# 20g planted shrimp tank journal



## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

I am just starting up a 20 gallon low light setup as a planted home for my cherry red shrimp (which I am waiting breathlessly for)

This is my first time setting up an aquarium at all, so please bear with any mistakes, or terrible esthetic faux pas~

While the primary goal may be to give my shrimp a nice home, I am also hoping to have an otherwise attractive setup, and hopefully even one that will be interesting to look at even without shrimp!


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.01.15: A Begining~*

A kijiji find at 35$ gets me started.
Clown puke recieves disapproval from peers, so playground sand was purchased to replace it.

Here is what I had to start with:

A Nice, and thankfully leak-free 20 gallon tank with canopy, stand, filter and heater. (sorry about the keystoning, this was just a snapshot) 
Lucky for me, the tank came with these plastic "treasures" (well the heater and driftwood are nice, but...)










The canopy is only a single bulb, unfortunately, but this will do untill the budget recovers~










So bleach bleach bleach away, and fill tomorrow ^o^V


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.01.17: Now with water and plants!*

I picked up a hygrophila wisteria and a bacopa monnieri for a relatively good deal at a local retailer (SouthWestern Pet Center here in London)

I got a mat of riccia from Darkblade 48 (thanks, incidentally~) and then a bunch of najas and some MTS from bae (thanks again~). I also picked up another hygrophila and a java moss while in toronto.

With water and a few plants you get:










You can just see the MTS in the corner where I dropped them in.
The water has re-silted after I shifted the logs and put down the plants, unfortunately, but it should be fine by tomorrow (hopefully)

Nothing is really placed yet, I just put the plants where I could reach. I will not be trying to do any planting after pulling up a log attached to a slate square ever again >_<~

But it is exciting to see it filling out the way it is!


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.01.19: Actual planting*

I have now unpacked the Hygrophila difformis and Bacopa monnieri from their evil root-ripping-off lead weighted foam socks and planted them properly on the left and right sides respectively.

I have planted the roots of my Hygrophila polysperma at the back centre (I don't know that this is the most dramatic placement choice though). Unfortunately now that it is more upright I noticed it has some sort of egg sacks on it! Aiya! My MTS are not egg layers, so it is a scary time bomb. Unfortunately they are slippery little guys, and really hard to remove. I presume they are smails, and I will have to go on a snail popping pogrom to keep them down T_T

I put in some of a giant ball of najas on the left. I hope that it holds together, and doesn't turn into a floating monster. Time will tell~ For now it adds some more plant biomass, so I am happy~

On the more upright dritwood piece I have tied my ball of jave moss (which was unexpectedly difficult. I ended up starting with a slip knot, and then finishing by putting a needle on the thread and using the needle to fashion a bunch of crude hitches against themselves. It should hold, I hope... unfortunately there were a few mossey casualties... This photo is not an uncommon sight in my tank right now. Poor moss, if only a skilled technician could have been on hand to plant you!










I have also loosely tied the Riccia up to one side, so it isn't being shredded by the power filter's waterfall anymore. Much tidier! (there are also a couple of frogbits that have lodged themselves against the riccia mat. I like the easy care of these, but they are invisible as far as the tank goes, unless I lower the water a few inches, but then the power filter's waterfall will become a sand-churning angel falls! I guess they will be silent partners for the time being...

Here is the tank as it stands. It is no prize winner, but it is certainly getting easier on the eyes!










I also got a lovely gift today!

My wife thinks that plecos are the best fish ever. The biggest possible common plecos are her personal favorite. She decided our tank needed one, and picked one up today, perhaps as a self-birthday present to herself for tomorrow (her birthday being the 20)...

As much as I find the common plecos to be very attractive fish, in an ugly, but strangely attractive sort of way, they are also the most shrimp eating of the plecos as I understand. Woe to my shrimps! And my measly 20g is hardly big enough to support a tiny BN, let alone such a monster (though it is only 2" or so now...

This arrival also necessitated the resurection of one of the plastic treasures I got with the tank - the fake rock pile cave. I hope this will be a temporary measure. I imagine that if I find some slate or something I can fashion a more attractive home for him (or her).

Moreover, a friend is filling a monster of a 125g tank as we speak, and has agreed to take him once it is ready (and Junghwa has agreed that this will have to be done~) If this falls through, Junghwa has suggested that we might need a second bigger tank to keep it in. This is perhaps the most tolerant and supportive spousal situation that I have heard of with respect to an obsessive hobby. I was pleasently surprised!










It is a pretty little thing though. Who knows, maybe it wont kill all of my shrimp...

Aquarium excitement remains high. Shrimp anticipation is reaching a fever-pitch!


