Getting back into the hobby after 15 years

[MatticusRexxor]

Hello!

 

Recently, my sister mentioned getting a betta fish for her little girls, and that sparked a desire to return to the hobby for the first time since college.  I am still assembling equipment, but this is my overall plan:

 

29 gallon planted tank

Filtration: Lee’s Triple Flow Corner Filter (Small) x1, double-stacked Med. Aquarium Co-Op sponge filters

Lighting: Aqueon Optibright+ 30 in

Heating: Fluval M100 x2

Substrate: Black sand?

Plants: TBD

Stocking: Zebra Danios, Cory cats, Nerite snails, shrimp(?), centerpiece fish TBD

 

As I mentioned, I’m still waiting on some equipment.  I accidentally purchased the wrong size of Aqueon Quietflow air pump (I thought the 40 had two outlets), so I’m waiting for the lager one.  I also plan on getting a controller for the heaters as a safety measure.

Not sure what plants I’m going to choose, but I’ll need something hardy that likes very hard water.  Also not sure what substrate to get, but the guy at Petco recommended Imagiterrium black sand.  I also don’t know exactly what I want to put into the box filter, so recommendations would be appreciated.  I think I’d like to “hot rod” it with an upload tube, but I’m not sure what size I need.

Assembly of the stand will likely begin this weekend, with more setup over the coming weeks.

 

[CalmedByFish]

Welcome back to the hobby!

It's great that you're thinking ahead carefully. I've heard some plant roots have a hard time with sand, so it might make sense to choose some favorite plant options, and get a substrate that seems likely to work for them. 

But it is also true that we tend to go through many species of plants before figuring out what can grow in our tanks. 🙄 So if you're more interested in substrate than plants, go ahead and get a substrate you think is awesome. 

[Patrick_G]

Welcome! 

[MatticusRexxor]

Stand has been assembled!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’d say your equipment seems well sorted. Zebra danios can be jumpers grab a glass lid helps with decreasing evaporation and keeps the jumpers from landing on the floor. Otherwise your stocking seems good. I think you can do shrimp- Neocaridina have a really low bioload. 

Substrate - you could do sand + gravel/eco-complete or sand +aquasoil if you’re planning to have stem (rotala, ludwigia, bacopa), crown plants (swords, aponogetons) and or cryptocoryne (crypt wendtii a great starter crypt). If you’re going with rhizome plants only (anubias, Java fern, bucephelandra, bolbitis) you don’t need anything “fancy” in the substrate to lock in nutrients. If you want to do both which is a good idea to have fast and slow growing plants then you need the substrate to have both sand and an active substrate. If you have budgetary concerns you could do lava rock as well as small amounts of active substrate as it will lock in some nutrients and is great for plant roots and beneficial bacteria. You can also put lava rock in bags to help give height to the back which once again save money on substrate. 

As @Guppysnailsaid there will be a process in this first round of planting to figure out which plants work for your setup. Most of us say plant heavily from the beginning because you’ll undoubtedly have some die off but there’s a good chance with easy crown, rhizome and stem plants you’ll have a better than 50% hit rate. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:23 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

As @Guppysnailsaid there will be a process in this first round of planting to figure out which plants work for your setup. Most of us say plant heavily from the beginning because you’ll undoubtedly have some die off but there’s a good chance with easy crown, rhizome and stem plants you’ll have a better than 50% hit rate.

My thought process is plants have to adjust to lower light and new water parameters in our tanks. So i try to make them adjust to one thing at a time. I suction cup them directly under the light just below the water line until they show new growth and drop leaves etc. then I slowly lower them in the tank. Once they are growing good i move them where i want them and secure temporarily. If they do good thats great. If they start to suffer i know current or light is not right so i move about until  they are happy. Then that’s where they live. I have excellent success and quicker transition this way. I am also experimenting with allowing the top portion of leaves of emersed grown plant to remain above the water line so they continue to have the co2 until they adapt 

[Alison]

Hello and welcome back! I have personally found the eco complete to be an all around easy substrate for planted tanks. I am currently using it in both of my tanks.  My 30 is mostly eco complete with a sand area as well.  I'd say just shove in as many plants as you can.  Anubias and buce are super easy and can be attached to anything. I've had a lot of really good luck with rotalla, hygrophila and aponogetans such as madagascar lace. Crypts are also very easy and forgiving for the most part.  I'm forever adding and subtracting from my tanks depending on what works well and what I find that I like.  It makes it a fun and ever evolving project.

