# uncskainch's 29 -- updated 05/06/07



## g8wayg8r (Dec 24, 2003)

The single biggest decision you need to make now is lighting. I have a 29-gallon tank and it's lit with two 55W compact fluorescant bulbs. You can't beat the reflectors from AH Supply but you need to be a little bit handy to make the hoods. Otherwise, you will neef to find a finished hood ready to plug in out of the box. One 55W light will do fine if you choose to plant either in the front or back only, but it can limit you plant selection as well. 

Alternanthera reineckii is an easy-to-grow red plant and in lower light the folage is a nice green. If you want something that grows well in moderate light that will have pinkish tips as it grow to the surface, try rotala indica. 

In time your sword will become a beautiful plant and unfortunately grow into a monster. Enjoy it while you can. Crypts will fit in your tank better than a sword and they propagate readily. Another broad-leaf plant that fits nicely in a 29-gallon tank is anubias frazeri. It will grow up about a foot, looks great and it's hard to kill.

Your cabomba has limited life unless you get into that four watts/gal range. I tried at one watt/gal and it didn't work!

In time you may find it necessary to upgrade your current hardware. That's fine. I did that and I'm sure others have as well. That's part of learning. Enjoy.


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## jeff63851 (Oct 17, 2004)

That's great about getting the stronger lights. I think those rocks on the right doesn't give you the natural looks. For the wood, I think it doesn't look that much natural with it standing up...maybe you can lay it down? Well, that's what I would do. If you're the outdoors type of person (that's me) you should go on a hike with streams. I found a nice piece of driftwood and a bunch of rocks that makes my aquarium look more natural. 

I think the sword plant is Echinodorus bleheri. I'm not that sure though...

Good luck!!

-Jeff


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks, Andrew and Jeff, for the tips and suggestions. I'm torn between getting the single 30" Coralife 65w freshwater fixture and their double 30" 65w freshwater fixture. The single bulb will get me 2 and a quarter watts per gallon and the double will be closer to 4 and a half. Big difference! 

I guess I'm weighing price (if I opt for the double, I'll be waiting a bit longer to get it, but I'm okay with that if I decide it's what I really want) and wondering how big a difference, in terms of plant selection, it would make to go with the double vs. the single. I suppose I'm also a little bit intimidated at the idea of a high light tank -- I want to do this right, but 4 1/2 watts seems like a lot, which would requiring more sophisticated dosing, maintenance, etc. Any thoughts? (If someone can reassure me that the dosing isn't too complicated and I can supply enough CO2 with DIY, at least short-term, maybe I'll take the high light plunge!)

Also, on the hardscape, I'm planning to ditch the rainbow rock once I get everything set for a real aquascape. Right now, it gives the shrimp a place to hide and the danios something to zoom in and out of, but it's not really the look I want, and once there are a lot of plants in the tank, there will be plenty of places for critters to hide and play tag. Maybe I can find some more natural looking rocks to create a cave/sheltered space?

As for the driftwood, it's bolted to a piece of shale that holds it upright, but I suppose I could unbolt it, or saw it off. (Has anyone done this?) Of course there will be a flat side to it, but that could be covered up by plants or pointed toward the back of the tank.

Thanks for the tips on plants that might do well -- I'll look into a smaller broadleaf plant to replace my sword when it gets too large. It's really pretty and growing very slowly with my 1/2 watt per gallon right now, so at least I have something nice to look at while I wait to buy the lights and set up CO2. I'd welcome other suggestions!


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## Pia (Dec 20, 2004)

Hehehe :hihi: at the fork-skewered broccoli! I don't know what it is about it, but seeing that just made my day. I would never have thought about holding down a veggie like that. 

If your driftwood is anchored down by some rock, be careful because chances are that if you seperate it, the wood will float!

Edit: If your substrate allows, you could probably tilt the wood, having the slate exposed a little, and just hide it with plants like you had suggested. 

I really like the shape of the wood.


