TarHeel's First Journal - 29G Planted Community

[New2me]

Glad I could help! You may even want to just soak them in water that was boiling hot (like you would do in a tub with a large piece of driftwood) to kill everything, because it won't heat the inside of the rocks enough to risk then exploding.

You should also do the vinegar test to make sure they won't alter your tanks pH

Uh oh...how do I do the vinegar test?! I have normal clear vinegar, will that work? I don't want to shock my fish with ph crash/spike!! Glad u mentioned that, hadn't thought of it :-/

 

[tarheel92]

Uh oh...how do I do the vinegar test?! I have normal clear vinegar, will that work? I don't want to shock my fish with ph crash/spike!! Glad u mentioned that, hadn't thought of it :-/

Yeah just use regular white vinegar. Pour it on the rocks and let it sit for a minute, if it bubbles don't use it.

 

[New2me]

Yeah just use regular white vinegar. Pour it on the rocks and let it sit for a minute, if it bubbles don't use it.

Great, thanks for ur time...and patience!!

 

[tarheel92]

Great, thanks for ur time...and patience!!

That's what the forum and these build threads are for, always learning from each other!

 

[tarheel92]

So it feels like every day is Christmas when setting up a new tank! Finnex FugeRAY and Hydor inline heater showed up today.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Cool! I know the feeling... it IS like Xmas! I'm away from home myself and just got notification that some of my packages arrived too. Oh the anticipation builds!

The fixture looks good on your tank!

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Awesome it looks great!

 

[tarheel92]

Well I think I finally got everything running without leaking. New plumbing setup, silicone and self fusing tape to the rescue!

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Awesome set up, glad to hear its working properly! Get any plants today?

 

[tarheel92]

Got the active sponge filter today that went into the canister, first set of plants is arriving tomorrow.

 

[tarheel92]

There's life and color! Most of my plants arrived today and have gone in the tank! Now just need to wait for my test kit to arrive tomorrow to start cycling.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Looking wonderful!! You might need to throw in some fish food, a little fish or something to get the ammonia started tho IME

 

[tarheel92]

Looking wonderful!! You might need to throw in some fish food, a little fish or something to get the ammonia started tho IME

I have pure ammonia I'm going to use to cycle, I just don't want to add it until I can test the levels.

 

[tarheel92]

Well I've already decided to rescape a little, split the anubias in half and glued them to the driftwood

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Is that dwarf sag in the front?

 

[tarheel92]

Is that dwarf sag in the front?

Yeah it is

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

It looks like it- when I planted mine I had like 3 little plants an it made this within a month!

 

[tarheel92]

It looks like it- when I planted mine I had like 3 little plants an it made this within a month!

Awesome, I can't wait for it to fill out. Going to try to keep mine trimmed short, let's see how long that lasts before I get lazy. Also, the amazon sword I got sent is massive.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

I personally prefer the look of the curved leaves and thats the tallest mine gets, I just think it looks more natural that way. Sometimes it will need a trim tho. But yeah they should start spreading in no time!

 

[tarheel92]

I personally prefer the look of the curved leaves and thats the tallest mine gets, I just think it looks more natural that way. Sometimes it will need a trim tho. But yeah they should start spreading in no time!

Yeah I like that look too, and i'm sure it'll look better once it starts filling in too. I'll probably wait to add my corys to give all my plants a chance to establish