[Patrick_G]

My favorite substrate is a layer of aquasoil like Fluval Stratum under a layer of pool filter sand or other medium grain sand. That way you get a nice nutrient layer and save a bit of money. If you want something less complex the Imagitarium black sand seems pretty good. We have it in my wife’s tank and plants grow like mad. 
 

[MatticusRexxor]

Made another supply run today, focused on substrate, decor and other essentials.  I ended up going with a bag of CaribSea Eco-Planted substrate, which I'll layer under some Imagitarium smooth gravel.  Also got my gravel vac and some 5-gallong buckets.

For the box filter, I've got a fine filter pad (which will be upgraded to a course pad and/or poly-fill when I can get some) and Fluval BioMax rings.  Per the fish guy at Petco's recommendation I grabbed some carbon for when I first start introducing snails and fish.  I would still like to get some more rigid tubing to improve the uplift tube on the box filter, if anyone knows where I could find some.

The first piece of decor that I went with is a big, almost pyramid-shaped section of Mopani wood that I've currently got soaking in one of the buckets.  That'll need to soak for a few weeks, and hopefully I'll have assembled all of my equipment by then.

The guy at Petco recommended swords and crypts for my plants, maybe with some anubias.  I may have to forego getting a centerpiece fish like a ram or gourami, as they'll likely eat any shrimp I get.  Maybe a few male Mollies?

[Guppysnail]

On 10/11/2021 at 8:17 PM, MatticusRexxor said:

would still like to get some more rigid tubing to improve the uplift tube on the box filter, if anyone knows where I could find some.

If you are talking airline tubing. Penn plax is the more rigid type I use for some applications that need the stiffness 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Guppysnail

[MatticusRexxor]

Today was the day for getting plants and setting everything up!  Hopefully the plants will take and I’ll be ready to start adding fish in a couple weeks.  Should I add the Cory cats or the Danios first?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Danios first. I feel like the Corys are going to do better in a more established tank though they're not an algae eater. I could be wrong. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Agree with @xXInkedPhoenixX, danios and then Corys. You want you parameters rock solid for 4 weeks before thinking about corys. Super sensitive in comparison to danios. 

[MatticusRexxor]

Here’s the tank after one week.  I think I’m getting some diatom algae on my sponge filters, unless that’s just detritus from the water settling.  I’m seeing some melting on the crypts, but that’s to be expected, yes?  The tall plant on the right seems to be growing, though.

 

I added some bulbs in the background on Wednesday.  Not sure how long it’ll take before they show signs of life.  Speaking of life, I found a tiny worm swimming around in there, but couldn’t get a picture.

No ammonia in the water, but I do see some nitrites that weren’t there before.  Nitrate is normally present in our well water, but might have gone up?  I thought that the plants would bring those down?

I’ve only added three pumps of Easy Green at the beginning, and have the light going for 6 hours a day.  I’ll step it up to 7 starting tomorrow.

[Struggle]

Looking good and yes crypts tend to melt when first planting.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Sounds like a normal part of the cycle and adjustment period for the plants. I think it’s a great sign you’ve seen some worms. Once green algae starts growing you know you’re on your way to maturation. 

[MatticusRexxor]

The tank after two weeks.  The tall plants on the right have reached the surface.  The dwarf hair grass on the right also seems to be doing well.  The big clump of grass on the left isn’t, though.  The other plants seem to be in a holding pattern.  No signs of life from the bulbs I planted last week.

I’ve got what I think is diatom algae forming on some of the leaves, plus some white film on one of the swords that I don’t recognize.  Should I add more Easy Green, or would that only encourage algae?

I can confirm that I’ve got multiple wormy bois of some description.  I also appear to have at least two baby snails, though I have no clue what kind or where they came from.

Also checked my water and my Nitrites are at 3.0 and Nitrates at around 80.

[MatticusRexxor]

Found this larger snail a little while ago.  Looks like a Nerite, I think?  Not sure how I missed it, or how long it's been in there.

