On Saturday, I started on my new 29g tank. I put about an inch or slightly more peat moss in the bottom, made sure it was wetand mixed it around. Then put about an inch of playsand on top of that. I planted the handful of plants I got from Big Dog, it was not messy at all. I poked a hole with my fingure and the sand coated the edge of the hole so no peat was exposed, then pushed the soil around the stems. Then I was hoping adding a spec of gravel might help with adding water but it didn't so I added it a cup at a time lol, atleast until I could pour the pucket without messing the substrate. Then I added my floaters. Still waiting on a few more plants to come in the mail then I will finish filling the tank and adding gravel. I still need some sort of sponge to put in my filter to catch floating debris and attach my heater but other than that its almost finished. I had hardly any debris and my water wasn't hardly cloudy at all. I did a water test today on just ammonia and nitrite. Ammonia is at 4.0 and Nitrite is at 1.0, so thats good it is cycling almost instantly. The light I have is from lowes, I can't really afford the special ones at the petstores. It says it is 950 lumens, 18 watts, 15000 h, I have it on a timer for 6 hours.

My questions;
Is my lighting low, moderate or high? Should I leave it on longer?
When can I add fish, I am starting with a trio of danios?
When can I add shrimp?
When can I add corys
As you can see in the pic, my peat kinda stuck to the sides in the sand layer, do I leave it or is there a way to clean it up without stirring everything up?
Will these fish eat my plants, Danio, swords, black skirt tetra, angelfish, cory? can these fish go together?
Can I get specific names for the plants?

Now post answers and comments please :D

Kinda smirry, without flash


With Flash


Plants

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Elizabeth, SW Ohio
29g almost set up
Male and Female Betta

I would say your light is probable in the low-medium area. You can't add fish until the ammonia is gone. Doing so any earlier will just kill them.

Any clue as to how long the planted cycle takes?

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Elizabeth, SW Ohio
29g almost set up
Male and Female Betta

You're tank is just starting to cycle, don't hurry it. After about a month, your tank should be nearing the end of cycling. You can add one or two fish per week during the cycling process. Add two more Danios initially. I wouldn't add Corys until ater one month, they are a little sensitive to ammonia. The same goes for Shrimp. Your fish list would do fine. Small Angels are great. Large ones sometimes turn into bullies. They might look at your Shrimp and decide they want a shrimp dinner!

your signature says male and female betta ......


did you add them already ?

and yes angelfish would eat shrimp, i added angels and had two ghost shrimp. i didnt see them anywhere in the tank in last two days LOL

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~ Max
29 Gallon Tall Planted and running Eheim 2217
~~ a German Blue ram pair, 9 Harlequin rasboras, 2 octilincus, 2 Dwarf neon rainbows and a honey sunset Gaurami

16 gallon Bowfront tank ~~ 3 Neon Tetras, red tailed shark, 1 angel (its a real bully), BN pleco and an albino BN pleco.

No the betta's aren't together, and they aren't going in the tank.
I will still get shrimp, and hopefully I will have enough plants and stuff for them to hide in.

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Elizabeth, SW Ohio
29g almost set up
Male and Female Betta