# My 20 Gallon Planted Community Tank



## choylifutsoccer

Hm..I think it would be pretty cool to keep a journal of my tank in progress. Here it is!
As shown in my "introduction" thread, here is my previous failed attempt for this tank. 









My goal is to rebuild this tank and make it even more beautiful than before! *old dude 

It's been almost a year since I gave up on that tank. My winter break started two weeks ago, so I decided to start it up again. 

*12/21/2009*
-Set up filter
-Pour gravel
-Fill with water
-Added pure ammonia, up to 4 ppm

*1/4/2010*
Here's how the tank currently looks. 








For the curious people, I'm not adding any plants yet because algae will take over them due to the high nitrate levels from cycling. Also, no light is set up yet because it's not being turned on and will only get in the way. Driftwood was dumped in several days ago in hopes to speed up cycling process. BIO-Wheel from another established tank was also put in last week to help speed up cycling process. 

Ammonia: 2 ppm
Nitrite: < .25 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm


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## spawn

do 30-40% partial water change in every 4-5 days until ammonia,nitrite level goes to zero ppm....


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## choylifutsoccer

Wouldn't that be counterproductive to the cycling process?


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## Dmaaaaax

I don't think he realizes that you are doing a fishless cycling with pure ammonia. 

With that biowheel added you could probably start adding stuff fairly soon. IMO plants could also be added to bring down the nitrate levels and essentially almost zero your cycling time. I try to keep my planted tank at 5-10ppm nitrates since nitrogen is a keep mineral for most plants.

Your lights look a little too strong for a tank that size unless you are adding CO2 (which I do not see in the first picture).


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## choylifutsoccer

My tank didn't have a nitrite peak yet, so I don't think I'm adding fish any time soon. *td
Also, I forgot to mention here that I changed out the bulb to a 6700k one a few days after taking that picture. I'll take a picture when it's set up..hopefully, it's not too bright! But I have a DIY CO2 set up somewhere, so if the 6700k bulb is too bright, then I'll still be safe.


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## Dmaaaaax

If you already have nitrate and you see some nitrite, chances are that's your nitrite "peak" because you have added bacteria with that used biowheel. If you stop adding ammoina, I bet you would see 0ppm because you already have bacteria converting it to nitrite and others converting nitrite to nitrate.

My planted tank never had a nitrite peak. It basically went from ammonia to nitrates. Once the nitrates started going up the the ammonia completely dropped. The plants brought with them bacteria (on the leaves and roots) to expedite the process and also helped break down all 3 waste products.


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## choylifutsoccer

I actually haven't added any ammonia since last Friday. As of now, it is still at around 2 ppm. My nitrites did increase to .25 ppm though. Maybe even a little more than that.
I will consider buying some of the plants to put in the tank to help aid the cycling process, depending if the local fish shop has the plants I want. They should be having a new shipment really soon. 
Btw, does driftwood release nitrates into the water? It just so happens that right after I put the driftwood in, the nitrate levels jumped up.


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## choylifutsoccer

*1/5/2010*
The cycling process is finally moving along! Nitrite levels are still increasing while ammonia levels are decreasing. I will add more ammonia tomorrow to bring the levels back up to 4 ppm.

Ammonia: 1 ppm
Nitrite: >.25 ppm
Nitrate: No test.


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## choylifutsoccer

*1/6/2010*
As of this morning,
Ammonia: >.5 but <1 ppm
Nitrite: 1 ppm
Nitrate: No test.

This morning, I added more ammonia to bring the level up to 4 ppm.


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## choylifutsoccer

Alright, so I've been thinking about my possible stocking list while the tank is cycling. Here are some fish that I want to keep.
-Glowlight tetras
-Black skirt tetras
-Zebra danios
-Swordtails
-Corydoras
-Otocinclus
-Cherry shrimp
I understand most of these fish (except swordtails) should be in schools of 5 of more, so that would be a total of 25 schooling fish + 2 swordtails + 2 cherry shrimp. Is this too many?? 

Alright, so here's the previous part of the story that I haven't told yet. I had a 15 gallon Eclipse set up that a friend gave to me last year. After setting it up, I put a school (5 of them) of neon tetras and a school (another 5) of glowlight tetras. About a week later, I found out there was a crack on the bottom pane of the aquarium. *o2 There were traces of water around the base of the tank. So I borrowed a 10 gallon from a friend to put my 10 fish in there. As of now, only 3 neon tetras are left, but all 5 of the glowlight tetras are still here. So these will also have to go in my new tank. *h/b


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## choylifutsoccer

*c/p* for the post above? Thanks.

