We pulled out one of the 20gal long tanks from the closet, loaded it up, and got a bunch of tropicals. 3 Angels, 2 Turquoise Gouramis, 8 Serpe Tetras, 1 Raphael Catfish, and 1 Dwarf Clown Pleco. Here's the pics:

The 20gal Tank:


Silver Angelfish:


Silver Stripe Angelfish:


Black Angelfish:


Tourquoise Gourami (the one that perfers the left side of the tank):


Tourquoise Gourami (the one that perfers the right side of the tank):


Serpe Tetras (there's 8 of them):


So there they are. No pics of the Raphael Cat or the Pleco, they didn't want to come out and I don't want to disturb them since they're new to their surroundings. Anyway, that's what we did with the 20gal. I bought one of those new Whisper in-tank PF-10i filters with the interesting housing (the tree looking thing) to supplement the Tetra Whisper PF-20 I hung off the back. I never like using the recommended filtration levels in tanks, it never seems to keep the water as clear as I like. 1.5X the recommended filtration is the minimum I ever use. Like in the 100gal I'm using 2 AquaClear 110 filters.

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Speaking of the 100gal, I moved it upstairs. I got tired of waiting for the siphon to empty the tank so slowly. I have new pics of that and the fish in there as well:

100gal Tank:


My best shubunkin:


The shubunkin we call "black-eye" (his other eye is clear):


Another of the shubunkins:


All the pond fish in one pic:


OK That's enough for now. I just figured I'd throw out some new pics and let you know what we decided to do. :D

how long have they each been setup? and whispers can really only handle the smaller number on the range they give, so the 10i can handle about 5 gallons, and the 20 can handle 10 gallons, so you really only have 15 gallons of filtration in there. whispers are what i prefer though. nice to see those whisper tree trunk filters in a tank. i know you werent really asking for recommendations, but another thing is that a 20L isnt big enough for angels (especially 3 of them). they need some height, and a 29 is probably the shortest and smallest i would go with. nice goldfish, it is also nice to see a goldfish tank done right, most people are asking why their 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon are getting sick or something like that, so its nice to see them the way they are supposed to be. what are you feeding each tank? when fed the right foods and in the right water conditions serpaes are my favorite tetra because of their coloration. cory cats would also do well in that tank as a daytime bottom cleaner since you will be lucky to see the raphael cat out and about once a week.

Your tanks and fish are beautiful. I hope they stay that way. When I redo a tank, it always looks good but as time passes, things change. Mostly everything gets a coating of hard algae and stuff and degrades (loses color). Those tree trunk filters look nice from afar. I looked at one close up where it's not so natural looking. I like the fact that there's supposed to be room inside for a heater which would keep it away from fish that slam heaters (like plecos). I assume there wasn't enough room for your heater in there though since I see your heater.

Thats a nice tank! Did you cycle it?

OK quite a few questions here to answer:

1) reptileguy2727: how long have they each been setup?
- The 100gal has been up for 6 months, stocked for 4 months. The 20 gal filters ran in the 100 gal for 6 weeks to get bacterial growth going, and I used 5 gal of water from the 100 gal in the 20 gal along with 15gal of fresh for 2 weeks before stocking it. It's been stocked for almost 2 weeks now.

2) reptileguy2727: a 20L isnt big enough for angels (especially 3 of them). they need some height, and a 29 is probably the shortest and smallest i would go with. nice goldfish, it is also nice to see a goldfish tank done right, most people are asking why their 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon are getting sick or something like that, so its nice to see them the way they are supposed to be.
- It's a 20 gallon tank, which is about 75L. The angels are really only in there temporarily anyway. In the spring we're rebuilding our pond and moving the comets and shubunkins back out there. I like them in the tank, but they looked so awesome in the pond I wanted to give them a lot more space to live in and make it deep enough to winter them over in. Anyway, once they are back outside, the 100 gal will go tropical. Probably a few more angels (I want some koi/marble angels too) and some other community fish after a good cleaning and a few weeks cycling. I flirted with going marine, but I still can't get past the extra maintenance of the filters and the water.

