Pictures of heavily planted tanks when first planted!

Lots of changes since but this is a one year difference with the same wisteria, sword and the crypt. All of which were bought from Petsmart. I'm especially amazed at how well that sad little crypt bounced back. Lol

 

Lots of changes since but this is a one year difference with the same wisteria, sword and the crypt. All of which were bought from Petsmart. I'm especially amazed at how well that sad little crypt bounced back. Lol

WOW! that is so beautiful! I love it! Is that a crypt in the front right corner? It's huge!

ps LOVE the angel

 

Haha yes, it's the same crypt I showed you before but the top pic is when it first started showing signs of life and then the second pic is today.

Thanks! He/she doubled in size since I first got it.

 

Haha yes, it's the same crypt I showed you before but the top pic is when it first started showing signs of life and then the second pic is today.

Thanks! He/she doubled in size since I first got it.

Oh that's right! I just love how huge that is! It's gorgeous! If mine get that huge, then I definitely planted them too close together!

 

They look like they're doing really well!!

 

Yeah! Good job

 

Here is my 75 gal. right after I planted it, early June 2015:
(the tall plant by the airstone in this pic is fake)


Same tank, beginning of Sept. 2016


I added a few more anubias plants & some crypts, & everything else filled in. I tried a beautiful big ozelot sword for a while, but after 4 months, the fish ate it.

 

Wow that tank looks amazing!

 

Here is my 75 gal. right after I planted it, early June 2015:
(the tall plant by the airstone in this pic is fake)


Same tank, beginning of Sept. 2016


I added a few more anubias plants & some crypts, & everything else filled in. I tried a beautiful big ozelot sword for a while, but after 4 months, the fish ate it.

Goldfish love ripping plants out of gravel/sand lol

 

2 Months ago



Tonight

 

Lovely tank

 

Wonderful and inspirational thread! Thanks for sharing folks.

 

Week 1:



Current:



It's been a few months since this tank was redone. The Val's completely melted until gone, then exploded back with a few inches of growth daily. Same for the dwarf lotus, but less explosive growth.

 

Those angelfish look really good in that tank.

 

Thanks! They are such cool fish. They are very curious about everything going on around them, and are not shy at all.

 

1 week ago:


Today:


I have huge upward growth and roots like crazy all up the plants and in the dirt. I want to do a 55 gallon planted very soon

 

1 week ago:


Today:


I have huge upward growth and roots like crazy all up the plants and in the dirt. I want to do a 55 gallon planted very soon

I don't believe you!!!! that is not one week of growth! NO WAY!!!!

Just kidding. But seriously...wow....that is a TON of growth for only a week......impressive!!!

 

I don't believe you!!!! that is not one week of growth! NO WAY!!!!

Just kidding. But seriously...wow....that is a TON of growth for only a week......impressive!!!

I know! This is my first planted tank. I actually did the whole thing last Wednesday. And I've been adding ferts and I was surprised when I was looking back at the pics of when I first set it up. I couldn't believe it. I'm seriously happy with this growth though. I'm pretty sure it's all thanks to the excel I've been dosing daily lol

 

I know! This is my first planted tank. I actually did the whole thing last Wednesday. And I've been adding ferts and I was surprised when I was looking back at the pics of when I first set it up. I couldn't believe it. I'm seriously happy with this growth though. I'm pretty sure it's all thanks to the excel I've been dosing daily lol

You must have some great lights too! What kind of light are you using?

 

You must have some great lights too! What kind of light are you using?

Oh yeah! You're right haha I bought an Aqueon Optibright plus 2 days before planting the tank. I didn't even take that into consideration. I have my light on for like... 15-16 hours a day.

 

1 week ago:


Today:


I have huge upward growth and roots like crazy all up the plants and in the dirt. I want to do a 55 gallon planted very soon

Wow, very nice. My 24/7 planted + light came In today and was going to wait until Monday to get it, based on that I'm going today!!

Impressive, as requested what light, also do you use seachem products like flourish, Excell, iron, or potassium?

 

Here is my pride and joy.

Sorry forgot to attach picture


Beautiful!

 

Oh yeah! You're right haha I bought an Aqueon Optibright plus 2 days before planting the tank. I didn't even take that into consideration. I have my light on for like... 15-16 hours a day.

Sounds like you got a great light. I thought my plants were growing fast! SHEESH!! lol

15-16 hours of light may result in some algae issues that could harm the plants. So I would suggest lessening the amount of hours the light is on each day. Make it more like 10 hours.

Sorry forgot to attach picture View attachment 205463

Looks great....but Where is the "before" picture? lol

 

haha that is it. That was 2 days after set up. We change the looks at least once every 6 months.

