OP
OP
Thank you! It should start to look like something halfway established by then. We'll shall see.
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20G Ecosystem dirted offshoot from 40G thread
- Thread starter noahm
- Start date
OP
OP
Update: dwarf hair grass (Eliocharis pussilla) is going wild. I may regret having it, or I may just have to embrace it as the low growing groundcover. We have a few fish now. A menage of dwarf honey gourami and oto, and what's left of a 10 pack of neons (4). Just don't bother IMO. They used to be a great fish, but are now so linebred and genetically weak that they just die from a sniffle once outside of their highly scrubbed and medicated farm tanks. They all look very robust, but about one a day goes to "Death corner" and self-separates. They will look totally fine and swim fine, but are dead by morning.
Otherwise, I am trying to find the balance of feeding as I don't intend to fertilize. Everything is growing fine, but still no measurable nitrates or ammonia, so pushing a bit more food figuring if I at least see something register there will be some extra for the plants in the water column. The Salvinia is showing deficiency, so I know things in the water column are pretty stripped, but the mud base of the substrate seems to have everything else going strong. There's a light film of glass algae and a bit of cladophora on the rock that so far is very manageable and not too bad to look at. It came from the rock/creek originally.
Anyway, it's really just a wait and watch game of letting it mature. I move a few plant tips where I want things spread.
I do plan on stocking a group of rummynose tetras and another of chili rasbora, and fill out the oto crowd when I see some healthy ones. That is pretty much it for livestock plans though. Getting a few RC shrimp babies and isopods getting big, breeding and fun to watch climb around. They are far less graceful than the shrimp.
I'll post some more plant pics probably next week.
Otherwise, I am trying to find the balance of feeding as I don't intend to fertilize. Everything is growing fine, but still no measurable nitrates or ammonia, so pushing a bit more food figuring if I at least see something register there will be some extra for the plants in the water column. The Salvinia is showing deficiency, so I know things in the water column are pretty stripped, but the mud base of the substrate seems to have everything else going strong. There's a light film of glass algae and a bit of cladophora on the rock that so far is very manageable and not too bad to look at. It came from the rock/creek originally.
Anyway, it's really just a wait and watch game of letting it mature. I move a few plant tips where I want things spread.
I do plan on stocking a group of rummynose tetras and another of chili rasbora, and fill out the oto crowd when I see some healthy ones. That is pretty much it for livestock plans though. Getting a few RC shrimp babies and isopods getting big, breeding and fun to watch climb around. They are far less graceful than the shrimp.
I'll post some more plant pics probably next week.
I think that thing would hold about 500 of those tanks full! Very nice stand. Beautiful.
That's what my monte carlo looked like soon after I planted. Now it has pointy leaves on it. It's growing very well, and spreading (now that I added another light), but the pointy leaves remain.
OP
OP
That's good to know your MC looked like that too. It's currently pretty similar to that photo, but very green and healthy color-wise. I expect it to start spreading a little bit now. Now that I have two lights running, everything is getting the appropriate light on both front and back at all levels. The DHG is my wildcard plant. It is shooting out 3-4" of runners in some places and trying to take over. It was definitely planned for the right hand side only, leaving the Monte Carlo for the center and left.
You can see the Ludwigia in the very back left just peeking around the rock, but it is actually nice and thick and red back there. A few weeks and it will really stand out. I had to keep trimming tops and replanting as it melted/transitioned from emersed growth.
You can see the Ludwigia in the very back left just peeking around the rock, but it is actually nice and thick and red back there. A few weeks and it will really stand out. I had to keep trimming tops and replanting as it melted/transitioned from emersed growth.
Yeah, looking at the way you did this- patience pays off LOL. Maybe one day I'll learn the lesson.
OP
OP
There will still be problems for sure, lol. It's just the way of aquariums, and I definitely wasn't always as patient as I am now. Not really a planted tank discussion, but I changed a lot over the years of practicing Falun Gong.
I am definitely a bit envious you have the big tank to play in though. To me, those dimensions are nearly perfect for aquascaping. The way bigger tanks are too deep. I could probably play in 40G breeder 65 Long and 75 all day long if I had the space. 24W" x 48L" (or 60) x 20"H would be a nice custom size. This house just doesn't have a spot for anything too big in spite of the house being overall plenty big -- unless the wife let me swap the TV out for a tank. In reality though, I only have so much time and energy for very few hobbies, so this is it for now and it has been a lot of fun getting back into the hobby that has changed quite a bit (as well as my budget probably a bit more loose).
When I started talking to my wife about it, it was going to be a 40 gallon. Then it went to 50, then 55 ("they're more common") then 75 ("it's basically the same size!" )
OP
OP
5 weeks (give or take). Just some general tank shots. Most of the plants are coming in well. I am battling a bit of Cladophora that came on my creek rock, but mostly just manually removing it.
Full:
Right side:
Front right.
Front middle
Front left
So new additions are a trio of dwarf honey gourami. I am pretty sure it is two F and one M, but nothing is guaranteed yet. All outward signs seem to meet the assumption. They put a dent in a lot of the microfauna, but mostly seem to leave the shrimp alone. They are certainly eating the tiny babies, but I see a few new ones about 1/4" here and there.
Also picked up a dozen merah rasboras. They seem to be adjusting well. I bumped up the otos to 4 making their rounds and doing a good job with the surface algae.
As far as plants, I added a few clumps of Staurogyne repens for some low true green color and mroe shrimp cover as well as mixed some Utric. graminifolia for the same reason. That stuff was TC and pretty much just flew apart everywhere but I did get some planted ok. I wound up putting some of the floaties in a plastic container using swamp mud/peat/sand mix. Everything else is just sort of filling in at normal pace. I have resigned myself to the fact that the DHG will go where it wants. It doesn't seem to shade anything out, so I thing the other groundcover will just mix in.
