u/Dulok33

The water is a little cloudy because of the iron I dosed this morning, but the Celestial Pearl Danios, Panda Corys, Amano Shrip, and Otos are all out frolicking.

I’m pretty happy with my tank, but there’s always room for improvement. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go now?

I’ve kept planted tanks for 20+ years, but not very successfully. I’ve had this basic 20 gallon tank for most of that time. I’ve never been able to keep red plants successfully. About four months ago, I decided to try using Claude to help me build the tank I’ve always wanted. It turns out that I was almost doing everything right, I just needed a few tweaks. Lighting was good, but it needed to be a little less intense and a little shorter photoperiod. Filter was decent but needed new types of media. DIY CO2 system was fine, but the timing for it coming on and shutting off needed to be adjusted. My livestock choices sucked.

First, I had to slowly get rid of the fish I had in the tank. I’ve had mollies in this tank for about 8 years. The good news was I never had to buy fish. The bad news is I had to buy two angelfish to keep the population in check. The bioload in the tank led to it being unstable and hostile to plants. Of course, the mollies and angels had to go. After about a month of slowly donating my fish to the local store, I pulled all the old plants and got new substrate. After a couple of weeks, I got some water sprite, red root floaters, and wisteria. After a couple more weeks, I added alternanthera reineckii and Ludwigia repens.

Slowly, over time, I added:
4 otos
6 amano shrimp
12 celestial pearl danios
6 panda corys

I have lights on at 80% for 8 hours. I dose estimative index alternating macros and plantex six days a week. I supplement with flourish iron twice a week. I have a DIY CO2 system that runs on citric acid/baking soda mixture. I use a three-media filter (two types of sponges, ceramic disks, filter floss). Testing weekly shows stable conditions as:

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm

I’m at the point where I don’t think there’s much more that I can do. I have no room for new plants. I will be adding 10 chili rasboras when my local store can get them. Lighting shouldn’t be adjusted. Fertilizer regiment is stable. Water conditions are stable.

Does anyone see any improvements I can make?