# 20L Journal The rise and fall...and rebirth



## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Ok. So I have grown bored with my 75 gal. Its established and all I have to do now is feed the fish and drop some ferts in there. minimal maintenance. 
So being the addictive hobby this is. I decided that I needed another tank Specifically for aqua scaping. 
Hard to do in a cichlid tank ya know..
So I went out and grabbed a 20L from a LFS that was having a sale. I also dropped some coin on a bunch of plants since they were on sale I got ALOT. 









so I got to scaping.









and filled her up









I had a bag of some Eco complete and added this horrible stuff called Ironite.And this is what I used for substrate. Altho it has everything you want for your planted tank it has a little something you DONT. Ammonia. Too much actually. You can see the white grains in the eco. Theres alot more under the eco. 









Now for a couple days I thought this might be ok and help the tank cycle faster. Well I let a few days go by and plants started dieing off. BAD LIKE. So I had to pull everything. And this was my task last night.

















So I took all the plants out. Removed all the tainted substrate. And started draining the tank.










Now in the planning (key word here is planning. Its more important then you think) of this tank I did some research (another key word here) and seen what others were doing in the proper setups of their planted tanks. 
You see for a planted tank to thrive it really should be set up from step 1 with the idea of planting in mind. SO that being said When I was at the fred meyer returning the ironite I picked up some Peat moss and some sand. Since I had destroyed my Eco-complete and not wanting to drop another 25 bucks for a new bag I went to Home Depot and got some Schultz Aquatic soil.

I layed out the peat moss (aka Sphangium moss) In the area that I had planned on having









And above the peat I placed the schultz. In the open area I added white sand. for a beach effect. 









Now this time I took a hour REALLY seperating the clumps of Dwarf Hairgrass into small bushes. And I lined the "beach front" with the Dwarf hair and made a small trail that leads down the center of the tank. 









Behind the DH I planted some Money wort that I expect wil probably die off and get replaced. To keep the MW down I had to place a rock on top of it. And to the left of the DH I took my micro swords and made a grassy area there. and behind that I have a rock with some Java moss tied to it. 









With everything I had to use at this point in the tank I decided it was time to fill er up. 








Since I have everything in place I didn't wanna mess taht up so I had the water on low.

As you can see I'm an idiot and I forgot to wash the sand. (I assumed it was prewashed. NEVER ASSUME) And the water got kinda cloudy not too bad tho.










So I plugged in the Emp280 and let it get to work. I have a bunch of poly fill in it to help polish that crap out of the water.
After a couple hours it was looking alot better.









So sadly I lost most of my plants that were in the tank. I assume it is because of amonia burn. possibly the water was too cold because theres no heater on it. At any rate that will all get corrected. 
I guess i'm clairvoiant because yesterday even before I knew my plants were all hosed I ordered some off our own Dippy Eggs. So that will replace what I lost. And infact I think it will work out for the better because the plants that I had goten were kinda random. and didn't really have a theme. This tank will be much better off once the new plants get in there. And I have a feeling the plants Dip's is sending are going to be a lot better quality then the doomed to die ones I got from the pet store. Thanks again Joe!

Now as far as the details of my little tank here they are.
Its a 20L
I have a single PC 36w fixture on it. 
substrate is a layer of Peatmoss covered by Schultz aquatic and sprinkled with a small amount of eco-complete. And a sand trap of white beach sand. 
Ferts will be Flourish line of ferts. Comp,Excell and Phosphate. I will be adding some GW Macro ferts to the mix too. But am looking for other alternitives.

Plants are
Dwarf Hairgrass
Micro swords
Saggatira Stabula (sp,sorry)
Java moss
Moneywort

I'm wanting to add a Moss covered rock wall to conceal the intake of the filter. As it detracts from the overall look of the tank and I feel that it will give the illiusion that the tank is larger. 
I am just trying to figure out what moss I can use for that as Java moss tends to be too stringy and likes to travel alot. I'm thinking about getting som Riccia. Not totally sure yet.

