I'm 2 years in and I continue to learn more and more everyday. I think anyone new to planted tanks should start low tech, low light. Low light tanks can be stunning too except without all the expensive gear. A finnex stingray or two ( depending tank height ) and you are good to grow some much! Anubias vals dwarf sag crypts buce moss ferns lilys swords the list goes on for a while. Slow growth? yeah. But epic results and no algae! ✌😍
I agree. I keep my 40g breeder tank as a low tech, planted, community tank and all of the plants are thriving - even the carpet plant. So much so that they require weekly trimmings just to prevent my tank from looking like a jungle. I use Fluval Stratum substrate and the plants love it. My lights are on a timer so I don't have algae. I didn't spend too much money because I bought the tank off craigslist and the plants at an auction from a local fishkeeping community. The money I saved went towards buying the fishes I wanted.
saif rehman I have Val and Swords planted in soil from my garden. I capped the substrate with an inch or so of sand and slowly filled the tank. It will become awfully murky for the first days, but start to clear up a little. I did a 50% water change on day three and planted my plants. The tank is a cube 30gallon, filtered by a large sponge filter. It’s been up and running over 20 months and the plants are flourishing. We added a trio of Cory cats, a couple sword tails and guppies and a clown pleco along the way. Water stays crystal clear.
Thanks for the tips. I have had aquariums for at least 25 years but only started trying live plants a little over a year ago. It’s a whole new world for me and I have learned so much from watching your videos. I appreciate all the tips and advice. The things that might seem obvious to seasoned plant keepers is great info for newbies like me.
I've downsized my aquariums twice to the point that i just keep 2 20gallon tanks, maintenance is minimal and time appreciating them is high. I was for-ever looking for more tanks, more projects instead of just enjoying and putting more effort and thought into what i already had. That's my biggest lesson in 5ish years
God bless you and God bless anyone reading this! Hope you have an awesome day! Seek him while you can! Jesus is the way and the only way and he is returning soon! Whenever you think you aren't loved... Remember the ultimate sacrifice was for love! ENDING YOUR LIFE IS NEVER THE ANSWER! For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV The wages of sin is death (hell) but Jesus paid our debt on the cross, for our salvation! We must turn to God and away from our sinful ways, Confess Jesus is Lord and believe with our hearts that he was risen from the dead by God, and we must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit and live by His word and Commandments! Trust that God will help with the rest! Seek God today before it's too late! Today could be your last day on earth! Have a blessed day! ❗️❗️❤️
creating gorgeous tanks has nothing to do with getting expensive stuff. It just makes things easier. If you don't learn the knowledge, then the most expensive or cheap equipment won't do anything for you.
I dunno. There really isn't that much to track in an established planted tank (Balance your N, P, w/Ferts) and spending a bit more for a good filtration and a ph controller makes it really easy.
Currently I have a 75g planted. It's going pretty good. I've been in the hobby since I was 13 and am now 66. As you well put, I've my successes and failures My current tank has a Fluval 407 filter and a Tidal 75 hob. My light is a Fluval aqua sky. To be honest my most successful planted tank was a 55g I had many years ago. Substrate was sand blasting grit. The light was a shop light with no special bulbs. The only filter I had was a small hob. The plants were nearly out of control it did so well. It's very easy to go low tech and get great results. Lots of luck to everybody.
This boosted my confidence so much. I'm new to planted aquarius and just got some Java ferns for my betta tank. I'm glad you said that even experts kill their plants because it's really easy to feel like a failure when you're just starting
Don't buy plants from stores where they aren't already fully submerged if that's what you'll be using them for. They'll probably die (not just melt back) unless you spend a couple months slowly acclimating them to your water/tanks. They're generally too expensive and difficult for a newbie to deal with- this is coming from a newbie who stopped buying pretty hang tag "fully submersible" plants at Petsmart for that very reason.
I really appreciate this video. I'm just getting into this hobby and it's very easy to get dazzled by all the stuff people say you "need". After watching this I think I need to look again at what is realistic for me as a beginner. Thanks.
Great info as I try to figure out what to do when you've been binge-watching TH-cam and you have an empty tank sitting in front of you 😂🌿🌱🐟🐠 thank you for a great video!! Stay safe and well much love from Portsmouth Virginia!❤️🙏
Hello there. I've been using the walstad method of growing plants in my aquariums for about six years now. My first aquarium I started out just a 5 gallon quickly ended up with seven aquariums including a 150 all heavily planted only buying enough plants for 30 gallon aquarium. The dirt I used was from my backyard and red hobby clay rolling the clay in marble size balls. The lights I used were 65k CFO bulbs from Walmart and converted a light strip to use those bulbs the first aquarium I started I had less than $60 total invested in it just from the cuttings from that Aquarium I was able to fill five other aquariums in just a matter of months. The walstad method needs no CO2 or any kind of fancy lights as long as you stick with 65k bulbs. Also my last two cents here is if you have any kind of actual gardening experience Outdoors or just keeping houseplants the absolute best advice I can give you after you plant the aquarium is leave it alone for two months and let them eat themselves and do what they may then you can propagate transplant move and etcetera.
Great video and thank you! I have started out small because I didn’t want to get overwhelmed. My little 5 gallon had some issues, dying plants (but I’ve been slowly figuring that out), driftwood gunking up my tank (took it back out and boiled the heck out of it), a little algae (learned about lighting), my little creatures in the tank are doing very well and all my readings have done well from the start. This is my first planted tank. I’ve watched so many videos and reading online. Don’t know what I would have done without people like you who share your knowledge! Again, thank you!
If you get plants you can clone from clippings you don't need to spend much money at all. Just buy one type of each plant you want and then be patient.
Iv been in the hobby for about 3 years now. And honestly im still learning every day. I do tons of research every week because its a true interest. And iv learned taking things slow and becoming comfortable with what i have learned before progressing my equipment, fish, and tank size usually provides the best results. I have tired many many many things with my tanks and i find that trying to master simple steps and learning new things along the way really show my personality in my tanks. Having said that i really wish i had a lump some of cash to throw at a new setup, yet i find no joy in rushing anything. In this hobby i find most pleasure in waiting for my tank to mature and slowly upgrading untill i gind exactly what i want my tanks to look like. And im a huge fan of self collections as far as plants. Any chance i get to go to fresh water ponds around my area to collect really help me find out how to achieve the tank i want without spending hundreds just to mess up and kill plants. Try and fail. Its gona happen. But enjoy learning :)
All great tips! One of the problems I have had is with plant melt. Not really an issue, but you can start out with a fabulous looking tank, and some start to die back and shrivel. I’ve lost a few. In time most grow back just fine but then often I’ll end up rescaping the tank because it all looks different again. Good to stay flexible. I have noticed that some plants will melt being moved from tank to tank (I have five). Even though they are all established tanks. I’m guessing each tank water condition is a little different , and lighting etc. plus, some plants are easy and durable, some just more sensitive. Lol, I think water sprite and Anubis are almost indestructible! I like the idea of starting smaller, getting to know your plants and how they’ll do for you....keep revising your scape as things grow and change. I wish anyone with a new tank or starting out to have fun with it! It’s a great hobby...so relaxing too...love it!
my mistake is that i went in the opposite direction - i went with the cheapest things possible without properly considering what was suitable (aside from tank size - my tank stayed unstocked until i sorted things out) and most of it broke/wasn't right for my setup so in the end i spent more money replacing everything than i would have if i'd gotten some decent quality equipment from the start... doesn't help that everything is so expensive in australia 😬 you live and you learn
Great video, so many people come into my shop saying they want to have a fully aquascaped tank like they see online but have never owned a fish tank in their lives 😆 they always seem so shocked when I tell them what it costs and how much time it’s going to take to learn even the basics
Way I solved that problem... Got my 75 gallon tank and decor cheap (by trading), built custom 2X4 stand and sliding glass top instead of buying them, chose plants that don't need a substrate (ex: java fern), and went with minimum amount of sand that my loaches and cories needed until I could afford to buy more. The tank came with a filter, I just put sponges in there. Update: before I could build the stand, my brother got me a used one that he'd already had for the 75. Just needed fresh paint.
For a beginner in planted tank, I would recommend study a lot first. Check out the possibilities, definitely learn about "Walstad" method (read her book) and the surprisingly good results you can achieve with it (in comparison with high-tech) and low-tech aquariums before you spend a bunch of money for high-tech. You can do that at any time anyway..
This video speaks truth! I just planted some tissue cardinals yesterday and was wondering about lights. I have a light fixture and didn’t want to spend that much on bulbs. I was wondering if I could grow some plants with a normal LED light bulb from the store?
First off you had me laughing at you trying to talk over the baby. I'm a preschool teacher and my ears picked it up right away.👶👶😘😘 New subscriber! I have been taking care of goldfish for the majority of my life. I went from a 36 gallon tank to a 60 gallon tank because I wanted more fish and more room for the biggest one. I purchased the tank and stand from Petsmart, it came with LED lights which I've never had before. I wanted live plants too, with the lights I started noticing algae growing on the glass, ornaments and plant. Doing some research now I know its the lighting. I only have them on for a little while now. I love this tank but it takes me more time to clean it than it does my whole house.😂😂😂😂😂 I'm 5'4 and the tank on its stand is pretty high, I watched a couple if videos and saw folks using a step stool.😋 Another issue I had the water wasn't crystal clear as the videos, I purchased a UV light for around $35.00 and it cleared the issue right away plus I have 2 filters. ( Don't trust myself with the canisters)😽 I bought, 2 types of plants from Petsmart, for around $5.00 a piece. There were 7 plants in total. I totally agree don't spend time of money. I decided I wanted to align some plants going across the back of the tank. The pros make it look so easy, just stick a plant in the substrate and hookus pookus! Every time I would try to put a plant in the substrate it would fall over. Well after about an hour or so, I finally got all 7 plants to stand up. Now, everything looked so cute, until I woke up the next morning all 6 plants were floating on top of the water. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I had 2 little vases holding artificial flowers, I scooped the plants out bunched them up with a rubber band attaching my artificial plant along with it and it looks just as good as my previous plans. The last plant standing I saw one of the big goldfish swoop by it and knock it down.😂😂😂😂 I scooped it out and just placed it in the filter. You live and hopefully you'll learn. One more thing a while back when I had a 20 gallon tank with 1 goldfish, I had pebbles in my tank. I kept noticing the fish would such up the pebbles along with her food. Most times she would spit the pebbles back out. Once she got one stuck in her mouth, I some how managed to remove it. I have had sand in my tanks ever since!
I just started a low light tank set up yesterday and it's my first planted, got some Anubias species to start out with. I may buy more low light plants when I go to the pet store in the next couple of days I actually don't know if that's good to introduce more right away or wait longer? Everything I had to buy for new setup was just little under 200 so far I think, I was fortunate to have a filter to transfer into this new tank from old small one
The best thing to have for beginners, is a great local mom and pop aquarium shop, with people who will not over sell you. I'm grateful to have one myself, just down the street.
