# 20G/H First Time *Planted Tank



## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

20 Gallon High
Finnex Planted+(maybe the 24/7 model)
2xAqua Clear 30 Power Filter(activated charcoal removed x2bio bag on top)

CaribSea Eco Complete
CaribSea Super Natural Moonlight Sand

20lbs Black Lava Rock
3 Pieces of Manzanita Driftwood

Anubias Petite
Java Fern
Bacopa Monnieri
Star Grass
Brazilian Pennywort
Ludwigia Repensx L. Arcuata
Ludwigia Repens

10 Cardinal Tetras
6+ Celestial Pearl Danios
Assorted Snails
20+ Red Cherry Shrimp

Seachem Flourish
Seachem Excel
Seachem Prime
Seachem Trace
Seachem Iron(if the Ludwigia needs it)
Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+

API Freshwater Master Kit
API GH and KH Test Kit
API Copper Test Kit
API Phosphate Test Kit
TDS Meter

Eheim Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater 75W
Marine Floating Thermometer
Plant Tweezers/Scissors
2x5 Gallon Bucket
Clear Tubing

Maintenance:
5 gallon water changes once per week(.5mL of Seachem Prime)
2mL of Flourish Excel every day
1.5mL of Flourish 3 days a week 

House Water Parameters:
PH 7.0/N02 0/N03 0/KH 7*/GH 0
*My home currently utilizes a water softener(salt based). Unfortunately this is my only water source, I do not believe the salt levels are high enough to do any harm to the plants/fish. If any of you have any experience with this please chime in!

This is going to be a low tech tank, 25% water changes weekly with daily dosing of Excel and Flourish.

Below are pics of the Manzanita Driftwood I ordered:


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Decided to paint the back and right side with black plasti dip.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

HeavyUser said:


> 20 Gallon High
> Finnex Planted+(maybe the 24/7 model)
> 2xAqua Clear 30 Power Filter(activated charcoal removed x2bio bag on top)
> 
> ...


These plants and shrimp are sensitive to excel. 

Easiest and cheapest way to keep it low tech and not use excel is to do a dirt tank. I use Scott's potting soil under river sand. Then you could have crypt plants. You would just need to add Seachem root tabs near the crypts in order to get them to adjust. Instead of Staurogyne Repens add something like Marsilea minuta.

Since your ph is low and gh is high the city may be dosing phosphates in the water. Phosphates can cause algae to grow. Solution is to add Seachem phosphate (in a bag) to your filter.

For ideas check Low tech section and non Co2 tanks. Also check out Trallen's tank


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

I had no idea....I thought Excel was a widely used product for lowtech systems!

My GH is 0, KH is 180. Does a high KH mean high Phosphates? I'm going to pick up a Phosphate test kit this week to check it out.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

HeavyUser said:


> I had no idea....I thought Excel was a widely used product for lowtech systems!
> 
> My GH is 0, KH is 180. Does a high KH mean high Phosphates? I'm going to pick up a Phosphate test kit this week to check it out.


Oops! These old eyes misread it. 

I had read that usually when the ph is high the gh is high. I had high ph with low gh. Search found that this meant that the city was dosing the water with phosphates. Cities do this so that the metal in old pipes will not leach into the water.

I another thing to do to save money, for this is an expensive hobby, is to use dry ferts. You can make up your own or buy an all in 1. I have been using and all in 1 from select aquatics. Switching to Seachem Equilibrium due BBA increasing. When Seachem Equilbrium is finished I am going to make my own buying from aquariumfertilizer

Good luck on staying on a budget. I stopped counting after I spent $500 on 1 29g tank. 

When the pH is 7.0 or below, ammonia becomes ammonium. Ammonium not toxic. Thus your cycle should be short.

KH can range from 80 to 300 ppm based on the fish kept.

Bump:


HeavyUser said:


> I had no idea....I thought Excel was a widely used product for low tech systems!


