Aquaman's 29g Bio-Cube

[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!

Skunk Cory Cat

Betta!

Matt