Laura's 20h

[bordercollie05]

After having a planted 10 gallon for ~6 months, I've decided to have a go at my first real aquascape. Upgraded to a 20H and here's where it stands now.

To start with a few pictures:

Obviously the sponge filter is temporary, I just wanted a little movement in the tank until I finish planting and fill it up all the way. The betta is also temporary. The stocking will be my 5-7 guppies and 2 otos for now. Hopefully going to rehome my 4 young female guppies to make room for either neons or glow-light tetras. (Anyone want a few guppies?...) Also going to add one more oto to make a little better school. Going to be adding some sunset hygro on the left along with a couple of other stem plants. On the right will be another sword plant. Some baby tears and pygmy chain sword for the front parts, not sure on placement yet.

Also, going to be making a new hood for this tank in the next week or so. Aiming for mid-high range light. Going to be doing EI and currently have DIY CO2.

I've had some algae issues in my 10 gallon however, so I'm not sure how to handle what to do with my current plants. I'm not even 100% sure what kind of algae I have. Here's a couple of pictures of my sword and anubias:

Since so many of the leaves have dense algae on them, I'm a little hesitant to pick off the algae ridden leaves. It would probably leave on 2-3 leaves on each plant. Would the plants be okay and grow back after such heavy pruning? Any other suggestions on dealing with the algae before I add new clean plants?

Any other suggestions about the planting, arrangements of rocks, lighting, anything?

Thanks so much, will keep adding pics and updates as the tank progresses.

Laura

Edit: Not sure why those last two pictures are sideways, but I think you can see the problem well enough

 

[corey01]

Veery nice nice rocks you have in the middle

 

[bordercollie05]

Veery nice nice rocks you have in the middle

Thanks, I got most of them from Lake Michigan


Tested the water today, pH is ~6.8, KH: 9 degreeds dKH or 161.1ppm, GH: 107.4 ppm, and Ammonia was at 0 (which is great b/c outta the tap its usually around 1).

 

[Nick16]

you will need more ottos. 3 or 4 more. they are highly social animals

 

[bordercollie05]

you will need more ottos. 3 or 4 more. they are highly social animals

I'll keep your suggestion in mind. I have two and have considered adding anywhere from 1-3 more. Just don't want to overstock and it partially depends on how many guppies I can rehome. Thanks!

Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

Got my plant shipment today. Added: Sunset hygro, elgeria densa, cabomba, pearlgrass, and pygmy chaing sword. Here's some pictures.

Sorry for the glare, will add more pics in a few days. Lemme know whatcha think or if anything should be added/moved.

Laura

 

[aaronnorth]

looking much better

 

[HODDY]

nice tank, just ordered myself loads of plants!

 

[Mr Bliss]

I like what you've done with the rocks and substrate color. Are you planning to let the tenellus cover the are in the front, or leave some of the are open? Personally I think leaving an area of white sand in the front would look great.

 

[bordercollie05]

I like what you've done with the rocks and substrate color. Are you planning to let the tenellus cover the are in the front, or leave some of the are open? Personally I think leaving an area of white sand in the front would look great.

Yeah, I'm planning to leave some white sand for sure. I'm actually having a bit of trouble with the tenellus. I haven't gotten my new light on it yet, so I'm wondering if that's the problem. Or could it be nutrients? Would root tabs help for those plants? (Been doing EI and the others are all doing great....also they have some eco complete around them and the tellenus don't, maybe that could be the difference).

Thanks for the comments, the hygro is already growing a lot. Also, I've added a couple of sparkling gouramis that I love! I'll get some more pics up later tonight or tomorrow.

Thinking of adding either 6 glowlight tetras or something similar in size...maybe cardinals? Any suggestions on the fish would be great.

Also, should I add something behind my larger swords? I think it looks a little funny on the right hand side of the tank.....

Thanks,
Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

Here's the newest pics:

Full tank shot:

Here you can see what the dying leaves on the pygmy sword...:

Oto:

Oto 2:

Sparkling Gourami:

 

[Mr Bliss]

Looking really good!

Root tabs would probably be the way to go with the E. tenellus, especially since they're growing in sand which has no cation exchange capacity (ability to trap nutrients from the water). Amazon swords of any kind rely primarily on their roots for nutrition, as they normally grow at the edges of rivers and ponds in nature, partially or completely emersed during drier seasons. To make matters worse, they are grown emersed before they are shipped to the LFS, so the individuals you buy are all used to getting fed through their roots only.

 

[bordercollie05]

Looking really good!

Root tabs would probably be the way to go with the E. tenellus, especially since they're growing in sand which has no cation exchange capacity (ability to trap nutrients from the water). Amazon swords of any kind rely primarily on their roots for nutrition, as they normally grow at the edges of rivers and ponds in nature, partially or completely emersed during drier seasons. To make matters worse, they are grown emersed before they are shipped to the LFS, so the individuals you buy are all used to getting fed through their roots only.

Thanks for the help. I'll get some root tabs ASAP. These came from aquabid and were in someone else's tank, but not sure what kind of ferts he did. Anyway, looking forward to pepping up those plants.

Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

Got some root tabs today, and should have my new light up in a few days....working on sanding staining the hood right now.

Laura

 

[bordercollie05]

I finished the hood today, ended up taking longer than expected...classes took over for awhile. Anyway, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Also, I'm very pleased with the plant growth! My sunset hyrgo grew some pink leaves for the first time and everything is getting pretty bushy. The original algae has cleared up a little and isn't spreading at all anymore.

Since the last post, I've added 3 baby BNs and 6 glowlight tetras. The stock list is now: 4 guppies, 4 otos, 3 1" BNs, 6 glowlights, and 3 sparkling gouramis. Plus MTS. Also, I've noticed some tiny ramshorn snails on the hygro in the past couple of days. (For those worried about the BNs, at least two will be moved to a different tank when they get bigger)

I don't think there will be many more changes in the near future. Just trimming the plants, maybe adding something on the right-hand side; I still think it looks bare. Here's the pics:

Hygro

Tank shot

Glowlights

BN and oto in background

Fat momma guppy