# 20 gallon tank overcrowding?



## tbillion (Feb 4, 2012)

i have :

12 ghost shrimp
2 painted glass tetras
5 blood fin tetras
5 neon tetras
and 1 guppy 

as well as 3 live plants.. is that over crowded??


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## LegitFish (Nov 27, 2011)

No, you should be okay with that selection. All the fish you have chosen are fairly small in size and will do well. The tetras will probably all end up sticking together.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

I'd say your ok, how much filtration?


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

Yea I think you'll be ok all of them have a fairly small bioload, I'm interested in what your using for filtration as well


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

Hanky you have 2 nitrite snails? Lol


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I wouldn't put in anymore, if that is why you are asking.


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## tbillion (Feb 4, 2012)

filtration right now is a kinda sore subject. i custome built the tank with 2 high pressure medium volume pumps and they are cycling the water over active carbon, but, for some reason the carbon has been just turning to dust... so i have the second pump pushing all of the water through a coffee filter...i can turn the whole tank over in 5 mins or less. so the water stays pretty clear / non odorous. eventually i plan to move away from that and just have enough plants to handle the bio process. maybe move to some other filtration solution other than carbon... as for adding more i dont think that is in the plans for now i am in $50 in just the fish i got... so that should be enough and at least one of the glass shrimp is full of eggs. so i may venture out ans see what i can do about that. 

if there was a way to post pix to this forum i probably xcould put up some pix.

as for them sticking together they as of right now pretty well sect off by type. except for the guppy who seems to think he is a painted glass tetra...lol


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Unless your tank has an odor or med you are trying to remove, I see no reason to use carbon. I've never used it and if you do you have to replace about every 2wks, which is about how long it is effective.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

SuckMyCichlids said:


> Hanky you have 2 nitrite snails? Lol


Yes I do they were specially bread to reduce dangerous chemicals in the water, I also have several ammonia shrimp,*r2*r2

I shall fix that for you, at least someones reading my stuff.


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## tbillion (Feb 4, 2012)

ok so dont use carbon, then what do i use... this is the first fish tank i have had since i was a kid with one gold fist and i always had the clip on the back of the tank carbon type filter... worked great for my gold fish, but i guess the better solution is? I have read alot of different opinions and how would it work, i am not really into buying a commercial solution.. is there another media i should plug in in place of carbon?


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

hanky said:


> Yes I do they were specially bread to reduce dangerous chemicals in the water, I also have several ammonia shrimp,*r2*r2
> 
> I shall fix that for you, at least someones reading my stuff.


I was just scrolling through and it caught my eye, I thought it was hilarious lol


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

If you wanted to change the media the best thing I could think of is to replace it. with some type of ceramic bio media, I just took the carbon completly out of my AC70 and just run it with a sponge and 2 bags of bio media


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

^ A better option


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

My honest opinion is that no amount of chemical or mechanical filtration will be better than more bio filtration


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