# 20g Long Planted



## tahuboy (Oct 8, 2013)

Looking good to start, should grow out nicely. I like your tank setup great choice to de-rim. Is that a finnex stingray as your light source?


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Yea it's a stingray. Couldn't justify spending an extra 40 for a Planted+. I was not planning on de-rimming it, was drinking one night and just randomly started to pull it off haha. i just de-rimmed the top, too scared to even attempt the bottom. And its very untidy on the top. I read somewhere that if you can live looking at the extra silicone, leave it. And so i did.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Anyone have any experience with S.Repens? How much growth should i expect in lets say, a week? 2 weeks? a month? I want to carpet the foreground of my tank with it. I'm pretty sure it'll take some time.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I love the sponge prefilter on the HOB. I did the same thing on my canister. Love it. I would have done some more with the DSM and gotten some more coverage. But it will fill in!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

I had the sponge filters on there last week, then i figured it wasn't enough flow. I have to find some other prefilter sponges that are more porous. Eventually i will change out the two HOB filters to a bigger capacity one.

Bump: I'm new to all of this. Its my first attempt. I had to google "DSM" haha.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

I suggest moving the light to the front of the tank. The S. repens will REALLY appreciate it. Toss some form of root tabs under the S. repens and, if it isn't too messy/ too much trouble break the S. repens clumps up.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

HDBenson said:


> I suggest moving the light to the front of the tank. The S. repens will REALLY appreciate it. Toss some form of root tabs under the S. repens and, if it isn't too messy/ too much trouble break the S. repens clumps up.


What kind of root tabs do you suggest? I'll move the light to the front a bit and see how that goes. Most of the S.Repens grew a couple sets of leaves just this week alone. I'm only assuming its because I started to get some nitrates finally due to my cycling. I have i think 2-3 clumps left that i kinda wanted to leave alone to put in the Mid-Ground. I'm loving these S.Repens though. its satisfying to see them grow.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

O+(Osmocote plus).. how deep is your substrate at the front?


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## KundofoX (Mar 14, 2015)

Looking good so far. The tank looks nice without that rim.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

It's roughly 2 inches in the front. And kinda sloppily slopes up to nearly 4 in the back corners and about 3 in the mid rear.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

This is my tank today. Grabbed some newer more porous sponge prefilters for the intake. Removed the bubble wand crap and changed it to two smaller sand stone bubblers set in the back corners. Got a couple bunches of wisteria and I don't know the plant in the far right next to the anubias. I also filled the water level up to the brim, about a couple millimeters from overflowing.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Day 14 on Fishless Cycling. I'm not sure whether or not i should listen to my LFS. I've read plenty on this forum that i should do PWC to lower my nitrites down. I did do a 25% WC last week and am very tempted to do another one. The guys at my LFS suggested not to change out any water at all til my nitrites go down. My ammonia goes from 2-4PPM down to 0 in less than 12 hours, my nitrites are off the charts and my nitrates are at about 80PPM. 

One thing i have noticed, when i was testing my nitrites last week, the blue drops immediately changed to purple indicating high nitrites? When i tested it twice yesterday, the blue drops stayed blue and would change to purple as time passes. Is this a good indicator that my nitrites are lowering? Should i do some PWC?


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Your nitrites are lowering. I did absolutely zero water changes during one of my fishless cycle. I did do a 90% water change at the end. You can vary the method as much as you want. At the end of the cycle, you want to be able to dose 2-4ppm ammonia and 24 hours later have 0 ammonia and nitrite. That is when you do a massive water change and check your levels. Then add fish.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Freemananana said:


> Your nitrites are lowering. I did absolutely zero water changes during one of my fishless cycle. I did do a 90% water change at the end. You can vary the method as much as you want. At the end of the cycle, you want to be able to dose 2-4ppm ammonia and 24 hours later have 0 ammonia and nitrite. That is when you do a massive water change and check your levels. Then add fish.


Alright I'll wait it out. I was leaning towards PWC's, but this reassures me that I'm on the right track. Thanks for the quick reply.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

You can, by all means, do PWC. I'm just stating that you can do it just about any way you want. There is a lot of gray in the hobby despite what you may hear. 

The bacteria colony you are growing does not live in open water, so water changes really only affect their food source.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Well gees I spoke too soon literally happened overnight. Gonna dose it one more time to make sure it 0's out.


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## KundofoX (Mar 14, 2015)

Econde said:


> This is my tank today. Grabbed some newer more porous sponge prefilters for the intake. Removed the bubble wand crap and changed it to two smaller sand stone bubblers set in the back corners. Got a couple bunches of wisteria and I don't know the plant in the far right next to the anubias. I also filled the water level up to the brim, about a couple millimeters from overflowing.


