# "Shallow Foreign Stream" - First NPT 20G Long



## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

This is my first NPT. I did it because I got this tank cheap and I knew that NPT don't take much equipment and would not cost me much, and so far the only cost it gave me is the fish i'm going to be adding in there. The lighting, gravel, heater, powerhead, dirt, plants, decor, shrimp, fish (that's in there now) where all already on hand. Lets go through what I have going on. I named this tank "Foreign Stream" because when I just sit there and watch the tank it reminds me of a shallow stream and most of my plants and fish are foreign to the states.

*Equipment:*

Aquarium Systems Maxi-Jet 400 Power Head 106 G.P.H.
Aquarium Systems Visi-Therm 50 Watt Heater
Coralife F/W T-5 Aqualight Double Strip Light-30" (36W)

*Plants:*

_Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig'_ "Sunset Hygro"
_Limnobium laevigatum_ "Amazon Frogbit"
_Ceratopteris thalictroides_ "Water Sprite"
_Microsorum pteropus_ "Java Fern"
_Pogostemon helferi_ "Downoi"
_Lilaeopsis brasiliensis_ "Microsword"
_Vallisneria americana v. 'Biwaensis'_ "Corkscrew Val"
_Cryptocoryne wendtii_ "C. Wendtii"
_Bacopa Caroliniana_ "Bacopa"

*Inhabitants:*

_Platydoras costatus_ "Striped Raphael Catfish"
_Neocaridina heteropoda 'var. Red'_ "Red Cherry Shrimp"
_Corydoras pygmaeus_ "Pygmy Cory" (soon)
Variety of Snails

*Decor:*

Natural Driftwood From Local River
Large Rock
Estes Shallow Creek Regular Gravel
Dirt From Outside

*Step by Step Setup of "Shallow Foreign Stream":*

First I found a south window to place the aquarium in front of.









Next I cleaned the tank and set it in front of the window.









Then I added the dirt and filled it with water just above the dirt line. More like mud now, ha ha.









After that I added the gravel around the edges.









Next I planted the plants and added gravel around them, then I put down my decor and filled in the rest of the gravel.

























When I was finished with the gravel I started to fill it up, after half way it wasn't that cloudy so I continued till it was full. I used a small dish so I wouldn't disturb the substrate.

















Here is a full tank shot the day after filling it up.









On the day I took the last full tank shot I added my Striped Rafael Catfish and 10 or so Red Cherry Shrimp. I didn't count the shrimp I just took a net swoop through my RCS breeder tank. I'm hoping to add plants over time but letting it do it's thing for now. I ordered 10 Pygmy Corys i'm going to add them in this tank, they should be here next Wensday. I'm still debating what I should have for my showcase fish. At first I was thinking a pair of Apistos would be great but I don't want fish that will eat the adult shrimp, just keep the shrimp population contained. I'll have to search the web and see what I find.

I'll try to keep this as updated as possible. Always open to any suggestions because i'm going through a learning process, I accept all criticism as well .

Regards,
Ben


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I'd add a lot more plants (so there's about one stem or plant every inch) to try to avoid too many algae problems. Since you're only using a powerhead and not a filter and you don't have many plants, it would probably be best to hold off on adding more fish.

I like the wood you're using and it looks like a nice setup. I'm worried you'll have a crash with such a new tank and very few plants to provide filtering.


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

cs_gardener said:


> I'd add a lot more plants (so there's about one stem or plant every inch) to try to avoid too many algae problems. Since you're only using a powerhead and not a filter and you don't have many plants, it would probably be best to hold off on adding more fish.
> 
> I like the wood you're using and it looks like a nice setup. I'm worried you'll have a crash with such a new tank and very few plants to provide filtering.


Yeah I know I don't have many plants, I tried to just use plants I had on hand and trimmings and such because I don't have the money right now to spend on plants. I will have some money though this weekend so i'll probably throw that in my bank and get myself some plants.

Yeah i'm also worried about the algae out break i'm going to have, but hopefully it will hold on until I get more plants. I'll also hope to get some ottos as well after I get my plants. Also i'm not super worried about the bio load and stuff because all I have is some shrimp and a 1 3/4" raphael cat.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Well
I dont usually start an aquarium till I ve got everything to finish it in first place.Too little plants in a NPT is really asking for trouble man,put some extremely fast growing plants like wisteria,anachris,hornwort etc to compete with algae and they are quite cheap,u can even get some free if u just ask around.
And lovely wood peice,I just wish I had something like that when I started my NPT(jst one week ago !).


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

Tanan said:


> Well
> I dont usually start an aquarium till I ve got everything to finish it in first place.Too little plants in a NPT is really asking for trouble man,put some extremely fast growing plants like wisteria,anachris,hornwort etc to compete with algae and they are quite cheap,u can even get some free if u just ask around.
> And lovely wood peice,I just wish I had something like that when I started my NPT(jst one week ago !).


Well I honestly didn't think that algae would grow in the first couple weeks anyways and i'm getting more plants next week. Once the tank is established algae can begin to grow but I just recently planted it. I know that fast growing plants are added to fight algae, that's why I have amazon frogbit for now but there is no sign of algae so far anyways.


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## Jesse2504 (Jun 3, 2009)

Just a though, is that desk you have it sitting on able to take the weight? It looks kind of fragile.


