# Starting A 29g Planted Tank



## DaniFishGirl84 (May 4, 2015)

Hello, I would like to turn my 29g High into a planted tank. I will be starting this in a few months over the summer. In the tank right now, slightly overstocked, are 3 Guppies, 2 Mollies, 1 DG, 2 Nerites, and 10 Cories. Eventually, I would like only a school of Neon Tetras and 8-10 Kuhli Loaches, and to move the rest into a bigger tank with my other fish.

I have had Hornwort and Water Wisteria in the past. The Hornwort dropped all of its needles within a week but continuously kept my Nitrates and Ammo down and the Wisteria eventually rotted. I was using Seachem Flourish Excel as I thought it was a fertilizer with CO2, not just a CO2 source. I will be purchasing Seachem Flourish.
I have a single bulb t8 fixture on it and was looking at the Zoo Med Ultra Sun bulb to go in it. I had looked into Finnex LEDs but just cannot afford those right now. My substrate in that tank is Black Diamond Blasting Sand. The PH is roughly 8.2 and we have hard water. The temperature is 78.0-80.0F. My fish don't seem to mind it much, though. The tank is on a timer, on from 10am-8:30pm. Would that time still work with plants, or will it be too much and grow algea?

What plants would I be safe to try? They would be low light plants, in hard water with high PH. They would be dosed with the Flourish accordingly and weekly with the CO2, just to get rid of the gallon I have. At the start and occasionally with root tabs, as well.

Some research has led me to Anubias, Swords, and Java Fern, but I'm lost on the scientific names. I would really love to try Wisteria again but I'm slightly afraid. I would be willing to try Hornwort again as well, but I cannot stand all of those needles dropping because they were hard to clean up. Could I quarantine it in a 10g for a few weeks until it melted then see how it does in the 29g or just go with a different plant?

Can anyone chime in or give me some advice? Also wondering what a good dip would be to get rid of any hitchikers, or other ideas. My LPS has a few plants in every now and then but I was going to try Amazon or another store online. Any come to mind? List them! Should I get them all at once or a few a week or 2 at a time? Thanks!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

DaniFishGirl84 said:


> 1.) The tank is on a timer, on from 10am-8:30pm. Would that time still work with plants, or will it be too much and grow algea?
> 
> 2.) What plants would I be safe to try?
> 
> ...


Hello! Welcome to the world of planted tanks! Let's get started:
1.) Your T8 light is fairly underrated, so the long photoperiod will be fine;
2.) I would say the three that you listed - Anubias Nana, Java Fern, Cryptocryne, Hygrophilia, etc. Most commonly-available aquarium plants are low-light plants to begin with;
3.) From what I've heard, I would avoid hornwort. Maybe go with some guppy grass if you like that sort of stuff?
4.) You could do a bleach or potassium permanganate dip. If you Google them, you might be able to come up with a specific recipe;
5.) AquaBid is a great place to get some good plants, but you could also post a WTB (Want to Buy) here on the Buy/Sell/Trade section in this forum;
6.) All at once is fine.

Hope this helps!


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