[garloki72]

Well my story goes a little like this, i wanted to set up a planted tank now for about a year and a half but never had enough time or money to do so. About a year ago I upgraded my tank from a 29 Gallon to a 55 Gallon in hopes of making it a planted tank and i was almost there, I just bought the light fixture which is a T5NO to avoid putting in CO2. The reason i didnt end up putting it up was the fact that when it was allmost topped off with water, i checked the basement and there was a small bump in the ceiling exactly where the tank was, long story short, I couldnt finish setting it up because my dad thought that one day it might cave in and didnt want to take any chances.
So now im back with my old 29 gallons of water so I decided, Hey why not plant this one? Since i already had all the main equipment i only ended up having to buy the flourite, fish, and plants.
Heres the tank all set up about to finish cycling. I just put the flourite and planted some of the plants i got last night. I do not know some of the plants i got but i do know one was a amazon sword and another a anubus of some kind but not reallly sure, the other plants the man at my lfs said they should do good in the kind of light i have so i decided to give them a chance.
Heres a picture of the tank last night:

Here it is this morning, a little more clear:

 

[garloki72]

The tank is more clearer now and everything seems good with the plants but I do need some help determining some of the plants I got. Here are some pictures:

As it sits tonight:

Left side:

Center:

Right Side:

Here are the plants that I need help ID'ing
Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Please excuse the algea on the plants! It came with the plants.

 

[garloki72]

Can anyone help me?

 

[garloki72]

Definitely remove the background. Try to move the wood from the center to a third, so maybe a third from the left, or maybe 2/3 from the left.

Yeah i was thinking the backround looked kind of silly. Im deff going to try to move the wood to were you suggested! Thanks for the input!

 

[garloki72]

plant one looks like a sword. plant 2 looks like bacopa carolinia.

Thanks for the input!!

Also Im thinking about what im going to stock this tank with. The main fish i want to get is a pair of German Blue Rams or a pair of Apistos. With those i want some small tetras and some cories or ottos. Heres what I think:
2 German Blue Rams or Apistos
6-10 Neons
5 Cories or Ottos
Possibly another school of tetras?
Please feel free to help me out here on my stocking list!

 

[garloki72]

Update Time! I got 6 Neons and 2 Ottos and its their second day on the tank and they are active and doing great.

Here are some pictures of the Neons:

The only decent shot I got of the ottos since they wouldnt stay still!

This is what I think my stock list is going to be:
8 Neons
10 Ember Tetras
1 Pair of GBRs
3 Ottos

Does this sound good? I currently have a Penguin Biowheel 170 and will do 10% WC every week.

FTS:

 

[garloki72]

Seems like you should have plenty of room for those fish. I don't see any algae in your tank - do you have enough to feed the otos? Are you going to fertilize? I'm not entirely familiar with the filter and probably not the best person to ask about stocking but I thought I'd reply anyway

Thanks any help is super greatly appreciated! I feed the otos zuchini overnight everyother day so I think theyre okay. As far as ferts go im dosing Seachem Flourish Excel if thats even considered a fert? But the filter is fairly old so I dont blame you! Marineland doesnt even make the 170 anymore.

 

[garloki72]

Update!
The original 7 Neons did great and were really showing good color so I went ahead and got 3 more Neons and got 8 Ember Tetras. I got the Ember Tetras and other Neons earlier today and were alreay eating along with the Neons, so thats good. I also added a black backround and I think it looks better than before, tank is doing good so far.

The Ember and Neon Tetras eating some frozen bbaby brine shrimp:

FTS:

Current stocking as of 8/11:
10- Neon Tetras
8- Ember Tetras
2- Otos
Final Stocking Idea:
10 Neons
12 Ember Tetras
2 Otos
2 German Blue Rams

Any comments/suggestions/advice is always appreciated!

 

[garloki72]

Thanks Guys!
And yeah I deffinalty plan on getting some Wendtii, Anarchis, and Water sprite.
Anyone know of some foreground plants that will do good with what I have?

And as far as CO2, Im thinking about doing a simple DIY with yeast and sugar only after I gotten all the livestock in and have acclimated well.

 

[garloki72]

Thanks mommabear for the help! But what are macros and micros? Are they a type of fert? Also got this picture of my oto munchin on some cucumber, the first time ive seen him eat it while the lights were on.

Please mind the fish poop on the cucumber, gotta have a serious talk with my tetras!