Excel is a Co2 additive. You balance Co2 with the light in the tank to keep algae under control. In my 20g long with a T8 ZooMed light I don't dose excel, for it has sensitive plants in it. BBA (black brush algae) is only on the wall of this tank. My Crypt Parva in it is growing faster than I had read.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Wood is finally done soaking, no more tannins are released when sitting in cold water for 8 hours plus. My Lava Rocks came in, did a boil with them. I'm a little disappointed I went with black instead of red. I've also purchased Carrib Sea Sunset Gold sand instead, I'll be using that instead of the moonlight sand.

At this point I am waiting for Petco to see what Plants they can get for me....I've given them the below list.

Java Fern
Java Moss
Brazilian Pennywort
Green Cabomba Plant
Water Sprite
Staurogyne Repens(maybe)
Hornwart(Can't get this, apparently its illegal in NY)
Water Wisteria
FrogSpawn(Can't get this, apparently its illegal in NY)
Anubias Nana var Petite
Anubias Nana
Staurogyne Repens

This weekend I am going to wash the sand and setup the hardscape while I wait for the plants, pics to come soon.


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

I have a 20H that i am gathering hardware for. I will be watching to see how this looks when done. I am going to paint the back of mine. How do you like the looks of the plasti dip?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

The dip has a very nice Matt finish to it, the main reason I did plasti dip instead of paint because I like the fact I can easily remove it if I get bored of the black and eventually I plan on moving and I want to be able to remove the dip from the right side of the tank. Thanks for looking!


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

Thanks for the reply. A few days ago I was looking at the plasti dip at wally world and it is cheap enough. Thats probably what I will go with.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

By the way, nice 10G shrimp tank!


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

@HeavyUser Thanks for the compliment. Take a look again if you wish. I just posted a new pic. You will see a huge difference in growth. It is approaching jungle status now lol.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Phosphates themselves, or any particular nutrients for that matter, don't cause algae alone. Just thought I'd throw that in here since I saw it was mentioned that they do. This has been disproved many times over now. An unbalanced system however, will cause issues. i.e. excess light, not enough co2, etc….


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Quick update, petshop has Wisteria, Java Fern, Water Sprite and Anubias Nana Petite. I'll be swinging by on Monday to pick them up! Decided tonight I was going to leak test until tomorrow, after I drain the tank I am going to setup the substrate and hardscape. It's exciting finally getting everything together!! I'll post picks of the hardscape tomorrow night.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

So my LFS failed me. All the plants they had were garbage, they were covered with brown algae, brown spots and holes. 

While I was reading in the tank journals section I saw hanaquatics being mentioned a few times. I navigated on over to his site and read that he ships in winter climate. He uses insulated boxes and hotpacks. 

Compared to my LFS hanaaquatics prices were so much cheaper. Shipping was 28 for USPS Express. 

I'll post pics as soon as the plants arrive, I'm holding off on building the harscape till a day before the plants come in.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Plants are coming today, just finished up the hardscape. What do you guys think?

Anubias petite are going to go on the branches along with java fern, rest of the plants are going to be in the back.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Added a couple of twigs to make the scape look a little more natural


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

It's planted! Now to wait for algae and see how many plants die.... I'll only be dosing with Excel, Flourish and Trace. I'll starting dosing Iron if my Ludwigia makes it.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Water is starting to clear up a little. Hopefully these next few weeks brings plant growth and minimal algae!


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## abaker1961 (Jan 29, 2016)

Wow, beautiful tank! Nicely done!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Thanks bud, being new to the hobby I had intentions of recreating other amazing scapes since I couldn't really envision my own idea. I failed miserably at that and this scape was the eventual outcome, I'm pretty happy with it.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

So I was testing my parameters today and found out I have a high PH, above 8.0 according to my API Test Kit. My tap waters PH is a lot lower, around 6.8-7.0. Does anyone have any idea why my PH is so high all of a sudden? When I flooded my tank I added Prime, Excel, and Salty Shrimp GH+. To my knowledge my substrate is supposed to be inert. Could I have a high PH because of the Doctor Tim's I'm adding to the water?