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## jeff63851 (Oct 17, 2004)

never mind about the wood...maybe you should get some moss and tie them on? I think it would be alot safer not unbolting the wood. The would might float. Maybe tilt it down left a little? I think it would look more natural...well that's just me. Good luck! roud: 

-Jeff


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Pia said:


> Hehehe at the fork-skewered broccoli!


Kathy just has very well mannered fish that were taught not to eat with there finners ! :wink:


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

uncskainch said:


> As for the driftwood, it's bolted to a piece of shale that holds it upright, but I suppose I could unbolt it, or saw it off. (Has anyone done this?) Of course there will be a flat side to it, but that could be covered up by plants or pointed toward the back of the tank.


Most often the wood is attached to the rock via a stainless steel screw. If you have a drill you can reattach the wood in whatever manner you choose.


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## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

also, you need to take out the bubble wall. it will drive away any CO2 in the tank; plants will make enough for fish to thrive


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## g8wayg8r (Dec 24, 2003)

Kathy:

The alternanthera in the photo above was grown directly below a 55w bulb, where the watts/gallon was equal to 1.9. If you put your plants below the bulb, you will not have a problem until/unless they grow a bunch. You will need to trim them so the bottom is not deprived of light. You will find that there is a world of difference between 2 watts/gallon that is concentrated over a few inches or spread out over the top of your tank.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm now seriously considering the 2x65w Coralife fixture, which would allow me to run bump up to 4+ wpg, or to adjust my lighting so that I have one tube on for part of the day with a high light period in the middle. If I'm overwhelmed by the demands of a high light tank, I could always just run one bulb at a time.

Oh -- and I am planning to remove the bubble wall once I get CO2 and higher light -- it's just something for the fish to play in at the moment.

Maybe I'll try removing the slate from the driftwood and reattaching it so that it is less vertical in the tank. Thanks for the suggestion. (Plus it will give me something to play around with while I save up for better lighting!)


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*Rearranged -- better?*

I took some advice from the forum and I'm slowly improving my tank. This is, of course, nowhere near where I want it to be, but I want to use this journal to document the long haul, so here it is!

Please ignore the hard water spots on the background (on my to-do list), the reflections on the glass (I'll take the next pictures after dark to reduce those!) and the cloudiness -- I did a massive water change a little while before I took this shot and the water still hasn't cleared up all the way.

The changes:

-- removed driftwood from slate, decided on a new angle for it, reinstalled slate (it was attached with a square-drive screw of all things! Ugh!) 

-- attached java fern to driftwood (it looks a little funky at the moment because it hasn't oriented itself to its new direction yet)

-- removed rainbow rock

-- removed bubble wall

-- replaced broccoli-skewering fork with cucumber-holding clownfish roud: 

-- added crypts and dwarf lily bulbs

-- removed most of the dying cabomba and wisteria

-- added two clown loaches for snail control (working beautifully)

-- released swordtail fry into the community tank -- the 18 of them will be headed to the LFS for store credit once they get a little bigger

Still on the to-do list:

-- Upgrade lighting -- Thanks to the good advice from Rex Grigg and others in the lighting forum, I have realized that 2x65w lighting would probably require pressurized CO2, and I won't have $150+ to spend on that any time soon, so rather than get the get the double light and run one strip, which would unevenly light the tank, I'm going to go with just the 65w fixture for now. I may regret that later and upgrade to a high light set up, but I think this is the best short-to-medium term solution for my budget.

-- Get going with DIY CO2.

-- More plants, of course! Right now it's sort of a "tank with plants" and I'm trying to move to a real planted tank. So with 2.25 wpg, I'm guessing I can certainly grow crypts, anubais, java fern, java moss, and probably corkscrew vals and dwarf sag -- other suggestions? Is 2.25 wpg considered low light?

