20 gallon long outdoors

[Numero111]

I was planning on putting a 20 long outside in a more shaded area with tons of plants and some fish and no filters or heaters. Should I use soil with sand on top what plants and fish can I have? Any info or experiences are welcome.

[fishman1]

Try using organic miracle grow it actually imo doesn't have to be in the shade and won't grow algae if its in direct sunlight as long as you put fast growing plants and for fish I used guppies or even bettas work but if you put fish then I guess you can put it in the shade so it doesnt get too hot and melt and cook the fish and plants

[aggrocichlidfan]

Algea will build like crazy

[aggrocichlidfan]

I have a tank outside in the sun...and its full of algea

[fishman1]

In mine that I left outdoors full sun with plants it didn't

[Numero111]

For those who did the outdoor tank what plants did you have and substrate

[Roujin]

I had a 10g NPT outside in a shaded area, gets indirect light. Its inside now for the winter. There is some algae but it is manageable. I used aged potting soil capped aqua soil amazonia. For plants I used what I had lying around - rotala indica, hair grass, java ferns, and whatever else I threw in there.

[Numero111]

Ok I think I'll do something like that but with some guppies a pleco and bettas. Ill do potting soil with soft belly amazon plant soil. And by the way what is NPT?

[blacksmith37]

I have a 29 outside the year around; in mostly shade, the is some hair algae- I pull out a handful a few times/yr. Val and duckweed can be frozen solid ,and live. Hornwort doesnt like to freeze but otherwise works well (ice has never been > 1/2"). Amazon sword does not over- winter. There might be some A.nana. but I have not looked for awhile. I have mostly standard brown gravel.

[Numero111]

I have gotten lots of different plants from Aquarium World just to see which ones do best and now all of them are doing great. For fish i actually caught some in a bayou near my house and they seem to be wild mollies and mosquito fish. Everything is doing great even when it got near freezing some nights and I put a sponge filter in it because its under my porch and wont get too wet to help with the algae which is starting to cover the glass.

[davemonkey]

I'd go with some natives if you plan on keeping it outdoors full-time.

NPT means "natural planted tank"...using soil as a substrate and using as few extra components as possible.

[Numero111]

Yep that's what I have

[eklikewhoa]

any pics?

for fauna I will suggest some least killifish

[Totenkampf]

something to keep the mosquitos down would be good. rasboras or flagfish would be good choices too and the flagfish will nibble on algae

[Numero111]

yeah ill put pics up tomorrow