29 Gallon Planted Tank Questions

There's no way those are your readings, you shouldn't be seeing trates for quite some time you will see ammonia and trites before trates. Also the bioload produced by one shrimp isn't going to be enough to even begin to start a cycle, stop using the chemicals. What kind of test kit are you using?

I agree to stop using chemicals/additives to clear the water. First thing is that many of these act by binding microscopic particulate matter into larger particles so the filter media can more easily trap them; but these chemicals also bind the fish's gills, and may have some effect on shrimp too. Cloudiness in new setups is normal. If this is due to "dirt" from the substrate it will clear in a day or two. If it is a bacterial bloom, it should be left to clear on its own. Bacterial bloom uses different bacteria from the nitrifying species, just so you know; these bacteria feed on organics, and there are a lot of organics in ordinary tap water.

To the nitrate, have you tested your tap water on its own? Tap water should be tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as any or all of these may be present. If this is the source of the nitrate, and seeing it is so low, I wouldn't worry. There is no problem using Stability, I have used this product myself.

On the cycling, as you have live plants, I would not mess with "cycling." I cannot see the plants clearly to ID them, but some species of Ludwigia or Hygrophila would seem possible. Whatever they are, being stem plants they are fast growing, and this will help the "cycling" by taking up ammonia. I would get some more plants, floating if you can, as these are even faster at using ammonia and nutrients. What fish do you intend?

Do you know what the substance of the white substrate is? White can signal calcareous substances which will increase GH and pH, which is fine for hard water fish but not so good for soft water species. And do you know the GH of your tap water (you can ascertain this from the water supply folks, likely on their website)?

Byron.

Looks like white aquarium rock to me, which would do nothing for raising gh, kh or ph. I wouldn't worry too much about ph unless you are planning to stock wild caught fish.

There is a great article on cycling in the article section here. I would suguest reading it as it gives a good idea of what is actually happening. By cycle do you mean you have tried to introduce an ammonia source (other than the shrimp) or simply let the tank run a few days? I dont have much experience cycling with plants, and they do change the game a bit. I'm not sure how it works with the plants using the ammonia when it is needed to establish nitrifying bacteria. Normally (as stated without plants) I would do the fishless cycle by adding ammonia to the tank as described in the article until the beneficial bacteria are established. This can be sped up by putting a handfull of established substrate (from a trusted disease free tank)in a sac and putting it into your filter.

As for your heater, if you have not gotten it yet, I would get another 50w and keep the other one as well. I try to run 2 heaters at about half the wattage needed overall, so if one fails on it will not cook the fish before you discover it. Also if one fails off the other one will at least keep it warm enough untill the other is replaced.

Most people here would suggest more corries since they will be happier in a larger group. I don't think 5-6 with a single angel would be too much.

As far as the seachem, It doesn't say what type of bacteria it contains, but I will assume it is the right ones. If that is true, by either not dosing ammonia, or having fish to supply them with ammonia, it will not work to cycle your tank. Again I would refer you to the cycling article to better understand the nitrification process.

I personally would not have a lone angelfish. I know some do, but this fish is by nature a shoaling fish that lives in small groups and they have a very defined hierarchy within the group. There is insufficient space in a 29g for a group obviously.

And I agree on the corys, this is another shoaling fish and must have several, no less than five, but more is preferable. They are very social fish. You can have the same species, or you can have mixed species in which case I would aim for 3-5 of each species. You've space in a 29g for 12-15 corys easily in addition to upper fish.

With live plants I do not recommend adding any form of ammonia but I would add a few fish. Corys are not good as the first fish though, so consider upper fish. Once you have more plants and some floaters, this will work fine. Plants need nitrogen, and most aquarium plants prefer ammonium as their source. Fish produce ammonia via respiration, plus ammonia occurs from the breakdown of organics (waste, etc), and plants are in fact faster at grabbing this than bacteria, though some gets past them to the bacteria. Plants convert ammonia into ammonium; in acidic water this occurs automatically, and ammonium is basically harmless. With sufficient plants and very few fish, gradually adding fish, this is the safest and easiest way to cycle a new aquarium.

As for plants, for floaters, Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, Frogbit, Salvinia are some. Certain stem plants grow well floating, Pennywort especially. For substrate-rooted plants, you should have good luck with Amazon swords. The pygmy chain sword or regular chain sword would be ideal, and perhaps one or two of the common Amazon swords which grow much larger. If you are looking at cruising rather than active swimming fish, as you seem to be, filling the space with plants is ideal. If your water is moderately hard (the GH) Vallisneria will do well. I don't know what your light is, but it looks to be sufficient for what I've mentioned. Stem plants being faster growing also need more light and nutrients, so I would tend to stay away from more of those.

Byron.

+1 and Thank you for this enlightening post!