🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW - July 2023 Tank of the Month contest (17 to 30 US gallons)

[Fishmanic]

POLL IS NOW CLOSED​

Please Vote Now
We have 10 awesome tanks entered in Fishforums' July's 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 his 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 July 14th at 2 PM (ET) US.

 

[sharkweek178]

This is my 29 gallon tank. I started putting it together last October and started adding fish in February.

Water parameters - hardness: 136 ppm, pH: 7.2. Temperature is kept at 75 degrees.

Equipment - Lights: hygger HG-957 Programmable LED, Heater: Fluval M150 Submersible heater, Filters: Aquaclear 50 and Alegi sponge filter with an air stone, Air Pump: AquaMiracle with a lithium battery.

Hardscape - Quikrete Play Sand, Wood: Malaysian driftwood and Manzanita branches. And some pebbles (mostly for attaching column feeder plants to), homemade feeder rings to let more light in for some of the plants and to ensure the honey and corys have access to the surface for air, Indian Almond Leaves.

Plants - Jungle vallisneria (Vallisneria americana), Water wisteria (Hygrophila difformis), Moneywort (Bacopa monnieri), Java ferns (Microsorum pteropus), Anubias Frazieri, Anubias Nana Petite, Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri), Amazon Sword (Echinodorus Sp Red Diamond), Cryptocoryne Usteriana, Bucephalandra Kedagang Red, Water spangles (Salvinia minima), Anacharis (Elodea densa)

Livestock - Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna), Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), Pygmy corys (Corydoras pygmaeus), Amano Shrimp (Caridina multidentata), Assassin Snails (Anentome helena) and pond and ramshorn snails.

Tank Maintenance - 50-60% water change weekly

Fertilizers - Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement twice a week and Flourish root tabs every 3-4 months.

Feeding - New Life Spectrum Flakes and Fluval Bug Bites for the honey and neons, Fluval Bug Bites Bottom Feeder formula and Omega One Catfish Pellets for the corys. I alternate this with frozen brine shrimp, baby brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia and bloodworms. I've also started feeding live baby brine shrimp and mosquito larvae. Feeding schedule is four days of feeding once a day and then one fasting day.

I've made a few changes in the past few months. I removed a moss covered hideaway and a Seiryu stone. Which I think opened the space up. I also planted some more bacopa monnieri and added some java ferns.

 

[Firenzenz]

This is my 90 litre Apistogramma firegold tank. Tank has been set up about 8 months with breeding pair of Apistogramma Agassizii firegold that consistently breed. Filtration is built in trickle filter and lighting is Led strip. Submersible heater with water temp 24-26 degree C. Water ph 6.2. Water hardness 40ppm.
Plants are hygrophila and red pine (rotala wallicii)in pots. Tank floor cover in Magnolia leaves and botanical. Rooibos yea added to water for additional stain. Water changes are 10-15% a week with airline dripline so not to disturb bottom. Feeding frozen brine shrimp, bloodworm. Live white worm, daphnia, micro and vinegar worms. Juveniles caught and transferred to growout tank at 1cm

 

[biofish]

I’ll give it a go-

This is my 20 gallon tank! The tank itself has been running for about a year and a half now. It used to be my female guppy tank, but a couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to try something different and got my very first neon tetras as well as my very first apisto pair! I replaced the pebble substrate for sand, put in a cave, and redistributed the plants.

I don’t know nearly as much about this tank as shark week does, because dang that’s a lot of info saluting to you, but I’ll uh… try my best? LOL

Water parameters- working to get the ph as close to 7 as I can. My tap water ph is naturally closer to 8, and is extremely hard. I typically use softening pillows to make the water softer, as I do not have an RO water system and the price for buying it from LFSs would add up extremely quickly. To compensate, I typically give new fish very long drip accumulation times spanning almost an entire day, and my new fish death rates are practically nonexistent

Plants- I honestly have no clue LOL. All the plants in this tank were trimmed clippings from my other tanks. Teehee. I’ve only fertilized the tank once- and it caused such an extreme hair algae breakout that I haven’t tried since (I even under dosed, I don’t know if the fertilizer was the cause but dang it took forever to get under control). This tank does have a pothos plant in the filter, which greatly helped the hair algae outbreak.

Live stock- 14 Neon tetras, 1 clown pleco named Nessie (who I’ve had for about two years now and has given me SO MUCH GRIEF with it’s nocturnal nature and lack of showing itself) and 2 Apisto’s (exact type not known, in another thread we’re trying to figure out if they are macmasteri or viejita, LFS said viejita) named Sonny and Cher.

 

[connorlindeman]

This is my 20g high. Its definitely not a finished product.

Flora:
Amazon Swords
Tiger lotus
pygmy chain swords
crypt wendtii red
Bucephalandra Green Wavy
Barclaya
Fauna:
Red eye tetra
Neon Tetra
Cherry Barb
Equipment:
Aquaclear 50
Eheim heater
Nicrew Light

 

[Ram419]

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 and 2 months now.
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.

I use Seachaem Flourish tabs and API Leaf Zone.

Filtration: Tetra Whisper IQ

Live Stock
The fish and snails are all about 1 year old now.

GloFish Danio (1)
GloFish Tetra (4)
Mystery Snail (2)
Neon Tetra (9)

Feeding: Once per day, TetraMin Tropical Flakes (once per week frozen brine shrimp)

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

Water Parameters

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5ppm
PH: 7.6

Plants
Java Fern
Hornwort
Vallisneria
Baby Tears
Amazon Sword
Water Spangles (Salvinia Cucullata)
Red Root Floater
Lucky Bamboo

 

[moonmist]

I wasn’t going to submit my tank for this just because it’s still in its “ugly” stages but I thought..why the heck not!

