Kittys 20G Lowtech/budget/light tank.

[Kittysnax]

update:

I got a couplea new plants tonight.

unlabled stemish plant, thought it was wisteria...then again I have no idea


Ludwigia (sp?) "water primrose"


Now on these....do I plant them in the ground? I figured I would the Ludwigia, since its you know, in a pot, but since I have no clue what this other is, I was just curious.

ALSO: My lightstrip came in. The pics were taken with the new strip and bulbs ;3.

[Kittysnax]

Full tank shot after planting:

[Kittysnax]

I was able to get a ride to petco and heres what I came home with:

2ft background. Black or Blue: 1.99/ft
1 pc driftwood: 10.99
6 ghost shrimp: .49/ea (rip off I know, but I wanted to test em out)
1 Mid-range Ph test kit: 2.99 (Wardley, not APC. I wanted the APC, but I had a 25$ budget)

Ill take a pic when I get everything tied and situated ^_^

[Kittysnax]

Photo Update

PHOTO UPDATE:

The moss ball looked out of place sooo since I found my quartz block I been looking for for 3 weeks, I decided to give it a "hat"


A pond Snail who left me a nice lil blob of eggs today! (camera wouldnt give a good closeup of the clutch) and 3 of the 5 ghost shrimp.


Two Ghost shrimp are scurrying around here somewhere...


The female betta fighting with ehr reflection to combat boredom!


And a Full Tank Shot. I hope fort the moss to overgrow and tone down the white quartz later on. Ill deal with the blinding whiteness for now though ;3


And that was what I did today. Ran a ammonia test it was 0. Ran a Ph test, came out to 7.4. More tests will have to come later as my strips are almost 2 years out of date, and my actual KITS are current. >_>

PS- If phishphreek comes across this, this is the female I was gonna attempt to breed. Supposidly she is a CT, but I have seen some veils with tails like hers so I have no clue. :/

[Mike B]

Looks like you have made a good start, thats a nice looking setup,hope mine does as good.
Peace
Mike B

[Kittysnax]

thanks mike! I am really shocked it is leveling out so well. Last time I cycled a tank it was up and down and up and down with every test kit under the sun and it didnt level off until 4-6 months >_>. I honestly think the substrate and plants did all the work! The planted tank forums was pretty much my bible when it came to plants, so I bet its cause I basically asked about EVERYTHING right down to which plants I should bury/tie/float LOL!

I meant to update and say I was seriously considering removing the betta and ghosts so that I could throw in about 20 Red Cherry Shrimp or 10 Crystal Red/Black Shrimp (A/B Grade) to start colonizing it. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks expect a huge post about me crying over not being able to catch 5 Ghost shrimp in a 20G planted tank!!!

[Kittysnax]

weird I lost a o-cat tonight. I was toppin off my tank with some water (exact tank temp w/declorinator) and noticed he hadnt moved all day and wasnt moving when the current hit him from the pitcher. The driftwood knocked over and i went to pick it up and he didnt move at all, but he was alive. He was just really lethargic and pale. so i turned the lights off early tonight, watched tv and 3 hours later flipped the lights on to find him bein eaten by the shrimps. The other ocat found the driftwood as well and has been hanging out on it. he seems to be eating and his eyes, gills, color, etc look alright. everything else in the tank is active and fine. Perhaps it is because they are a bit of a challenge to acclimate? It has been pretty much 2 weeks since I got them, o well. I hate to make the one lone otto wait, but I need to check my water in the morning to be sure it isnt a parameter prob before i buy more to keep him company. :/

[rage]

What kind of test kit did you use to test Ammonia? I would test it again since it's doubtful that your tank had finished cycling.

[Kittysnax]

What kind of test kit did you use to test Ammonia? I would test it again since it's doubtful that your tank had finished cycling.

The API ammo kit i used was pure yellow, indicating zero. Everything else looks/acts/eats fine just that one otto kicked the bucket. /shrug o well.

[Kittysnax]

Thanks to Astex for the MUCH NEEDED plants and shrimp! Heres the look so far:

[Roujin]

Lookin real good!

[Astex]

If you can't find the shrimp sometimes, look in the moss mat on the wall, mine always hang out there. Don't forget to drop food in occasion, they really love algae wafers.

Tank looks great!

[Kittysnax]

yea LOL i lost the berried female all day yesterday but when i flipped on the lights, low and behold there she was nommin on the driftwood LOL!!!

[Kittysnax]

Heres what I snapped yesterday:

crypts..i hope this is what they look like "not melted"


my best pic so far i think. Red Cherry Shrimp:


emerald cory:


cherry shrimp:


Emerald cories:


Shrimp and cories argue over wafer bits:

[Kittysnax]

FTS:

Spotted Cory:

Albinos:

Right Side:

Right Side 2:

Left Side:

Left Side 2:

Female CT Betta:


edit: The rocks are Petrified Wood and the pictures make my tank look washed out and yellow. Its more green than it looks. D: I have also started dosing Excel daily/ every other day and have noticed a BIG perk up in my plants