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Start of my first planted tank

26K views 165 replies 29 participants last post by  Neatfish 
#1 ·
This thread will be for my first planted tank. I already got all the stuff to get this done except co2. Equipment: 29g tank with hood, t8 light, big bag of Eco complete, root tabs, dwarf hair grass, bacopa, aquatop cf400-Uv canister filter, 29g wood stand. Tomorrow I'm going to get the stand built and by the night it should be ready to plant. I been reading for months about this stuff now it's time for hands on. I welcome any tips to help me have a nice planted tank. Maybe a nice piece of drift wood in the middle with some moss growing off it like a tree. I'm going for that carpet look maybe some tall grass toward the back.
 
#4 ·
I had mixed results with my 18" F8 on a 10gal tank. Of course, it was the one that came with the canopy :frown:. Now I have a dual 24" F12 last used in 1990 on there and it's working much better. More expensive to run - 20w x 2 vs. 15w x 1 F8.

Another piece: 10 gallon tanks are 13" high.
 
#17 ·
Eco complete does not have much to it. I just set up a 72g w/ Eco complete and my plants were dying within two days. I added root tabs and I'm dosing a small amount of dry ferts. My plants are flourishing it's been two months, no sign of algae(knock on wood)


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#10 ·
Let the aquascaping begin!

Don't forget the background. You say you're going for the carpeted look, ever consider a blue-white background, in addition to some hardscaping/mosses?

Consider getting cories, otos, trumpet and nerite snails to control the new tank diatom and algea blooms and start nutrient/waste management cycle.
 
#14 ·
Are all those the plants real?

Hmmm, you may not have enough plant mass to have a long photoperiod without have an algae explosion.
Just be conservative with the light. It's the driving force.

-may the light be with you-
:)
 
#22 ·
Because if there is too much light and the plants are not enough to take the nutrients then algae will do it and you will end up with all the plants and other stuff covered in algae. Still, you don't know if you will need co2 for your light intensity.

In other words...

If you have nutrients that can't be used by plants (lack of co2 or too much light), then algae will show up to make up for the amount of photosynthesis that needs to happen in relation with the amount of light/available nutrients.

This is why I advised you to start heavily planted. It even helps the cycle as the plants are covered in biofilm that would inoculate the tank.

Having a planted tank is always working with this balance between light/co2, plans/algae...

Do you know why could you need co2?
 
#27 ·
I second pejerrey. I have two plant packages in transit to start my new 20 long heavily planted and it was incredibly straight forward and easy to get a lot of plants from fellow hobbyists for dirt cheap. Cant vouch for quality yet but im sure I will be very pleased Fingers crossed.
Excited to see how this tank develops.
 
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