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Hey all! I wanted to document my adventure, or I should say our adventure. My spouse and I are curating our very first fish tank for either of us. Getting to the actual planting took months! I'll be adding to this as it grows, and be sure that I'll be asking for help! We both have backgrounds in research, so research we did. First was to catch the sale at Petco for a nice tank and a few other supplies. Then we had to get a stand. I initially thought I was quite the genius and was going to use heavy-duty, 1000 lb. certified wall stud brackets to hold a vinyl wrapped board. I was WRONG. One needs 2 studs for these, and the wall for the tank only had 1. So instead, we purchased a 400 lb. per-shelf certified shelving unit and bracketed THAT to the wall. With paint and some vinyl marble over the wood shelf for water-proofing, I like how pretty it is. Hardscape was next on the list; we went to a local river with some cardboard cut to the size of the bottom and height of our tank. It was an adventure, and we ran into some very confused ducks who appeared to assume we were there to feed them. After some appropriate cleaning and testing for calcium, we had some fun actually laying out our hardscape. Working with heavy rocks inside a glass aquarium was TERRIFYING but well worth it. I even added some curtains to hide the "behind the scenes" supplies and electrics. Of course, I had to play with some macro then... FINALLY, I felt confident enough to purchase plants! I really appreciated the help from @lefty o, @FishyThoughts, @Andy's Fish Den, @Daniel, @Fonske, and others. We really appreciate the direction. We waited for our order to get in (lightning fast by the way) and were ecstatic to spend the evening planting away. I can't wait to see what this grows into! After we're comfortable with the plants growing and the water specs seem right, we'll be getting some guppies to hang out with us. Since we spend most of our lives in this office, we're excited to add life to the space.

Hello, so I'm attempting my first planted tank and I'd like to do a combination of dirt with a coarse silica sand or maybe a bonsai lava grit cap over it. The tank I'm using is a 36-gal Topfin bowfront 30.7 in L x 15.7 in W x 22.2 in H (77.9 x 39.8 x 56.3 cm). My question is how much of each substrate should I use? I know the 1 Lb to 1 gal rule, as well as adding an extra inch for planted tanks but because I'm mixing 2 substrates, I was hoping to get a more precise ratio. Any advice from someone who has done something similar or just has more knowledge in general about this would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, so Sakura made it through a case of Velvet and fin rot (popped up during quarantine and caught early, thank goodness). After nearly 2 months in quarantine, he is finally in his home with his tank mates--5 Amano shrimp. For those who have seen my prior posts in general discussion, I decided to go with a nice piece of dragon stone that I sanded down and cleaned out really well and I'm so glad I did!! My Amanos love to hide in the holes when they aren't eating or swimming around. I also made my own polycarbonate top with acrylic hinges after watching @Cory's video on DIY tops. So glad I found that. I absolutely hated the light this particular kit came with and not having to mess with glass was a godsend. So, thanks, Cory! Sakura is very, very happy in his new home. It took me the 2+ months he was in the QT getting treatment to get it together and "seasoning" with pre-seeded media and plants. The shrimp are doing well too; I made sure they had lots of algae to come in and eat. They've all molted within a week of settling in with no issues. I'm very pleased as this is my first foray into shrimp keeping as well. Sakura tried to chase them at first, but after realizing he can't catch them, he's since given up and just ignores them. So, plants are growing in nicely and I'll keep updating pics as the mini Christmas moss grows in. Here's what I have: manzanita wood water wisteria rotala indica dwarf lily crypt undulata anubias barteri anubias nana petite mini Christmas moss anacharis Without further ado, may I present: Sakura & Shrimp Co.'s 10 gallon column planted tank 🙂 He loves hanging out in his coconut! DIY polycarbonate top! For those looking to do this who live in apartments with no big power tools available (my situation), it IS possible to hand-cut it with a sharp box cutter (and if you're like me--accident prone--a pair of cut-resistant, protective kitchen gloves). It takes A LOT of effort and care (and strings of cathartic four-letter words and sweat and, man, was I sore for a day or two afterward), but after carefully cutting it and then sanding the cut edges with basic sand paper--course followed by extra fine-- it turned out far better than I thought it would having not used a power saw. It just takes patience (and if you have youngins', I highly recommend you wait until they're out of the house to cut it so you can unashamedly use your full vocabulary 🤣)!!!! Also, if you don't need the big 8 foot piece, Home Depot sells a 4 foot by 2 foot piece online for around $35ish. One of the Shrimp Co. munching on Repashy! And as a final side note: I'm currently using a Top Fin Silenstream 10 that came with the tank kit for filtration, but I'm replacing it with an Aquaclear 20 from another tank that's also getting an upgrade (to an Aquaclear 30). It's not that the Top Fin filter is necessarily bad, but I just don't care for how it works. Whereas the ACs pull the water up through media, the Top Fin just pushes from one side to another, making hot-rodding it a pain. Not a whole lot of room for media either. I like the convenience of pulling the media basket out of the ACs for maintenance, as well as the ability to get to the impeller for cleaning. This is my first time using fine sand substrate, too. It doesn't stay clean for long, but Sakura likes to swim along the bottom a lot and I don't worry about his fins as much as I would with gravel. Always try everything once! I'm looking to add a Malaysian Trumpet snail or two to keep it churned up and help with spot algae on the glass. I also ordered my plants from several different online sources. I wanted to see who had the best products, prices, availabilities, shipping and longevity. It's been an interesting experiment so far for sure! I finally completed my first planted tank, guys! Yay! Let's see if I can keep it thriving!!!

So I recently decided to go down the road of attempting my first planted tank. I ordered Anubias Nana, Water Sprite, and Amazon Sword from Co-OP that should be arriving Friday.. My goal for this tank is for it to be a guppy tank. I have a small amount of guppy grass that I had floating in my grow out tank. Apparently guppy grass is hard to come by in Florida. What are some other good floating plants to add? I should mention this will be a low tech tank. I am going to try reaching out at my local fish club to see if anyone has any floating plants available since my LFS does not. Also what would be a good amount of guppies for a 20L? I picked up 6 females and 3 males today and they are in my makeshift quarantine tank.

Hey everybody my name is Evan and I just recently got into the hobby!! I currently have a 5 gallon planted betta tank, but I plan on getting a 40 gallon community tank soon. However, before I embark on something bigger (and most likely develop MTS) I want to learn everything that goes into keeping a planted tank. My theory is that if I learn how to solve every common problem that aquarium keepers run into, then I will be experienced enough for a larger community tank. As I am nearing that point I thought it would be fun to share my journey that has been getting Jeffrey's tank to a pristine, stable, and consistent condition. Although I am not there yet, I am having some trouble nursing my Brazilian Micro Swords back to life, it has been an entertaining, frustrating, oft times confusing, and extremely rewarding process. So while I compile the highlights of my first attempt at a planted tank, enjoy these pictures of Jeffrey!!

Hello, I'm hoping I can get some advice here. I started my first planted aquarium a few weeks ago, and all the water parameters are alright.... except the PH. I'm seeing super high PH, above what I can measure (8.4) and I know it's not from the water I'm using, since I use that in all my non-planted tanks. Could you help me with what would be the source? Here is what I'm using - ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia Light - ADA Brighty K and Green Brighty Mineral fertilizer (very low dose, I have algea problems as well) - Some stones (I do not know what kind, bought from an aquarium store)