*1/8/2010*
I think my nitrosomona colonies are at their peak growth! Now just waiting for the nitrobacter colonies..
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrite: Off the charts
Nitrate: ~50 - 60 ppm


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## choylifutsoccer

Good news everybody! My tank is done (or almost done) cycling! I've added the last dose of ammonia this morning, and if ammonia and nitrites read 0 tomorrow morning, I can start planting and moving fish in! *w3


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## choylifutsoccer

I'm back! School has been pretty tough lately and takes up too much of my time. Anyways, since there's a 4 day weekend, I decided to get some plants and plant the tank. I will be moving the fish in probably tomorrow or in two days, depending how stable the water is.
I will make an update later with the list of plants, because I don't know all the names of them right now!

Here's a picture of the whole tank. I know I didn't plant some things very nicely..but once the plants mature it should look a little better. 









The corner of plants.









Bolbitis asiatica.


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## choylifutsoccer

Alright, here's the list of plants. I still don't know the name of the biggest one on the left back corner. My friend who sold it to me says it reminds him of Cabomba caroliniana, but knows that it's not the same thing. Anyways..


Anubias nanas
Hygrophila difformis (Wisteria)
Bolbitis asiatica 
Riccia fluitans (Crystalwort)

I have 4 baby Anubias nanas and 1 adult one. I'm hoping they all survive because I really like them! I also got 3 Bolbitis asiaticas, but 1 was almost dead on the way home. These look like poison ivy mixed with Java ferns! *w3 I got a small amount of Crystalwort for free, but this stuff is hard to manage! I may just dump it if it gets too messy in my tank. The Wisteria was from my old tank. You can't see it in the picture right now because it's was just a small stems worth, but I think within weeks, it'll be taking over my tank! And lastly, the Cabomba look-a-like is probably one of my favorites, but I still can't figure out what the real name is!


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## choylifutsoccer

Woot! About an hour ago, I put my 5 glowlight tetras and 3 neon tetras in the tank after a 45 minute acclimation! They look fine right now! These two days will be critical..hope they survive!
I still have two Otocinclus catfish in my old tank that I will acclimate tomorrow, only if the 8 tetras are doing fine after the night. I will probably go to the pet store tomorrow to buy 3 more Otocinclus catfish and 2 more neon tetras to complete their school.


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## Assassynation

Looking good so far!


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## FishVille

Sweet TANK!!!!:fish5: ilike how you did it really cool looking


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## choylifutsoccer

> Looking good so far!





> Sweet TANK!!!! ilike how you did it really cool looking


Thanks guys!

So right now, my two Otocinclus catfish are acclimating! Woot! *w3 I went to the local fish shop at first and they were out of Otocinclus, so I'll have to get the remaining 3 next week. 
On Thursday, I will buy 5 zebra danios and the 2 remaining neon tetras. I also might need to get some root tablets because my plants look like they're starting to droop. I may have to start up my DIY CO2 system again if the plants don't improve in a week.


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## choylifutsoccer

So a small baby piece of Pennywort was scrambled in between the Crystalwort at the pet shop. I didn't notice this until two days ago. Now that it has grown a bit, the Pennywort worked its way out of the Crystalwort! *w3 I have free Pennywort! *h/b Hopefully it'll grow fine and then I'll be able to plant it somewhere...but I really don't have much room left. *td

*edit*
I bought a surgical tool set that comes with scissors, tweezers, and two hemostats (one curved and one straight) for trimming up my plants. Honestly, the hemostats are probably going to be useless. But the tweezers and scissors are definitely a must have! And the best news..the whole set was just under 5 dollars! If anyone wants to buy a set, just PM me and I'll link you to the page I got it from.


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## choylifutsoccer

My plants are growing really fast! I wish the Myriophyllum Mattogrossense would grow neater though. It's starting to cover other plants from getting light! The Wisteria is starting to grow pretty darn fast! My baby Anubias are growing ever so slightly, not too noticeable yet. I don't see any difference in the Bolbitis asiatica.


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## Zippy

Congrats, your new tank is coming along. I liked your old one too. BTW what happened to it that you decided to break it down?

Another question: Do your neons and glowlights school together?


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## choylifutsoccer

Thanks! I really liked my old tank..sigh.. The honest truth is that I neglected the water changes and algae took over the tank FAST. This is why I always emphasize water changes on this forum. *old dude I decided to just start over after that experience.

Surprisingly, the glowlight tetras and neon tetras do school together quite a lot.


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## choylifutsoccer

Hello everyone. Time for an update!
My Myriophyllum isn't doing that well..I may have to get CO2 or fertilizer soon. All other plants are doing ok. I am start to see small amounts of algae on the windows...sigh. Might have to do more water changes. Also, I found a baby snail...I hate my life right now..lol *r2

Here is how my tank looks now. I don't like how the Myriophyllum tilts toward the right...why can't it grow straight up??? 









The driftwood with Crystalwort attached.









Say hi to my tetras!









Say hi to my Oto!


