# Got the 30g, got some questions



## Ango (Jul 5, 2011)

hey guys. im still new to the forum and to aquariums. but i finally got my 30g tank, along with a few other things. i like to make my own hoods and since my room is in the second floor of a so cal apt it gets pretty sunny on its own. well heres a list of the things i got 

1-30g tank
1-aquaclear 50 hanging filter
3-ghost shrimp (one had some green balls in its gut, prego?)
1-crown betta (female)
1-agentinian sword
1-kyoto
1-peacock fern
1-strip tester box (i no theyre not as accurate but i didnt have much more for the liquid testing kit)

the plants were on sale and honestly jst figured they'll look nice i hope i didnt get anything deadly <_<. those are gana go into the 10g since it'll be planted and other than the betta im thinking about jst keeping mollies and guppies until i either get a bigger tank or jst scrap my goldfish tank and go tropical in the 30g.

the 30g tank is gana be for my goldfish wich right now consists of 

1-calico(~2inch)
1-comet(~1inch)
1-koi(still cant get rid of it sry... ~3inch)
1-common pleco(also still cant get rid of it... ~3inch)
1-dojo/weather loach

my question has always been about planted tanks, i couldnt help but notice automatic hydromatic's build (i no most of u got it but his cought my eye and i ended up being amazed at his first) like is there anything different that has to be done wen adding the peatmoss sand and gravel? or do the plants need special care after they've been planted? right now imma jst throw them in with the gravel till the other tank is done cycling then i wanna try out that build. 
also, whats the difference between spunge filters and the hanging kind. i no aquaclear is a good brand but are the sponge filters better? i like the sound of the water hitting from the filter to the water. it helps me sleep at night but if its better to have a sponge one then ill make that sacrifice.































sorry about the bad quality lighting and pics. my camera battery died and i couldnt find the charger. this is my phone =(


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

the kyoto and peacock fern are not fully aquatic, if I'm not mistaken... PetCo only sells about 3 or 4 true fully aquatic plants in those little plastic tubes (but they usually have that little section where they have a tank stuffed fully of all kinds of fully aquatic plants). I went through that myself about 6 months ago  they're a good source and I've never gotten any snails or bad plants from them, but you have to really take a look at what you're getting. google the scientific name for the plant that's under the generic name and do some research and see what you can find out about them

the argentine swords ARE fully aquatic though, and they're easy to grow  all the leaves that are on it in those tubes will die off after about a month, and new fully aquatic leaves will grow, so don't freek out when you start to see those pretty green leaves start to die in a few weeks after putting it in the tank, lol. it's normal, and some new ones will sprout up fairly quickly


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## Ango (Jul 5, 2011)

hmm so then the kyoko and peacock fern.... how can i make it so that they survive? can i have the jst like floating in the tank. or maybe use a floating island and plant them there?
i once rigged a cover for my betta bowl with a plant sticking out of the top wile the roots still touched the water and it worked jst fine till my cat knocked the whole thing over and destroyed the bowl plant... luckly the betta is still alive and kicking. in a new bowl ofcourse.
would this work for the kyoko and peacock fern?


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## Ango (Jul 5, 2011)

i couldnt find any peatmoss at the homedepot they told me that they were discontinued =/ is it ok if i were to use potting soil or would the moss jst be a much better choice?


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Ango said:


> i couldnt find any peatmoss at the homedepot they told me that they were discontinued =/ is it ok if i were to use potting soil or would the moss jst be a much better choice?


Your Home Depot sure is strange. Try looking for peat moss at another one, I think the people at that Home Depot had no idea what you were asking them.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Moss would probably be better since it won't flood your tank with massive amounts of nitrates. Also, I would keep an eye on things in the tank after you assemble everything - your tank will not have any nitrifying bacteria in it, and the chances of ammonia building up in the tank and killing your fish is highly likely. Google "aquarium nitrogen cycle" if you don't already know what it is. Here's my favorite link:

The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle


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## Ango (Jul 5, 2011)

yea i no about the cycling already thanks for the link though, the homedepot guy knew what i was talking about. he said he had another moss but it was in a 60lb bag i didnt really wanna carry home. sadly im on foot and although i can walk forever and back i like to limit my walks to a max of like 2 to 2.5 miles =/ gatta lose that gut...


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Ango said:


> yea i no about the cycling already thanks for the link though, the homedepot guy knew what i was talking about. he said he had another moss but it was in a 60lb bag i didnt really wanna carry home. sadly im on foot and although i can walk forever and back i like to limit my walks to a max of like 2 to 2.5 miles =/ gatta lose that gut...


I didn't buy Peat Moss because of the fact it's in such a huge bag, instead I bought Eco-Complete. It very cheap online on Petco.com

I should be setting up my tank with it, plants and all in a few days. Look up my thread, I'll be posting if it's successful or not. There are many positive reviews though.


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## Ango (Jul 5, 2011)

thanks alot, as of now i started to cycle the 30g using about 3 or so gallons from the old tank. aswell as using the bio part of the filter from the old tank, and using the old gravel and a couple of rocks. threw in the argentinian sword aswell. im not sure if maybe the ghost shrimp would survive the cycle, and since one appears to be carring eggs im not sure i wanna put them in my 10g since im pretty sure the dojo/weather loach would eat the eggs.. or maybe even the shrimp. thanks for the help thus far.

P.S. the moss would be for the 10g jst to make myself clear. and that project hasnt been started as of yet.


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## yair213 (Jul 18, 2011)

Ango your tank is awesome I have visited your house and that tank looks DOPE! except you need more gravel like the one i let u have


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