Setting up your tank

Setting up your planted tank

Welcome to the world of planted aquariums! If you're just getting started, this page will give you a guide to getting set up.

Equipment list The first step is to get all the equipment.

Types of tanks

You have a lot of choices when you're setting up a tank. Are you interested in creating an Amano-style tank, with vivid greens and lush plant growth? Or are you interested in keeping it simple and low-maintenance?

Low light, CO2 Enriched Tanks

Tom Barr:

Lower lighting, not more than 2w/gal(1.5-1.8w/gal), low fish load, lots of herbivores, otto, small pleco's, shrimps, deep porous iron rich substrate, weekly water changes with once a week dosing(Normal routine except once a week instead of 2-3x a week), lots of taller crypts to shade the plants a little. This will give good growth rates, not max rates, but good rates with little if any algae.

This also makes a great tank for most crypts also. And it's a low maintenance CO2 enriched tank. Once a week routine, feed fish and that's about it. Slower growing plants with lower lighting. Algae also grows slower and the herbivores can keep up.

I wish more folks would try out the lower ranges of CO2 enriched tanks. They are quite rewarding and require less algae control measures. There are many species of Crypts, ferns and Anubias, all of which tend to be worth more $$$ than fast growing stem plants.

It's sort of a blend between and non carbon enriched tank(lower light/deep substrate) and a CO2 enriched tank(Dosing but only after a water change-none during the week and CO2: 20-30ppm).

I think overall, that gives the most freedom with growing different species, having healthy growth that grows slow enough not to need frequent prunings, Things are not too bad if you don't do the water change(but still need to dose for the week). Algae issues are milder.

High light, CO2 Enriched Tanks