A Newbie's First 29 Gallon Planted

I thought I would share my tank as I've learned so much from this site already. I'm not completely new as I've had tanks before. When I was a kid I had a 10 gallon aquarium and mix of advanced knowledge and ignorance. I knew about the nitrogen cycle back then and was rigorous when it came to water testing but that 10 gallon tank housed inappropriate fish such as a red tail shark and giant danios. Since then I've had a small tank off and on in college and my apartment years with bettas or dwarf frogs but have always wanted to do a full size tank and to do it right which is why I am still calling myself a newbie.

I've never done live plants before so that is new for me as well. I'm about 5 weeks into cycling at the moment so no fish yet. I'm just about there though, 2 PPM ammonia clears within 12 hours. The resulting nitrites are being cleared in about 24 hours. I'm hoping that the nitrite clearing time will shorten to 12 hours by the end of the week so I can start to add fish.

Here's the details:
29 Gallon
Fluval C4
Aqueon Pro 150w
Beamswork DA full-spec
Substrate is black diamond blasting sand

Initial plants are:
Cryptocoryne SrI Lanka
Dwarf Sag
Echinodorus Peruensis
Bacopa Amplexicaulis
Java Fern
Anubias Coffeefolia
Black Pearl Buce
Ludwigia Repens
Water Wisteria

I'm using Seachem root tabs and ThriveC ferts

Image below is from the end of September after initially adding the plants.

 

Here is a more recent picture taken about two weeks afters planting. I've rearranged a few of my plants and attached the anubias to a plant. My dwarf Sag is doing pretty well, already shooting out a few runners. My ludwigia and wisteria is and gaining height. The crypt didn't melt as much as I thought it would and is greening back up and I already have some some new leaves. Not sure what went wrong with my bacopia. While I knew it might loose leaves as it acclimated to my tank the stem itself seemed to disintegrate in a bunch of small bits and pieces and I was only able to salvage a small section of a single stem.

My tank is going to get a fair amount of indirect sunlight so algae is going to be an ongoing battle. I have a lot of brown algae which I'm cleaning out the worst of on a weekly basis. Once I'm fully cycled I am hoping some nerites and amano shrimp will help keep it under control.

Other changes I've done has included removing a bit of the sand and loaded the chemical chamber of the Fluval C4 with Seachem matrix to increase the bio capacity.



Overall I am happy with how it is progressing so far.

 

I like the looks of that! Thanks for sharing it!

 

Welcome to Fishlore! I like that tank.

 

I like the looks of the tank too. I’m going to be setting up a 29 gallon too so I’m following- it will be fun to see how it progresses.

 

Here is a more recent picture taken about two weeks afters planting. I've rearranged a few of my plants and attached the anubias to a plant. My dwarf Sag is doing pretty well, already shooting out a few runners. My ludwigia and wisteria is and gaining height. The crypt didn't melt as much as I thought it would and is greening back up and I already have some some new leaves. Not sure what went wrong with my bacopia. While I knew it might loose leaves as it acclimated to my tank the stem itself seemed to disintegrate in a bunch of small bits and pieces and I was only able to salvage a small section of a single stem.

My tank is going to get a fair amount of indirect sunlight so algae is going to be an ongoing battle. I have a lot of brown algae which I'm cleaning out the worst of on a weekly basis. Once I'm fully cycled I am hoping some nerites and amano shrimp will help keep it under control.

Other changes I've done has included removing a bit of the sand and loaded the chemical chamber of the Fluval C4 with Seachem matrix to increase the bio capacity.

View attachment 493497
Overall I am happy with how it is progressing so far.

Nice... I think the residents will love it!

 

Well the cycle completed so I added the first official residents, half a dozen cardinal tetras! Assuming the water parameters continue to look good I'll try adding six more later this week to complete the school. A few bladder snails and at least one ramshorn snail have made an appearance. For now I am going to let them be but will keep an eye on the population.

Plants for the most part continue to do well. Everything has definitely grown over the past few weeks and the Java Fern is starting to produce plantlets which I assume is a good sign. The only exception is my bacopia which completely disintegrated. Considering I've never done live plants before I'm still pretty happy with the outcome so far. I have some vals coming on order to fill in the height in the back. The back corner behind the driftwood seemed to be a dead zone so I decided to add an airstone to get the water moving. Figured since I was getting a pump and tubing might as well add a small sponge filter as well. Plus it will be handy to plunk in a quarantine tank as needed.

My driftwood has a lot of that new wood fungus which I understand will go away on it's own in a few months so I'm letting it be. I am seeing less brown algae but more of the green and hair algae. I'm not too concerned about that at the moment and will expiriment with lighting and nutrient levels but it will always be a struggle due to the tank's location. I have a bunch of Amano shrimp and a few nerite snails coming in this week which will hopefully help keep things manageable.

 

That looks nice- it’s fun to see your residents in there!

 

This is a great looking tank and I love cardinals so that’s a great choice in my opinion! The bacopa plant is actually perhaps a land bacopa - there are some that can TOLERATE being underwater so are sometimes sold as freshwater plants but I’ve seen them totally disintegrate within months. I love your tank! Good job!

 

Your tank looks amazing! I am planning a 29 gallon planted as well, and I am inspired!!! I am watching your thread for further updates

I am new to the aquarium world, may I ask what plants you have between the driftwood and rocks?? Water wisteria then what is the one beside it with rounder leaves? The ludwigia??

Thank you!!

 

Thanks! Yes that is Ludwigia Repens next to the Wisterial

 

I'm at the two month stage and still pretty pleased with the way things are coming along. Everything has grown quite a bit and I've trimmed and replanted the stem plants here and there. The Dwarf Sag is propagating everywhere, it's even starting to show up being the rocks and driftwood. I added some val the other day which seems to add a bit of depth when viewed in person. I'm hoping the val will grow to fill in the back.

I seem to be getting my algae more or less under control with a combination of bi-weekly manual removal, snails, light reduction and amano shrimp. Cardinal tetras have been out of stock locally so I still have a small school of six but do have have a half dozen SterbaI corys in there now.

 

Neat! I’m planning to possibly get SterbaI corys too; I’m almost to the point of setting up and will be adding many of these plants you have used. Are you still using the same ferts you began with?

 

I love this tank! Beautifully done.