Rescape

[Crossfire]

I have decided today that I'm tired of looking at my ugly 20g. It's dirty, the substrate is messed up, plants are full of algae, stocking is a mess, etc.
So, as a christmas/birthday gift to myself, and talking it through with my parents, I am going to rescape my tank completely.
I was thinking of getting a bigger tank, but I will probably have a hard time finding a tank that's as long as the cabinet, but taller. Like a 29g tall or something.
It will probably be easier just to rescape.

So, sands gonna go, filter's gonna go, and I need new plants.
I was either thinking playsand or "natural" looking sand from Caribsea (less cleaning) And I definatley want some sort of fertilized substrate under the sand. Definatley not going to listen to employees, I don't want another 6 inches of black and white sand

I will need help, so I am asking you guys for help! I need your opinions on best substrate, best fertilized substrate, and I want some recommendations for plants.
Stats are:

• 1 T5 NO Bulb with Reflector (could always upgrade to HO)
• Daily Seachem Excel Dosing
• Weekly Seachem Flourish dosing

And, if anyone can find a nice, cheap tank that's no bigger than a 30g (29g or 25g or 30g) that is as long and wide as a 20g but maybe a little taller would be nice
Any tips or advice will greatly appreciated!

 

[techen]

What is going in this tank? Moar kuhlis?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Ok CF, what wattage is your bulb?

As for something to go under the sand, perhaps something like tetraplant complete if its available where you are? Then cap it with the flourite.

Also I'd go for something fert wise to dose daily if addng Excel as the Excel needs to be daily as it has a short half life so you will end up with nutrient fluctuations which could result in algae. Remember too much ferts ok but too little = algae time.

Any preference on plants yet?

 

[LucyB]

I shall be following this thread!!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

CF want me to move this to planted chit chat? That's why I missed it lol.

 

[Crossfire]

What is going in this tank? Moar kuhlis?

Actually, I wasn't going to mess around with the stocking much....maybe just add to numbers...and rehome some fish like the pesky pink jewel tetras

Ok CF, what wattage is your bulb?

As for something to go under the sand, perhaps something like tetraplant complete if its available where you are? Then cap it with the flourite.

Also I'd go for something fert wise to dose daily if addng Excel as the Excel needs to be daily as it has a short half life so you will end up with nutrient fluctuations which could result in algae. Remember too much ferts ok but too little = algae time.

Any preference on plants yet?

Its a 24" 16 watt 10,000k daylight bulb.
What good fert is good for daily use? Can't I just use the Flourish?
And as for plants, any will do. I like swords, any tall bushy plant, anything that will survive really.
Rotala indica, Brazilian pennywort, mermaid weed, Vesuvius and ozelot swords, hygros, and any foreground plants that like to carpet in sand.

CF want me to move this to planted chit chat? That's why I missed it lol.

If you want

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The lighting is a little on the low side for my liking but there is no reason it wont work as scapes have been done with lower. I'd go for around 30 watts.

Fert wise your gonna need Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorus & Flourish Potassium with that as your dosing Excel the plants will use up those elements in your tank much faster, or you could forget the Excel and just dose the Flourish?

Plant wise it all looks good, esp liking the mermaid weed, one of my fav's.

Moved for you.

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

I have had very good luck using CaribSea Eco-Complete planting substrate. My plants responded so well to it, and the only thing I needed to add after that was CO[sub]2[/sub] (which I did DIY and cost me about $5 total). And having a 20-gallon tank myself, I can tell you that it'll give you plenty of substrate covering and some left over if necessary.

I also love the CaribSea sand. I used a light beige color, although I found that it sometimes looked "dirty" because of the planting substrate. I would recommend using black sand because of this. Also, the sand was safe when I had Cories and my Rams could handle it too

 

[Crossfire]

The lighting is a little on the low side for my liking but there is no reason it wont work as scapes have been done with lower. I'd go for around 30 watts.

Fert wise your gonna need Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorus & Flourish Potassium with that as your dosing Excel the plants will use up those elements in your tank much faster, or you could forget the Excel and just dose the Flourish?

Plant wise it all looks good, esp liking the mermaid weed, one of my fav's.

Moved for you.

Thanks, what would you recommend? I could always spare some money for the extra ferts, if not I feel like not dosing the excel will cause problems.
Will have to think it over
I could always get a HO bulb, I'm just hesitant because I don't want to blind my fish or my kuhlis

I have had very good luck using CaribSea Eco-Complete planting substrate. My plants responded so well to it, and the only thing I needed to add after that was CO[sub]2[/sub] (which I did DIY and cost me about $5 total). And having a 20-gallon tank myself, I can tell you that it'll give you plenty of substrate covering and some left over if necessary.

I also love the CaribSea sand. I used a light beige color, although I found that it sometimes looked "dirty" because of the planting substrate. I would recommend using black sand because of this. Also, the sand was safe when I had Cories and my Rams could handle it too

I would like to avoid that.....When I was first setting up the tank, I wanted a fertilized substrate. The employee at the LFS directed me to a bag of black stuff, so I put it in. Turns out it was nothing but plain black sand, and my tank just looks gross because of it

As for stocking, I will shoot for

10-12x Harlequin Rasboras
6x Kuhli Loaches
3x Sparkling Gouramis
4x Amano Shrimp

Maybe some zebra otos

Red= Mermaid Weed
Purple= Rotala Indica
Orange= Foreground?
Yellow= More wisteria and other plant
Blue= Dwarf Sag or Vesuvius Sword
Green= Ozelot sword?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Perhaps a moss on mesh foreground or some Staurogyne and fert wise maybe look into what's available in the US containing NPK as I'm not sure what you can get your hands on.

 

[Crossfire]

No moss carpet for me......to much work...how about dwarf hairgrass?
As for fert substrate.... any opinions on Seachem Fluorite or API Laterite?

 

[Crossfire]

How many zebra otos could I squeeze in their?
I already have a regular oto, so he could get some friends.
The new filter is about 200 gallons per hour
Maybe 4?

 

[Zikofski]

DHG is great i just got some a pain with my fish but i have just put some netting over, hopefully it will root and start to spread now.

i will defiantly recommend it

 

[Crossfire]

I think for final plant ideas, it will definatley include:
-Rotala Indica
-Mermaid Weed
- Brazilian Pennywort
- Dwarf Hairgrass
-Either dwarf sag or Vesuvius sword or blyxa Japonica/aubertii for a mid ground plant
-maybe a small crypt species for a foreground? Lutea or wendtii is nice

 

[Zikofski]

i would recommend for a small crypt nevellii or beckettii depending on what colour you want both small, nice and bushy i use both for foreground ones a nice greenish purple colour (beckettii) and the other is a nice lush green (nevellii)