# My high tech 20 gallon long



## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Hey guys,

Just setup my 20 Long today, here is the setup video.

thanks for taking a look


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Video doesn't work Sean.


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## bucky (Aug 22, 2013)

Great vid...Lookin good!

Why did you go with a diffuser instead of a reactor? I'd take advantage of having no inhabitants right now, and crank the CO2 through the roof. :smile:


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

vanish said:


> Video doesn't work Sean.


take the adress/link and cut out the first part "http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/" so its just "www . youtube.com/watch?v=oE9lFVbXBcE" (without those spaces at the beginning)


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

Great start, and awesome vid. What are you using for substrate? I have a 20l with a carpet of repens, and I was thinking about changing to hairgrass. Not to happy with the look of a repens carpet.


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

You guys are pushing me over the edge on setting up my 20g!!


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## MantisX (Aug 25, 2004)

Very nice video sir. Really enjoyed the music. Cant wait to see it grow in!

MantisX


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Really liking the "production value" given off by the video. It had a very Green Machine-esque feel to it. Can't wait to see how the DHG carpets!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> Really liking the "production value" given off by the video. It had a very Green Machine-esque feel to it. Can't wait to see how the DHG carpets!


wow thanks for that awesome compliment. I was going for production value quality, im glad to hear you think i nailed it. I just need a british narrator and id be all set aye? haha

thanks!




andrewq said:


> Great start, and awesome vid. What are you using for substrate? I have a 20l with a carpet of repens, and I was thinking about changing to hairgrass. Not to happy with the look of a repens carpet.



as for the substrate, im using a florite base to get elevation, then floramax on top of that and sifted eco-complete fine grade as the cap.

heres a lengthy video showing the substrate i used for this tank:


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

lmao on the British narrator 
*Instant narration of "Staro-gaieene Rep-ens" plays in head XD


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> lmao on the British narrator
> *Instant narration of "Staro-gaieene Rep-ens" plays in head XD


yea, their pronunciation of all plants make me question the way i always say them, but then again they talk funny haha. who knows!


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Nice video.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Thanks!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

First update picture.

* Day 5*

Ive done two 50% water changes and have started to seed it with bio material from my other tanks to get it cycled quickly so i can get an algae eating crew in there asap. Zero signs of algae at this point, im only running a 5 hour photoperiod, with the Co2 Cranked to around 5bps, that turns the drop checker a very vibrant yellow, no doubt it would be lethal to fish, Taking advantage of the fact that there arent any fish yet.

Looks like all 3 plant species have new growth, and the S Repens and AR Mini that were grown emersed arent showing any signs of stress being in a submersed environment, yet.

thanks for looking!


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Sean, are you ever going to diffuse co2 via inline reactor into the canister filter? What are the benefits of picking that over using a diffuser/atomizer?


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Finally got a chance to watch it. Lookin good buddy. Nice job on the video!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> Sean, are you ever going to diffuse co2 via inline reactor into the canister filter? What are the benefits of picking that over using a diffuser/atomizer?


im thinking about switching to an inline diffuser, only because the little ceramic diffuser im using now is quite loud, easily the loudest thing in my entire room. This wasnt something i was expecting, however i put a lot of effort to get my room to be very silent, so saying that its the loudest thing doesnt mean its actually loud, or intrusive, its just too loud for me. Another thing i dont like about intake Co2 diffusers is it creates whats called " sprite water " very bubble water with at minimum ruins the viewing experience and at worst ruins pictures and videos. Ive heard that inline diffusers help to alleviate this problem, but im not sure 100% how. we'll see...



thelub said:


> Finally got a chance to watch it. Lookin good buddy. Nice job on the video!



thanks for watching Lub!


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Check out the Cerges Reactor, Sean. Heard a lot of good things about that one.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=110100


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Quick update guys,


Each day i look very closely at everything in the tank to make sure everything is behaving, today i noticed my first runners on the belem DHG. also starting to see some light algae form on the rocks, im going to scrub them today and do a 50% water change, then seed with more bio media from my other tank and in a couple more days it should be fully cycled. Then i introduce an army of Ottos!