The plant next to your anubias is anacharis.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

KundofoX said:


> The plant next to your anubias is anacharis.


Ah. Thank you very much. I will add it to my spreadsheet that I've been keeping on my tank keeping. Looks like ammonia levels and nitrite levels are going down accordingly. I added some ammonia the night before to make sure its completely cycled. One thing im worried about is my PH level is at the highest it can go on the PH High test. I think I can us RO water to lower it a bit? Aside from chemical additives, what can i do to lower the PH a bit to acceptable levels. Acceptable to me is being able to keep Neon tetras, Tiger barbs, Harlequin rasboras and some RCS. I will add them a few at a time.


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## TheGreenWizard (Jan 19, 2015)

Econde said:


> Ah. Thank you very much. I will add it to my spreadsheet that I've been keeping on my tank keeping. Looks like ammonia levels and nitrite levels are going down accordingly. I added some ammonia the night before to make sure its completely cycled. One thing im worried about is my PH level is at the highest it can go on the PH High test. I think I can us RO water to lower it a bit? Aside from chemical additives, what can i do to lower the PH a bit to acceptable levels. Acceptable to me is being able to keep Neon tetras, Tiger barbs, Harlequin rasboras and some RCS. I will add them a few at a time.


I'd do a 50% water change with either RO or Distilled water to bring down the pH. You could also tag a pantyhose, fill it with peat, and put that into the HOB. Those are two methods (besides adding driftwood) that you can do right now.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

I ended up changing out about 80% of the water and waited about half a day to stock my tank with fish. Out of sheer newbness, I mixed some fish with tiger barbs and quickly learned that tiger barbs are aggressive. So now I have a tiger barb only tank. My PH levels went down to around 7.6 after everything was said and done. The tank has a lot of algae growing, so i recently purchased some flourish excel to dose/treat the algae problem. I'm using less dosage as directed cause I've read bad things about overdosing with excel. 

Tiger barbs are pretty awesome little fish btw. They tend to follow me when I'm in front of the tank like they know they will get fed soon. I have 3 juvenile Albino tigers, 3 juvenile Green tigers and 5 regular tiger barbs. oh and a couple ghost shrimp that's been surviving fairly well under my little patch of java moss.


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## Solution (Nov 22, 2015)

Cool tank. In about to do a 20 gallon long as well. Update with pictures when the plants grow more. I might use yours as a template


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Solution said:


> Cool tank. In about to do a 20 gallon long as well. Update with pictures when the plants grow more. I might use yours as a template


Thanks. I'll post an update pic soon. I've got so much algae in the tank right now, kinda sucks trying to get rid of it. I think i had too much nutrients in there, was dosing flourish daily at about 8 drops a day. I've cut back on the Flourish and am now dosing Excel daily. About 1ml dosage.


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

Is that Java fern in the back left? If so, it shouldn't be "planted" in the soil. It will rot/die. Rhizome needs to be above the gravel.
Cheers


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Yea I read up and moved the plants around and have added more. Good ol' aquabid. Anyway this is my tank as of now. Fighting bba, well not really, kinda just letting do its own thing.


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## Kobey (Nov 20, 2015)

You said you had a 20-long but that to me looks higher then 12+" so hard to tell in photos without reference lol.

Reason I ask is because I am doing a 33-Long and looking at the stingray and wanted to know how you found the light at that height from substrate.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Yea its a 20 long with a 30" stingray. I'll try to post better pics. Its cut off on the left side.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Well, I just did a search on this forum for low tech lighting. There are other options besides the finnex stingray. For the price, its not bad.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

I would NOT let the BBA do its thing..its thing is to keep spreading! Spot treat it with h2o2 while you can stay on top of it!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

ichy said:


> I would NOT let the BBA do its thing..its thing is to keep spreading! Spot treat it with h2o2 while you can stay on top of it!


I've been doing the Excel method. It's helping remove some of the BBA. I also do manual scrubbing (with a toothbrush) and WC right after. I feel like i should do more than this but oh well.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Econde said:


> I've been doing the Excel method. It's helping remove some of the BBA. I also do manual scrubbing (with a toothbrush) and WC right after. I feel like i should do more than this but oh well.


spot treat it with h2o2


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

The excel treatment works well. Been using about 6ml in the morning and then in the evening. Fish aren't phased by it, bba is going away and the plants are taking off.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Here is an update of the tank. Getting to where I want it.