3) reptileguy2727: what are you feeding each tank? when fed the right foods and in the right water conditions serpaes are my favorite tetra because of their coloration. cory cats would also do well in that tank as a daytime bottom cleaner since you will be lucky to see the raphael cat out and about once a week.
- The 100gal gets a mix of goldfish flake food and the pellet food that I fed them out in the pond. the 20gal gets a mix of brine shrimp (had to do something with that 5gal tank that was laying around hehe) and tropical color flakes. I'm not usually big on live foods like the various worms, but the brine shrimp breed well with minimal maintenance and my 2 snails that came into the house on the water lilys that I'm wintering over ina tub downstairs, so I kept them.
- There are 2 panda corys in the 100gal already (I forgot to mention them) along with a 7" pleco. It's my basic "cleaning crew" for most tanks. The raph and dwarf clown pleco are going to stay in the 20gal tank along with the serpaes and gouramis after the angels move out. I'll be getting a cory of some kind (I like the more obscure breeds of common fish, that way my tanks don't just have the usual fish store regulars in them) to go in there then as well. We do see the raph at feeding time every day though. He always comes out to eat then hides away again.

4) Robyn: I like the fact that there's supposed to be room inside for a heater which would keep it away from fish that slam heaters (like plecos). I assume there wasn't enough room for your heater in there though since I see your heater.
- Thanks for the compliments. I really do try to keep my tanks looking as nice as possible. I grew up seeing fantastic fish tanks in a chinese restaurant by me and they were always clean and sparkling and full of very healthy fish. I even got a job at my LFS for 2 years as a teenager where I still go to buy my fish and supplies just to learn how to keep a tank nice and the fish healthy. The LFS is always so much better than the chain stores, the owners are usually really interested in the fish instead of the money in selling them and know so much more about them and take care of them properly. Anyway, the heater does fit inside the log nicely. The problem is that there isn't enough circulation past it to maintain the entire tank temperature. I have a floating thermometer that I use to find the best location for the heater and it was showing only the area right around the filter houring and near the outflow of the filter to have a good temperature. I took it out and placed it above the airstone (as you might have noticed) and it works fine. So much for a nice idea... they need to work it out a little better for the next version.

5) Tommy: Thats a nice tank! Did you cycle it?
- As I mentioned, I did a partial cycle on the actual tank, but I used 25% of the water from an established tank and cycled the filters in the established tank as well. I also use a standard bio seed that I get at the LFS here regardless of how I set up the tank. The stuff stinks (they pressurize the bottle with hydrogen sulfide which provides nutrients for the bacteria while in transit) but it seems to work really well, even in my pond. If the water ever seems to get a little cloudy, a little shot of this stuff and it clears up in a day or so.


reptileguy2727: I'll keep in mind the information about the whisper filters. If they dont' do the job to my liking, I'll upgrade the one on the outside of the tank to an AquaClear 30 or 50 (if the 50 is on sale hehe).

Thanks for the replies everyone! :)

i cycle my tanks the same way Mike, except no bio seeds.

Mike, I think Reptileguy meant 20 gallon long not 20 liter with regards to "20L." I agree that a 20 gallon tank is not big enough for 3 adult angelfish so it's good they will get to go into the 100 gallon in the spring.

I guess that log filter thing doesn't have much/enough gph to pump enough water through it to keep water flowing nicely over the heater.

I agree with the angels, 29 gallon minimum. Ive seen those filters at petsmart, i prefer the aquaclears though.

Ya, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on the filters. I'll upgrade the external filter to an Aquaclear if it doesn't keep things the way I like them.

My wife and I want a bunch of angels in the large tank, so it seems we'll be using the 20gal for growing the young angels for a while then transferring them to the large tank when they get big enough. After that we'll put a few more semi-typical community fish in the 20 just to keep it nicely stocked. :)