29 gallon tank stocking and other ?'s

ftf1101

ftf1101

Let it Be
Jun 12, 2006
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Ok, i recently posted a thread saying i was going to get a 10 gal tank. then i said 20 gal. I ended up getting 29 gallons so now i need other ideas of what fish to stock and other stuff.

Now im a little confused... the nitrate and nitrite should be 0 rite? if so im in good shape there and my water is very soft, but my ph is 8.4 and my alkalinity is very high. what should i do to get them down? BTW ive only been cycleing for 2 days and im using test strips and i dont know how accurrate those are.

Thanks
 
ok I'm assuming you are doing a fishless cycle (that's what it sounds like anyway). I would suggest leaving your Ph where it is, as fish require stability more than they require the "perfect Ph". If your Ph is that high I imagine your Kh is high as well (I know my wazter conditions are similar), which will fight you tooth and nail any time you try to adjust the Ph and you'll have it swinging all over the place.

I would recommend putting in some driftwood for decoration, which might help bring the Ph down a touch, but since it's always in there it won't be as bad as having to dose the tank every few days.

as far as fish, I have a bristlenose pleco and a few otocinclus for algae, and then you could hold 1 large school of the tetra of your choice, or 2 schools of around 8 each. otherwise, you're mostly looking for fish that are around 2" up to maybe a single or pair of 3-4" fish. or more specifically you can have a "showcase" fish that is around 3-4", with some 2" fish to make up the community. Other people might have better ideas for stocking, but personally I like the 1 large school of tetras idea :)
 
thanks so drift wood will help?
never wouda thoughtt of it!
Thanks
 
Oh and yes im doing a fishless cycle. Oh and wont the wood float? jw because, well idont know i guess just curious. i have 2 "orniments" in there that i bought at petsmart
 
well with driftwood you need to wash it well before putting it in the tank and most of the time it'll sink well enough. If it floats on you, get a bucket and let the wood soak in water until it sinks, and then you'll be fine :)

driftwood gives off acids into the water that can bring down your Ph, as does peat (which yo ucan buy as a filter media). I'm not sure if it'll change things dramatically in the tank given how high I expect your Kh to be, without having a heck of a lot in there, but i know that in tanks with more malleable Ph levels it can make significant differences. I just figure the effect of driftwood or peat will be a more constant thing than dosing with any of the ph adjustor chemicals out there.

just remember that fish like stability more than anything, and if you add some peat and driftwood and your Ph is still up around 8.0, don't sweat it; your fish would rather be at 8.0 all the time than swing between 8.0 and 7.0 ;)
 
okay thanks again. one more question, what is kh. i know im probly really stupid right now but im new. lol I was looking at maybe getting some oto's and wanted to know how big they got. i just looked at your tanks and i saw you had 2 rams. those are so cool and i think i might get one of them too. should i? And the wood... can it be any wood or like a certain kind. well drift wood but i dont know. Its a good thing this website is here or i would be in huge trouble!
thanks for all the help!
 
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otos would be perfect for a 29. you want to get several though since they like to be in groups. they can be fragile for the first couple weeks, but they are great fish once they get comfortable.

Kh is carbonate hardness. the short version is that it measures how resilient your ph is to things that would otherwise change it. essentially the higher the Kh, the more stable your Ph is. more often than not high Ph water (which is usually harder water) has a high Kh as well, although this may not always be the case.

I like the rams a lot. the german blues are a lot more colorful than the bolivian, but they are also a little more sensitive to water quality. The bolivian is a little hardier and gets a little bigger (3-4") and would make a good centerpiece fish for your tank. Both have plenty of character, but I think the bolivian may be easier to keep.

personally I would stick to storebought driftwood, since if you just went out and grabbed a log out of the woods or a nearby river you'd need to boil the heck out of it so it doesn't bring in unwanted parasites. It can get a little expensive, but its usually not hard to find some pretty cool shapes of driftwood in pet shops.
 
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thank you very much. all of this information has helped me a huge amount!!!
 
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