Journal Gwad's 20 gal Dutch Tank

[Gwad]

Hi everyone,

I am really inspired by some of the incredible tanks posted here and your AGA entries. I've decided to start working on my own Dutch scapes as I've had CO2 for a couple years and am now looking to really dial in my horticulture skills.

Unfortunately I am currently in a situation where I really can't fit a large tank into my house/lifestyle (3 little boys who put their hands on everything), so my largest tank is a 20g long that's safe in my office. It used to hold a nice low tech nature scape but I was ready for a change.

I decided to make this journal for me to log my progress and hopefully get some advice and recommendations.

First to get some attention, here is the tank as of today. I am excited as it's going quite well so far.


Photo of tank on Oct 22nd (prior to some new tissue cultures and a few plant transfers from my other tank)


Now my equipment list:

Tank: 20 gallon long rimmed tank from Petco

Filter: Fluval 207 canister filter (used on FB marketplace for 40 bucks)

Lighting: 2x GE Ultra Bright LED flood lights, 2700K warm white, 2200 lumen each ($16 total and then I made some seriously redneck pendant light fixtures to hang them from random old lamps I had)

CO2: Pressurized cylinder, Co2 Art dual stage regulator (used for $50), DIY Yugang horizontal reactor sized for ~1.2 point drop

In-tank heater set to about 75F

Substrate: Fluval Biostratum bought with 40% off sale at Petco. I know this stuff isn't great but it's ok so far. I may eventually add root tabs.

All in all, this tank is very thrifty.

Water: RO/DI remineralized to 6 dGH

Weekly Fertilization schedule:
NO3: 18ppm
PO4: 4.8 ppm
K: 24 ppm
Fe: 0.4 ppm with Miller Microplex for traces
50% water change

Dosed as 4 doses but double dosing on water change day for stability. I have also been doing an extra dry dosing of 9 ppm phosphate until the aquasoil stops eating that.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Looks great, Gwad!

 

[Gwad]

Now for plants. I am still working on the selections. Unfortunately I live in Washington far from Seattle and have very few choices locally for aquarium plants that aren't just Petco and Petsmart. We do have a new shop that just opened that will have some CO2 injected tanks so that's exciting.

Current list left to right in the tank:
-Mayaca Fluviatilis curtain
-Mexican oak leaf
-Limnophila Hippuridoides
-Lobelia Cardinalis
-Ludwigia Palustris
-Eriocaulon Vietnam
-Bacopa monnieri
-Rotala Blood Red
-Staurogyne Repens
-Cryptocoryne wendtii
-Water sprite
-"Dwarf" Sagittaria curtain

Right now I feel pretty good about everything except for the water sprite and Mexican oak leaf plants at both back corners. They have been great for keeping algae away in the early tank days but I will likely swap them for something a little easier to keep tidy.

Any suggestions on smaller sized stem plants that always stay green would be appreciated. I have been considering something with a feathery texture like a myriophyllum.

 

[Kwyet]

Penthorum sediodes stays green and tolerates trimming very well. It’s a great plant for streets. Limnophila wilsonii is also light green and feathery like myrio, but also grows very fast.

 

[Gwad]

Penthorum sediodes stays green and tolerates trimming very well. It’s a great plant for streets. Limnophila wilsonii is also light green and feathery like myrio, but also grows very fast.

Thanks! I've been eyeing the limnophila wilsonii from Burr. My only concern is that it might be a little too large scale for this tank because it's only ~11" tall or so. I was also looking at myriophyllum guyana.

 

[Kwyet]

Thanks! I've been eyeing the limnophila wilsonii from Burr. My only concern is that it might be a little too large scale for this tank because it's only ~11" tall or so. I was also looking at myriophyllum guyana.

Oh, I forgot about that one. It would be more manageable for sure. It’s kind of similar to the Mayaca fluviatilis though. You wouldn’t want them near each other.

Here’s a great guide: Some Rules for Dutch Style Aquascaping - A Quick Guide for Beginners

 

[Koan]

Unfortunately I live in Washington far from Seattle

Hey Tri-cities, just recently moved away from a number of years down in Colfax here

Looks like Portland has a new aquascaping-friendly store Always a good excuse to take the kids to go see OMSI and The Wet Spot!

And of course the new Portland Cartoon Aquarium

 

[Gwad]

Hey Tri-cities, just recently moved away from a number of years down in Colfax here

Looks like Portland has a new aquascaping-friendly store Always a good excuse to take the kids to go see OMSI and The Wet Spot!

