FlakeyBiscuit3.14
Mostly New Member
This thread will be for me to track and share my journey through my first* fish tank!!
I'm actually fairly well into my journey already... as of this post, my tank is cycled, and I've started to add livestock. But the more I do the more I want to look back and remember, so I figured I had better just start a journal! Below I will show from where I started till now.
I started with the Tetra 29G kit...:
-29G aquarium 30x12x18 inch I believe?
-hood with LED lights
-Whisper 30 filter
-Heater
...and a clearance stand for 20GL/29G.
From there I bought some very fine aquarium sand, CaribSea Super Naturals with neutral pH, and started to shop around for driftwood. The one piece of decor that is in the pic below was stolen from my 10G, and then later put back lol I added water from my tap, a small amount of Aqua Safe water conditioner (I have well water with 0 chlorine, so no real need for it), and half a bottle of the Tetra Safe Start on start-up.
It stayed like that, with me trying get the temp stable where I wanted it (the darn heater is way touchier than I expected) and getting started with the cycling, for about a week. From there I found some good deals on driftwood and a couple plants, and got started adding those. Thanks for the advice from the forum on plants, but my LFS does not label the plants, and just sells them as either "Assorted potted plants" or "assorted loose plants" ..... I ended up just getting what I liked and adding root tabs as suggested.Also, just as a note, at this point I was very determined to use driftwood as decor to help lower my pH (from my tap it is about 8.0-8.2), but the pieces I added below never helped a bit!
Also to be noted, at the time this pic was taken these plants and wood had already been in the tank a few days, my tank practically fully cycled (in only a few weeks!! I'm thinking that the Safe Start must have really helped!) and if you notice there are two little ghost shrimp at the bottom
I bought them hoping they would help clean the fungus growing on my driftwood before I put fish in. Umm...no luck there.
I let the ghost shrimp have the run of the tank for a few days, again, still hopeful that would clean my driftwood which kept getting worse and worse.... Did a 50% water change at this point as well, trying to clean off the driftwood a bit but with very little success. But I eventually couldn't take the waiting any longer and bought some more plants to help fill in the tank, along with a couple more pieces of decor, a black background sheet, and a "mystery" snail (reading that the snails like the fungus. HA!). The next day after adding the snail, I have not seen him. I'm not sure if he crawled out, or is just hiding somewhere, I don't know! But what I do know, is that he did not do his job lol
The next day I decided to finally get some fish, and went to my LFS and bought 3 bloodfin tetra. I had hoped to buy more at once, but that was all that they had at the moment. I should hopefully be getting some more this Saturday. I am also hoping that they will start coming out more once I increase the group size, as right now they have been hiding in the plants most of the day. Also, since adding all of that, my female ghost shrimp has died.
Found the tetras eating her... Not sure if they killed her, or if she died first and then was scavenged... They haven't messed with the other shrimp, even when he is in the open and they swim right past him.
SO! This is the beginning of my journey!!! I'm super excited and so far I'm loving how the tank is looking!!
(minus the fungus lol)
Any advice or comments are much appreciated
*I jumped into the hobby with a 10G tank, no cycling, no knowledge what so ever about fish, and quickly realized I could do very little with it! Now it holds my guppies, who I love dearly, but was not fulfilled with. Then, within about a few weeks I had invested in this 29G, now armed with much more aquarium knowledge
Also, just wanted to share this pic, cause it's my favorite so far!
I'm actually fairly well into my journey already... as of this post, my tank is cycled, and I've started to add livestock. But the more I do the more I want to look back and remember, so I figured I had better just start a journal! Below I will show from where I started till now.
I started with the Tetra 29G kit...:
-29G aquarium 30x12x18 inch I believe?
-hood with LED lights
-Whisper 30 filter
-Heater
...and a clearance stand for 20GL/29G.
From there I bought some very fine aquarium sand, CaribSea Super Naturals with neutral pH, and started to shop around for driftwood. The one piece of decor that is in the pic below was stolen from my 10G, and then later put back lol I added water from my tap, a small amount of Aqua Safe water conditioner (I have well water with 0 chlorine, so no real need for it), and half a bottle of the Tetra Safe Start on start-up.
It stayed like that, with me trying get the temp stable where I wanted it (the darn heater is way touchier than I expected) and getting started with the cycling, for about a week. From there I found some good deals on driftwood and a couple plants, and got started adding those. Thanks for the advice from the forum on plants, but my LFS does not label the plants, and just sells them as either "Assorted potted plants" or "assorted loose plants" ..... I ended up just getting what I liked and adding root tabs as suggested.Also, just as a note, at this point I was very determined to use driftwood as decor to help lower my pH (from my tap it is about 8.0-8.2), but the pieces I added below never helped a bit!
Also to be noted, at the time this pic was taken these plants and wood had already been in the tank a few days, my tank practically fully cycled (in only a few weeks!! I'm thinking that the Safe Start must have really helped!) and if you notice there are two little ghost shrimp at the bottom
I let the ghost shrimp have the run of the tank for a few days, again, still hopeful that would clean my driftwood which kept getting worse and worse.... Did a 50% water change at this point as well, trying to clean off the driftwood a bit but with very little success. But I eventually couldn't take the waiting any longer and bought some more plants to help fill in the tank, along with a couple more pieces of decor, a black background sheet, and a "mystery" snail (reading that the snails like the fungus. HA!). The next day after adding the snail, I have not seen him. I'm not sure if he crawled out, or is just hiding somewhere, I don't know! But what I do know, is that he did not do his job lol
The next day I decided to finally get some fish, and went to my LFS and bought 3 bloodfin tetra. I had hoped to buy more at once, but that was all that they had at the moment. I should hopefully be getting some more this Saturday. I am also hoping that they will start coming out more once I increase the group size, as right now they have been hiding in the plants most of the day. Also, since adding all of that, my female ghost shrimp has died.
SO! This is the beginning of my journey!!! I'm super excited and so far I'm loving how the tank is looking!!
Any advice or comments are much appreciated
*I jumped into the hobby with a 10G tank, no cycling, no knowledge what so ever about fish, and quickly realized I could do very little with it! Now it holds my guppies, who I love dearly, but was not fulfilled with. Then, within about a few weeks I had invested in this 29G, now armed with much more aquarium knowledge
Also, just wanted to share this pic, cause it's my favorite so far!