Started a new thread if anyone is interested:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/11-fertilizers-water-parameters/1005073-rising-ph.html#post8935209


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Did a 25% water change this morning, PH is now around 7.4.


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## Sebenhoe (Mar 30, 2015)

The tanks looks good keep up the good work! 
I just upgraded to a 20H


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Thanks, little update. The water has cleared up. PH is back up to 8-8.3. I'm going to wait a few weeks and see what happens with the PH, if it is still high consistently Im going to start using Distilled water remineralized with Salty Shrimp KH/GH+.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Tank shot update! I'm currently search for water wisteria, water sprite, and some frogspwan. Currently none of my LFS carry these and it has been too cold to ship. 

I've ordered a heater controller, API Leaf Zone, Seachem NPK and Salty Shrimp KH/GH. I plan on doing a huge water change with Distilled once the Salty Shrimp arrives.

As always, questions, comments, criticism, advice, is welcome.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

The tank has been fish less cycling for 5 days now. My Ammonia levels are very low, Nitrites are non existent and Nitrates are super low. I have been using Dr. Tim's Ammonia for my cycle. When I first flooded the tank I added 20 drops of Tim's, did a 25% water change 2 days later and added 7 more drops of Tim's. Could anyone give me any insight into why my Nitrites aren't reading, could it be because I have a heavily planted tank, should I add Dr. Tim's daily? This is my first time going through a cycle..


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## Mikevwall (Jul 27, 2015)

plants cause what is known as a mini cycle. They are already covered in beneficial bacteria, so as long as new bio load increases are small, you shouldn't even notice a change in parameters.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Just ordered some more plants, this time from aquaticarts. Their Express shipping option is a total ripoff, for the below order they wanted 48 dollars....HansAqautic shipped much larger order Express for 28...


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## anfield (Dec 1, 2013)

You need to check out the for sale forum here on TPT. Plenty of folks selling quality plants at decent prices and shipping

Bump: Also, I have used excel with shrimp. If you acclimate them to it by increasing dosage slowly and dont overdose, you should be ok. At least I have growing population....


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Dang you! I just checked it out and I'm probably going to spend more money now...lol. I'm going to be horrified if for some reason I kill off all my plants....

Bump: Do you guys think it would be ok if I uprooted a bunch of the plants I already have planted? I need to rethink my layout now that I have more plants coming in.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

I just ordered 30 more Nana Petites, I plan on gluing them to my branches.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

My 30 Nana Petites have arrived! Just waiting to get off work so I can plant plant plant! Pics to come soon.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

All planted! I am going to be rescaping pretty much all the plants when my new ones arrive so don't judge this messy bunch of plants just yet. Yesterday I received my seachem NPK and Iron.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Just a small update, the rest of the plants came in yesterday. I drained the tank completely, planted, then refilled with Distilled remineralized with Salty Shrimp GH+. Right now the tank doesn't look so great, hopefully things improve over the next few days and I will take some pictures.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

I think I may have over planted....


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

HeavyUser said:


> I think I may have over planted....


As long as substrate is visible one can never over-plant!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Maryland Guppy said:


> As long as substrate is visible one can never over-plant!


I guess, it just looks messy and I have a feeling maybe not enough light is making it to the bottom leave/plants


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## Rosieonfire (Feb 27, 2016)

I really like it. One thing is. IMHO you may have gone a bit heavy on the anubias on the branches. Maybe if you took some of them off, you found even plant a few clumps in front of the black rocks, that would let the driftwood shine through more and I think really balance out the tank. Just my 2 cents though! I think it looks great!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

I agree with you, there are too many nanas on the branches. It kind of blends the branches into the background. I have been wondering what was wrong with the looks of the tank and you nailed it! Next time I do a water change I'm going to remove some of the nanas and stick them between the lava rocks and the substrate. Thanks for the suggestion/comments. As a noob in this hobby it is great when I receive criticism/suggestions as to what I can to improve my scape.