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## algae.assasin (Apr 27, 2014)

Nicely done. I wish I could get dhg to stick


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Rockadoodle (May 24, 2013)

What light are you using?


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## ThisDarkDivide (Jun 24, 2014)

looks fantastic! I really loved the video. subbed this thread.. looking forward to seeing some fill in on the growth of the plants.

Great job!

John


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

The other day i filmed the first maintenance on this tank, got around to editing and uploading it. Please, Enjoy!


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## RisingSun (Jan 5, 2014)

nice scape! keep the updates comin


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## HunterX (May 19, 2012)

Very impressed with your videos. Keep them coming. They are a pleasure to watch.


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Don't feed his ego


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## TECKSPEED (Jan 2, 2013)

Indeed nice videos I enjoy watching them aswell

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Hey guys,

A small update, the last couple weeks ive been having an all out war with Diatom Algae. Just in the last couple days ive gotten a leg up on it and have started to see signs of it falling back. 

It was frustrating because the tank wasnt cycled yet so I couldnt get any algae eaters in there to battle it, so I was manually removing everyday. Seemed like every day I removed it and every day it was worse than the last. The most frustrating part was when i would syphon out what i could it was taking small layer of substrate with it, exposing the Belem Hairgrass roots, and some of the nodes came up rooted, very very frustrating. 
The tank fully cycled on monday and i quickly got a small army of Ottos in there and they seem to really be doing the trick. They polished the rocks and large leaf plants off in no time, the rocks and AR Mini leaves dont have a single sign of any algae, but they seem to be uninterested in the algae growing at the substrate level. so im still manually removing it. 
Ive started doing water changes with RO/DI water to get the hardness and GH down to a level where Shrimp can thrive. As soon as i get the GH down ill get a few Amano shrimp in there, i think they will do a better job of eating the algae at the substrate. 

Anyway guys, so thats where i am at with the tank. a quick picture from my nightmare...


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

filmed the first trim of the belem hairgrass today. Also in this video i show a quick progress of the tank and showcase the first inhabitants!


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Sean, I think you might need more light.
The Downoi and AR look like they're reaching for the sky. The color of the plants look lush though - I might get your light to supplement another on my 20H.


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

Tank looks good. Is the tank rimless? If so what brand is it or did you take the rim off?


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> Sean, I think you might need more light.
> The Downoi and AR look like they're reaching for the sky. The color of the plants look lush though - I might get your light to supplement another on my 20H.


No the light i have is EXTREMELY bright. the area in front of the father stone where the substrate is banked very highly, I get about 90 par, at the substrates lowest point i get about 65 par. For the videos and pictures i have the ISO of the camera turned to -2 to keep the shot from looking washed out, but it also makes it look much dimmer than it actually is.



Jalopy said:


> Tank looks good. Is the tank rimless? If so what brand is it or did you take the rim off?


 It is rimless. Im not sure what brand it is, i got it at petco during their dollar per gallon sale, took the rim off my self and im pretty pleased with the way it turned out.


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

Did you get the in line diffuser? I have the GLA one and it worked great. The only thing is that the suction cup for it is useless so it just dangles. The other nice thing about it is that I've seen an in tank diffuser detach when people are on vacation and they return to a tank full of algae. The in line diffuser won't have that problem.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

just a quick pic showing where my tank is.


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## kilfrg7864 (May 7, 2010)

freaking looks awesome. Cant wait to get some of that AR mini once my tank stops being an algae fest...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sean W. said:


> just a quick pic showing where my tank is.


Nice set up, would be amusing if you had a high res full screen aquarium photo on your monitor to fool the quick page skimmers. Btw nice melted clock.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

update pic! trimmed the AR Mini down a bit!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Day 70 update


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

Great tank! Looks awesome.


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

Dang man, how many bubbles per second are you pumping into my tank? Mine's only at 2 bps. 

Those embers are looking nice. I can't wait till I get a school of them in mine.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

mistuhmarc said:


> Dang man, how many bubbles per second are you pumping into my tank? Mine's only at 2 bps.
> 
> Those embers are looking nice. I can't wait till I get a school of them in mine.


looks to be right around 2bps also.


