29 gallon, filtration and other ?'s

I would go with the shultz potting soil, good choice, and some fast growing anacharis, I know a guy in your city that can get you some good green anacharis for little or nothing

PM or EMAIL me for more info

65 watts should be enough for a 29 gallon tank. However, I would definately read up on CO2 injection, and fertillizing. If you want, I can give you the info in a nutshell, or at least point you to a relevant thread (but thats only if your lazy ).

For substrate, I personally use a fluorite, mixed in with a thin layer of peat. I spread a thin layer of peat (just enough to cover the glass) at the bottom of the tank. The fluorite goes on top of this. 3-4 inches seems to be the average substrate depth, although having the substrate deeper isn't unheard of.

My plant tanks are all filtered by canisters. Wet/Dry filters can be used, but thats usually reserved for larger tanks. I'd probably look for a good size canister for your tank.

For livestock... what do you personally want to keep? A couple of larger fish? or a bunch of smaller fish? bottom feeders? top level swimmers? etc. etc. If you can give us a list of what you want to keep, we can advise you better... there are many possibilities.

HTH
-Richer

Tyler, check out my Resource Page at http://www.brainyday.com/jared/aquarium/info.htm There are lots of organized links to good info. We had success both with small-grain gravel mixed with some Aquarium Pharmaceutical's First Layer Pure Laterite, as well as our current setup which is all Flourite.

Look into DIY CO2 (see Cathy H's Primer linked on my page) and Seachem's Flourish Excel, a non-CO2 carbon source (see link there). If you use CO2 it's best to keep surface agitation down to a slight movement to prevent the CO2 from escaping. CO2 is said to be most beneficial with tanks at roughly 2-2.5 watts/gal and up. If you have specific questions about CO2 chemisty, just ask.

It's a good idea to start with a nice % of fast-growing stem plants. They will help get the tank in balance over any algae. Later you can replace some/all of the stem plants with others if you want to. It will also give you time to see what species do well, which you like, which look good and where, etc.

For livestock I suggest some guidelines:

1. Don't overstock. I suggest a small to moderate fish load.
2. If you mix species, get compatible fish
3. Make sure they don't eat plants
4. I agree with you that it's nice to have species that swim/stay at different heights -- top, middle and bottom. That would make good use of your tank space.
5. True SAE's are great, if you can find them.
6. Blue rams are fairly delicate -- we lost 3 our our 4 because the lfs didn't tell us they had just gotten them, didn't medicate, and subsequently lost most of theirs too. Make sure the store has had them for a while.

HTH,
Jared

Any basic filter that provides good circulation will do. The plants will take care of the ammonia and nitrate. I just use Aqua clears. A small power head on your C02 reactor will also sup0ply a little current.

Adding a very small amount of peat with either Schultz, Flourite, or laterite, will help make the iron and other nutrients available from the substrate to the plants faster. The acid of the peat acts as a chelator, turning oxidized iron into a more soluable form.

I use Shultz in the majority of my tanks used to grow plants for my business. It works great, but should be mixed with enough gravel to give it more weight and prevent compacting.

Learning about the nutrients plants need and how to give it to them isn't difficult. All you need to know is some definitions of terms. Everything then falls together. Read this article and it will be self explanatory: http://www.aquabotanic.com/sfintro.htm

C02 isn't that difficult either. You know when you add C02 your pH goes down. It goes down to a point and then levels off there, until you increase the flow of C02. By knowing what your pH was before you added C02, and then after you can figure out how much C02 is in your water. You do this by cross referencing the pH with the KH, (carbonate hardness). For example if your pH is 6.6 and your KH is 3.0, then you have 23ppm of CO2 in your tank! 10 to 25 ppm is considered a good target level according to Chuck Gadds chart http://www.aquabotanic.com/charts.htm

So just do a little reading, on Jared's link page, and on my site, Aqua Botanic, and you will find it's much easier than you think!

Robert H

I've had my Blue Rams with Bolivian Rams, Apistos, Tetras, Gouarmies (Dwarf & Honey), Cories, Yoyo Loaches, Otos, SAEs, and a few others with no problems. As long as you don't put them with agressive fish, they get along with most community type fish.