The phoenix moss seems to be a clado trap and It isn't actively growing as well as it was, so it may wind up just getting removed, but we will see.
Water params are very stable -- still no measurable nitrates, and I am probably overfeeding a bit, but more for the plants than the fish. Other than the clado, I am pretty happy with everything.
Full:
Right side:
Front right.
Front middle
Front left
So new additions are a trio of dwarf honey gourami. I am pretty sure it is two F and one M, but nothing is guaranteed yet. All outward signs seem to meet the assumption. They put a dent in a lot of the microfauna, but mostly seem to leave the shrimp alone. They are certainly eating the tiny babies, but I see a few new ones about 1/4" here and there.
Also picked up a dozen merah rasboras. They seem to be adjusting well. I bumped up the otos to 4 making their rounds and doing a good job with the surface algae.
As far as plants, I added a few clumps of Staurogyne repens for some low true green color and mroe shrimp cover as well as mixed some Utric. graminifolia for the same reason. That stuff was TC and pretty much just flew apart everywhere but I did get some planted ok. I wound up putting some of the floaties in a plastic container using swamp mud/peat/sand mix. Everything else is just sort of filling in at normal pace. I have resigned myself to the fact that the DHG will go where it wants. It doesn't seem to shade anything out, so I thing the other groundcover will just mix in.
The phoenix moss seems to be a clado trap and It isn't actively growing as well as it was, so it may wind up just getting removed, but we will see.
Water params are very stable -- still no measurable nitrates, and I am probably overfeeding a bit, but more for the plants than the fish. Other than the clado, I am pretty happy with everything.
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Beautiful! Nice of the shrimp to line up for you like that in the last pic LOL. I love the rock arrangement - like steps- and the tree-looking wood is perfect. Really nice!
OP
OP
Thanks. Yeah, we just wandered around the shallow part of the creek for about 10 minutes looking for rocks. The "stairs" was just a fun lucky find, and when it came time to fit them all in we had to down-select from about 8 rocks to 3. They made the cut and seemed to naturally fit there.
There isn't much room in a 20G for rocks. I was pretty pleased with the layout, but it really would fit better in a 40G breeder. Seeing a few more baby shrimp, so I am more confident there is enough cover from the gouramis.
Well, your selection of hardscape looks natural and uncrowded. If you get to where it feels too crowded later you could take a rock out, but I wouldn't think you'll feel that way. Each piece of hardscape has its own space and doesn't detract from the others.
OP
OP
Strategic coral for floaters:
So I have had rings of 3/8" clear tubing I made for managing floaters, but I really wanted a specific shade pattern over certain areas of the tank. The trick with these is they need to be absolutely level. For the rings, I used a barbed connector, dropped them in boiling water for about 30 seconds, and then set something flat and not too heavy on them until they cooled.
For this, I should have taken a picture. But basically, I drew the shape on some scrap plywood, then used screws to hold the tubing in shape as I laid it around the drawing line. Then I put it in a preheated 220 degree oven for about a minute. I wound up putting the whole thing in the refrigerator to cool. This probably isn't necessary, but it may improve "setting" the shape. Either way, it turned out exactly the shape I wanted and very flat.
It is anchored to the glass with some extra black suction cups for airline. I tied a short bit of fishing line to a zip tie and cut a very short piece of airline to squish the line into the suction cup clamp. This way you can sort of pull the slack exactly how you want it. The method lets the corral float up and down with moderate water level changes.
I did use two thin zip-ties as anchors and ran a third through to pull the narrowest part together. I didn't want in relaxing over time.
So I have had rings of 3/8" clear tubing I made for managing floaters, but I really wanted a specific shade pattern over certain areas of the tank. The trick with these is they need to be absolutely level. For the rings, I used a barbed connector, dropped them in boiling water for about 30 seconds, and then set something flat and not too heavy on them until they cooled.
For this, I should have taken a picture. But basically, I drew the shape on some scrap plywood, then used screws to hold the tubing in shape as I laid it around the drawing line. Then I put it in a preheated 220 degree oven for about a minute. I wound up putting the whole thing in the refrigerator to cool. This probably isn't necessary, but it may improve "setting" the shape. Either way, it turned out exactly the shape I wanted and very flat.
It is anchored to the glass with some extra black suction cups for airline. I tied a short bit of fishing line to a zip tie and cut a very short piece of airline to squish the line into the suction cup clamp. This way you can sort of pull the slack exactly how you want it. The method lets the corral float up and down with moderate water level changes.
OP
OP
Just some pic updates. There is a little bit of BBA that I seem to be able to control with lighting, but the clado seems to be kept in check by the 4 amanos and an army of Red Cherry shrimp. They are breeding like crazy and even the little ones seem to be braving the open in spite of at least one honey gourami that stalks them. They seem to be pretty wily about getting away.
The plants are all growing well except the Alternanthera mini started to melt a bit so I am playing with the lighting balance. Also, I somewhat nuked the monte carlo in front doing spot H2O2 on the BBA but it is coming back. Not so much luck with the Utricularia as both the honeys and the amanos just love pulling it up. There are a few pieces still in the ground, but that may just not work in the long run. We will see.
Anyway, here's pics.
The plants are all growing well except the Alternanthera mini started to melt a bit so I am playing with the lighting balance. Also, I somewhat nuked the monte carlo in front doing spot H2O2 on the BBA but it is coming back. Not so much luck with the Utricularia as both the honeys and the amanos just love pulling it up. There are a few pieces still in the ground, but that may just not work in the long run. We will see.
Anyway, here's pics.
Looks great! I love how well the hardscape and plants work together
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