I’m switching from the expensive and heavy husbandry world of reefing to a more relaxed and affordable freshwater hobby. Will I be able to use my reef lights for a planted tank? My Corals thrived under them. Thanks 🙏
I have a 125 gallon aquarium with a stand, 2 canister filters, sand, driftwood, and all the bells and whistles. I would just need to redo the substrate and get better lights. The only catch is that it is located in a room that I almost never go in and that stinks for me. I am contemplating if I should sell it and get a smaller aquarium that I could enjoy but I feel like getting rid of the larger aquarium would be a waste of an opportunity as well. What are your opinions?
Bro 1st I like your videos and clear explanations thank you... I have a different questions I see you have your tanks near 2 windows do you have algae problem how do you mantain or cope with that your tanks are near 2 full light windows plus you have lights on top do you lower your tank lights do you cover with black plastic bags for few days after you planted the tank or how is that going on.... Because I want to get a rank but I had second toughts since the only spot i have for the tank is in front od a window wich will get good amount of light?
Another approach is to buy used off of Craigslist. As mentioned most folks who start a new hobby spend a lot of money then lose interest - making for some real bargains.
Letgo as well. Got a 20 gallon with a filter, 2 heaters, 4 types of food, 1 water test strip kit, 4 medications and aquarium salt for 70 bucks- and it came with nice lava rocks too.
Just purchased a new 60 gallon aquarium, stand, canister filter and glass lids for $250... priced this same setup at that fish place $700++++, I think I did well. 😂😂😂
I just got into the hobby recently and am currently dealing with an algae bloom. I had an old 55 gallon I thought about setting up but I opted for a 10 gallon instead. I'm glad I did because there is definitely a learning curve.
I just bought some plant's from you just a week ago & they are doing great, I watched your video here I agree with what your saying go as cheap as you can & grow from there that's how I'm doing it. I have pond goldfish in a 110 gal stock tank & I have a 30 gal long fish aquarium that I'm growing the plant's in to get them started so come next year by April - May I'll have some good plant's going to where I can do something BIGGER & BETTER 👍
I started in May with plants in my Aquariums. I have found that mixing slow growing plants with some faster growing stems works best for me. The stems make me feel like I’m not a failure while I endure crypt melt!
Good video - I personally do no filter, no water changes & no co2. Only keep 2 guppies, few shrimp, few snails & ton of plants 🌱 about $50 in equipment and most plants from the pond : )
good video! i started with a 10 gallon, when i started this hobby. Now i am up to a 55 gallon now that i have a better knowledge of things. It is easier to maintain a smaller aqua scape, then a huge one.
So much truth in this video. I started with a 27L, 45cm long tank and really it used simple plants to try my hand at planted tanks... It was horrible... I had gravel, no CO2, I didnt dose any fertalizers and I over stocked my tank... I was the stereotypical new aquariest and I admit it.... But then I decided I wanted a beautiful, vibrant and colourful tank. So I got a 90cm long 120L tank and started with a medium quality substrate and some rocks I found in my yard, with cheap driftwood from my LFS. My tank had begun but I had no light. At this point in time I only bought things with Gift Money (bdays) so I was on a very tight budget. I ended up building a lid with place for 2 LED tube light fittings. That worked well for the first year of the tank and I saw decent growth but my tank still wasnt what I wanted from the hobby. But it was getting better. I got myself a fert kit (seachem) however I then ended up moving house and had to dismantle the tank for transport. Upon arriving at my new house (and job) I though this was a great opportunity to ramp it up. As I had almost everything I needed all I had to do was get a better substrate (eyeing out more High Tech Plants) and a reliable CO2 (at this point I had been using DIY, but the tank was much too big for the setup I had). So I set it all up, CO2 pumping (Fire Extinguisher setup for half the price of most brands), over filtering (turning tank volume 14x per hour), plants were filling out and I was dosing Seachem's range of ferts. All was great but now my DIY LED lighting was not enough... so I took the lid off an replace it with a T5 Double Fixture Flourecent. This was 3 months ago and I have never seen my tank explode like it did over the last few month. But I would never have gotten to this point without the trial and error method explained in the video. Start low tech. its not important to have the craziest and best products on the market, because now you have goals to set, part to buy and things to upgrade to. In doing so you also end up with an abundance of standby supplies for breakages or new tanks. But most importantly its how you learn and develop yourself as a planted aquarium hobbiest. If it wasnt for the wasted money and countless hours on my tank I would have taken the hobby for granted and probably have lost interest. Now though I find myself setting up a 7G Extremely High tech tank over the next few months and stocking it with very demanding plants and taking it know knowing that I have the knowledge to ensure the tank will be a success.
THINGS I WISH I KNEW EARLIER ABOUT ALGAE: I fully agree with the points raised here. I have a 200 litre mid range / budget planted aquarium with a soil base. I use Liquid Carbon instead of a co2 bottle. You can get 2.5 litre bottles of it from ebay for like £20 and thats about 7 years supply! The hardest thing about a planted aquarium in soil is fighting algae / bacteria on plants as they grow. My advice is to start an aquarium on cheap hardy plants for the first 6 months. Things like like java fern, anubias to attach to rocks if you want to give height. Also I have two really good tips for combating algea and even worse "green slime" algae... When you first set up a planted tank with fertile soil, excess neutrients in the water and it makes algae grow. The best / cheapest thing to help with this I found was to get A TON of fast growing plants to suck up the neutrients between regular 40% water changes. My favourite plant for doing this is Hygrophila Polysperma which is easy to find online or in shops. It grows super fast which enables you to you to cut it back every 7 days and re-plant the cuttings to make more for free! After 4 weeks you can have an aquarium filled with this stuff and it helps you keep control of algae. You can always remove it to make space once the aquarium starts to mature (maybe after 6 months or so). The key is patience and regular maintanance / water changes. Also keeping a "clean up crew" of fish like corydoras catfish, flying fox, and yoyo loaches is an absolute must for me. My best ever tip is: If you have a problem with "green slime algae" (which is actually cyanobacteria) use "Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover" I took me 10 years in the hobby to find it but it works REALLY WELL and I lost 0 fish when I used it.
I’ve been breeding guppies and angels for a few years with tanks without plants. I’m about to start a low-light, low-tech planted 23G. I would like it to be heavily planted to support fry living in the same tank as larger fish. I’m thinking about doing a DIY CO2 system. Not sure if I need it or not. Thoughts?
My advice is keep it simple. Good substrate. Fluval stratum is the best I've used so far. Decent lights. They don't have to be the most expensive. And last but not least you better have a lot of time on your hands to do water changes and maintenance. Best advice is put some sand in the tank and buy a goldfish.
I'm coming from saltwater to freshwater(Tired of the reef I'm afraid). Planning to use my rimless 90ga planet aquarium setup for it. I have.....well I've got more light than even the reef needed avalable, but was hoping to use my 4 bulb T5 fixture, even if it mean just running 2 bulbs. How over kill is that in your opinion? Also curious: I obviously have a pretty large RO/DI unit. I'm assuming the DI is a bit excessive, but is it worth keeping the RO unit around and adding nutrients in as needed?
I was given a 45 gallonish tank that i plan set up in the near future. How much should I plan on spending on plants? I currently have two 5 gallon tanks with a Betta in each. Those have some amazon sword, java fern and other beginner friendly plants. I haven’t done anything with CO2 and they seem to be fine. Am I going to have to set up something more complicated for this larger scale tank?
I have a 75 gallon aquarium I wanted to set up like this guy you're talking about, but when I crunched the numbers I realized it would be far too expensive even for a low tech tank. Instead, I set up a small 15 gallon to grow out plants and work out bugs. So glad I did! I can't wait to build out my 75, but there are so many things I've learned with my 15 that I would do differently, which will save me time, money and headaches!
I think that it is good to try it out at first with a small inexpensive setup, but once you know what you’re doing and want to upgrade then I think it’s ok to go big or go home. I had a 20 gal for a year and am now about to go all out and spend $4000 to $5000 on a 115 gallon high tech setup. I’ve done months of research and have enough experience to start it up, very very excited.
Coming from a long history of reefing, naturally, I jumped into the planted game with a high energy system and all the ‘best’ equipment. I soon learned fast how high energy various algae could take over plants. 1 1/2 years later I’m have some success but I’m always balancing my co2, Ferts, and water changes.
I am 3 years in and absolutely love my 29 gallon low tech planted tank. Low budget, community tank, with a male betta, live-bearers (fancy guppies, mollies, platys, swordtail, snails, shrimp). I used a cartridge filter for 30-50 gallon tanks and a heater. Java moss, Marino balls, easy keeping plants, wood, pvc elbows and rocks for caves, and a betta bedroom area.
I am now in year 5. The male betta ended up having to be in a different tank because the bloodfin tetras harassed his fancy tail. I got rid of the bloodfin tetras, and switched to a female betta with less fancy fins with good success. I currently have malaysian trumpet snails, a few assassin snails I am weeding out, 2 nerite snails, 1 olive nerite, red cherry shrimp aplenty, 5 kuhli loaches, and a small school otocinclus. 6 neon tetras. And the female betta. I don't do livebearers anymore because they reproduce too quickly, but a secret of heavily populated tanks is floating hornwort for shrimp and fry to hide in, coconut shell caves, some driftwood, and way more plants than fish. If you have the kind attached to driftwood or a potted area, they can be removed when you want to remove fish.
Once thing to consider is led light length. Some tanks, like my 20g long, can be 30". (most lights only come in 24",36", 48" etc. In my experience as 1 year into plants, it's much easier to do plants with a 30g , 20g or less. 20 is a great size for plants. My 20g is awesome. The 38g I had trouble trying to get lighting good with the big height. Many plants are great when they are small. Some plants get messy when they grow tall. Big tanks get planes that grow taller. Small tanks can better use small plants.
I am growing mine in a 30 gal long & mostly stem plant's & hornwort planted & there BOOMING, but I want to get me a 120 gal tank for SOME guppies for fertilizer.
I'm just starting out, and going low tech. I got a 20g high at Petco's dollar/gallon sale. I'm planning on a Finnex Stingray 2 for light, a fluval submersible filter, some cheap round field stones, (maybe I'll splurge for a bit of Manzanita), aquasoil and sand, anubias nana and petite, dwarf four leaf clover, hydrocotyle tripartia Japan, crypts, ludwigia, hornwort, and bacopa. Once things get settled I want to add a school of white clouds, powder blue gourami, cherry reds, and maybe a few Amano. I'm excited to see how this goes! 🤩
I am new and into nano tanks. I have been having fun setting many small containers instead of a big one. I am taking it slowly. I find great glass at dollar stores and thrift shops for very little money. I am growing without filters or co2 because of the size. I have two that happen to come with filters built in. They are tiny fish aquariums for the desk.
I spent so much money on my first planted tank set up. I was going for a high tech set up with co2 and high lighting and hard to grow plants. It didnt work out for me. After that tank, i set up a low tech set up and im so much happier. Just hardy fish, easy to grow plants and low maintenence. It works well for me. I can definitly see how one bad experience could make you want to give up but this hobby isnt a one size fits all you have to see what works for you and sometimes that might be dumping alot of money into a tank that doesnt work but if you stay with it you will find something that will work for you and give you lots of joy in the end.