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## jrodriguez

very awsome setup you got there.i have a 20 gallon community tank housed with livebearers and gold barbs. i will postpics soon on my own thread


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## choylifutsoccer

Sweet! Can't wait to see your tank!
I'm actually planning on some swordtails for my tank. I used to want gold barbs, but now I want some danios.


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## jrodriguez

Ok ... Look in my profile And look for my barb tank picture . I'm not sure if it shows the swordtails in there.


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## choylifutsoccer

My tank is currently infested with all sorts of algae. Sigh..Phosphate levels are over 5.0. I'm gonna need a lot of water changes to fix it...


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## Sweet Tee

Good luck with it! It sounds like you're unhappy with finding the snails...they may help clean some of that algae for you! I have one ramshorn as of right now and just discovered a few teeny MTS last week. It's amazing how they just seem to "appear." It's cool having them around, but I'm sure once they overpopulate I won't be singing their praises LOL.


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## choylifutsoccer

A little update!
So I just started my CO2 system again last night. It's starting to produce a small amount of bubbles. Hopefully, it will help my plants outcompete the algae! I'm planning to get my Otocinclus on Thursday and also a Clown Loach or Yoyo Loach to help get rid of my snails.


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## choylifutsoccer

So I've lowered my phosphates to about 1.0ppm. My DIY CO2 system is also up. And the algae is still growing strong! Woot? Sigh... Time to try something new! 

Anyways, I bought a clown loach last Tuesday to start taking care of my snail problems. I've also switched to part time feeding of pellets, since they'll leave less residual waste. I will do a thorough cleaning next week and hopefully, my algae will start to disappear.

Currently, I am overdosing Excel. Hope it works!


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## Assassynation

I'm thinking about getting a 20gal quarantine tank for the 155gal I'll be getting this weekend while I set the 155gal up with plants and what ever.


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## choylifutsoccer

> I'm thinking about getting a 20gal quarantine tank for the 155gal I'll be getting this weekend while I set the 155gal up with plants and what ever.


Cool! Always a good idea to set up a quarantine tank. I should too, but I have no intention of adding any more fish as of now, since my algae is really taking over. I just can't get rid of the high phosphate levels in my tank! I may have to use chemicals soon if it gets way too out of control. I even replaced the bulb to a lower powered one in hopes that it'll give less light for the algae to use! 

More updates at a later time.


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## Assassynation

choylifutsoccer said:


> Cool! Always a good idea to set up a quarantine tank. I should too, but I have no intention of adding any more fish as of now, since my algae is really taking over. I just can't get rid of the high phosphate levels in my tank! I may have to use chemicals soon if it gets way too out of control. I even replaced the bulb to a lower powered one in hopes that it'll give less light for the algae to use!
> 
> More updates at a later time.


Hope it gets better soon. I'm getting a 30gal tank tomorrow that I found on craigslist for $20. Sweet deal


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## choylifutsoccer

I'm back folks! With a bolder tank than ever before! 
So this school semester really kicked my butt. I've been neglecting my aquarium. =( There was this huge ammonia spike that killed off my clown loach, a glowlight tetra, and both of my Otocinclus. My tank also had green glass. Not a very pretty site
But anyway, right when winter break started, I cleaned up the tank and did a new layout. I even bought more fish yesterday!
Check out the pictures of the new layout! The substrate bed consists of sand on the left side, and my old gravel mixed w/ Flourite on the right side. 

Plants are "mermaid" (that's what the shop owner called it), Cabomba, Pellia on the driftwoods, dwarf hairgrass, and another grass that I forgot the name of. There's also Anubia nanas on the right side of the driftwood.









An angled view.









The Corydoras playground!









Another angle. I didn't put in the Anubias nana yet at this point. 









I also bought 5 gold neon tetras, 5 zebra danios, and a clown loach yesterday. So total, I have 4 glowlight tetras, 1 neon tetra, 5 gold neon tetras, 5 zebra danios, and a clown loach. I'm also gonna get 5 panda Corydoras sometime soon. *w3 So exciting!


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## Chino

Tank looks really good. I like how you put in a sand patch. I was thinking of doing that in my next tank, almost like a beach.


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## [email protected]

hey man this tank looks wonderful. I am considering buying a 20g tank when i get more money this summer. well summer is only in a month for me cuz college rocks! but currently i have a sand substrate with a bedrock type layout. a gourami, a few mollies, rainbow shark, a cory catfish and its going great. anyway i was wondering did u make your light custom or purchase it? and if so how did u build it? :fish9:


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## aquaticsnerd

Looks good.


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## saltydad

I have a tank with lots of tetras, rainbowfish, corys and ottos, along with 1 clown pleco. You mentioned putting in shrimp. Can they survive in that population?

BTW< love how the new setup looks.


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