Newbie help

[Maeve]

TL;dr: please help me not kill my whole tank.

Hello! I am hoping to garner a little advice from the collective as it were. My husband bought me a 29g Aqueon tank kit for Christmas. We purchased my daughter her first fish, a betta and a 10g tank in October and since, I have been enamored with watching him and spending far too many hours watching youtube videos about fish. 

I am wanting to do a planted aquarium, and hoping if people could "weigh in" with gentle  advice on if my plan is solid, or what I can do to improve. I am planning to replace the light that came with my kit with the 30" Finnex Stingray LED light on the site. 

I have purchased some driftwood and dragon stone for aquascaping and am planning for a layer of eco-complete along the bottom and gravel on top. It's a 29gal so I am aiming for approx an inch of eco-complete and an inch of gravel. I was planning to buy 1 20lb bag of the eco-complete which by my research is a little shy of what I would need for a full inch so I was going to spread it thinly where stem plants will be that need less root fertilizer and mound it more heavily where the root plants are. I will buy easy-green fertilizer from Aquarium Co-op. But I have very hard water in my home and am not sure what I need to do to account for that. (We are planning to install a water softener in the near future.) When I do my initial planting, is the eco-complete enough, or will I also want to dose the Easy-Green then. I am assuming yes. And about how long should I wait after planting to begin introducing fish to my tank. In the videos it seems people plant and then fill the tank with water and begin the cycling process. I don't need to have cycled the tank before planting?

As for plants, I would like it to be fairly 'lushly' planted. This is what I currently have in my cart: 

 

Tiger Lotus Bulb x1
Java Fern x2
Scarlet Temple x2
Java Moss x2
Anubias Coffeefolia x2
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red x1
Aponogeton Crispus x2
Red Dwarf Lily Bulb x1 
Monte Carlo x1
Banana Plant x2
Cryptocoryne Pink Flamingo x1 
Dwarf Hairgrass x1
Anubias nana petite x2
 

I feel with this I might be overplanted, but I just kind of went through and picked things I liked and was going to narrow from there. Im doing a very serene stream like scape for my tone using stone, spiderwood and natural gravel, so I really liked the few plants with bronze and red to kind of pop out and help some of my fish to pop. Speaking of fish, my current plan is to go with a few cory cats, fancy guppies, celestial pearl danios and neon tetras. Im still deciding on my 'centerpiece' fish. Probably just a few honey gouramis, but I have considered a ram to swim in the low to medium area. I also really like otocinclus and kuhli loaches, but know I can only have so many. lol

Please help. And please be kind, I am really new at this but am wanting to learn and to do right by my fishes; while also not setting fire to hundreds of dollars of fish and plants.  Am I heading in the right direction? 

Thanks!

[lefty o]

i think your plans are okay. now i myself personally would start with just 1 of each plant. lots of us seem to have a few plants we just cant keep alive. so i would start with 1 of each, see what thrives, as you can always add more later.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Hey @Maeve! While I’m no expert, I do have a few years experience with 13 tanks in my care for all of those years. Here’s my thoughts:

-29 gallon tanks are personally my favorite size. They’re large enough to do a plethora of things with, but small enough to not be a huge hassle. I think it’s a great place to start!

-Substrate: I’ve never used eco complete. I’m more of a gravel and root tab kind of guy. Your plan sounds good though to get where you want to go. Personally, root tabs work for me, so I’ve never felt the need to purchase both gravel and eco complete. I’d rather just purchase gravel and use root tabs where I need them. 
 

-Fertilizer: Easy Green is awesome and I think it’s worth the “investment”. Some plants feed mostly from the roots, and some feed more from the water column. You’ll want to provide nutrients, even with hard water. I personally have super soft water, but even if my water was hard I would want to provide any and all nutrients the plants want and need. 
 

-Cycling: You don’t need to “cycle” the tank before adding plants. Plants should have some beneficial bacteria on them that will actually help you cycle your tank. However, you will absolutely want your tank cycled, and even better seasoned, before adding fish. Personally, I would get your hardscape how you want it, plant your tank, fill with water, and then enjoy it for a month or two before adding any fish. And obviously test your water to ensure it’s safe for fish before you add any. Cory had a great analogy on the Christmas livestream when it comes to cycled vs a seasoned tank. A “cycled” tank is like a house you just moved into and everything you own is still in boxes. A seasoned tank is like once your house becomes a home; everything is out of the boxes, everything is in its place, and it’s a much more comfortable place to be. You can sleep the night in both places, but a well-established home is what you’re going for. 

 

-Plants: Agreed with @lefty o that some things will thrive in your water and other things not so much. Even with my 13 tanks that are all basically set up the same, get the same maintenance/water changes/lighting/etc things differ between the tanks. Some tanks grow one plant great, but clippings will not survive in the tank next to it. I would suggest the same thing @lefty o did; try some things and see if they work before you burn a couple hundred bucks hoping they work. 
 

-Fish: Dealers choice on what makes you happy. I love Cory’s, Guppies should do well in your hard water and will absolutely reproduce so you’ll need a plan to move the offspring to new homes. CPD’s and Neon’s could definitely be fun! Centerpiece is totally up to you. 
 

Hopefully this all helps! Welcome to the forum and holler at us when you have questions or need help! There’s a bunch of rad people here with a lot of experience and we all just want to help others succeed. 

[Miranda Marie]

I think your plan sounds quite reasonable! Just expect some (or a lot LOL) of plant melt and take things slow.

