29 Gallon Rebuild

[Mr.Tan]

So i just recently moved, which required me to take my 29 gallon tank down. I pretty much ditched everything in the tank.. I had gravel substrate with no real base to it or anything, which I liked the look of but after seeing so many other tank use a fine sandy substrate I started to love the look (i came from a reef tank with sand and liked it and never really though about it in a planted freshwater tank). Plus, I have 6 cory cats that i know will LOVE the sand way more then the gravel.

So heres where it takes me now. the tank is empty, nothing in it. I am using a flourite base for the plants to root in to for nutrients and putting a top coat of fine sand over the top (its a more natural color sand, i dont have a picture of it right now but its made for freshwater tanks, probably an inch or two.

Its going to be heavily planted and I am still trying to find a nice piece of driftwood somewhere to use (which isn't easy at all!).


This is a picture of the tank before I took it down. I will be updating with more pictures of progress later today when I start on the work.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Look forward to seeing the pic's, do love a tank full of plants.

 

[Mr.Tan]

Look forward to seeing the pic's, do love a tank full of plants.

me too! i really want to find a nice centerpiece of driftwood or bogwood (soemthing with a bunch of thin arms that brand off) to use rather then having that fake wood piece on the left and the "garden" on the right... i wanna make it more natural looking this time around.


the only problem is finding the wood

 

[Mr.Tan]

bit of an update:


got my flourite base down and sand top coat (if you want to call it that)

found driftwood at my LFS (that fish place), im soaking it in warm water for the past 3 days.. seems to be getting a good amount of tannins out, and its already sinking in the buckets.

This is just one bucket, I have another with more wood in it. planning on sculpting a nice center-piece

AND a picture with some plants just thrown in for the time being until my wood cures and can be situated. I used my existing filter with media that had all the bacteria still in it, so I ran the tank over night and put fish in the next morning from old tank setup.

 

[Ibrar]

I'm just in the process of setting up a planted tank, will follow your progress.

 

[Mr.Tan]

I'm just in the process of setting up a planted tank, will follow your progress.

its always a fun process setting something up.




heres a small update: Got the driftwood in yesterday and moved my plants to where i THINK i want them. let me know what you guys think!i still need to go out and buy a new black background, something I should have done BEFORE i put the tank together

the water is still a bit cloudy from moving stuff around

 

[biogirl52]

Looks fantastic! I've been itching to rebuild my 37 gal, this tank is real inspiring - the look I'm going for. Just wish I could find some killer drift wood.

 

[Mr.Tan]

Looks fantastic! I've been itching to rebuild my 37 gal, this tank is real inspiring - the look I'm going for. Just wish I could find some killer drift wood.

thank you! i really wanted to make a change to the look of the tank to get a more natural appearance, and then when I knew we were moving it gave me the opportunity since the tank had to be torn down... Finding driftwood was my only issue, thankfully my LFS (that fish place) started stocking large amounts of driftwood for cheap so I sorted through the piles and found what would work. Its actually 3 seperate pieces, which was nice to work with.

Good luck in your search for some nice driftwood and with the rebuild if you decide on it! its always fun to do.


update: got a background on.. only crappy thing is all that stuff is old algae that I couldn't get off entirely so it looks like smudges

im looking to get some ferts. to dose soon to help boost plant growth, and im looking in to co2 for the plants... although its not something I am very sure on, or if its even necessary if I dose?

 

[bae1994]

Looks good

But is it a common plec in there as they need a minimum of 100gals with good width IMO

Atb bae

 

[Mr.Tan]

Looks good

But is it a common plec in there as they need a minimum of 100gals with good width IMO

Atb bae

indeed it is. he is still very small and healthy as a horse. I am planning an upgrade to a much larger tank in a couple of months, so he will be moved to the bigger tank.