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

I'm enjoying your posts, keep them coming. Congratulations on such a supportive spouse. It makes a big difference, I think. The tank is looking great.


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

where did you get that cave/bridge rock thingy? looks neato


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Byronicle said:


> where did you get that cave/bridge rock thingy? looks neato


This was one of the plastic treasures that came with the tank. Presumably the original owner got them at the same place as the bright blue gravel~

I am glad you think it is a nice piece! I was not impressed initially, but now that the plecos is making a home there, it is growing on me~

Also thanks for the support NuclearTech - I am new (and therefore unsure in everything aquarium-related I do), so I appreciate the endorsement.

Thanks for looking~


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Hey, no prob. I haven't been keeping aquariums all that long myself. It's taken 2 years for my husband to warm up to my hobby. Only in the last month has he started to show any interest. Now I am 'allowed' to get a new and bigger tank..."_as long as it looks good_". He's started shopping around with me and while he's not interested in the fish/plant aspect..."_all they do is swim around_"...he is interested in the aesthetics of the tank in the apartment. Whatever... I'll take it as a sign of support!

Hopefully when I get the new tank up and running I'll also find support here in the forum.


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## DaFishMan (Dec 19, 2006)

I'm enjoying the enthusiastic commentary on the tank lol. 

Did you meet Bae at the Twas meet wednesday right ?
I was there too. Did you take a smoke break ?

Good price for the tank & definately the look is very improved. I like the sloping of the sand very nice effect.

2 ways to maximixe your light, every bit you can squeeze out helps in a low light tank.

a) diy reflector - there are diff methods.
b) replace flourescent tubes every 6 months. - did that tube come with the top, any idea how old it is ?

Old bulbs are possible fire hazards, waste energy, and can cause algae.

Also a piece of filter sponge over your filter intake will keep plant gunk out of your filter. Clean every week or 2. As a side benefit, you will have to clean your filter media less. You have enough flow when all the plants have slight movement. 

Keep enjoying your tank, you're off to a good start !


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.01.26 - Arrival of the grooming staff*

After much waiting, and an almost crushing 24 hour delay upon realizing that Monday pickup plans were a wash, the much-anticipated cherry red shrimp have come home! (Thanks to Hitch~)

While acclimatizing them by the tortuously slow drip technique, I notced they were not all that happy in their bucket. The insane sugar rush speed of the shrimp was quite a complete surprise to me, who pictured them lazily floating from foraging spot to foraging spot in the tank. I decided to break dripping protocol and dropped in a ball of moss, hoping it would calm them down enough that they didn't totally burn off any and all fat and glycogen reserves they may have before they had a chance for dinner.

It worked - they calmed down and... started foraging! Great sucess~

Coincidentally a local hobbyist was selling some wee albino bristle nosed plecos, that I picked up along the way. They took their acclimatization bucketing much more stoically.

Meet snail-zilla~ I keep getting grief about having purposefully introduced these MTS, but I still think they do great work. As a bonus it is surprisingly interesting to watch them eating!


















This little guy is the only one of the three that accepted my lovely cave. The other two insist on digging holes in the sand behind my plants T_T










This is one of the more colourful members of the group. I presume that the younger shrimp get darker with age~










Not the best picture of a shrimp, but the point is that they have already taken a liking to my moss! Sucess!










Some of the shrimp are even nicely saddled ^_^ soon 50 shrimp will = 100s!










This was just such a sucessful photo that I couldn't resist. Forgive me for overloading the planted tank section with shrimp~










Ohh how the shrimp and I love thee, dirty aquarium detritus gathering java moss!










This has been an exciting day!

I will try to go with a quality over quantity approach from here on in, but it is hard to hold back~

Enjoy~


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

They look happy.

Did I miss the BN's? Any photos?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

lookin good.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.02.08 - A final recovery from K defficiency*

Well, this update has been a long time coming.

A mad scramble of daily 50% water changes to keep nitrites below detection levels took up much of my time >_< Even changing 50% of a mere 20g takes a lot of effort, especially when your bucket is only 3.5g !!!
So I suppose (though it is not very exciting) the first news is that the tank is now safely and stably nitrite free. (pfeww~)

Exciting and important news. The cherry shrimp have managed to procreate sucessfully behind my back. I have only managed to spy a single baby shrimp, which is a bit of a concern. I presume that it is possible that the stress of relocation, coupled with a touch of nitrite upset may have kept most of the clutch from hatching. That or my trio of BN plecos decided to make a snack of some shrimplings? (I hope that they do not develop a taste for baby shrimp... time will tell...)

