First planted tank - my setup

[neilanh]

New here, and working to setup my first planted tank. Have experience with fish, so that's no problem. I kept seeing pictures online of these heavily planted tanks and wanted to try my hand at it and see how I did and how I enjoyed it.

Over the past few weeks I've been doing a lot of reading, mainly on aquariumadvice.com and aquaticplantcentral.com trying to take it all in. Here is the equipment I decided upon and have or have on order. Critique away, and don't hold back, I can take it

20 gallon high tank, measures 24x12x18
Aquaclear 50 hang on back filter - although I'm looking already for an XP1
Visi-therm Stealth 100W heater
Satellite 24" 1x65 PC light with dual daylight 6700k/10000k bulb
DIY dual 2liter bottle CO2 with a glass diffuser (will inject into the XP1 if I get it, also have sweetwater stones on hand as well)
Eco-Complete substrate (40pounds)
planting tools: forceps, scissors, etc

My water tests out at gH of 5 and kH of 6. I haven't yet really decided on what plants to start with, but witnessing the monthly auction yesterday gave me some great ideas.

For ferts I've got on order from Greg Watson:
KNO3
KH2PO4
K2SO4
CSM+B

So, critique away with all your might. What have I forgotten, what should I change, what do you like, don't like, etc etc.

Thank you!

[krisw]

On first glance, it looks like you've definitely done a lot of reading already! I just have a few notes, but for the most part you're on the right track. You can definitely grow plants with a hang-on-the-back filter, but particularly with DIY CO2, you'll be better off once you find that XP1 canister, so you're not wasting valuable CO2 from surface agitation. Otherwise, depending on what you keep your house thermostat, you might want consider leaving the heater out as it creates an eyesore in your aquascape, and often-times isn't really necessary for the plants or fish. Your ferts look good, but Seachem Excel or Iron might come in handy in addition to what you already have. Depending on who you talk to, some folks prefer SeaChem Flourish over CSM+B for traces, but I use both fairly successfully. (I may give Flourish a sligh edge, but both are usable.)

All in all, I think you're set to have a nice planted tank.

[neilanh]

Thanks for the notes Kris. The more I think about it, the more I would rather have the canister filter, and for $60 why not, right? So consider that a done deal.

I'm setting up this tank in our basement, which can commonly get into the mid-upper 60s at night, so I'll definately want to have a heater. I'm looking at going with an inline heater eventually though since I'll have the can filter, so that will get rid of that from inside the tank.

Thanks for the notes on the excel and iron, I'll keep that in mind. Since I already have the other stuff ordered, I'll start with that and see how things go.

Anyone know of a good place locally to get some rocks and hardscape type stuff? My substrate, etc will be here on Thursday, so I think I'll start setting up this weekend.

[krisw]

Good call on the canister. As far as inline heaters go, on my 75G in the basement, I am very pleased with the Hydor inline heater. I barely notice it's there, and that's how equipment should be!

As far as rocks go, if you liked the rocks that we used in Rob's tank at the meeting, Ghazanfar still has some left that can be bought from the club for about $.50/lb. PM Ghazanfar for more info on pickup/selection/etc. (He's located in Brambleton/Ashburn, VA)

[neilanh]

Thanks again Kris, he's right around the corner from me.

[Jeff120]

As Kris said everything looks good, you have been doing your research for sure! I have an XP1 and really like it. Its on my 29. On a 20 you may have to throttle it down a little or you may not be able to keep some plants rooted! Either way both filter will work the XP will just do a better job, allow more options and less cleaning. And in a few months when you want a bigger tank you wont have to buy a new filter

[Ltrepeter2000]

Yes he will, one for the smaller tank as you know we cant have just one.

[neilanh]

haha - so true - this tank is the proof. My main tank is a 46bow community I got for Christmas. This will be my second, and already thinking about a 3rd. haha

Yeah I really like the XPs, I'm running an XP3 on my other tank right now.

[Aaron]

I'd also agree that you're off to a good start.

I've used the Greg Watson ferts before. His CSM+B does work almost as well as flourish. I found I had to use almost twice as much to get the same effect, but it still is significantly cheaper.

The stone that Ghazanfar has is the best I've seen in person. He and a few other guys had it shipped all the way from CA.

[Ltrepeter2000]

Only after hours of backbreaking work of course so those lovely pieces you see came from the three guys on the chain gang. It was all fun and games until Ghaz pulled a muscle.