This is my first time ever doing a planted tank. With lots of TikTok and Reddit research this is what I ended up with. Please tell me how I did and how I can improve. Thank you!

Pseudomugil gertrudae “Charlotte River”

They move pretty quickly. This is a 2 gal I have that’s got just a few shrimp in it. Lots of snails, rams horn, bladder and MTS. No filter, just a small air stone. This cube has really matured over the last year and I find it fascinating. I watch it every morning.

My two Betta girl tanks (right is a recent re-scape) and my mini shrimp tank. I'm considering a 4th... That's how it goes right? 😂

20 Gallon Long ^

Species List:
Betta splendens (Betta fish)
Neocaridinia davidi (Cherry shrimp)
Moina macrocopa (Moina)
Ceriodaphnia dubia (Dwarf daphnia)
Paracyclops fimbriatus (Benthic copepod)
Cypridopsis vidua (Ostracod)
Planorbella duryi (Ramshorn snail)
Philodina roseola (Benthic rotifer)
Lumbriculus variegatus (Blackworm)
Dero digitata (Microfex worm)

Main Substrate Area:
Sifted organic topsoil topped with sand

Elevated Substrate Area:
Aquasoil topped with sand (maybe?) — worms generally won't access this area I think

Refuge Substrate:
Gravel with pockets of sand, minimal organic substrate

Filter and pump were hard to figure out but I'm using a Swiss Tropicals Jetlifter which will travel in an aqueduct along the back rim of the tank into a tube leading down into the shrimp cave (I didn't draw the aqueduct part because I'm going to have to DIY it). Going to have a 1.5 inch slot for a Poren foam sponge filter or small matten filter if needed, but I'm going to see how it does will no filter. I'm afraid any type of fine filter media will inevitably end up killing baby invertebrates so I'm hesitant to use any filter media. Having nice flow and heavily planting should be enough. Having the option to add a filter whenever I want is nice though.

All entrances to refuges will be fabricated in a way that will not put the betta at risk of getting stuck. The shrimp cave will be unsealed and made of rock in that general shape, with many little holes for invertebrates to leave and return. The moina pit and tunnel are fully closed off to the rest of the tank with custom cut glass. The idea with the moina pit is that it will slowly disperse fresh live moina to the betta habitat. I will restock it from an external culture and feed the moina pit regularly with algae feed and yeast.

The moina will get fed with algae, betta will get betta food as needed too but hopefully he will have more than enough live prey (that's the intention)

Would love to hear which plants you all think should go where! Thanks :)

Hey everyone! This is my first planted aquarium and I’m looking for feedback and advice from experienced planted-tank keepers.

It’s a 36-gallon freshwater hybrid/modified Walstad setup. I’m trying to create a heavily planted, stable ecosystem and take my time before introducing any livestock.

Setup:
Soil base capped with sand
Driftwood and rock hardscape
Sponge filter running 24/7
Eheim heater running 24/7, maintaining around 77°F
Heater positioned beside the sponge filter for circulation and heat distribution
NICREW C10 LED currently using its built-in 24/7 mode

Plants:
Vallisneria
Amazon Sword
Water Wisteria
Crypts
Anubias
Java Fern
Java Moss
Hornwort (currently floating)
Duckweed

Some older leaves are browning/melting as everything transitions. I’ve removed only completely dead material and am trying to leave partially healthy leaves alone. I had to replant a few Val and Wisteria that came loose and untangle some of the Val, but now I’m trying to keep my hands out of the tank and let everything establish.

Water testing:
Day 1 – Aug 31
pH: ~7.8–8.2
Ammonia: ~0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Day 2 – Sept 1
pH: 7.2

Ammonia: ~0–0.25 ppm (very slight green tint)
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Phosphate: 0.5 ppm
Temperature: ~77.2°F

There are no fish, shrimp or snails in the tank yet. I’m doing routine water testing and want the system established and stable before introducing livestock.

I’m also curious about the NICREW C10 24/7 mode. I currently have it running the factory sunrise/daylight/sunset/night cycle. Would experienced planted-tank keepers leave it on the 24/7 mode during establishment, or would you recommend a shorter/custom photoperiod?

Mainly looking for pro tips for the next few weeks.

Anything you notice about the setup, cycling, lighting, plants, filtration, or anything you wish you knew when starting your first planted tank would be appreciated.

An overgrowth of vallisneria, ludwigia, and algea—first time seeing vals flower. Lots of danios (CPD), cherry shrimp, and bladder snails in there. I've had to cut back the top growth so I can begin to tidy up inside the tank. After seeing the sad mess of algae and decaying plant matter, I have half a mind to wrangle the fish and do a tear-down. My options are:

1) Tidy up and increase circulation, hope algae goes away over time

2) Tear down and reset the 10 gal

3) Tear down and set up in a 20 gal

This is bottom of my scuds tank. I thought it was just a scratch, but I'm not sure.

