First Planted 29 Gallon(New Pic's 7-19-08)

[mcd19]

I had a small goldfish tank when I was a child and wanted to get back into the hobby. When deciding in what direction I was going to go in, I saw a planted tank at my local aquarium shop and instantly my mind was made up.
These are my specs:

Hardware:

29 Gallon Glass Aquarium
JBJ Compact Light Fixture with 65 Watt 6700K Bulb
Eheim 2224 Filter
Pressurized CO2 System with 5lb Tank
DIY CO2 Reactor
Small Power head

Plants:

Ozelot Sword
Amazon Sword
Micro Sword
Wisteria

Fish:

6 Cardinals
4 Juli Cory's
3 (Golden) White Cloud Mountain Minnows
2 Otto's
1 Red Betta


This is my aquarium and stand:

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Front of tank:

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Left Corner:

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Right Corner:

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Side Shot:

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One of my Cory's hanging out:

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The Cardinals and a Minnow:

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[NeonShrimp]

I for one am glad you made it back to the hobby. Great looking tank and I also like your choice of fish You can move that sword in the front back more to showcase that nice looking piece of wood. I am partial to moss so I would add some moss/fissiden on the wood but this is your aquatic canvas so have fun!

[rekles75]

I x2 that. That sword can get really big, I would definately move it to the back of the tank. Let your peice of wood be the focal point.

Also the cherry wood stand is kind of intruding on the eyes, I personally would have striped it and painted it black. I think it flows with the tank better that way. Unless you have furniture in the room that matches it. Naw, I still think it would look better black.

Other than that you are off to a great start. It shows that you took your time to collect everything that was needed and study the forum before starting your 1st planted tank.

Congrats!!

[mcd19]

Originally Posted by NeonShrimp

I for one am glad you made it back to the hobby. Great looking tank and I also like your choice of fish You can move that sword in the front back more to showcase that nice looking piece of wood. I am partial to moss so I would add some moss/fissiden on the wood but this is your aquatic canvas so have fun!

Thanks for the advice. Eventually I will move some of the plants around and better position them in the tank. Everything is growing so well and I would hate to move them but I realize that the front sword would probably look a little better farther back.

[mcd19]

I decided to make some changes to my tank by removing one plant, re-locating one and adding another. While they are small changes, in the long run I think the tank will look better. I removed a large sword plant that I had against the middle back wall because it was just too much having two swords right next to each other. I moved the red Ozelot sword that was in front of the sword I removed and re-planted it back behind the wood display closer to the wall. I also wanted to add a little color to the tank so I planted an orchid that I have to continually prune or it will get huge.


I also added a new member to the community. I was a little apprehensive about adding a Betta to my tank but so far I have had no problems. The Betta seems to be pretty docile and has not bothered anyone. He is really cool and follows me back and forth when I walk past the tank. He even eats his food right out of my hand. He has the most personality of all my fish.

New Tank Pic's:









New Betta:

[rekles75]

Looks good, I would have thought there would be more growth over 2 months though. Now to get something on that wood. Anabus or moss.

[mcd19]

Originally Posted by rekles75

Looks good, I would have thought there would be more growth over 2 months though. Now to get something on that wood. Anabus or moss.

Trust me when I say that my plants grow like crazy. If I did not constantly prune my plants, especially the swords and micro swords, they would completely take over the tank. Also I see your point about the wood but I think I like the contrast between the dark wood and green plants. I guess it comes down to personal taste. Maybe a little moss here and there would look good. I might give it a try.

As far as the plants, I don't know if I want to keep things open like they are or let the plants grow out a little more and take up more space. I am though trying to fill the back wall with Wisteria by cutting off healthy growing stems and re-planting them along the back wall.