Planted Tank 101: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Started

Most low tech planted tanks don't fail because the plants are fussy - they fail because five setup decisions were made on instinct rather than logic. Tank shape, lighting, substrate, fertiliser, and filter flow. Get those five right upfront and the tank quietly runs itself.

Cherry shrimp are far hardier than the standard care advice suggests. This guide covers the water parameters Neocaridina davidi actually tolerate, how long to wait before stocking a new planted tank, what to feed them, which fish they can live with, and why most beginner colonies fail in week one.

Most fish keepers assume converting to a planted tank means buying some plants and a brighter light. It is a bit more involved than that. Substrate, fertiliser, CO2, flow and livestock all work differently - and understanding how is why the conversion either succeeds or becomes an algae tank.

Your plants looked fine on planting day. A week later, they're dissolving. Plant melt in a new tank isn't one problem - it's five. Some will sort themselves out. Others never will. Know which one you're dealing with before you start changing anything.

Four things determine whether your first planted tank works or slowly fills with algae. Substrate, filtration, lighting, plant choice- get the order right and most beginner disasters never happen. I have watched enough of them unfold from the couch. Let me save you the trouble.

Every planted tank already has CO2- just not much of it. Whether you need a pressurised cylinder or can skip it entirely comes down to one honest question: what do you actually want to grow? Low tech and high tech are both valid systems. They just ask for different things.

Eight types of freshwater algae. Eight different upstream problems. Most aquarists panic and reach for the algicide- what they should do first is look closely at what they're actually dealing with. Green spot algae is not the same problem as black beard algae. Name it first. Then fix it.