Bump:


Rosieonfire said:


> I really like it. One thing is. IMHO you may have gone a bit heavy on the anubias on the branches. Maybe if you took some of them off, you found even plant a few clumps in front of the black rocks, that would let the driftwood shine through more and I think really balance out the tank. Just my 2 cents though! I think it looks great!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk


I think the one on the right looks good as far as nanas? The two on the left are pretty overloaded. What do you think?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Photo Update, I'll be adding fish and shrimp as soon as I get back from Europe.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Last update till I get back on the 22cnd!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Back from vacation! Tank looks ok, starting to get some algae growing in spots. Pulled out a few on the Nanas but still need to remove some more. Ordered 10 CPDs and 2 Otos that will be here tomorrow!


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## Seetide (Feb 25, 2016)

Nice!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Moved some of the stems around so you can see some of the colors better.

Thanks for the compliments Seetide!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Last week I purchased 10 CPDs, 2 Ottos and 20 Red Cherry Shrimp. Everything seems to have adjusted to the tank nicely. One issue, the shrimps I ordered from the Sales part of the forum have parasites. From what I read these certain parasites won't kill the shrimp but they are unsightly to look at. . . I ordered some No Planaria and plan on dosing the tank in the coming weeks ahead.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Did a trim today, noticed I have red cherry shrimp babies hanging out in the lava rocks! I also noticed one of my Ottos has a white patch on his forehead.....it almost look like he may have scraped his head on one of the lava rocks.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Shrimp babies are getting bigger, I'll be dosing No Planaria next Friday till Monday. Also thinking about buying some Crystal Red Shrimps after I rid my tank of parasites.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Do you guys think my tank is a good candidate for PPS Pro or is it too heavily planted?

I added 20 CRS a week ago.

Lost 1 CPD, not sure why since my water parameters are perfect. I figured it could be 2 different possibilities, 1 tank mates beat it to all hell(doubtful), 2 I fed the night before for the first time Azoo Max Shrimp food. I saw one CPD snacking on it for hours...Maybe it couldn't digest the amount of food it ate and croaked.

I opened a thread on the death but no one responded so I figured they were as clueless as me or didn't care to respond.


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## Seetide (Feb 25, 2016)

I am using the PPS Pro on my 75 and its heavily planted and doing great. I even skip dosing on the weekends quite frequently and haven't noticed any bad effects from doing so.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Seetide said:


> I am using the PPS Pro on my 75 and its heavily planted and doing great. I even skip dosing on the weekends quite frequently and haven't noticed any bad effects from doing so.


Do you deviate from the original mix amounts?


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## Seetide (Feb 25, 2016)

No I don't, I even order the bags pre-mixed and weighed out ready to go. I just pour them in my dispensing bottle, shake em up, and dose.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Added 6 more CPDs and 4 Assassin Snails to help keep my snail population in check. I did a major trim on the sides chopping all my stems down and replanting them, everything should hopefully be filled in within a month or so. 

PPS Pro has been working out great for me and my bi weekly water changes.


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## Pronk (Apr 5, 2016)

Wow that's looking really nice!

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Thanks!


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## fasoole (Jan 13, 2015)

Hello

great looking tank 

but i think you need a carpet now since your rocks splitting the tank, that aquarium would look beautiful with green carpet. 

It's all about taste Hehe..


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## 262793 (Jan 20, 2016)

I know that this is a very late post, but I was just checking the board for TDS info. I have had very good luck buying plants through [Ebay Link Removed] Ebay guarantees your purchases. Check it out before you go back to PetCo.
David


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Purchased a fissidens covered shrimp cave from Han, stuck it in the lower left hand front corner of the tank. Plants seem to be doing very well. I had a small issue with my CPDS, a few were acting strange running into the glass floating up by the surface of the water. I scooped out 4 of them over the coarse of 3 days as they just didn't look right. Water parameters are normal, could potentially be caused by a low ph of 6? I also seem to be losing at least 2 shrimp a month but they reproduce like crazy so I'm not really bothered by the loses.


