# 20 Gallon Aquascape



## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

**So i accidentally posted this under APC "Journals", its quiet up there , @ Moderators, feel free to delete the posting "20 gallon aquascape" under APC journals**

20 gallon
65w 6700k (10 hour photo)
Gravel: Fluorite Black Sand (35lbs)
Co2: 4-6bps (ph currently at 6.0!!!)
Dose dry fert IE: k2so4, kh2po4, kno3, csm+b, mgso4, cacl2, flourish iron
Temp: 80-81F
Plants: Glossotigma, hc, wendi's, rotala, ludwigas, tiger lily. (im not gona get into technical names, they are what they are)

At first it was mainly a glossotigma tank just for that field effect, but i shut down my 100 gallon (sold) and all the plants needed a home. Gave most away, sold huge chunks of glossotigma carpets, took some nice clippings of other plants and saved some for myself in this tank.

Fish will be when glosso takes over and ph becomes stabilized: 5-6 ottocinclus, x3 1" albino bushys, 7 cardinal tetras (all i have, but want more!).
OR
5-6 Ottos, cherry shrimp, amano shrimp. <--- leaning more towards this because i plan on setting up a 40 gallon breeder i have sitting around ^^

Tank painted with oil based paint:









Rocks and gravel in:









Week 1: took a picture at a weird angle. This was sitting under my 100 gallon. Glossotigma goes in.









Week 2: sold the 100 gallon tank, had to move the whole setup over to one side of the room, then when tank was sold moved it back over to original spot except on a new stand. Look at the glosso go! they're growing straight up as expected, once pruned they will grow like a carpet. Atleast thats in my experience, we shall see what happens down the line  Also added some plants from the 100 gallon.









Will try to keep a weekly update and will just keep updating this post to keep the cluttering of pictures


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## lilobee (Mar 28, 2012)

Mind telling me where you find these nice rocks for scaping? Thanks for posting the these pictures for timeline. Good luck.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

go to your local gardening/mulch/gravel sellers

i was charged $0.25 a lb. in their pick a pile (didnt have much of the rocks i wanted so its a gamble, but they had tons of other types)

fish stores will charge you $2-3 bucks per lb...i ended up paying 6 bucks for these rocks.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

Not sure why but it wont let me edit my first post...so heres week 3

04-05-12. Plants suffered majorly...i think i did 2-3 100% water changes and on top of that ignored dosing schedule for 3 days straight all for preping the stand that holds this :O
Glosso suffered, cardinal plant died kinda...other plants are doing ok...hopefully this will recover


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## simwiz (Apr 1, 2010)

Hi!

Nice looking set up! Congrats!

I would say you need more light - as the glosso seems to grow up instead of expanding on the bottom of the tank.

Regards!


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

i had them blasting at 4+ watts before and they still grew up for me sim, but after i pruned them, they carpeted for me...i think the same is happening right now where theyre starting to creep instead of grow tall ...lets see what happens...as of now this is 3+ watts however there are dark areas in the tank


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

04-08-12.

Added HC, plants are doing well now, few leaves dying but i think its just adapting to the tank now.


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## lilobee (Mar 28, 2012)

I'm starting one myself and how much appreciate I have for aquascaping. (o:


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

04-15-12. Had to remove the co2 line on this tank. Splitter was leaking. Just going to feed one tank with co2 and bank on the light and ferts to run this one.
Glosso getting taller but filling in. Going to prune it this sunday and refil the left side of the tank.


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## XMX (Feb 17, 2011)

The tank is looking nice. Is there a reason why some of your red plants turned green?


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

hmm the only reddish plants i have were the ludwigas...not sure what species they were but i shifted them over to the left away from the center focal point. they are still red but arnt growing as well...i think its suffering from low wattage. grew all of these guys in a 100 gallon long with 4wpg and they exploded for me in growth wise. now that im down to 3wpg (only 1 65w cfl) it doesnt cover enough light throughout the whole tank. Im thinking of adding another 65w cfl (bringing it to 130watts over a 20 gallon) but this might spike algae all over. Since its not injected with co2 anymore i think ill just keep it low tech.

*edit* the redder ludwigas were picked out of local waters in FL by a friend.


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## XMX (Feb 17, 2011)

I agree. The extra light might cause the algae to spike. If you do decide to add another light, you can try playing with the amount of time both lights are on. I'm amaze at the amount of growth you are getting without any CO2.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

well it was injected with co2, i just found out like 2-3 days ago that the MADE IN CHINA splitter i bought for 4 bucks on ebay was leaking. The guy seriously sent me 3 replacements and they all leaked. PMED the guy telling him that his claim of high pressure CO2 is bogus.

So anyway, i was thinking the same with the high lighting thing, Thinking of blasting a 2nd 65w for 2 hours during mid day.

Lets see if plants grow without co2 ^^


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## XMX (Feb 17, 2011)

Wow, that sucks! 

If no CO2 doesn't work, you can always try DIY CO2


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

i refuse to going back to mixing precious sugar!!!
thats such a hassle for 1bps 
I think i will end up buying a splitter off of ebay if i cant find any needle valves locally.


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## AheartlessFish (Mar 18, 2008)

Plants are suffering so i pulled all of them except for the glosso. They are all transfered to a 40 gallon..you can follow here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/83532-40-gallon-aquascape.html

Tank is now used as a cherry shrimp tank  if glosso doesnt grow with no co2 (it might it might not..mostlikely not) i will cover the tank with javamoss


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## Topete (Oct 3, 2010)

i like the rock layout. Good luck!


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