# My first "real" planted tank - betta sorority



## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Edit: This tank is PLANTED not panted! Lol

Hi guys! Yesterday I finished setting up my 20 gallon long planted betta sorority. This is the first time I'm attempting to really grow a lot of plants at once. In the past I have kept anubias, java fern, etc. alive in my smaller tanks but I never did anything specifically for those plants and they only did okay in those tanks. This round I have a proper light, substrate, liquid fertilizers, root tabs, etc. I'm really nervous that this isn't going to work out thought and I'm looking for some additional help and advice. 

Some people on other forums have been telling me that the light I have on my shallow tank is giving me medium light and that I need to add CO2 in order for my plants to do well. I'm kind of afraid of CO2 though and I'm wondering if I really need it or not? I want my plants to grow, and I want them to get fairly large, but I'm not expecting a jungle in my tank or anything. 

Really I'm just looking for any and all advice, tips, personal experiences, etc. I'll list the types/species of plants I'm trying to grow below:

Anubias barteri v. Nana
Anubias congensis
Aponogeton crispus
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne lutea
Echinodorus bleheri
Nymphaea stellata
Some pretty big java fern that wasn't labeled
Some smaller species of java fern
Water wisteria cuttings
A marimo
Some elodea-type plant
Anacharis currings
And a small handfull of frogbit that isn't doing so great right now


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## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

I can't help you at all, but I LOVE the look of it and your girls are beautiful!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Looking very nice!

Which light? If it's a Finnex Planted+ you can get risers from Han Aquatics, Your One Stop Shop For All Your Aquatics Needs to raise it up a bit. I have two Finnex Stingray on my 20 long with no issues and I don't use CO2.

I would add a lot more stem plants and anchor them in bunches so they flow over the surface. I've never had a sorority but have read that to be successful they need to be much more heavily planted. That means enough plants so that you can't see from front to back or side to side and it takes more than a glance to see the Betta.

Red plants and Swords need Iron tabs as well as general fertilizer tabs.

PS: I fixed your typo. :-D


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Looking very nice!
> 
> Which light? If it's a Finnex Planted+ you can get risers from Han Aquatics, Your One Stop Shop For All Your Aquatics Needs to raise it up a bit. I have two Finnex Stingray on my 20 long with no issues and I don't use CO2.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the advice! I will get some iron tabs!  My light is actually the Fluval Aquasky LED, it's about 18 watts. 

I definitely want to get more stem plants! I've just had a hard time finding them locally. I want to get some more cover in the top portion of the tank as well so that the fish have their line of sight broken up a bit more. For now I think they'll be alright just because they've all already been living together for about 7 months and they have learned there's no point in picking on each other. But I'll also keep a close eye and separate if needed. I'm not above going to the store and buying 7 different fry brooder boxes to keep them all apart haha that would be an emergency solution though. 

Thanks for fixing the typo too! lol


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

Wow, I love your tank! So this isn't soil planted, just substrate and root tabs? Curious because I plan on setting up a planted tank in the near future (only ever had amazon swords and marimo moss balls)


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Shortnsweet said:


> Wow, I love your tank! So this isn't soil planted, just substrate and root tabs? Curious because I plan on setting up a planted tank in the near future (only ever had amazon swords and marimo moss balls)



No soil, just about 10lbs of established gravel mixed together with 20lbs of eco-complete substrate. And I added a number of root tabs at the time of planting as well. I plan on just adding root tabs every few months to keep nutrients in the substrate, and I will be dosing liquid ferts weekly.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I can highly recommend Iron Up and Boost or RU tabs from this person. They are not capsules so you don't have all those yellow beads showing up like you do with Osmocote. I like Osmocote capsules but they are a real PITA. Tell the seller you want the tabs.

RU Tabs Root Tabs Aquarium Fertilizer Plant Ferts Substrate Clay Micro Macro | eBay


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> I can highly recommend Iron Up and Boost or RU tabs from this person. They are not capsules so you don't have all those yellow beads showing up like you do with Osmocote. I like Osmocote capsules but they are a real PITA. Tell the seller you want the tabs.
> 
> RU Tabs Root Tabs Aquarium Fertilizer Plant Ferts Substrate Clay Micro Macro | eBay



Thank you for the link! I'll check those out


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

xStatic said:


> No soil, just about 10lbs of established gravel mixed together with 20lbs of eco-complete substrate. And I added a number of root tabs at the time of planting as well. I plan on just adding root tabs every few months to keep nutrients in the substrate, and I will be dosing liquid ferts weekly.


Oh cool! Setting up a tank with soil seems like a lot of effort for a smaller tank if I decide to plant mine. This seems a lot more doable with the eco-complete substrate!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I use CaribSea Tahitian Moon sand and root and Iron tabs. It's not the substrate, IMO, so much as it is the nutrients it contains for root feeders.


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

Some people have said the benefit of the Eco Complete is that the grains of the substrate are very porous and hold onto nutrients for a longer period of time than other inert substrates. So loading the substrate with root tabs when you first plant can help the plants' growth in the long run. Not sure if this is really true or not, but both the Tahitian Moon Sand and Eco Complete are manufactured by CaribSea and imo they both seem like really high quality substrates. The TMS if what I use in my 60 gallon goldfish tank and its been great. The Eco Complete is black as well so I considered putting that down first and then topping it with the TMS but it was just more money than I wanted to spend at the moment. I may do that in the future thought if it's possible to add a thin layer of sand in a tank that already has plants planted in it?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I *think* PetCo has EcoComplete on sale. If you keep a watch they do have sales on CaribSea substrates quite frequently. In April I bought 3 20-pound bags of Tahitian Moon for $12.99 or $13.99 each. They list it as "gravel" but it isn't.

You can add sand but it will eventually sift through the EcoComplete. EC is a great substrate.


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)

I thought I would add a one-week in progress report. I'm actually really happy with how everything is going! I haven't had any issues with melting besides a leaf here and there that was probably damaged during shipping or planting. I added some Indian almond leaves so the water is now tinted yellow/brown but I personally enjoy this more natural look. I also got quite a few new plants and a bunch of water wisteria so I'm hoping to see some quick growth there and a lot of additional cover for the fish. I'm getting some brown diatoms on everything including the leaves of some plants. I dust the majority off of the leaves with my fingers every few days but I feel that the diatoms will start dying off quite soon. I'm also seeing some white/clear stuff growing on a piece of my driftwood but it comes off easily enough and doesn't seem harmful to anything in the tank. I think the next think I want to add would be some Amano shrimp but I'm a little worried about the bettas killing them so I might wait until I have a bit more plant cover.


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## xStatic (Jun 11, 2013)




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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Oh, my word! It is absolutely beautiful!! I love it!

The white stuff on your driftwood is a natural fungus and often occurs with new driftwood. If you give it a few weeks it will go away. Or, Amano Shrimp love it. With more cover and some floating plants they might do well in your tank. The main thing for shrimp is to have a "fish proof" hide for molting; that's when they are the most vulnerable.

Tomorrow is the SNE on AquaBid; I'm about to make the announcement.


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## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

This is the goal tank for our Empress and her handmaidens <3 Love it, absolutely gorgeous.


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