The Journey Of My 29g Tank!

Hello all, I’ve been in the hobby of Fishkeeping for 4 months now and In March I purchased a 29 gallon tank. I am not a newbie, but not a pro. I’d say I’m an amateur lol. But either way, let’s get down to brass tax. I am going to need help in bringing my vision for this tank to life. I know already the stocking I wish to pursue for this tank but need help in other areas.

Substrate: I want black substrate, I’ve only worked with gravel and want to shift towards something a little finer. I’ll be taking any suggestions!

Live Plants: I’ve only worked with java fern and Anubias. That being said I want some plants that will be easily attached to pieces of driftwood. And I want plenty of space for my pleco and cories to hide. Low to medium difficulty to upkeep is ideal as I’m still new to taking care of plants. I’ll also need some suggestions for floating plants

Filtration: I also needing some weighing in on what filtration system to use, I want to try making a sponge filter but if not a sponge filter then an aquaclear 50.

Heating: I love my Cobalt Neotherm heater in my 10 gallon and would get the wattage for a new one accordingly for a 29 gallon tank.

Sorry for all the reading one has to do to reply, but I need help from my fellow fishsperts (fish experts)

 

For the substrate, you could use black diamond blasting sand, which is finer than gravel (its sand lol) and is black. It is pretty cheap too.

Java fern and anubias are the only plants that come to mind when considering plants that can be tied down. If you want to try planting plants in your substrate, you can just add root tabs into your sand and you should be good to go. Dwarf sagittaria is easy to take care of and is low lighting, making for a great beginner carpet. Anacharis (elodea) is easy to take care off and should provide plenty of hiding spots for your cories and pleco. If you want to keep plants, also invest in a good lighting system. Of course, you don’t have to keep plants to this extent and could just have some anubias and java fern with some floating plants such as frog it and decorate it however you want. Here to help!

So I guess the question is, planted or not? “Not” would be just a few plants

 

I would like a lot of plants but it’s super hard to describe what I’m imagining

 

Sometimes drawing your scape out can help.
So, if you want a lot of plants, you could go with some black sand with rot tabs, and that would work fine. As for lighting, you could get a quality led light for pretty cheap. Beamworks planted leds work great and are cheap.

 

For my 10 gallon tank I have a Current Satellite LED I was going to get another one for my 29g and tonight I will try to draw my ideas

 

oh xD ok Currents are a little pricey for me but you do you! Drawing your scape out will definitely help so we can plan the plants you want.

 

IMG_20180413_182932 by HORNET1 posted Apr 13, 2018 at 10:29 PM

I'm using Eco Complete topped with a layer of Black Diamond blasting sand.
That combination has worked really well for me.

 

Yes, you could run Eco-Complete with a sand cap. I use Eco-Complete by itself, but if you are looking for a finer option you could cap it with sand. In the beginning, since Eco-Complete is nutrient deprived (it really doesn’t have any nutrients, and is just volcanic rock. High CEC though) I would use root tabs until your gravel matures. Higher fish load, the shorter this takes.