thanks folks!

[rich]

so my tank is finally cycled and now has most of the denzens i plan on stocking it with and i just want to say thanks to the people around here for being very helpfull in pointing me in the right directions.

i did a planted fishless cycle and all went smooth ( after i realized the cycle wasnt starting because i hadnt put a heater on the tank yet.). took about 3-4 weeks all together and im really glad i chose to do it the way i did as i learned a fair amount of water chemistry before dropping the fish in. id recommend it to others starting out. so heres what ive ended up with.

29 gal
mellinium filter
40 watts of light

3 hornworts
3 bacopa
2 crypts
1 red tiger lotus

3 kuhli loaches
3 oto
3 ghost shrimp
5 albino cories
1 hillstream loach
and i plan on dropping a pair of rams in when im sure the tank is feeling stable.

all looks well so far! im sure ill have questions in the near future when somthing new pops up.

[cdawson]

40 watts of light isn't going to be enough for that tank. You'll need at least 3 watts per gallon. So 90-100 watts is what you'll be looking to get. You'll also need to make sure you get micro and macro nutrients or algae is going to take over your tank. Micro and macro nutrients are needed for the plants to take advantage of the excess nutrients in the water. Otherwise the algae out-competes the plants for it (the nutrients) and all you get is alot of algae and green water.

[superjohnny]

Yup, that red tiger lotus isn't going to be very happy at <2wpg

[rich]

yeah thats actually my next buy, a power compact hood from the lfs. i would have allready gotten one but its really pricey to set up a high amount of light. i dont think ive seen a hood that will fit over my tank and provide 3wpg anywhere but 2 wpg shouldnt be to tough. and truth be told im not sure why but the plants are doing insanely well under what light i have. it could be because the tank is in the living room and gets a lot of indirect light from outside but all the plants have doubled in size since i added them a month ago. i need to trim the hornworts again for a second time even. the lotus is looking bright red and new leaves pop out every 3-4 days. i think the co2 i have rigged up has helped them a fair amount. ive also been adding kents ferts and pottasium every few days. i need to get some tests for the plant neutriant levels so i caqn make sure im not having any deficiancies.

and so far algae hasnt shown its head to bad. i got a bad case of brown algae during about the last week of the cycle but that made the otos happy as soon as i dropped em in and now the tank looks pretty clean.