My last planted tank of the year...

[acbaldwin]

Since I'm getting outta the hobby for a while, I think I should at least share my last tank (out of nine others this year). I've been doing planted tanks for a couple of years, but gotta stop for a bit while I make a few changes at home.
Specs:
20 g acrylic w/ eheim 2013 plumbed in the back (thanks david!)
2X65 watt coralife w/2 10000k tubes
40 pounds eco-complete substrate (thanks for the deal pk!)
1 120gph powerhead for flow
DIY CO2 w/ glass disc diffuser
Estimative Index ferts

Livestock:
Many red cherry shrimp
5 Bumble bee shrimp (Caridina cf. breviata)
6 Crystal Red Shrimp (cardina sp.)
12 amano shrimp (Cardina Japonica)
14 Dwarf crays (Cambarellus shufeldtii)
5 true Siamese Algae Eaters
20 White Clouds
2 Juvenile Bristlenose Plecos

First, a FTS:
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4233/masterpiecehaoriginal3an.th.jpg (http://img116.imageshack.us/my.php?image=masterpiecehaoriginal3an.jpg)
The foreground is glossostigma elatanoides, the plant on the left is Hygrophila Difformis, then to the right of that is Java Fern, and finally the plants in the right corner are just a bunch of different species of cryptocornes

The crypts:
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/1338/crypts2ar.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crypts2ar.jpg)

Java fern:
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/3893/java5xd.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=java5xd.jpg)

A blurry macro of a male cray:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/7484/craymacro7rt.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=craymacro7rt.jpg)

An unidentified stem (Rotala Indica?):
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6291/rindicamacro5pn.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rindicamacro5pn.jpg)

An Amano Shrimp:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9475/japonicamacro5an.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=japonicamacro5an.jpg)

Whatthehell, here's a shot of my shrimp breeder tank:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9702/hmtank4hg.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hmtank4hg.jpg)
The plant in there right now is Hemianthus Micranthemoides

Here's the shrimp (Crystal Red and Red Cherry) on some mini moss:
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8246/rcscrs4ik.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rcscrs4ik.jpg)

And My 5 Gal cube at work:

The plants are Dwarf Hairgrass in the front, Blyxa Japonica and E. Tenellus in the midground, and Najas grass (najas guadelupensis) in the back. It's filled in much better since this pic was taken. There are red cherry shrimp and rasboras micro inside. I've got 3x13 watts PC over it (6500K).
Any questions or comments are definitely welcome.
The tank, filter, and substrate of the 20 will be up for sale after I ship out the plants.

[SDFISHMAN]

Looks good andrew.. You have to help me set one up..

[acbaldwin]

Thanks Justin... I'll help you set one up, just make sure you have a tank:D

[SDFISHMAN]

The funny thing is that tank was mine before.. Alright I guess I have own alot of tanks:D .. What is the $ range for something like that setup???

[acbaldwin]

Yeah I know...
This tank was actually an entry in aquaticplantcentral.com's inexpensive aquarium contest, where all tanks entered had to cost less than $200. This one in particular tallied up to about $150, new livestock and equipment included.
The livestock alone sold for about 3-4 times what I bought it for about 3 months ago:cool: . The biggest thing I left out was pressurized CO2, which would have made a tremendous difference considering I was running 6.5 WPG with brand new bulbs.

[SDFISHMAN]

Sounds good I'll PM you soon when I'm ready.. I might want to make a 7G cube planted tank..

[Daniel]

beautiful tank!

nicely planted FW tanks still amaze me, awesome job :)

[Nick_Kun]

Very nice man. I've always wanted to try a planted setup but my reef is taking up most of my free time. :)

[acbaldwin]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I'll probably switch over to reefing next year:cool:

[jacksandgo]

Great setup. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the glossostigma elatanoides? Or maybe I could buy a little starter bunch from you? I've been looking for it for the past month or so for my freshwater tank. It's a perfect ground cover. :)

[[G]h0s'][']

very beautiful tank and pics. I love those shrimp. *burp*

[SDFISHMAN]

Andrew what happened to all the plants???

[WanaLeime]

Man, those pics were awesome!!! I bet it was hard to upkeep....

[acbaldwin]

Great setup. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the glossostigma elatanoides? Or maybe I could buy a little starter bunch from you? I've been looking for it for the past month or so for my freshwater tank. It's a perfect ground cover. :)
Thanks. You can get glosso locally from AW, it's usually there for $4. Alternatively, you can stop by aquaticplantdepot.com and order the same sized bunch for $1. I don't have any left, I sold my carpet of it for a hefty price:D .

Thanks everybody for the compliments. Justin, the plants are SOLD! Every last one. Well, except the ones I held onto when I realized my crystal red shrimp were caryying eggs:eek: :D .
And actually, the upkeep on this tank wasn't too bad. just had to keep the glosso from spreading to fast, and if I missed ferts for even one day, algae would start in a bit. Definitely don't want algae to get a foothold on 6.5 wpg of brand new pc's!\

For anybody even remotely interested in planted tanks, check out aquaticplantcentral.com. The flat out best resource for planted tank info.

[jacksandgo]

Ahh...AW...I hadn't looked there. Thanks, buddy! I'll swing over and grab some from them. I like the lush carpet look it creates. It'll cover and thrive in the fluorite nicely, I'm sure.