snoz0r's 29 gallon - Updated 1/30/10 - PIC HEAVY - Krib Spawn #2 3-23-10

[snoz0r]

So this will be my first and a half, yes half attempt at doing a planted tank. My first was in New Jersey before I moved here to Indiana. My old tank there was a 20 gallon high that had just started to get going before I moved and had to tear it down. So, i'll call that my half attempt because I didn't get to see any real progress. Then I had flourite with some diy co2 and a hob filter. So here we go with the new one.

Current:


Specs:

Filtration/Flow:
-Eheim ECCO 2234 with Eheim SubstratPro
-SunSun HW-302 with some SubstratPro and Polyfil
-Hydor Koralia Nano
Lighting: 2 Coralife 30" Double Light's. 2 (10,000k) and 2 (6700k). 72W Total.
Heating: Hydor ETH 201 Inline
Substrate: 1 1/2 9 Liter Bags of ADA AS Amazonia I
Co2: Pressurized co2, 5# tank, Milwaukee MA957, Reg Grigg style reactor.

Flora:


Bacopa
Eleocharis acicularis (Dwarf Hairgrass)
Microsorium pteropus (Java Fern)
Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia
Echinodorus 'vesuvius' (Echinodorus Angustifolia)
Cabomba (Unkown species yet)

Fauna:

2 Otocinclus
3 Corydoras Trilineatus
2 Corydoras Panda
1 Black Molly
1 Albino Bristnose
2 Cardinal Tetras
5 Neon Tetras
2 Kribensis (Adult Pair)
2 Apistogramma agassizi (one male and female)
4 Melanotaenia praecox

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Anyway, on to the story. I bought the tank and stand nearly 3 months ago, so it's taken me a little while to round up the funds to get all the equipment going. All plants with the exception of the Sword and Bacopa were bought from Aquariumplants.com. They came very well protected and looked great. Will probably order from them again. The ADA AS pretty much killed me on cost, but I needed something to bring down my tap water parameters somewhat so I bit the bullet.

5-02-09: The aquasoil was added into the tank and filled

5-03-09: After a waterchange and a trip to my LFS the sword and Bacopa were added

5-06-09: My lights arrived via SnS (thanks to chris127) and plants ordered from Aquariumplants.com

5-08-09: Plants arrived and planted, Ludwigia won't stay down! Hairgrass is a PITA to take apart.

5-12-09: Purigen and 2 oto's added on the 10th, branch boiled and placed back in tank. Still cloudy, but i'm attributing that to bacterial bloom mostly.

5-17-09: Purigen taken out to recharge, it was nearly black so tannins are back. Sword is dying off.. is this acclimation die off or something else?

5-21-09: Purigen added back, so was more polyfil and SubstratPro. Found out i set up the filter wrong. Woops! Much clearer now.

5-28-09: Root tab under sword about a week ago, dry ferts ordered today as well as a shipment of 10 yellow shrimp. Tried to tie the Anubias to the driftwood as per suggestion, no matter what I did it didn't look right, on the other hand it has flowered.

6-07-09: Battling BGA at the moment, 3 day blackout, squirted with H202 and full strength dose of EM.

6-18-09: I've added a few plants: Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia, Echinodorus 'vesuvius' (Echinodorus Angustifolia ), Blyxa Japonica. I've also gotten rid of the Yellow shrimp I had, replaced with cherry shrimp. Amazon sword removed a couple weeks ago. The bigger it got the more and more I hated it.

6-24-09: More cherry shrimp on the way, tank is finally truly clear. Result for the most part a very good.

9-24-09: Long time since I updated. All shrimp are gone, they died due to unknown causes. Been attempting to breed Kribensis, received a proven breeding pair via Will @ http://www.georgiacichlids.com (Gacichlids on Aquabid). Great guy to buy from, sent a great pair plus 2 extra juveniles. Been battling hair and BBA algaes, hair algae seems to be under control, BBA is yet to be determined. Pictures of inhabitants to come soon.

9-27-09: I hacked that crap out of the plants and did a little bit of a rescape, wanted to get rid of as much algae as possible, and I wanted a little bit of a different look

11-11-09: hair algae out of control, gsa rampant.. totally lost.. what the hell am i doing wrong.. pictures of kribs on page 3

12-24-09: 2 more cory's purchased as well as 3 dwarf neon rainbows, on 12-4-09 a male and female Apisto's were purchased

12-31-09: 4 panda cory's purchased, bloodfin tetra's are probably on their way out as they're their the odd group in the tank.

