The First Month

I have a 20 gallon freshwater tank.
– I'm running an AquaClear filter for 30gallon
– Red Sea Turbo CO2 Bio System
– A 50 watt heater
– Another pump for more water circulation and air at night
– (2) 15watt 18" fluorescent tubes, one is a lightning rod 11,000K (daylight),
the other is an Aqua Glow
– Weekly I use Potassium supplement and Big Al's multipurpose fertilizer & Bio Support


Here is a list of the plants I added on Jan 11, 2006, the second week of setting up my tank.

– (2) amazon sword
– (1) narrow leaf chain sword
– (1) Cardamine lyrata (Bitter Cress)
– (3) Rotala indica
– (1) Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green''
– (2) Micranthemum umbrosum (baby tears)
– (2) Dwarf Hygrophila

A week later, Jan.18, I added three suckermouth catfish and so far things have been going well
in my tank. I'm starting to get a green mildew on my petrified wood, and hair algae on my cryptocoryne. The narrow leaf chain sword is starting to spread, hopefully it'll cover the foreground. I've been having a problem with the dwarf hygro's, some of their roots are becoming soft and dark at the base.

I'm adding more potassium to the water to see what happens.

I have quite a few baby snails I keep catching every other day, will have to get a clown loach to eat them since they're eating my plants.

This week will be my fourth week.