My 29 gallon Community aquarium

Hello all!

This is going to be a REALLY long post and I apologize. I have a few years to cover.

I thought it might be fun to document the changes I make to my aquarium and the adventures I have as a fairly new aquarist probably biting off more than he can chew. It would be fun to look back on the development of my tank and my knowledge as well as I could get some input from you guys!

I got a 29 gallon aquarium from a family friend back when I lived in upstate New York about 3 1/2 years ago. It was my first and only tank (still is though not for lack of trying). However, it was not really my first exposure to aquariums I had joined my school's aquarium club 2 years prior because I have always liked fish and I learned the basics about fish keeping. The more I have learned since tells me that the club didn't completely know what it was doing either. We bought a black ghost knife fish and put it in a 75 gallon with some bosemani rainbows. I have since learned that they get like 3 feet long I believe.

The tank came with some bright yellow/multicolored gravel (still using it even though I don't like it). I got 4 flower pots of varying sizes and put them in it and called it good. Idiot me didn't know anything about cycling, I just thought you needed to let it sit with the filter running for a week to let it filter out anything bad before adding fish.

I don't really know what happened as a result of not cycling because I immediately got ich so I can't really say what died from ich and what died from ammonia poisoning.

I bought the following from Petsmart and put them in the tank:

1 black molly.
1 lyretail creamcicle molly.
1 silver lyretail molly.
1 sunburst platy.
2 neon tetras.
2 guppies (if I remember correctly they were both male. )
1 ghost shrimp.

I really wanted a dwarf gourami but the employee wouldn't let me for reasons still unknown to me.

As I said I got ich immediately. The black molly was sick from the start and the white dots were very obvious because it was black. I had no idea what to do and by the time I found out it was ich and I figured out what to do it had died along with the creamcicle lyretail (I think he might have been from the ammonia though as I didn't see white dots). It is a wonder none of the other fish got it. I put salt in and the ich didn't spread so I thought yay I am good now.

Condensed rest of this portion of the story:
The tank looked really boring with lack of decoration and enough fish, a few other fish died here and there for unknown reasons. The ghost shrimp (probably my favorite) died towards the end but I believe it was just from old age. I got lazy with water changes and didn't really bother with regular maintenance.

We then decided to move across the country to Utah so I gave the fish to a friend. I started setting up the aquarium again in August of this year. I started watching some YouTube such as the King of DIY and KGTropicals and got really excited about aquariums again. I am now very good about maintenance and sometimes will even do unnecessary things because I enjoy it so much!

I did a weird cycle that I found on a website that seemed to work and was considerably faster than most others. I put 3 small guppies in along with most of a bottle of API SafeStart and waited for 2 weeks (I know I need to get a test kit). Sadly one of the guppies got stuck behind the filter tube and died. I slowly added other fish in and then had:

5 veiltail cherry barbs. 1 male, 4 females. One of them had swim bladder disease but luckily didn't give it to the others. It died and I replaced it.
4 guppies, 1 male, 3 female.
1 powder blue dwarf gourami (I finally got a dwarf gourami! I have wanted one for so long.)
1 nerite snail for helping keep the gravel algae free and he looks awesome, but he's always hiding.
3 amano shrimp. Turns out they were a little small and the smallest got it's face bitten off immediately. The other 2 are fine though!

I still have all of those fish and I love them. They are getting used to me and are super friendly although the cherry barbs can be really shy.

Along with them I added an amazon sword that is growing REALLY slow. I am trying to figure that out. I think it is a combination of a bad light and bad fertilizer. I am working on that.

I wanted 3 swordtails to finish off the tank so I went to my nearest small fish store. I got ich and swim bladder disease in my fish from Petsmart so I am going to try my hardest to avoid them for live fish. They didn't have any so I didn't know what I was going to do.

I wanted java moss for more easy decoration in the tank so I went to Petco one day to look for it. Turns out they don't carry it ever (Who doesn't carry java moss???). I was walking out of the store when I saw their betta selection (in cups of course). I have never been interested in bettas even though I had one as a 6 year old that I named Snoopy and he was my favorite thing in the world.

I looked through them admiring their colors when I saw one I just HAD to have. It is a darkish shiny turquoise body with blue/red/purple fins. It is a halfmoon double tail male betta. He didn't look too happy but he didn't look sick, just depressed. I knew you weren't supposed to keep bettas with other fish though so I didn't think I would be able too. I went home, did some research and found it is is possible, if unlikely to keep them in a community tank under certain conditions. So against my better judgement I went back to the store and got him. At first he attacked his reflection but that stopped in a few hours. He seemed healthy if not happy so I decided to wait for a few days before deciding if we would be alright.