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## Timmy!! (Jun 26, 2014)

Looks good! I really like the derimmed look on that tank, makes it look alot more expensive than it is. Once the plants fill in it should look killer. I'm dry starting some S. Repens right now and it's going slow. I think that plant takes a while to get its root system going before it really grows. 

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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Timmy!! said:


> Looks good! I really like the derimmed look on that tank, makes it look alot more expensive than it is. Once the plants fill in it should look killer. I'm dry starting some S. Repens right now and it's going slow. I think that plant takes a while to get its root system going before it really grows.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk


I've never tried the Dry start method before. Maybe I'll try on my next tank. derimming was a literally a last minute intoxicated move haha. I just got a mystery snail and some sort of brown snail. They've been doing a kick ass job of cleaning the tank. Yea i can't wait til the plants fill in and also the s.repens to carpet the front.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Decided to try diy c02. First week so far. Ended up buying some dry ferts from nilocg. Correct me if I'm wrong, higher c02 makes plants use the nutrients faster?


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Welp here's an update of the tank after roughly 2 months? I'm horrible at tracking time. Diy c02, dry ferts from Nilocg and upgraded my lighting to a planted+ 24/7. I'm very much liking the outcome so far.

Bump: Here are some close up pics. The tank is in front of our dining room table so its kind of a pita to take a photo with the table there. That and I'm no good at taking photos anyway haha. Damn tiger barbs are always photo bombing. oh well i still love em anyway.


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## livebearer (Jun 4, 2006)

looks like your doing something right because them plants are taking off! do you have any updated pics?


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

livebearer said:


> looks like your doing something right because them plants are taking off! do you have any updated pics?


Yea just took some pics today. I need to learn how to take better pictures i swear :/. It's been about 2 1/2 months I think? I've been dosing EI dry ferts from nilocg, I'm currently using a planted+ 24/7 with diy c02 and also dosing excel(helps keep algae at bay). Thanks to burr740's Diy c02 post. I change about 50% of the water every Sunday, dose macros on M W F and micros T Th S. I'm thinking that i should probably cut back on the ferts and dose only 2x a week, instead of the 3x.

There are 4 tiger barbs, 3 albino tigers, 4 green tigers, 1 mystery snail, 1 pond snail(I think) and a golden snail(it's yellow)? 

The plants that I can identify are Staurgyne Repens, Anacharis, Java Ferns(lace and im not sure what the other is called), Wisteria, Moneywort, Java moss, some anubias, I think the red ones in the middle are alternanthera reineckii(correct me if I am wrong on any of this haha) and some crypts on the right. 

I will try to keep weekly pics if you guys want.


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## ernest (Sep 19, 2012)

What did you put below the rocks( type of material,) http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=536938&d=1446121873


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

ernest said:


> What did you put below the rocks( type of material,) http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=536938&d=1446121873


Actually, I received these for free when i picked up my tanks that I found through craigslist. They are actually refillable cartridge filters.

Filter Media Aquarium Filter Cartridge | Marineland


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Well its been a little over a year now. Wanted to post an updated pic.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It looks great. My first tank was a 20L. I jumped in without know what I was doing- looks like you're doing better!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

JJ09 said:


> It looks great. My first tank was a 20L. I jumped in without know what I was doing- looks like you're doing better!


I hear you, I jumped into this as well and in all honesty, was a lot of trial and error. The pictures look a lot better than it seems. I still find myself thinking of ideas to do with the tank, but for the time being I will let it grow out some more.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

econde has a journal????


o m g


well saw that tank just now and WOW is all I can think and say.... good job man


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

Nice tank. Thanks for the update.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

BettaBettas said:


> econde has a journal????
> 
> 
> o m g
> ...


Thanks, haha yea my focus went to my betta tank. I just started using pressurized c02 and man its throwing me off badly. I finally have it dialed in, now I will have to trim my nasty looking plant growth and wait til it fills in again.

Bump:


RWaters said:


> Nice tank. Thanks for the update.


Thank you for stopping by! I'll post more pics soon hopefully.


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

I agree with the others! Tank is really looking great!

But...it would look even better if you cleaned the glass
Before snapping your pics.

Keep the posts coming!

DougN


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

doug105! said:


> I agree with the others! Tank is really looking great!
> 
> But...it would look even better if you cleaned the glass
> Before snapping your pics.
> ...


I never clean the sides to be honest. I normally take pictures just from the front haha. But next time I do snap one, I will clean it. [emoji16] 

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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

It was fun to the all the progress you and the tank have made. Looking forward to the next update.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

stunning tank! wish I could grow S repens as easily as you make it seem!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

BettaBettas said:


> stunning tank! wish I could grow S repens as easily as you make it seem!


