# my first planted 29gal tank



## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

holy snikes thats alot of wiring/cords/piping.

Tank looks good though.


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## xcooperx (Jun 21, 2006)

i will remove the large plant at the left side corner, the tank looks like small with that plants, is that a cambomba in the back left?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I like. Good job!


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## hazeen (May 21, 2006)

v.nice job, v.good start as well


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

it is a good start. the tiger barbs look nice with the plant coloration you have. i would recommend moving that ozelot sword to the back somewhere though.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

*my first planted tank - updated*

It's been a few weeks since my Bleach dip, and my plants have recovered nicely without any sign of new algae growth. I removed the sword and added that marvelous Crinum which I got from a trader here on PTF. I love the way it fills the void above my high light requirement foreground plants without stealing any light from them, and provides more horizontal leaf space my fish like resting around. I changed my water flow so micro bubbles of O2&Co2 rise toward the right rear, then get pushed back down and across by my canister outlet, so I need to keep the rear plants from growing to the surface. The design objective of this tank is not to win any contests, rather to be a playground for my fish, and a kaleidescope to the eye.



Hiding wires is tricky as I have a mirror in the back of this cabinet that I do not wish to remove or cover. My next project is a moss wall, so eventually some wires and pipes will be hidden "naturally". Any new constructive criticism is welcome, thanks for the useful feedback thus far


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

what is that white ball on your driftwood?


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

Looks like a suction cup stuck to the glass?

Nice looking tank btw spypet!


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

after my bleach battle with BBA 2 Months ago, I removed the wood, lava rock, glosso and baby tears to a spare tank, and decided to give many new plant samples traded here on PTF room to flourish. in another Month I'll reduce them to my best growing favorites and put them in a nice arrangement, but for now my finally algae free growth tank looks like this; _ slate there just so bottom feeders have place to hide from light._


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

american flag fish huh?


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## dudleystinks (Apr 9, 2005)

coool you have barbs :icon_smil why does nobody have barbs? Are yours as agressive as people make them out to be? :hihi: plants look nice anyway. I hope you have better luck with a moss wall than i did :icon_frow mine just died


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## rlong (Jul 8, 2006)

Looks good.


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

dudleystinks said:


> coool you have barbs :icon_smil why does nobody have barbs? Are yours as agressive as people make them out to be? :hihi: plants look nice anyway. I hope you have better luck with a moss wall than i did :icon_frow mine just died


well.. 13 barbs for 72 gallons.. too much water for such small fish that is why..


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## Guillermo (Dec 19, 2005)

Nice Spy, that crinum rocks !


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## skiboarder72 (Oct 13, 2006)

lookin great, very clear!


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## Fosty (Oct 17, 2003)

Nice tank! I was wondering what the pipe at the top of the tank is (spraybar I guess?). I just couldn't tell since I see the Fluval "jet" output in the corner of the tank so I guess it most be something other than the filter output. Just curious.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

it's a LED submersible light bar. it was cool for a while,
but i ultimately out grew it and use the green spot lite
on the bottom right coming off my aero Co2 diffuser.
before I had live plants, I used a horizontal spray bar
for the sound and bubble action, but now I'd rather
just conserve as much Co2 as my DIY can provide.

I'm removing the Limnophila Aromatica to a RAOK sale,
and relocating your plants to that back left corner.
sorry my tank is not really styled much as I'm in the
process of trying different plants to see what I like.
your Hygrophilia polysperma 'Sunset' will look better
in a week once the leaves unfold since being shipped.



*after pruning and lighting upgrade from 72w to 130w;*


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

*new light, new gravel, some new plants, some new occupants; - I hope it looks like I'm making progress * roud: 



notes: center black nylon rope entwined with xmas moss is for my crabs to climb up for air.
foreground has too many new plant samples to see which does best in my tank. photo appears


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Looking good Joey, looks like you have a pretty good handle on things, plant's are healthy.... I like seeing a tank full of healthy plant's
Some of those look familuar 
The E,complete is much better on this old mans eyes than the white gravel :thumbsup:

You have lots of equipment in that 20. is this the only tank you have?