Sorry to comment again. LOL but there really is no need to go super expensive at all in this Hobby a simple walk by the river to find Driftwood and get it cleaned up and then find some plants online or if you live towards the South we were in Florida on vacation visiting my son at Air Force Base we found a creek I pulled a bunch of plants from that through dinner cooler and brought him home and they did absolutely beautiful again you can start this hobby with a 55 gallon aquarium and have it completely done and ready for probably under $50 if you don't overspend and just show some restraint and patience patience being the most important of all. Never by so many plants that you actually fill your aquarium to where it looks like one you've seen at the beginning of this video they will never work just be patient and let the plans do their thing
HALLELUJAH! Best advice period in this hobby - don't pay retail and don't believe the sales pitch. If you look at my fishroom, not one tank in it cost over $150 complete (excluding fish) and most probably average out to around $50ish. I do have some moderately priced Hygger lights (they are great, but not necessary), but have been switching everything over to cheap bright white led's ... my fishroom is a jungle in and out of water. For some of the super picky plants you may need some co2, but it doesn't require big $, just do some research. Thanks for the vid, I always appreciate and applaud honesty in the Aquarium hobby. P.S. don't waste money on stupid canister or hob filtration ... set up your tank properly and it will run itself, some simple sponge filtration as an added backup - cheap and effective
To piggy back off video, You can get an all inclusive cheap aquarium that has led lights, and filter from Walmart, Petco, Petsmart that works and is cheap. You can then grab an aquarium heater and your all in with about $60-70 tops! Then all you need are hardy plants that don't ask for much. Annubias, Crypts, Stygo Repens, Bucephalandra (can be pricey but super nice plant that is actually forgiving for beginners), and Java Fern are all nearly bomb proof for beginners. All of these plants also multiply (I'll admit super slowly) so if you are starting with a small tank it also allows you to grow out your plants affordably. If you grabbed one of each of the plants I'm mentioning you would likely spend $50-70 total and actually have a decently filled in 10 gallon aquarium within a 3-4 months. I did this with (2) 10 gallon aquariums (grown out over 3 years) and moved up to a 55 gallon aquarium. I then had to buy more plants because the plants I thought I had enough of wasn't sufficient. The other thing that isn't so obvious and isn't mentioned often enough is planted aquariums require patients, and practice to gain awesome results! Oh, and if you work with the above plants you don't need co2, or fertilizers for these plants. They will obviously grow way better and faster, but will do just fine without. And just know the light that comes in these aquarium kits I mention is fairly poor, but works well enough to get started. Just KISS the process (Keep It Simple Silly) and choose one plant at a time. As they seem to be doing well choose another and so on. But don't forget to be careful with the fish you choose. some of them eat plants, or disrupt them by digging them up, etc.
thanks for mentioning the fact that co2 isn't an absolute priority. was worried about needing to learn about a whole new setup but i'm only getting a few small simple plants like the ones you mentioned. its gonna be a learning process!
Absolutely. And it's a fun process. Just listen to what all the popular channels are recommending plant wise that are easy to grow and go from there. Pay special attention to the plant requirements with regards to how they grow. Best example.. Cryptocoryne wendtii (super easy) and chain sword (little less easy) gets buried into the sand/gravel (which ever you choose) substrate and Annubias, Java fern, bucephalandra gets attached to hardscape items (rocks or wood). Common methods include wedging between rocks, or wood imperfections, tied on by sewing thread, fish line or even simply crazy glued (gel based such as Dap works well). Last trick, just watch out how close you place these plants to the surface of the water. Some like it, and some simply grow to slowly and end up growing algae on them by being to close to the waters surface (allows fro higher light concentration)....Might want to simply watch a few videos on lighting as well. Also equally important on plant choices. The water box youtube channel does a super solid explanation on this one. totally worth watching to understand how aquarium lights get rated, what it all means, and so forth. Made me understand what I'm doing allot better.
Java fern turns black and rots away for me. It looks ragged at local pet stores too. I suspect there is something about the water around here it doesn't like (I bought mine online and it came in lush and beautiful). :::shrug::: I have a few other plants that are doing really well, like my nana petite, crypt parva, wisteria, and APONOGETON ULVACEUS (not sure if that has a common name).
@@CERULEANSPIRAL Java fern often suffers from a lack of potassium. If your java fern gets black dots on the leaves that turn into holes, this is probably the case.
Great video dude! I almost made the mistake of buying more than I was ready for when setting up my first planted tank... Thank god I didn't. The tank ended up flourishing without all the bells and whistles. Only had some minimal algae problems, but reducing the photoperiod fixed that.
Just started a tank a week ago with rich soil, liquid ferts, and starting to diy co2... just wondering if i should invest on good lighting eg: chihiros RGB , which is not cheap at all to make my low tech planted better ... or should i wait some time to see my normal led will do better in upcoming months.....hmmm
grab one of each meaning just having one pcs of that kind of plant instead of buying in bulk of them to fill it all over in aquarium? just to test out if that particular type will be doing fine in our tank?
Currently planning a Monte Carlo carpet aquarium with a Fluval spec 2.7Gal tank. Super exciting! I've only had experience with two other planted aquariums so this will be interesting. All in around $250.00-$300.00 with everything chemicals, conditioner, fertilizer, lighting, heater, filter and I've been able to add nice curved scissors and forceps nets ect. Even Fluval Stratum. People really over spend worse part is they get no benefits with the exception of maybe lighting.
I've had aquariums all my life, but I've never done a planted aquarium before. I recently moved out of my apartment, and into a small house. The house is actually smaller than the apartment, but it's still a house! I want to set my 30 gallon tank back up, and I've been thinking of doing a planted aquarium this time. I have a few questions. I have one of those LED lighting strips that sits across the top of the tank, and they change from white light to blue light, so that the tank stays lit, but creates the illusion of night time. Would these lights be okay for a starting planted tank? I have a heater, and a water pump that I love (it actually a submerged pump), because it's quiet. For décor I'm just doing stacked slate, and maybe some rounded river rocks that I already have. I've seen a lot of these tanks where there is driftwood, rocks, and plants growing up and beyond the tank... but is that really necessary? I prefer to keep it contained in the tank. Now for me, I've always preferred color in my tank when it comes to plants. I like to break up the green a bit. Are there beginner level colorful plants that I could use (reds, purples)?
I have a 20 gallon planted tank with a sponge filter and it's doing great. I don't need any fancy lighting, I'm using the full spectrum lighting that came with the tank hood. I don't do constant water changes, or C02 injections, or anything like that. The substrate I have is Caribsea eco subsutrate from petsmart and that's it. I didn't have to do anything fancy or overly expensive. I suppose if you want to get some rare tropical plants that require special care you may have to get fancy, but other than that not really.
im brand new! We bought an aquarium for our son(sons) Got a starter kit, stones for bottom layer, and 3 recommended plants by the shop owner. BUT, im totally hooked! Im thinking i would buy a cube, and try some aquascaping! like a cube! And really used your video as a guideline! also for the livingroom plants around the aquarium! :) cant wait to get started!
Great video! I also recommend testing your water parameters such as PH, KH, and GH. Many plants will do fine in a wide range of parameters but some difficult plants have a narrower range of what they will tolerate. Always had issues growing certain stem plants in my aquariums until I realized my water was fairly hard and the stems I was trying to grow preferred softer water. Wish I knew this before I wasted money on plants that were doomed from the beginning
I had the same issues - the stem plants I fell in love with do not like my liquid rock I have for water. After spending a lot of money on plants (and fish) that aren't suited to my water parameters, I am now much more careful about what I toss in the tank. Heck, I deliberately introduced duck weed. It died. Now I stick with Anubias for the most part. My current search is for a hardy tall plant for my 29 gallon. I want a tall plant or two so my fish that are supposed to be mid-top fish (golden white clouds) will stop hanging out along the bottom with the corydoras.
Decent video but I think it could have been summed up in 2-3 minutes. Beginners should start small and affordable and learn and build and get bigger as you go. Thanks for your effort and I look forward to new videos from you.
I started with a 5 gallon moved to a 10 a few months later then did a 20 long and just last week finally set up a 35 gallon acrylic tank with nice drift wood and nice plants it did cost more to scape it but I’m happy with the result.
I am attempting my first real aquarium, and figured hey, might as well throw some plants in to make it interesting. I'm planning on grabbing 4 anubias nanas (2 each of standard and petite), 1 small bundle of anacharis, and 1 java fern for a ten gallon. Assuming they all grow fine, should I try to propagate them as soon as the tank is completely cycled, buy some more to pad it out, or just put my fauna in and hope it's not too sparse? I'm looking to put a betta in with a few snails and shrimp, all of which like lots of plants. I'm on a pretty tight budget and I'd like to save as much as possible in the initial set up stages, but I don't want to subject my animals to conditions that will stress them.
Great video!Let's not forget patience. I sometimes made the mistake of a instant gratification with buying very large plants and overcrowding my tanks.Think about the finished result 6 months after you plant
I’m new to the hobby. I have a 6.7 gallon tank with gravel, with a betta. I ordered Anubias nana. And a dwarf sword. Hopefully goes great. I researched videos and web links.
High tech setups aren’t required for half of the plants in the hobby. Co2 and fertz help speed up the growing times, but they aren’t required. If you have patiences you can get the same result without them, (unless you won’t very specific plants) as long as you are willing to wait a lot longer for it to grow in.
I have a cold water plant from a pond that has beautiful green needle like leaves, and reddish hue to the new growth tips. I don't even remember what it is called. It grows like 2 inches during the day, and another 2 inches at night. (at 75 degrees F) Once a week during my water change and tank maintenance I pinch off any out of control growth, and plant a few short pieces. By next week the new plantings have reached the top and started across the top. (tall tank) Other than this, there is zero care for this gorgeous plant! I'm loving this because I like live plants, but have no time to nurse them, and my bigger interest is the fish. And the fish love these plants too.
I have a 5 gallon planted tank and I use a desk lamp with a 9W equivalent CFL Cool white bulb. I've never used an expensive light or CO2 and it works great!
Just set up our first planted aquarium - currently no co2 or extra fertiliser added and has a bucephalandra and a dwarf aquarium lily - both are doing great and thriving happily. Neither have super high light requirements or co2. Cheap LED lights also !
A little off topic...that 1st cube tank, there's a plant growing out the the tank. I've seen a few people doing that. I love how that looks, but wondering is it purely aesthetic or is there a benefit to the tank?
It is very easy to overspend but I would add that buying all the equipment is necessary at once. At least it can give you a better chance at succeeding at a nice tank. Just don’t buy the top of the line for everything, but if you have money go ahead!
