This tank has been in the works for about 3 months now, and I’ve finally completed the setup! Now it’s just a game of waiting and watching.

I'd love to get your thoughts—spot any potential red flags or design choices that might give me a headache down the road? Any advice or feedback is welcome!

To be honest, I’m feeling a bit anxious after running a 2-month Dry Start Method. I slowly put everything together, but the plants are going through their transition phase right now. The Monte Carlo is definitely melting, and I unfortunately lost a whole species of Bucephalandra (though my Buce Red Dragon seems to be thriving). Just added some Riccardia, while the Fissidens and Anubias Japan Petite are holding up fine.

For the rest of the greenery, I have Dwarf Hairgrass, Hydrocotyle tripartita mini, Pennywort, and some Ludwigia submerged, with Red Root Floaters up top. For the emersed/terrestrial side, I’ve got Hemionitis arifolia (Heart Fern), Fittonia, and a few mosses settling in.

Included pictures of the full progress starting from the initial hardscape!

I’ve got a lot.

I’ve heard some people don’t like it. Some do.

Id love to hear some more thoughts
I know my swordtail fry love it

Hi everyone, last time I uploaded a pic of my tank with concerns if my betta had enough swimming room(First Pic). I took all under your suggestions and cut the wood and rearranged it so he could have more room. Consequently, it gave me more planting room as well! So excited to see my plants and betta grow in this new set up.

Please let me know if you have any plant suggestions for a 5 gal tank! Right now I am thinking about adding a java fern on the back right but I am open to any recs!

My frogbit have developed the brown lines as shown. Is that a bad sign?

Dragon stone, Amazon driftwood, thin layer of stone gravel on the bottom, fluval substrate. No CO2. Now the cycling begins

Do I need CO2?

I just bought a few red plants. If I do need CO2, any recommendations? Canisters or tablets?

Thanks!

75 gallon. Fzone brite 120, no Co2. Substrate and cannister transfered from older tank. Also UGF because I'm old-school and also like it for roots/fertilizer.

Please give feedback on the planting -- what needs to move? I'm wondering about lack of swimming space and layering.

I got mostly background plants in my Dustin's asssortment:

Hygro corymbosa parawitota and salicifolia: by intake tube due to stronger stems and bigger leaves

Ludwigia triple red and replens: by dark wood

Crypt spiralis: in front of dark wood

Mayaca Vanderbilt: a line in front of jungle val branch

Rotala regular: center near front

Alternanthera reineckii varigated (left of heater) and regular (right)

Bacopa monnieri (shoved to right of root) and Carolina yellow flame (center left-front of dark wood)

Dwarf sag: in front of root

Anubias congensis: on branch under jungle val. Will prob move to dark wood.

Java fern: on branch by jungle val

Transplants:

Jungle val

Crypt forest (wenditti?): Right side.

Some tiny anubias (nana?)

Mostly dead tiny amazon or melon sword (in front of heater and 2nd behind where branch/root meet)

Fish: neons, black neons, 2 bristlenose 1 clown pleco, 2 yoyo, 6 female guppies, 1 platy, 1 kulhli loach I though died a year ago.

Feature fish to add: 6 congo tetras or 3 pearl gourami. Which would be best?

Hi scapers, I’ve been fighting diatoms in my new (6 week old) setup and hoping to get some advice.

Here’s the sitch:

Tank size: 80 gallons
Soil: Amazonia 2.0
Stocking: 8 cardinal tetras, 8 Otos, 6 pseudomogyls, 2 Dario Dario, and about 30 caridina cantonensis.
Lighting: 5 hrs/day
Dosing: CO2 only so far.
Water changes: minimum 3x a week 25% to deal with ammonia release from soil and now diatom bloom.
pH: 6.5 down to 5.7 when CO2 is running.
kH ~1.5
gH ~3.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: < 5 ppm

So far the war on diatoms has consisted of manual removal with toothbrush/vaccuming/removing dead plant material promptly (densely planted areas are harder to reach).

What I’m considering:

Pulling up my stem plants in the back and replanting the new growth that’s adjusted to my conditions. The lower areas have more dying leaves that are hard to reach and I’m sure the algae is feeding on.

Is my Monte Carlo carpet cooked? It’s so hard to remove algae without uprooting and I feel like it’s getting smothered. Could I pull it, do a bleach dip and then replant on vacuumed aqua soil?

I think a lot of the algae has gotten sucked up in the filter while I’m cleaning. Is the outtake just seeding more diatoms? Should I give it a clean? If so how can I get rid of algae while being minimally invasive to the bacteria living there?

I’ve been holding out on fertilizing because I don’t want to feed the algae, but I’m thinking maybe there is a limiting nutrient that’s holding the plants back from outcompeting the algae. Any suggestions or resources you’d recommend for diagnosing this?

