My new 29 gallon piece of paradise!

Feb 10, 2011
81
0
0
Annapolis, MD
#1
Hey guys! Check out my tank! Let me know what you think. Always open to suggestions. See my signature for livestock details!

let me know if there are any problems with the attached images!
 

Attachments

paperdog9

Large Fish
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#3
Trush me, you won't just mix in the live plants, you will get addicted to them and get more and more and make a SPECTACULAR tank! Live plants are like 200 percent better then plastic most of the time (too me). But, you can make a pretty cool tank with plastic, and yours is looking really good so far! Good luck!
 

Feb 10, 2011
81
0
0
Annapolis, MD
#4
Thanks a ton guys! I really appreciate it. I may keep you in mind paperdog. I'm gonna need some advice on how/where to get the right plants for a beginner. Of course I'm looking for some plants that will thrive well in a tropical community at about 78 degree temps and in 7.2-7.4 PH. Don't mind if the fish nibble on them but I'd like to eventually switch to all natural plants. Any advice? Suggestions?

Thanks for the positive feedback!
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#7
seriously fertelizers arent even needed depending on your tap water.
1. Carbon source - your fish in the case of a casual planted setup. and decaying stuff.
2. Micronutrients - something like Seachem flourish. 1ce a week about half a capful. enough for a casual planted tank.
3. Macronutrients:
a. Nitrogen - your fish/food/tap water
b. Phosphate - your fish/food/tap water
c. Potassium - not sure, but traces in tap water probably. if you care so much, get flourish Potassium and dose the same as flourish.
Weekly water changes of at least 5% will keep your plants' nutrients replenished.
Light- VERY IMPORTANT. must be at least florescent, T8 is ok, T12 is lame, T5 is specialized and expensive. most stock tank hoods have T8 bulbs. if your hood has regular screw in type bulbs, the just replace w/e you have with daylight CFL bulbs of around 6500K spectrum. thats the most common daylight bulb sold.
If the tank's hood is T8 long type pin bulbs, then just get a replacement bulb that's the same length and make sure it fits and all. it must be labeled as daylight which is usually 6500K or around there. very cheap generic lights.

Did i miss anything?
 

Feb 10, 2011
81
0
0
Annapolis, MD
#8
aight then. Newman, you're the man. Thanks to all for the great feedback. next step, will be adding in roughly 10 new live aquatic plants. I'll update then and keep you informed on the progress. Thanks for taking a lot of the fear and stress out of it Newman.
 

paperdog9

Large Fish
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#9
I agree with Newman, you don't really need as much as people say you do. My fifteen gallon (in my avatar and signature ) runs on a tad less them 2 watts per gallon, using a fifteen and forteen watt screw in flourescent bulb, DIY Co2, and I fertalize maybe once a month or so. I do probably about 35% weekly waterchanges, so that probably replenishes their nutrients quite a bit. And I also agree with Newman when he said to look around the plant section, or make a thread for plant recommedation, there are a lot of us plant keepers out there! ;) Good luck!
 

lauraf

Superstar Fish
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#11
Just be careful that what you are buying are truly aquatic plants. Lots of stores sell plants for fish tanks that actually won't survive for long totally underwater. Do some research, and if in doubt, take a pic or get the name of the plant you see, and ask here . . . .
 

aakaakaak

Superstar Fish
Sep 9, 2010
1,324
0
0
Chesapeake, Virginia
#13
I love your rocks. They look really great.

The plastic plants work good...until you get hooked on live then they're done for. Trust me, it'll happen.

You need:
A background
Something to add volume to your floor, like slate rocks with hidey holes or a nice gnarly piece of driftwood.
 

Feb 10, 2011
81
0
0
Annapolis, MD
#14
Thanks man! I appreciate it. The rocks are actually a mixture of the smaller substrate, natural color, a smaller bag of the medium sized substrate, natural color and white aquarium sand. I also managed to find some really cool black river rock with natural lines in them that I put in as well. For the main centerpiece though, I'm currently working on glazing a 5th of kraken black spiced rum (google image the bottle, really cool) and removing the bottom so they have a place to swim up inside a nice nautical, piratey looking bottle of rum. But it looks like that's going to have to take a back seat to figuring this Bala and Buenos Aires situation out and getting to work on some plants. I'm thinking a hard water plant pack from thatfishplace.com I really like those a lot! I'm waiting until I can be sure the Ich situation is under control though so I can turn the temp down and start removing some of the salt..
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#16
air? like an air pump/stone? benefits are more surface agitation, and thats about it. it does little to actually oxygenate the water, BUT the agitation it creates is good (however a simple waterfall on your HOB filter already does a good job). if you go with plants, air is decent, but be warned that it off gasses CO2 in the water so your plants may not grow fast. but it shouldn't kill them. IMO keep the air until you get lots of plants you like in there, then stop the air pump usage, let the plants produce air (plus your filter agitating the water, but with lots of plants it should make a water fall since4 that does the same off gassing effect). Once the plants are there, put the tank on a regular light schedule on a timer and the oxygen production during the day time would be good. you could run the airstone during night if youre really worried, but i haven not seen any issues.
 

skjl47

Large Fish
Nov 13, 2010
712
0
0
Northeastern Tennessee.
#17
Hello; The statement has been made that air bubbles remove dissolved co2 from the water. I am curious as to how this was determined. It has been a while since I took a limnology class (1979). I may have the text packed away somewhere, but do not recall that fact. ( may just be a faulty memory.) I know that science is a series of new discoveries replacing yesterdays understanding, so perhaps I have been out of the loop. Can anyone point to a source of this information? I also seem to recall that an agitated water surface contains more dissolved oxygen than a still water surface. A riffle area in a stream has more dissolved O2 than a pool. Cold water holds more than warm. In the field studies that is the way I recall it being when we measured the dissolved O2. I like to incorporate new knowledge and this seems like something new, at least to me.
 

Feb 10, 2011
81
0
0
Annapolis, MD
#19

skjl47

Large Fish
Nov 13, 2010
712
0
0
Northeastern Tennessee.
#20