Unfortunately, the baby shrimp that I have observed stays in the centre of a ball of Java moss, and too far to get a decent photo of him...
If you squint a little, you can just see it in the middle (roughly between the val leaf and the female shrimp)










Here is the tank overall:
The Hygrophila polysperma in the centre is getting a little tall and unruly, but I am waiting for it's lateral offshoots to get a bit taller before I cut it down and replant.
My free-floating ball of Java moss of the left is getting full of bits of Riccia, which are buoyant enough to float it >_< I am not really looking forward to picking them all out, but needs to be done.
Lastly, I picked up a couple of spiral vals from a LFS (2 for 3.50$ ^^V) Which I placed on either side... I don't know that this was a particularly inspired composition, but I wanted to have them in 2 separate locations to maximize runner formation!










Here are a couple angled shots to give a better sense of the layout:
From the right









From the left (this one shows the awesome power of my monstrous Riccia mat~)









Returning to the topic of val runner formation, much to my surprise, less than a week after getting them, I already have a juvenile val! Victory is mine V^o^V










This was also supposed to be a shot of a val's runner, but the medium sized BN pleco decided to clean the glass right in front of it just when I went to take a picture. It is strange, since usually they hide out when the lights are on... but I guess to inconveninece me, he decided that it was worth it.










Lastly, my unexpected bonus myster Hygrophila is pink-ing up nicely. The photo doesn't really do it justice, as it is quite pink to the eye. I didn't think I would managa, knowing how hard it is to grow any non-green plants, so I am quite pleased!!










DIY update:

I have finally finished retrofitting a 4x24" industrial fluorescent fixture to sit on top of the tank. Basically I used a piece of aluminum angle to make runners to sit in/on the plastic edging at either end of the tank, and bent the reflector panel in to both lift the tubes a bit off the water and bring the fixture depth down to the 12" depth of the tank. (20$ worth of fixture and 7$ worth of aluminum angle and ss bolts! Great sucess in powerful lighting!)










Shrimp updates:

I had my arm in the tank (picking out pond snails), when the shrimp collectively decided to swarm me. Several of them were foraging on my little hand hairs! This is the first time I have had a shrimp do more than bump into me accidentally, so it was cause for much excitement!










All told, it feels like it is really coming together. Now that I don't have to change the water every day, and now that I have a fixture with ballasts (allowing it to run off of a timer), the aquarium is now approaching the level of maintenance required that I had initially envisioned~

Next on the agenda will be the great Valentine's day pruning and replanting, followed by the equally anticipated Riccia/Java moss disentanglement.

Untill then,


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Looks great.

The DIY light fixture turned out well. I wish I had those kind of DIY skills.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.02.11 - Some minor tidying*

No major changes.

I pruned both the Hygrophilla polysperma (centre-rear) and Hygrophilla difformis (left-rear), leaving the cuttings floating to root out.

I pulled out the larger piece of driftwood (left-front) and tied down part of my unattached java moss ball to it with some thread. Incidentally, I have to report that tying down moss is much easier when everything is out of the water! (however my first mossy log looks allright now, so no harm, no foul...)

When putting the left-most piece of driftwood back into the tank, I angled it up more than it had been so that the moss would be up off of the sand. However, this gives the layout a strange line, with a U-shaped background (at least untill the H. polysperma fills in again) and a ^-shaped mid/fore-ground. Together this makes a sort of X (if you use your imagination at least) which I am not very satisfied with (though I am getting there, bit by bit...).

*The tank overall front view:*









*Here is a shot that better shows the newly tied java moss:*









Unfortunately winter is a thin season for free rock and driftwood collection, and any and all aquascaping funds are currently allocated towards getting a foreground and/or midground plant.

*On the topic of the mid-fore ground:*

I am thinking to get a blyxa or a stargrass (or a dwarf sag, if they were available...) to hide the unsightly air-roots of the H. difformis.

I am also thinking of some dwarf hairgrass in the very front. This might be a little tall for my wee 20 gallon tank, but anything shorter that comes to mind is not very easy to plant and propagate (how I love runners!)

Hopefully this weekend will find me with some new (and short) plants! Hopefully I will have an exciting update to follow~~~

*Somewhat less planted news:*

Finally photographic evidence of cherry shrimp babies! Certain people were quite skeptical that my questionable rearing practices could allow anything to survive, much less tender babies, and demanded photographic proof...

