# My new 20 gallon



## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Hi
This is my new 20 gallon tank. It is starting to grow now. Any comments and advice is much appreciated. Thanks. ;-)

I had a lot of problem getting the fish to pose for me, finally gave up. ](*,)


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## Phillyman (Dec 2, 2004)

*Well done*

Overall I really like the look of this tank. I think an Anubis planted in the large "knuckle" of exposed wood on the lower right would be a good addition. A background is sorely needed. A piece of black trash bag on the back will suffice.I would like to see another picture with some type of background.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

can you please list the specs?


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I like whatever is growing on your driftwood (moss?), it gives it a nice touch.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Hi 
Thanks for all the comments. Overall, I am trying to get more details in place (pics) of the fauna and flora. Also, need to get some test kits for the water parameters. Need to control it somehow. Will post the details once I have time for these. ;-)

For the background, I am leaving it empty for now as I have not chosen any yet. I wanted some gradient effect (white/blue) but over here in Malaysia, I can't find any. Still thinking about that part on how to do a nice background.

Piecesgirl, the green thing on the wood is some form of algae. It have reduced but not totally eliminated since I put in yamato and otto. However, I am in a dilemma on whether to kill it or not ;-).

My original intention is to have a lot of pink on the background. Red on the foreground. On the ground level, a lot of green. Kinda like a flower patch on some abandon wood along the roadside. Therefore the plants here is :-
1) Rotala macranda (foreground - middle)
2) Rotala indica (background - middle)
3) Ludwiga arcuata (background - middle)
4) Hairgrass ( background - left/right)
5) Glosso (foreground - left to right)
6) A touch of an unknown plant (four leaf clover like) here and there.
7) Others (will try to post as I do not know the names)
8) Hint of weeping moss on the wood. (trying it out for now)

The faunas :-
1) Black molly to eat surface scum
2) False bleeding heart tetra
3) Algae team:-
- yamato
- otto
- cherry shrimp
- bee shrimp
- tiger snail

Other specs are:-
1) CO2 - DIY yeast
2) Light - 36W PL X 2, FL15W X 1
3) Substrate - garden soil as base. Aquaclar as top.
4) Filter - 1 X Fluval 303 (leftover equipment)

The four leaf clover is to give a suprise effect to the viewer. All the plants will take attention. The viewer when look closer will see interesting leaf shape plant here and there.

However, that is the plan. A the unexpected suprises that came out is the green algae on the wood. Quite a lot of people enjoy it. So, don't know whether to get rid of it or not. ;-)

BTW. There is 2 piece of wood in there. The knuckle one and a small one. It was leftovers found in LFS. I think ppl pass it by as they do not look nice individually.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Oh no, don't kill the algae -- I think it looks good!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

That looks like cladophora (sp?) algae. It can get quite attractive. Gomer's winning AGA tank had that all over the driftwood.


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## enigma (Sep 26, 2004)

grandmasterofpool said:


> That looks like cladophora (sp?) algae. It can get quite attractive. Gomer's winning AGA tank had that all over the driftwood.


You mean Cladophora aegagropila? It's truly a species of algae but what I know about this plant is that you have to tie it on the piece of wood. So it's quite interesting for me that in your tank the plants is growing without your interference. Could you write something more about it?


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

wow great use of the driftwood! that tank is going to be great after it grows in.


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## Bavarian3 (Oct 21, 2004)

grandmasterofpool said:


> That looks like cladophora (sp?) algae. It can get quite attractive. Gomer's winning AGA tank had that all over the driftwood.


so thats what that was i seem to be able to grow algae so well i should try it


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I have some driftwood that has some algae on it as well that looks good -- but it doesn't appear to be spreading -- I didn't need to tie it down, just appeared.


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## enigma (Sep 26, 2004)

Bavarian3 said:


> so thats what that was i seem to be able to grow algae so well i should try it


Few years ago it was very popular plant in Poland but situation have been changed and now its a rare. The reason is that this plant is under protection in Japan where it grows in natural.


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## Fosty (Jun 6, 2004)

cjloong, I really love that tank. I think I'll look great once it fills in more.



enigma said:


> Few years ago it was very popular plant in Poland but situation have been changed and now its a rare. The reason is that this plant is under protection in Japan where it grows in natural.


Man, I'm kicking myself now. I had a large bag of that sold to me as java moss a couple years ago on Aquabid. I realized it wasn't java moss and threw it away because I thought it was just regular algae.


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## amber2461 (Jun 15, 2004)

Nice tank, thanks for posting it. Keep us updated!


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Cladophora spontaneously appears on most of the driftwood pieces I have in my tanks. It can look very nice as it has a nice green color and a soft looking appearence. But it can get out of hand, too. When I let it go on a big piece of wood in one of my tanks it ended up as a patch 3" thick...think green Alpaca fur.  It's also pretty smelly when you pull it out. Not outright stinky like BGA, but a very swampy/stagnant odor.


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## ted spade (Dec 14, 2004)

The tank looks great-it's better than mine!


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## Candice (May 22, 2005)

I love your tank. It's going to be gorgeous, not that it already isn't.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Bavarian3 said:


> so thats what that was i seem to be able to grow algae so well i should try it


I believe most of us one time or the other manage to grow algae very well... ;-) Now that I want to grow it, my yamato ate 1/2 of it and left a little for me... 

I think I need to take out the yamato already. Gonna have a hard time catching them though. ;-)

Just an update, I change water yesterday, the pvc cover came out and water shoot straight at the substrate causing the base to fly all over the place. The tank was totally cloudy with 1% visibility. Today, it is better, 80% visibility. Don't know if any long term effect yet... 

Will post again when clear and picture taken. I think it is a plant choosing time for this aquarium.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Finally, the water cleared somewhat. Algae broke loose after that, not sure if it is caused by accident during water change, causing base substrate to shoot out or lack of CO2 for the previous few days.

Most likely due to lack of CO2. Mix a batch again with new yeast/sugar and going to see progress. Looks like the nice green algae have almost dissappeared, only slight traces left, most probably due to yamato feasting on it. Anyway, here is the tank update, another angle, another stage, ... Algae War!!! :nervous:

Algae is black, hair like structure sticking to weeping moss. It has turned a little white after CO2 addition. Don't really know what type of algae is it yet. Have to do some research.

Anyway, here is the image.


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## tinman (May 11, 2004)

Sounds like BBA.


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## cjloong (Mar 5, 2005)

Finally eliminated 99% of the algae. Tank looks like this now.









Over the past weeks, I have installed a cylinder CO2, a normal disfusser, and increased CO2 to about 30ppm.

I did not decrease lighting or stop fertilization. Dose some trace in fact at one time when I saw that plants stopped. After dosing trace, plants bubbles like crazy.

All these adjustment did not do much to the algae except stop it from growing. Finally put 10 SAE and over a period of 3-5 days, all algae is gone. Now, SAE is in my another tank, only left 2 in this one.

Now it remains to be seen if tank will sustain and not get algae. It will go through a testing period of 2 weeks without algae returning before I do rescaping and trimming.


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## mlfishman (Apr 4, 2005)

*great*

tank looks great!!


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