My 29 as I learn this hobby

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This journal documents the progress of my 29H. It's my first ever attempt at a real planted tank, past token Anacharis in other tanks I've had.

Mk1:

Lighting: 18W T8 hood, 5500k bulb
Heating: 100W HOB heater
Filtration: Penguin 200B HOB bio-wheel
Substrate: Black gravel

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Mk2:

Lighting: 130W Power Compact fixture
Heating: 100W HOB heater
Filtration: Whisper Filter 60, SunSun 9W UV Sterilizer
Substrate: AquariumPlants.com's own

I finally gave up on the original incarnation, and my abilities to do this without guidance, and just paid AquariumPlants to pick out plants and design a scape for me. This is what they came up with (I was pretty happy with it).

[F22]

numero 2 looks tight!

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Mk3:

Lighting: 130W Power Compact fixture
Heating: none (ambient only)
Filtration: SunSun 303B canister filter with integrated 9W UV sterilizer
Substrate: AquariumPlants.com's own

Everything in that picture grew up past the top of the waterline in under a month. The frizzy stuff along the right (Mayaca, Rotalla, Hygrophilia) was the worst offender by far. So, I removed it (anyone want to trade a sandwich-baggie stuffed full of this very healthy stuff for some RCS?) and just kept the bigger-leafed plants. I also worked my Petsmart fakey driftwood back into the new scape. I'm hoping I don't go through another melt, but we'll see. The red stuff in the middle at the back (Ludwigia Peruensis) grows really well in my tank and will soon make an excellent centerpiece.

[insta]

Mk3 and on marks my own attempts at scaping, plant choice, and so forth. I've got the general idea of how these things work now, so lets see where it takes me

F22, thanks for the complement, but couldn't you have given me three more minutes to finish my post before interrupting with your c-c-c-c-c-combo breaker?

[F22]

ha nope... i was at work and i refresh all the time!

[VadimShevchuk]

nice 29 gallon. What happened to the Hc in the third pic? Also how is the sun sun filter for you? Loud?...

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Originally Posted by VadimShevchuk

nice 29 gallon. What happened to the Hc in the third pic? Also how is the sun sun filter for you? Loud?...

Per instructions here, the HC was removed and planted in little clumps everywhere. However, it wouldn't root into the substrate, because the AP.com stuff is too fluffy. So, over the course of a few weeks, all the HC slowly got uprooted and floated around everywhere. It wouldn't have worked anyway -- the plants are far too voluminous and shadow the substrate, despite the lighting I have over the tank.

The SunSun filter is nice, and I don't consider it loud -- but it's at my office. The ambient noise is far louder than the filter could hope to be, so I unfortunately can't really tell. The times it has been quiet, I've never noticed the filter, so it must not be too bad.