-- I may add a pair of dwarf gouramis at some point as well

Just thought I'd share the latest incarnation. It's nowhere near what I have in my mind's eye just yet, and nothing like the tanks that have been my inspiration here, but slowly it's progressing. Thanks for all the advice and support, everyone.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*Updated*

So I switched to a Hagen Flora-Glo bulb (20w instead of 15w -- not a huge change, but I found it on sale and figured it couldn't hurt while I await the funds to buy a better lighting setup) and added DIY CO2 with a DIY diffusion bell. I also added a banana plant, some bacopa, anarcharis, wisteria, and a few stems of sorry-looking ludwegia that were give-aways. On the fish front, I added a pair of dwarf gouramis and a small veil-finned angel as well as a mystery snail (which is leaving my plants alone as pomacea bridgesii are supposed to do) and a couple of Amano shrimp. Here's the latest look of the tank. Improvement?










I realize the biggest improvement will happen when I upgrade my lights. Since I don't anticipate having the funds to get pressurized CO2 up and running anytime soon, I'm going to shoot for the 2 to 2.5 wpg range, either with an AH supply kit or a 65w Coralife fixture, but that's going to have to wait a bitm too, I'm afraid. 

Anyway, I'm pleased that things are growing, if slowly, under this set up and all of my fish seem healthy and happy. Thanks for any feedback or comments.


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## Pearljam11 (Sep 23, 2004)

You're making good progress, and from your list of things you've done, You've made great progess since the beginning =p keep it up


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*uncskainch's 29 gallon journal -- updated 12/20/05*

I hadn't updated this journal in a long time, so I thought I would do so today. I'm amazed at the changes since that first set of pictures -- doesn't really look like the same tank, although it has a long, long way to go to look like some of the tanks in the forum here!

The significant details:

SUBSTRATE: 
Mix of black gravel and flourite. Root tabs here and there underneath.

FERTS/CO2:
No CO2 (see nasty cat-related incident posted a few months back), but I do dose Excel daily. Ferts are Kent Freshwater Plant, Pro-Plant, and Blackwater Expert, dosed with weekly water change per label instructions.

LIGHTING:
Still using just a 20w Flora-Glo light (hoping to add a 2-tube T5 fixture from Coralife in addition to that existing fixture in January, to bring it up to 56w, then add a second dual-tube T5 later to replace the 20w and make it 72w -- any tips on how to manage the stepped increases in lighting to avoid a big algae outbreak?)

PLANTS:
Java fern, several kinds of crypts, an Amazon swordplant that will overtake the tank soon, some bacopa and wisteria that are limping along, a few stems of ludwigia, and dwarf aquarium lilies

FISH, ETC:
Swordtails, clown and khuli loaches, otos, a couple of mystery snails, and an angel fish. There are a few ghost shrimp and one amano shrimp hiding in the plants. The breeder trap holds six baby swordtails that I'm growing out for a friend who is giving her son an aquarium for Christmas -- once they get their tank set up and stable, they'll get a few of these little guys.

RANDOM:
100w heater maintains temp at about 78 degrees F
Penguin Bio-wheel filter
Black plastic background

Thanks for any comments, advice, feedback, or suggestions.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

It is really coming along!

Really nice plant growth in a lower light aquarium. Those Crypts look nice and healthy.

The photo is pretty good, too! Amazing what four hands can accomplish! :icon_wink 

Mike


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## GreenerSideofLIfe (Dec 24, 2005)

jart said:


> Most often the wood is attached to the rock via a stainless steel screw. If you have a drill you can reattach the wood in whatever manner you choose.



I dont do either of these.... I was wondering how you guys got your drift wood to stay down anyhow! LOL

I boil mine in hot water (like you could boil it in cold.. Sheesh) and then scrub it really well... then it goes in my flowerhorn tank and gets wieghted down by a really big piece of slate. My flower horn LOVES swiming around in her 'log jam'  My native fish did too... I miss him! 

After awhile the pieces stay down w/o being forced down. You guys keep yours down w/o forcing them... But how do you manage that... EXACTLY?


