5 Gallon Planted Journal

Karackle

Well, I've posted about my 5 gallon before, but those were questions when I was getting started, I figured I'd consolidate the pictures and things into one place and document my journey of my first planted tank! (Well, first tank that i started from scratch with the specific purpose of making it a planted tank, there are live plants in my 20 gallon also)

Well, this is 5 gallon AGA tank with a glass canopy and 16" 14w AGA fluorescent strip light. The substrate is natural colored small rounded gravel. Not ideal, I know, but the smallest bag of "planted tank specialty substrate" they had would have been too much for my 5 and my 20 combined, and the owner (who is very knowledgeable) said this would work, and what can i say, I was impatient to get started! :-P

Flora:
purple cabomba
water wisteria
2 large red Crypts
1 large green crypt
1 small red crypt
1 anubias (nana i think?)

Fauna:
1 Male Betta
3 Otos (added today 3/13/08)

Hardscape:
1 small piece of driftwood

This is a low tech tank, so I dose with Flourish 1-2 times a week, Excel every day to every other day, and Fertilizer tabs under the substrate near the roots every 2 weeks or (if the nitrate levels are low).

Ok, i think that about covers the "ingredients"

This is the tank 2/19/08 When i first added plants:


But I decided it was too sparse and needed something else so I hunted down a small piece of driftwood and added it.

So here's the tank 2/20 on day 2 w/o a flash:


and with a flash:

Karackle

It still didn't look quite right to me so I asked for advice and decided to shift things around a bit, angled the driftwood toward the back to give it depth, added a few more plants to fill it in a little and I moved the Anubias higher on the driftwood (for looks and to get the rhizome higher out of the water).

Here's the tank on 2/21 w/o a flash:


and with a flash:


And that is how i let the tank sit for a couple of weeks, dosing with ferts and letting the plants get some roots down and settle in. I was aiming for a silent cycle when I added my Betta. When I started seeing new leaf and root growth i let the tank settle a little longer and then I added my Betta

Karackle

Here's the tank on 3/6/08, it's starting to get a little grown over (couldn't believe how fast that happened!) and with the Betta (w/o flash):


and with flash (makes the betta glow ):


And the Betta hiding in the Purple Cabomba (he likes to rest in the leaves):

kimstwin

I really enjoyed your photos. I also have a 5 gal tank right now. Maybe I can try my hand at some plants, too. Your betta looks very happy in there.

Karackle

Well thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed them, that's so nice to hear. My betta is very happy in there, and using some low light plants, it's pretty easy to keep as well, it's pretty low maintenance (as well as low tech) and the plants are growing at an alarming rate!

Good luck!

kimstwin

Can you recommend some low light plants that are easy to care for to start with?

Karackle

Well, I'm extremely new to this, but I can tell you what i have in my tank, and they're growing like fiends.

In my 5 gallon I have Purple Cabomba and Wisteria (stem plants) that are growing really well and tall. I also have Red Cryptocoryne Wendtii and Green Cryptocoryne wendtii, both are growing. My large red crypts are growing like crazy, i've heard they are slow growers, but in the few weeks my tank has been set up i've gotten about 5 new leaves that are already quite big. I also have an Anubias (not sure which kind) in the tank, it's alive and green, but i haven't seen much growth. Anachris, which is also a stem plant, is a good beginning plant, but i've heard it does not like Flourish Excel, which the other plants love, so if you want to dose Excel as a fertilizer for other plants, it's probably not a good choice.

So that's what i have in my tank, but I'm sure you could get other recommendations as well, like i said i'm new to planted tanks and therefore certainly not an expert! good luck!

Karackle

Well it's been a while since I posted a photo update, so here's a quick one of the pruned and regrown tank. I think I had the camera on the wrong setting though because this one is blurry (sorry it looked good on the little tiny camera screen!) so i'll have to get a better one this evening!



And my Happy Betta:


And one of my chubby otos:

Karackle

Well, the bad news is that when I was away for a long weekend last weekend my roommate forgot to shut the lights off in my tank at night, and there wasn't enough nutrients to sustain the plants and there was a lot of die off of my plants, so it's time to prune and rescape and rebuild. Sigh.

BUT I was at a pet store i don't usually go to because it's a bit farther away than my awesome LFS that I like so much, but I was near it today so I went in to see what they had, and it turned out to be buy one get one free day (every sunday, all fish under $5.00) AND they had Corydoras hastatus so i picked some up for my 5 gallon! I knew they were small but I was surprised just HOW small they were, they're adorable!!! They are currently drip acclimating

I'll post some pictures of the new layout and new inhabitants once I get it all settled!

Karackle

Well, there's no full tank shots (i'll try to get those tonight) but here's a few of the corydoras hastatus

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