[kaidenvang]

Hey world, I used to have a 29 gal planted tank and it meant a lot to me because it was my very first tank that I've ever invested in every good idea that came to my mind. The tank itself had a dual filter, stock lighting, a cheap power head and 2 air stones. I first started it off with tiger barbs and danios to wait and see if the tank was cycled completely after letting the filter run for 2 weeks with starting bacteria (I was very well aware of the toxic conditions that could be possible from spiked nitrates but I couldn't wait any longer). The fish seemed okay for 1 month. I did 35 % of water changes every 1 and a half week graveling up stuff from the bottom with a Wal-Mart tool, then went and bought 1 silver arowana to clean out my tank just like how I planned. My aro took out half of what I stocked in there even though he was almost always on top of the water. I planned on getting a 75 for my aro later on if I was to be successful in keeping it alive that long. 1 month later there was only 2 tiger barbs left and the water started to get very very cloudy for some reason.. I never added any chemicals believing that they were only covering up what's really there so I started doing water changes every week up to 50%. Still, everyday after the water has been changed and graveled the cloud showed increasingly every few hours. From what I believe, my tank was not fully cycled for such a massive bio load that my aro was producing and he was only 4 1/2 inches. Further more taking out so much healthy and good bacteria to get the cloud out on 50% of water change every week whenever the tank wasn't fully cycled and established caused me much anger. My aro one day started to hide and would never come to the top anymore. I thought he was dead and looked behind my decorations and there he was. 2 days later he died and the reason was very clear.. The filter is not enough. I didn't have any knowledge of wet dry filtration systems at that time. After 1 month I did a ton of research and believe that plants are very essential to healthy water so I started buying plants here and there hooking up a cheap co2 system. my plants blossomed over the top of my tank and I felt really accomplished on my own aquarium. my gf told me that I was a fish geek because I was testing water with liquids and wanted everything about my fish and plants to be perfect but not our life XD idk but all I wanted was a nice healthy tank and little did I realize that I was spending money on plants and the tank itself more than for the fish. I guess everyone gets that moment once in there aquarium keeping time where you realized that you've finally done it. no more buying this and that to help benefit your tank. your aquarium is well established and its open season to find out what you really want to get for your tank whether its rare plants or rare fish considering your own tank limits. Especially no more carnivorous fish that can get too big for your tank just because you want to own a prize(suffocating it and lying to yourself that you will get a bigger tank "one" day). My tank was doing real good and I was considering a 55-75 gal upgrade on a new project. I guess anyone who dedicates their time into fish keeping as much as I do might feel this same gut feeling sometimes, whenever I'm out doing things for extended periods of time. I fear that something might happen to my treasure well I was over confident and one day my tank busted from the silicone. It felt like the world was ending. I had no cash to support a new tank at that time and everything just... let's just say dusted away.

Now I got my income tax and going to get a 50 gal @ petsmart. I love plants and want some Blyxa japonica for my middle layer. Some swords for my back ground and something to carpet my fine sand to start my tank off. On top of miracle grow organic plotting soil and seachem flourite sand. Baby tears are ok but are difficult to trim when they spiral. I hope you can help give me any ideas to other carpet plants, floating plants and help me find this exact fish: Borneo Kuhli Loach. Some people wants rays, some wants African tiger fish but all I want are these Loaches. Please, I've been searching for any sellers that might have these since the beginning of time. I'm willing to pay your desired price. My tank needs these loaches to keep my soil circulating and thank you again for reading. Any information about plants and plant's benefits welcomed here.

 

[henningc]

Look on Aquabid. Plenty of reputable deals there.

 

[Flint]

You don't want to circulate your soil and if you decide to get loaches, you shouldn't do a carpet. They really benefit from the sand.

 

[kaidenvang]

You don't want to circulate your soil and if you decide to get loaches, you shouldn't do a carpet. They really benefit from the sand.

yes I do because over time the soil beneath the sand can get nitrate bubble build ups because of the fine graded sand and can be like a mini grenade. I need a carpet to shield the loaches when they don't want to be under the lights but on top of the sand. I'm only going to carpet 3/4 of the tank and the other fourth for sanded area. (Back ground plants, mid plants and a horizontal carpet. Then sand up front so I can see the kuhlis feed) understand?

 

[kaidenvang]

Look on Aquabid. Plenty of reputable deals there.

aquabid haven't supplied any "Borneo" kuhli loaches and mostly other species of loach

 

[Flint]

yes I do because over time the soil beneath the sand can get nitrate bubble build ups because of the fine graded sand and can be like a mini grenade. I need a carpet to shield the loaches when they don't want to be under the lights but on top of the sand. I'm only going to carpet 3/4 of the tank and the other fourth for sanded area. (Back ground plants, mid plants and a horizontal carpet. Then sand up front so I can see the kuhlis feed) understand?

You are going to put soil in your water column which will cause issues. The plant roots take care of keeping the bubbles out of the soil. If you put a carpeting plant in, it is going to root in the sand and soil and they won't be able to get underneath it.

 

[kaidenvang]

You are going to put soil in your water column which will cause issues. The plant roots take care of keeping the bubbles out of the soil. If you put a carpeting plant in, it is going to root in the sand and soil and they won't be able to get underneath it.

I believe that loaches can slither through or around roots because my old tank busted and I had a large amount of plants. There were so much roots when I actually took the plants out one by one. My banded kuhlis bred too for some reason and I saw a few fry grouping together. I can't say how many fry there were because my tank was like Jurassic park. If they can slither under sand then they can slither through dirt even easier. I think that the small carpet will make my tank stand out and I doubt that it will prevent kuhlis from traveling. One thing that I learned about kuhlis are that if there is space, they will find a way ;-) and soil/dirt will not make problems. You are suggesting something from a theory that you assume to be the actual outcome of the carpet and kuhlis. How would you know which carpeting plant I'm getting? What if I get mosses without roots to carpet? What if the carpet plant has roots that won't grow pass the sanded layer? Even if the roots grow into the sand and dirt, I have room for errors. That's why I'm only going to carpet 1/4 of the tank horizontally. Again 1/4 sand, 1/4 carpet, 1/4 mid and 1/4 backs.