29 Gallon Planted Build...Advice Appreciated!!!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you can get a cheap T8, sure. You can also use the spiral flourescents, they come in a Daylight type, 6500 K, which can work pretty well.

I actually used utility clamp lamps with 8" round reflectors to light a 29G for quite a long time and still use them to light some of my tanks. To get the most out of them, I sometimes put a twin adaptor in them, which lets me use two bulbs in one reflector and really pumps up the available light. The spiral bulbs come in varying wattages.. 9 or 11, 13 and 23 or 26, roughly equivalent to the old 25, 40, 60 and 100 W incandescents they're meant to replace. The nice thing is, when I replace spirals to make the plants happy, I can still use them for their remaining life span in other lamps, so they aren't wasted.

If you've got a garage or basement with a flourescent tube fixture that uses the right size tube,, you can use old tank bulbs in them too. Depends on the type of bulb of course.
 
I'm running out to get the ammonia after my last class, and then have to pick my sister up from school. When I drop her off at home I will add the ammonia, and run to get the light, test kit, and java. I will test for ammonia, nitrites, amd nitrates Tuesday night.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Got the ammonia. Heading out in about an hour for the rest of the stuff

Are there any other tests that I will need to buy right now?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 

Attachments

  • 1414437510697.jpg
    1414437510697.jpg
    119.5 KB · Views: 110
Added .5 tsp of the ammonia for my poor BB. Running out now to pick up everything else :) can I float the java for a couple hours until I have time to tie it down?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Those little gel packs are a great value. The ones marked down due to brownness are often fantastic as long as the roots look good. You just clip off the brown stuff and away they go.

Yep. Snail free. Lol.

I'm seeing them clearly marked anymore, as fully aquatic vs semi aquatic.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Got the ammonia. Heading out in about an hour for the rest of the stuff

Are there any other tests that I will need to buy right now?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app


Nice use of the cup holder there! Just don't get thirsty.
Nah, I think you've got the testing covered.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Wow I hadn't seen a small ace ammonia bottle before! I got a gallon and have no idea what to do with the rest. Lol.

You are a hundred times more prepared than a lot of people at this point. Well done.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Wow I hadn't seen a small ace ammonia bottle before! I got a gallon and have no idea what to do with the rest. Lol.

You are a hundred times more prepared than a lot of people at this point. Well done.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

Hmm maybe clean the floors? Lol jk.

I HAVE PLANTS NOW :) :):):)

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
The TopFin tube java came with 2 plants. One has a little one growing off of it already( dont remember what this is called but read it yesterday). I adjusted my light timer so that it would only be on for 10.5 hours.

I am hoping to be able to add fish Friday or Saturday. With all the algae in tank I might add the fish in this order: 6 otos, 10 neons, 10 ghost shrimp, 10 black skirts, and 1 red (edit: flame) dwarf gourami. The gourami is entirely red except for the fins and I believe the head.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 

Attachments

  • 1414448581483.jpg
    1414448581483.jpg
    143.8 KB · Views: 124
  • 1414448610828.jpg
    1414448610828.jpg
    153.6 KB · Views: 107
  • 1414448650155.jpg
    1414448650155.jpg
    181.2 KB · Views: 116
Nice use of the cup holder there! Just don't get thirsty.
Nah, I think you've got the testing covered.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I needed somewhere to put it :) lol

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Should I shut off my bubble wand and air stone off when the kight is off? I was reading that bubblers are bad in planted tanks, but I like the look of the 12 inch wand :(

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
After reading the instructions that came with the test kit I like pH testing only! Only one that can't hurt me. lol

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
After reading the instructions that came with the test kit I like pH testing only! Only one that can't hurt me. lol

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app


Yeah ... Lol.

I clean with vinegar so I keep using the ammonia to experiment with cycling.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
Just fyi, since you plan to have a dwarf gourami, you should know that these fish can be hard to keep. They need very quiet water, with no current and a lot of shade, [ floating plant cover], along with a well planted tank, so they can hide in the plants. They don't do well with tank mates that swim much faster than they do or might nip at them.

They're extremely pretty, it's no wonder people like them so much. 'I' like them very much myself, but I eventually gave up trying to keep them because they so often died for no apparent reason, often within weeks of bringing them home. They had plenty of floating cover shade for them, lots of plants, no fast moving tank mates, but almost every one I had lived less than two months, no matter how hard I tried to make their tank as ideal as possible.

They're popular so they're bred in large numbers and this sometimes means the quality of the stock declines. Ten or fifteen years ago, these fish were much tougher than they are now, or so it appears to me. I've read a few articles that say much the same thing.

The choice is yours of course, but I just thought you should know they are often not an easy fish to keep alive.

Bubble devices aren't 'bad' for a planted tank, but you don't see them very often. They can help maintain oxygen levels when temps are too warm or if the tank is being treated for something. I don't recall if you are using C02, but if you are, and are concerned, shut if off at night when lights are off. If you choose to have a bubble wand there is no reason it has to be turned off in the dark.
 
Just fyi, since you plan to have a dwarf gourami, you should know that these fish can be hard to keep. They need very quiet water, with no current and a lot of shade, [ floating plant cover], along with a well planted tank, so they can hide in the plants. They don't do well with tank mates that swim much faster than they do or might nip at them.

They're extremely pretty, it's no wonder people like them so much. 'I' like them very much myself, but I eventually gave up trying to keep them because they so often died for no apparent reason, often within weeks of bringing them home. They had plenty of floating cover shade for them, lots of plants, no fast moving tank mates, but almost every one I had lived less than two months, no matter how hard I tried to make their tank as ideal as possible.

They're popular so they're bred in large numbers and this sometimes means the quality of the stock declines. Ten or fifteen years ago, these fish were much tougher than they are now, or so it appears to me. I've read a few articles that say much the same thing.

The choice is yours of course, but I just thought you should know they are often not an easy fish to keep alive.

Bubble devices aren't 'bad' for a planted tank, but you don't see them very often. They can help maintain oxygen levels when temps are too warm or if the tank is being treated for something. I don't recall if you are using C02, but if you are, and are concerned, shut if off at night when lights are off. If you choose to have a bubble wand there is no reason it has to be turned off in the dark.

Ok, any recommendations to replace the DG?

Right now I don't plan on running CO2, but I might dose liquid CO2 later on.

I shut off the bubblers because they where throwing the plants around a little bit. Once they get established I will turn them on for longer periods of time
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Ok just finished testing. Results are confusing. Between .5 and 1 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate. I added 2.5 ml of ammonia last night which should have given me 2.25ppm ammonia. What happened???


Edit: used the calculator to find out how many ppm ammonia i should have had http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I've never done fishless cycling, I always use old filter media to jump start a new tank, but as I understand it, you add ammonia until you get a reading of, I think the usual is 4 ppm ? Then you only add as much ammonia as is needed to maintain the readings at 4ppm until you start seeing nitrite readings. Nitrite showing means you have the first of the two BB types needed to cycle becoming established. Then you wait for nitrates to show up.

It's way easier to use old media.. and much faster. I think I'd go nuts waiting for those readings to change :).

Not sure what you might use instead of a DG. I've never really been into the idea of having a centre piece fish, though I know lots of people do like this idea. One of the larger gouramis might do. I think the gold or blue ones get to about four inches or so at maturity. I forget what size tank you're planning on now.. thread's getting long !

Hopefully someone else will have ideas on fish for this purpose.
 
Back
Top Bottom