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Someone with more experience may be able to chime in here, but I remember reading something about how different kinds of driftwood would sink differently -- some sinks on its own, some will sink after soaking and boiling, and some lighter, softer woods need to be screwed down to something heavy like slate in order to stay reliably submerged. 

My driftwood is a cheap piece of the soft stuff that I bought at the local pet superstore so when I moved it, I unscrewed the wood and screwed it back down in a new position, which worked great. (As I recall, though, it used something like square-drive screws, though, which was a pain!) I left a little gap between the slate and the wood so that I could sink the piece of slate under the gravel and none of it shows or interferes much with the plants.

As an aside, my mother-in-law gave me one of the new freshwater 30" dual tube freshwater T-5 fixtures from Coralife for my tank for Christmas, so now I have 56 watts of light over the tank (the new fixture plus the original 20w fixture). What a difference 36 more watts make! Next up:  Replacing the 20w fixture with a second 2-tube T-5 fixture to bring it up to 72 watts. Look for more updates soon...


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

For Christmas, I received a timer power strip and a 30"m Coralife Freshwater Aqualight dual-tube T-5 light. That and the original 20 watt fixture are now over the tank. I plan to add a 2nd Coralife dual T-5 fixture soon. 

I can already see a difference in the plant growth. (Please ignore the copious numbers of swordtails -- I'm growing out a few babies for a friend who is starting up a tank, but the swordtail numbers will decline considerably soon!)

So here are my tentative plans:

1. Remove the Amazon sword since it will outgrow the tank (Suggestions for a replacement?) 

2. Maybe move the crypts around (they'll melt, I know) -- I have 2-3 different kinds in here. Would you group them in a few groupings or use them as background or what? Not sure what to do with them.

3. Get some more stems. I have a few stems of bacopa, a couple stems of ludwigia, and some water wisteria that were doing terribly until I put in the new light and have now taken off. Maybe add some val or something to fill in as background?

4. Plant some sort of foreground. I was thinking glosso in the area in the middle, with maybe some dwarf hairgrass, dwarf sag, chain sword of microsword behind that.

Please give me your suggestions for both aquascaping and plants that will do well with this set-up -- I have hard well water, I use a dechlorinator with weekly 33% or so water changes, the temp is about 78, and the substrate is black gravel and Flourite mixed with root tabs here and there. I'm dosing Excel for carbon and using Kent and Seachem liquid fertilizers. Current light - 56 watts, eventual light = 72 watts over 29 gallons.

Also, would you switch to something like Greg Watson ferts and do EI or some modification thereof, or with a medium light tank with Excel instead of CO2, will that not be necessary? One caveat about dosing -- being realistic here, I have a preschooler, the two tanks, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and six ducks, plus I work from home and do freelance work from time to time, so some weeks I don't get to do the water change (if I don't do it one week, I do a bigger water change the next week). So whatever I decide to do in terms of fertilizing, it needs to be forgiving if I might miss a day or if I don't get to do a water change every week. I'm not looking for rampant growth -- just healthy plants that won't demand heavy duty maintenance. (I'm glad to put some time into the tank, but my time is just a little limited.)

Thanks for your comments, feedback, and advice!


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

1. do you like the amazon shape? I know, I had this problem too :icon_cry: So I had to get rid of my red rubin sword. As a replacement, I would suggest a kleiner bar sword. They don't get as big and I believe their name means "little bear" or something cute like that  

2. What kind of crypts do you have. I have mine almost in the exact same place as you have yours! :eek5: Weird.... I try to group mine together, as it gives it more punch. I like to use them as midground plants in key focal points because of their unique color.

3. Stem plants are a good choice for smaller tanks - but you could look for ones with smaller leaves. The ones with big leaves tend to make the tank look very small.

4. for your foreground, may I suggest the non-demanding chain sword? Grows very quickly into a nice kind-of-wild-looking mat. 

Beautiful tank, btw  

:fish:


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Hi Sarah, and thanks for the feedback. I'm not wedded to the idea of another sword, and maybe I won't need another "big plant" in the aquascape once I move the crypts around, add some foreground, and get some stems going in the background...maybe I'll table the replacing the sword question until I do all of that? If I don't replace the sword, do you think I need more hardscape than just the driftwood that's on the right?

