All About Planted Aquariums

Planted aquariums require less work to maintain but needs more work to set up for the first time. So we need to plan for it properly. Most importantly, we need to consider the ideal location of the tank at our home. So in this article, I will walk you through all the considerations on deciding where to place an aquarium at your home.

Furniture Stands Aquascaped Tanks by Ayong Go Philippines

In this 3-parts series of articles, we will be discussing how to determine your tank dimensions, choose between rimless or braced tanks, the right materials in building your aquarium, and inspecting your aquarium tank before purchasing.

Custom Stand and Cabinet Aquascaped by Fritz Rabaya Philippines

In this 10-parts series of articles, we will be discussing the many different styles of Aquascaping and their core elements that set them apart from each other.

Hybrid Style Nature and Iwagumi Styles Aquascape by Les Paul Villanueva Philippines

In this 4-parts series of articles, we will be discussing the Nitrogen Cycle in our Planted Aquarium and how it will help us in knowing the importance of Tank Cycling for our Faunas and Floras.

In this 7-parts series of articles, we will be discussing the essential water parameters for our planted aquarium, why do you need to know them, their effects, and how to test them.

This article will discuss the different safe water sources that you can use with your planted aquarium. 

From deep-well (spring water), municipal tap water, purified, distilled, Reverse Osmosis (RO), Deionize water (DI), to combinations, we will cover these water sources in-depth. 

In this article, we will be discussing the different filtration methods, the different filter media for each filtration method, ideal water turn-over rates, and we will help you decide what the best filter for your planted aquarium is.

Internal Filter Aquascaped by Melchin Origenes Tapan

In this article, we will be discussing the different types of filters that you can use with your planted aquarium, what to look for/consider in a filter, functions, etc.

Using Sponge Filter by Aldrin Solano Gacos Philippines

In this section, we will be discussing one of the essential needs of your plants to grow, and that is the lighting.

We will outline what we need to consider in choosing your planted aquarium lighting and the importance of adjusting the intensity of your lighting.

In this section, we will be discussing all about CO₂ Injection in our planted aquarium.

We will discuss why the need to inject CO₂, and in some situations, you don’t need to inject CO₂. We will also compare DIY CO₂ injection versus injecting CO₂ via a pressurized tank and its pros and cons. 

This section will discuss the many different substrates that we can consider in our planted aquarium.

What is the best substrate for your plants, and the differences between inert and active substrates will be discussed thoroughly.

In this article, we will outline the functions of essential Aquascaping tools for your successful planted aquarium. 

From tweezers, curved scissors, quality, and how they can help you with successful planting and trimming maintenance will be discussed in detail.

Here in this section, we will be discussing other essential tools and equipment which are vital for the success of your planted aquarium.

This article will discuss all about hardscapes that you can use in your planted aquarium, how to set up, how to build, how to plant in them, and other tips and tricks for them to last submerged for a very long time.

Hardscape by Christian Pontiano Philippines

In this article, we will discuss all about fertilizers for your plants, what do we need to consider in choosing forms, what are the essential nutrients for your plants, dosing regime, dosing amounts, how to balance it with your light and CO2.

This article will discuss the many different kinds of plants that you can utilize in our planted aquarium. From rosettes, stem, tubers, epiphytes to floating plants are all discussed in-depth.

This article will discuss the many fish species that are suitable in our planted aquariums, fish stocking, feeding, do’s and don’ts, etc.

Choosing our fish to complement our planted aquarium will make for a vibrant display.

Keeping in with your maintenance is vital to the success of keeping a planted aquarium, most especially in the first few weeks to months, where you haven’t achieved the balance yet. You will not be able to keep that balance if you are skipping with your maintenance as well.

So in this article, we will discuss in-depth the tasks (tedious, sometimes) to properly maintain your planted aquariums and provide additional tips when maintaining different styles of aquascapes, different kinds of filters, how many percent of tank volume to water change, trimming plants, siphoning your substrate, doing water parameters tests, etc.

In this article, we will be discussing algae management and how to eradicate them.

What causes them to thrive, the many different kinds and forms of algae, how to avoid them, and balance your water parameters, lights, CO2, and fertilizers for them not to come back anymore.

Finally, when all is said and done, we will help you find the balance in your planted aquarium so you can just enjoy it, with minimal to no visible algae, with less human intervention (just weekly water change of 25 %) and some ocassional plant trimmings.

The Fastest Method of Cycling our Planted Aquariums involves using your old substrate, gravel, hardscape, filter, filter media, part of the old water from your old aquarium to our new planted aquarium.

My 3rd Re-scape Lemuel Sacop Philippines

The Traditional Method of Tank Cycling is the oldest method used by our grandparents when technology was not as advanced as we do now and involves cycling our planted tank with fish in it to jumpstart the Nitrogen Cycle.

For those willing to wait and love to watch their plants grow and become lush before adding the fish, this method is for you.

It is called the Fishless Method of Tank Cycling, which is self-explanatory. We will cycle our planted aquariums with no fish.

Fissidens Moss Grown Emersed Fishless Aquascaped by Charles Edward David

We will not over-complicate this. Temperature is just the measure of how much heat is in the water, hot or cold. But too big fluctuating temperatures will have bad effects on your faunas and plants in our planted aquarium.

Carbon dioxide is naturally produced in our planted aquariums, even if you are not injecting CO2. When beneficial bacteria break down the wastes in our tank, and when faunas respire, CO2 is produced. While carbon dioxide accumulates during lights off, it will quickly be depleted by your plants at the start of lights on.

If you are sourcing your aquarium water from a commercial water system (tap water), water should be treated to ensure it is safe for human consumption. The water is cleaned and filtered, then add chemicals to prevent anything harmful from developing in the water while traversing the pipes leading to our homes.

TDS is the measure of all dissolved organic and inorganic solid substances in your water. However, the test of this water parameter doesn’t say what comprises your TDS. It measures the total of all molecular, ionized, and any microscopic substances in our water that cannot be caught by your filtration.

In this 6 Parts Series of articles, we will discuss the types of filters that we can use in a planted aquarium, how they work, their features, pros and cons, and other tips on how to maintain them. How to take care of your beneficial bacteria and not accidentally kill them is discussed too.

In this article, we will discuss the factors and considerations in order to be able to choose the best filter/s for our planted aquarium/s. A filter should not be overly complicated and should be a master of its sole purpose, and that is to provide good to excellent mechanical and biological filtration.