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

That desk could probably hold a 125G. Not worried about that.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

BenBOMB said:


> Well I honestly didn't think that algae would grow in the first couple weeks anyways and i'm getting more plants next week. Once the tank is established algae can begin to grow but I just recently planted it. I know that fast growing plants are added to fight algae, that's why I have amazon frogbit for now but there is no sign of algae so far anyways.


You need to get plants growing as soon as possible in any new tank setup. Plants and algae compete. If _total_ plant growth is poor, algae will become a problem.


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

dwalstad said:


> You need to get plants growing as soon as possible in any new tank setup. Plants and algae compete. If _total_ plant growth is poor, algae will become a problem.


Alright, yeah i'm ordering 6 or so more plants with a good amount of stems each. So hopefully that will help with the whole algae problem. If not i'm sure I can try to rescape some of my other tanks to receive more plants for this one.


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

I'm getting 5 new plants to add to the tank, one of which I already have just more stems of it.

Bacopa caroliniana "Giant Bacopa"
Hemianthus micranthemoides "Pearlweed"
Myriophyllum heterophyllum "Red Foxtail"
Sagittaria subulata "Dwarf Sag"
Rotala Sp. 'Green' "Rotala Green"



I'm also getting some new fish for this tank, some pygmy corys. I'll be receiving 10 of them for this tank.


I'm also hoping to ordering some Central Mudminnows Umbra limi. They are cool little fish that look natural and I think would fit will in the aquarium.


I'll post new pictures once I receive the new plants and fish.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Subscribed !!


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

Tanan said:


> Subscribed !!


Thanks for being interested!


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

Hello APC Members,

I've been busy with school and other things so I haven't been able to do as much updating on these forums as I use to. I just wanted to post a more recent picture of this NPT project. Just to remind you that I have done nothing for this tank really. I top off the water when needed, I just have a small powerhead for water movement. I feed the fish, trim when needed. It only has around 1wpg and is sitting by a large southwindow.

The only thing is that i'm getting a hair algae problem I would like to figure out how to deal with. I haven't done any water changes for this tank at all. As you can see in the picture though I deff need to do some trimming. I have neglecticd this and suprising it's doing very well.

For plants I have Sunset Hygro, Water Sprite (one is larger leaved one is skinny leaved, ill post more pictures later for ID help) C. Wendtii, RedFoxtail(cant see it's in back) some bacopa of some sp., corkscrew val, microswords somewhere, chainswords, and I think some other ones i cannot think of right now.

For fish I have about 6 pygmy cories, about ten white clouds, two siamese algae eaters, 1 BN pleco, 1 Otto Cat, and a ton of RCS. Oh and a ton of snails too 

Well enough talking, here is the picture of how much it has grown since my first day of having the tank.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Great looking tank! Thanks for showing us the results. Based on your initial photos, I didn't expect to see such nice results. But, hey, see what a little neglect and a few extra plants can do. 

I'm glad that you got some Water Sprite (two kinds no less!). This is the _perfect_ plant for the 20 gal long.

As to the matt algae, I'd just remove it from time-to-time and not worry about it.


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## Dustymac (Apr 26, 2008)

Hey Ben,
Your tank looks great! I don't have much talent for aquascaping, probably 'cause I'm just thrilled the plants are even growing at all, but yours is very nice.

However, is that lots of green hair algae clogging up the left side of the picture? I don't think it's a major issue but I would try removing what you can get easily with some tweezers or finger tips. And just out of curiosity, is that an area of more or less water circulation? My guess would be less.

Nice tank!
Jim


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## BenBOMB (Apr 25, 2009)

dwalstad said:


> Great looking tank! Thanks for showing us the results. Based on your initial photos, I didn't expect to see such nice results. But, hey, see what a little neglect and a few extra plants can do.
> 
> I'm glad that you got some Water Sprite (two kinds no less!). This is the _perfect_ plant for the 20 gal long.
> 
> As to the matt algae, I'd just remove it from time-to-time and not worry about it.


Hey Thanks Dwalstad, yeah i've been trying to remove a little bit everytime I walk by the tank. Eventually it should be gone hopefully. I was suprised when I got two different kinds of water sprite. One is wide and boarder leaves, the other is thinner leaves. Don't know if they are actually different sp. or if they just grew differently but I like them both .



Dustymac said:


> Hey Ben,
> Your tank looks great! I don't have much talent for aquascaping, probably 'cause I'm just thrilled the plants are even growing at all, but yours is very nice.
> 
> However, is that lots of green hair algae clogging up the left side of the picture? I don't think it's a major issue but I would try removing what you can get easily with some tweezers or finger tips. And just out of curiosity, is that an area of more or less water circulation? My guess would be less.
> ...


Thanks Dustymac. Actually I never got around to scaping this tank at all. I let it grow in pretty much and I liked how it grew in so I left it as is, I just got lucky . I might move some plants around though in the near future to make it look a little less messy.

Yeah I have a hair algae problem on the left side of the tank, and you are right the water circulation is on the other side. I might add another small power head to that side as well that might help it. I've been removing some as I walk by the tank with my hands, but the best way I know is using a tooth brush and twirling it around like spaghetti, that works wonders for me. Only problem is that I had a ton of RCS babies in the algae so I have to be careful and tear it out loosely so they can get out of it.

I'm going to do some trimming soon and maybe some rearranging of plants, i'll post new pictures when I do so, no batteries at the moment haha.


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