The 75 will also be in for a major overhaul soon too.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

I have received new plants from the Man. and We have an official planted tank now. I've added he CO2 and the results are AMAZING! now my Java moss was semi pearling before but now EVERYTHING is pumping air into the water like you wouldn't belive. Seriously it looks like theres a air leak in my tank because I have bubbles comming up everywhere! It was actually an amazing site and was quite exciting to have a real visual cue that the plants are not only looking great but they are doing great as well.

So let me share with you all the updated pics of the tank. And a pic of the worlds happyist betta.










Here you can also see the biggest of the ghost shrimp that are in the tank swimming around with the betta.

































Sorry for the crap quality. But you can kinda see my Moneywort pearling also!









*******************1 month passes.....***************
And here we are today. I have done some minor rearranging and added some stuff. Sadly my Betta died due to a BGA bout that I went thru half way thru the month. But I replaced him with a sweet Green Dwarf Pike.


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## evercl92 (Aug 14, 2006)

Hotness, I like it. I love eco complete, but the "beach" effect is a great substitute. Do you only have the dwarf pike in there? No other fish?


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## andrewwl (Sep 26, 2005)

I see two different light fixtures here. What make/model are those? It's exciting seeing a non-DIY light that looks good on a 20L.

I was skeptical of the beach thing at first but in the latest pictures it looks good


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

evercl92 said:


> Hotness, I like it. I love eco complete, but the "beach" effect is a great substitute. Do you only have the dwarf pike in there? No other fish?


Theres a BUNCH of fish in there. 
Off the top of my head..
We have the 
Dwarf Pike
2 Cherry barbs
3 black neons
1 blue/red
3 silver tipped tetras
3 Oto's 
1 SAE
1 CAE
1 Orange Molly
Misc Snails
and some ghost shrimp
I think thats it.
I also picked up some Penguin Tetras last night at a local aquarium auction for a buck.

I was irritated that I had to toss the eco. But I have it in my 75 gal so it looks good there. After wasting that first bag I wasen't about to go spend another 30 bucks for another bag. the 6 dollar price of schultz is much more appealing.
I do feel the beach area loses some appeal due to all the rocks and drift wood that is in it. that and it has become an area for debris build up. And because the sand is pure white crap shows up real well on it.



andrewwl said:


> I see two different light fixtures here. What make/model are those? It's exciting seeing a non-DIY light that looks good on a 20L.
> 
> I was skeptical of the beach thing at first but in the latest pictures it looks good


Its True. I started the tank with a JBJ 36w 24" fixture. that was simply not enough light and was aiding BGA to break out in the tank. I replaced that fixture with a Coralife 65w aqua light. Its only 24" as well but the bulb is a larger one and gets much better light coverage. As well the spectrum looks much better for the planted.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Omghi2u


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Did some trimming. So hell why not time for an update.
Some pics of the tank



























And some of the pike.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Jun 3, 2005)

HEY!!

Nice thread.. very detailed, and informative! Yaknow, for your first planted tank, it really looks outstanding! (you should have seen mine lol)

I'm glad you like the plants! Make sure you keep us posted on the growth. 

Also, if there are any more problems, there are so many helpful individuals here.. There are many plant geniouses here, minus myself lol!

Great job


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Tank looks great and your plants seem pretty healthy too, keep up the good work. Just curious, what kind of white sand are you using and where did you get it?


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Joe- Thanks man! honestly without your help I wouldn't have been as lucky as I have been with this setup. and the plants you sent me were great. even the ones that got lost in the mail are all doing great now. 
Cept the apong. It never seemed to want to fully bounce back. but also it refuses to stay planted. So it just kinda roams around the 75 gal. I think maybe the flowerhorn dosen't like where I planted it and he might have pulled it up. He didn't like the Marimo Ball I tossed in there and started to tear it up.



davis.1841 said:


> Tank looks great and your plants seem pretty healthy too, keep up the good work. Just curious, what kind of white sand are you using and where did you get it?


I'm using.. Uhh its just called white sand. heh. I picked up a 2lt bag of it at Fred Meyers (local WA grocery/home stuff store like a K-mart). dosen't seem to have efected my PH at all so I'm pretty confident its inert. possible its just pure white silica sand.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Jun 3, 2005)

<<It ain't luck my friend. 
Give yourself some credit for being tenacious in the hobby. I simply tried to help get you jump started.  There are so many people here in this community alone that could have done that.

