Phew! I can finally start working on my planted tank and I couldn't be more excited! Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who gave me advice on all my questions - I definitely feel more confident in my ability to do this now.
The tank is a 29 gallon (30'' W x 12'' D x 18'' H), currently filled with a low layer of play sand and water. I'm just waiting on a new bulb to get here from Amazon, since the one that came with the top was too weak for plants.
I definitely learned my lesson with sand, though: RINSE IT VERY WELL. I thought my sand was clean and ready, but nope! The water was so murky I couldn't see my hand when I stuck it in the tank. It took me eight 100% water changes to get it clear. (It was a lot of buckets of water! I better get some good muscles from that!
) Next time, I'm going to rinse that sand eight more times just in case!
My piece of Mopani driftwood is soaking and doing very well. I've changed the water four times so far (and will do so probably four more times, don't want a sand repeat!) The Mopani is actually much darker when wet than I thought it would be, more red than the sandy brown it was before, but maybe that will change once I get it in the tank under the lights.
The filter is up and running in it, and the water is conditioned now. Right now I'm hunting for some nice rocks (that aren't too large to boil) and maybe some more driftwood, since my Mopani piece is shortish and compact. (I've had it for two years and when I finally looked at the tags I realized I must have ordered a small, not a medium like I thought!)
I'm debating on whether I should start to cycle the tank now or after the plants are put in... not sure which is better, and all the info I could find said it didn't really matter? I do want to get in some some critters that will help the sand not compact, but I would have to do it after the tank cycled, and I don't know if adding plants could crash the cycle and harm the critters soooooo
And before anything else, yes I know that the hard and fast rule is no tanks in front of windows. However for six months preceding this I kept a 5.5 gal in front of the window with no temperature fluctuations or algae growth, leading me to believe that the 29 gallon can only fare better. The window gets no direct sunlight, so I think that helps. (plus, since I want shrimp in the tank, I imagine a bit of algae could be a good thing? if not I have a good two dozen snails to save the day
)
Anyway on to pictures!
very first instance of water+sand in tank... like I said, pretty awful!! (ignore the towel, I didn't want to get the wood surface of the stand wet.)
first water change. not much better!
fifth water change. you can actually see through a little bit!
the seventh water change, which I tried to let settle for a night, but it looked exactly like this when i woke up the next morning, sooo
the eighth and final water change! This was also different because instead of just dumping the water into the tank, I used a bowl to soften the flow. I wonder if that might've helped with the other ones
I'm putting in the heater tonight and just waiting for everything to come from Amazon
Hopefully I can update with progress soon!
The tank is a 29 gallon (30'' W x 12'' D x 18'' H), currently filled with a low layer of play sand and water. I'm just waiting on a new bulb to get here from Amazon, since the one that came with the top was too weak for plants.
I definitely learned my lesson with sand, though: RINSE IT VERY WELL. I thought my sand was clean and ready, but nope! The water was so murky I couldn't see my hand when I stuck it in the tank. It took me eight 100% water changes to get it clear. (It was a lot of buckets of water! I better get some good muscles from that!
My piece of Mopani driftwood is soaking and doing very well. I've changed the water four times so far (and will do so probably four more times, don't want a sand repeat!) The Mopani is actually much darker when wet than I thought it would be, more red than the sandy brown it was before, but maybe that will change once I get it in the tank under the lights.
The filter is up and running in it, and the water is conditioned now. Right now I'm hunting for some nice rocks (that aren't too large to boil) and maybe some more driftwood, since my Mopani piece is shortish and compact. (I've had it for two years and when I finally looked at the tags I realized I must have ordered a small, not a medium like I thought!)
I'm debating on whether I should start to cycle the tank now or after the plants are put in... not sure which is better, and all the info I could find said it didn't really matter? I do want to get in some some critters that will help the sand not compact, but I would have to do it after the tank cycled, and I don't know if adding plants could crash the cycle and harm the critters soooooo
And before anything else, yes I know that the hard and fast rule is no tanks in front of windows. However for six months preceding this I kept a 5.5 gal in front of the window with no temperature fluctuations or algae growth, leading me to believe that the 29 gallon can only fare better. The window gets no direct sunlight, so I think that helps. (plus, since I want shrimp in the tank, I imagine a bit of algae could be a good thing? if not I have a good two dozen snails to save the day
Anyway on to pictures!
very first instance of water+sand in tank... like I said, pretty awful!! (ignore the towel, I didn't want to get the wood surface of the stand wet.)
first water change. not much better!
fifth water change. you can actually see through a little bit!
the seventh water change, which I tried to let settle for a night, but it looked exactly like this when i woke up the next morning, sooo
the eighth and final water change! This was also different because instead of just dumping the water into the tank, I used a bowl to soften the flow. I wonder if that might've helped with the other ones
I'm putting in the heater tonight and just waiting for everything to come from Amazon
Hopefully I can update with progress soon! 
