29 gallon tank setup

Subject: 29 gallon tank setup Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:46 am

Well I figured I should start a thread for my 29gal that I am setting up now. Here's a few pics starting out...

This is the tank as I got it used and free.
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Here's a pic showing it cleaned up a bit. I vacuumed the old gravel out, wiped it down and did some scraping with a razor blade. There's still a few stubborn areas which I will get the vinegar out for.
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Here's some of the equipment and decor I bought for it. The big piece of driftwood may be getting swapped out for a smaller piece currently in my 75gal.
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That's it for now. I'll be updating as i go along.

Banned Posts : 910 Age : 31

Wow thats cool.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:50 pm

Tank looks good so far and a good choice in equipment for it.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:14 pm

OH to keep the sand from clouding up your water take a solo cup fill it with the rinsed sand, submerge the cut in the tank water and dump the sand 4-5 inches from the bottom of the tank.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:05 am

Thanks for the comments guys.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:07 pm

So today I added the Tahitian Moon Sand to the tank.

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I poured it all into a 5gal bucket and filled it to overflowing with water. You can see the silt and fine particulates came to the surface and washed over the edge of the bucket.

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Then I would dump out the cloudy water and stir up the sand a little with my hand to make sure I got all the fine sand out. I had to repeat this several times until the water ran clear.

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Once I was done rinsing the sand I added it to the tank. The plate is in there so when I add the water it won't stir up the sand too much. Then I added water and the heater in there. For now I'm going to use a visitherm stealth 250watt heater because my basement gets cold in the winter.

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The next step will be the filter setup and starting the fishless cycle. More updates to come.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:00 pm

Nice, and I see you got the azoo pump and surge protector mounted as well! Wink

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:57 pm

Surge protector yes...The azoo is for the 20L next to it out of the pic

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:13 pm

I finished up late last night by setting up the Emperor 280 HOB filter and getting it running. I always cut a slit in the bottom of the supplied filter cartridge and remove the carbon. It isn't really necessary for everyday use and if I want to add it later to remove something from the water, I can.

I also added a 2x 24 watt T5 fixture.

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Then I started the fishless cycle by adding ammonia to the tank. I used some plain old ammonia from WalMart. Be sure whatever ammonia you buy doesn't contain any surfactants, soaps, coloring or scents. You can see the ingredients listed in the picture below. If it contains anything other than these ingredients it's probably not safe for use in your tank.

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I usually add a cap full of ammonia (2qt bottle) at a time until I reach between 3 & 5 ppm. Add a cap full then test...repeat until you reach approximately 5ppm.

That's it for now.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:49 pm

So I got some more setup done on the tank tonight. I boiled up some mopani driftwood on the stove to kill off anything that may be on the wood and also to remove some of the tannins before it went into the tank. Here's a pic of before...

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and after...

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I added one new piece of driftwood and I also added a piece of driftwood from one of my established tanks and a couple of rocks from the established tank as well.

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It didn't look too great so I divided a couple of anubias plants from another tank and tied them to the new piece of driftwood.

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I will be adding more plants eventually and painting the background (black I think) so the fish don't have to look at the wood paneling...lol. But for now I'm just waiting for the cycle to complete. Oh yeah...I also added some established filter media to the filter on this tank to hopefully speed up the cycle.

Banned Posts : 910 Age : 31

Wow nice! It will look more nice with fish!

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:26 am

That is looking so nice. You are doing an awesome job. It looks real natural. Sand is sweet too. Can't wait to see it occupied! Very Happy

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:42 am

I see that rinsing the sand in the bucket worked for you as well. I'm loving the looks of the tank!!!

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:23 pm

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!! The rinsing of the sand in the bucket did work out well...except my wife wanted to kill me because of the black residue it left in the tub...lol. I got to clean the tub afterwords.

Forgive me if this is getting boring at all but I thought it would be a good reference for a newb or someone not so familiar with tank setup and fishless cycling. That's why I'm talking about each step along the way.

So yesterday morning my water parameters were:
Ammonia: 5ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 2.5ppm +/-

This morning's tests:
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 5ppm

So my bacteria are working their magic. I added a bit more ammonia this morning to bring the level of ammonia back up to around 3-4ppm. This tank should be ready for fish very soon.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:10 pm

Very nice.....SWEET!

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:54 pm

I never thought about adding ammonia to a new tank! Does this speed up the cycling?

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:00 pm

Mike, using Ammonia is the most common practice for fishless cycling!

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:09 pm

Mike D wrote:: I never thought about adding ammonia to a new tank! Does this speed up the cycling?

It's actually a way of cycling a tank without fish. It doesn't speed up the process it just saves some wear and tear on the fish since you don't cycle with them in the tank. It also saves you from having to do water changes all the time to keep the ammonia levels tolerable for the fish as you do during a fishy cycle. Once the tank is cycled you are also ready to add a full bioload to the tank because the good bacteria colonies have grown large enough during this process to support the fish without a minicycle and such. You don't really have to wait and slowly add fish this way. I will have several fish in this tank probably by the weekend. The reason the cycle happens so fast is because I have seeded the tank with rocks, driftwood and most importantly filter media from an established tank. These things all contain the bacteria required to cycle the tank and I can transfer some to the new tank.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:33 pm

This Morning's Test Results:

Ammonia: 1.5ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 7.5ppm

It's getting closer to being fully cycled. I added more ammonia and will wait another 24hrs to test again.

Banned Posts : 910 Age : 31

I can't wait for fish to go in there and of course pics...

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:20 pm

Wow did I not know that! I just used cycle when I started up my first tank and Every other tank since then I just used tank water from my established tank.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:24 pm

Aquarium looks great! I realy like how the anubias plants seem to "pop out "with the black sand. Looking forward to see more pics.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:58 pm

Mike D wrote:: Wow did I not know that! I just used cycle when I started up my first tank and Every other tank since then I just used tank water from my established tank.

Actually the water itself does not contain any of the nitrifying bacteria required to cycle a tank. The filter media typically contains the highest percentage and then the substrate is usually next.

Subject: Re: 29 gallon tank setup Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:59 pm

1nevrkwitz wrote:: Aquarium looks great! I realy like how the anubias plants seem to "pop out "with the black sand. Looking forward to see more pics.

Thanks!

I'm hoping the tank will be cycled this weekend and I will be able to pick up the fish soon after that.

Banned Posts : 910 Age : 31

Cool can't wait.

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29 gallon tank setup

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