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hey guys i finally got a heater and a good bio-wheel filter in my 20gallon long tank. i have the substrate and decor i was planning on getting plants this weekend mabey on sunday, and probly getting fish next weekend... any set-up ideas? perferably community or semi-aggressive... mabey a shrimp tank with some tetras?? i dont know what is good...

If you are planing on getting live plants (always the best way to go) as they are certainly beneficial for your tank water and fish. You have made no mention of lighting. Then comes the light timer a simple 24ht unit is all that you will require.

I would be careful in your selection of fish as it is not a large tank and you could easily get caught up in buying a "so called pretty fish' and it turns out to an aggressive/to big a fish even when the LFS said it would be perfectly safe in your tank.

If you are thinking about live bearers they could easily over populate the tank very quickly unless you have a few fry eaters in the tank.

Semi- aggressive can cause problems if you dont have the correct balance.

I have Cherry Red Shrimps in my 45lt tank with Cardinal Tetras a easy tank to look after and always fun to watch the Shrimps at play. Once settled they do breed easily. Depending where you are could easily depend on the cost in Aust they can range from $3-$5 for A grade quality and that is buying privately.

What I am suggesting you should think about is have a good look at several LFS select what you would like. DONT BUY YET. Ask at the LFS what would go with what and take notes.
Come back with the list and suggestions and it will be very easy for experienced fish keepers to tell which LFS is the better one to buy your fish from. Look for healthy, clean tanks this is always a good sign that some one knows what they are doing.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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is there a way i could do something like your 11 gallon tank with your shirmp and cardinals only a little bigger as it is a 20gallon? i think it is a really neat setup from what i read in other posts... oh and what type of light is the est for plants, fluoresent, ro something else?

I have seen a Cardinals only in a huge tank it was fantastic.
To make the Cardinals and the Cherry Red Shrimp stand out. Let me put it this way there is one basic rule.

Keep It Simple
I only have three plant species Anubias Nana and two varieties of Crypt a taller variety which is the backing and the smaller variety C nevilli which covers most of the tank. The other one is a floating plant Water Sprite Indian fern. It was put there for two purposes to give cover for the Cardinals and also the Shrimps love climbing.
The Anubias nana Is the small leafed variety tied to a few small rocks and driftwood, once that gets going it is like a weed. Those pieces were just scraps I put in there just over three years ago. This is where the heater is hidden with a air strip underneath it to circulate the heat. It also hides the inlet for the HOB filter. This is the Shrimps home it must be full of baby shrimp.

The cardinals like clean open spaces and in my tank prefer to just stay above the small crypts. Yet I have seen Cardinals in a complete mix of plants and are all over the place and not schooling like mine do.

The shrimps also love drift wood for the bits of algae.
You would not want the water movement too strong yet when we had the heat wave and the water was close to 30c they were all swimming in the water flow.

My plants are fed with Seachem liquid ferts every day Seachem worked out the amounts I should use from my water parameters I sent them. I also use their Fert Tabs added every 4 months (start of each weather season) that way I dont forget,

Lighting I only use the high quality fluro type one plant and one daylight these MUST be replaced every two year cheaper lights might have to be replaced after a few months. I use a simple 24hr timer and the lights are on 12 hrs a day.

My substrate is 1-3mm natural coloured river pebbles close to 4ins deep a bit deeper that most but the Crypts love it as you can see by my recent photos.

Water change about 40% EVERY week and because of the gap at the back for the HOB I loose about one litre from evaporation this is topped up as required.

Did I start out saying Keep It Simple.

One other thing my tank is possibly over loaded for its size but I dont have any health issues at all. The filter is designed for a tank twice that size it also has a pre filter on the inlet otherwise it sucks up all the baby shrimp. I can give you more info about setting that up and it is extremely simple to and cost very little,

If I have missed anything please let me know.

Finally dont attempt this with the Neon Tetras as you will have problems as they are not as strong as the Cardinals.
One thing I forgot to mention this is the hardest tank I have ever set up in all my 40+ years of fish keeping but it would be the most fun to watch .


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

hmm... its very simple in complicated sort of way... any ways here is how my tank is set-up now http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/qq232/fishaccount/20gallon/20gallontank005.jpg its a penguin bio-wheel filter (noisy little bugger) with a petco brand heater and blue gravel as you can see in the picture i took out the plastic plants i had in there as i want to have only live plants (for the first time)

i still stand by the fact that within a few months you are going to hate the blue gravel.

would suggest taking it out and replacing it with a natural colored substrate and even one that might be beneficial to the plants.

the urns will look better with time as algae and plants cover them for a more natural look. It really reminds me of a silly childrens display tank that you might see in an 80's movie (sorry if this is offensive)

IMO the shrimp and fish will not POP like you would want them to over a colored substrate, trust me I tried this before with the neon colored substrate mixed with black hoping it would look slightly spacey and having neon tetras and stuff... it was an epic fail and a giant waste of time/money.

keep it simple as keith said. live plants, drift wood, fish, shrimp.

the layout looks over all good, i just really dont care for neon colors (unless it is a naturally colored live fish or shrimp).

your filter might be noisy because of the impellor not being in right, the water level being low, or just a faulty filter...

all of my marineland or penguin filters (same company) don't make that much noise! there might be something wrong with it so take it apart and set it back up again according to the directions. if it still is noisy then take it to the LFS and ask for a replacement as this one is outrageously noisy.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

it sroped making noise a little after that post now its just the sound of the water falling, after i added the stuff i already didnt like the gravel and i will try and change it later if i get a couple bucks extra i just got back from petco and the gravel completly slipped my mind, but i baught some driftwood and a small rock thing with 2 holes in it

Sorry to tell you that blue is not the best choice it always will look and out of place.

