Questions about starting a 29 gal aquarium

[Jim TN]

After reading this sites blog articles and watching many Aquarium Co-Op You Tube Videos, I would like to start a 29 gal aquarium. This is the starter size Cory recommended in a video. What are good brands for a standard 29 gal aquarium?

I want to cycle the aquarium with plants and slowly start adding fish when the plants show growth. What and how many plants from this website should I purchase as I want it to be somewhat heavily planted? A natural eco system as much as possible.

How many sponge filters and what size should I buy from this website? How many and what air stones and air pumps should I buy from this website?  I would like to have small to mediums tetra's, Cory's, maybe one Pleco or Kuhli Loaches. 

My water utility says its water has a PH of 7.9, hardness of 38 ppm and comes from a lake. I was expecting a lower PH with this low level of hardness. What products should I purchase on this website to lower the PH to closer to 7? Should I use crushed coral or Wonder Shell to increase the hardness of the water?

Any of advice is welcome as my research is no substitute for experience for which I have none.

Jim

[Alison]

I am not an expert by any means but this is what I would do.

I personally prefer acrylic to glass so I'd custom order an acrylic tank for starters.  I can understand how most people wouldn't be interested in taking on that large of an expense so soon.  I honestly don't know much about glass tank brands. If I was going to go that route, I would just wait until the dollar per gallon sale and get a tank that way.

Figure out your hardscape if you want any and make sure you get exactly what you want. It's easier to get hard scape set in a tank before you start putting plants in. Make sure you are 100% happy with the look and the results before going forward.

The answer to how many plants you should buy is as many as you can afford. I did a general lay out of the general look I wanted and bought plants from there.  I drew a picture of my tank and hard scape and equipment and then blocked out areas where I wanted taller things, shorter things, medium things and so on. I ended up playing with the placement a bit and the final look didn't turn out exactly like the diagram but it gave me a good place to start. Buce plants is another good website.   I have ordered from there a bit and have been very happy with what I received.  I cycled my tank slowly with plants in and after five or six weeks started to slowly stock it.   This strategy works really well and I didn't have any spikes in my parameters.

I would probably do one or two of the medium sponge filters with an airs tone depending on how heavily I planned on stocking the tank.

as for the Ph I wouldn't worry about it. Mine is actually slightly higher than yours and my fish are all fine.  Unless you are planning on getting into super sensitive fish or fish that need very specific water conditions for breeding I wouldn't worry about it.  I've read a lot of people say to not chase ph because you will drive yourself mad trying to stabilize it and instead just work with what you have.  This advice has worked really well for me and has alleviated a lot of unnecessary stress.

[gcalberto]

9 hours ago, Jim TN said:

After reading this sites blog articles and watching many Aquarium Co-Op You Tube Videos, I would like to start a 29 gal aquarium. This is the starter size Cory recommended in a video. What are good brands for a standard 29 gal aquarium?

I want to cycle the aquarium with plants and slowly start adding fish when the plants show growth. What and how many plants from this website should I purchase as I want it to be somewhat heavily planted? A natural eco system as much as possible.

How many sponge filters and what size should I buy from this website? How many and what air stones and air pumps should I buy from this website?  I would like to have small to mediums tetra's, Cory's, maybe one Pleco or Kuhli Loaches. 

My water utility says its water has a PH of 7.9, hardness of 38 ppm and comes from a lake. I was expecting a lower PH with this low level of hardness. What products should I purchase on this website to lower the PH to closer to 7? Should I use crushed coral or Wonder Shell to increase the hardness of the water?

Any of advice is welcome as my research is no substitute for experience for which I have none.

Jim

About the cycling part, I agree with Allison. Starting with as many plants as possible is indeed beneficial for the cycling part and helps preventing and algae bloom.  On the other hand, I like watching my plants grow, so I usually start with few plants if they are fast growing and go from there. You could also try going to your lfs or friend with a cycled tank and ask for them so squeeze a sponge filter into a plastic bag, then you take this brown water and pour it in your tank. It speeds up the cycling incredibly. 

Alternatively, you could buy a sponge filter and ask your lfs or a friend with an already cycled tank to leave it in their tank running for a couple of weeks, and then you take it home (this is what I did when I started). 

I would get 2 sponge filters and an air pump strong enough to run both. It's probably a little more than you'd need, but extra filtration won't hurt your fish at all and it might help offset some common begginer mistakes, like feeding too much. 

As for your ph. Just put a large piece of wood in your tank. Given how soft is your water, your kh is probably low too, which means that it's extremely easy to change the ph of your water. That happens to me and can be troublesome, which is why I recommend a log to naturally decrease your ph and help prevent your ph from skyrocketing. 

As for stocking, your plan seems solid. I'm partial do bristlenose plecos, since they are pretty effective at eating algae and breeding them is easy and rewarding. Plus I like the long bristles in the males 

[Jim TN]

One important question I failed to ask was what lighting product I should buy that will work with a glass lid?

[Larrimore]

Look at the stingray options on the coop website.  

[ange]

I'd recommend picking up one of the Aqueon tanks during dollar per gallon (Pet Supplies Plus/Petco run these) and cutting a lid out of greenhouse siding. If you only want sponge filters, I'd personally run Aquarium Co-Op's size medium + nano (small is also an option but I personally dislike the footprint). A good HOB is the AquaClear line with a pre-filter sponge. Air pumps + accessories are also on the Aquarium Co-Op website. My personal favorite mix are Rena air pumps (my 300 is older than I am), Aquarium Co-Op tubing, and honestly whatever brand of accessories.

I disagree with what a lot of people said about going for as many plants as possible. Long term, sure, but I really think that planted tanks are something that come to life over months/years for hobbyists. Some good early pickups are most Anubias, Echinodorus, and Microsorum species.

Personally I wouldn't chase pH. I live in a place with extremely alkaline water (8+ coming out of the tap and over 20dKH) and have never really had a problem with it. As long as your pets are doing well I wouldn't chase numbers too far, and if you buy your fish locally they're most likely getting water from the same source as you. Assuming your water isn't too buffered, you can naturally soften water over time with any botanical that releases tannins (most commonly driftwood or catappa leaves.) If you do have long-term issues it may be beneficial to use RO water with a mineral additive (such as Seachem Equilibrium) though I wouldn't recommend that to someone from the get-go.

Hope this helps.

[Paul]

@Jim TNyour choice of tanks will depend on what you want to spend on it. You can get an Aqueon 29 at Petco during the $1 a gallon sale for less than $35  tax included or if you want to go the acrylic route then price tag will be over $250. I also recommend some sort of lid. I’ve used Fritzyme along with a sponge from another tank to get the cycle moving with good success. I run sponge and hob filters in my smaller tanks 20L, 29, and 40 breeder. Before you commit to plants make sure the fish are compatible with plants , some like them too much and make a meal out of them and others just want to keep ripping them out of the substrate. Since the 29 is a tall tank you’ll need a fairly strong light if you want to grow foreground plants successfully. Prices for these will be all over the place from about $40 to $100+. The Finnex Stingray 2.0 is a good mid priced option that provides good light without a lot of bells and whistles. Good luck. 
 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Paul

[ADMWNDSR83]

8 hours ago, Jim TN said:

One important question I failed to ask was what lighting product I should buy that will work with a glass lid?

I just upgrded my TopFin hood, which came with the tank at PetSmart, to the NICREW RGB Plus 24/7.  I'm running a 37, and it gives a good amount of light, so I'm sure it would be great for the 29.