David Ellsworth

I have a matten filter in a 20L and it does provide more surface area and you can see the flow in the tank. I only have snails in it now cause it finished a cycle, but i plan shrimp for it. One big benefit of a matten filter is a large area for biofilm/algae to grow that shrimplets and shrimp can latch onto and eat. That's why many shrimp beeders set them up.

If you are looking for a high light aquarium you might want to seer clear of inert substrates. You might be able to make it work with a lot of ferts and tons of root tabs, but active substrate will allow plants to spread out faster. Also if you are using high light you may run into plants getting deficiencies and not growing well or starving to death with inert substrates. Most of the time when people use high light they are dosing CO2 because your plants will rapidly deplete what your fish produce and then not grow well or die off. I know someone mentioned Bentley Pascoe already and he does several in depth videos on the benefits of all the different types of substrates inert, active, nutrient absorbing stuff like eco complete. He really provides a lot of good info on this subject. I know dirted plant tanks can go for 8-10 years or more if you've reached a balance with fish stocking to provide enough fish waste/food to keep the soil enriched. But if you are looking to try something new then high light and CO2 with an active substrate may be what you are looking for.

My bladder snails and baby ramshorn snails do this all the time too. It was funny watching them float around the tank and stretch their bodies to reach the surface or a java fern leaf. They love to eat the surface film on aquariums, but it can also be a water quality issue too my online research showed. It got me to test my water once and found elevated ammonia in the tank which lead to the discovery of a dead fish. Entertaining and useful.

Hi! Relatively newbie fish nerd here. I've been following Aquarium Coop since maybe four to five months and that just opened a door to Fishtube for me. I use to have small 10 gal tanks as a kid and broke back into the hobby with a tiny betta tank. I had my female betta for 6 months to a year before she passed, long before I found the Coop. I didn't know what I do now and realize the tank was too small and that my tap water is very hard and has 1 ppm ammonia in it so I believe that was a likely cause for her death. I learned a ton from Aquarium Coop and others online and set up a 30 Gal Long guppy tank filled with live plants and now some new babies. It has cherry shrimp, mystery snails, bladder snails, guppies, and amano shrimp. Just gravel substrate, with root tabs, some dragon stone, and driftwood. It has a Fluval 3.0 plant light and just a sponge filter. I've got a 20 Long with a matten filter, lightly planted, and with some ramshorn snail hitchhikers. I plan to make it a shrimp tank when I can get a few more plants in there and some cash for the shrimp. It has a stingray light that works pretty well for such a shallow tank, eco-complete substrate, and gray elephant stone. I also have two twenty gal high dirted tanks that I'm experimenting with. I have soil capped with pool filter sand and some river rocks. Lighting is a cheap $24 shop light and no filter or air. I'm trying the Walstad method here so they are just now going through their long cycle period. I plan to put whiteclouds or maybe celestial pearl danios in these as the whiteclouds can handle lower temps. I'm currently planning a 10 gal betta tank that i'll heavily plant.

I know you were looking for large tanks, but I have some experience with the Fluval Plant 3.0 on my 30L tank (36x12x16). I really love the light. You can use the Fluval app to access it via bluetooth on your smart phone to program it. You have control over all the light spectrum (pink, blue, cold white, pure white, warm white) and so you can set them to any or no intensity that you desire. You can program split light periods with a rest "mid-day" as well with the pro setting, or run the default light period and set your light intensities, and on/off and night light functions. I love the sunrise effect it has as well. I have mine set at 65% for all the light spectrum and my plants are growing great in my shallow tank, my guppy grass it taking over, but my guppy fry love it. My only hang up is my glass top. It is the aqueon with that dark plastic bar in the middle so It makes it hard to light up the front of the tank, depending on your situation you might need two if you have as similar situation, one for the front and one for the back. You might be able to hang it as well to counter this. I have dwarf lilies covering 3/4 of my tank top as well so that lowers my light on that left half. I'm experimenting with a $25, 45", shop light in a low tech dirted tank set up for a couple of 20 gal. It is just a 4000k, 55 watt LED and my plants seem to be doing pretty well so far. It is recently fully planted and going through the cycle. I know you specifically wanted larger tanks so I hope you don't mind my response. It may give you a few things to think about, and I don't know how high tech you plan on going or if you plan on using high light/ active substrate / CO2, etc.