I started my first "real" tank a little under a week ago. Got some organic soil and gravel. Build a simple hard scape with a hill connected to a wooden block. I have 2 ikea lights on it putting out about 40-50 watts. I want to replace that with a 60 watts LED A filter, a small air pump and a heating system. Eventually I want to be able to only run the heating system. I have two plants in there. Leaving it for week to see what stays and what goes. Buying some shrimps and maybe a snail soon for some extra co2 in the water as I don't plan to run that. 15 gallon/60L. Does this sound OK to the experts down here? Any tips or tricks? Always welcome!
I set up a 5 gallon low tech planted shrimp tank a few months ago, and it's doing pretty well. I do have some algae problems, but they are minor, and I should be able to remedy them if I alter my lighting cycle a little. I am not using CO2, but I am using Fluval Shrimp Stratum substrate, and I bought a cheap Aquaneat full spectrum light on eBay for about $20 which is not bad for a fairly decent light. I have java moss, Cryptocoryne usteriana, anubias nana, bucephelandra green wavy, and an amazon sword that are all doing great in my low tech conditions. Low tech tanks still look great!
Hello I’m just starting out, can you recommend a light for a 31”tall x 18”x20” freshwater tank? Just starting out with a planted tank. I want to have (in the long term) the full foreground covered in moss/carpet plants, a few mid ground plants and a full background. The tank also has driftwood pieces I’m planning to attach Christmas moss to I think. I would love any and all help you have to offer. Budget friendly please cause like you said I will have failures and at this time I need to be cost conscious.
I have a low-tech 55g tank that I started last year with a basic flourescent T3 light, I currently dose with liquid C02 cuz I'm inpatient lol. One thing I've learned in the last couple years is it does help to focus on the substrate the most out of the other parameters, as rooted plants, are happy plants, and makes things heck of a lot easier to keep alive. In my case I busted a little more money for fluval stratum because that was the only aquasoil really available at my lfs, but I know there are more affordable options out there!
Been keeping planted tanks for about 5 years now. Just now have I started what could be considered a high tech tank. And it's more of an experiment for me. Almost all my low tech planted tanks have been successful with the proper maintenance and care. Low tech planted tanks for beginners is a great way to learn and gain experience/confidence in the hobby without having to worry about all the extra maintenance that a high tech tank might need.
Yep! That was absolutely me yesterday! I have recently gotten back into fish, bettas to be exact.- Got him a 10 gallon tank and was ready to jump right in and giving him an amazing live plant home. - The lady there absolutely refuted about the beginner plants, i.e. Annabuis & a java fern just to Start off. I thought, "Ok"..maybe she knows more than me....EVEN after the past 3 months of betta research I have done! $229 later and I can still not find 90% of these plants or How to properly plant safely and not uprooting & floating about... Ahhhh!!!! Exactly DO NOT be a me .
brand new to planted aquariums and trying to learn as much as i can, i have a 120l juwel lido, i have approx 10 plants one i thought was dying but apparently not its sent out a whole group of new leaves and they seem very healthy, another looked ok but one of my crazy mollies swam through it and several stems came up
I have a 50 gallon what filter do you recommend and bubbler, plus im moving my pleco into my 50 g what plants are recommended i just want a carpeting plant and a larger plant to cover back wall.
I've got a 10 and a 20L and both have at least a grand in them. I DO want more tanks but in all honesty I'm super happy with what I have. Definitely recommend just starting with a reasonably sized tank and slowly building is how you want rather than setting up a gang of aquariums
Great advice, I also work full time and water changes and tank care takes so much time thats why I went with a 20 Gallons long. its perfect for plants and a small school of fish and I went with high end tank for low iron glass. 5 gallons is a %25 of my volume so easy water changes help me keep it crystal clear.
I’ve been in the Hobby since I was 8-years old, and I turn 52 in a few days. I’m still a relative newbie with plants, but I have them in all of my tanks. I struggle to keep them flourishing, but I have found Anubias Nana to be bullet proof. I just converted a 10-gallon tank to a planted tank substrate called flora max, and bought some bulb plants from PetsMart and suddenly I have a jungle! My tanks are kits with the stock LED lights they come with the kits. I am running low tech, and I’ve used Root Tabs and Co2 Booster to help them grow. I recommend not spending a ton of money until you figure out what you can grow well.
Can you recommend a good carpeting plant for beginners. I assume I will need a plant substrate, right now I have small river rock substrate, with only pothos on the top. I dont Co2 or grow lights. I am taking baby steps with lots of research and asking questions... lol. Thanks.
I'm the opposite, to a degree, I'm 32. I've been planting as a hobby since, well I can remember. My grandma, who raised me, had a huge garden and always kept indoor plants. It's the 🐟 I'm new too.
Hi! You said you removed CO2 on the first tank you showed. My question is if you use "liquid CO2" to replace the CO2. I use EasyCarbo (a Dutch product), but it contains an agressive component so I'd rather not use it, because of my fish and Amano shrimps. However, I read on the internet that if you don't use CO2 (or a replacement) at all, you can't do weekly water changes, because of CO2 fluctuation which will cause algae. But I do want to change 20% of the water for the sake of my fish. I have a 30 litres tank and I don't think it would be sufficient to only do partly water changes every 3 months as I read you should do with a non CO2 tank. What is your opinion about that subject? Kind regards, Gerda from the Netherlands.
Enjoyed the video. Some good advice. I've had more misses than hits with plants. At the moment it's going well. Taking cuts and replanting is working well. Just gonna let them grow randomly and cut back into shape while replanting some. Not using Co2.
I've been doing plants 4 or 5 years . I consider myself very new to aquarium plants . I've kept at least one tank running for 30 years so I have some experience but no expert . When I got into plants I thought I'd spend about $40 on plants and be good. Thousands of dollars later I'm thinking if homeboy can afford it and that tank is what he really wants he should go big and do it . watch every aqua scaping video plant big and go for it .this includes running ro water . remineralizing and using power sand and all the bacter powders ect. You make a good point about starting small and simple . I found the learning curve surprisingly difficult getting into plants and trying to save money costing more because I eventually up grade anyway. Dude should probably hire someone like Kevin to scape and maintain his tank in till he gleans years of experience and knowledge or start from the bottom or near the bottom like the rest of us. I do feel if someone has the money they should get good gear to start out with . This is really a great topic . I could chat about this for hours
It's a total waste and huge frustration to invest $2000 on something only to find out that this hobby isn't easy or simple, then get angry and give up. If you have lots of cash, sure, get a relatively cheap CO2 set up, and a nice ADA rimless tank, and canister filter, whatever, buy some EASY plants, and get a lower level light (or the dimmable Asta 20 recommended in the vid) and try things out. But don't buy $500 in plants and run 40ppm CO2, with a 500PAR light, as your first tank. What a nightmare. If you can't grow an anubias responsibly, you won't grow an HC carpet responsibly either.
thank you.. I've set up my first planted tank 2 months ago now I have 3 Nano tanks, going big now I just i have 50P tank with c02, before I buy a plant I make it that I've watched your video regarding that plant fist. thank again..
i NEED that 90L. Where did you get it?? Everywhere I try to find something long and (more) shallow online, they''re all out of the states and don't ship to the states...
I have been doing planted aquariums for a few years now and getting fairly successful… when i started i killed every single plant i bought for the first 6 months but its just a learning process
I have a 20 gallon tall I will be changing over to a planted tank. I have had Anubis and Swords but I'm looking for something more. My current light is a Fluval Eco Bright 7500K, 9 Watts. I am open to adding another light if needed. I am also gonna have the Fluval Stratum because I plan to have shrimp. Spider wood has been purchased. What plants besides Swords and Anubis would you recommend. Crossing my fingers I can get something that can carpet.
As far as carpeting goes, staurogyne repens or glossostigma sounds like it would do great in your tank due to the lighting (I've had success with glossostigma so far in my 10 gallon with a 6500k light without the need for co2. So you should do fine with that). You could try plants like repens,Ludwigia repens, hornwort (hornwort has a neat look to it), anacharis, and crypt plants. There's a lot of plants to choose from, but these are the ones I can think of right off the bat!
For a newbie just starting now I have a 75 gallon tank what would you recommend for a filter I'm looking to maybe put two different types of plants maybe a moss and a grass
Hello there :-) i was thinking about growing plants but... The thing is... I don't know nothing and most of the video i see everything looks too perfect. My question is... If i want to grow something like grass guppy plants... What should i really buy? Do i need special land Scape ? I can buy it for 30 doller and get a small bug which mean for 40*40*40 i will need to spend really heavy.. what about temperature? Do i need worm water or cold water.. lighting should i need massive light or just window light? Do i need to feed the land ? If i need land as a substrate or maybe sand or even gravel? Do i need them all ? How toll do i need my landscape (for roots)? Those questions are only a few... And i guess i will fail but if im going down maybe i can as you said not going too crazy on the budget ... Thank you for this movie really got it on the right time.. i can see you post it a year ago but really troth and very important content so thank you you got one more like from me and a sub
Your video is great...I want to get into the planted tank hobby. Would have been great to start small but I couldn't turn down a 75 gallon tank, stand, 48 inch current usa marine LED light (x2), heater and fluval 406 filter for $100. So guess I'll be starting big. Lol. And before people go nuts thinking I was sold broken junk. I've been running the tank with fish for almost a year without issue. The only thing I replaced was the aquastop on the fluval...and of course the media.
My first fish tank ever was 50 gallon planted Aquarium. I jumped in head first I think I do that in every Hobby I get into. I guess I felt confident having a little knowledge in botany and fish. I did go through my struggles but with TH-cam it was manageable
I'm 2 years in and I continue to learn more and more everyday.
I think anyone new to planted tanks should start low tech, low light.
Low light tanks can be stunning too except without all the expensive gear.
A finnex stingray or two ( depending tank height ) and you are good to grow some much!
Anubias vals dwarf sag crypts buce moss ferns lilys swords the list goes on for a while.
Slow growth? yeah.
But epic results and no algae! ✌😍
Have u got val?
N do u need fertilizer?
N what substrate do u use
Love your content
I agree. I keep my 40g breeder tank as a low tech, planted, community tank and all of the plants are thriving - even the carpet plant. So much so that they require weekly trimmings just to prevent my tank from looking like a jungle. I use Fluval Stratum substrate and the plants love it. My lights are on a timer so I don't have algae. I didn't spend too much money because I bought the tank off craigslist and the plants at an auction from a local fishkeeping community. The money I saved went towards buying the fishes I wanted.
saif rehman I have Val and Swords planted in soil from my garden. I capped the substrate with an inch or so of sand and slowly filled the tank. It will become awfully murky for the first days, but start to clear up a little. I did a 50% water change on day three and planted my plants. The tank is a cube 30gallon, filtered by a large sponge filter. It’s been up and running over 20 months and the plants are flourishing. We added a trio of Cory cats, a couple sword tails and guppies and a clown pleco along the way. Water stays crystal clear.
Love your channel
Thanks for the tips. I have had aquariums for at least 25 years but only started trying live plants a little over a year ago. It’s a whole new world for me and I have learned so much from watching your videos. I appreciate all the tips and advice. The things that might seem obvious to seasoned plant keepers is great info for newbies like me.
