My 20 gallon natural planted tank

[spacebug]

[davidtcb1]

Beautiful tank. What is the substrate and lighting?

[spacebug]

Thank you.

The substrate is miracle grow organic choice potting soil capped with play sand. The lighting is T5HO by Odyssea (purchased on Aquatraders.com)

For the plants, I bought an assortment from aquabid. I've had it up now since January and have to trim it back regularly. It's a fun, ever-changing tank.

[eyebedam]

Tat looks really nice..how long after you set it up before you started to notice really good growth & have you had any algae issues with it at all?

[davidtcb1]

What Kelvin are the lights?

[spacebug]

The lights are 6500k. There are two 24 inch, 24 watt bulbs.

It took two-three months to see the growth really take off. I took pictures all along the way and have been playing around in movie maker trying to make a slide show. Maybe some day I'll get it done and post it.

I've had very little problem with algae. I do get a little light, green spot algae on the glass that the shrimp and snails make quick work of. Every now and then I help them out and scrape it off with a credit card.

[davidtcb1]

Awesome. And how long are the lights on per day?

[spacebug]

I keep them on for 13 hours a day. That's a little longer than recommended, but it seems to be working for me.

I really wish I'd sprung for the light fixture with the moonlights when I bought my lights. Then I could see what's going on in the tank all the time.