Replace it before you start and with live plants 3-4ins is the best your plants will the extra depth and so will you.

As soon as you can paint the back and sides with a flat black water based paint give it at least 4 coats this gives you a good solid depth of colour and not a washy look.

This will give the tank greater depth (front to back) Now is the time to play the game of DONT HURRY do it slowly and once only. Certainly you will be doing minor alterations all the time but these are improvements or lets lok and see how it looks if I do this and that.

I did another minor alteration a week ago and it looked ???? with a simple adjustment it now looks a lot better.

To give you an example I made a small mound of rocks at the focal point which is 1/3 from the back and 1/3 from the left hand side of the tank, it lacked something so I went hunting at my local landscape garden supplies and I found several suitable small rocks and as soon as I put one in the look was exactly what I was looking for.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I am with the other guys on the gravel. Something natural colored would look much better. If you want you can also get stuff specially made for planted tanks. With your size tank I am guessing you will only need 2-3 bags of substrate (40-60lb). If setting up a planted tank is something you really have your heart set on it is best to slow down and do it right.

I currently have the same size tank set up with plants. I am using two 15W day most of my stuff is growing pretty well. Check out the sight below to find out information on the plants.
http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_cat.php?category=1



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hi,
We have dozens of folks on FP that have colored gravel
and many with the fluorescent colored gravel. Lots of
them also have plants in them as well.

The only problem IMO, is that the colored gravel "grabs"
the eyes of the people looking at the tank giving initial
comments of "ooh What a pretty tank!" Followed by
OH and there's a plant, or "where's the fish?"

Usually the gravel becomes the center of attention instead
of the plant scheme or the colorful fish.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

i just got my self a little test kit today and the water perimeters are 0 nitrate 0 nitrite 75gh(soft water) moderate alkalinity and 7.2 ph... i dont know if this info helps any or if it is even needed but..here it is

How about ammonia? Do you have any fish in the tank right now? If not, then all of your readings should be zero.

Your PH and Gh should be pretty ideal to grow most plants.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

While I agree with the comments made about the gravel you have... I also disagree as to why. I also have blue gravel, but it is not sooo distracting from the tank. I have fish that contrast and clash with the blue so they stand out from it. I also have lots of green from live plants, and various browns and greys from rocks and ornaments. My fish stand out against these colors, even the few neon tetras I have, have a hard time hiding from me. I think you have to balance your color palette (to your liking, no one else's). If you have bright colored gravel, you may want to go with a fish with muted colors, with a sparkle to catch your I as they swim about. If you have natural colored gravel, you can go completely nuts (being sure not to get so muted that it blends in to well) the fish won't be lost in the colors of the gravel or background.

As far as your jars are concerned... I think they're very "pretty". (in a girly way, only ladies can appreciate that compliment.) Once you get a little algae growth on it, with a few plants in the tank, and the guys will warm up to it. (I know that was sexist. Sorry, I'm a girl.)

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

We had blue gravel in our office tank for ages, it was similar to the dark blue that you have, but not duotone. I actually quite liked it. It's in a bag in the garage right now as we didn't reset that tank up with that gravel only cause the black stuff (that I find too dark) was easier to find when we moved

I do agree that the jars (especially the pink one!) need to be 'aged'. Maybe get some java fern to attach? You could have a shipwreck theme without the shipwreck!

^_^

OOh, maybe Grecian or Atlantian. Cool

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

hey guys i was just wondering how does this setup sound:
3-6 glass catfish
3-6 harlequin rasbora
3 dwarf loaches
3 kuhli loaches
1 siamese algae eater

*setup courtisy of Kathleen Wood( author of the 101 best tropical fishes)

I would not go with the Glass Catfish at all, I would make the Harlequin Rasbora a far bigger school. Also the SAEs like to be in small 3-5 schools. Also remember with the SAEs as they get older they become lazy and prefer to eat the fish food rather than hunt for algae.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I agree that a bigger school is a better school. If it was a larger tank you could do two schools, but 20's are fairly limited and schooling fish do tend to do best when they're with they're own.

Same with the loaches, I'd pick one or the other and build up that school. I realize that's bringing you down to just three types of fish (with the SAE) and I'm sitting here trying to think of some fish that would work as a centerpiece but not eat the rasboras and I'm having trouble coming up with an answer to that!

Depending on the size of the shrimp a few for the bottom may work too. Though I've found loaches more than enough amusement when it comes to bottom dwellers!


^_^

here is a current picture of the tank as it stands at the moment http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/qq232/fishaccount/20gallontank007.jpg
i took out the multi colered pot and put in drift wood along with a nice rock....cave...thing... i also put in some dried coral things to give the ph a little boost the readings for the tank are all ideal according to the thing on the bottle...