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## LeyWanderer (May 20, 2016)

What is the name of those tall single stem plants with the kind of reddish tint under the leaves?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

LeyWanderer said:


> What is the name of those tall single stem plants with the kind of reddish tint under the leaves?


Some very green Ludwigia repens, can't seem to get it to turn red.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

Looking great!
Fissidens are lovely, are you going to try cover the branches?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Tank is doing well, no more shrimp deaths.

One thing I have noticed is on the lower leafs of the Repens there are small holes, also my anubias nana has some kind of black stuff on the leaves. I cant rub it off and it isn't raised like bba. I'm going to open two new threads and try to find out what is going on.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Nice shot. Love that stargrass


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

houseofcards said:


> Nice shot. Love that stargrass


Thank you! At the time I didn't realize the star grass would become the center piece as this is my first planted tank and I didn't know stargrass grows as much as it does!


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## dshevnock (May 30, 2016)

Great looking tank! Still using the pro-pps?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

dshevnock said:


> Great looking tank! Still using the pro-pps?


Sure am, with water changes every 2 weeks.


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## Lousyweather (Mar 25, 2016)

HeavyUser said:


> Thank you! At the time I didn't realize the star grass would become the center piece as this is my first planted tank and I didn't know stargrass grows as much as it does!


I also have stargrass, but mine is really leggy. Where yours seems to stay lower to the substratum, mine goes vertical, to the surface (it does this in one weeks' time). Growing, yea, but the stalks are pretty unsightly. Now, I cant imagine that you pull yours, take the first 3-5" off, replant, and discard the stems every few days, so, lol, whats your secret?!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Lousyweather said:


> I also have stargrass, but mine is really leggy. Where yours seems to stay lower to the substratum, mine goes vertical, to the surface (it does this in one weeks' time). Growing, yea, but the stalks are pretty unsightly. Now, I cant imagine that you pull yours, take the first 3-5" off, replant, and discard the stems every few days, so, lol, whats your secret?!


Nah I don't replant, lol. I'm actually pretty lazy when it comes to replanting..

I think it bushes well because I trim it down every few weeks, basically remove all the tops of the plant. I read this will encourage it to bush out instead of grow tall and lanky. It seems to be working for me.


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

Great looking tank...did you get rid of the shrimp parasites?


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

ScubaSteve said:


> Great looking tank...did you get rid of the shrimp parasites?


They wound up dying off as time went on. I think it was because I use distilled water and have a low TDS, I'm really not sure.

I did lose almost all my CRS though, I believe it was due to lack of oxygen in the water. My RCS are thriving.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

I ripped out pretty much all the Java Fern, it was growing well but there was a lot of holes in it. I think something may have been chowing down, I seem to have the same issue happening with my Anubias as well. 

I chopped down a bunch of Ludwigia and Money Wort then replanted a bunch of the tops in the back of the tank to the left.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Plants seem to be doing well.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Still looks great. Love the way that stargrass slopes over the lava rock. It's a good example how even if your hardscape is fairly low you can create a sloped look with the plants. If you can get the background fuller it would add even more to your scape.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

houseofcards said:


> Still looks great. Love the way that stargrass slopes over the lava rock. It's a good example how even if your hardscape is fairly low you can create a sloped look with the plants. If you can get the background fuller it would add even more to your scape.


Thanks! I have planted a lot back there after my last trimming, it's taking forever for them to grown in though.


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Bi-weekly water changes have now turned into monthly


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

Looks awesome...great job HeavyUser!


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Thanks Scoob


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## Helmetless Stig (Jan 10, 2016)

HeavyUser said:


> Bi-weekly water changes have now turned into monthly


What percent do you do?

Sent from my 6045I using Tapatalk


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## irishspy (Oct 22, 2007)

HeavyUser said:


> Bi-weekly water changes have now turned into monthly


Whatever you're doing, you're doing it right. roud:


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## HeavyUser (Jan 23, 2016)

Helmetless Stig said:


> What percent do you do?
> 
> Sent from my 6045I using Tapatalk


25% Distilled remineralized


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