I've downsized my aquariums twice to the point that i just keep 2 20gallon tanks, maintenance is minimal and time appreciating them is high. I was for-ever looking for more tanks, more projects instead of just enjoying and putting more effort and thought into what i already had. That's my biggest lesson in 5ish years
Tenzin Szabo been doing the same thing past year. Seems to be more rewarding and peaceful
Exactly I put more effort into my 29 gallon and it’s one of my absolute favorite tanks now
I'm glad to read this comment as I'm researching before I buy my first tank. Makes me remember what is the point of this journey.
Over 50 year guy says you are correct sir.
God bless you and God bless anyone reading this! Hope you have an awesome day! Seek him while you can! Jesus is the way and the only way and he is returning soon! Whenever you think you aren't loved... Remember the ultimate sacrifice was for love! ENDING YOUR LIFE IS NEVER THE ANSWER!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 KJV
The wages of sin is death (hell) but Jesus paid our debt on the cross, for our salvation! We must turn to God and away from our sinful ways, Confess Jesus is Lord and believe with our hearts that he was risen from the dead by God, and we must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit and live by His word and Commandments! Trust that God will help with the rest!
Seek God today before it's too late! Today could be your last day on earth!
Have a blessed day!
❗️❗️❤️
creating gorgeous tanks has nothing to do with getting expensive stuff. It just makes things easier. If you don't learn the knowledge, then the most expensive or cheap equipment won't do anything for you.
@Matthew Yao Justin knows his stuff. :)
I dunno. There really isn't that much to track in an established planted tank (Balance your N, P, w/Ferts) and spending a bit more for a good filtration and a ph controller makes it really easy.
Currently I have a 75g planted. It's going pretty good. I've been in the hobby since I was 13 and am now 66. As you well put, I've my successes and failures
My current tank has a Fluval 407 filter and a Tidal 75 hob. My light is a Fluval aqua sky.
To be honest my most successful planted tank was a 55g I had many years ago. Substrate was sand blasting grit. The light was a shop light with no special bulbs. The only filter I had was a small hob. The plants were nearly out of control it did so well. It's very easy to go low tech and get great results. Lots of luck to everybody.
This boosted my confidence so much. I'm new to planted aquarius and just got some Java ferns for my betta tank. I'm glad you said that even experts kill their plants because it's really easy to feel like a failure when you're just starting
Don't buy plants from stores where they aren't already fully submerged if that's what you'll be using them for. They'll probably die (not just melt back) unless you spend a couple months slowly acclimating them to your water/tanks. They're generally too expensive and difficult for a newbie to deal with- this is coming from a newbie who stopped buying pretty hang tag "fully submersible" plants at Petsmart for that very reason.
I really appreciate this video. I'm just getting into this hobby and it's very easy to get dazzled by all the stuff people say you "need". After watching this I think I need to look again at what is realistic for me as a beginner. Thanks.
Great info as I try to figure out what to do when you've been binge-watching TH-cam and you have an empty tank sitting in front of you 😂🌿🌱🐟🐠 thank you for a great video!! Stay safe and well much love from Portsmouth Virginia!❤️🙏
Hello there. I've been using the walstad method of growing plants in my aquariums for about six years now. My first aquarium I started out just a 5 gallon quickly ended up with seven aquariums including a 150 all heavily planted only buying enough plants for 30 gallon aquarium. The dirt I used was from my backyard and red hobby clay rolling the clay in marble size balls. The lights I used were 65k CFO bulbs from Walmart and converted a light strip to use those bulbs the first aquarium I started I had less than $60 total invested in it just from the cuttings from that Aquarium I was able to fill five other aquariums in just a matter of months. The walstad method needs no CO2 or any kind of fancy lights as long as you stick with 65k bulbs. Also my last two cents here is if you have any kind of actual gardening experience Outdoors or just keeping houseplants the absolute best advice I can give you after you plant the aquarium is leave it alone for two months and let them eat themselves and do what they may then you can propagate transplant move and etcetera.
Great video and thank you! I have started out small because I didn’t want to get overwhelmed. My little 5 gallon had some issues, dying plants (but I’ve been slowly figuring that out), driftwood gunking up my tank (took it back out and boiled the heck out of it), a little algae (learned about lighting), my little creatures in the tank are doing very well and all my readings have done well from the start. This is my first planted tank. I’ve watched so many videos and reading online. Don’t know what I would have done without people like you who share your knowledge! Again, thank you!
I wish I had this video when I first started in February. I went nuts buying plants lol. I still have a habit of doing it 🤷🏻♀️
But then I've also seen some information about planting heaps at the start to help the cycle. Lol so much information out there
Sammmee
Guilty 🥲
If you get plants you can clone from clippings you don't need to spend much money at all. Just buy one type of each plant you want and then be patient.
Iv been in the hobby for about 3 years now. And honestly im still learning every day. I do tons of research every week because its a true interest. And iv learned taking things slow and becoming comfortable with what i have learned before progressing my equipment, fish, and tank size usually provides the best results. I have tired many many many things with my tanks and i find that trying to master simple steps and learning new things along the way really show my personality in my tanks. Having said that i really wish i had a lump some of cash to throw at a new setup, yet i find no joy in rushing anything. In this hobby i find most pleasure in waiting for my tank to mature and slowly upgrading untill i gind exactly what i want my tanks to look like. And im a huge fan of self collections as far as plants. Any chance i get to go to fresh water ponds around my area to collect really help me find out how to achieve the tank i want without spending hundreds just to mess up and kill plants. Try and fail. Its gona happen. But enjoy learning :)
All great tips!
One of the problems I have had is with plant melt. Not really an issue, but you can start out with a fabulous looking tank, and some start to die back and shrivel.
I’ve lost a few. In time most grow back just fine but then often I’ll end up rescaping the tank because it all looks different again.
Good to stay flexible.
I have noticed that some plants will melt being moved from tank to tank (I have five). Even though they are all established tanks. I’m guessing each tank water condition is a little different , and lighting etc. plus, some plants are easy and durable, some just more sensitive.
Lol, I think water sprite and Anubis are almost indestructible!
I like the idea of starting smaller, getting to know your plants and how they’ll do for you....keep revising your scape as things grow and change.
I wish anyone with a new tank or starting out to have fun with it!
It’s a great hobby...so relaxing too...love it!
Crypts would be a melting plant. They don't like to be moved. So true have fun with it.
my mistake is that i went in the opposite direction - i went with the cheapest things possible without properly considering what was suitable (aside from tank size - my tank stayed unstocked until i sorted things out) and most of it broke/wasn't right for my setup so in the end i spent more money replacing everything than i would have if i'd gotten some decent quality equipment from the start... doesn't help that everything is so expensive in australia 😬 you live and you learn
Great video, so many people come into my shop saying they want to have a fully aquascaped tank like they see online but have never owned a fish tank in their lives 😆 they always seem so shocked when I tell them what it costs and how much time it’s going to take to learn even the basics
Way I solved that problem... Got my 75 gallon tank and decor cheap (by trading), built custom 2X4 stand and sliding glass top instead of buying them, chose plants that don't need a substrate (ex: java fern), and went with minimum amount of sand that my loaches and cories needed until I could afford to buy more. The tank came with a filter, I just put sponges in there.
Update: before I could build the stand, my brother got me a used one that he'd already had for the 75. Just needed fresh paint.
For a beginner in planted tank, I would recommend study a lot first. Check out the possibilities, definitely learn about "Walstad" method (read her book) and the surprisingly good results you can achieve with it (in comparison with high-tech) and low-tech aquariums before you spend a bunch of money for high-tech. You can do that at any time anyway..
This video speaks truth! I just planted some tissue cardinals yesterday and was wondering about lights. I have a light fixture and didn’t want to spend that much on bulbs. I was wondering if I could grow some plants with a normal LED light bulb from the store?
First off you had me laughing at you trying to talk over the baby. I'm a preschool teacher and my ears picked it up right away.👶👶😘😘
New subscriber!
I have been taking care of goldfish for the majority of my life. I went from a 36 gallon tank to a 60 gallon tank because I wanted more fish and more room for the biggest one. I purchased the tank and stand from Petsmart, it came with LED lights which I've never had before. I wanted live plants too, with the lights I started noticing algae growing on the glass, ornaments and plant. Doing some research now I know its the lighting. I only have them on for a little while now. I love this tank but it takes me more time to clean it than it does my whole house.😂😂😂😂😂 I'm 5'4 and the tank on its stand is pretty high, I watched a couple if videos and saw folks using a step stool.😋
Another issue I had the water wasn't crystal clear as the videos, I purchased a UV light for around $35.00 and it cleared the issue right away plus I have 2 filters. ( Don't trust myself with the canisters)😽
I bought, 2 types of plants from Petsmart, for around $5.00 a piece. There were 7 plants in total. I totally agree don't spend time of money.
I decided I wanted to align some plants going across the back of the tank. The pros make it look so easy, just stick a plant in the substrate and hookus pookus! Every time I would try to put a plant in the substrate it would fall over. Well after about an hour or so, I finally got all 7 plants to stand up. Now, everything looked so cute, until I woke up the next morning all 6 plants were floating on top of the water. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I had 2 little vases holding artificial flowers, I scooped the plants out bunched them up with a rubber band attaching my artificial plant along with it and it looks just as good as my previous plans. The last plant standing I saw one of the big goldfish swoop by it and knock it down.😂😂😂😂 I scooped it out and just placed it in the filter. You live and hopefully you'll learn.
One more thing a while back when I had a 20 gallon tank with 1 goldfish, I had pebbles in my tank. I kept noticing the fish would such up the pebbles along with her food. Most times she would spit the pebbles back out. Once she got one stuck in her mouth, I some how managed to remove it. I have had sand in my tanks ever since!
First mistake is don't buy from PetSmart. Go to a independent pet . For the most part better quality and better customer service.
797
I just started a low light tank set up yesterday and it's my first planted, got some Anubias species to start out with. I may buy more low light plants when I go to the pet store in the next couple of days I actually don't know if that's good to introduce more right away or wait longer? Everything I had to buy for new setup was just little under 200 so far I think, I was fortunate to have a filter to transfer into this new tank from old small one
The best thing to have for beginners, is a great local mom and pop aquarium shop, with people who will not over sell you. I'm grateful to have one myself, just down the street.
Must be nice, mine is a damn ripoff
Hmmm, I thought I had that until I bought a spider plant and realised it’s not an aquarium plant. Feel ripped off.
I’m switching from the expensive and heavy husbandry world of reefing to a more relaxed and affordable freshwater hobby. Will I be able to use my reef lights for a planted tank? My Corals thrived under them.
Thanks 🙏
I have a 125 gallon aquarium with a stand, 2 canister filters, sand, driftwood, and all the bells and whistles. I would just need to redo the substrate and get better lights. The only catch is that it is located in a room that I almost never go in and that stinks for me. I am contemplating if I should sell it and get a smaller aquarium that I could enjoy but I feel like getting rid of the larger aquarium would be a waste of an opportunity as well. What are your opinions?
