Click Here if you are looking for my guide on Low Tech Planted Tanks. If you are looking for my article on Low Tech+Excel tanks, click here. I hope you found my article on setting up a low-tech planted tank to be helpful. If you have any questions/comments/thoughts or suggestions, please leave me a comment on this page and I can get back to you. Don't feel intimidated by the massive wall of text in the article. Planted tanks really aren't all that complicated. The hardest part is putting all the information together, reading it and understanding the basics and science of planted tanks. That hard works been done by me 😉 so read the article and go setup your Planted masterpiece!
Lastly, it might give you more confidence to know that the tank pictured above is my very first planted tank (and only my second attempt at keeping an aquarium ever)! Good luck!
Hi there,
Great website! I have maintained non-planted aquariums for years, but I’ve just acquired a new 55 gallon and would really like to try a low tech planted aquarium. It is not set up yet. I have ordered Eco-Complete black as my sole substrate. The aquarium came with two 15 W bulbs, so I know I’m going to need to increase the lighting. I hope that’s possible with the existing hood. From there, I’m trying to decide what I need to do. It is my hope to establish this aquarium and be able to sustain my existing 2 gold fish, as well as a compatible algae eater, maybe a rubber lipped pleco or shrimp (as long as the planting gives them sufficient hiding places.) Do you know of anyone who has done this with goldfish? They are very curious fish and can be quite destructive. They are also high waste producers. Do you know which plants would be hardiest and best to start with? Would you recommend water changes due to the amount of waste produced by the goldfish. It currently has a cartridge filter, but I do plan on getting a canister filter when I can afford it. I love the look of the carpeted planted aquariums, which plant do you recommend a novice start with the produce this look? Thank you so much for your time!
Rachel
Hi there,
I just recently set up a 2.5 gallon planted mini-tank and was planning on putting shrimp in there in a couple weeks, and potentially a couple of Endlers livebearers if things go well with the shrimp. However, I checked the pH in the tank and it’s a very high 8.5. There is a piece of driftwood in the tank but it doesn’t seem to be lowering the pH. I read that high pH results from a lack of CO2 but I’d like to stay away from CO2 supplements if possible because I don’t want to overwhelm such a small tank. Any suggestions? Would shrimp mind such a high pH? Could some plants be hurt by it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi!
I have a doubt…can I use your article to traduce and take the essencial (adapt) to put it in a portuguese forum? Please, answer to me.
Thanks,
best regards
HB
Absolutely! You are very welcome to translate the article to post in your Portugese forum. I would only request that you credit me with a link back to this article in some part of your post. Also if you can let me know the link to your article I can put a link up to it here so people can find a Portugese adaptation of this article.
Best regards,
Sudeep
Ok, i will send you the link of the article’s adaptation and (of course) i will put the link of this article. Thank you very much!
Helder Barbosa,
best regards
Hello!
I have finished the traduction and adaptation of this article! You can check it in this link:
http://www.aquariofilia.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=163873
Thank you,
Best regards
Caro Helder, Só para agradecer sinceramente a tradução! Pela excelência do artigo e por disponibilizar para quem não sabe Inglês. E, mesmo para quem sabe, nem sempre é fácil acompanhar os termos mais especificos da aquariofilia. Obr.
Hi Sudeep,
What an excellent article,very informative and just what i had been searching for.Could you tell me the name of the fish in your photos? and how many you kept in your 10 gall? Thank you David
David, they are female bettas. You can read a guide on keeping them here:
http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?showtopic=12193
I’d personally recommend against doing a sorority with 10gallon tanks. It is a little too cluttered for them and they tend to bicker quite a bit. I’d maybe do it with 15-20 gallon tanks with 10+ females. However, you have to still be careful because occasionally you may get a very violent female. In general though, they are great fish, lots of fun and very pretty.
Sudeep,
Brilliant article, I am a new to the planted aquarium hobby. I wish I had read your article first. I have just made and have to order new plants after Xmas.
regards
Shahnawaz
Just wanted to let everyone know how great this information is. I was a couple weeks away from giving up on planted tanks. I use to run CO2 tanks, but I just don’t have the resources for that anymore. I had constant issues with algae, until I followed this guide and bit by bit I started to see results. I just wanted to highlight one or two important things I noticed. It seems counter-intuitive, but the lack of water changes is absoltely necessary. That combined with planting heavily in the beginning are the two things that I found made the whole difference. Thanks for the excellent guide!
