20g high rescape!

Hey all. Its been a while, but the addiction still continues lol. Finally decided to rip my 20 gallon apart and re-plant. Went from gravel to a MGOCPM dirted substrate. This will be a low light no co2 setup. The light I am using is the Satellite Freshwater Led Plus. Here are some pics of the setup process.

Red clay and leonardite base.

Added the MGOCPM mixed with some more clay and leonardite. Also tossed in a few cups of gravel and mulm from the pre existing tank. Topped with another thin layer of dirt. The MG pre-soaked for two weeks by the way. Total dirt depth 1 1/4".

Previously I had bought a bag of Azoo Plant Grower Bed to give it a try. Then i decided on the MG. I ended up using the Azoo to build up the back figuring it would breath a bit better than using the cap. Depth is 3"- 1 1/2" from right to left.

Capped with an inch of Black Diamond sand blasting grit. I had a couple pieces of manzanita and some other driftwood that I collected. The rocks are petrified wood.

Plant list:
Crypt wendtii, hygro difformis, hygro corymbosa "compacta", bacopa caroliniana, crypt walkeri var. Lutea, aponogeton boivinianas (i think), and ludwigia repens.

thanks jpappy! This is 4 weeks after set up. There was also java moss initially on some of the driftwood. Plant additions were added a week after set up due to shipping conditions in cold weather. I added: dwarf sag, hydrocotyle leucophala, villisneria spiralis, echinodorus bleheri and monoselenium tenerum tied to a rock in the foreground center right. The hydocotyle has started to establish but still waiting on the sag In the foreground and the val which you cannot see yet on the left background. The monoselenium is finally starting to put on a little growth after melting quite a bit. The apongeton is finding a new home soon. I just dont like it in this set up. I have an amazon sword plantlet in a pot in the back growing out. The mother plant took up 3/4 of this tank before re-doing it so I left it out. The ludwigia is growing like a weed( have already pruned 5 stems that grew to the surface) and the crypts have taken off and filling in nice.


For ferts i am using Tom Barre's low light no co2 approach and lean dosing kh2po4, kno3, and csm+b once a week each. Ph=7.4, kh and gh= 8dh, temp= 78*. So far no major algae breakouts like i was expecting so that is a plus. I will continue poking that soil until I am confident that it has gassed out completely.

Stocking plan is as follows:
Currently: - 6 zebra danios + 1 fry as soon as he grows out a bit more.
- 1 albino bristle nose
Once it is established i will add a pair of bolivian rams and 3-4 amano shrimp

Feel free to chime in with alternative stocking options or problems you may see that I am not catching, seeing as this is my first dirted tank.

Oh forgot about filtration. Currently using fluval c3 ( which i hate) extra bio media and filter floss.

Will be upgrading to an Eheim 2215 or a sunsun when I get the extra cash.

Personally i want black skirts, rasboras or cardinal tetras or CPD's if i could find them locally place of the danios but i didnt have the heart to give them up. They were transfered from the previous set up. They are a bit too energetic for the calming factor that i am trying to achieve.

Well just started spotting some hair algae that is white to light grayish on some of the driftwood (manzanita) that is higher in the column. Also on the young vals. Ammonia is 0 ppm as well as nitrites at 0 ppm. I started implementing a siesta period for 2.5 hours. Lighting is: 4 hrs on - 2.5 hrs off - 4 hrs on. Is this a good approach to the situation? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.