Bro 1st I like your videos and clear explanations thank you... I have a different questions I see you have your tanks near 2 windows do you have algae problem how do you mantain or cope with that your tanks are near 2 full light windows plus you have lights on top do you lower your tank lights do you cover with black plastic bags for few days after you planted the tank or how is that going on.... Because I want to get a rank but I had second toughts since the only spot i have for the tank is in front od a window wich will get good amount of light?
How on earth do you manage to keep those tanks algae free when they are located in a room which has more windows than wall?
Another approach is to buy used off of Craigslist. As mentioned most folks who start a new hobby spend a lot of money then lose interest - making for some real bargains.
Pssh most people selling stuff are smoking dope and trying to charge more than retail for their used stuff
Yes, Craigslist is where the bargains are:-) People get rid of fish tanks w/ equipment and food!
Letgo as well. Got a 20 gallon with a filter, 2 heaters, 4 types of food, 1 water test strip kit, 4 medications and aquarium salt for 70 bucks- and it came with nice lava rocks too.
And 6 replacement filters. Saved me a ton of money on the long run
Just purchased a new 60 gallon aquarium, stand, canister filter and glass lids for $250... priced this same setup at that fish place $700++++, I think I did well. 😂😂😂
I just got into the hobby recently and am currently dealing with an algae bloom. I had an old 55 gallon I thought about setting up but I opted for a 10 gallon instead. I'm glad I did because there is definitely a learning curve.
I just bought some plant's from you just a week ago
& they are doing great, I watched your video here
I agree with what your saying go as cheap as you
can & grow from there that's how I'm doing it.
I have pond goldfish in a 110 gal stock tank
& I have a 30 gal long fish aquarium that I'm
growing the plant's in to get them started
so come next year by April - May I'll have
some good plant's going to where I can
do something BIGGER & BETTER 👍
I've had so many failures and was close to quitting. But I'm glad I'm sticking with it
I started in May with plants in my Aquariums. I have found that mixing slow growing plants with some faster growing stems works best for me. The stems make me feel like I’m not a failure while I endure crypt melt!
I'm the opposite! I can grow crypts all day long, but I kill even low-light stems. The only one I've managed not to kill is Bacopa. 😂
@@hannahh.8894 I even killed my Bacopa!
Good video - I personally do no filter, no water changes & no co2. Only keep 2 guppies, few shrimp, few snails & ton of plants 🌱 about $50 in equipment and most plants from the pond : )
good video! i started with a 10 gallon, when i started this hobby. Now i am up to a 55 gallon now that i have a better knowledge of things. It is easier to maintain a smaller aqua scape, then a huge one.
So much truth in this video. I started with a 27L, 45cm long tank and really it used simple plants to try my hand at planted tanks... It was horrible... I had gravel, no CO2, I didnt dose any fertalizers and I over stocked my tank... I was the stereotypical new aquariest and I admit it....
But then I decided I wanted a beautiful, vibrant and colourful tank. So I got a 90cm long 120L tank and started with a medium quality substrate and some rocks I found in my yard, with cheap driftwood from my LFS. My tank had begun but I had no light. At this point in time I only bought things with Gift Money (bdays) so I was on a very tight budget. I ended up building a lid with place for 2 LED tube light fittings. That worked well for the first year of the tank and I saw decent growth but my tank still wasnt what I wanted from the hobby. But it was getting better. I got myself a fert kit (seachem) however I then ended up moving house and had to dismantle the tank for transport.
Upon arriving at my new house (and job) I though this was a great opportunity to ramp it up. As I had almost everything I needed all I had to do was get a better substrate (eyeing out more High Tech Plants) and a reliable CO2 (at this point I had been using DIY, but the tank was much too big for the setup I had). So I set it all up, CO2 pumping (Fire Extinguisher setup for half the price of most brands), over filtering (turning tank volume 14x per hour), plants were filling out and I was dosing Seachem's range of ferts. All was great but now my DIY LED lighting was not enough... so I took the lid off an replace it with a T5 Double Fixture Flourecent.
This was 3 months ago and I have never seen my tank explode like it did over the last few month. But I would never have gotten to this point without the trial and error method explained in the video. Start low tech. its not important to have the craziest and best products on the market, because now you have goals to set, part to buy and things to upgrade to. In doing so you also end up with an abundance of standby supplies for breakages or new tanks. But most importantly its how you learn and develop yourself as a planted aquarium hobbiest. If it wasnt for the wasted money and countless hours on my tank I would have taken the hobby for granted and probably have lost interest.
Now though I find myself setting up a 7G Extremely High tech tank over the next few months and stocking it with very demanding plants and taking it know knowing that I have the knowledge to ensure the tank will be a success.
THINGS I WISH I KNEW EARLIER ABOUT ALGAE:
I fully agree with the points raised here. I have a 200 litre mid range / budget planted aquarium with a soil base. I use Liquid Carbon instead of a co2 bottle. You can get 2.5 litre bottles of it from ebay for like £20 and thats about 7 years supply! The hardest thing about a planted aquarium in soil is fighting algae / bacteria on plants as they grow. My advice is to start an aquarium on cheap hardy plants for the first 6 months. Things like like java fern, anubias to attach to rocks if you want to give height. Also I have two really good tips for combating algea and even worse "green slime" algae...
When you first set up a planted tank with fertile soil, excess neutrients in the water and it makes algae grow. The best / cheapest thing to help with this I found was to get A TON of fast growing plants to suck up the neutrients between regular 40% water changes. My favourite plant for doing this is Hygrophila Polysperma which is easy to find online or in shops. It grows super fast which enables you to you to cut it back every 7 days and re-plant the cuttings to make more for free! After 4 weeks you can have an aquarium filled with this stuff and it helps you keep control of algae. You can always remove it to make space once the aquarium starts to mature (maybe after 6 months or so). The key is patience and regular maintanance / water changes. Also keeping a "clean up crew" of fish like corydoras catfish, flying fox, and yoyo loaches is an absolute must for me.
My best ever tip is: If you have a problem with "green slime algae" (which is actually cyanobacteria) use "Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover" I took me 10 years in the hobby to find it but it works REALLY WELL and I lost 0 fish when I used it.
Where do you buy your equipment? I seem to be having a hard time finding affordable gear. Thanks!
I’ve been breeding guppies and angels for a few years with tanks without plants. I’m about to start a low-light, low-tech planted 23G. I would like it to be heavily planted to support fry living in the same tank as larger fish. I’m thinking about doing a DIY CO2 system. Not sure if I need it or not. Thoughts?
My advice is keep it simple. Good substrate. Fluval stratum is the best I've used so far. Decent lights. They don't have to be the most expensive. And last but not least you better have a lot of time on your hands to do water changes and maintenance. Best advice is put some sand in the tank and buy a goldfish.
I'm coming from saltwater to freshwater(Tired of the reef I'm afraid). Planning to use my rimless 90ga planet aquarium setup for it. I have.....well I've got more light than even the reef needed avalable, but was hoping to use my 4 bulb T5 fixture, even if it mean just running 2 bulbs. How over kill is that in your opinion?
Also curious: I obviously have a pretty large RO/DI unit. I'm assuming the DI is a bit excessive, but is it worth keeping the RO unit around and adding nutrients in as needed?
I was given a 45 gallonish tank that i plan set up in the near future. How much should I plan on spending on plants? I currently have two 5 gallon tanks with a Betta in each. Those have some amazon sword, java fern and other beginner friendly plants. I haven’t done anything with CO2 and they seem to be fine. Am I going to have to set up something more complicated for this larger scale tank?
Are you still making videos? You are so awesome! Thanks for all the great info. Starting my first planted tank tonight. Fingers crossed!
I have a 75 gallon aquarium I wanted to set up like this guy you're talking about, but when I crunched the numbers I realized it would be far too expensive even for a low tech tank. Instead, I set up a small 15 gallon to grow out plants and work out bugs. So glad I did! I can't wait to build out my 75, but there are so many things I've learned with my 15 that I would do differently, which will save me time, money and headaches!
I think that it is good to try it out at first with a small inexpensive setup, but once you know what you’re doing and want to upgrade then I think it’s ok to go big or go home. I had a 20 gal for a year and am now about to go all out and spend $4000 to $5000 on a 115 gallon high tech setup. I’ve done months of research and have enough experience to start it up, very very excited.
Great advice. Too many people want to be pros right off the bat.
Coming from a long history of reefing, naturally, I jumped into the planted game with a high energy system and all the ‘best’ equipment. I soon learned fast how high energy various algae could take over plants. 1 1/2 years later I’m have some success but I’m always balancing my co2, Ferts, and water changes.
I am 3 years in and absolutely love my 29 gallon low tech planted tank. Low budget, community tank, with a male betta, live-bearers (fancy guppies, mollies, platys, swordtail, snails, shrimp). I used a cartridge filter for 30-50 gallon tanks and a heater. Java moss, Marino balls, easy keeping plants, wood, pvc elbows and rocks for caves, and a betta bedroom area.
What snails and shrimp do you use and are they still doing well with one another? Do they show signs of aggression?
I am now in year 5. The male betta ended up having to be in a different tank because the bloodfin tetras harassed his fancy tail. I got rid of the bloodfin tetras, and switched to a female betta with less fancy fins with good success. I currently have malaysian trumpet snails, a few assassin snails I am weeding out, 2 nerite snails, 1 olive nerite, red cherry shrimp aplenty, 5 kuhli loaches, and a small school otocinclus. 6 neon tetras. And the female betta. I don't do livebearers anymore because they reproduce too quickly, but a secret of heavily populated tanks is floating hornwort for shrimp and fry to hide in, coconut shell caves, some driftwood, and way more plants than fish. If you have the kind attached to driftwood or a potted area, they can be removed when you want to remove fish.
Once thing to consider is led light length. Some tanks, like my 20g long, can be 30". (most lights only come in 24",36", 48" etc.
In my experience as 1 year into plants, it's much easier to do plants with a 30g , 20g or less.
20 is a great size for plants. My 20g is awesome. The 38g I had trouble trying to get lighting good with the big height. Many plants are great when they are small. Some plants get messy when they grow tall.
Big tanks get planes that grow taller. Small tanks can better use small plants.
I am growing mine in a 30 gal long & mostly stem plant's
& hornwort planted & there BOOMING, but I want to get
me a 120 gal tank for SOME guppies for fertilizer.
I'm just starting out, and going low tech. I got a 20g high at Petco's dollar/gallon sale. I'm planning on a Finnex Stingray 2 for light, a fluval submersible filter, some cheap round field stones, (maybe I'll splurge for a bit of Manzanita), aquasoil and sand, anubias nana and petite, dwarf four leaf clover, hydrocotyle tripartia Japan, crypts, ludwigia, hornwort, and bacopa.
Once things get settled I want to add a school of white clouds, powder blue gourami, cherry reds, and maybe a few Amano.
