Here is the latest picture of my 20 gallon - over the time i've been on this forum, i went from a fish-in cycle to a fishless cycle, switched out gravel for sand, added 7 corydoras and now i have added in the final 4 tetras to make 7 cardinal tetras. At the same time of purchase I bought the black rocks seen in the photo - partly because that area is getting hit by the discharge of my aquaclear 30 HOB and i thought maybe it would break up the flow from moving sand back towards the back of the tank (at an invisible, but notable pace over the course of days)
i have the smaller "Grass" fake plant on the left in front of the tall one because the cories kept getting stuck in the lower sections of the tall one, which I then trimmed to stop that from happening. So I am covering up the "bare stems" part of it.
When I look at pictures, compared to this forum I guess the tank seems pretty bland...with only a 17W fixture it's hard to do much with plants as even the Java fern/moss won't thrive in those conditions and I hesitate to put more money in here when I plan on getting a bigger one in the next couple/few months - the fake plants I see don't really do much for me and I don't like unnatural stuff either. Rocks at stores are pretty expensive. Is this too sparse for the comfort of the fish or am I ok in that respect? Livestock plan is 7 Sterbai Cory 7 Cardinal Tetra 1 or 2 German Blue Ram...
Because of the sensitivity of cardinals and the final stocking addition which will be a German Blue Ram, I am adding an Eheim 2213 (birthday present) to this set-up - I will let it run a few weeks alongside the AC30 prior to adding the GBR. I am going to keep both filters running, I think, for the added biological protection if for some reason something craps out overnight / on a weekend, as I saw one time with the impeller locked up on the AC30 following a brief power outage. I will need to direct / modify the spray bar on the 2213 to keep it from making the massive over filtration a current issue.
I notice the tetras "playing" in the current sometimes which is going down the glass right in front of the black rocks and then going left and right, so basically making what the fish make look like a strong current in the "Valley" between the log and the glass. Is this playing behavior ok? sometimes when they are in that section it does look like they are getting "blown" but there are other places in the tank they aren't...is that OK? Or are fish not smart enough to stay out of that area if it stresses them out?
thanks for your help on my decoration question and current question!
i have the smaller "Grass" fake plant on the left in front of the tall one because the cories kept getting stuck in the lower sections of the tall one, which I then trimmed to stop that from happening. So I am covering up the "bare stems" part of it.
When I look at pictures, compared to this forum I guess the tank seems pretty bland...with only a 17W fixture it's hard to do much with plants as even the Java fern/moss won't thrive in those conditions and I hesitate to put more money in here when I plan on getting a bigger one in the next couple/few months - the fake plants I see don't really do much for me and I don't like unnatural stuff either. Rocks at stores are pretty expensive. Is this too sparse for the comfort of the fish or am I ok in that respect? Livestock plan is 7 Sterbai Cory 7 Cardinal Tetra 1 or 2 German Blue Ram...
Because of the sensitivity of cardinals and the final stocking addition which will be a German Blue Ram, I am adding an Eheim 2213 (birthday present) to this set-up - I will let it run a few weeks alongside the AC30 prior to adding the GBR. I am going to keep both filters running, I think, for the added biological protection if for some reason something craps out overnight / on a weekend, as I saw one time with the impeller locked up on the AC30 following a brief power outage. I will need to direct / modify the spray bar on the 2213 to keep it from making the massive over filtration a current issue.
I notice the tetras "playing" in the current sometimes which is going down the glass right in front of the black rocks and then going left and right, so basically making what the fish make look like a strong current in the "Valley" between the log and the glass. Is this playing behavior ok? sometimes when they are in that section it does look like they are getting "blown" but there are other places in the tank they aren't...is that OK? Or are fish not smart enough to stay out of that area if it stresses them out?
thanks for your help on my decoration question and current question!
One of the best ways is to use slate which you can get from any garden center and it is very cheap and for the sizes you want you may even get it for free 
my cardinals often play in the current and aslong as they have a "rest" area so to speak they shud be fine ... i feed my fish out of the current (with my filter turned down) aswell so they get used to certain areas more than others.