 

[garloki72]

Oh I see will do some reasearch as to which ferts to buy that contains those. And thanks for the help! I like dwarf sag by looking at some picture and from what I have read it is somewhat undemanding. I think Ill go with it!

 

[garloki72]

Will- Thanks for the ID! Even if it is the one grown out of water will ot be fine?

Mommabear- Thanks! I looked at the green leaf aquarium mix and then at the aquariumfertilizer.com mix, seems to be the same. Is one better than the other?

Edit: i forgot to add these pictures of the plants and a unwanted guest!

Any idea of what this is? Its been in my tank since I put the plants in, at first it was really small so I thought it was a shrimp but clearly not a shrimp. Seems more like a aquatic insect of some sort.

Its on the first leaf from the bottom right.

Also the plants seem to be growing some roots to the substate so I guess theyre growing well

On the bottom picture you can see the little insect thing going down the stem.

 

[garloki72]

Thats cool, its like having a tiny ecosystem in my living room!

 

[garloki72]

Love that picture! Is that how they actually reproduce? And yeah he/she twiches them whenever he/she swims its pretty neat. I was doing some research on it and thank god it wasnt a dragonfly larvae those can be pretty mean!

 

[garloki72]

Mommabear-thanks, it seems like aquarium fetilizers is cheaper and No the Damselfly larvae isnt eating the plants, or at least I dont think so, I hope not.

Will- thanks for the help Ill keep an eye on them!

Vannyvanny- thanks! And Im gunna have to look that plant up. Whenever I do some maintainence to the plants the water gets past my elbow and Im 5'9".

Update- DISASTER STRIKES THE TANK!
My neons have Neon Tetra disease! I notice 2 yesterday that were discolored but thought it was just stress of some sort, but today all my neons are really discolored and when I went to the LFS yesterday the whole tank they had the neons in were listed as Not for sale, so Im thinking they had it since I got them. Im really sad and worried! I did some research and found there is no treatment! Im really conerned as to wether or not the disease will spread to my ember tetras or not. They seem to be looking good and I added 4 new ones yesterday and did just fine. Can anyone help me as to what to do?

 

[garloki72]

Its a coralife T5NO. And I think it was a false alarm! That whole incedent happened yesterday night after I turned off the light and I noticed they were really pale so I turned them on to get a better look and they had almost no color. After doing some research I found this article that helped me sleep much better last night-http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/dont-euthanize-that-tetra-it-might-not-have-ntd-178591.html

So I found out that some fish do this so it was a normal thing to do! I turned on the tank light today in the morning and all 10 of them are up and about swimming happily. I just dodged my first bullet!

 

[garloki72]

Update: Well the tank is certantly looking more full with all the tetras! Everyone looks healthy now and appear to be doing well.
The Stocklist is nearly complete, heres the Stock now:
10 Neon Tetras
12 Ember Tetras
2 Otos
All I need is the 2 German Blue Rams and it will be complete!
Here are some pictures, FTS:

The best shot I have taken so far of my fish. Notice the color starting to come in nicely now.

As always comments and suggestions are welcome!

 

[garloki72]

Do your research on the rams. And do get quality ones. Get more Otos; they need to be in a group of 5 or more. Is your 29 a regular one, or is it a long? You can get more rams, or you can get a pair of apistos. Or corydoras. You need a bit more bottom and surface fish. That would make your tank complete!

I dont know if its a long one but its 36" long if that helps. What your saying I should get some more otos, some more tetras, the pair of rams, and then maybe some cories? As far as the rams I have had my eyes on some at the LFS for about 3 weeks now and everytime I go there, they always look real healthy and starting to really show their sexes.

 

[garloki72]

Focus in the plants man, photosynthesis needs to happen determined by an amount of light. If you take too long and load up with fish, algae will thrive.

Im working on that! Need to post a wtb thread first since my lfs doesnt carry that much plants.

 

[garloki72]

Update!
Well a lot has changed in a really short period of time! Totally rescaped everything added some more plants in and added 2 GBRs now too. Really happy with everything and know to wait and see how everything fills in!
Plants:
B. Carolinia
Java fern
A. Nana
Java moss
C. wendtii
Jungle Val
H. Kompact
Amazon Sword
Water Sprite

Live Stock:
12 Ember Tetras
10 Neon Tetras
2 Otos
2 GBRs

Pictures!!

Left Side:

Center:

Right Side:

FTS:

Any Comments and Suggestions are always appreciated!