I was thinking of keeping the crypts as midground plants, maybe grouping them a bit more densely for effect. I got mine from various sources, including one LFS that didn't know the variety, but I think I have some lutea, lucens, wendtii, and in the back somewhere there's one of the long, thin-leaved varieties (balansae?). I have a mix of reddish/brown and green crypts, some with crinklier leaves than others. The ones that I think are lucens are shorter than the reddish ones, if that helps.

Chainsword is a great suggestion. How tall do those get? I would really like the lawn-effect of something low-growing, but like I said, I don't have too many hours a week to mess around with trimming or replanting stuff.

Keep the good ideas coming, and thanks for the kind words!


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*What a difference a year makes.*

Here's a picture of my tank from March 8, 2005:










And here's a picture from this afternoon:










Since my last update, I added a second Coralife dual T-5 fixture, which now gets me to 72 watts over the 29 gallons and I've been fertilizing a bit more consistently and using Excel daily for carbon. I still need to remove the mammoth swordplant, but it's coming along.

FYI, I have some juvenile swordtails in this pic that are on their way to the fish store in the next week or so for trade purposes, so it looks a little more heavily stocked than it normally is.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*April 8, 2006 Update*

I placed a Greg Watson order for ferts this week, so I wanted to post a pic of the tank before starting serious fertilization. This is the tank after 1 week with DIY CO2. The algae problems I was having are in retreat and I'm starting to see some perkier plant growth. I also added some more stems and some microsword. 

I'm not working on the aquascaping seriously until I get the plants growing well and the CO2/ferts working well together. First things first. But as always, comments are welcome.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*Advice? Comments?*

Here's a picture of the tank from this afternoon:



Since the last update, I've beaten back the greenwater, been dosing EI, and had the CO2 cranking for a couple of weeks. I'm focusing on good growth for now, but will be turning my attention to the aquascape soon. Any comments, thoughts, or advice would be appreciated.


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

What a difference from the beginning soldiered plants and rainbow rock...to a planted wonderland! Could you identify your current line-up of plants?...and fish? Did the shrimp and snails survive the loaches? The only thing that looks a little bare is the far left corner. Not that everything has to be evenly balanced though. Maybe bring more attention to a focal point.
Nice progress. 

It would be nice to hear some of the things you learned since you started on this tank.

Rob


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Kathy, your swords look ginormous. I've got a crop of purple brigs coming along if you're still interested.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks for the kind words -- I have some more plants coming in the mail this week (thanks to forum members taking me up on my swap-and-shop earrings offer, which is still active by the way!) to help me with that front corner, get my foreground planted, and rethink some of my stem plant choices. Then I guess I'll have to sit back, take a long look, and think about an aquascape!

The only shrimp I keep in this tank right now are ghost shrimp because the angel fish and clown loaches do eat them. However, since my tank has become more densely planted with lots of growth, I've found that the ghost shrimp have a great survival rate. I used to put 25 or 30 ghost shrimp in there and couldn't see any in the tank a few days later, but I put 25 in there a couple of weeks ago and still can regularly count up to 17 at a time, which probably means that there are closer to 20 or 22 in there. If they are finding good places to hide, then I'll bet that I could have good luck with introducing some cherries once I have some growth in the foreground. I have cherries breeding in my 2.5 with lots of java moss, so I may experiment with introducing cherries in the more densely planted 29 once I have a good sized breeding colony established in the little tank.

As for the snails, they did fine with the loaches for a while, but when the loaches started picking on them, I removed a couple to a breeder trap and put one the smaller tank. Most of my mystery snails died of what I assume were natural causes -- I'd had them for about a year and bought them big. Next time, now that I know they aren't particularly long-lived and that size is an indicator of age, I'll buy little ones! I am thinking about setting up a 5 gallon for cherries and a couple of mystery snails and another 5 gallon for my dwarf puffer, so maybe when I decide on that set up, I'll be ready for some more brigs! I'm leaning toward setting up at least one new 5 gallon soon so that I can use trimmings from rescaping the 29 to get it going!