Great to hear your feedback Scooter! I’m very glad that you’ve gotten things back on track. I agree that not doing lots of waterchanges and also planting heavily are very important aspects. Certainly, the single biggest mistake people make is to not plant heavy enough (understandably so since it costs quite a bit to get all the plants necessary for a well planted tank). I’d strongly recommend that people buy cheap, low-light, fast-growing stems that you can dump into your tank initially. As your other plants take root and start doing better, you can begin to cull the cheap, fast growing plant and replacing it with your preferred plants.
Glad that you’ve sorted out the algae issue. I decided to not go the route of CO2 for exactly the same reasons. I’ve found that Excel is a nice balance, but even that can give rise to some types of algae if you’re not careful.
Hello Sudeep, do you have a single layer of substrate or multiple layers in your setup? Also which substrate are you using and what is the most economical place in US to buy this. how much of this would be required for a 10 Gallon tank setup.
Hi Prakash,
Sorry for the late reply. I used a single bag of Seachem Fluorite Black Sand for my 10 gallon tank. I think any of the large sized bags should be fine for a 10 gallon tank. Not sure about economical. Sometimes you can find the gravel via Amazon, otherwise I always buy from Dr Fosters and Smith or Big Als (My preferred vendor as they are usually less expensive).
Hi,
i just started a low tech planted aquarium with out CO2. I am quite worried that if i use CO2, i might can over dose it. So like to know how can i perfectly prevent it. 2nd thing is in my low-tech planted aquarium, i am having an issue that my water in aquarium is yellow, kind a pale yellow in color. I couldn’t find the reason of it. I am having two peaces or drift wood, quite small. But i don’t think its because of wood. I want my water to be cleaned like crystal.
Rest about the equipments, i am not using any kind of filters nor mechanical or biological.
please help if you can.
I think your problem is that you have no filtration to remove color from your water, and your driftwood is most certainly leaching color into the water. This is a common issue, and the size of the driftwood won’t matter. If you don’t install a filter, then there is nothing you can do. However, I would strongly advise getting a filter because you most certainly need water movement inside the tank to prevent stagnant spots which tend to attract algae.
I personally recommend using Seachem’s “Matrix” product in your filter. It does wonders for helping with the filtration and also seems to get rid of color. Worst case, you can always use activated charcoal in your filter to clean out any coloring, but that tends to also absorb your fertilizers, so you might need to fertilize a bit more than usual.
Hey!
I’ve fallen in love with aquarium keeping, but found myself initially diving into things that were simply over my head at the time. Currently I’m running a 20 gallon long (which I really like) with 3 anubias plants, 3 java fern, 3 marimo moss balls, and 8 minnows to cycle the tank.
Luckily, before reading this article I bought eco-complete, although I did so many water changes the solution washed out. I need to buy another bag of it I think to have a healthy level of substrate.
I was thinking about following your guide and starting over by planting heavy initially and later adding otto’s and the other fish. (I’ll take the minnows back to the store). Could you possibly list plants that are good to use in a low-tech tank, especially in the carpet area? I’ve read about dwarf sag and hairgrass. Do you have any experience with these?
I also have concern for my lighting. Right now I have a T-8 Life-glow, which is only 1 watt to the gallon with 20 watts. Do they sell lights that provide more wattage? I’m wondering if my hood can even support it.
Thanks for such an awesome site! Amazing information.
Sorry for all of the questions. I think the most important right now is the lighting situation.
PS Where did you find your driftwood?
Hi Joey,
Glad you found the information useful. With regards to your questions – For low light foreground plants, I think these threads would give you a more exhaustive list of options:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/8651-low-light-foreground-plants.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/106786-low-light-carpeting-foreground-plants.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/plants/81195-best-low-light-low-tech-foreground.html
I would not recommend Dwarf Hairgrass for a low-tech tank unless you plan on using Excel as they cannot survive without some extra CO2/Carbon supplementation. Even then, they can be a bit hard to get growing, so you might be better off cutting your teeth on easier plants. Having said that, I managed to grow them fine on my first attempt, but I did use Tom Barr’s Dry Start method (linked in my article) which had a lot to do with my success.
