15 Gallon Tank First Freshwater Planted Tank!

I'm making my first ever fresh water planted tank! I've had tanks before, but none of them were planted. My tank is very far from being ready for fish, I haven't even put in water yet, because I'm waiting for my filter to arrive. I have basic equipment from my last tank, such as water conditioners, stress coat, bacterias, a heater, a water syphon, gravel and tank decorations, and basic food. I'm planning on getting cherry shrimp, some small tetras, maybe guppies or small rasboras, I'm not sure yet though! I need new lighting for my tank and possibly a new lid. I am getting a sponge filter, its on the way! For the plants in my tank, I am going to get some Java moss and Java fern, but I'm really new to planted tanks so I don't really know what other plants are easy and good for gravel! If you have any tips for me, that'd be great!
Also please keep in mind I'm SUPER new to this, so if I'm not doing something right please let me know! Any tips on caring for the fish/shrimp I'm planning on getting would also be super super helpful! Lastly, I don't really know what to do for lighting, so any help there would be great! Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it!!

 

Anubias, Valisneria, Anacharis, Hornwort, Guppy grass, Crypts and Swords are all good beginner plants.

Anubias and Java Ferns you need to tie to a stone or driftwood as the rhizome will rot if buried. All the rest should do ok in the gravel.

You will need some sort of fertilizer. I suggest a "all in one" like Nilocg Thrive C or Aquarium Co-op's Easy green. They are the easiest to use. Maybe some root tabs to go with it. Easy peasy.

Lights you will just need one that fits your budget. LED's are most popular and come in a array of prices. You will just want to get a "planted" light, possibly with the RBG (red,blue,green). You can put planted LED on like Amazon and it will bring up a whole bunch of choices, and prices. I know a lot like Nicrew, Finnex, Aquasky as examples.

Ember Tetras or small Rasboras would be great for your 15g tank. Shrimp you will want to wait a while to get and let your tank get really established first before adding any.

 

One of my favorite plants is pearlweed, it grows pretty fast and can be used to make a carpet, mid ground plant, some people use it as a floater, and it has survived in all my setups. Wisteria grows fast and can be used in the background. For mosses Christmas moss has grown the fastest for me while Java moss has always died. There are a lot of cool plants to choose from.

 

Anubias, Valisneria, Anacharis, Hornwort, Guppy grass, Crypts and Swords are all good beginner plants.

Anubias and Java Ferns you need to tie to a stone or driftwood as the rhizome will rot if buried. All the rest should do ok in the gravel.

You will need some sort of fertilizer. I suggest a "all in one" like Nilocg Thrive C or Aquarium Co-op's Easy green. They are the easiest to use. Maybe some root tabs to go with it. Easy peasy.

Lights you will just need one that fits your budget. LED's are most popular and come in a array of prices. You will just want to get a "planted" light, possibly with the RBG (red,blue,green). You can put planted LED on like Amazon and it will bring up a whole bunch of choices, and prices. I know a lot like Nicrew, Finnex, Aquasky as examples.

Ember Tetras or small Rasboras would be great for your 15g tank. Shrimp you will want to wait a while to get and let your tank get really established first before adding any.

Thank you so much! That's really helpful. Ill look into the fertilizer and root tabs! Also thank you for all the lighting suggestions, I feel its easy to get overwhelmed when looking it up!

 

I'm sure you will have a bazillion questions that come up! We are all here to help!

 

Anubias, Valisneria, Anacharis, Hornwort, Guppy grass, Crypts and Swords are all good beginner plants.

Anubias and Java Ferns you need to tie to a stone or driftwood as the rhizome will rot if buried. All the rest should do ok in the gravel.

You will need some sort of fertilizer. I suggest a "all in one" like Nilocg Thrive C or Aquarium Co-op's Easy green. They are the easiest to use. Maybe some root tabs to go with it. Easy peasy.

Lights you will just need one that fits your budget. LED's are most popular and come in a array of prices. You will just want to get a "planted" light, possibly with the RBG (red,blue,green). You can put planted LED on like Amazon and it will bring up a whole bunch of choices, and prices. I know a lot like Nicrew, Finnex, Aquasky as examples.

Ember Tetras or small Rasboras would be great for your 15g tank. Shrimp you will want to wait a while to get and let your tank get really established first before adding any.

I agree with ALMOST all of this. From what I recall from my fertilizer research, ThriveC is only ideal for smaller tanks (under 10g) - just plain old ordinary "Thrive" is preferable for non-nano tanks. ThriveC is watered down so it's easier to dose in smaller amounts, whereas the usual variety is full strength, so it's much better value to get Thrive unless you're trying to dose for 2 gallons at a time.

 

I agree with ALMOST all of this. From what I recall from my fertilizer research, ThriveC is only ideal for smaller tanks (under 10g) - just plain old ordinary "Thrive" is preferable for non-nano tanks. ThriveC is watered down so it's easier to dose in smaller amounts, whereas the usual variety is full strength, so it's much better value to get Thrive unless you're trying to dose for 2 gallons at a time.

Thank you! I'm not 100% sure, but I think I will be stocking nano fish, like ember tetras and other fish that are like that, so would thrive be ok with that? Sorry I'm just a little confused!

 

I agree with ALMOST all of this. From what I recall from my fertilizer research, ThriveC is only ideal for smaller tanks (under 10g) - just plain old ordinary "Thrive" is preferable for non-nano tanks. ThriveC is watered down so it's easier to dose in smaller amounts, whereas the usual variety is full strength, so it's much better value to get Thrive unless you're trying to dose for 2 gallons at a time.

Hers is a 15g tank. It would be fine for Thrive C.