# 20L planted tank journal



## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

so after some thought i decided to do a journal of my planted tank 
loved el twitcho's and thought we all prolly leanred from his so 
i figured why not do it again and learn some stuff

now this wont be as informative as eltwitcho's cause i dont know much about plants yet and i have a big problem with water hardness and ph so its an experiment as well

so lets get this rollin 
its a 20 long with about 8 bulbs total ( 2 lillies 2 plants that send up a stem that opens to a u shaped flower ( kinda ) dont know name of any and that will be researched and info included when i have time 
and then 2 potted plants also unknown till further notice 
and 1 arrow head plant and 1 unknown ( cause it aint sprouted fully yet )

now unfortunatly i can not take pics cause of lack of digi cam 
so im gonna be a detailed as poss 
ok now for the occupants i have 2 african cichlids ( kennyl (sp) 
an african knife (soon to be 2) a bichir a pleco and a spotted raph cat

all my water params will be added tomorow ( at work and cant test now )

i have a bubble stone ( only run at night )
and i have 2 lights both 33 watt plant growing bulbs ) total 66 watts totaling 3.3 wpg
and a co2 fizz factory ( bought for 9 bucks ) comes with enough co2 tabs for 2 months and they are added 2 times a week 
now since i added the co2 and lights ( same day ) its been 2 days and i have seen much improvement in the plants leaves look better and seem healthier

was kinda hesitant on co2 deal but so far so good 
its made by jungle labs btw 
so that will conclude the first entry and will be adding more tommorow 
have a good night 
see ya on the flip side 
later


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

alright time for an update 
my water params are 
amonia 0 nitite 0 nitrate 5 
ph top of scale 8.4 i belive or maybe higher scale does not read above that 
hardness top of scale 
but i am having luck keeping the lilies and the other unknown with the u shaped flowers growing well
just added another co2 tab last night and saw a bulb sprout double in size overnight 
while it had previously sat in tank not growing at all for 2 weeks 
jungle labs co2 fizz factory seems to be worth the little money it costs for an easy setup 
so far had no probs at all
no algea good green leaves 
saw this product at a local lfs for 25 dollars and then hit petsmart and got it for 9 
im gonna keep this experiment/ journal goin to see if this thing is actually worth it 
if it is i have found a very cost effective way to add co2 to tank 
w/o all the hassle and mess of the yeast setups and waayyyy cheaper than a pressurized system 
well that will conclude this entry 
any questions comments or concerns feel free to ask 
or any input you guys may have would be greatly appreciated 
later


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Any chance of pictures?


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

not right now dont have digi cam but im working on it as we speak


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

cool man, thanks. ive been thinking of starting a planted tank but ive been worried that theyll juss die. i bet youll help alot of noobs decide on having real plants







. this should be pinned, or twitch should start his own and pin it cuz we need something like this.

EDIT:lol i just found out that twitch alredy had one, lol im dumb


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

if anyhting eltwitchos should be pinned 
caus ei dont know what im doin lol
kidding but im not that experienced but i had same thoughts as you tibbs and it was el twitchos that got me into it so maybe mine will help[ out some others to try thier hand at plants they keep me interested in things other than staring at my p's for hours
later


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I think what I might do is not pin mine or anyone elses, but pin a thread with a link to anyone wanting to keep a tank journal. Gonna talk with Jim and see what he thinks about this, but that way members always have access to a bunch of journals and more information than just mine or yours will get shared. We shall see how it goes though. Keep us updated on your tank


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

elTwitcho said:


> I think what I might do is not pin mine or anyone elses, but pin a thread with a link to anyone wanting to keep a tank journal. Gonna talk with Jim and see what he thinks about this, but that way members always have access to a bunch of journals and more information than just mine or yours will get shared. We shall see how it goes though. Keep us updated on your tank
> [snapback]1023730[/snapback]​


thats such a good idea, i think that would be awsum







!!!


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

well i dont have much time for an update here but in the past 2 days ive seen amazing growth my lilies are getting huge my bulbs with the u shaped flowers ( still unknown untill plant profiles are up ) 
have put out about 3 more sprouts and one of my arrowheads has sent out a runner 
so after almost a week this jungle labs co2 seems to be working 
great growth and better color in the plants since its addition 
im gonna get some more plants in this thing over the weekens 
may not be an update till sunday but im gonna try to get some pics up next week 
untill next time folks 
oh and beyoing the co2 im alson adding in some plant gro .15 iron supplement for micro nutirents and gonna get some macro nutrient tabs this weekend
if there is anything i may be missing to help out my plants let me know 
oh and my substrate is 2 inches of gravel ( very small )
ok now im done enjoy 
later


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

well still no luck on the pics
but after the addition of a third co2 tab ( oh and if u buy a co2 fizz factory and you have very high ph and kh u must double dosage)
but after 6 days i have great new growth most of my plants have grown around an inch 
so far i figure given the right types of plants you can have a nicely planted tank even if you have terrible water
no algea blooms as of yet 
and here is a question for anyone who knows 
iots a 20l and i am not sure of how many fish i should have in there
so any info there would be great oh and i do water changes of 20% weekly as of right now 
hoping to get these plants goin to the point where my params stay under control .
well thats it for now folks
enjoy your day 
later


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

so its been a week and i added 2 new plants last night 
3 corkscrew vals and another unknown kinda bushsy dark green
cant get pics yet hopefully by end of week 
well i took out the 2 africans and added a hujeta gar in there 
damn africans kept beating up on everyone so they had to go 
(see post in piranha aquario )
after 4 tabs i am begining to think this co2 setup is gonna work 
plants are looking great and im gettin new gropwth all over the place 
well thats all for now 
later


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

so yesterday before i left for work i failed to turn my lights on 
and when i got home from work i clicked them on and holy stuff batman
my plants are growing like crazy a little extra dark and my vals took off and the other bushy green one 
(sorry no names yet still waiting on the plant profile page to be up)
now i am starting to run into a problem 
i have 2 lillies and an arrowhead and since i started this they have took off as well but now there are so many lily pads that its blocking out a considerable amount of light so is that gonna hinder my plants below or will enough light still sneak through to keep all my plants healthy?
well thats alll for now 
later


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Depends on your plants below. It definately will block light from getting through, and the plants at the bottom if they are light intensive will certainly have trouble.

As for growing in the dark, plants do their growth in the dark so what you saw makes sense. My plants were without light for almost a week when I moved the tank to my new place and they grew huge in that time. They also grew scraggly and shitty looking, but they were huge nonetheless


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

yeah i know about plants growing in the dark but i left in the dark only a few hours longer than usuall and was surprised at the amount of growth 
well thats all for tonight see ya morrow
later


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