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
Asian ambulia
Marsilea minuta
Red Crypt wendtii
Anubias nana petite
Foxtail
few others
Fauna:
1 Male Betta
2 Male guppies
3 Otos
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:
