Well, I finally made the plunge into freshwater. It is the first freshwater tank I've had in probably twenty years. I decided to keep it interesting and go with a blackwater tank.
I used a 20 high and put an Aquaclear 30 on it. I have a large piece of driftwood to build around. I added Indian almond leaves and made my own background. I made the background out of the expanding foam that is used for fish ponds and pressed peat into it. It will definitely be acidic. I used blasting media for the substrate and added a few pieces of granite and rhyolite that I found.
The one concern I have is the pH. I use RO/DI water and added baking soda to buffer it. It was 5.8 until I added 1/2 tsp of baking soda and it brought it up to 7.0. I'll have to get that under control before I can even think about fish. I'll probably have to run zeolite because the biological filtration doesn't really work below about 6.5 pH. I will probably use a 7.0 buffer that is commonly sold instead of baking soda. It will be easier to keep consistent results.
As you can see, the light is just an extremely cheap clip on light with a 100 watt 6500k compact fluorescent.
As far as fish, I'm thinking about a pair of rams with maybe some tetras and some cory cats. I'd like discus but the 20 gallon isn't nearly big enough.
I set it up about an hour ago and turned on the filter and heater. It turned out awesome, I think. Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any advice or comments. Like I said, this is my first freshwater in a long time so advice is welcome.
I used a 20 high and put an Aquaclear 30 on it. I have a large piece of driftwood to build around. I added Indian almond leaves and made my own background. I made the background out of the expanding foam that is used for fish ponds and pressed peat into it. It will definitely be acidic. I used blasting media for the substrate and added a few pieces of granite and rhyolite that I found.
The one concern I have is the pH. I use RO/DI water and added baking soda to buffer it. It was 5.8 until I added 1/2 tsp of baking soda and it brought it up to 7.0. I'll have to get that under control before I can even think about fish. I'll probably have to run zeolite because the biological filtration doesn't really work below about 6.5 pH. I will probably use a 7.0 buffer that is commonly sold instead of baking soda. It will be easier to keep consistent results.
As you can see, the light is just an extremely cheap clip on light with a 100 watt 6500k compact fluorescent.
As far as fish, I'm thinking about a pair of rams with maybe some tetras and some cory cats. I'd like discus but the 20 gallon isn't nearly big enough.
I set it up about an hour ago and turned on the filter and heater. It turned out awesome, I think. Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any advice or comments. Like I said, this is my first freshwater in a long time so advice is welcome.
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