I have had a lot of trials and many more errors on this tank. I lost some of the plants that I wanted in there, but for some reason S.Repens just stuck with me. I was very tempted to buy several clumps from Petsmart in the beginning, but I'm glad I talked myself out of it and waited for it to fill in. I was able to gather info from people chiming in here and it helped out a lot. Also for @burr740 for his DIY c02 and also for his diffusing techniques which I just picked up again actually. 

Recently added pressurized c02 to this tank, dialing c02 in is kind of tedious. But I am slowly getting there. Hopefully I can get this tank to where I would like it.


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## Agent69 (Oct 9, 2013)

Looks good brah


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Looking good, tank has really come a long way!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Had the worst luck with male guppies thus far. They just do not want to stay in the tank. One of my newly found male tri-color, just jumped out today as I was figuring out this stroller for our baby. I semi screamed out, GF started asking what was wrong. I told her one of the male guppies jumped out again :/. Females always stay in I think the other Male drove him out. He had the nicer color of the two also. Makes me sad. I was just contemplating on whether or not to get more female guppies for the two males :/. Had these guppies since they were fry.


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## All4one (Feb 13, 2015)

Love your tank. Have you been running CO2 full time since you posted about it, and how much light are you using?


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

All4one said:


> Love your tank. Have you been running CO2 full time since you posted about it, and how much light are you using?


Yes, I've been using c02 for a while, probably over 8 months now? Just went pressurized about a month ago and have kept it on 24/7. I run my Finnex Planted+ 24/7 on 24/7 mode. I have it on a mechanical timer set to go on at 5:30 AM and Off by 9:30PM. 

I noticed this was your first post. Welcome to the forums @All4one ! 

Oh I just noticed your join date haha.


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## All4one (Feb 13, 2015)

Thanks! I've had a 20L for forever. I signed up last year when I wanted to start trying live plants, but got a new job and never had time to try. I'm ready to experiment now.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

All4one said:


> Thanks! I've had a 20L for forever. I signed up last year when I wanted to start trying live plants, but got a new job and never had time to try. I'm ready to experiment now.


Nice glad you have the time now. But man this forum is dangerous. I was content with my 20L for a while til I got back into this forum. Then I wanted more. Post your ideas if anything!

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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Wanted to post some updated pictures. Just finished some maintenance. Did some trimming but I'm not completely satisfied with it yet. I did remove some of the S.Repens from the foreground to show more substrate. I quite like how the foreground turned out. Again I used my gf's phone to take a photo. 









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## Maclyri (Mar 6, 2016)

Pretty little jungle!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Maclyri said:


> Pretty little jungle!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank you. I'm so tempted to introduce a betta in there. 

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## Maclyri (Mar 6, 2016)

Econde said:


> Thank you. I'm so tempted to introduce a betta in there.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk




What's the current stocking?


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

Maclyri said:


> What's the current stocking?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'm actually overstocked. 3 otos, 3 sae, 9 juvie neon tetra and 11 juvie guppies. Betta is really out of the question.  

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## [email protected] (Dec 31, 2016)

Econde said:


> Well gees I spoke too soon literally happened overnight. Gonna dose it one more time to make sure it 0's out.




Hey what substrate do you have? Tank looking fantastic... How did you cycle the tank so quickly? My Ada soil taking forever to get levels down done about 10 x 90 - 99% water changes. Still levels high










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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> Hey what substrate do you have? Tank looking fantastic... How did you cycle the tank so quickly? My Ada soil taking forever to get levels down done about 10 x 90 - 99% water changes. Still levels high
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm using Eco-complete only. My LFS gave me a piece of seeded filter media and I also used aquavitro seed. I have a 10 gallon tank that has dirt capped with black blasting sand that took about a month to cycle.

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## Maclyri (Mar 6, 2016)

Econde said:


> I'm actually overstocked. 3 otos, 3 sae, 9 juvie neon tetra and 11 juvie guppies. Betta is really out of the question.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk




Oh man yeah, I wouldn't do that


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## PatrickMas20 (Jan 10, 2017)

What happened to your tiger barbs?? 

I have a 29 gallon fake planted tank with a nice selection of fish but I'm wanting to start my first planted. This was a great thread to read through!


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

PatrickMas20 said:


> What happened to your tiger barbs??
> 
> I have a 29 gallon fake planted tank with a nice selection of fish but I'm wanting to start my first planted. This was a great thread to read through!


Sadly I wanted other fish aside from just one species. So I called up my LFS and traded them in. I'm fairly content with my fish now, but I do miss them feisty barbs.

And yea, search around the forums for ideas and make sure to ask plenty of questions. We're here for you. 

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