*The first photo evidence:*









*And another:*









Babies aside, I got some fairly good photos of the shrimp this time around. The new lighting setup is finally intense enough to give a decent EV - meaning a decently fast shutter speed at an aperture that the camera can do~

*Some photos of nicely coloured shrimp:*

















*This female is not so red, but she is a great (and considerate) model~*









*Last for today - a whole bunch of cheery shrimp enjoying my (now vigorously growing) java moss "tree"*









*Final remarks:*

It is a waitining game now. Waiting for the pruned hygros to recover and start branching. Waiting for the trimmings to root out for re-planting. Waiting for the moss to bind to the wood. Waiting for the Bacopa monnieri to row. Finally waiting for a thaw so that I can aquire some nice hardscape (though whether I will be able to put it together now that all the plants are planted is another story)

The plus side is that this means less work, and more time for other things.

The bad side is that I am pretty sure that I will be encouraged to choose house cleaning, dishes and laundry as these "other things", as opposed to photography, catching up on TV watching and napping T_T


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Looks great! And you're clearly having fun.

Btw, you're allowed to peel off the Hagen sticker. It's not like the mattress tags, the Bedding Police won't come after you! ;-)


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Ageed... it is another item on my list of things to do...

Alas I lack confidence in my razorblading skill~

I am surprized no one has given me any grief about not taking down the *lovely* background that came with the tank >_<. Unfortunately the previous owner had used packing tape... so it too is a job for a razor blade...

At any rate, I appreciate the advice (impetus to get things done sooner you know~)


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

So did you get the foreground plants yet?


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

NuclearTech said:


> So did you get the foreground plants yet?


ToT sadly no, I hoped to get some hairgrass and a few blyxa this weekend through my friend who was in Toronto, but jimmyjam was away~

I will have to wait a week or two I guess~ such is life


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

The tank overall:
I have re-sculpted the sand on the bottom to slope up to the back more.
Still a decidedly empty foreground though - maybe someday...
The upright moss-driftwood "tree" is really filling out nicely to my eye~ I am quite pleased!


















The CO2 levels from my single botle DIY system are holding steady at ~20ppm. The 3dkH drop checker is nicely green, but unfortunately the 4dkH remains firmly blue, meaning my dreams of 30ppm are hopeless without a second bottle~










20ppm is apparently enough to make my riccia mat happy, as it is pearling nicely (admittedly at the surface, so how much of this is due to the DIY CO2 and how much of it is thanks to my DIY 80W fixture is up in the air~). Regardless, I am pleased by it's bubblyness.










The conditions are also good for most of the other plants. My bacopa is starting to grow nicely, and once the Hygrophila difformis regrows from it's recent pruning it too will be doing well. My vals are sending out more babies (up to 5 now) so I am happy. Once they get a little bigger I will collect them and amalgamate them to make a nice patch of tapegrass forest on one side (probably on the left).

I will close, as always, with a few nice shrimp photos~


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

No more blue Hagen label! Looks good.

Will you be setting up a second co2 bottle to stagger the mixtures and help maintain an even supply? (In other words, as one mixture wears out, another is just getting going). It may be another reason to get a second bottle going, in addition to reaching your 30ppm goal.

The moss does look great. It's a nice dark green contrast to the lighter plants.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.02.22 - Jungle-ification*

It is official - my tank has become overgrown ^o^ happy day.

Now I can finally try pruning for real, maybe rescaping~ how exciting!

Here are some overall shots:

Front View









From the left

















From the right

















The problem I have been having: My hygrophila polysperma is trying to be a carpeting plant! Silly hygrophila >_<









My Hygrophila difformis is not quite as eager to carpet, but is starting to send out runners - bizarre ^o^









The Riccia fluitans is now a powerful monster that is actually solid~ it is now covering a good corner of the surface, which is starting to provide a little TOO much shade for my moss... 
Nex to it, my Bacopa monneiri has finally doubled in height and gone emergent! Flowers here I come~









Victory of game! CO2 levels are green for both 3dkH and 4dkH drop checkers!









This was just before changing the water, and I have been giving the plecos and shrimp zucchini, so the water is not really clear enough to get macro shots worth keeping T_T

On the plus side, I am getting a macro extension tube for my nikon, which should be awesome~

Last point - I am coming up on a major rescaping, now that my plants have grown enough to fill things in. Should I keep things in the same relative locations and just clean up arial roots, prune and replant?

Any ideas for nicer arrangements are appreciated!


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## NuclearTech (Mar 23, 2008)

Lookin' lush in there!

That riccia mat looks ominous.  

As for rescaping versus trimming and replanting: I believe that depends on how tired you are of the current scape. If you're bored, do a new one. If you like the one you've got, trim it and grow some more. Can you get a nice carpet going in the front? How about another shade of green in there?


