jb2hot4u02

New member who purchased a 29 gallon starter kit today, I’ve been reading on here for about a week now and it has been very helpful. I plan on having live plants so I put down a bag of fluorite and then a bag of gravel. It was recommended that I buy a new bulb (any suggestions??) before putting in live plants and I was also wondering if I should purchase a new filter, came with a whisper 30. I'm also looking for suggestions on good plants, algae eaters, and the use of snails. Haven’t picked out fish but I’m looking for non aggressive, community fish.

Peterpiper

Hello and a big Welcome
29G, Thats a very good size as a starter. the whisper 30 filter, it pumps 30gph? what type of lights were supplied with the tank?

COBettaCouple

welcome to Fishlore.. you'll want to find a bulb that is good for both fish & plants.. there are a lot of choices but you can check the packaging for the color temperature and spectrum of the tube.

Otos and Corys would be a good cleanup crew, at least 3 of each. For community fish, livebearers are generally peaceful, but you want to get all males or you'll have fry to deal with. Tetras are another good community fish. Check the fish profiles on the FishLore.com home page to see how big they get as adults and how many you need of each. You'll want to get at most, 29" of fish (adult size) for your tank.

A 2nd filter, perhaps a 2nd HOB filter, a submersible filter or a sponge filter wouldn't be a bad idea.

Coryd55

Ummm. I'm pretty new too so I might not be much help. You might want to go to the fishlore.com main page and click the link that says fish species. Look at the freshwater ones and make a list of the one's you like. Everyone on here can tell you compatibility and if they are right for that size. The guideline-NOT RULE-is 1 inch of full grown fishes size=1 gallon. But a 10 inch Pleco definately won't fit in a 10G tank. So use common sense and ask. Algae eaters are always good to have. Bristlenose plecos are nice from what I've heard. They only get about 4-5" and they are pretty good with algae control. Everywhere I look on the forums there is something about "Snail Explosion". So don't go to the store and buy 20 snails cause the next morning you will have 200-not really- lol. They reproduce pretty fast though. MTS(Malaysian Trumpet Snails) are really good. They airate sand and clean gravel really well. They also eat algae. There is a bunch of different snails. I havent really looked into them so I don't know. I have no idea about live plants.(I dont even have a tank yet haha ) I'm not sure where you posted this but you might want to post in the Welcome to Fishlore section. Keep in mind basically everything I just told you I am regurgitating from what people have told me over hte past few days. So someone will correct me if I am wrong.
-Cory

jb2hot4u02

I have a 17 watt fluorescent bulb. like I said it was a kit and there are really no usefull papers with the lightor the pump. not sure about the pump (I broke it trying to put it together)

COBettaCouple

generally, the kits come with a standard fluorescent tube. we changed out the standard tubes on all of our tanks that use FL tubes.

Is it the air pump that is broke? if so, you can pick up a 2-outlet pump at walmart for $10 and a gang valve in most fish departments or stores.. we usually get 4-way gang valves.

jb2hot4u02

here is a pic

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jb2hot4u02

It is the tube that pulls the water into the filter that broke (pretty sure that is the technical term for it) and I have no idea what a gang valve is sorry

COBettaCouple

oh.. the filter intake tube.. i'm not sure if you can get a replacement tube or not. some other members might have ideas what to do there, but i would definitely go with either a 2nd HOB filter or a much stronger HOB filter in the middle to replace the filter that it came with now that i look at the tank setup. we have a 29g and it's got a filter for 30-60g tanks on it. Generally if you can get a filter flow of 10 GPH (gallons per hour) for each gallon of tank capacity (290 gph for your tank) -- your filtration will be excellent.

jb2hot4u02

ok thanks, seeing how I bough it today I'm hoping I can just get a replacement from th store, but if not any suggestions on a good HOB filter?

COBettaCouple

tetra whisper filters and marineland filters are the brands that we'd look for. They should have on their boxes what their GPH is so that you can get one with around 290GPH.

≈ D ≈

Firstly, WELCOME

If you cannot get a replacement part for the filter that you broke, a possible solution would be to go to the local hardware store with the piece that is broken and ask them for some PVC pipe of the same size. That way you can just slip it where the original/broken part was suppossed to go. Hope that helps.