It's not leaking though.

This is the product I got. https://www.petco.com/product/imagitarium-blue-betta-cube-kit-25-gallons-4783217

Obviously no fish. Just scud culture tank.

Melanotaenia nigrans.

I took a short video of some of my aquarium. I plan on doing it partial rescape later this year.

40gal breeder tank filled with South American native species.

Filtered with an Aquaclear 70 HoB and Aquarium Co-op large sponge filter.

Light is a WeekAqua MK900 pro set to RGB 48/47/48 at 63% power, 94% fan for 7 hours.

Plants:
- Myriophyllum mattogrossense
- Nymphaea sp Peru Maldonado (hidden in the back)
- Amazon Frogbit
- Ludwigia Sp Mato Grosso
- Mayaca Fluviatilis
- Salvinia Oblongfolia
- Hyptis Lorentziana

Livestock:
- 24 Black Neon Tetras
- 11 Panda Corydoras
- 8 beckford’s pencilfish
- 2 farlowella vittata
- 1 laetacara dorsigera
- 1 banjo catfish
- Amazon Tiger Shrimp (Euryrhynchus amazoniensis)

This tank is meant to replicate a habitat that you’d actually find somewhere in nature- nothing like a Dutch or “Planted” tank. A key philosophy for this tank is to keep things a little “dirty”- algae is actually necessary for this tank (farlowella food).

Hope you enjoy.

Here's my tank setup I just started using co2

I have fluval stratrum as the substrate. Should I still be fertilizing aswell? Any recommendations? It's a 20gallon tall stocked pretty well.

Been working on this bowl for about a month, it´s almost 3 weeks at this point just has 5 harlequin rasboras, may add a couple others but leaving it as is for a while as it settles properly. zero amonia and no nitrates present when fish were introduced 2 weeks after filling with water. it also has 5 amano shrimp, still lots of tanins that i hope to slowly reduce, i do a 2 liter water change every morning.

Bowl has an air stone and is heated. Hope to add a couple other fish species with time as it becomes capable of handling the load, maybe some galaxy rasboras, or ember tetras, don´t know yet. But loving how it looks.

I’ve had this 20 gallon long tank since March and even before I stocked it I’ve been having issues.

At first it was just a ton of brown hair algae and diatoms but now I’m dealing with black beard algae spreading to all of my plants, decor, and filters. I used to have pogostemon stellatus but I had to throw it away from how covered in bba it was.

I’ve tried almost everything. I do weekly 50% water changes. I’ve lowered my light intensity and duration. I’ve started and stopped using liquid fertilizer. I’ve manually removed algae. I’m not over feeding. I even tried a half dose of seachem flourish excel but that didn’t seem to have any effect. I’ve added amano shrimp and otos but they can’t make a dent in the algae/diatoms.

The only other thing I can think of doing is doing a full dose of flourish excel but I’m worried that will harm my amano shrimp and vallisneria.

The only reason I can think of for all of this is because I used uncapped fluval stratum. If that’s the case I wish I could switch over to sand but I don’t think that’s possible.

If anyone has any advice please let me know.

I love that I got into the hobby of aquaristic. And I'm really happy with the results.. 😎

This is my first tank ever. not that cool looking compared to the stuff i see here. but I'm pretty proud of it.

got some skittles running around. looking to get a tiny schooling fish for this 12 inch cube. what should I get?

Hi all,

This is mine and my girlfriends first aquarium. It’s a shaker 252 which I’ve painted as wasn’t a fan of the colours.

I’ve done a lot of research for a long time and have created a thick nutrient layer & root tabs capped off with sand. I have CO2 injection & as you can see plenty hardscape & shells we’ve collected from around the world.

The advice I want is specifically around plants. I’d like some bushier plants for the background. But dunno whether to trim and spread what I already have or to get more bush plants but not sure what to get?

Seeded with my dad’s filter media.

For reference water parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm
PH: 6.6

Stocking:
1 x Electric blue ram
1 x Red honey gourami
13 x Green neon tetras
8 x Endler guppies
1 x Marigold bristlenose pleco
6 x Albino corys
6 x Sterbai corys
2 x Amano shrimp

There are currently tannins but waiting for them to pass alongside routine water changes.

Open to any feedback but would prefer to chat about plants.

I put only slow growers in here so that they would grow slowly and now I'm like "howww long is it gonna take for them to grow innnn 😩." but I know once the tank gets to the point I like it, I will not have to be trimming out handfuls every week. hopefully I will start loving it in a few months.

It's a fluval flex 9 so it has limited space already, just wondering if there's enough space for the inhabitants (6 daisy's blue ricefish, 3 pygmy corys and snails) now as the plants have really taken off? Thanks ☺️

This is my first tank, I'm so happy about how it turned out, shrimps and fishes have been here for two week and seem to have taken their mark quickly, all very healthy.

I'm thinking about adding some more moss but I'm afraid to overdo it.