# First Dirted Tank - Evolve 8



## jahjah440 (Jan 14, 2014)

This is my first dirted tank. I used an Aqueon Evolve 8 tank. 1 inch of top soil substrate littered with root tabs and a 1/2 inch layer of sand. My local petstore is closing so all their plants were 90% off, so I grabbed as many as I could and threw them in here! 









Right now all I have living in there is 3 guppies. Hope to add some snails and cherry shrimp!


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## sangckim5 (Sep 15, 2013)

Nice tank!

I also started a dirted tank but it came out to be too messy…
90% off is such a good deal!!! Not to disappoint you, the plant with the white stripe is not aquatic :icon_sad: But I believe all the others are :thumbsup:
And I think cherries will be very good inhabitants in there :smile:


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## THE V (Nov 17, 2011)

The striped one is a great houseplant or terrarium plant. It does well with it's roots in the water and it's leaves breathing some fresh air.


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## ElviaRogers (Jan 3, 2014)

It looks just awesome. The green shrub just accentuates the water and gives it a nice breezy feel. The lighting is also pretty good. Calm and subtle.


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## TekWarren (Oct 6, 2013)

Very nice! It looks like using a second stock light provides pretty decent lighting. I am not using my stock light, maybe I should try to ROAK or trade it if someone was interested in it.


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## jahjah440 (Jan 14, 2014)

Thank you for all the compliments everyone. Regarding the lighting, I simply emailed Aqueon telling them some of the LEDs on my light died, and they sent me a new one. No questions asked. I also took out the white striped plant and placed it in a windowsill, as some suggested.

Sadly, today was the last day of my LFS being open, so all the remaining plants were actually $0.01 each. I added some crypts right up front, 2 marimo balls, an extra java moss ball and a java fern attached to a rock. I paid 5 cents for everything!










Anyway, I'm hoping the crypts will grow nice and thick in the front, and all the other plants start filling in the tank too. I want a jungle look! The plants really love the dirt substrate and the upgraded lighting, some of my apogenton have even started pearling!


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## jahjah440 (Jan 14, 2014)

Oh yes, I also bought that plant you see in the bottom left. The dark green one. Can anyone identify that plant?


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## SouthernGorilla (Mar 22, 2012)

Good luck with the shrimp. The guppies we had ate all our cherry shrimp.

Dirt is the way to go.


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## Redtail84 (Nov 27, 2012)

the one on the bottom left looks like it might be dwarf sag. I like your setup!


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## jahjah440 (Jan 14, 2014)

It's been about 2 weeks since my last update, so I thought I'd give you another look at my tank. 










The inhabitants









Someone hitched a ride on a plant!

















This plant is having problems. Should I cut the leaf off?


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

I really like the aqueon evolve, I've got a 4.

Your setup looks great.


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## cownose-ray (Sep 28, 2013)

The dark green one is nonaquatic mondo grass. Take it out of your tank.
Otherwise, i like this setup a lot.


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## dubels (Jun 14, 2012)

jahjah440 said:


> Thank you for all the compliments everyone. Regarding the lighting, I simply emailed Aqueon telling them some of the LEDs on my light died, and they sent me a new one. No questions asked.


Man you got lucky. My light has had problems since it was a month old. First it was two flickering LEDs but now half of them flicker. I tried to get them to replace it but they insisted that I send it back. Due to the weird dimensions I just figured sending one back and waiting for a possible replacement was too costly. O well. 

Nice looking evovle. Surprised you don't have too much flow with the stock lump and air stone running.


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