Aquageek's 20G Planted

Updates! Pictures! Yay!

Ok, so my 20G has transformed into a Marineland 30G. I love it! I am having some minor issues with lighting now (too much!) and am working through that in a different thread. Before I had my 24" Coralife T5HO system running with just 1 10k bulb. However, because my upgrade, I needed a new fixture. So I got an Aquatic Life 36" dual T5HO, but it won't let me run with just 1 bulb :(.

I've also added some fish:

1 Black Veil Angel
7 Red Minor Tetra

Bringing my total fish count to 21:

1 Black Veil Angel
7 Red Minor Tetra
10 Neon Tetra
3 Panda Cory

I am thinking of adding more stock to this.. not a lot more. I was thinking either some shrimp, or a pair of gold rams. What do you guys think? Too much?

Pictures!

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I don't know how I missed this thread but your tank is looking nice! Add some more corys before anything else, 3 is not enough. Watch your serpae tetras, they can be angel fin nippers, neons = angel snacks often. How about some rotala rotundifolia or crypt. red wendtii for some red/pink? If your light seems too strong, try cutting back on the time by an hour or 2.
 
Thanks for the comment fishorama! Been working on this tank for awhile, and finally decided to make it bigger - it looks great in my home office! Having that extra length over the 20G is so much nicer! I can do so many more things as far as scaping, and live stock.

Yeah I planned on bumping the corys up to 5 - ever since I got them in the bigger tank they come out of hiding and play way more... like 100% more lol. It used to be that I'd have to wait for lights out, and be really sneaky to catch them.

The driftwood is actually 3 pieces of drift wood. I like how the smaller log with the java ferns leans into the larger pieces and the ferns lazily snake about in the middle, came out nice. The one piece on top I actually have tied down to the larger bottom piece which serves as a nice cave structure for the corys. I have been soaking that piece on top for over a month and it still will not sink. So when I added it to the new tank I just took some fishing line and tied it to the larger piece.

As far as my fish - I've had my neons for ever and was really thinking hard on new mates for them for the bigger tank. My original goal was rams. My main LFS only had 1 left, and I wanted 2. So I headed to my plan B LFS and they had some, but they were in quarantine as they were showing signs of ich (they get them from a local breeder). So this really threw a wrench in my plans. So after wandering around the store for quite some time I spotted the Black Veil Angel. I was instantly attracted to it. I've never kept an Angel before so I was concerned. I did some searching from my phone and discovered that I could keep one in my 30 so I went for it! I also wanted to a second schooling fish - I settled on the Red Minors... I am not sure if that was the best choice - but I like them. I just hope they don't turn out to be a problem with their nipping. They have left the Angel alone so far and like to play with the neons mostly.

For plants - I will probably end up getting rid of my smaller sword, and just continue to trim the other one to keep it at a manageable size. I will definitely check out that red wendtii - that sounds pretty cool. I am open to all sorts of suggestions!
 
Awesome tank Aquageek! How is the Fluval 88g CO2 working for you? Does it last long in your tank? How was the Coralife 24" T5HO fixture on your 20 gal? How many Watts you had?

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Thanks, PattyCakes! I love the Fluval 88g! I didn't want to mess around with getting a large co2 tank and an expensive regulator and all that jazz - maybe if I had a larger tank. The 88g comes with everything you need, the 88 gram co2 cartridge, the bubble counter, regulator, diffuser, and hose. I get a little more than a month out of it. I only run it during lights on. Monday through Friday it runs for about 3-4 hours and Saturday and Sunday I run it for the full length of my photo period (which was 9 hours, and now is 6 as of yesterday). The reason is because I leave for work way before the light period starts, so I turn the regulator on when I get home and run it until lights on. On the weekends I'm home so it runs for the full photo period. I usually set the regulator at or below 1 bubble per second.

For the lighting, the Coralife 24" was great on my tank. The 24" has 2 24watt lamps, and I got it to run with just 1 lamp some how (the 10000k). This is the fixture that I had -

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...=1059619251&catargetid=1570177652&cagpspn=pla
 
aquageek said:
Thanks, PattyCakes! I love the Fluval 88g! I didn't want to mess around with getting a large co2 tank and an expensive regulator and all that jazz - maybe if I had a larger tank. The 88g comes with everything you need, the 88 gram co2 cartridge, the bubble counter, regulator, diffuser, and hose. I get a little more than a month out of it. I only run it during lights on. Monday through Friday it runs for about 3-4 hours and Saturday and Sunday I run it for the full length of my photo period (which was 9 hours, and now is 6 as of yesterday). The reason is because I leave for work way before the light period starts, so I turn the regulator on when I get home and run it until lights on. On the weekends I'm home so it runs for the full photo period. I usually set the regulator at or below 1 bubble per second.

For the lighting, the Coralife 24" was great on my tank. The 24" has 2 24watt lamps, and I got it to run with just 1 lamp some how (the 10000k). This is the fixture that I had -

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...=1059619251&catargetid=1570177652&cagpspn=pla
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to answer and explain it to me. Greatly appreciated.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
New tank is looking good! I get a lot more enjoyment out of it moving it from my living room to my home office (since I am in here way more than any other room in my house lol). Unfortunately about the largest tank my living room will support is 20g, anything longer then that and I don't have a good place for it to go. I am keeping an eye in might lighting to see how things will go. I am getting ready to order some more plants as it is looking a bit sparse in the 30g. If need be I will take my smaller sword out, I think 1 sword is plenty for my tank. I will let you guys know what I end up ordering for plants. Oh, some pictures of course!

The first picture you can see how I failed at applying my black vinyl background lol - still working on that. The second picture if you look close you can see the 6 lbs test fishing line I used to tie my newer piece of driftwood to my old piece, and also you can see co2 bubbles on the back just above the sword. My angel was fighting his reflecting during this shoot so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him. He is starting to get better acclimated with his new home, he is swimming around a lot more then day 1 - so that makes me happy :)

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