With regards to lighting, I really don’t know too much about what would work with your hood and the ballast you have. 1 watt of T8 is a bit on the low side, although you definitely don’t want to go too high. Also, if you do go with T5, they tend to be more efficient, so you should be fine with a T5 at 1-1.25 Watts per gallon. You might want to push your T8 lighting up to around 1.5 WPG or so.
For other plant recommendations – I am very partial towards Java fern and Anubias – especially Anubias Nana petite (smaller variety). While they do not grow fast (you should definitely have some fast growing stems in your tank at the beginning), they are extremely low maintenance. Amongst the Java Ferns, I love the “Philippine Java Fern” variety (as seen in the pics of my tank) due to their textured leaves.
Just remember that you should never bury the rhizomes of the Anubias and Java fern when planting them. As for the driftwood, it is called Manzanita drift wood. They are beautiful, but a bit hard to come by. I was fortunate enough to buy it off someone on one of the planted tank forums, but sadly, that seller is no longer selling driftwood regularly.
Good luck with the tank! I’d also strongly recommend being active in planted tank forums to learn more and get a variety of opinions and help. While I did find that everyone has very strong opinions (and sometimes not the most scientifically or thoughtfully backed ones) when it comes to fertilizing, lighting, etc, which can lead to a lot of confusion for a newbie, you can still get a lot of great information and help in other areas. Just make sure you ask “Why?” in a polite way before taking anyone’s suggestion so you understand the reasons behind what you are doing. It will help you a lot in the long run :). While I’ve never been very active on the boards myself, there are some amazingly talented, experienced and helpful individuals that frequent them.
Dear Sudeep,
Just to thank you for a very useful information! Being in this hobby not for long, I’ve struggled with lots of contradictory information not only on the net but between retail store keepers as well! Your text is pretty clean and I’ll soon be setting up a tank according with it. I have to say it will be difficult to “accept” the idea of not doing water changes given it’s considered as a must by “everyone”… Still, I’ll follow your advice. And it actually makes sense given that the “thins” one puts on the water are eliminated (consumed) by the plants. Many thanks and best regards
What is your recommendation for wpg for T8 fluorescent light tubes?
Hello Sudeep, tank you for posting this informative article. I recently bought a 7.9 gallon Fluval EBI. I would like to know what the grass is in your tank. I currently have no CO2 and the following plants: 3 Anubias, many creeping charlie (micromeria brownei) along the back, a java fern, a little java moss, and 3 bannana plants (nymphoides aquatica). Ihave had the tank set up for 2 weeks but it sounds like I need more plants. The grass looks nice. Is it difficult to plant or keep in the soil?
Sudeep,
Very nice article and I revisited the site after a long time. The article as you mentioned is now expanded. One area you may want to address in the article is bio load in such environment and its impact on keeping the system balanced. Another area that you may want to mention under maintenance is frequency of cleaning the filter and filter inserts.
From my experience, the single most important factor in this set up is light and photo period. You have done a nice job in addressing it.
It seems you have great liking for betas! They are nice fish indeed.
Bhalo thakbe,
-Enayet
Hi Sudeep,
I want to start a 10gal low tech planted tank without excel so I have a few questions. Would it be better to have 2 15W compact fluorescent spirals or one 26W cfl (both 6500k)? I know that’ll put me at about 2.6 – 3 wpg but since spiral cfls are less efficient, would that be ok? My next question is about the Equilibrium, KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosing. For a 10gal tank, do I just cut the dosages you gave for the 20gal in half? Also, do I just take a dose of the dry fertilizer and dump it into the tank or do I need to dilute them first? As for plants, I was planning on putting in a bunch of java fern and green cryptocoryne wendtii. What are some of the cheap, fast growing stem plants you recommend? I apologize for the plethora of questions, I’m rather new to the hobby!
Thanks for your time!
Gabe
Yes! I have the same question. What are the cheep fast growing plants you are referring to?
Thank you
Thanks so much for this article. I found it a bit hard to follow Tom’s article for some reason, but yours has made this really simple and I wish I knew about it all BEFORE I got onto the stressed filled roller coaster that is CO2 injection…ugh what a nightmare…
Well done, keep up the good work.
are the seachem products available in India?
nice article. Are the seachem products available in India?
Can this strategy be applied to 75 gallon tanks?