Turns out he was not sick. However, because my tank is slightly lacking in decoration (at least I think that's why) especially in the upper region of the tank he just hid all day in the back top left corner of the aquarium.

I felt bad for him being depressed so I ordered some Amazon frogbit because I read that that might help him feel safer and more stimulated. The frogbit has yet to arrive, it is supposed to on Tuesday. However, yesterday and today he has for some reason decided to swim around and explore a lot more. I am very happy for him!

He gets along well with the other fish. They generally leave each other alone although sometimes the betta will chase them off if they annoy him. I am so glad he did not go on a murderous rampage! He has been trying out all the different resting places including in one of the flower pots, next to the flower pot, behind the amazon sword on the ground, and now on top of the eheim heater as I am writing this. I want to get him a betta hammock soon so he can rest in a comfortable spot where I can see him.

He is starting to develop a personality and I am excited to see if he will become a friendly betta that will interact with me a little bit. It is still the early days and he is still getting used to me so we will see.

At the same time I ordered the frogbit I ordered dwarf hairgrass. It was supposed to come this coming Monday-Wednesday but it came on Friday, a pleasant surprise. I planted it in small clumps around the aquarium and we will see if it does well. I am thinking probably not until I fix my lighting and fertilizer situation. I just hope it will survive until I can and that it will at least grow enough roots to hold itself in the gravel so that I won't have to keep replanting the clumps!!!

This is now up to date with the present and I will keep you updated on any changes and developments in the aquarium! I apologize for the monstrous post. I will not be able to get many good pictures for a while as none of the cameras I have tried get very good pictures for some reason.

My tank setup:
29 gallon standard.
150 watt Eheim Trutemp heater set to 78F.
Tetra Whisper 40 HOB filter.
Homemade stand.

That was along read, you weren’t lying. No worries though, I’m guilty of the same thing.

glad to hear everything is working out at present. Keep us updated.

you listed your stand as homemade, got any pics? I like to build things myself and I’m always willing to steal ideas, lol

I will post some pictures soon when I get a chance. It is a simple stand made from 2x4's a 2x2 and some screws.

I enjoyed reading this It sounds like you have had some bumps in the road and have learned from them, that is really cool Congratulations on finding what sounds like an awesome betta! I had a betta in a community tank when I was younger, he seemed to enjoy living in the 55 gallon with the other fish, so I think a lot of it depends on who else is in the tank and how everyone gets along. In my case he was in there with some zebra danios, a few cory catfish and a common plec, so that probably helped the situation.

I do worry a little bit about how your gourami and betta are going to get along, I recommend having a quarantine tank/tote or at the very least a tank divider on hand in case it becomes a problem.

also looking forward to pictures, hopefully you are able to figure out a camera that works soon! One tip for getting good pictures of aquariums is to turn off all the lights in the room except the aquarium light, since it seems to help the camera "focus" on where the light is coming from.

Thanks! I was a bit worried about the gourami and the betta. The betta will sometimes go up to him and flare at him(I don't actually know if the gourami is a male or not) but the gourami just ignores him. The gourami doesn't care a single bit, doesn't even bother to look at him and then the betta goes away lol. I think it will be fine but I will keep an eye on it just in case.

I will have to try turning the lights out for pictures.

I also have a guppy that is really close to giving birth and another that is starting to swell up. I have never had the opportunity to raise fry so I am going to try it! I am really excited to try it! I have absolutely no idea what colors they will be as the male is a bright yellow/orange and the females are a dull grey.

The frogbit seller was going to ship them today but with the holiday she messaged me and said that she would rather shop them next Monday so to not risk them getting stuck in all the Thanksgiving slow down of shipping. I will let you guys know how that goes. I am making a floating ring out of airline tubing and some hot glue and stealing the suction cup off of an old heater to keep the frogbit out of the HOB current. Eventually I might just put the ring around the filter and let the frogbit run the tank although I will have to not let it shade out the other plants.

I will also let you know what I end up doing for the ramp extension and how it goes.

Kyle E. said:

I will post some pictures soon when I get a chance. It is a simple stand made from 2x4's a 2x2 and some screws.

Click to expand...

