New 29 set up

[FrannyB]

I am going to attempt to plant a 29 gallon tank. I'll be starting with stem plants, no heater and no C02. I'll be using an AC 200 for filtration.

The substrate will be florite with laterite and peat added.

What ferts do you recommend to start with?

I intend to use water from another tank to fill it to avoid cycling.

I may purchase neons because they don't require temps in the eighties and save my cardinals for another tank. I have the snails and will look to purchase cherry shrimp.

Does it look like I'm headed in the right direction. What am I forgetting?

[krisw]

What kind of light do you intend to have over your tank? If you're not injecting CO2, I'd definitely recommend dosing Seachem's Excel for your carbon source. The amont of other dosing will be dependant on how fast your stem plants grow.

Otherwise, neons, nerites, and cherries sound like a nice mixed for this tank. Flourite is a good choice, but with flourite, there's no need for laterite. I've never used peat under the substrate myself, so I'll let someone else chime in on that one.

[Aaron]

I really think you'd be fine putting cardinals in there. They really only need the warmer temps to spawn. I don't heat my tank that has rummynose tetras in it and they're very active and healthy.

Are you planning on adding CO2 later? If so you may want to rethink the filtration and go with a canister filter. Despite regular convention you don't want any water surface agitation in a planted tank that has added CO2. If not, then the AC filter will be fine.

If you are using low light and no CO2 you don't need to add macros...just fauna. I would add the recommended amount of Flourish Comprehensive and Iron supplements a few times per week and that should be plenty. You could also dose Flourish Excel, which is a liquid carbon fertilizer. It doesn't work as well as CO2, but it does work.

If you decide to use the peat use a small dusting and I do mean small. You should be able to see the bottom glass still through the layer. As Kris mentioned, there's no need for Laterite. Flourite is all you need.

[FrannyB]

Ok. Here is what happened. First planted tank. First time trying to photograph a planted tank. What do you guys think?

I haven't dosed it yet, nor added fish. Kinda of dumbstruck at what to do next. As I looked around the fishroom, I thought it would be better for me and my fish if I went for softwater plants as all of my fish need it to show off their colors better...and spawn.

[SCMurphy]

First thing to do next is relax, planted tanks are not instantaneous. You have to switch your thought process around a little. A planted tank is an organism unto itself, it's not a box of water with fish in it.

It is a nice start.

Give your tank a week to settle in, keep the photoperiod around 8 hours at first.

Don't expect the hornwort behind the left piece of driftwood to root. If that is val on the far laft in front, you are going to want to move it to the back, it usually gets pretty tall.