And of course the new Portland Cartoon Aquarium

Small world! I haven't been out to Colfax in probably 10 years, but my grandparents were WSU football season ticket holders so I have been that way many times before.

Good find! We have family near Vancouver WA so we are in Portland fairly often. We really like the zoo there but haven't been to OMSI yet.

 

[Koan]

haven't been out to Colfax in probably 10 years

Haha, why would you, hard to believe it's the county seat

Was living right on the river there, gorgeous I miss it

 

[Gwad]

Update on the tank today. It's starting to fill out nicely.

Highlights:
-Tissue cultures are adapted and kicking butt now. Lobelia had their first trim and replant and staurogyne need to be thinned out a lot

-Rotala blood red was trimmed and tops were planted among the stumps to thicken up the group

-Trying to create depth in a small tank by putting smaller leaf plants in the back and larger at front. I still need new plants to swap in for the Mexican oak leaf and water sprite but they continue to grow at an absurd rate (literally growing 1 to 2 inches per day) and help keep things stable

-Eriocaulon Vietnam has been slow to get started. It is still only about 1-2 inches tall and not putting on many leaves. Hopefully it picks up the pace soon after getting some time to root.

 

[BenB]

Tissue cultures are adapted and kicking butt now.

They are looking good. I've found an unexpected joy in my most recent build in seeing the gnarly tissue culture stubs start to put out normal looking leaves and transform into the plants we recognize. Its just so cool.

 

[Gwad]

2 week update:

Tank is starting to look pretty decent.


Recent activities:
- shuffled around a few plant groups

- added some nice crypt wendtii from my low tech tank. It looks great right now but it might melt in this new higher CO2 environment. Fingers crossed.

- thinned out the staurogyne repens significantly and I had enough to use in another tank and gift some to a friend.

- added three more Eriocaulon Vietnam plants to jumpstart that group a bit as it is still lagging.

- added some pearlweed front left that I trimmed from another tank. I dont like it very much as it doesn't contrast very much with the mayaca and lobelia. I need something darker green, or more different in texture.

These past weeks I have been dosing half of my weekly nutrients (9ppm NO3) on my weekend water change day followed by three 1/6 doses (3ppm NO3) on M W Fr, aiming for max nitrate stability and using Rocco's spreadsheet to get a feel for this. I wish I had a better understanding of my nitrate uptake, but I don't think anything is bottoming out. At these dosing levels, the nitrate level is pretty stable anywhere from a 1 ppm to 2.5 ppm daily uptake. If it were any higher, I would bottom out, so I will keep an eye on it.


My old growth leaves on the bacopa and staurogyne are getting spot algae here and there. The bacopa was in poor health before being put into this tank and doesn't seem to grow very fast compared to everything else, so I will continue to trim and see what happens. The staurogyne was very overcrowded so I think that contributed.

 

[DutchMuch]

I wanted to leave a comment on how i absolutely love the color tones of this aquascape. Great work, following!

 

[Gwad]

I wanted to leave a comment on how i absolutely love the color tones of this aquascape. Great work, following!

Thank you! I am using some cheap warm white LED floodlights, and they do make everything look cozy. I think my favorite is the Ludwigia which has turned almost a true pumpkin orange color.

The only issue I am running into is that the light green plants can look a bit washed out and yellow.

 

[BenB]

I wish I had a better understanding of my nitrate uptake

I'd wanted to work on that recently also, but the test kids are so wide ranging and non-specific. It's hard to really know where you are.

Your tank looks great!

 

[Koan]

but the test kits are so wide ranging and non-specific

Just invested in a Hanna high range kit from eBay and a spanky new magnetic stir kit for this very reason .. swear I will get my nitrate stable if it kills us all

 

[Gwad]

Just invested in a Hanna high range kit from eBay and a spanky new magnetic stir kit for this very reason .. swear I will get my nitrate stable if it kills us all

I'm really interested to see what you learn using that. I hope there will be a post from you soon

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I'm really interested to see what you learn using that. I hope there will be a post from you soon

I've been using, and testing, this method! I plan to make a post similar to my post on testing the Salifert test kits.

 

[BenB]

Just invested in a Hanna high range kit from eBay and a spanky new magnetic stir kit for this very reason .. swear I will get my nitrate stable if it kills us all

Its way past time you started a journal.

 

[Koan]

Elements are in motion..