As long as the framing supports the weight, that’s all you need! That’s how I built mine. If you have the tools and materials to do it, you can always dress it up later too. I’ve posted pictures below, underneath all the trim work is just plain 2x4s as well. Just some ideas in case you want to wrap it later on.

or better yet, next time you build one for a bigger tank!

Yeah that's even a bit fancier than I did it. I did bare bones stuff. I am too lazy to take a picture right now. Will get around to it eventually...

What finish did you use? That looks amazing! What size tank is that?

Kyle E. said:

Yeah that's even a bit fancier than I did it. I did bare bones stuff. I am too lazy to take a picture right now. Will get around to it eventually...

What finish did you use? That looks amazing! What size tank is that?

Click to expand...

That is a 20gal long, so the base foot print is roughly 36”x12”

I built it out of leftover pressure treated lumber from my fence and deck build. Pressure treated, especially this new, doesn’t take stain very well.

For the stain, I used a black oil based stain that i thinned out to about 50:50 stain and thinner. Brushed on, towel wiped off.

For the finish, I went with an oil based polyurethane, which I also thinned out to a wipe-on consistency.

I also pre-stained all the pieces before cutting to final dimensions, and the finish was applied after the build was complete. I wanted to maintain the rustic look I was going for, so for sanding, it was quick to remove burrs only, and I didn’t sand between coats unless dust or dirt got into the coat.

i did two coats of the poly, both were wipe on. I would have done more and sanded between to get a finer finish, but again the look was rough and rustic, so I was more concerned with getting a nice seal to protect from moisture, so it worked nicely for me.

there’s a plethora of finishing techniques available, so do your homework before you attempt finishing wood, it’s easy to get caught up in overspending at this stage.

Very cool! I just bought a small can of paint and painted it straight on, let it dry, and then stuck a tank on it. Very technical, I know.

The design:
A rectangular 2x4 frame for the bottom. 4 2x4 legs. The legs end halfway up the top rectangular frame. At the same height as where the legs end there is a 2x2 "border" around the frame. This holds the actual aquarium in it with the legs ending at the same height to transfer some of the weight down onto the legs which are stronger then the screws holding the 2x2's together.

A can of blue "defective" paint (whatever you call the cans they mixed the wrong color for somebody and sell on clearance).

And there you go! Probably about the cheapest stand you can possibly make. As you can see I didn't dress it up at all. So not a stand most people would want to put in their house but the best I could do in the circumstances and I don't really mind. It's in my bedroom anyway so no one else is going to complain anyway.

Also some very blurry and unfocused photos of the tank. Turning the lights out helped immensely but it's still not great. Especially the betta picture. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I am aware that the tank looks really empty. If the amazon sword would just grow...

Also I am getting the frogbit next week so it will help. I think I like it though. Nothing too awesome (my aquarium is definitely quite cheaply put together) but it is the best I think I can do right now. It should be a lot better when/if I can get all the plants to grow.

Interesting design in the stand.
As a framing carpenter, I can offer my intial thoughts on it.

because there’s only one picture, I am going to base my observations on only what I can see.

the four vertical legs appear to be screwed to the inside of the bottom 2x4 frame. Taking what you have explained from the top of the build, this leaves me to believe that all that weight is being point loaded onto those vertical 2x4’s. Being on a carpeted floor (appears to be that way) the bottom frame is not taking much, if any of that weight.

basically that means there is only 1.5”x3.5” area in each of the four corners, plus a little bit of weight transfer from the screws into the bottom frame, but that’s not what screws are designed for. Screws have terrific holding strength, but the sheer strength is much weaker.

this is the reason you see a lot of people frame stands with supports that go between the top and bottom frames and beside the legs that hold them together. That way the wood takes and distributes the weight instead of relying on the screws you used to put the frame together.

without better pictures of the construction, I can’t comment any further, and please note that your build may very well be more than enough to support the weight of your tank. Which is good. But let me know if the future if you want to start building stands for bigger tanks, because we all want to, and I would be more than happy to help you build a stand that can hold a house...

Those pictures came out good! Looks like a lovely tank! Everything is always a work in progress so I'm sure in a couple of months it will look less "bare" as you say

For what it's worth, I really like the blue "reject" paint you got

I really like the paint as well. I didn't think I would but it has grown on me.

@Naterjm To be honest I didn't really know what I was doing when I built the stand I just built it as good as I could. It seems to be fine but I will make sure to do some more research/ask you/something before I build one for a future bigger tank.

My guppy is just a day or two away from giving birth so hopefully I will be able to raise some fry.

Thanks for your interest guys!

super exciting!!