New 29g Build Log

That's too bad about the tank. If I were you, I would contact the manufacturer. You haven't had that tank very long so those seams shouldn't be anywhere near failing yet. I'd let them know you've already purchased another tank(if it's from the same manufacturer) and basically say you want a refund for the orignal tank.

I would advise against the bleach bath. Very few plants have gone into a bleach bath and survived to talk about it. If you search the forum for actual accounts of people who have performed a bleach bath, overwhelmingly people report bad results. A lot of people will say "Sure, perform a bleach bath" but 99% of those people haven't actually done it.
I think that if you do it, you'll lose most of your plants. The only plant that I've read about that can weather a bleach bath is anubias, but, only about 25% of the accounts I've read have had positive results.

Injecting CO2 I wouldn't worry too much about the snails. In my experience, snail shells don't last too long in the low pH environment created by CO2. I've actually *tried* to introduce snails into my tank, and every time the shells melt and all the snails die...and my pH is only 6.5.

Just some thoughts.
 
I agree bleach bath killed plenty of my plants, i had to start growing them back from root.. Try H2O2 bath instead, its less toxic to the plants and no need to worry about rinsing it before you add it to the tank..

Also though you will kill the snails that might be on plants, you still have snails in the substrate, so what you will have to do eventually is just pick them out one by one when you see them and squish them.

Hope you have better luck with the new tank.
 
Good news bad news.

I got the afternoon off, got a new tank, did a rush paint job on it (thankfully Krylon cures in 1hr) and moved all the equipment over.

After I filled up the tank, the new tank has seams that look the same.

I have no idea what to think. These are Aqueon tanks, which is the new name for All-Glass, so I imagine the tanks are somewhat new. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not anymore. I plan to send pictures to Aqueon and find out.

I went ahead and stocked the tank tonight. 3 Matae Corys, 4 Platys, 1 Blue Gourami and I'm moving the Rams as we speak. I'll add either freshwater clams or Otos if the algae returns. If the snails get to be a problem, I'm considering a pair of Zebra Loaches as well.

As for the snails and PH, oddly enough my CO2 mix has been pretty awful. I'm sitting at about 7ppm CO2 and a PH of 7.1. I'm going to try different yeast (I'm using a champagne yeast now) but I'm prepared to go pressurized if the new mix doesn't improve things.
 
Thanks! I'm still trying to get the second tank exchanged since the seams are still so iffy.

As for updates, things are going well. I've got some fairly cloudy water at the moment, but I've redone the DIY yeast mix and managed about 20ppm of CO2 so I'm hoping the plants will perk up. Realistically, I'm looking at swapping the tank out again, so I'm not going to worry too much about why the water is cloudy. It will get a 100% change soon enough :D
 
Time for an update.

Aqueon has agreed to cut me a check to buy replacement tanks. Very kind of them to do so. I'm waiting for a Hagen tank to come in and then I'll have to do another tanks swap (oh joy)...

I'm giving up on DIY CO2 as well. I've tried three different yeasts and five or six different recipes with very limited success. My best mix managed only 20ppm of CO2 and it fizzled after only three days. As such, my cloudy water has become pretty much full-on green water, so I'm doing a 25% water change every other day to keep it under control. I've removed half the foam from my XP2 and replaced it with Poly and 100 micron filter media, and also added an Aquaclear 20 HOB loaded with poly and 100 micron to try and get some of the algae out of the water. I've also cut my lighting back to about 7 hours a day, and it's improving steadily.

I have a CO2 cylinder and a regulator on the way and should have it next week. Pressurized for me! I've stopped dosing ferts (obviously) until I can get the CO2 worked out.

Plants are doing well considering the limited light. The Vals are starting to grow and the floating water sprite is growing like MAD. The hygro, melon sword and rosette sword are all showing decent growth.

Unfortunately, my red tiger lotus bulb has not sprouted. I'll give it another week, and then pluck it if there is still no signs of life.
 
Great to hear.. In no time your tank should be up and running and looking as great if not better than before..

I also went through green water and tell you the truth the water changes didnt help. Well they did help for about a day, and thats if i did a massive 50% water change but after 24-48 hrs it went back to green. Who knows maybe the new filter media you got will get rid of it.
But wait as im typing this i got myself confused.. you are going to swap tanks right?? well if you do then no point to worry about the green water now. Just when you switch over to the other tank, rinse the substrate good, rince the plants and any decorations, rinse the filter media and then you are good to go.
One way i got rid of my green water is by using Accu-Clear, within 4 hrs my water was crystal clear, but for some reason a week later it would get slightly cloudy as if im going through a cycle (but never went back to green)
Then when I was redoing my tank, I drained it completely, then poured in a few gallons of tap water and moved the substrate around to get all the gunk and what ever algae pores that might be in/on the substrate, then i drained the tank again, then a few gallons again and so on. Did that 3-4 times, then filled it. Tank been up for almost a week now and water is clear, no problems at all.

How long has the lotus bulb been in the tank?? for me it took about a month just to get some roots going. Just give it time, as long as it doesnt rot and foul up the water it cant do no harm just laying in the tank..

good luck and keep us updated
 
Lotus bulb has been in for almost three weeks now.

As for treating the green water, I'm just trying to make sure that the plants get ample light while I'm waiting to do the tank swap. That's why I'm only doing a 6g (~25%) water change. I also figure that once the CO2 is running, the plants can start out competing the algae.
 
It was a good day in tankland, yay! My regulator and CO2 cylinder is here, and I have a check from Central Aquatics for the warranty on those two defective 29s.

I've got a long weekend coming up so it will give me a chance to do tank swap #2 to the Hagen (already painted and ready to go), scrub all the brown beard algae off my driftwood and hook up the pressurized CO2.

Two other changes, the Tiger Lotus bulb is still dead, so it's gone. I think I'll move the hygro out front to fill it's space, and move the sagittaria to the back. Also the Blue Gourami has proven to be a nasty, nasty, nasty little fish. He bullied everything else in the tank into hiding 24/7. I don't like taking fish back to the LFS, so I moved my Neons and single Endler from my 5g planted eclipse to the 29g and moved the Gourami to the 5g. I know it's a small tank for him, but the water in that tank is pristine and he's the only fish besides a single Oto.
 
Oh, and the polypad/100 micron filter pads completely cleared my green water. Tank is crystal clear now.
 
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