20 Gallon Planted Journal

[LetsBeFriends]

A while ago i decided to take a crack at the planted tank thing, it was nice timing to because my neighbor had a 20g long tank that she no longer needed, its got some scratches in it, but over it was a good tank. I planned to use the 8 tiger barbs from my 75g tank as my banded leporinus was starting to get to a size where it will become a issue for the little barbs. So last night i took a trip to my LFS and dropped about 200 us dollars and ill let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

the mdf board i used as a platform for the tank as my dreeser was a bit to small lengthwise.

thats a coral life 65 watt plant light.

a bit of an artisitc shot of the tank being filled lol

the crypts goin in

java ferns on the right there

ill be getting more plants when i get a bit more money

the inhabitants

with all the stuff on it

the veiw from laying down on my bed

so thats its for the moment, i know it looks a bit bare, i really underestimated how may plants i would need, so ill fix that, i wanna do some more java ferns and also some amazon swords, but beyond that im not sure, let me know what u think and any suggestions

Stats atm
Filter: Marineland 200b (rated for 50gal)(matured)
Light: Croallife 65 watt 6700k plant light
Size: 20 US Gal long
Substrate: 1/2 cm to 1cm sized black gravel
Ferts: Seachem flourish tabs
Plants: java fern and crypt
Fish: 8 tiger barbs

one last thing, i want to put some melafix in the tank to help the barbs get their fins back to normal( a few took some hits while in the large tank) and i was concerned that the melafix might do some damage to the plants or possibly with the ferts, any thoughts?

 

[Trollfest]

Looks really good, especially like the last two pictures I wish I had a neighbour who was giving out free tanks!

 

[Truck]

that looks nice, but If I were you, I would swap the crypts with the java fern, the java fern needs its rhizome emerged otherwise it will rot under the substrate and die, you can tie it to the wood and then place the crypts on t'other side.

 

[RadaR]

Hope you are considering CO2 (pressurised) for this tank. 3WPG on a 20gallon, that's a lot of light. Without CO2, you will only grow algae.
I'd also plant up heavily with fast growing plants to avoid algae. Make sure you keep the plants well fed though, with NPK and trace elements.

 

[LetsBeFriends]

Hope you are considering CO2 (pressurised) for this tank. 3WPG on a 20gallon, that's a lot of light. Without CO2, you will only grow algae.
I'd also plant up heavily with fast growing plants to avoid algae. Make sure you keep the plants well fed though, with NPK and trace elements.

im gonna wait on the co2, if it turns out that i need it i will do it but we will see, i also keep the photo period to about 6 hours to help cut back while the tank is growing

what is, and how do i get npk and trace elements, i am using ferts if thats what u are referring to if not let me know.


a bit of update on the tank, sadly an out break of multiple deises killed 7 of my 8 barbs, im not sure exactly the cause, other than the ph being high my stats are all reading fine, not sure what im gonna put in the tank yet, i still need to find out what happened.

 

[RadaR]

You WILL need CO2. I'm 100% sure on this. Feel free not to use it from the beginning just be prepared to welcome the algae farm.
Again, if you're not sure what NPK nutrients are then back off a second before you go into high lighting. Have a read up for a few weeks.
Have a good read of this article.
Regarding the fish it wont have been the pH but what is the pH value?

my stats are all reading fine

What are they?

Ammonia (NH3)
Nitrite (NO2)

Their levels are?

 

[LetsBeFriends]

the Ammonia and the Nitrite both read 0 and the ph was 7.8 with a water hardness of 10 degrees, thanks for the help, ill deff read up on that article

 

[LetsBeFriends]

Been away for a bit so this is the first update since the outbreak. got some anacharis to fill in the right side of tank, also got two flying foxes who are doing great. still got the one barb as i have yet to decided what to replace him with, i am think GBR as i have never done them before. And i still haven't gotten around to putting the black background on as you will see. Comments welcome and appreciated.

The Anacharis are quite an interesting plant to watch grow.

 

[lljdma06]

I think 20W of a flourescent type of bulb will be plenty to grow what you currently have in there. I also think the 60W is overkill. My 36g uses only 28W of T5s and the plants are growing fine.

llj