# New to Planted Tanks! 20 Gallon long.



## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

Hi there!

Completely new to the world of Aquatics! Thought I would start myself with a decent setup, Gone with a 20 gallon long tank, 100 W glass heater, 50 gallon rated aqua clear power filter and a 30" Finnex Planted+ LED light! 

I bought all my equipment from my semi-LFS (Fish Doctors in Ypsilanti, MI) Got myself an API testing kit as well as a quick start cycling agent. substrate is going to be a regular LFS natural river bed sand with some gravel mixed in for texture, Some slate and Driftwood on top (Going for a riverbed look). Plants I have bought so far include, Several (Probably 4) lots of small Java fern, and 2 medium sized lots of Java fern, 2 Small anubias and 2 medium. What else should I go for? Amazon sword? Any more recommendations? 

I think for waste purposes I am going to add maybe 5 glass shrimp to help the cycling, Is that a decent idea? 

Looking for everyones help here! Total newbie!!


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## AquaBotNewb (Dec 8, 2014)

I don't believe the shrimp alone produce enough waste to support the cycle. You can either over feed them and allow the extra decaying food do the job or add ammonia yourself.


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

Great! Thanks for the advice! Do you think the Finnex planted+ 30 inch will provide low or medium light conditions to the tank? I keep finding different opinions? What kinds of plants would you use for a beginner low tech tank?


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## Catfishguy (Jan 6, 2014)

danl88 said:


> Great! Thanks for the advice! Do you think the Finnex planted+ 30 inch will provide low or medium light conditions to the tank? I keep finding different opinions? What kinds of plants would you use for a beginner low tech tank?


I would have went with the finnex stingray for a 20 long, it's what I have. With a planted plus you will have an algae farm if it's not raised over the tank about 12 inches or if you have a ton of floating plants. The tank is very shallow. You're looking at about 10-11 inches from the substrate


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

Hi Danl88 welcome aboard! I've got the same light over my 10g & loving it. You didn't mention if you're using ferts and/or C02. I assume you're not. If that's the case you may want to use the Sunrise/Sunset mode...I think its PAR level is one of the lowest.


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

So did I get too much light for the tank? Do I need to raise it up or just do shorter lighting times? I am doing low tech by the way, No Co2 and no ferts I believe, Unless I do root tabs if I get the Amazon swords! Whats the sunrise sunset mode? Would it be better to use that or the Acrylic lift option?


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## AquaBotNewb (Dec 8, 2014)

Yeah, I believe you may have to much light. If you are not going to dose CO2 or anything else to give your plants the upper hand, then hopefully you are prepared to be scraping algae off (pulling my hair out, just thinking about the last time I made that mistake). I would start off doing short photo periods at a higher level, and then as your plants needs start elevating you can increase the photo period, or lower the light.


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## GadgetGirl (Oct 11, 2013)

Agree with all of the above. But please don't use live animals for cycling! Some people have good results using plain household ammonia. 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

Way too much light. You will need to raise the light or use window screen to lower the par.


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

To dose Co2 can I just use a liquid form or do I have to get the tanks? Completely new to this guys! If I got the floating plants would there still be low light conditions for the swords etc?


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

IMO you will not compensate for the light with liquid carbon like excel. Floating plants could do it if you had a lot but then I think you would hate them whenever you tried to work on your tank. I have two 20 longs, one with a 24" planted + over glass top. I cut the par using gray window screen to keep me in low to very low medium light.


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

You don't need to raise the light, just find a lower PAR setting you like and try that 1st. There's a quite detailed thread on this forum regarding the Satellite LED's; it's a must read.


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

leemacnyc said:


> You don't need to raise the light, just find a lower PAR setting you like and try that 1st. There's a quite detailed thread on this forum regarding the Satellite LED's; it's a must read.


I suppose that would be great if the op had a satellite but they have a finned planted +


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

jrill said:


> I suppose that would be great if the op had a satellite but they have a finned planted +


Sorry my dumdum:hihi::hihi:


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

I just basically bought the light that had the best reviews  I wanted to have a nice planted tank and it seems to have gone all awry! I have about 2 1/2 inches of sand and gravel mix. So the light will probably be about 10 inches about that. I have a Glass top to the tank, So how far should I raise the light up? Are the acrylic raisers my best bet? Are they fairly secured in place?


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## Dariofan (Aug 4, 2014)

Don't worry I did the same on my 10 gallon with the planted +. I thought it would be low light & I had algae, but you will be fine if you just use something to diffuse some light. Now you know ahead of time so you can start out good. On mine I just used masking tape on the glass selectively to block some light. A screen is probably a more elegant solution, or I was going to try one of the mesh bags fruit comes in. The light doesn't get very hot so I dont think you have to worry about burning things as long as it's not touching the light. With the tape I left the higher light plants under areas I didn't block. Raising it isn't super easy, but if you are handy & have space above that works. As my plants have grown tall to the surface it's helped algae wise I have some water sprite just floating over half the tank with low light plants & my algae has stopped being an issue. I actually unblocked some more lights recently to give my plants more light. I think it's a really nice light & you have options if you do want to use co2 eventually. But you can get it to work without co2 & without constantly cleaning algae.


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

On my 20 long I use gray fiberglass window screen. Any hardware or box store like Lowes will have it. If I remember correct I think hoppy estimates a layer will cut your light by approximately 30%. On mine I just put a double layer over the glass. This has worked well. Low light plants grow great and no algae issues that last very long. I like the screen better than a riser on tanks with a glass top because I can adjust the amount of light with layering or trimming.


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## Jyork6677 (Feb 14, 2015)

Really? I have had my 20 long with a planted + and a ray 2 for 6 months and have no algae problems at all. I dose with excel every day. all my plants are growing great. I get a little algae on the glass, but a once a week scraping takes care of it.


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

Jyork6677 said:


> Really? I have had my 20 long with a planted + and a ray 2 for 6 months and have no algae problems at all. I dose with excel every day. all my plants are growing great. I get a little algae on the glass, but a once a week scraping takes care of it.


I find that very hard to believe. Just how much excel would that take to keep algae away. Lol.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

I got that same light for my 40 breeder (16" tall) and I've been told it's not high light and I'm confused too. I have a glass top too.

I wondered what the sunrise/sunset mode is too. I'm new too  Maybe that's a different light.


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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

In a 16" tall tank it probably isn't high but a 20 long is pretty shallow.


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## Jyork6677 (Feb 14, 2015)

I dose 2.5 mil excel with a syringe every day. I have a little hair algae on my flame moss right now, but other than that it's crystal clear. I have a snail population that is out of control and maybe 12 or so shrimp with Pygmy cories and cpd's. No algae


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## Jyork6677 (Feb 14, 2015)

No algae


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

Ok guy and girls, Here is my current setup! 

Ammonia is at 0ppm
Nitrite is at 0.5ppm. What do I need to do to get this to 0? Maybe a water change? Do I keep adding the ammonia?
Nitrate is at 10ppm 
and my PH is at 7.8!

Also, What is that growing on my driftwood!


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## danl88 (Feb 9, 2015)

Guess no one had opinions


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## scx (Sep 8, 2013)

Did you boil the driftwood? If not, it's probably just fungi and it's normal and safe. It'll go away on its own time


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## pseudomonas (Jan 4, 2015)

Looks like anubias to me. :tongue:


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## walzon1 (Jan 28, 2014)

If you start getting algae you can also just tape off some of the LEd strips on the light with some reflective tape. Also not mentioned is making blackwater to dim the lights out you can google search on how to make blackwater.


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