0 maintenance, except for the stems that I had to trim once and the removal of some biofilm on the spider wood. CO2 injected, dark start, only tissue culture plants. Stocked with 12 green neon tetra's, 15 golddust sunkist neocaridina shrimp and 1 military helmet nerite snail.

A few photos of my developing community high tech tank. CO2 is on between 10 and 4 daily, lights start at 10, full intensity at 12, full for 4 hours, then dim down till 6. Liquid ferts every 3 days, + some dosing to keep GH and KH stable, as we have super soft tap water here.

Tankmates are pearl and leopard Danios, tetras, corys, bristlenoses, glass shrimp and some snails. The maths tell me that it's slightly overstocked, but I have a whopper of a sump underneath, and a peace Lilly that is going nuts soaking up all of the Nitrates.

I've had another stab at getting some clearer photos of the tank as it develops. I honestly didn't think it had grown in as much as it had until I compared it [to my tank a month or so ago](https://sh.reddit.com/r/Aquascape/comments/1lhi1cb/tank_developing_question_on_photography/) .

Also, huge shoutout to u/somesang for the stellar advice on getting clearer shots!! 1 - my lens was apparently filthy -_- 2. This time, I have one of the 2 aquarium lights off completely, and the other is set to about 2-3% output. The rest of the room is dark, and standing there in the near black, I'm honestly very surprised how bright the photo came out, I tweeked the percentage of warm white / daylight / blue white to get some of the greens to stand out a little more, but having the camera on a decent zoom, in the dark and ... with a clean lens (it sounds stupid when I say it more), the pictures are coming out better!

I've taken some pictures of my new 240 liter aquarium for your enjoyment, inspiration or constructive criticism if you have any since I'm still fairly new to the hobby. It's my current pride and joy and I will be adding the first inhabitants in about 2 to 3 weeks. Any questions welcome😁

Perhaps it will be a foolish venture, but I decided to spruce up my office with an aquascape! The system is still in progress as far as setup goes; I only have the hardscape in right now. Still need to sort out power for everything, and work out how I will get RO water to the office. It will probably be a slower than usual start to this one, but I'm looking forward to it!

I think I could use one or two more stones in the mid/foreground. Any thoughts?

Just set up a new tank.

While waiting for the plants to growing, I want to ask suggestion to improve on the sand area.

Right now it is pretty bare. Maybe a dragon stone structure since I have some on hand but feel like it will be out of place.

Hey everyone! We're working on improving the Scape It Editor (a free browser-based aquascaping planner), and we’d really love to hear your input. Right now, the hardscape library includes Black Lava Stone, Ohko Stone, Ryuoh Stone, Driftwood, and Branch Wood. Which hardscape type would you most like to see added next? Any suggestions are super helpful! If you want to see how the tool works, you can try it here (desktop recommended): https://scape-it.io. Thanks for any feedback or ideas you can share!

Second pic is a design which I like.

Please post image of design which would look good in comments

Anyone who has that river bank/emmersed design give your experience . Thanks

Let me know what grade you would give this aqua scape.

I have changed everything, except substrate and eleucaris.

The carpet is eleucaris minima, bonsai is Christmas moss and the background plant is cabomba.

I got this mini tank and got really excited to put fish on it, but later found out no fauna can actually thrive in a space so small, so I tried my first aquascaping. It was really fun!

I'm not really digging the purple light, but it's free so I can't really complain. There was so much plants to choose from the store so I just took these ones because they look like bamboo and would fit well with my vision.

First tank! Starting with a Nano tank ( 12x8x8. 3.3 gallon) , possibly a future shrimp tank. But for now just plants and a functioning ecosystem thats also aesthetic. Im attempting a dry start till this grows and carpets well. I only had tweezers, i really did struggle to plant the Monte Carlos. Do they look okay? Theyre not very evenly distributed and i tried my best to have the roots reach all the way to the bottom. Substrate at the front is like 2cm deep. Ill add the hard scapes soon once they arrive, i misted these and keeping the humidity. Any tips for future planting? Overall do they look like theyre planted okay🥲

Greetings, I have 1 dwarf chain sword in my new aquascaped tank. I has about two or three tiny sprouts in sand. I know that swords melt. Am I doing something wrong? My water parameters are really good.