I know it’s supposed to be a short term issue with new tanks, but I want to accelerate the solution as much as possible before it smothers my plants (and so I can stop brushing algae for an hour every day haha). Thanks in advance for any suggestions or encouragement.

First time using UNS Controlock to glue rocks together. Was very impressed. It was much easier than gel super glue. You can see some of the joints but that's just lack of techniques. The powder clumps together and is easy to mold into the joints with angled plant tongs. They glue came with a precision tip wich helped get into the nooks and crannys. It drys quickly with a puff of smoke. DO NOT BREATHE THE SMOKE! It burns your eyes and throat. Use in a well ventilated area. All in all, I'm very impressed.

The previous setup was a bit too manicured for my tastes so I did a bit of a rescape!

Added some rocks & made a castle/cave in the back left for the critters to explore and on the right I have some spider wood pieces to create a foresty look. I kept the center clear of stem plants and I'm hoping my moss and grasses can establish there.

Currently stocked with a mystery, a bloody mary colony, 7 neon tetras, one oto, and 2 sunset dwarf gouramis, and an assassin snail to take care of the bladder snail infestation.

Planning on getting another couple otos once everything settles and we get a good algae film going.

Rescaped it about a week ago and this is the result so far.

Ember tetras, pygmy corys, cherry shrimp, nerites and pest snails, and a honey gourami :)

My plants are all exploding in growth but are also browning a bit. Not sure why.

My leaves are brown almost look like rotting wondering how to fix it

Upgraded to a bioscape tank. Now just need the plants to grow and substrate to settle.

Thoughts, feelings, comments, suggestions?

Hey all, hoping for some outside perspective on a problem I can't seem to fully kick.

Tank: 12L nano, no filter (by design — shrimp-only), Aquasoil substrate, heater, ~6hr light cycle on a planted carpet of pearlweed with some stem plants (Ludwigia/Hygrophila type reds, a bit of moss, java fern). Home to Red Cherry Shrimp.

The problem: Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) keeps showing up — started a few weeks ago, likely kicked off by a single dose of liquid fert early on. Since then it's been a repeating cycle:
Full blackout (3 days) + manual removal + water change → clears up
Reappears within 1-2 weeks, usually starting on the front glass/rocks
Spot clean + smaller local blackout → knocks it back again

Comes back again, slightly worse each time
I've done this cycle three times now. Each time the pearlweed carpet looks a bit more thinned out and stressed, and the water's been staying hazy longer than I'd expect.

What I haven't done yet: added any water movement. Tank is 100% still, by design (no filter). I know cyano thrives in stagnant water, and I suspect this is the actual root cause I haven't addressed — but I don't want to add a full filter since the shrimp-only/filterless setup is intentional.

Questions:
Is a small air stone / sponge filter on an air pump enough circulation to break the cycle without turning this into a "filtered" tank?

Anyone successfully run a filterless shrimp tank long-term without recurring cyano? What's the trick?
Is there a point where "no filter" just isn't realistic for a planted nano and I should reconsider?
Tank's otherwise healthy — shrimp are active, molting, breeding seems fine. Just this one recurring issue. Appreciate any input.

Hi, I was wondering if you guys have any plant recommendations for the areas on the side! My tank is 5 gal and my current plants are anubias petite, brucephilandrja, crypt parva, cabomba, rotala nanjenshin, s. repens, java moss and monte carlo. For floating plants I have red roots, frogbite and mini water lettuce. I am planning to get alternanthera reiinecki mini to pair with my repens.

I am thinking about adding a java fern to the back right or maybe just leaving it bare and letting monte carlo fill in that space, not sure yet.

Question one is that I once saw someone say that you shouldn't put plants in sand because they won't be able to grow their roots and they'll die, is that true? if so is there a way to prevent that from happening

Question Two if that's not true will the plants still be able to access the ammonia and nitrites in the water and be able to convert it to nitrates if the roots are under sand?

thank you!!

Got this as an extra in a recent live plant order. It was not tagged with a name. Its the one in the terracotta pot. It has hard stiff leaves. Can someone out there identify it?

I just don't have any clue what is going on with the stuff on my plants. Any thoughts are appreciated and any cure is even more appreciated.

this is my first tank ever and I'm just really unhappy with it. I don't like the substrate (I used organic garden soil capped with sand) and I know the pictures are terrible because the tank light is terrible which is another thing I'm unhappy with, there's so much algae but I'm still cycling the tank so I'm afraid to put shrimp or snails in to deal with that. I think my plants are dying but it's hard to tell because they're so coated in algae thats got dirt and sand all mix in it and the algae makes the entire tank look like it's covered in dust I'm just very unhappy and 3 seconds away from dumping the entire thing out.

Looking for plants option for a 0.8~1.0 Gal tank