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Tank has come together real nice Sean! You take awesome videos, I always enjoy watching them .

Just curious, do you have a power head I didn't see that is pointed at the stream of bubbles? I noticed that some of them rise to the top and others get carried into the current, is this caused by the flow from your filter? I use a spray bar and diffuser in the same position in my 20 long, but I seem to get a low-flow spot on the right side.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

pewpewkittah said:


> Tank has come together real nice Sean! You take awesome videos, I always enjoy watching them .
> 
> Just curious, do you have a power head I didn't see that is pointed at the stream of bubbles? I noticed that some of them rise to the top and others get carried into the current, is this caused by the flow from your filter? I use a spray bar and diffuser in the same position in my 20 long, but I seem to get a low-flow spot on the right side.


thanks for the kind words.

nope no power head, I plan on making a longer spray bar with acrylic tube that will be the width of tank to get better and more consistent flow across the entire tank.


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> thanks for the kind words.
> 
> nope no power head, I plan on making a longer spray bar with acrylic tube that will be the width of tank to get better and more consistent flow across the entire tank.


Even so, it appears you have no problem with flow!! Your plants are pearling like crazy, are you using a reactor?


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Nope, just that little nano diffuser I got from eBay for like $3


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## serenityfate (Jan 29, 2014)

How often did you trim your dhg belem? And how long did you wait before doing your first trimming the first time you planted it? Thanks

I love how your tank is progressing it looks beautiful!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

seems like im trimming it once a month I trimmed it just before this video, just a few stragglers here and there


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

hey guys,

A bit of an update. Things are really pretty much in autopilot mode right now. I had the photoperiod up to 8 hours a day, and wasnt having any algae issues, then I started the EI Dosing regime and I quickly started having algae issues after the first week. So I did a 70% water change then a 3 day black out, then backed the photoperiod down to 6 hours a day. Ill spend the next couple weeks slowly getting the photoperiod back up to 8 hours and Ill start with a half dose of the EI method and go from there.

As you can see in the pictures the Belem Hairgrass carpet is coming along awesome, Its almost a complete carpet, another month or so and it should be perfect. 

my school of ember tetras is done, I think I have 38 Embers in there, they constantly school back and forth, its really fun to watch

Today I got 4 assassin snails to compete with the pest snails, in a few weeks there wont be anymore pest snails.

Today I also got 4 Pigmy Cories, I would have liked to get more, but they only had 4. Ill probably get another 4 or 5 when they get more in stock.

Right now Im just having a BGA problem in the left corner, I think thats due to a lack of water flow in that area. Im going to build a spray bar that is the width of the entire tank, and that should solve that problem.

Next, Just get a few more Pigmy Cories and Either a few Celestrial Pearl Danios or endler guppies, not really sure which to go with, then it will be pretty much done. 


Excuse the AR Mini, its in dire need of a trim, so is the Downoi, Im thinking about replacing the Downoi with something else, its getting too big.









Small BGA issue im working on









and a Pigmy Cory I got today, they are so awesome. They kind just swim constantly, bounce around the tank going from here to there and back, really fun to watch. and TINY


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> hey guys,
> 
> A bit of an update. Things are really pretty much in autopilot mode right now. I had the photoperiod up to 8 hours a day, and wasnt having any algae issues, then I started the EI Dosing regime and I quickly started having algae issues after the first week. So I did a 70% water change then a 3 day black out, then backed the photoperiod down to 6 hours a day. Ill spend the next couple weeks slowly getting the photoperiod back up to 8 hours and Ill start with a half dose of the EI method and go from there.
> 
> ...


HOLY GROWTH BATMAN!! Looks really great Sean. I am still waiting for my LFS to get some pygmy cories in stock, they are so damn cute! Let me know if you're selling some of that AR mini, I am looking for some submersed stems .


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

Tank looks awesome. My pygmy Corie's used to swim around all the time but now they just sit there. They move once in a while. Kinda boring.


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