I'm excited to see how this goes! 🤩
Bluestem ok boomer
I am new and into nano tanks. I have been having fun setting many small containers instead of a big one. I am taking it slowly. I find great glass at dollar stores and thrift shops for very little money. I am growing without filters or co2 because of the size. I have two that happen to come with filters built in. They are tiny fish aquariums for the desk.
I spent so much money on my first planted tank set up. I was going for a high tech set up with co2 and high lighting and hard to grow plants. It didnt work out for me. After that tank, i set up a low tech set up and im so much happier. Just hardy fish, easy to grow plants and low maintenence. It works well for me. I can definitly see how one bad experience could make you want to give up but this hobby isnt a one size fits all you have to see what works for you and sometimes that might be dumping alot of money into a tank that doesnt work but if you stay with it you will find something that will work for you and give you lots of joy in the end.
Sorry to comment again. LOL but there really is no need to go super expensive at all in this Hobby a simple walk by the river to find Driftwood and get it cleaned up and then find some plants online or if you live towards the South we were in Florida on vacation visiting my son at Air Force Base we found a creek I pulled a bunch of plants from that through dinner cooler and brought him home and they did absolutely beautiful again you can start this hobby with a 55 gallon aquarium and have it completely done and ready for probably under $50 if you don't overspend and just show some restraint and patience patience being the most important of all. Never by so many plants that you actually fill your aquarium to where it looks like one you've seen at the beginning of this video they will never work just be patient and let the plans do their thing
HALLELUJAH! Best advice period in this hobby - don't pay retail and don't believe the sales pitch. If you look at my fishroom, not one tank in it cost over $150 complete (excluding fish) and most probably average out to around $50ish. I do have some moderately priced Hygger lights (they are great, but not necessary), but have been switching everything over to cheap bright white led's ... my fishroom is a jungle in and out of water. For some of the super picky plants you may need some co2, but it doesn't require big $, just do some research. Thanks for the vid, I always appreciate and applaud honesty in the Aquarium hobby.
P.S. don't waste money on stupid canister or hob filtration ... set up your tank properly and it will run itself, some simple sponge filtration as an added backup - cheap and effective
To piggy back off video, You can get an all inclusive cheap aquarium that has led lights, and filter from Walmart, Petco, Petsmart that works and is cheap. You can then grab an aquarium heater and your all in with about $60-70 tops! Then all you need are hardy plants that don't ask for much. Annubias, Crypts, Stygo Repens, Bucephalandra (can be pricey but super nice plant that is actually forgiving for beginners), and Java Fern are all nearly bomb proof for beginners. All of these plants also multiply (I'll admit super slowly) so if you are starting with a small tank it also allows you to grow out your plants affordably. If you grabbed one of each of the plants I'm mentioning you would likely spend $50-70 total and actually have a decently filled in 10 gallon aquarium within a 3-4 months. I did this with (2) 10 gallon aquariums (grown out over 3 years) and moved up to a 55 gallon aquarium. I then had to buy more plants because the plants I thought I had enough of wasn't sufficient. The other thing that isn't so obvious and isn't mentioned often enough is planted aquariums require patients, and practice to gain awesome results! Oh, and if you work with the above plants you don't need co2, or fertilizers for these plants. They will obviously grow way better and faster, but will do just fine without. And just know the light that comes in these aquarium kits I mention is fairly poor, but works well enough to get started. Just KISS the process (Keep It Simple Silly) and choose one plant at a time. As they seem to be doing well choose another and so on. But don't forget to be careful with the fish you choose. some of them eat plants, or disrupt them by digging them up, etc.
thanks for mentioning the fact that co2 isn't an absolute priority. was worried about needing to learn about a whole new setup but i'm only getting a few small simple plants like the ones you mentioned. its gonna be a learning process!
Absolutely. And it's a fun process. Just listen to what all the popular channels are recommending plant wise that are easy to grow and go from there. Pay special attention to the plant requirements with regards to how they grow. Best example.. Cryptocoryne wendtii (super easy) and chain sword (little less easy) gets buried into the sand/gravel (which ever you choose) substrate and Annubias, Java fern, bucephalandra gets attached to hardscape items (rocks or wood). Common methods include wedging between rocks, or wood imperfections, tied on by sewing thread, fish line or even simply crazy glued (gel based such as Dap works well). Last trick, just watch out how close you place these plants to the surface of the water. Some like it, and some simply grow to slowly and end up growing algae on them by being to close to the waters surface (allows fro higher light concentration)....Might want to simply watch a few videos on lighting as well. Also equally important on plant choices. The water box youtube channel does a super solid explanation on this one. totally worth watching to understand how aquarium lights get rated, what it all means, and so forth. Made me understand what I'm doing allot better.
Java fern turns black and rots away for me. It looks ragged at local pet stores too. I suspect there is something about the water around here it doesn't like (I bought mine online and it came in lush and beautiful). :::shrug::: I have a few other plants that are doing really well, like my nana petite, crypt parva, wisteria, and APONOGETON ULVACEUS (not sure if that has a common name).
@@CERULEANSPIRAL Java fern often suffers from a lack of potassium. If your java fern gets black dots on the leaves that turn into holes, this is probably the case.
@@turnipsucks6416 good advice all around.
Great video dude! I almost made the mistake of buying more than I was ready for when setting up my first planted tank... Thank god I didn't. The tank ended up flourishing without all the bells and whistles. Only had some minimal algae problems, but reducing the photoperiod fixed that.
Just started a tank a week ago with rich soil, liquid ferts, and starting to diy co2... just wondering if i should invest on good lighting eg: chihiros RGB , which is not cheap at all to make my low tech planted better ... or should i wait some time to see my normal led will do better in upcoming months.....hmmm
grab one of each meaning just having one pcs of that kind of plant instead of buying in bulk of them to fill it all over in aquarium? just to test out if that particular type will be doing fine in our tank?
Currently planning a Monte Carlo carpet aquarium with a Fluval spec 2.7Gal tank. Super exciting! I've only had experience with two other planted aquariums so this will be interesting. All in around $250.00-$300.00 with everything chemicals, conditioner, fertilizer, lighting, heater, filter and I've been able to add nice curved scissors and forceps nets ect. Even Fluval Stratum. People really over spend worse part is they get no benefits with the exception of maybe lighting.
I've had aquariums all my life, but I've never done a planted aquarium before. I recently moved out of my apartment, and into a small house. The house is actually smaller than the apartment, but it's still a house! I want to set my 30 gallon tank back up, and I've been thinking of doing a planted aquarium this time.
I have a few questions. I have one of those LED lighting strips that sits across the top of the tank, and they change from white light to blue light, so that the tank stays lit, but creates the illusion of night time. Would these lights be okay for a starting planted tank?
I have a heater, and a water pump that I love (it actually a submerged pump), because it's quiet. For décor I'm just doing stacked slate, and maybe some rounded river rocks that I already have. I've seen a lot of these tanks where there is driftwood, rocks, and plants growing up and beyond the tank... but is that really necessary? I prefer to keep it contained in the tank.
Now for me, I've always preferred color in my tank when it comes to plants. I like to break up the green a bit. Are there beginner level colorful plants that I could use (reds, purples)?
I have a 20 gallon planted tank with a sponge filter and it's doing great. I don't need any fancy lighting, I'm using the full spectrum lighting that came with the tank hood. I don't do constant water changes, or C02 injections, or anything like that. The substrate I have is Caribsea eco subsutrate from petsmart and that's it. I didn't have to do anything fancy or overly expensive. I suppose if you want to get some rare tropical plants that require special care you may have to get fancy, but other than that not really.
im brand new! We bought an aquarium for our son(sons) Got a starter kit, stones for bottom layer, and 3 recommended plants by the shop owner.
BUT, im totally hooked!
Im thinking i would buy a cube, and try some aquascaping! like a cube! And really used your video as a guideline!
also for the livingroom plants around the aquarium! :)
cant wait to get started!
Great video! I also recommend testing your water parameters such as PH, KH, and GH. Many plants will do fine in a wide range of parameters but some difficult plants have a narrower range of what they will tolerate. Always had issues growing certain stem plants in my aquariums until I realized my water was fairly hard and the stems I was trying to grow preferred softer water. Wish I knew this before I wasted money on plants that were doomed from the beginning
I had the same issues - the stem plants I fell in love with do not like my liquid rock I have for water. After spending a lot of money on plants (and fish) that aren't suited to my water parameters, I am now much more careful about what I toss in the tank. Heck, I deliberately introduced duck weed. It died. Now I stick with Anubias for the most part. My current search is for a hardy tall plant for my 29 gallon. I want a tall plant or two so my fish that are supposed to be mid-top fish (golden white clouds) will stop hanging out along the bottom with the corydoras.
Decent video but I think it could have been summed up in 2-3 minutes. Beginners should start small and affordable and learn and build and get bigger as you go. Thanks for your effort and I look forward to new videos from you.
I started with a 5 gallon moved to a 10 a few months later then did a 20 long and just last week finally set up a 35 gallon acrylic tank with nice drift wood and nice plants it did cost more to scape it but I’m happy with the result.
I am attempting my first real aquarium, and figured hey, might as well throw some plants in to make it interesting. I'm planning on grabbing 4 anubias nanas (2 each of standard and petite), 1 small bundle of anacharis, and 1 java fern for a ten gallon. Assuming they all grow fine, should I try to propagate them as soon as the tank is completely cycled, buy some more to pad it out, or just put my fauna in and hope it's not too sparse? I'm looking to put a betta in with a few snails and shrimp, all of which like lots of plants. I'm on a pretty tight budget and I'd like to save as much as possible in the initial set up stages, but I don't want to subject my animals to conditions that will stress them.
Great video!Let's not forget patience. I sometimes made the mistake of a instant gratification with buying very large plants and overcrowding my tanks.Think about the finished result 6 months after you plant
I’m new to the hobby. I have a 6.7 gallon tank with gravel, with a betta. I ordered Anubias nana. And a dwarf sword. Hopefully goes great. I researched videos and web links.
High tech setups aren’t required for half of the plants in the hobby. Co2 and fertz help speed up the growing times, but they aren’t required. If you have patiences you can get the same result without them, (unless you won’t very specific plants) as long as you are willing to wait a lot longer for it to grow in.
I have a cold water plant from a pond that has beautiful green needle like leaves, and reddish hue to the new growth tips. I don't even remember what it is called. It grows like 2 inches during the day, and another 2 inches at night. (at 75 degrees F) Once a week during my water change and tank maintenance I pinch off any out of control growth, and plant a few short pieces. By next week the new plantings have reached the top and started across the top. (tall tank) Other than this, there is zero care for this gorgeous plant! I'm loving this because I like live plants, but have no time to nurse them, and my bigger interest is the fish. And the fish love these plants too.
I actually thought he was talking about me for the first 15 seconds 😂😂
I have a 5 gallon planted tank and I use a desk lamp with a 9W equivalent CFL Cool white bulb. I've never used an expensive light or CO2 and it works great!
Great Video!, it is a perpetual cycle of learn, test, make mistakes, learn, test, get success
Sorry I didn't see a link for the cheaper cube tank you showed do you still have one available?