 

EDIT: And apparently when they're little they can just hang upside-down on the surface tension?!

Edited November 21, 2021 by MatticusRexxor

[Dawn T]

Hard to see details, but that actually looks like a bladder/pond snail to me. They tend to come in on plants.

[Dawn T]

Maybe this will help:

https://fishtankadvisor.com/freshwater-aquarium-snails/

[MatticusRexxor]

On 11/20/2021 at 5:05 PM, Dawn T said:

Hard to see details, but that actually looks like a bladder/pond snail to me. They tend to come in on plants.

I think you're right.  So that would mean that the clear strand-like film on the swords are actually eggs?  Am I going to have to worry about them breeding out of control?  I'd hate to need to put a loach or assassin snail in there, given that I want Nerites at some point.

[Dawn T]

Not sure what that "strand" is you're talking about. I've never seen that with my snails. They leave little gel-like clusters on leaves, decorations, and the aquarium glass. That's the eggs.

Snails typically only breed out of control when a tank is overfed. If you're feeding just enough for the fish in the tank, the snail population won't explode on you. If you're overfeeding, then you can have an explosion. Until I just added a bunch from a friend's overfed tank to my tank that contains assassin snails, my tanks were balanced. No snail explosions, though the snails have been there the whole time I've had my setups. They're just part of the occupants of my tanks. The only time they've suddenly proliferated, I was overfeeding. Stopped overfeeding and removed excess snails using a snail trap, and things returned to normal.

[MatticusRexxor]

This is what I meant:

 

[MatticusRexxor]

The tank after three weeks.  The tall plants on the right were starting to grow out of the water, so I trimmed them and am trying to propagate them behind the driftwood and by the other sponge filter.  The hair grass clump on the right is doing well, but I think the one on the left isn’t going to make it.  The swords and crypts are doing okay, I think.  The other tall plants in the middle are starting to do well, I think.  Finally saw some life from the biggest bulb I planted—its roots had actually pushed it out of the gravel, and I had to replant it.  The other bulbs haven’t reacted at all, so they might be dead.

 

I count at least half a dozen bladder snails, plus a couple egg clusters.  They finally found the driftwood and the plants, so maybe the diatoms might finally go down.

 

Nitrates are finally starting to go down, but they’re still hovering around 80.  I’m wondering if I should get some more plants?  A moss ball, maybe?  Do I need to dose more Easy Green, or is that just going to result in more algae?

 

When should I start stocking?  I’ll put the danios in first, unless nerite snails would be better.  Should I even bother with nerites if I’ve got a population of bladder snails?

[Torrey]

On 11/27/2021 at 2:58 PM, MatticusRexxor said:

When should I start stocking?  I’ll put the danios in first, unless nerite snails would be better.  Should I even bother with nerites if I’ve got a population of bladder snails?

I like snails, now that @Guppysnail has helped learn to identify them *and* properly care for them.

I would hold off on nerites until the tank is older. Nerites are hands down the best snails for eating hair algae and keeping the glass clean. They are also advertised as having a 2 year life span, and I suspect that is because they are not flexible in what they eat. 

I have 2 nerites my friend bequeathed to me, and she had them for 10 years before I inherited them. I almost accidentally starved them to death😬 I didn't realize that they would not eat anything other than algae. Not algae wafers, not green beans, not spirulina.

Just algae.

As for adding livestock, how long has it been since you have seen ammonia on the test strips?

Personally, I ghost feed my tanks when I am cycling, because I know what I will be putting in the tank and have a pretty good idea how much they will eat.

Other people will use Tim's ammonia. 

Either way, you want to get the ammonia up to 1.0, and the next day see 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, with potentially an increase in nitrates (unless plants consume it).

Once you have the tank going from 1.0 ppm ammonia, to 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrites in a 24 hour period, without carbon in the filter, the tank is ready for fish.

If your well water has nitrates in it, you may want to look at Guppysnail's method of planting, and I can't remember the name,  maybe @dasaltemelosguy did the experiment on lucky bamboo and pothos for nitrate removal?

Guppysnail talks about it in her journal and how she was influenced, if I am wrong about who did the experiment....