1
Tank, substrate & hardscape
Pick a tank size you can maintain, lay a nutrient-rich aquasoil, and arrange rock and driftwood before a drop of water goes in.
Week 1
Beginner-first · No miracle products, ever
Your first planted tank, grown the calm way.
Step-by-step guides for people setting up their very first planted aquarium — which plants won't melt on you, whether you actually need CO₂, and how to beat algae without emptying your wallet.
Written for true beginners
Every dose cross-checked twice
Honest gear prices
90 days
from empty glass box to a settled, stocked tank
12 plants
forgiving beginner species in the finder below
3 budgets
honest starter kits, from $120 low-tech to full CO₂
20–35 ppm
the CO₂ target zone — check yours with the calculator
Where you're headed: a mature Dutch-style scape with injected CO₂. Most beginners start simpler — and that's exactly the point of the roadmap below.
Start here
The first-90-days roadmap
Four stages, in order. Skipping ahead — especially adding fish before the tank is cycled — is how most first tanks go wrong.
2
Light & planting day
Set your light to 6 hours a day, plant heavily from day one, and fill slowly. Dense planting is your best algae insurance.
Week 1–23
The quiet cycling weeks
Let the filter bacteria establish. Expect some melting leaves and a possible algae cameo — both are normal, neither needs panic-buying.
Week 2–64
First livestock & routine
Add shrimp or a small school of fish, settle into weekly water changes and trimming, and watch the tank mature.
Week 6–12
9 chapters · the whole setup, start to finish
Featured guide
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Your First Planted Tank
Everything in one place: the full setup, in the order you'd actually do it, with the mistakes flagged before you make them.
- 1Choosing a tank size that won't fight you
- 2Aquasoil vs. gravel: what actually matters
- 3Lighting without the physics degree
- 4Your first 10 plants, and where each one goes
- 5Cycling without losing your mind (or your fish)
- 6Stocking day: shrimp first, fish second
- 7Feeding plants: liquid fertiliser, decoded
- 8Algae triage: what's normal, what's a warning
- 9The weekly rhythm: days 30–90 and beyond
Latest guides
Guides beginners actually search for
Each one answers a single question properly — including the parts where the honest answer is "you don't need to buy that."
Start herePlanted Tank Setup: The Complete Beginner Guide
Tank size, substrate, planting order and the first month — the calm, step-by-step way to start.
12 min readRead →
CO2CO2 for Planted Tanks: A Beginner's Complete Guide
The whole system in plain words: the parts, the 30 ppm target, timing with your lights, and safety.
13 min readRead →
Low-techThe Low-Tech Planted Tank: A Complete No-CO2 Guide
No cylinder, no problem. The light-first method and the easy plants that genuinely thrive on it.
12 min readRead →
AlgaeAquarium Algae: Identify & Fix Every Common Type
Name the algae first, then fix the cause. A playbook for the six types every beginner meets.
11 min readRead →
FertilizerPlanted Tank Fertilizer: Root Tabs vs Liquid Guide
Who feeds from the roots, who feeds from the water — and a starter dosing rhythm that works.
12 min readRead →
Plant SOSWhy Are My Aquarium Plants Melting? How to Save Them
Melt is usually adaptation, not death. How to tell the difference, and exactly what to do this week.
8 min readRead →
Interactive tool
CO₂ calculator: are you actually at 30 ppm?
Dissolved CO₂ is estimated from your water's carbonate hardness (KH) and pH using the standard KH–pH relationship. Measure pH with the lights on, mid-photoperiod, for a reading that means something.
dKH
From your liquid KH test kit. Most tap water sits between 2 and 8 dKH.
pH
Compare against your tap water's pH — a drop of about 1.0 point usually means you're in range.
30 ppm CO₂
In the target zone. Plants get plenty of carbon without stressing livestock.
Too low · algae risk20–35 ppm idealToo high · fish risk
Formula: CO₂ (ppm) = 3 × KH × 10(7 − pH). It's an estimate — peat, aquasoil and other acids can skew it, so treat your drop checker and your fish's behaviour as the final word. If fish are gasping at the surface, turn the gas down first and troubleshoot later.
Plant finder
Plants matched to the tank you actually have
Filter by the light you own and whether you inject CO₂. Everything listed is widely available and forgiving — difficult plants are deliberately left for year two.
Light
CO₂
| Plant | Position | Light | CO₂ | Growth | Good to know |
|---|
No beginner plants match that combination — try easing one of the filters. High light with "CO₂ needed" is expert territory anyway.
Gear, honestly
Three starter kits, three budgets
Typical US prices for a 10–25 gallon setup, before plants and livestock. The middle kit is where most beginners are happiest — it grows everything on this page without the gas cylinder.
Low-Tech Starter
Typical total for 10–25 gal
$120–220
- Standard glass tank, 10–25 gal
- Basic LED light + plug-in timer
- Sponge or hang-on-back filter
- Inert sand or gravel + root tabs
- Anubias, Java fern, moss, crypts
Balanced Planted
Typical total for 10–25 gal
$280–450
- Rimless tank, 10–25 gal
- Full-spectrum planted-tank LED
- Canister filter for steady flow
- Nutrient aquasoil substrate
- All-in-one liquid fertiliser
High-Tech CO₂
Typical total, fully loaded
$550–900+
- Everything in Balanced, plus:
- Pressurised CO₂ kit with solenoid
- In-line diffuser + drop checker
- High-output light for carpets & reds
- Full EI or lean dosing fertiliser set
Straight answers
Questions every beginner asks
No. A large group of plants — Anubias, Java fern, crypts, Vallisneria, most mosses — grows perfectly well without injected CO₂, just more slowly. CO₂ becomes necessary when you want fast growth, dense carpets, or deep red colours from demanding stem plants. Start without it; add it later only if you outgrow the low-tech plant list.
Most aquarium plants are grown out of water at nurseries. When submerged, they shed their land leaves and grow new underwater ones — it looks like dying, but it's a wardrobe change. Don't dig the plant up: if the roots or rhizome are firm, new growth is coming. Remove fully rotted leaves so they don't foul the water.
Start at 6 hours a day for the first month, then increase by 30–60 minutes a week up to 8 hours if the tank stays clean. Algae almost always traces back to too much light for the amount of plant growth — when in doubt, shorten the day before you reach for chemicals. A cheap plug-in timer makes this effortless.
Please don't. A new filter has none of the bacteria that convert toxic ammonia into safer compounds, and that colony takes roughly 3–6 weeks to establish. Plants and shrimp-friendly patience now, fish later — the tank will reward you for it. Test for ammonia and nitrite reaching zero before stocking anything.
More plants. A tank planted densely from day one has dramatically fewer algae problems than a sparsely planted one, because the plants consume the nutrients algae would otherwise feast on. Second place: a liquid test kit — it turns guesswork about cycling and water changes into actual information.
The free first-tank setup checklist
One page, in the order you'd actually use it — shopping list, setup day, and a week-by-week rhythm for the first 90 days. Print it, tape it to the tank stand, tick things off.
- Full shopping list for all three budget tiers
- Setup-day sequence, hour by hour
- Cycling tracker: what to test, and when it's safe
- Weekly maintenance rhythm for the first 90 days