Just set up our first planted aquarium - currently no co2 or extra fertiliser added and has a bucephalandra and a dwarf aquarium lily - both are doing great and thriving happily. Neither have super high light requirements or co2. Cheap LED lights also !
oh - looks beatiful as well btw! made our own structures with some budget bbq lava rock - about a quarter of the price as aquarium stores!
A little off topic...that 1st cube tank, there's a plant growing out the the tank. I've seen a few people doing that. I love how that looks, but wondering is it purely aesthetic or is there a benefit to the tank?
It is very easy to overspend but I would add that buying all the equipment is necessary at once. At least it can give you a better chance at succeeding at a nice tank. Just don’t buy the top of the line for everything, but if you have money go ahead!
I started my first "real" tank a little under a week ago. Got some organic soil and gravel. Build a simple hard scape with a hill connected to a wooden block. I have 2 ikea lights on it putting out about 40-50 watts. I want to replace that with a 60 watts LED
A filter, a small air pump and a heating system. Eventually I want to be able to only run the heating system.
I have two plants in there. Leaving it for week to see what stays and what goes. Buying some shrimps and maybe a snail soon for some extra co2 in the water as I don't plan to run that. 15 gallon/60L.
Does this sound OK to the experts down here? Any tips or tricks? Always welcome!
I set up a 5 gallon low tech planted shrimp tank a few months ago, and it's doing pretty well. I do have some algae problems, but they are minor, and I should be able to remedy them if I alter my lighting cycle a little. I am not using CO2, but I am using Fluval Shrimp Stratum substrate, and I bought a cheap Aquaneat full spectrum light on eBay for about $20 which is not bad for a fairly decent light. I have java moss, Cryptocoryne usteriana, anubias nana, bucephelandra green wavy, and an amazon sword that are all doing great in my low tech conditions. Low tech tanks still look great!
Hello I’m just starting out, can you recommend a light for a 31”tall x 18”x20” freshwater tank? Just starting out with a planted tank. I want to have (in the long term) the full foreground covered in moss/carpet plants, a few mid ground plants and a full background. The tank also has driftwood pieces I’m planning to attach Christmas moss to I think. I would love any and all help you have to offer. Budget friendly please cause like you said I will have failures and at this time I need to be cost conscious.
I have a low-tech 55g tank that I started last year with a basic flourescent T3 light, I currently dose with liquid C02 cuz I'm inpatient lol. One thing I've learned in the last couple years is it does help to focus on the substrate the most out of the other parameters, as rooted plants, are happy plants, and makes things heck of a lot easier to keep alive. In my case I busted a little more money for fluval stratum because that was the only aquasoil really available at my lfs, but I know there are more affordable options out there!
Been keeping planted tanks for about 5 years now. Just now have I started what could be considered a high tech tank. And it's more of an experiment for me. Almost all my low tech planted tanks have been successful with the proper maintenance and care. Low tech planted tanks for beginners is a great way to learn and gain experience/confidence in the hobby without having to worry about all the extra maintenance that a high tech tank might need.
Yep! That was absolutely me yesterday! I have recently gotten back into fish, bettas to be exact.- Got him a 10 gallon tank and was ready to jump right in and giving him an amazing live plant home. - The lady there absolutely refuted about the beginner plants, i.e. Annabuis & a java fern just to Start off. I thought, "Ok"..maybe she knows more than me....EVEN after the past 3 months of betta research I have done! $229 later and I can still not find 90% of these plants or How to properly plant safely and not uprooting & floating about... Ahhhh!!!! Exactly DO NOT be a me .
brand new to planted aquariums and trying to learn as much as i can, i have a 120l juwel lido, i have approx 10 plants one i thought was dying but apparently not its sent out a whole group of new leaves and they seem very healthy, another looked ok but one of my crazy mollies swam through it and several stems came up
I have a 50 gallon what filter do you recommend and bubbler, plus im moving my pleco into my 50 g what plants are recommended i just want a carpeting plant and a larger plant to cover back wall.
dwarf hair grass and green cabomba or water wisteria
I've got a 10 and a 20L and both have at least a grand in them. I DO want more tanks but in all honesty I'm super happy with what I have. Definitely recommend just starting with a reasonably sized tank and slowly building is how you want rather than setting up a gang of aquariums
Great advice, I also work full time and water changes and tank care takes so much time thats why I went with a 20 Gallons long. its perfect for plants and a small school of fish and I went with high end tank for low iron glass. 5 gallons is a %25 of my volume so easy water changes help me keep it crystal clear.
Just got into this hobby and I purchased the fluval flora it is a great all in kit for a first timer
I’ve been in the Hobby since I was 8-years old, and I turn 52 in a few days. I’m still a relative newbie with plants, but I have them in all of my tanks. I struggle to keep them flourishing, but I have found Anubias Nana to be bullet proof. I just converted a 10-gallon tank to a planted tank substrate called flora max, and bought some bulb plants from PetsMart and suddenly I have a jungle! My tanks are kits with the stock LED lights they come with the kits. I am running low tech, and I’ve used Root Tabs and Co2 Booster to help them grow. I recommend not spending a ton of money until you figure out what you can grow well.
Dale Bailey , do a outside test tank , it helps you learn how to deal with all problems quickly and learn what fish you work well with
Can you recommend a good carpeting plant for beginners. I assume I will need a plant substrate, right now I have small river rock substrate, with only pothos on the top. I dont Co2 or grow lights. I am taking baby steps with lots of research and asking questions... lol. Thanks.
I'm the opposite, to a degree, I'm 32. I've been planting as a hobby since, well I can remember. My grandma, who raised me, had a huge garden and always kept indoor plants. It's the 🐟 I'm new too.
Hi! You said you removed CO2 on the first tank you showed. My question is if you use "liquid CO2" to replace the CO2. I use EasyCarbo (a Dutch product), but it contains an agressive component so I'd rather not use it, because of my fish and Amano shrimps. However, I read on the internet that if you don't use CO2 (or a replacement) at all, you can't do weekly water changes, because of CO2 fluctuation which will cause algae. But I do want to change 20% of the water for the sake of my fish. I have a 30 litres tank and I don't think it would be sufficient to only do partly water changes every 3 months as I read you should do with a non CO2 tank.
What is your opinion about that subject?
Kind regards, Gerda from the Netherlands.
What type of filtration do you have ??? All things considered, amount of fish and type of filtration etc you can actually just do 10% water changes
Holy crap where do you buy your stuff I've done a 60 gallon tank with co2 and everything with plants for $300
Enjoyed the video. Some good advice. I've had more misses than hits with plants. At the moment it's going well. Taking cuts and replanting is working well. Just gonna let them grow randomly and cut back into shape while replanting some. Not using Co2.
I've been doing plants 4 or 5 years . I consider myself very new to aquarium plants . I've kept at least one tank running for 30 years so I have some experience but no expert . When I got into plants I thought I'd spend about $40 on plants and be good. Thousands of dollars later I'm thinking if homeboy can afford it and that tank is what he really wants he should go big and do it . watch every aqua scaping video plant big and go for it .this includes running ro water . remineralizing and using power sand and all the bacter powders ect.
You make a good point about starting small and simple . I found the learning curve surprisingly difficult getting into plants and trying to save money costing more because I eventually up grade anyway.
Dude should probably hire someone like Kevin to scape and maintain his tank in till he gleans years of experience and knowledge or start from the bottom or near the bottom like the rest of us.
I do feel if someone has the money they should get good gear to start out with .
This is really a great topic . I could chat about this for hours
It's a total waste and huge frustration to invest $2000 on something only to find out that this hobby isn't easy or simple, then get angry and give up. If you have lots of cash, sure, get a relatively cheap CO2 set up, and a nice ADA rimless tank, and canister filter, whatever, buy some EASY plants, and get a lower level light (or the dimmable Asta 20 recommended in the vid) and try things out. But don't buy $500 in plants and run 40ppm CO2, with a 500PAR light, as your first tank. What a nightmare. If you can't grow an anubias responsibly, you won't grow an HC carpet responsibly either.
thank you.. I've set up my first planted tank 2 months ago now I have 3 Nano tanks, going big now I just i have 50P tank with c02, before I buy a plant I make it that I've watched your video regarding that plant fist. thank again..
Agreed. My low tech no co2 no ferts 20 gallon planted shrimp tank looks as amazing as my 150g planted high light co2 community tank.
i NEED that 90L. Where did you get it?? Everywhere I try to find something long and (more) shallow online, they''re all out of the states and don't ship to the states...
I have been doing planted aquariums for a few years now and getting fairly successful… when i started i killed every single plant i bought for the first 6 months but its just a learning process
I have a 20 gallon tall I will be changing over to a planted tank. I have had Anubis and Swords but I'm looking for something more. My current light is a Fluval Eco Bright 7500K, 9 Watts. I am open to adding another light if needed. I am also gonna have the Fluval Stratum because I plan to have shrimp. Spider wood has been purchased. What plants besides Swords and Anubis would you recommend. Crossing my fingers I can get something that can carpet.
As far as carpeting goes, staurogyne repens or glossostigma sounds like it would do great in your tank due to the lighting (I've had success with glossostigma so far in my 10 gallon with a 6500k light without the need for co2. So you should do fine with that).
You could try plants like repens,Ludwigia repens, hornwort (hornwort has a neat look to it), anacharis, and crypt plants. There's a lot of plants to choose from, but these are the ones I can think of right off the bat!
For a newbie just starting now I have a 75 gallon tank what would you recommend for a filter I'm looking to maybe put two different types of plants maybe a moss and a grass
Hello there :-) i was thinking about growing plants but... The thing is... I don't know nothing and most of the video i see everything looks too perfect. My question is... If i want to grow something like grass guppy plants... What should i really buy? Do i need special land Scape ? I can buy it for 30 doller and get a small bug which mean for 40*40*40 i will need to spend really heavy.. what about temperature? Do i need worm water or cold water.. lighting should i need massive light or just window light? Do i need to feed the land ? If i need land as a substrate or maybe sand or even gravel? Do i need them all ? How toll do i need my landscape (for roots)? Those questions are only a few... And i guess i will fail but if im going down maybe i can as you said not going too crazy on the budget ... Thank you for this movie really got it on the right time.. i can see you post it a year ago but really troth and very important content so thank you you got one more like from me and a sub
Your video is great...I want to get into the planted tank hobby. Would have been great to start small but I couldn't turn down a 75 gallon tank, stand, 48 inch current usa marine LED light (x2), heater and fluval 406 filter for $100. So guess I'll be starting big. Lol. And before people go nuts thinking I was sold broken junk. I've been running the tank with fish for almost a year without issue. The only thing I replaced was the aquastop on the fluval...and of course the media.
My first fish tank ever was 50 gallon planted Aquarium. I jumped in head first I think I do that in every Hobby I get into. I guess I felt confident having a little knowledge in botany and fish. I did go through my struggles but with TH-cam it was manageable
To start a small low tech aquarium, what would be the best plant choice for the beginer and is 6 hours of light enough to prevent alge issue?