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

*2010.02.23 - Rescaping (finally)*

Yes, lush was the word - too lush methinks~

So a major trimming operation was undertaken, the results as follows~~~

I am somewhat pleased with how the rescape turned out. I am still low on hardscape, so there is a big hole on the left that cries out for a nice rock formation (which will serve a double role in also keeping the rambunctious hygrophilas penned in the back side of the tank)... unfortunately the spring thaw is still some time away, so rockscape aquisition will not be happening quite yet...

Here is the front view. The Hygrophila difformis and polysperma were both cut back a fair bit. (actually the difformis was cut from the bottom and replanted). The sunset hygro was moved to in between the difformis and polysperma to try and break up the fairly uniform shade of green. Of course, the wood was moved around quite drastically, and I planted a pair of blyxa japonica on either side (hopefully I will be able to keep it alive and get it to off-shoot a few more stems to fill in the right hand side... At least I think that this arrangement is making better use of my meager hardscape~









A shot from the left giving a bit better perspective to see the blyxa placement









From the right: unfortunately this highlights the damage that I did to the moss on the left, but I have no energy to fix it right now.









A badly skewed shot from the right, showing how forward the wood formation is - it will give the vals a bit of room to expand before they need to be controlled more strictly









I have traded a mean tempered plecos for a trio of little otos in the tank. They surely are cute little guys. I am hoping these are mutants with some BBA eating ability! (Although I have finally begun using glutaraldehyde, so hopefully the last remnants of BBA presence will be gone by week's end.









Happily, they seem to be getting on fairly well with the shrimp (meaning totally ignoring each other, which is about as good an outcome as any shrimp keeper can ask for~









A problem I have found with the little guys is that the bristles on their nose get caught in the net when they are caught. It can be pretty tough (and nerve-racking) to get them out!









Finally, a few choice shrimp shots:









Here is a soon to be mother shrimp that is not doing a very bang up jub keeping her eggs in check. Silly young mother, I am sadly afraid that she will probably loose a good portion of her brood...









Sorry for the water quality being so poor, but the hygros have already put out pretty extensive root systems! Much sand was stirred up...


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Your tank looks awesome. Good job!

There is no algae at all. This is most amazing thing for me.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Those are some cute oto and shrimpski pics. BTW those plant trimmings are they proprogatable (sp?) into new plants via trimmings?

What is your slow grow to fast grow plant ratio in the tank? I assume they are low & mid light needs?


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

igor.kanshyn said:


> Your tank looks awesome. Good job!
> 
> There is no algae at all. This is most amazing thing for me.


Thanks, but the no algae is a lie. It would be true to say that there is not very much... but there is a bit of stag or BBA on the blyxa -_- Originally there was some on the bottom leaves of the Hygrophila polysperma, but some intermittent glutaraldehyde spot application seems to have nixed it ^o^V Unfortunately the blyxa is more delicate, so I am hesistant to treat it directly, plus they are planted right between my java moss logs, which are very definitely sensitive to the glutaraldehyde...

I may have to move them to a more spot treatable location, but I am waiting untill they are a bit more settled in the tank.

Unfortunately I can`t seem to cultivate any more delicious algae species for my otos!



> BTW those plant trimmings are they proprogatable (sp?) into new plants via trimmings?
> 
> What is your slow grow to fast grow plant ratio in the tank? I assume they are low & mid light needs?


Most of the plants I have are propagatable via trimmings - both hygrophilas are, as is the bacopa monneiri and the blyxa. The java moss, the riccia and a newly discovered spec of what I think is pellia will all be propagatable from a clipping as well.

In fact, I think that only the italian vals cannot be propagated from a cutting! (though they are sending out runners like mad, so I am not too worried~)

In therms of slow to fast growth plant ratio, I think that only the Blyxa japonica and the java moss could be considered slow growing (though in MY hands frogbit has apparently become a slow growing plant too >_<)

All the rest grow in the inches or more a week category...

As far as light requirements, this is high light (80W, for 4WPG, of t12) and they all seem to be doing well. However, of the plants I have there only the Riccia fluitans and the Blyxa japonica can be said to be high light plants. I had the tank going for a few weeks with a miserable canopy light, and the Hygrophilas and the moss were not really suffering, though nor were they growing very quickly.

At any rate these all seem to be very easy to care for and good performers for me (even my pesky Blyxa is starting to give of new stems after only a week!) It is getting to be a bit of maintenance pruning them back, but nothing too too ornerous. My main source of dissatisfaction is with my H. difformis, which grows a bit too large for the tank. I think I will be replacing it with something a bit more petite when I have the chance (Although now that the Bacopa monnieri is growing so well, I might replace the H. difformis with some B. monnieri , since I quite like it - reminds me of jade plants...


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

This is a really great tank


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