These are the youtube videos that were absolute life savers for me when I got into planted aquariums/keeping fish! I find watching concise, easy to follow videos simpler for taking in all the information rather than reading text walls, so hopefully they'll be useful to you! 

How to Set Up A Planted Tank: https://youtu.be/29aKqiu0b7w

Why Aquarium Plants "Melt": https://youtu.be/OFvIyc2j13E

Five Things To Know About Planted Aquariums Before Getting Started (playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlBBJ7xBuqub-rl6z7cnGfSp_rUoyGN0U

Guide To Planted Aquariums (Playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlBBJ7xBuquZWUAQTV_qV-4RT526rh1sy

[Schuyler]

One thing I would say is that eco complete doesn't really have nutrients and you would still probably need root tabs for root feeding plants.

[Marcelo]

Hi @Maeve are you going to use injected CO2 ? If yes, great ! If you are not going to use it,  search for a topic called “siesta” and enjoy it. 
 

F very Good Luck to you 

[Maeve]

I was not planning to use CO2 injection. That just feels a little too jumping into the deep end to start out. I looked into the siesta stuff, appreciate the tip and will try that. 

On 1/1/2023 at 10:11 PM, Miranda Marie said:

I think your plan sounds quite reasonable! Just expect some (or a lot LOL) of plant melt and take things slow.

These are the youtube videos that were absolute life savers for me when I got into planted aquariums/keeping fish! I find watching concise, easy to follow videos simpler for taking in all the information rather than reading text walls, so hopefully they'll be useful to you! 

How to Set Up A Planted Tank: https://youtu.be/29aKqiu0b7w

Why Aquarium Plants "Melt": https://youtu.be/OFvIyc2j13E

Five Things To Know About Planted Aquariums Before Getting Started (playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlBBJ7xBuqub-rl6z7cnGfSp_rUoyGN0U

Guide To Planted Aquariums (Playlist): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlBBJ7xBuquZWUAQTV_qV-4RT526rh1sy

Thank you! I will watch these!

On 1/1/2023 at 9:46 PM, lefty o said:

i think your plans are okay. now i myself personally would start with just 1 of each plant. lots of us seem to have a few plants we just cant keep alive. so i would start with 1 of each, see what thrives, as you can always add more later.

That seems reasonable. Thanks! I will do that! 

[Maeve]

@AllFishNoBrakesThank you for such a well thought out reply! I may just switch to gravel and root tabs, I just felt like the eco-complete gave me an extra security blanket to not screw up. I never knew that about seasoned vs cycled tanks but it makes a lot of sense and fits with what I was planning anyway. I wanted to give it 4-6 months before adding fish to not overwhelm myself and to see how the plants were doing and how I was managing with them. Just doubles down that that is the right thing to do. 

I know that the topic of how many fish you can put in a tank is hotly debated, but if the bioload is being managed well via the plants and water changes and the fish are happy, not aggressive and still have plenty of "space" it seems you could get away with a few more. I plan to add to my community slowly not all at once, and I think I've finally decided to do all male guppies to avoid the baby issue. Even if most of them are eaten thats still A LOT of fish to rehome. But that said if Im doing well down the road I'd really be interested to have the kuhlis. I like the look of the Bolivian Ram or the German Blue and where they would hang out in the tank, that low to medium range, but they don't appear to be as beginner friendly. 

 

[Schuyler]

Something else to be aware of is that plants use up O2 when they don't have light so depending on how heavily planted it is you may want to add aeration at night

[Comradovich]

Before I spent money on an all-tank layer of eco complete, I'd decide whether or not I really wanted an all-over carpet of crypts or montecarlo. I mean that can look cool, but it can make it difficult to really get much out of your other plantings if there's green everywhere you look. What I'd try instead is to steal a page from MD Fishtank's book and get yourself some zippered filter media bags. Load those with your eco complete like you would a pillow or sandbag (1/2 - 3/4 full), then just place each bag where you want the plants to be in the tank and cap it with gravel. That way the plantings are contained to certain areas, and you have other areas which are either bare, or occupied by your hardscape. You don't really think about what's under your rocks and driftwood, but if it's aquasoil then that's an area where it can decompose into your water column because nothing is growing on it.

You could also go gravel and root tabs, as you've said above. I just think if you're sold on the extra layer of protection that an aquasoil provides, then you might want to just adjust how you use the soil to get more out of it. I have sand over root tabs, and my growth is okay. But it's just "okay". I could probably keep dwarf hairgrass alive better if I had some dedicated plots of something under the gravel for my root feeders.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 1/2/2023 at 12:38 PM, Maeve said:

I like the look of the Bolivian Ram or the German Blue and where they would hang out in the tank, that low to medium range, but they don't appear to be as beginner friendly. 

I’ve tried black rams a couple different times with 0 success, even keeping the tank at 84 degrees as they like it hot. When the second attempt at black rams didn’t work I went with Bolivians that don’t have those higher temp requirements, and they’ve thrived for me. Definitely recommend the Bolivian as they will want temperatures more in line with your general tropical fish and their needs 

[Maeve]

Is the Bolivian fairly beginner friendly? My sister-in-law who has a few small aquariums has warned me against cichlids. 

@Comradovichthat is excellent advice! Thank you so much! I was planning to concentrate the eco-complete where the root feeder plants were but the zippered bags makes much more sense! I do like the look of a carpet, but if it will take away from the rest of my plants then I might rethink that. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Bolivians have been the easiest of the Rams I’ve tried. I have 2 in a 20 gallon high with 6 Julii Corydoras and 6 Furcata Rainbows. Tank is 76° and everyone gets along