyone's advice along the way! Very much still learning.

I started this tank back on September 14, so this is actually my newest tank.

Stock:

• 5 Neon Dwarf Gouramis (2 Males, 3 females)

Equipment:

• 2 Separate cheap china lights (11 Watts, 18 Watts) 29 watts in total
• Sponge Filter

Pretty cheap tank, mostly no-name brands and cheap options

Hardscape and Substrate:

• Driftwood (Collected locally at our nearest beach)
• Stones (Collected at a nearby 'Pebble Beach')
• Sand (Inert;... also collected at a nearby beach)
• Dirt (Not collected from the beach this time around)

Note that the beach is a "Black sand" beach so the sand and stones are mostly inert, pretty sure it comes from the nearby river.

Plants:
Foreground

• Dwarf Sagittaria
• Cryptocornye Wendtii Brown
• Moss Ball

Midground

• Vallisneria Nana
• Cryptocornye Pontederiifolia
• Cryptocorny Spiralis Var. Heugelli Red
• Anubias 'Denmark'
• Hygrophilia Difformis
• Java Fern 'Big' (Microsorum Pteropus)

Backround

• Hygrophilia Difformis
• Jungle Vallisneria
• Corkscrew Vallisneria

Floating

• Salvania Minima

There's a few more but the list would be too long if I go on.

Lighting:

• 7 Hours a day from 12 pm - 7 pm

Maintanance:

• Weekly top-off

I rely on the plants and natural organisms to filter the water. I never do water changes unless the tannins from the driftwoods makes the water too tinted.

Water parameters aren't tested. For feeding I usually just feed everyday, usually mosquito larvae. If not available, I feed Hikari vibrabites as they imitate worms pretty well. My Gouramis also accept other smaller pellet foods so I sometimes feed them Hikari Micro-pellets. I also offer Astaxanthin or Spirulina granules

Hi all! This is my 20 gallon tank. It's one of the first tanks I started with. I actually had to restart the tank once but since then it has been running it for about 1 year 6 months lol.
I've transitioned from fake plants to live plants since it has been started. I also have added sand substrate mixed with the rock I originally had. There's also 2 small pieces of driftwood with java moss growing on them.

I use Seachaem Flourish tabs and API Leaf Zone.

Filtration: Tetra Whisper IQ with AQUANEAT Aquarium Bio Sponge Filter Media Pad & Tetra Whisper IQ 20 Aquarium Filter Baffle

Lighting: NICREW SkyLED Plus Aquarium Plant Light, Freshwater Fish Tank Light with Ramp Up and Dim Down, Spectrum Adjustable and Lighting Schedule Programmable with Controller

NICREW Multi-Colored LED Aquarium Bubbling Stone Disk, Round Fish Tank Bubbler with Auto Color Changing LEDs

Live Stock
One of the mystery snails is a little over a year old now and one of the original inhabitants of the tank. All the fish are pretty new, previous inhabitants moved to a bigger tank.

Platinum Green TIger Barbs (5)
Mystery Snail (2)
Nerite Snail (9)

Feeding: Once per day, TetraMin Tropical Flakes (once per week frozen brine shrimp) for the fish. Algae wafers, green beans, or blanced kale for the snails. Although, the fish munch on the algae wafers if I put them in when the lights are on. Fasting for one day per week.

Maintenance: Weekly water changes (50% - 70%) with API Stress Zyme

Water Parameters

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 5ppm
pH: 7.8

Plants
Java Fern
Java Moss
Vallisneria
Amazon Sword
Water Spangles (Salvinia Cucullata)
Lucky Bamboo [emersed]
Gloden Pothos [emersed]

This is my "low maintenance" 20 gallon in the living room. No CO2 and just a 40 gallon sponge filter. The filter
is placed on a terracotta houseplant saucer full of gravel, and it's gradually being covered up by plants, as is the Fluval
heater in the back. I put up the tank earlier in the year in March. Has a 24-inch Hygger light (love 'em!) set to an 8
hour day. Sometimes I'll use the moonlight setting if I have guests that evening.

Livestock consists of 8 black neon tetras (wanted seven, but the shop assistant caught 8 and didn't want to sort through them
again, lol, so the last one was free); five lemon tetras -- was six, two males and four females, but the dominant male killed the other one! Don't let anyone tell you lemon tetras aren't aggressive -- : the one always-horny male hounds the females, so they are constantly in hiding in the plants; and, finally, three otocinclus that show up in the corner for algae tabs (as do many snails that snuck in with the plants). I know the lemon tetras spawn regularly, as the black neons follow the amorous couple around, eating the eggs.

They get the same tetra diet as my main tank, TetraMin flakes and bottom pellets, varied with dried Daphnia, Brine Shrimp, etc.
I add spirulina flakes since the otocinclus are in competition with the snails, and also because the fish are omnivorous.

For ferts I use Flourish root tabs and the occasional potassium and iron additives. I have about an inch and half of gravel
covered with Stratum, hoping the gravel will prolong periods between water changes. I still change six gallons weekly, although
when I went away for a month's vacation, they did alright for a month without any, while family and neighbors fed the fish.
It was totally covered in plants when I returned!

Just did a water change and a pruning. Anubias, elodea, monarda, some still small crypts, spiral vals, s. reprens, amazon compacta and regular swords all came from my 24 gallon tank, and I threw in some bulbs which I thought were dead for a while, but the onion came up. The red lotus did not (needs cooler temps to sprout), so I bought a small bulb with a tiny leaf a few weeks back. Tales of fast growth with this plant are true! And speaking of fast growth, guppy grass fills the many niches and is constantly being cut and thrown out. No floating plants, as the sponge filter keeps the surface too agitated. Bits of guppy grass will float around until they grow big enough to sink. The sound of the bubbling in the living room is very relaxing.