:thumbsup:


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## fish_lover0591 (Nov 11, 2006)

wow i like it alot ! It looks awesome Spypet.


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

Your tiger barbs have beautiful coloration man. I've been thinking about having a tank of barbs.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I like the purple rock. It adds that extra bit of color and contrast. Everthing looks healthy! Great work!


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

I removed my dwarf African frogs who were digging up my foreground too often, and put in these red claw crabs
here lounging above the water line a top my moss covered nylon rope suction suspended from my fixture lens.
they eat the plant debris that gets stuck on the rope at the water line, and down below all around my substrate.
the rope bottom has weight on it so I can lift the fixture hood a few inches to service the tank without disturbance.
starting to experiment with Manzanita wood after a major pruning. second pic is a week later with different twigs.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

awwww look at the little cuties...nice work, Joey. The tanks looks great. Your Crinum is healthy and clean.


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

Your crabs freak me out.


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

I like the Crinum and Limnophila. Do those crabs eat live plants or bother your fish?


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

http://i13.tinypic.com/3yd7ggg.jpg
02/20 trim >30 plants; I take a set of no flash photos and stitch them together so you can see more detail from my old 3mp camera.
http://i12.tinypic.com/2lc60oz.jpg
02/27 removed sick crinum *sob* trim foreground to give nano plants more room, added 2 new moss ropes of Taiwan and Fissiden
http://i14.tinypic.com/2s0coz8.jpg
04/01 removed manzanita for more fore/mid ground growing room, 2 new moss ropes slowing filling in, diffusing Co2 using canister.
http://i13.tinypic.com/2z4z1ps.jpg

*05/01 trim & moved plants around to optimize space for each specimen, added S-tang rope. tank is very healthy with diatoms now gone.*












Cardinal Tetra said:


> Do those crabs eat live plants or bother your fish?


nope, unless the plants or fish are already dead








they actually pick out decay between live plant leaves.
likewise, they will pick at soft _dead _driftwood, so use
caution getting crabs if you have alot of plants mounted
on wood since there is often a lot of decay under there.
they don't dig up any plants like my stupid frogs used to,
and they won't nibble on exposed roots like my Flag fish did.
the only plant disturbing problem could be if you have
several males who's squabbling with each other could
inadvertently uproot a few shallow rooted plants, so
if possible, get only one male, and the rest females.

Latest observations: after 3 Months with these crabs,
I noticed they may find a patch in your tank they like
to rest in, and may clear away a few stems to keep the
area flat. In my case it was a couple of Rotala that grow
like weeds in my tank, so I didn't mind one bit. I noticed
the tendency of escape is by crab, not all crabs so in my
case out of 4 crabs, only the same one kept trying to
escape my tank. once I got rid of him, the remaining
crabs were content to stay and enjoy life in my tank.


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

Crabs are total meat eaters, and I hate to break it to you, but they will eat anything they can catch. If a slow moving fish ventures too close, it will be torn to pieces, or you will start seeing chunks missing from tailfins. I used to feed mine gold fish. And, unless every inch of your aquarium top is covered, they will climb out of the tank. I used to find them all over my living room. they would be dead by the time I found them. I had an HOB filter they would climb inside of too. They can climb up a plant, airline tubing, just about anything.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

hey spypet, what is that deep green wavy rope-plant? crinum what? never seen it before and it's the tits! i'll have to find me some of that someday.


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## ~T~ (Dec 18, 2006)

Robert H said:


> Crabs are total meat eaters, and I hate to break it to you, but they will eat anything they can catch. If a slow moving fish ventures too close, it will be torn to pieces, or you will start seeing chunks missing from tailfins. I used to feed mine gold fish. And, unless every inch of your aquarium top is covered, they will climb out of the tank. I used to find them all over my living room. they would be dead by the time I found them. I had an HOB filter they would climb inside of too. They can climb up a plant, airline tubing, just about anything.


Plus they are really brackish and unless the water is super hard wont live all that long.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

~T~ said:


> Plus they are really brackish and unless the water is super hard wont live all that long.


There are numerous freshwater crabs as well.


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