You are doing very good! I hope to see many nice tanks of yours for years to come! Thanks for being a good guy too


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

haha well thanks for the kick in the ass! 
And for the great plants!
There will be plenty more tanks from me and this one will be thru plenty more rescapes. I was serious this is addicting.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

taken last night.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

I really like your plants' health they all look very good and your tank seems to be very algae free, congrats!! I can't wait to see them fill in a little more, keep us posted


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Your tank is looking great! Is that a moss ball in the right hand corner of your latest picture? I'm looking forward to seeing your tank when the foreground fills in.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

davis-Thanks man! Its not totally algae free. you just cant seem them but theres some spots on the wall. nothing too bad tho. 


CS-Yep sure is a moss ball. Tomorrow I'm going to move one of the reineckii plants out in the open more and transplant some of the DH to the forground hopefully that speeds the filling in.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Great shots and great thread! Thank you for sharing with me. 

Jimbo205


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

New updates. (sorry been a while since I've been to this forum)
New updates.

So. Been a while. and here we are today. New plants, retuned scaping, horrible failure and success. 
All have been terms that could have been applied to this tank since the last update.
After I finally got everything setup well. I noticed the water one day get a little cloudy. I thought. humm strange, and let it go. the next day I could see the tank was getting a tint of green. I knew what was happening. So kicked down the light and turned off bank 2. back down to 3wpg. added some ferts and hoped for the best. 
Couple days later and this is what I had.









This is after a waterchange.

So. I think to myself. what do to..... 
Well obviously I've been lucky to get this much from my tank with my setup. No CO2 ****ty DIY setup. Lots of plants and way too much light. Yes.. It was a timebomb. 
And it blew.

So now faced with a need for a decision I made two. 
1st was to get a UV filter and take care of the issue at hand. So I did so. In addition to the addition of the UV I turned the lights out for a couple days and closed up the room. 
And in a couple days I had this.








Crystal clear. nicest the water has ever been. I'm sold on UV's. 
But now altho this took care of the immediate need. I knew this was only a temp bandaid. So in comes decision #2. I started looking for parts. found some for cheap. slapped it toghether and now today I finally have it complete. Finally I am fininshing off this tank with pressurized CO2. If only I knew I could slap something like this toghether so easily before. ahh well..




































the pike


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Its matured. 

Here are some updated pics of the tank. 











































And a much needed clean up crew









Already Hard at work. hopefully they are all there tomorrow.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Yeah there are some updated. I've run into an issue with the glandiosa. It grows like wild. and once it hit the air out of the water it sheds all its lower leaves. So all those beautifull blood red stems fell apart. The rosefollia also a tall grower has outgrown the height of this tank. And I'm currently over growing with Zosterfolia. So in the next week or maybe this weekend I will be pulling all of that. I am replacing these stems with smaller reds and oranges. 
LUDWIG INCLINATA
and 
ROTALA ROTUND

So here are the last pics of this tank that I will be posting until I get my new plants. These pics are from 01/15/07 the tank has has similar amount of growth since and I've done a couple trimmings.
Before trimming









What I got from it









And after.









The tank is pretty much back into the pretrim look.


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

I will update this thread again tonight after I transfer the latest images from this month.


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## Genin (Jan 28, 2007)

BS,
looking good man. the star grass looks awesome in your tank..... and pretty nice in mine to  .


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

hah thanks Joe! 
I liked the look of the SG. The only thing is it is such a fast grower that in my tank it was rampant. In lower light tanks it seems to be much more containable. 
Seemed like every week I had to trim some to keep it from blocking out the light from everything else. 
Aside from that it is a great plant. It does kinda suck that it is so delicate so it simply does not do well in shipping. If you let what I sent ya float for a few days it will green up and grow so you will be able to easier plant it. Make sure to give each stem some room cause they do spread.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

You have an amazing planted aquarium. Simply beautiful.


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## Ulan (Oct 2, 2006)

This is such a cool tank! This gives me some ideas .


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

And another update to get us up to date.

