Aquaman's 29g Bio-Cube

[aquaman3680]

Hello,

Some of you may have seen that I was planning on setting up a 14 gallon Bio-Cube, but I ended up going with the 29 instead. The money difference was not enough to keep me from doing the upgrade. I feel like I would be kicking myself later if I did not do it!

Anyways, the tank was set up yesterday with 20 lbs. Flourite substrate mixed in with one 5lbs bag of gravel. The Bio-Cube comes with 2x 36 watt PC's, so that is the lighting on the tank which equates to a little over 2 watts per gallon.

Here is a picture of the set up-

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2332.jpg

A couple of questions-

I know on the previous, 14 gal tank, some people thought the Flourish Excel would work alright. Would it be the same case with this tank? Also would you recommend leaving the bio-balls in the tank or is there something better to replace them with?

Thanks any input on the tank is more than welcome!

Matt

[DAVIDFBT]

You could still use excel, but now you have to buy 2 times as more often as if you would have stuck with the 14 gallon tank. I would probably just do Flourish and DIY CO2, but that's just me. The tank looks like it has a nice start though, good job!

[Riiz]

Excel costs wont be to bad, its wont be dosed every day since I dont see any faster growers in there. Also the Bio-balls should stay unless you keep your fish load very minimal for that same reason.

[Cory Keeper]

that will be a TOTM contender with a little work, awesome tank. I wouldn't mind one myself, but no way I can justify $200 on a single tank.

Keep the bioballs as well.

[Sweetheart]

Nice start!:)

[H3D]

Looks great!

[rich311k]

Looking good!

[snoopy65]

Nice tank

[icemanx23]

Congrats. I've read ur thread about 14g one. Going 29 was a right choice. Nice tank.

[aquaman3680]

Thanks for the comments! Would it be better if I put in the ceramic rings instead of the Bio-Balls?

Also, for some reason my tank is really cloudy today... is this normal? I have heard that drift wood can do that as well, is this true? I soaked it for 3 days before putting it in the tank.

I added two fish to the tank, 2 cory cats, guy at the fish store said it was necessary to produce the bacteria needed.

I am very much into salt water and have never had a tank cloud up like it is right now...

Any suggestions? Oh I also added a pure flow filter to the tank to get out any and all other sediments...

Would Poly filters work for extracting anything that is making the tank cloudy?

Thanks,

Matt

[phanmc]

The bio-balls are fine, plus you don't really need biological filtration if you plant heavily enough. Which brings up the next point, you need more plants. Starting out with only a few plants is going to lead to algae problems, fill that tank up with as many plants as you can.

Your tank is going through the nitrogen cycling process, so the cloudy water is likely bacterial bloom that should eventually go away as the bacteria settles. The whole cycling process is going to take several weeks, a better way to deal with it is to pack the tank full of plants and let them handle the biological filtration. Pack the tank full of plants, add CO2 and ferts, wait a week to make sure they are healthy and growing, then add your fish.

[aquaman3680]

Ah, ok thanks for the information!

I was going the saltwater approach and just adding a few to see how they do!

Anyways, I will get more plants tomorrow. Any suggestions? Also what is HC? I really like it but I do not know what the acronym stands for. I really want something to spread over the substrate.

The plants that come in the pots, is it best to leave them in the pot? The ones I got yesterday I took them out and they had this paper like stuff on them... Am I supposed to put that in the tank or just peel as much off as possible?

Thanks,

Matt

[Cory Keeper]

Ehhh, I tend to disagree that you don't need bio-filtration. My 29g is heavily planted but it still clouds over pretty bad if I remove one the sponges from my canister.

[phanmc]

HC is Hemianthus callitrichoides, not the easiest plant to deal with. It needs good CO2 levels and gets easily uprooted because it's a very small plant with short roots. An easier groundcover would be dwarf hairgrass, Eleocharis parvula.

Take the plants out of the pots and rockwool.

For a new setup you should get some stem plants in there like Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia repens, Hygrophilas (difformis, polysperma, etc), and Hemianthus micranthemoides (baby tears) just to name a few hardier types. Stem plants are fast growers and good nutrient sinks, helps keep algae under control. The pieces of driftwood would look better with some moss tied to it.

[aquaman3680]

HC is Hemianthus callitrichoides, not the easiest plant to deal with. It needs good CO2 levels and gets easily uprooted because it's a very small plant with short roots. An easier groundcover would be dwarf hairgrass, Eleocharis parvula.

Take the plants out of the pots and rockwool.

For a new setup you should get some stem plants in there like Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia repens, Hygrophilas (difformis, polysperma, etc), and Hemianthus micranthemoides (baby tears) just to name a few hardier types. Stem plants are fast growers and good nutrient sinks, helps keep algae under control. The pieces of driftwood would look better with some moss tied to it.

Thank you for the suggestions! The plant on the left, big leaves- dunno what it is called, I moved up onto the driftwood. I was also told that the Java Fern needs to be on the driftwood? What type of moss would you suggest? The guy at the LFS said that he would not sell me Java Moss for its abilities to take over a tank. Any other mosses that will do well? I believe the one on the bottom right is "baby tears".

Thanks,

Matt

[Cory Keeper]

Well that big plant is an anubias of some sort, looks like barterie

[aquaman3680]

Upon the suggestion to do so I went back to the store and got a few more plants. Here are the pictures, please excuse the cloudiness!

Also I took individual pictures of the plants, if someone could ID them that would be great!

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2367.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2374.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2375.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2376.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2377.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2379.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2380.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2382.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2384.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2356.jpg
Skunk Cory Cat

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg287/aquaman3680/D30_2348.jpg
Betta!

Matt