The Planted Tank Forum banner

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.
 
#32 ·
I just gave away here in the forum a bag of plant trimmings as a RAOK. (random act of kindness) Maybe enough to cover you whole tank, but I didn't remember about you in time. :(

Take a look at this tanks to get some ideas for a layout.

http://en.iaplc.com/results12/top200vote/


Those rocks, are they meant for aquarium use or are they going to leach chemicals into the water?
 
#35 ·
Aponogeton bulbs are not a good way to start a tank. Crypts, stems, and swords are better. But nothing will grow well if it doesn't have enough light or CO2.

If you want a carpet, it's best to break up your patch of hairgrass and plant it in plugs throughout the tank. It will spread faster that way. And your bacopa will grow better if you plant the stems individually about 1" apart.
 
#43 ·
Plants I'll be ordering next Friday. I'll also be setting up diy co2 even though they don't require co2 but they will grow nicer with it. Bought some airline tube, yeast and a check valve. What mixture should I do with a 1.89l bottle?
1o-Rotala sp green
10-Marsilea minuta -carpet plant
2-Cabomba purple - best chance for color
1/2 portion -flame moss
10-rotala colorata
1-anubias nana
4-medium baby tears
2-ludwigia repens and palustris
 
#46 ·
Awesome. DIY is fun, because it allows you to better understand the CO2 process.
It also is very unstable, so DIY is a great gateway into pressurized. You will enjoy a high tech setup more after going through a lower tech.
Best of luck, looks like fun, I remember doing very similar things not long ago. :flick:
 
#52 ·
Well, patience.
It's been less than two weeks so... What can we say?

Plants look very healthy, I'm glad you have done this effort to get it Running nice. Never give up!! ;)

How are your fish doing?

When are you going to plant more?
I've seen awesome RAOKs giving away tons of good plants. Have you tried to get free plants from the forum?
 
#55 ·
I would skip the betta and go with a more peaceful interesting fish. Maybe a smaller school of neos and another school of ottos? That way you have middle and bottom feeders at least.

Maybe:

14 neos (+6) = 20 middle feeders This batch first

6 ottos bottom/algae feeders second batch

6 marble hatch fish top feeders 3rd batch

All of them at once will be too much IMO for your tank. You may expect a big ammonia spike and a mini cycle.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top