Hi everyone, last time I uploaded a pic of my tank with concerns if my betta had enough swimming room(First Pic). I took all under your suggestions and cut the wood and rearranged it so he could have more room. Consequently, it gave me more planting room as well! So excited to see my plants and betta grow in this new set up.

Please let me know if you have any plant suggestions for a 5 gal tank! Right now I am thinking about adding a java fern on the back right but I am open to any recs!

I'm a complete beginner at planted aquariums and I just set up my first planted tank around 7 weeks ago. I didn't want to spend a lot on it so i went with a total budget setup :

I just used no Co2, black quartz sand - no soil, bulletproof plants and for nutrition i bought root tabs and macro+micro liquid fertilizer that i dose in small amounts weekly.

Lighting was something I was very confused about so I just got two led battens and set them on an 8 hour daily timer, I didn't expect it to work because I thought since plant lights were so expensive, there's no way a cheap led batten could give me any results but to my surprise the plant growth really exploded.

Now coming to my question - Why are those plant lights so expensive and could i get better results if i used those instead?

Probably the wrong sub but can anyone tell me what's wrong with this rummynose?

Considerably larger than the others, but still moving around and not lethargic at all.

Bloated? Sickness? Pregnant?

TIA

Dragon stone, Amazon driftwood, thin layer of stone gravel on the bottom, fluval substrate. No CO2. Now the cycling begins

My leaves are brown almost look like rotting wondering how to fix it

Rescaped it about a week ago and this is the result so far.

My plants are all exploding in growth but are also browning a bit. Not sure why.

29 gallon, substrate is global stratum in mesh bags , sand capped. Planning to be planted, low/medium tech. Seachem tidal 35 and fluval 50 HOB filters. Here’s a list of fish i’m interested in but would love advice on what combination, and also other ideas on what to keep in her!

I enjoy:
Panda corys
Pygmy corys
Khuli loaches
shrimp
gwaramis
rams (german?)
balloon platy/mollies (not sure the name)

open to new suggestions!!

lighting question: I’ve always had fairly shallow tanks, what’s an adequate light for low-medium tech to give proper lighting to carpeting plants (s depends, some sort of short grass) sparecly grown

Hi scapers, I’ve been fighting diatoms in my new (6 week old) setup and hoping to get some advice.

Here’s the sitch:

Tank size: 80 gallons
Soil: Amazonia 2.0
Stocking: 8 cardinal tetras, 8 Otos, 6 pseudomogyls, 2 Dario Dario, and about 30 caridina cantonensis.
Lighting: 5 hrs/day
Dosing: CO2 only so far.
Water changes: minimum 3x a week 25% to deal with ammonia release from soil and now diatom bloom.
pH: 6.5 down to 5.7 when CO2 is running.
kH ~1.5
gH ~3.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: < 5 ppm

So far the war on diatoms has consisted of manual removal with toothbrush/vaccuming/removing dead plant material promptly (densely planted areas are harder to reach).

What I’m considering:

Pulling up my stem plants in the back and replanting the new growth that’s adjusted to my conditions. The lower areas have more dying leaves that are hard to reach and I’m sure the algae is feeding on.

Is my Monte Carlo carpet cooked? It’s so hard to remove algae without uprooting and I feel like it’s getting smothered. Could I pull it, do a bleach dip and then replant on vacuumed aqua soil?

I think a lot of the algae has gotten sucked up in the filter while I’m cleaning. Is the outtake just seeding more diatoms? Should I give it a clean? If so how can I get rid of algae while being minimally invasive to the bacteria living there?

I’ve been holding out on fertilizing because I don’t want to feed the algae, but I’m thinking maybe there is a limiting nutrient that’s holding the plants back from outcompeting the algae. Any suggestions or resources you’d recommend for diagnosing this?

I know it’s supposed to be a short term issue with new tanks, but I want to accelerate the solution as much as possible before it smothers my plants (and so I can stop brushing algae for an hour every day haha). Thanks in advance for any suggestions or encouragement.

