# Planning help: Setting up my first 20 gallon El Natural



## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Hello everyone! Greeting from Miami.
I have been reading about El Natural for a while and finally decided to setup my first tank. (Christmas Bonus certainly helped  )

I am gathering all the materials and so far i have the following:

A 24w x 12d x 18h tank
Ray 2 7000k LED light
Eheim 2211 filter for water flow
DIYing a ADA wood stand, in the process of sanding it.
MG Organic Choice Potting Soil
Eco-Complete on top of the soil (like the black color)
Found a nice looking driftwood somewhere in Everglades. I'll probably place it like the photo below:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/44469506/tank.jpg (can't attach photo yet)

I have a hard time choosing plants from the list below, are they all good for El Natural style?

Floating: duckweed

Background: hair grass, Madagascar lace plant, Ancharis (Egeria densa), Hornwort, Jungle Val, Italian Vals, Cyperus Helferi, Water Sprite

Carpet: Dwarf Baby Tear or Dwarf Hair Grass

Foreground: Pigmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus Tenellus), Java Fern

On the Driftwood: Fissidens fontanus

Any advise would be a big help for me!! Thank You!!


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## Mezuri (Dec 17, 2012)

My only advice is:
Get the soil ready
Do not rush.
I'm heading into week three and have had many troubles.
Its not advice just a heads up be patient. I wasn't now I'm working overtime on it.

Good luck.

Your plant choice sounds good to me but either use duckweed as floater or hornwort. Also water lettuce is also good. According to what i have been told so far hehe

I have no floaters that's probably my major issue.
I don't want u following my path


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC!

Look in the sticky "Suitable soils" for ways to prepare your soil. You will be glad you did.

Some of the plants on your list are more challenging, so I would not rely on them for a new tank. These are dwarf baby tears and Madagascar lace leaf (this one will get too large for a 20 gal if it grows well). Fissidens is not difficult but very s-l-o-w. Duckweed is super easy and fast, and good for absorbing excess nutrients in new tanks. But most people find it messy and annoying in the long term. Frogbit is a good alternative. Water lettuce will work, but it is a prohibited species because it is so invasive. Being from Florida, you probably know all about that.

I like the driftwood idea. Good luck!


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks for the head up about the soil Mezuri and Michael 
I am gonna follow the sticky post to wet->dry the soil for a few times.
Michael, i didn't know dwarf baby tear is harder to keep, I even have them in my wife's 1 gallon Betta tank without filter! Maybe that's why the water is always muddier than the other Betta tank that has cyprus in it!

What would be a good beginner carpet plant then? From what I have read java moss is the easiest to plant, but it might be very messy and will also trap small fish & shrimp?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Dwarf baby tears is not easy, but the regular baby tears _Hemianthus glomeratus_ is easy, and would make a great carpet plant for a Walstad tank. Some other good ones are marsilea, dwarf sagittaria, and pigmy chain sword. If you go to the Plant Finder, select the "foreground" option under "Aquascape Placement", you will get a list with photos and a rating of difficulty.

Unless you tie Java moss to small stones or other flat objects, it doesn't make a carpet. It just floats in the water, or attaches to rocks and driftwood. It can look very nice if trimmed regularly. I'm too lazy for all that trimming, so I don't use it that way. It really isn't any messier than other plants, and shrimp and small fish absolutely love it! It is a perfect hiding place, and shrimp especially constantly go through it, grazing on tiny bits of food they find.


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## Luffy (Aug 23, 2012)

In terms of plants: 

Floaters: I really like duckweed. The roots are less intrusive than water lettuce and I've had a hard time getting ahold of frogbit. Duckweed is low maintenance, you just have to pull some out here and there. I just keep a plastic bag by my tank and pull out a little bit every time I feed my fish. Easy.

Background: I've had a hard time with vals and they really don't stay confined to one area of the tank in my experience. They just spread everywhere. Water Sprite is easy and good looking though. I'd recommend it. It's a very quick, lush grower. Hornwort is a floating plant so probably not the best background plant.

Carpet: Pygmy chain sword is great, spreads quickly, and has a good root system to keep your substrate healthy. If you get one with some shoots that have buds (those weird stalks with balls on the tips), they'll develop a chain of plants that will spread very fast. I've heard dwarf clover (marsilea) is good too, I just got some to try.

Other plants: I am a huge fan of pennywort. The stuff grows like nuts and is known to produce a lot of oxygen and consume lots of wastes. I've seen people grow it along wood, you can press it into the substrate horizontally and get it to form an interesting foreground, or let it grow naturally in the background or sides. I like to plant mine and let it grow up along the surface of the water. My baby guppies seem to like to rest on the wider round leaves. I got one bunch and in six months it's grown so much that I have enough for both of my tanks, my fishbowl, and I still have more leftover.

