# My planted tank, then and now



## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

Here is my 10 gallon divided tank when I first got it set up:










And here it is now:










This is Lucky's side:










And this is Fly's side:










This tank has quite a bit of water wisteria in it, floating on the top and planted in a couple places. There are also microswords, crypts, anubias, and banana plants. I had some hornwort, but I took it out because it was making such a mess with nettles everywhere. The water wisteria is awesome and I'm constantly trimming it back to keep it under control. The anubias are established and growing well, but I suspect we'll have an algae problem in the future despite the oto clean up crew. The microswords are lovely, but slow to grow in my set up. We'll see how the crypts do, they're a new addition.

It's a low tech setup. No CO2, 2 CFL lights at about 10W that are in the tank's original hood, plain gravel substrate, and .75mL of Flourish once a week. I'm very conservative with the Flourish due to having some shrimp in the tank. There are a couple root tabs in to support the microswords and planted wisteria. Lucky's a serious jumper so I've been keeping the water levels lower to avoid any incidents. He jumped his divider once, but no trouble now that it's a solid five inch high barrier.

It's great having all of these plants for my boys to swim through and peek out of. I've never tried live plants before, so this has all been an adventure.


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## otter (Aug 10, 2012)

Wow it is very nice!

I wish I could get my plants to grow  sometimes they're doing great and then suddenly they start to turn brown and its terrible and then they start turning green again.

I don't really have much of a green thumb. 


super jealous though. thats what I am aiming for with my 29 gallon, I am currently setting it up to be a sorority tank, but I havent gotten anything for it yet


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

Nice! I bet the boys love their little jungles :-D


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## BettaJen (Jun 7, 2012)

Beautiful!


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

how much growth time is there between the before and after photos? we've just started live planting a 10g, and it looks pretty similar to the before, but the after is more what we're aiming for.


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## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

I'm at about three months on this tank. A lot of the fill came from the water wisteria growing and being added in different places as it tried to take over.


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Nice! That's some serious improvement! How are the banana plants btw? I saw them and a LPS once and they seem super cool.


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## cataze (Nov 29, 2011)

That's exactly what I'd like my tank to look like! Beautiful!


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

Great job! I think both sides look lush and beautiful, and I bet your fish just love being in there.


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## BettaQi (Jul 26, 2012)

Lovely!


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## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

I haven't updated this in ages, so I'll add some pics. I've made some big changes.










Big overhaul with new substrate and new plants. It's now Eco-complete and an LED light fixture. I'm also running CO2. I was having circulation problems with the divider so I did the completely reasonable thing. No, I didn't buy a second filter, I got a 20 gallon that Fly now shares with some dwarf cories and least killifish. Lucky now has the 10 gallon to share with the 4 oto catfish as his janitorial staff.









He doesn't seem to mind. The tank has really changed into something I'm quite proud of, and Lucky is the perfect accent to all of my work getting the plants to grow. He's now the king of a 10 gallon castle.


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## Aluka (Dec 25, 2012)

awesome =) i'm waiting for my plants to grow in and make mine a jungle too!


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## SageMyster (Jul 13, 2011)

Very pretty!


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

Gorgeous! How are you finding running the CO2? All the tanks I love use it, but it is a little intimidating. 

Nice to see bettas well taken care of, in a natural environment.


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## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

The CO2 is more straightforward than I thought. I have a paintball set up. I have the paintball canister, an adapter I got off Amazon, a standard CO2 regulator, and a cheapy ceramic diffuser. I set it up to 1 bubble per second which keeps my drop checker green and it's all set. I turn it off at night to keep the levels from getting too high (and to save some money on CO2 refills). 

The hard part is actually managing everything else. I've got high light and CO2, now I've got to get my water parameters in line. I've got a hair algae outbreak right now that's giving me fits. :frustrated: I may have to turn up my CO2 a smidge and adjust my fertilization schedule. 

Thanks for the compliments! Lucky really seems to enjoy all of the crypt spiralis growing in the back.


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