I've done some tuning to the scape along with a major japonica trim and the removal of my stargrass. 
Heres a shot after the trim/pull and when the new plants in the rear left were added. Its rotala rotun. so hopefuly will all take on a nice yellowish orange 
color.

















In the front I moved alot of japonica out because it was so dense that the plants were all sitting about an inch off th substrate. Their roots had filled in the substrate so much there was no where for them to go but up. 
All the green that is floating in the 75 gallon here is what was pulled from the 20 gal. 









I moved the front back and filled it in with hairgrass to get a better lawn. 
as you can see one of the crypts sent a runner out about 6 in from the mother plant and now a 3rd crypt bush is starting. The crypts are about due for a thinning.
Since this shot the back has filled in and bushed up some. And a couple fish and shrimp were added. I got ahold of some tiger shrimp.









I will get some more shots once the tank turns on and after my baby wakes up. the tank is in his room.

After I trimed and was shipping off some of the japonica I came across a interesting discovery. I had never heard it mentioned so was shocked to see. that a couple of my Japonica had flowered. I was not aware that they even did. I figure it has to be because they were floating and at the surface that encouraged the plant to flower.


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## Leonard (Mar 4, 2007)

awsome tank!
is it okey with "pikes" in a planted tank with smaller fishes, like Tetras? I thought it would eat them. It anyway really cool and I'd like to have one myself if I knew it would be ok for the other fishes =) I belive it also would make my Leoparddanios shoal much better  they would watch upp better then


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

Leonard said:


> awsome tank!
> is it okey with "pikes" in a planted tank with smaller fishes, like Tetras? I thought it would eat them. It anyway really cool and I'd like to have one myself if I knew it would be ok for the other fishes =) I belive it also would make my Leoparddanios shoal much better  they would watch upp better then


Yeah the pike is fine. he's a dwarf species. and they max out around 3-4" They also have a smaller beak like mouth then other species of pike. 
He never bothered any of the oter fish in the tank. Sadly I lost him durring this last winter when we were without power for a 4 days. The tank dropped to 58 deg and that was just too low for the pike. 
Up to then he was one of my fav fish I've ever had. 
He was a crenchella compressisips. Or Dwarf Green Pike.


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## Genin (Jan 28, 2007)

I like the rescape you have done. That is interesting that your japonica were flowering. Have you seen one with the flower in full bloom?


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## Blacksunshine (Aug 11, 2006)

nope. I came across that one by luck when I was shipping out last week. I only noticed it on 2 plants some of the ones I sent you might have it. they were floating along with these ones and I just didn't notice. (I shipped so much stuff out that day) Anyways I didn't keep it so never had the chance to see it flower. 

Glad you like what I did. Last night I destroyed the tank. I don't know why. something didn't look right. so I started messing around. then I pulled up too much of my hairgrass. Then I decided to move a plant. That destroyed all my established carpet of hairgrass. (melon swords have quite an impressive root structure. lol) So while fixing that I decided to do alot more rearranging. 
I've never been happy with the right side of the tank. compared to the left it is just.. well meek and unfinished. you can't really tell from these pics but I could in person. so it was bugging me. So continued on to rip up the whole right half. Anyways when I get home today the water should be clear again and I can get a good pic of the new scape. (also have to get the CPD's out of the floating tank) Then I can snap a few photos of the yet again refined scape. I like this one much better as thers a more cohesive theme or structure going on now. Before it was jsut a random assortment of what I wanted to grow.

I also found out that Tiger shrimp have little to no fear of the human hand. I had to get right up on one and touch it before he would move.


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## Leonard (Mar 4, 2007)

Blacksunshine said:


> Yeah the pike is fine. he's a dwarf species. and they max out around 3-4" They also have a smaller beak like mouth then other species of pike.
> He never bothered any of the oter fish in the tank. Sadly I lost him durring this last winter when we were without power for a 4 days. The tank dropped to 58 deg and that was just too low for the pike.
> Up to then he was one of my fav fish I've ever had.
> He was a crenchella compressisips. Or Dwarf Green Pike.


Ohh, that wasn't to lucky  but it seems to be a okey "plantedtank-fish" =)
Thanks for the information anyway.


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