1-30-10: Cabomba was added on the 25th, don't know the species yet.. waiting for it to grow out a bit. Kribensis FINALLY spawned, good lord that took forever.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

5-09-09 FTS



5-09-09 Left Side Shot


5-12-09 FTS (Getting better on clarity, thank you purigen)


5-12-09 Left Side Shot


5-17-09 FTS


5-17-09 Side


5-21-09 FTS


5-21-09 Side


5-21-09 L. Repens Aerial Root Growth


5-28-09 FTS


5-28-09 Side


6-23-09 FTS - Clarity


7-29-09 FTS - Growth


9-24-09


9-27-09 - 2 Days after major trim and rescape


11-02-09 - Minor trim done


11-11-09 - Hair Algae =(


1-7-10 - Reineckki Melt, due to accidental overdose of peroxide? (i think) Trim was done about a week ago as well, looks like crap =(


1-19-10 - Major trim, waiting to grow in


1-30-10 -


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Anyway, i'm open to suggestions, criticism and ideas or any other feedback of any kind. So have at it and let loose and tell me what to do or what you think . Thanks.

[CL]

The cloudiness may be caused by the aquasoil. Is it AS I or ASII?
It looks nice so far , though I would suggest adding some rocks or some wood.

[snoz0r]

It's AS I, I did have a really really nice branch in there. I believe it was Oak that I had found. I de-barked it myself and baked it. I soaked it for 72 hours outside and put it in the tank but it still floated, so it sat in the tank from 5-02 until yesterday when I planted the hairgrass. It still floats and it was covered in white whispy slime...? I'm not really sure what the deal with that was so I took it out. I'd love to have it back in but dealing with it floating sucks, anytime I change water or have to re-plant a stem it floats to the top and disturbs the AS causing more cloudiness. Not to mention the rediculous amount of tannins it was leaching into the water, it was like staring and mud soup.

[CL]

Yeah, that was driftwood fungus. Otos eat it and excel kills it. Try putting it through the dishwasher for a couple of cycles, that should remove the tannins

[snoz0r]

Ok, i'll try that. I have dosed excel a few times but it didn't really seem to have effect on it. I'm waiting for a few more dollars to come in, because the oto's are next on my list to get so it's good to know that'll they'll take care of it. I was thinking 3 or 4 of them, to many, not enough? Also, should I be worried about the JetDry in the dishwasher lol..?

[CL]

Originally Posted by snoz0r

Ok, i'll try that. I have dosed excel a few times but it didn't really seem to have effect on it. I'm waiting for a few more dollars to come in, because the oto's are next on my list to get so it's good to know that'll they'll take care of it. I was thinking 3 or 4 of them, to many, not enough? Also, should I be worried about the JetDry in the dishwasher lol..?

make sure there isn't any soap or other chemicals in the dishwasher.

[snoz0r]

5-12-09 pics updated, wood placed back in tank after 4 hours worth of boiling

[snoz0r]

Updated 5/21/09 more pics

wow what an active thread full of replies lol..

[malaybiswas]

it is you need to post updates

[cah925]

I would consider putting the anubias on the wood rather than in the substrate.

[snoz0r]

Originally Posted by cah925

I would consider putting the anubias on the wood rather than in the substrate.

Thats not a bad idea actually. I had forgotten you could do that with anubias. The driftwood is quite thin however, where do you think a good spot might be?

On another note, does anyone think the sword is too big for the tank. I did cut two bigger leaves out of it last night because they were dying but i cant decide if the plant itself is taking up too much room or not. Any opinions?

[snoz0r]

tried tying the anubias, it looked horrible took out the other pot of hairgrass.. ordered dry ferts, yellow shrimp and shirakura shrimp food today

pics updated and for some off topic pics, here are some i got of a robin the other day who's made a nest and had babies in one of the windows here at the house, enjoy!

Flew up to the window with this huge grub


Feeding the babies! Talk about up close and personal.

[mache62]

Wow! Awesome shot of the mom feeding the baby!

About the tank.....is that a power head in there? The only reason I ask is because I've just gotten my 29G set up as well and I didn't realize I would need flow like that? But tank looks good so far!

[snoz0r]

Originally Posted by mache62

Wow! Awesome shot of the mom feeding the baby!

About the tank.....is that a power head in there? The only reason I ask is because I've just gotten my 29G set up as well and I didn't realize I would need flow like that? But tank looks good so far!

Yes, that's a power head. A Hydor Koralia Nano to be exact. I guess whether or not you need it depends on your filter. I'm running an Eheim ECCO 2234, I felt that it didn't provide enough flow so I spent the extra money on the nano, although sometimes i'm not sure whether or not I should have spent a few extra and gotten the Koralia 1.

[chase127]

hows that AS cycling?