Good luck and make sure to post pictures!


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks for the tips Luffy, I will look into frogbit and see.
Update:
Started my first day of wet-drying the MGOC, I will take it slow and easy..
Just sanded and sprayed the waterproof seal to my DIY ADA stand, here is a pic:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/44469506/stand1.JPG
Can't do much about the fish tank until the stand is ready :-(


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Been Wet/Drying the soil for like 5 times now. If I sniff closely the soil stink like the smell of sewage. Is it normal? So the fish tank is gonna smell like that??


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Finally finished the stand!
I have been working on the MGOC more than a month. However it is still forming smelly bubble to the water surface. Is it normal? Can I start using the soil yet ?
Thanks


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

If you have been doing wet-dry cycles for more than a month, I'm sure the soil is ready. That's a beautiful set-up!


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks for the comments, my tank is now up!


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)




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## docjr03 (Feb 19, 2009)

beautiful setup- LOVE that driftwood!


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Thx! However some white mold shows up on the wood, I probably need to take the wood out and re-boil it 😭


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Starting over with the tank due to crazy amount of white+black mold on the driftwood... Just planted glosso on the soil while the driftwood is being scrubbed, boiled and baked. Hopefully I can save the wood.


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Just put back the driftwood into the tank along with some java moss, Christmas moss and giant hair grass.








These two Amano Shrimps have been hiding in the corner for an hour, what are they up to?


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Added 2 new plants, 2 guppies, 2 neon tetra(1 got eaten to the bone the next morning...), 2 otos, 8 fire red shrimps and 6 CRS.

Bubbles pop out from the soil, is it a very bed side? I have already wet/dry it for a month before using it.


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

One more neon tetra and a guppy died. Tested water and nitrite was like .25ppm. Did 25% water change. 
Two days later the guppy killed 1 of my CRS so I moved him away from this tank. 
Added java fern, anacharis, dwarf penny wort and wendtii sword.


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Another week update. Now I added 5 clown killifish & 4 Amano shrimp. The tank started to have green spot algae on the glass. I just scrubbed the tank, cleaned the filter and did a40% water change. To reduce the protein film I made a DIY skimmer for my lily pipe.


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## cichlidrookie (Feb 6, 2013)

Great job with the stand. The aquarium looks amazing, the driftwood made it pop. Were u able to clean the wood. Hopefully tank is good now and no more fishy deaths. Good luck and keep us picture updated.


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks! After scrubbing, boiling and baking now the wood is good. Also the ottos & Amano shrimps are keeping nicely.
Weekly update:
My clown killifish spawned on Sunday morning! I felt like a prod daddy!
Gave frogbits a haircut. The roots were too long and stuck on everything. The Anacharis & Madagascar lace too off and grew alot! Added subwassertang, Ludwigia sp & an in identified red crypt looking plant.









cichlidrookie said:


> Great job with the stand. The aquarium looks amazing, the driftwood made it pop. Were u able to clean the wood. Hopefully tank is good now and no more fishy deaths. Good luck and keep us picture updated.


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Long due update... The tank since have experienced ups & downs. I enjoyed the crazy plants overloaded look for a while and decided to trim it down. The new layout focus on the Madagascar lance and the wood. Many shrimps died every time after I trimmed the tank...


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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

Stopped co2 and water change after the last trimming. Plants grow slower but i like it. Less work for me :-D









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## atc84 (May 18, 2013)

Thanks for sharing your updates! 

That is an awesome aquascape, worthy of awards in my opinion. Im assuming that this was high light and co2 before your last trimming, which could be considered to not be a "walstad" setup. How did your plants react to the decrease in co2?


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## alanle (May 8, 2013)

usgetata said:


> Stopped co2 and water change after the last trimming. Plants grow slower but i like it. Less work for me :-D
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice tank. What is the secret to keep the plant stayed red?

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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

atc84 said:


> Thanks for sharing your updates!
> 
> That is an awesome aquascape, worthy of awards in my opinion. Im assuming that this was high light and co2 before your last trimming, which could be considered to not be a "walstad" setup. How did your plants react to the decrease in co2?


Thanks! Since i have a tall tank the Ray2 light is actually consider medium the best when it hits the bottom. A month without co2 now i actually don't see much difference in plants' color. They do grow slower through.

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## usgetata (Dec 29, 2012)

alanle said:


> Nice tank. What is the secret to keep the plant stayed red?
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


Pick the red plants that are not demending :-D 
Ludwigia sp red in my tank is a good example.

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