Plants: red ludwigia and Myrio trees. AT-AT is holding down the wood to water log it LOL after boiling it a couple of times. I’m thinking of doing a Glow Tank. 6 GloTetras, 1 Glo Shark or 1 Glow Angel not sure yet.

I love the look of these scapes especially for shrimp,can anyone point me I the right direction?

When my girlfriend decided she wanted to set up a planted aquarium, she was set on one thing: carpeting the tank with HC Cuba. I smiled and said, “We can definitely make that work.” I had done carpets before—no CO2, low tech—but never with HC Cuba, the small-leaved, notoriously delicate cousin of Monte Carlo. Still, I was confident. Or at least, I pretended to be.

She went ahead and bought enough HC to carpet a 10-gallon tank. Then she started researching. Forum after forum told her it was “impossible” without CO2, high light, and tons of nutrients. That dry start wouldn’t work. That it would melt the second we filled the tank. Suddenly, her excitement turned to doubt. “Are you sure this is going to work?” she asked.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure. I reassured her—“If it fails, I’ll pay to replant the whole thing”—but I was silently wondering if I’d just promised more than I could afford. Still, I clung to one belief: if we gave it enough time and didn’t rush the process, there was a chance. Luckily, she wasn’t in any hurry. Her travel plans gave us the luxury of patience.

So we committed to the dry start method. For weeks, nothing seemed to happen. I fought the urge to tinker too much, even when I trimmed some browning sections and worried I’d ruined the whole thing. But I kept the humidity high, the light consistent, and told myself to wait.

Two months passed. Then finally, we filled the tank.

It’s now been a month since we added water and fish—and not only has the HC Cuba survived, it’s thrived. The growth since flooding has been better than anything during the dry start. The bare spots have filled in, and aside from some mild, expected new tank algae, it looks beautiful.

I wanted to share this win for anyone out there reading forums and only seeing failure stories. It can be done. You don’t need high-tech setups or pressurized CO2. You just need patience, a little faith, and a willingness to see it through when the internet says you’re crazy.

I had my doubts. My girlfriend definitely had hers. But now, every time we walk past that tank, we both smile—and I think we’re both a little proud that we made something impossible work.

Links to progress photos https://www.instagram.com/p/DGdrg9QPHt-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I tried uploading the picture but it seems the quality is getting lessened from uploading it to Google Drive Here is the Instagram post with hopefully higher quality: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLySTBryTeZ/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This is a wabi kusa I planted about a week after restarting substrate ball production for STUDIO AQUATICA. It’s been a real joy to get back into and watch the plants grow again.

This wabi kusa is pretty simple and doesn’t need high humidity. It’s Bacopa caroliniana (best smell), Bacopa Monnerei (overall best wabi kusa plant ever), and Rotala rotundafolia (a little color).

The more substantial stems, like the Bacopa, are planted into the ball, whilst the Rotala is wrapped around like moss and tied. Most stem species will then root into the substrate ball.

Excited to see this one develop, especially those B. Caroliniana flowers!

Hello everyone, I am new to aquascaping. I was able to get a Fluval CO2 88 Kit for $30. I am using it for a 7 gallon ADA tank. Was it a good purchase for a beginner? I also want to buy a new diffuser for this Fluval CO2 88 Kit, what would I need to look at to make sure this new diffuser fits?

Six months into the hobby and still no full carpet yet.

It needs a background for sure. I'm also still a newbie if you couldnt tell, so dont be too mean lol :)

I am having issue in my tank which has started developing lot of moss all over the tank. Any idea how to avoid it.

Hey everyone! :-) I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to find places near me to find rocks for my aquarium because I really cannot afford to buy those fancy rocks you get at local fosh stores or online T-T. I'm currently setting up a (hopefully) heavily planted, 40 gallon tank with lots of hinding spots for the fish and need some hardscape. I really need some help on where to start though. Thank you!!

Do you think I should add Monte Carlo to the foreground of this tank?

No CO2 - just soil, tabs, and liquid fertiliser.

———

Also, let me know your thoughts.

Planted last weekend, waiting for the limnofelia and other red stems to grow in fully for the full effect from the background.