So current inhabitants:

1 black veil angel 
4 swordtails -- one is an original inhabitant of the tank
4 khuli loaches
3 small clown loaches
3 hillstream loaches
6 otos -- 3 are original inhabitants
1 clown pleco
ghost shrimp galore

My plan on inhabitants is to eventually move the loaches to a bigger tank -- when we move (in the next 3 years, I suspect) I plan to set up a 75 or 100 gallon tank for the loaches and angels or other cichlids, so that's the long-range plan for those fish. When the very large swordtails eventually pass on, my plan is to replace them with a small school of much smaller fish. The tank is pretty heavily stocked right now and removing the big swordtails in favor of maybe some rummynose or other tetras will lighten the load quite a bit. My nitrates stay under control, though, so I feel like the stocking is manageable, but I surely wouldnt' want to ADD anything to the current population!

Plants include:

java fern (that's the same java fern from the first picture of the rainbow rock tank!)
small-leaved bacopa (monneiri? -- far right front)
wisteria
red ludwigia
Alternanthera reineckii
red melon sword
crypt lucens (I think? -- green with reddish streaks on far left)
crypt wedntii (brown)
cabomba
microsword (not doing too well -- hoping other foreground plants will do better)

I've learned so much from this forum -- between the Planted Tank and Rex's guide, I figured out how to handle various algae problems (I've had staghorn, BBA, greenwater, green spot, BGA, and thread algae!), how to get my CO2 working well, how to fertilize, etc. I'm still learning and tweaking my EI dosing, and still working to get my DIY CO2 running as efficiently as possible (considering a different kind of diffuser or in-tank reactor), but it's coming along. In the long term, the plan is to:

-- Replace the stand when we move with something that will accommodate a better filter (Eheim -- I currently use hang-on-back) and set up as much stuff in-line as possible (heater, CO2, UV sterilizer) to get some of the stuff out of the tank. My current stand is MDF board and the built-in shelf seems integral to the integrity of the stand, and it doesn't provide enough under-tank space for a canister filter or CO2 tank).

-- At the same time, set up pressurized CO2 with a PH controller (and possible set that up with one canister connected to a second 29 gallon planted tank as well -- I have the idea of setting up our living room in the new house with two 29 gallon planted tanks with the lights set on different schedules so there's always something interesting to watch from about 6 AM to midnight -- I think two very different scapes, livestock, etc. would make for striking viewing!)

One important thing I learned along the way -- I did my homework before I set this tank up, but did it in the wrong places. I asked a lot of pet store employees a lot of questions about planted tanks, but since they didn't have planted tanks, they only gave me "best guess" answers. If I had it to do all over again, I think I'd have started out here (didn't find this site until I had already bought everything), read more about the differences between planted tanks and a "regular" tank, and that would have helped me buy the "right" equipment from the get-go, but it's been fun learning and rethinking along the way, so I don't have any real regrets about the process. I'm a long-time gardener, so I'm no stranger to things that take a while to come to fruition and require a lot of rethinking as you get there!

I also suffered from that early beginner's error of thinking, "Well, you don't REALLY need..." (fill in the blank here with anything that sounded expensive or like a lot of trouble). I've since become a believer in micro and macro fertilization and CO2 and other things I resisted in my now-2.5-wpg setup because I've seen the results. And I've also learned that it doesn't have to take all day to take care of the tank once you simplify your daily/weekly routine and stick with it for a few weeks. What used to be a chore is now a pleasure because I see the results that the maintenance brings and because I've streamlined it to where I can feed/fertilize both tanks in a couple off minutes a day and my weekly water change/trimming only takes about a half hour. It would be less if I had a Python! I think if I had known that there could be so little difference in work between the low-maintenance tank I was doing at the outset and medium maintenance tank I'm doing now, but that the difference in RESULTS would be so dramatic, I never would have been initially resistant to bumping up the light, ordering the ferts, or cranking the CO2.

