Planted tanks are intimidating. Wondering if you need Co2, how many bottles of fertilizer, what substrate to use gets overwhelming FAST. I’ve curated a quick guide to get your first planted tank going!
The bones: hardscape first
Starting with your substrate of choice, we used Aqua Natural Aquarium Substrate Diamond Black, we’ll pour it in thinner in the front and thicker in the back in order to create the illusion of depth.
Then we place in one piece of driftwood set slightly off-center, plus two or three rocks to anchor it.
Getting the hardscape right before a single plant goes will create the skeleton that defines how your tank looks.
Planting plan
- Attached to the wood: Anubias nana and a small Java Fern. Zero substrate needed.
- Midground: a cluster of Cryptocoryne — slow, colorful, and unbothered by low light.
- Background: a few stems of Hygrophila to add height and soak up nutrients.
- Surface: a handful of Frogbit or Red Root Floater for shade and nitrate control.
Final Steps
After planting the plants, we fill the tank up with dechlorinated water with Seachem Prime, place the floating plants, install the Aquaclear 30 hang on back filter and Fluval 50watt heater and we are good to go!
Maintenance
One weekly 25% water change, a pinch of liquid fertilizer like Seachem Flourish, and a trim on the stems whenever they hit the surface. That’s genuinely it. The floaters do a surprising amount of the heavy lifting on water quality, and the slow growers mean you’re not trimming every weekend.
Give it three weeks to settle. Early yellowing is normal as plants convert to submerged growth — leave them alone and they’ll fill in.
Enjoy your first planted tank!
