# Fist planted tank ever 30G



## me-90 (Sep 26, 2010)

Ok so I'm brand new to this so don't be too hard on me. First off my water is slightly brackish because I house a green spotted puffer. I have also read that a little salt is also good for freshwater fish as well. He probably wasn't the best choice for a planted tank, but I was browsing the local walmart for food and plant bulbs and saw the overstocked 2 gal display with like 15 of them in it. I came back the next day and there were only 3. He looked better than all the others (nice fins and good size, but his color was bad) so I bought him out of pity I suppose. He seems happy on his diet of shrimp and snails and now has a nice creamy white belly (you can see in the pics). His tank mates are 1 pleco, 2 young blood parrots (will be moved to a 55g soon) and 3 black mollies (they are in isolation receiving medicine). I also have a baby striped raphael cat that will be moved in when he is big enough to not get picked on and another charity baby tiger oscar(only 1 in) that will be housed temporarily till I get my 55g running smooth. Ive had the puffer and mollies together for over a month and they do great. The parrots were introduced about a week ago and no problems there. They all have their own areas they like to spend time in the tank. I am on a budget so my tank is very low tech. I'm using 3 bags of planting substrate i found on sale at petco for $5 a bag, a slightly over-sized aqueon quietflow filter and not CO2. I'm building a DIY system when my parts come in. Ive done 1 water change in the past month and it is still crystal clear. The plants are growing like crazy, especially the bulbs I planted behind the center rocks 2 weeks ago. Some of them are 10 inches already. My dwarf grass was just trimmed yesterday before the pics and is really thickening out since I bought the first 5 sprigs about 3 weeks ago. Oh! The rocks are pieces of crystals, jasper, jade, amethyst, obsidian, and much more my grandfather has collected all around the country over the past 50 years. I was going for kind of a tropical island river kind of theme. Anyways, please give me feedback.


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## Ben Belton (Mar 14, 2004)

Welcome aboard!

First, I have always been a plant person and never much interested in the fish. To me they are decorations for the plants or just bait  So I'll let someone else comment on those. I will say though that true aquatic plants will be hard pressed to thrive in brackish water or even slightly salty water. If you like your puffer though, give it a try. You might teach us something.



me-90 said:


> I am on a budget so my tank is very low tech. I'm using 3 bags of planting substrate i found on sale at petco for $5 a bag, a slightly over-sized aqueon quietflow filter and not CO2. I'm building a DIY system when my parts come in. Ive done 1 water change in the past month and it is still crystal clear. The plants are growing like crazy, especially the bulbs I planted behind the center rocks 2 weeks ago. Some of them are 10 inches already. My dwarf grass was just trimmed yesterday before the pics and is really thickening out since I bought the first 5 sprigs about 3 weeks ago.


Sounds like you are working things around and making changes as the budget allows. That's good. Its hard to do all at once anyway. Getting CO2 going is important. Your filtration sounds OK, but I'm not sure what your substrate is. Hopefully someone else here will be more familiar.

Best I can tell, the plants to the right behind your skull are not true aquatic plants. They will probably bite the dust eventually regardless of how good you treat them. The plants beside your skull look like java fern and something I can't tell, but it does look aquatic. Those should do fine when you get CO2, if the salt doesn't bother them.



me-90 said:


> The rocks are pieces of crystals, jasper, jade, amethyst, obsidian, and much more my grandfather has collected all around the country over the past 50 years. I was going for kind of a tropical island river kind of theme.


I have had special rocks in aquariums in the past. As the plants grew they became hidden and then when the plants were pulled up or moved, the rocks got buried. Sometime later I'd wonder what happen to the rock, and I'd have to go hunting under the substrate. On a couple occasions I never found them. They probably came up with a mass or roots, and I didn't know it. So if these are sentimental to you, I'd suggest you take them out. I'd hate for them to go missing in a tangle of roots some day.

Good luck. I'm sure others will have better comments, but its late here for me.
Ben


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## me-90 (Sep 26, 2010)

I really appreciate the input man. My larger fish are going to a new aquarium very soon, but I'm hoping I can make this work with the puffer. He has a lot of personality and is fun to watch. Ultimately he will be going to a full marine aquarium but for now hes doing well where he is. When my tank is heavily planted I plan on having lots of small schooling fish instead of the large ones.

As for the plants, they were all relatively cheap and I don't mind losing a few. From what I gather this hobby is very much trial and error right? I should have some sort of CO2 by the end of the week, and hopefully a pressurized system within the next couple months.

The substrate I got was on final clearance it originally sold for 20$ a bag. I'm pretty sure its Ecocomplete planted substrate. As to how good it is I don't know, but we will see.

Most of the rocks are rather large, and as long as they stay in the tank I'm happy. I have a lot of them so losing 1 or 2 is no big deal. I'm super excited to see how this turns out. I may move the back plants out and shoot for a moss wall instead.

Again, thanks a bunch. I'm open to any suggestions that may help me out =)


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

One option on the non-aquatic plants in the back is to use a type of basket that hangs inside you aquarium. Use it as a planter where the roots stay in the water but the plant and stem are above. This would require light above your tank...just a thought in case you still wanted to utilize the plants in your scape.


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## Amazon_Replica (Nov 24, 2007)

The most important part, is you got your feet wet. You will learn alot on your own, but alot more in the forums. There are many great DIY articles to look at too, lighting, filtration, stands etc. 

Welcome to the hobby!


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## ryan10517 (Apr 28, 2010)

In my experience, the plant bulbs you get at walmart are pretty worthless. They make your plants look good but don't actually grow them worth a crap. Go with a "daylight" or "full spectrum" bulb with a kelvin temperature between 5,500k and 10,000k. Also, with the amount of light that the strip light you have puts out, pressurized co2 probably isn't necessary. You would be just fine with a yeast co2 generator or flourish excel. I am assuming that you bought the big plant behind the skull at petco? If so then it is very likely that it isnt true aquatic. I bet is was labeled as a white ribbon plant or something along those lines. The plants the big chain pet stores sell in the little plastic tubes usually aren't fully aquatic excluding the occasional anubias, echinodorus (sword plant), microsourm pteropus (java fern) or water sprite plants you might find. You are very right when you said this hobby is trial and error (mostly error for me ) Its seems like you're are off to a good start. I wish you the best of luck with your tanks!

Ryan


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## me-90 (Sep 26, 2010)

Ok guys thought I'd give you guys an update since its been a week. I took out all the fish except a corry cat, the black mollies, and the raphael cat. I added an albino bristle nose pleco (moved my larger to my 55g with the parrots) and 3 silver mollies today before work. I came home to find a tank full of fry!!!!! I put 10 or so in a breeder and are letting the rest of them hide in the rocks and plants to see how they will fair. I made a DIY CO2 and my tank exploded with growth. The water is also no longer brackish. My puffer is in the 10g by himself until I get the chance to take him to my buddy who has been cycling his 55g full marine. I feel he can give my puffer a better home than I can though I am sad to see him go.

The plants behind the skull were bought at petco and the tag says "aquatic combo" containing Dracaena, Spathiphyllum, Ophiopogon, Trichomanes, and Syngonium. I took these apart and spread them out. We'll see how they do.

The light in my hood is a full spectrum florescent bulb. I think that covers everything.

Soo... all that being said... sorry bout the bad quality of these photos... bad light at night


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Sorry, but all of the the plants from the "aquatic combo" are terrestrial plants and will die (slowly) if submerged.


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## me-90 (Sep 26, 2010)

Yeah I kind of figured, but hey for now they serve as excellent hiding places for my fry =D


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