# 10G and 20G Long



## andrewdingemans (Dec 7, 2012)

I have been learning about aquariums for a few years now and am at the point that I can see how I have progressed.

I started by keeping a Betta bowl and it has just grown from there. I have gone through many Fluval tanks which I was dissatisfied with and then got into my first artificially planted 10 Gallon.










I then decided to make it more Betta Friendly and moved my Betta 'Hopper' over to the 10 gal once fully cycled...first time I learned about this process.










Many more itterations of arrangement later and I started with a real planted 20 Gallon long tank and getting into CO2 and proper lighting and fert tabs etc...










Which brings me to my current setup after learning a bit more about aquascaping and different types of plants including mosses.


























Dawn and dusk lighting.










I am now playing the waiting game. My Sunset Hygro on the left grows about an inch a day, I see a new sprout on my Anubias Barteri every 2-3 days, the Americano Vals have already sent out tons of shoots so I am sure it will start to grow in thick and the Micro Sword I have in the foreground I can see is growing height wise, but not giving the 'lawn' effect yet. The new Magenta Rotala I picked up from AI is doing great, about 1" of growth in the last 2 days. My corkscrew Vals however don't look very happy, new shoots are growing, but leaves are melting away at the same rate as it's growing. I just put in a whole bunch of Weeping Moss (tied to 2 parts of my driftwood and 2 stones on the bottom with some cotton thread)

Any pointers are welcome. My soon-to-be upgrade will be a canister filter.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Really like the hardscape and let the waiting begin!


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## andrewdingemans (Dec 7, 2012)

baozi2089 said:


> Really like the hardscape and let the waiting begin!


Thanks. I am actually waiting to see how the micro swords will do. Baby Tears from you were going to be my backup plan if it doesn't survive.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

I think they'll do just fine. IMO microswords are not as demanding as baby tears. However, they do take sometime to form a dense carpet. Once in a while you'll need to pull them out, separate and replant, because they tend to only propagate on both ends.

Very nice tank! Looking forward to updates. 

PS: I'm rescaping my 90G as well. Going to have elatine triandra as carpet.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

That is a really nice looking tank. I bet it will be gorgeous when it fuly grows in.


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## andrewdingemans (Dec 7, 2012)

Baozi, how much more demanding arethe baby tears and in what sense? More CO2? More Ferts? When I planted them, I split them up to 5-10 blades of grass each and have already seen great growth in just the few days I've had it re-scaped for. No yellowing, no die-off and very very dark green shoots from new blades. 

Thanks Colio, I can't wait for it to grow in, I was hoping the background to grow in quickly, but now I'm having issues with my corkscrew vals melting so that right corner is starting to look a bit bare.

I would really like the micro-swords to grow in because my cory cats started out by being gentle around them, but as of late I see them being more aggressive around them and digging deeper into the substrate. They actually sometimes use them like pylons and swim through them like a maze, pretty fun to watch. 

I got a new 10lb co2 canister yesterday with a new manifold, but noticed that the one I got from AI didn't have a needle valve, it took me a few hours of tinkering to get it properly adjusted to get 2 bubbles per second. What I noticed this morning when the solenoid turned on, it took about 20 mins to start seeing bubbles coming out of the diffuser. I tried using 2 diffusers last night (so each one was below my 2 HOB's, in theory it would more evenly disperse the bubbles) but I couldn't get it to work. Neither diffuser were giving off any bubbles after half an hour despite the bubble counter consistently showing 3 bubbles per second.

Has anyone successfully been able to get that to work? Can the length of the tubing from the solenoid affect how long it takes for pressure to build? I have one check valve between the solenoid and the bubble counter and one between the bubble counter and the tank. There is about 20" of tubing between the solenoid and the bubble counter and about 16" between the bubble counter and the diffuser. 

The one diffuser is under the HOB on the right and there is visually more micro-bubbles on the right side than the left, however my Sunset Hygro is growing like crazy (which is all the way on the left of the tank. My drop checker reads green during the day at 3 bubbles per second, but if I use pH and dkH I am apparently reading about 7-11 ppm. (12.839*dkH)*10^(6.37-pH)

I am very tempted to buy a larger tank and get a canister filter but my funds are extremely tight as I am also a car and computer enthusiasts; all my hobbies eat up my monies pretty fast!


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

I don't have much experience with HC, but I've grown microswords. Microswords is a hardy species. But to have the lawn effect, lighting is very important. High light induces dense and compact growth. It is more easily achieve in smaller aquariums. Supplementation of CO2 and ferts/splitting & replanting the plant will speed up the process. Rich substrate also plays a factor, I had some in a dirted tank without CO2, they thrived. Maybe insert a few root tabs to augment growth?

Cheers


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## andrewdingemans (Dec 7, 2012)

Yea, I'm happy with the microswords since the addition of the eco-complete substrate. When I had it with just the old substrate it wasn't growing at all. I am using CO2 but have been iffy with the root tabs. I have the Seachem Flourish tabs in my stock. Do they work as well as the API root tabs? Do they work better for certain types of plants due to the split of ingredients. I'm trying to get into proper ferts as well as I have been using just API plant liquid and weekly doses of Seachem Iron.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Since you already got the tabs why not give them a try. They might decrease the time needed for them to carpet. Once you've got the carpet going, I don't think you need to replenish them. 

Seachem I know contains very little NKP. API according to a quick google search, has more NPK, thus sometimes people get bacterial bloom after using API. 

Unlike HC, microswords and dwarf hair grass have relatively heavier roots. I would say they'll benefit from root tabs on top of your ecocomplete substrate. My dwarf hair grass was on flourite and side with root tabs grew bushier and taller.


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## andrewdingemans (Dec 7, 2012)

Okay, I mostly hated the smell the tabs left on my fingers from simply picking them out of the bag and placing between the tongs to place in the tank. I'll drop some in tonight and maybe one near the vals to see if it would help out. The one problem I had before was the cory's digging way down to the API tabs and because they pretty much melt into the substrate, the cory's would get it mixed into the water and it would go cloudy. Now with the deeper substrate I may have better luck with the API ones.

Is the flourite a decent dosing liquid? I am trying to decide whether to move towwards npk dosing or stick with a 'Branded bottle product'


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Ya cuz APIs have more NPK. That's why people get algae blooms if they don't place them deep enough.

I was using flourite liquid, the cost is not significantly higher than dry ferts for a small tank. However, it's pretty significant for a 90G. I started following the PPS-Pro daily dosing method. 

I'm also interested in trying some tabs that contains NPK. Esepcially for some root feeders. Dosing in the water column will mostly benefit stem plants.

Well, let me know how your vals do after the tab.


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