I am working on setting up a 55 planted tank using your guide (thanks for all the help and consolidation of knowledge)!. Several questions:
1. Compact Fluorescents come in a spiral configuration or a long configuration. I already have a hood for a reptile cage which has the spiral fixtures. Are these ok to use?
2. The dosing of the fertilizers is a wee bit confusing as to what size tank you are speaking of. There is a note about dosing for a 20 gallon, but no reference I see as to what size tank your dosing recommendations are for.
Thanks again for your help!
I am working on setting up a 55 planted tank using your guide (thanks for all the help and consolidation of knowledge)!. Several questions:
1. Compact Fluorescent come in a spiral configuration or a long configuration. I already have a hood for a reptile cage which has the spiral fixtures. Are these ok to use?
2. The dosing of the fertilizers is a wee bit confusing as to what size tank you are speaking of. There is a note about dosing for a 20 gallon, but no reference I see as to what size tank your dosing recommendations are for.
Thanks again for your help!
Hi! I read all you article and I find it quite interesting. I just did a new tank setup, I have only to add more plants following your advices.
What I wanted to ask you is… well, I have a set of dennerle liquid fertilizer that I bought an year ago. I also have a bottle of seachem fluorish. I read you use dry fertilizer but I’d rather finish them before buying new ones. Is it possible? How should I proceed?
these are the fertilizers: http://www.zooplus.it/shop/pesci/cura_piante_acquario/fertilizzanti_acquario/fertilizzanti_dennerle/118785
this is my tank right now: http://i40.tinypic.com/1q4rix.jpg
how many plants do you suggest adding? Thanks very much!
t5
Thank you for the excellent and comprehensive guideline to setting up a planted tank. I hope to set one up with Bettas soon. Your Betta girls look so happy in their beautiful tank!
Hi Sundeep,
Thank you very much for your valuable guide.
I’m just waiting for delivery of my new 45G 36X16X18 and will be setting it up as ‘low tech’ planted acording to your guidelines.
The one thing I can’t decide on is lights:
1) I could get 3 X 25 W T8’s (at 1.66WPG)
2) 1 X 34″ T5HO at 0.86WPG (although I’d be worried about the light spread there, so possibly could get 2 X 22″ 24W T5’s and stagger them, giving me 1.06WPG. Not sure about the light spread there also because they don’t run the full length of the tank!)
3) A mixture of T8 and T5HO: Get 1 X 34″ T5HO and 1 X 25W T8 (giving me a total of 1.42WPG).
My last option is my favourite, but there is very little information on it for low tech. It’s for LED lighting. I was thinking of getting 2 of these at the 3OW equivilent:
http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?pid=92&mid=10&lan=en&sub=&id=4
This would give me 1.33WPG of LED. I suppose I could buy another smaller one to push it up to over 1.5WPG. Have you had any experience with LED for low tech?
I love the shimmer and think it would add to the overall effect of a planted aquarium.
I just can’t make my mind up, and decided that either you (Sundeep) or another expert out there could help me make my mind up!
Thank you.
Will.
Hi Sudeep,
How do you rate CFL lighting? How good is it if WPG is 2?
Regards
Kaushik
Hello!
Hello!
This article was great really answered almost all of my questions. I am new to the planted aquariums and was wonder what the grass like plant was called.
Hi I just bought lime-free gravel which does not contain any nutrients. I am wondering if I can still use for the low tech sceme since there are weekly doses of fertilisers given. I also read about how laterine can be added, along with fert tabs but question is can I combine this procedure with what you introduced? Would it be better to layer with another nutrient rich substrate? Please advice me on what’s best right now. I’m a complete beginner and I don’t wanna mess my first tank up. Thanks!
Zanita, if you read the section on Substrate selection, you’ll notice that apart from Aquasoil Amazonia, all the other substrates do not have any nutrients within them. That is absolutely fine and perhaps better for a low tech tank. Just make sure that you stick to the fertilizing recommendations and your tank will do just fine. If you’re wondering, my tank (the pics on this site) used a substrate that had no nutrients, so you should do just fine.
Oh that’s a relief thanks!
And to think I was going to talk to someone in person about this.
Hey I’m doing all your suggestions im on about week 3 however I am getting brown hairy alage on my driftwood so I just got a few Ottos and Siamese fish and shrimp to help control it
also as far as fish will the dosing have any effect on them @ all