Aquageek's 20G Planted

Thanks, BoCoMo, and PattyCakes! I can't decide which position I like! I think ultimately it will depend on how I can fit it into the tank with my other 2 pieces of wood, and still have room for the plants lol!

Made a trip to the LFS today - picked up a Micro Sword for the foreground, going to move my Val's around to make way for the Micro Sword. Driftwood is still boiling in water... hopefully it will be ready soon - it feels pretty heavy.

I can't find the cherry shrimp, or the Rams (of any variety) any where in town - so I am going to have to order those. I will post some pictures later today when (if) I get the new driftwood in place.

Also did some water testing, my ammonia and nitrAte levels are pretty high - I may have been slacking on my water changes and over feeding a bit :(. Going to do a 25% change later this evening. Test again tomorrow night, and if need be do another 25% change on Monday... hopefully that will take care of that.
 
Well - boiling the driftwood helped it take on some water but it's still too buoyant. Got it in a bucket with a piece of polished granite on top of it to keep it under water. Going to let it sit for a few weeks and see what happens. Did my 25% water change yesterday (I usually just do weekly 10%) and getting ready to test the water parameters again this evening. My fish look a bit more lively when I got off of work so that's a good sign.
 
I added a Micro Sword to the front center of the tank. Picked up from one of the LFS in my area that I had not been to! He had a nice selection of FW plants that were all very healthy. It is really thriving in my tank for the past few days, I can even see new growth coming out! I tried to put it in a spot that got plenty of light - those Amazon's provide quite a bit of shade lol :D

Sorry for picture quality - outside of tank is a bit dirty.


IMG_20130122_172933_649[2].jpgIMG_20130122_172922_804[1].jpg

IMG_20130122_172933_649[2].jpg IMG_20130122_172922_804[1].jpg
 
Pointless to add in them in unless you like to spend money. Those swords are eating all of the waste really fast. As plants absorb ammonia faster than nitrite or nitrate (Smaller molecule size and positively charged) I doubt the bacteria are getting much.
 
AquariaCentral.com