The Planted 29g

[DwLarson]

Welcome to the digital journal for my 29g planted tank. Thanks for checking it out. Questions, comments and suggestions are welcomed. I'll try to make it much easier to read than my scribbled journal.

Revived from the dusty corner of our closet the 29g tank now stands in our bedroom. I am glad to be able to say it again holds life!

At first I'll post with what I've done up to this point then continue with the development of the planted 29g.

Teaser photo.

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[Crazygar]

Looking forward to watching the tank progress! Thanks for posting.

Gary

[DwLarson]

After following Gary's advice on an old thread on how to clean up and leak test an older tank I started with a dry 29g on its stand with a black background taped to it, a lone artificial rock decoration and a hood with no bulb.

The next step was spending money! I wanted to do this without breaking in to savings or anything though. So I did my research and found the equipment that was not top of the line necessarily, but should give me good results until I can invest more. I found drsfostersmith.com to be much more affordable than any of the LFS around.

My first order consisted of:
15lbs of fluorite black
A Fluval C3 power filter
A freshwater test kit with pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
A 24" florasun t8 (to fit the hood I already had)
And an artificial rock wall decoration I liked

I also bought a lot of stuff from user SteveJor, responding to his add in the classifieds. I am currently using a 250w heater from him and one of the powerheads he sent.

Then I had to wait

[C. Andrew Nelson]

Looking nice so far!

[DwLarson]

Once that was all delivered I put it all together, filled the tank and dechlorinated with API stress coat.

I went to the LFS and got a couple bunches of java fern and 2 small anubias plants. I had read these will do alright in low light. I also bought flourish excel and flourish comprehensive.

I attached one of the java fern to the rock and the other one sinks so it's just sitting on the substrate. Attached one anubias to a piece of driftwood I got from someone on eBay and the other I wedged the roots with some rocks and petrified wood I had.

Here's a shot from that point.

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[DwLarson]

Finally the other day a friend gave me his old light fixture. A compact fluorescent with 2 65w bulbs. He had a 10000k and a 460nm blue bulb. I started using the 10000k instead of the florasun. My plan is to put a 6700k on the other side and get an all glass hood to work better with this type of light.

With the increased light I decided to get more plants. I know we got an amazon sword, some shorter foreground cover and another tall background plant.

Here's a few photos.

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[DwLarson]

I read a topic by Dutchman titled plant cycle. I wonder if I have enough plants to effectively do what he wrote there. Maybe he'll stop by.

[Dutchman]

Not enough for plant cycling I'm afraid. You need LOTS. .
Maybe you can borrow some stemplants, or fast growing Vallisneria. It doesn't have to be permanent.

Another way to speed-up cycling is to get some established filter medium from a friend who has an established tank, or buy some "bacteria-in-a-packett".
Many ways to skin a cat.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

Excellent plant choices. They should all do fine under your current lighting set up. Java Fern is super easy to grown and looks great. And Anubias can grown with practically no light at all. With the lighting in your tank those plants should thrive quite well.

Very cool!

[DwLarson]

Added a new piece of driftwood today I got from the LFS and attached the other java fern cluster to it.

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There is a white fuzz on the driftwood I put in last week.

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I noticed a tiny round snail made its way in somehow.

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[ScottFish]

[DwLarson]

Does anyone know what that stuff on my driftwood is? What causes it and how long it might last?

[kb46]

Does anyone know what that stuff on my driftwood is? What causes it and how long it might last?

A lot of driftwood gets a white fuzz on it when freshly put in water - I've never seen it last too long - fish and shrimp tend to eat it. I forget whether it is a fungus or bacteria but it is harmless. It will give you something to watch while your tank cycles!

[twotone12valve]

sweet set up, it looks like it will treat you very nicely. That white fuzz does regularly show up on fresh drift wood personally I think it has something to do with the sap leaching out of the wood. At that I have only seen it on lighter colored drift wood for some reason.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

I have to concur with the others. It's been a while since I added driftwood to my tank, but I recall this same thing happening in the past. It didn't matter how much I scrubbed and cleaned the wood beforehand. I don't think it's anything to worry about. It should disappear soon enough.

Tank really does look good, by the way.