I'll post more pictures this weekend after I put some more plants in that foreground and move things around to make room for the new additions of plants, but in the meantime I'd welcome any suggestions for aquascaping or otherwise improving the tank. Please, any feedback would be greatly appreciated at this stage!


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Kathy, I'm fighting the flu right now so bear with me. I'll list things as I think of them:

1. your most recent photo seems darker. did you swtich lights?

2. how are you diffusing your CO2 right now?

3. I would suggest replacing the microsword with micro *chain* sword. That plant carpeted quickly when I had 65 watts and DIY CO2 on my 29. It was lush, and it didn't accumulate as much debris as dwarf hairgrass. 

4. What are your own thoughts about your aquascaping goals? Did you have a style that you like? Or a particular type of plant?


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Hi Sarah --

I'm so sorry to hear you've got the flu -- I hope you're on the mend soon. Being sick is no fun at all.

In response to your helpful questions:

1. It's the same lights -- I may have taken the photo differently (shorter exposure time?) or something. The second photo was taken a bit hastily. I'll try to shoot another couple of pics one night soon for a better comparison. The lights are pretty new (one was added at Christmas and the other in February) so I don't think the bulbs are dimming on me yet. I have 2 of the Coralife dual-T5 fixture (10k and 6500k, I think) for a total of 72 watts (2.48 wpg).

2. I'm using a limewood airstone that is sort of underneath the filter intake, but I don't see a lot of bubbles getting into the intake, so I don't know how much of a difference the placement is really making. I want to double-check or replace it this week because I think the airstone is starting to gunk up a bit, but I'm still seeing lots of tiny bubbles.

3. The microsword's not doing really well -- it was an impulse buy because Petsmart had some and our local Petsmarts and fish store seldom have a lot in the way of foreground plants. I just got a few small dwarf sag and about 10 micro chain swords from another Planted Tank member and put them in the foreground. Maybe I'll move the microsword to my nano and see if it's happier there? I have some other foreground plants coming in the mail from another generous PT member this week, too, and hope to put them in and see what seems to grow well and be happy in my tank before finalizing decisions about what will go where. Since I also have the 2.5 nano and another planned 5 gallon nano to think about, I have a lot of choices in terms of moving plants around.

4. I think what I would like to create in this tank is DEPTH (right now it feels like a wall of plants at the back with a foreground in front -- very two-dimensional). I know that's hard to create in a tank that's only 12" deep, but I'd like to try to find a way to give that illusion.

I like the lush look of a planted tank with lots of colors and textures in it -- the Amano tanks with the riccia lawns are beautiful and I am kind of leaning that direction for the nano tank, but I think for the 29, I really want the impression to be just lush growth with a lot of variety and visual interest, without it being an untamed jungle. 

One potential aquascaping challenge is that the tank is viewed from the left side as well as the front. So I don't want to plant the full depth and height of the left side with big tall stuff that would obscure the view of the fish if you were sitting on the couch in that room, looking at the tank from the left side or at an angle from the front left corner. So maybe that's a place to start in thinking about how to go from here?


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Kathy, I made this for you:




So, from the drawing, you can see the two points of view you wanted (I think). 

TO create the depth you're looking for, I would suggest using darker plants towards the back, and brighter plants towards the front.

The brown stars are pieces of wood. 

LOL.... I'm so goofy right now. :bounce:


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks a bunch, Sarah. That's just the sort of layout I was contemplating (using the back right corner as the deepest point and drawing the eye back that way with the foreground) and seeing it laid out graphically helps me think about how to plan it more concretely quite a bit (I'm a visual learner, I guess). 

Would you stick with the plants I have for now, or is there anything that I really ought to look for to create the new deeper layout? In addition to what's listed above, I also now have some bacopa (the larger leafed), more ludwigia, anarcharis, a couple of dwarf sag and the dwarf chain swords. More plants coming, and I'll add them to the list when the expected package arrives.

