the game plan

[rich]

so as to avoid any of the " ah all the fish are dying, what have i done, oh jesus!" type threads ive thought i might write to you wisened fish herders my game plan and you can advise of the possible downfalls in it.
i was recently given a 29 gal 30x12x18 tank with gravel substrate and hood. i immediatly set out on ebay and purchased a mellinium 2000 power filter a 200w marineland heater and a one of those master test kits. so it seems ive got about all i need to get started.
i plan on doing a fishless cycle as to save as many fishy lives as possible and to get a working knowladge of the chemical cycle and testing process. in doing the fishless cycle i was hoping to get some live plants from the LFS to aid in the seeding of my new tank. i plan on switching out most of the gravel for flourite to give the plants a better medium. now ive been looking for hardy, wide lighting, beginner type plants and have chosen anachris, java fern, mabye some swords. im not sure if these are the best choices or not so feel free to pipe in and correct or give advice. now, how many plants would be too many to start with and are the massive amonia and nitrite spikes caused by fishless cycling harmfull to plants?
so ive got the plants, ive got the water, im measuring chem levels and hopefully all goes well and i get the intended 0 amonia and nitrite readings and nitrates are low. should i do a small water change here?now its time for fish. i plan on going as peacefull and community as possible so again correct me if you think my fish are going to go to war.
i go to the store and buy 6 black neon tetras and 4 clown loaches. should i get any kind of stress relief water additive? i bring em home let em float in the water in their bags for 15 min then set em free in there new homes. i then set upon a schedule of feeding, cleaning, and testing and if all goes well in a couple weeks add 4 panda corys and a banjo cat. thats all i plan on stocking for awhile so i dont think im pushing the tanks max. so that should be it.
here are a few odds and ends questions though. the placement of my tank leaves a bit to be desired. its exposed on all but one of the ends. thats a reason i tried to find what seemed to be fairly hardy breeds of fish who hopefully wont be nervous so out in the open. should i attempt to move the tank elsewhere? another prob with the placement is that its in the living room which has 2 huge windows and let in a good deal of sunlight. at no time does the tanks position fall in the direct light but the room stays fairly bright throughout the day. now i figured that much light couldnt be good so i figured i would give the tank a day/ night cycle on a timer. hopefully this will inhibit rampant algae, give the lives plants a rest time and allow the catfish a bit of time to come out of his cave and hang out. so will this night cycle balance out the heavy light of the day?
also is there a plant food that anyone would recommend for this community? is there an overall good all encompassing plant fert i can use. i noticed on the plant board that it gives a list of about 20 chemicals and minerals the plants need to thrive but man theres gotta be something that covers alot of that ground.
well thanks for your time. sorry if this is a bit of a jumble ive piled it into my head alot in the last week or so.

[CordyRoy]

This is just my two cents, but your Clown Loaches will quickly outgrow your tank, especially if you add corys. Why not focus on mid-upper strata fishes instead? The corys would still be a good idea, but nix on the loaches as they can grow to 10-12" in their exceedingly long lifespans(10-15 years). A small shoal of four corys would really do the trick. As long as you cycle your tank correctly(this should take 4-6 weeks) You shouldn't need any kind of "stress-relief", just a dechlorinator. Also, you should be doing water changes at least once weekly. Hope this helped! If anyone has other suggestions, or thinks I'm completely off-base, feel free. I won't be offended. Everybody's learning. :)

[rich]

blast i was hoping no one would say to axe the clown loaches, i really like those little buggers. also do i add the de chlor with every change? do i dechlor the water im adding or add the water and then dechlor the entire tank. i read somewhere that with a 20% water change conditioner isnt needed. any validity to that?

[wetmanNY]

rich, I think CordyRoy would agree that your Clown Loaches have several years ahead of them before they outgrow that 29-gallon tank. Just be prepared to move them into a 55-gallon tank in a few years.