 

Wow, very nice. My 24/7 planted + light came In today and was going to wait until Monday to get it, based on that I'm going today!!

Impressive, as requested what light, also do you use seachem products like flourish, Excell, iron, or potassium?

I use seachem excel everyday but I'll be cutting down to like 3x a week now and I use flourish 2x a week. So my tank has had quite a bit of excel and 2 doses of flourish so far.

Sounds like you got a great light. I thought my plants were growing fast! SHEESH!! lol

15-16 hours of light may result in some algae issues that could harm the plants. So I would suggest lessening the amount of hours the light is on each day. Make it more like 10 hours.

Thank you! I will definitely take that into consideration. I am looking for a small amount of algae growth for my 2 pieces of driftwood though because I have a pleco who loves to suck on those. Do you know if there's anything other than light that can help me with that, that won't hurt my plants?

 

Thank you! I will definitely take that into consideration. I am looking for a small amount of algae growth for my 2 pieces of driftwood though because I have a pleco who loves to suck on those. Do you know if there's anything other than light that can help me with that, that won't hurt my plants?

I would suggest feeding the pleco algae wafers and fresh veggies. That way you don't have to try and create unwanted algae....you know? Just a thought!!

My problem was that having the light on too long was causing HAIR algae and black beard algae on my poor plants. This is not algae that a pleco wants to eat and it is really hard to remove from live plants and can possibly even kill the plants.

So rather than trying to create algae....just feed the pleco algae wafers and veggies. The driftwood is necessary too, but it doesn't need to be covered in algae.

 

I would suggest feeding the pleco algae wafers and fresh veggies. That way you don't have to try and create unwanted algae....you know? Just a thought!!

My problem was that having the light on too long was causing HAIR algae and black beard algae on my poor plants. This is not algae that a pleco wants to eat and it is really hard to remove from live plants and can possibly even kill the plants.

So rather than trying to create algae....just feed the pleco algae wafers and veggies. The driftwood is necessary too, but it doesn't need to be covered in algae.

Okay cool. Twice a week I've been dropping in an algae wafer and a pleco guy that I know says they love lettuce lol so I'll see that goes over with my little guy.

 

I already posted, but have to share. I just added some purple cabomba, red myrio, and Mexican oakleaf

 

Ka pow! Dang that is even better!

@ edit: (Apparently I referring to the first post in this thread not the last) Spectacular aquascape. I want to get my snorkel and fins on. How do you get the driftwood "trees" to stay in place? It's beautiful.

 

This was when I let my aquarium kind of go crazy (it probably looked better before!)... (these pictures are about a year spaced out) I guess you can tell what plants liked my aquarium... At this point, however, my neglect ended up really causing my plants to thin out...

 

Those are all BEAUTIFULLY planted tanks. Post pics of updates.

 

These two photos are my 20 gallon high and were taken about 5 weeks apart. During those 5 weeks I added a new Finnex light and installed pressurized CO2. Also had to add some otos to help combat a diatom problem and they've done a fantastic job! Things are looking good!

 

ashleyb I really like your scape, have you thought about a black, or dark blue background? It would bring out the colors in the fish and plants.

 

I guess my tank isn't heavily planted but it has changed a little of time...
Here it is 3 months ago at set up:

Then here 1 month later:

And today 3 months on:

All the same plants, maybe a little worse for wear today than they were new but still kicking away...

 

1 month difference. Also added marimos and a anubias nana. 10 gallon.

 

ashleyb I really like your scape, have you thought about a black, or dark blue background? It would bring out the colors in the fish and plants.

I've thought about doing a black background. I'm sure I'll get to it sooner or later lol thanks!

 

Just finished the tank about 30 minutes ago.

 

Ok, so finally here is another one of my tanks...
03/13/16

05/20/16

Unfortunately, I guess, I was showing someone the plants for sale and they ended up buying the whole kit and cabootle.

 

Ok, so finally here is another one of my tanks...
03/13/16

05/20/16

Unfortunately, I guess, I was showing someone the plants for sale and they ended up buying the whole kit and cabootle.

So you tore that tank down and sold all those lovely plants!? Bummer! That tank looked amazing! Thanks for sharing it!

edit: what were you using to grow those plants? Lighting, co2? I love that red plant? What is it? I assume it is a more demanding plant since it is red?

 

Ok, so finally here is another one of my tanks...
03/13/16

05/20/16

Unfortunately, I guess, I was showing someone the plants for sale and they ended up buying the whole kit and cabootle.

Boy howdy, that's a beaut!

View attachment 206241

Just finished the tank about 30 minutes ago.

Very good looking layout. Thanks for sharing.