I'm not thrilled with the driftwood I have -- maybe I can scare up a few nice (I'm guessing small?) pieces at the LFS and try rescaping next week.

EDITED TO ADD:
My additional plants arrived and I now have H.M., a bit of downoi, blyxa japonica, E. latifolius, and a stem of L. guinea to add to the scape. (The pellia and petite nana I received today are going into my nano)


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Kathy, I'm glad the drawing helped. I had fun making it 

The blyxxa will be a great midgrounder and a nice mellow green color. I would put that as an understated filler in the right miffle.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

I did some trimming, thinning and moving around last night using my existing driftwood, so it's not the "final" rescape overhaul that I'm sure I'll do at some point, but I wanted to give my new foreground plants room to grow, thin out the crypts, and start to try to create a little depth. I'll post a pic once I get a little growth going over the next day or two and after I replant the inevitably uprooted stems from the clown loaches playing. (Once the plants root, they seem to stay that way, but new plantings always pay the price for their hijinks!)


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*May 5, 2006 Update*

I decided to pull out all the plants, tie more java fern and moss to the driftwood, trim things up, move things around, and just sort of see what I had. Here are the results -- I'm sure I'll still do a more dramatic rescape, but I think as this grows in, it will be an improvement. Comments and suggestions (even -- or maybe especially! -- if you think this is a step in the wrong direction) are more than welcome! I tried to give a straight-on shot and a shot from the couch that shows the angled view.


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Very nice touches of color and textures on the left side. Where did you end up putting the blyxxa? 

The javafern on driftwood is a great touch too. I'm liking the view from the left angle, and the java on driftwood is a nice focal point from both points of view. Can't wait to see how it fills in!


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks -- I was trying to get some interesting color/texture combinations, thinking that when it grows in the contrasts will help with the whole depth thing. 

The fern was on top of the driftwood all along, just buried in the overgrown stem plants before. I added some more to the piece of driftwood that extends toward the front of the tank and some java fern along the back of the driftwood to maybe provide some cover for shrimp.

And the blyxxa (I have 4 small pieces) is about 1/3 of the way over from the far right side in the midground (exact middle of the tank, front to back, actually!), a few inches in front of the little cave formed by the driftwood. When you look from the corner view, the blyxxa would be at the end of the carpet plants, right in front of the driftwood -- at least I hope that's how it all grows in!


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## Architect1 (Feb 19, 2006)

Nice pics. I love them thanks for showing.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks, Architect1. 

The plants are growing in pretty well, although some of the crypts are melting a bit in protest of being moved and since I pulled everything out and replanted, I'm having some trouble with stem plants getting uprooted by the loaches, but once everything settles in a bit, I'm sure that will resolve itself. 

My chain swords seem fine, but aren't really taking off yet -- any tips on what I can do to get them going, or do they just take a little while to get settled in the tank before starting to grow and spread?


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

I thought I would post a quick photo update, one week after the replanting. The wisteria's going nuts -- I think everything else will do well once the roots get established. As always, advice and comments are very welcome.


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

*UPDATE: April 30, 2007*

Another update -- the tank is now working with DIY CO2 (two 2L bottles with one swapped out each week) and dry ferts dosed using EI. The algae battle is just about won and there are lots of new plants in here. Not much of an aquascape yet, so suggestions are welcome. But I'm starting to be happy with the plant growth and all of the inhabitants seem happy and healthy!


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## esarkipato (Jul 19, 2005)

Nice looking tank. I'm very, very impressed that you've stuck with DIY CO2 for this long...Kudos!


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## uncskainch (Feb 22, 2005)

Here's a bigger update photo -- excuse the algae on the back glass and the water spots (it's tank cleaning day today). The slight cloudiness/debris to the water is bubbles -- I took the photo late in the day and everything was pearling and the CO2 was also putting a lot of small bubbles into the water. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome!


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