Here is my 2.5 week old 17.5 gallon freshwater nano tank! It has only plants right now:
Monte carlo
Hydrocotyle Verticillata
Alternanthera Rosaefolia
(With special guest appearance driftwood fungus!)
All were tissue cultures from Buce Plant. I also have injected co2 with the DIY Neo co2 kit. I use easy green fertilizer from Aquarium Co-Op.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
pH: 6.5

I’ve been doing 20% water changes every 2 days. Planning to add a school of ember tetras and golden cherry shrimps eventually.

So here she is in all her cloudy/fungal glory!

 

[Endlersendlers]

This is my first entry with my 30 gallon SeaClear acrylic tank. It has been set up just over one month, using pre-cycled media and decor. This started out with 6 young Japanese blue endlers transferred from another tank that are slowly increasing in numbers. There are also 1 yellow and 2 blue mystery snails, artificial plants, water sprites and guppy grass.

Water parameters: temp 79 to 82, pH 6.8, carbonate (KH) 80 mg/L, alkalinity (TAL) 80 mg/L, hardness (GH) 225 mg/L, Cl 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, NH3 0.
No added fertilizers (yet).
Lighting: recycled LED stripped from a Top Fin lid, on 10 hours a day per timer.
Filtration: Aquaclear 50 Power Filter and AquaNeat Bio Sponge Filter.
Aeration: Incly Ultra Quiet Air Pump.
Substrate: Diamond black quartz and Bio Substrate by Aqua Natural, and CaribSea Eco-Complete.
Natural limestone rock (to raise pH), driftwood.

Maintenance: 30-40% water change every 4 to 5 days with light substrate vac.

Feeding schedule: Nicrew auto feeder 3x a day with Ark BioRite’s Adult Endler and Royal Guppy Mignon, and hand fed 2-3 times daily with Ark BioRite’s Fry Complete. Occasional Fluval Bug Bites, Cobalt Aquatics flakes, or Tetra Min tropical granules. Wonder Shell every month for the snails.



Edited to add limestone and driftwood, and to exchange picture for sharper image.

 

[outofwater]

This is my 29g. No idea of the brand, picked it up used nearly 2 years ago.

Been running almost since then, first had it running to "cycle" and went with a fish-in cycle of sorts for a friend who needed someone to pet sit a beta for a week.

I started with rocks but once I got my cories and read some more here, I changed to sand, good old regular play sand from the home depot.

Inhabitants are cories (5. Originally 6, 1 pair each of bronze, albino and peppered). Unfortunately 1 bronze passed a few months ago.

13 neons. Lucky 13, I struggled to stock in the middle of a harsh winter.

3 ottos. Also hard to get going, initially had 5..

I'm not 100% sure if my assassin is alive or not. Doesn't stink and it seems "closed". Haven't seen in about 3 weeks until today during water change.

EDIT: HE IS ALIVE! lol, went back into hiding under the sand. This one had outlived all other snails I had in this and my second tank (10g one with a quarrelsome gourami).

The plants have grown quite a lot I have an assortment of store bought (already grown) and bulbs that I let sit there and bloomed.

Those rocks are river rocks I collected during hikes. I boiled them, dried them, polished the jagged edges, and then "cycled" them on a separate tank before moving them in to this one.

I also have a few bamboo shoots there, because why not.

I have 2 filters running on minimum flow, a heater that is workhorse and hasn't let me down, and a programmable light that has been running unattended for over a year. Both the plants and the fish seem to like it very much.

Parameters are

pH at 6
Zero ammonia and nitrites
Nitrates kept at between 5 and 10 M.

I feed the fish once a day. Mix of Hikari micro pellets, wafers and vibrabite.

Occasionally supplement with bug bites, and tubifex freeze dried worms.

I'd love t hear any feedback about any part of the setup, stocking, etc. Always looking to learn and improve.

 

[anewbie]

This is my 29 - it has been setup for 4 years. Current stocking:
1 female nanacara - rejected by her other tank
1 runt angelfish - too small to put with the other full size angels
1 male agaz - ....
3 young Ancistirus Wabenmuster - had them for about a year - so they are grow slowers - total age is probably 18 months - 1 is starting for form bristle...
1 adult L204 who hides upfront had her around 3 years
1 young L128 - around 1 inch when purchased now around 2 1/2-3 had her around a year.
6 sterbai - been in the tank for at least 3+ years
some kari and cardinal tetra
filtration is a matten filter in back right and sponge filter on the left.
=
Some plants - the onion plant broke free and is now floating. Didn't brush the tank up for the photo so kind of messy... enjoy.

 

[BrianK]

26 Gallon Fluval Bowfront. Stock lighting, filter and heater that came with the tank plus an extra light strip up towards the front of the tank. Been running about 1 year.

1 Dwarf Gourami, 5 tiger barbs (phasing these out or I would have more, bristlenose pleco, 5 serpae tetras, bamboo shrimp, 1 mystery snail, 4 or 5 nerite snails.

Christmas moss, java fern, subwassertang, dwarf lettuce, asian water fern, anubias, mopani wood, cholla wood. One fake plant.

Water - ph 7.2, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates usually very close to zero, prime and flourish added with water changes.

Water changes 10-20% weekly

Food - Omega flakes, freeze dried brine shrimp, bug bites, freeze dried tubiflex