The natural light without sunlight in your room sounds ideal for plants, with your fluorescent lights supplementing it. Light changes through the year, and in summer you'll filter it with blinds anyway, no? You'll want to fill the tank from the first with fast-growing cheap "stem plants" like Elodea and Cabomba at the start, and edit them out as slower-growing plants fill in. That way you won't have a system where algae instead of plants are in control.

Don't overwash your expensive Flourite.

Plants won't be harmed by fishless cycling. Ammonia levels should never go higher than 4 to 5ppm at any time, plants or no. People who stop testing and blindly add some specified amount of NH3 every morning get caught with a "nitrite spike" that won't go away. Just add each morning enough ammonia to bring the total back to 4 or 5ppm and you'll cycle in painlessly. When nitrite drops to zero under this daily regimen, you're cycled. There's little more to it than just that.

Your tank placement will make aquascaping it difficult, because it has to look right from three angles. A couple of pieces of driftwood that lock together into an interesting arched shape would give you the strong "bones" that greens lack.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[CordyRoy]

Yes, you're right, wetman. The clowns will take quite a while to outgrow a 29. However, I don't think a school of Clowns AND a school of Corys would be such a good idea. That's what I was trying to say. So pick one or the other, IMO.
Rich, you MUST use dechlorinator every time you do a water change. You also need to dechlorinate the water you clean the filter with, the water you clean your ornaments in, etc. Water changes are a pain, but very worth it in the end when you have happy happy fish! ;)

[TKOS]

Also when you have done a fishless cycle you can add the full compliment of fish right away (after a water change of course), bacuse the level of bacteria to support a full tank load is there. If there is a higher bacteria load than fish life the bacteria will die back to the level of the fish load in the tank and then cause mini cycles everytime you add new fish. Of course these can be fought with testing and water changes so if you don't want to add a full load it doesn't mean you have to, just that you can.

I would agree with a nice large group of cories instead of those loaches. Or else how about a different type of loach to mix with the cories. Maybe 5 cories and 5 khulie loaches. They get to be about 4 inches long but are very slim. I am sure there are other cool small loach choices as well.

If you get rid of the bigger loaches you could also add 2 schools of small tetras with contrasting colours. With the black neons, a group silver tip tetra could look really nice.

[Tempest]

If you are planning to fishless cycle, it is really a good idea to wait to add the plants until you are finished with that. The ammonia used in fishless cycling tends to create a feast for algae which makes the plants suffer. Cycling in a tank that is heavily planted is somewhat different than a fish/only tank. You could try it but plants are too expensive anymore to have them get algae covered and have to chuck em out.

[wetmanNY]

CordyRoy's point about not mixing Cories with loaches is well taken. The Clown Loaches do prefer to have the substrate area to themselves. Though a gang of Botia is often recommended, I have a pair of Botia modesta that have settled in together happily for years.

[rich]

thnx for replying everyone this is all great advice and its just what i was hoping for.
ill probably heed the advice about the loach and start looking for a smaller species to take its place. i picked them because i was hoping theyd kind of hang out mid-strat. it seems all the fish i really like the look of live on the bottom and hide out.
does anyone have a pic of a home tank with a clown loach thats actually achieved a full 12" size? that would be a pretty impressive fish! the ones at the LFS are 2" little guys. the modesta is a great looing little loach . ill have to see if the shop stocks em and i may just opt for those.
also do others agree with tempests advice on waiting to add the plant life? would it just add to much of a pain in the ***? ive read abunch of conflicting info on this topic. some say its a great way to get the ball rolling on the cycle and others agree with tempest.
hmmm, what else for today? when you vacum gravel do you move you scenery around to try to get under it? should you vacum in that cave that all of you corys go hang out in? someone mentioned above that i should achieve a high bioload immediatly so the bacteria levels dont drop due to ammonia loss. that seems to make sense, anyone disagree for some reason?
thnx again ill keep writing with more questions. keep it coming!