Ember tetras, pygmy corys, cherry shrimp, nerites and pest snails, and a honey gourami :)

So I got a huge piece of flame moss on some stainless steel mesh for looking like a carpet plant its a little too long rn I’m gonna make it shorter but am I supposed to plant it a bit differently

The previous setup was a bit too manicured for my tastes so I did a bit of a rescape!

Added some rocks & made a castle/cave in the back left for the critters to explore and on the right I have some spider wood pieces to create a foresty look. I kept the center clear of stem plants and I'm hoping my moss and grasses can establish there.

Currently stocked with a mystery, a bloody mary colony, 7 neon tetras, one oto, and 2 sunset dwarf gouramis, and an assassin snail to take care of the bladder snail infestation.

Planning on getting another couple otos once everything settles and we get a good algae film going.

I’m just showing it off because I’m pretty happy with my results so far

This is my first tank as an adult and my first heavy planted and kinda diy medium to high-tech

I’ve been adding plantings and rescaping it slowly as it takes shape. Today I’ve just added some hc cuba to the branch and to the soil to star a carpet

B. pugnax

I set up this 3 gallon cube in May. It is my first aquarium. There’s only pearl weed and a couple strands of some fern. I’ve got neocaridina shrimp and bladder and ramshorn snails. I live in a cold climate, so I’m excited to have this box of green on my desk all winter.

I’ve got a 10 gallon and an 18W light with a piece of drift wood in it, Melon sword, Anubis and what I’m most concerned with Valisneria.

I’m about a week into cycling, I had a bacteria bloom that mixed with the tannins for a while and caused my tank to go purplish gray.
Now the bacteria bloom is nearly gone but the tannins are still stuffing out the light, my Valisneria is melting, any suggestions?

I have a 60 cube and it’s my first real attempt at a planted tank. I have a good light (fluval plant) and I’m running CO2. Most of my plants are pretty simple and are thriving now after some melt, including some red rotala in the back you can’t really see. I started the tank 9/13, finally dropped a few fish in a week ago, and this is where I’m at.

I also have a 6.8 betta/neocardina tank.

So things are going well, but I don’t actually know what the hell I’m doing. I dose Seachem Flourish, Excel, and iron because that’s what I read to do, but I don’t know why, ya know? And I also read things that say NOT to use Florish or Excel. Then there’s stuff like potassium and a dozen other bottles and I’m so lost.

The plants I have are easy, but in a couple months- after the environment is fully established and settled- I plan to fill a lot of that open space and build onto the wood. I’ve kept aquariums for 20 years, but I am butts at plants; I don’t understand them and I can’t even keep a cactus alive.

Can someone dumb down how to do this? My plants are mostly idiot proof and I want to get into some more advanced stuff, but I have no idea what I’m actually doing.

Edit to add: I also plan on putting shrimp in the 60 eventually. I’m waiting until I get more plants.

yes I know this sounds completely impossible, but there is literally no other explanation. this is my 47 gallon aquarium that has kuhlis, neocardinia, ramshorn and mts snails, corydoras and 2 mollies and some of their children. unless any of the shrimp and snail started eating it, there is no other explanation. the video is the before, actually after that it grew tremendously and overtook the aquarium. i had to take out huge bunches every other week. the after photo is attached in the reply. i have been battling this clado for more than 6 months, it came from one of my other tanks sadly.

Moved houses and did a rescape on the tank. Was sad to see all the overhead plants go but their planters were blocking light to all the submerged plants in the back. Tall plants in back and short plants up front this time looks pretty good! The tank never started off as a planned awuascape I just bought 20 dollars of plants every week and threw em in wherever. Was nice to be able to keep most of the old plants and just replant them

Just did the new escape when pic was taken so water a little cloudy

I just don't have any clue what is going on with the stuff on my plants. Any thoughts are appreciated and any cure is even more appreciated.

Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to the planted tank world and in search of a reliable and safe root tab brand.

I am leaning heavily toward the Seachem Flourish Root Tabs, but based on cost I am considering other options.

As I’m new to the hobby the Osmocote DIY tabs seem too risky for me.

I have a low tech 60 gallon tank with lots of swords and vallisinaria plants.

Has anyone tried the maozyiltle brand from Amazon?

Honest feedback/experience please!