# My first planted 7.5g tank



## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

Here is my first planted tank that I am just starting on. Its a Penn Plax Radius tank with a Finnex Plant + light and a Fluval C2 power filter. I have Flora Max as my substrate. I couldnt find any Eco Complete locally and I wasnt about to mess with Flourite. I have a piece of drift wood and a java fern that I picked up at Petsmart. I will be using this tank as a show tank for my male guppies and shrimps. I am also having a custom made oak aquarium stand for the tank.

I am not very creative and new to this, so my question is: with the drift wood where it is, what should I plant and where. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

Which drift wood looks better? The big or small one?


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## falcooo (Sep 30, 2011)

I like the larger piece better. Also, you can't plant the java fern in the substrate like that, you need to tie it to the driftwood and it will grow onto it. You could also get a few low light plants like crypts and anubias to throw in there. 

I would think to place the wood in a back corner angled out. With large lush plants (java fern would work once grown out) coming from the same corner. With anubias and crypts on either side of the wood. And some open space in the front corner opposite the wood. 

You may want to pick up a sponge filter to cover the intake. My shrimp kept getting sucked into my Aquaclear before I put the sponge on. They're very cheap on eBay.


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

falcooo said:


> I like the larger piece better. Also, you can't plant the java fern in the substrate like that, you need to tie it to the driftwood and it will grow onto it. You could also get a few low light plants like crypts and anubias to throw in there.
> 
> I would think to place the wood in a back corner angled out. With large lush plants (java fern would work once grown out) coming from the same corner. With anubias and crypts on either side of the wood. And some open space in the front corner opposite the wood.
> 
> You may want to pick up a sponge filter to cover the intake. My shrimp kept getting sucked into my Aquaclear before I put the sponge on. They're very cheap on eBay.


Thanks for your input. I was leaning the same way. I just wasnt sure on which drift wood to use. I planted the java fern like that just to give the drift wood some scale. I am thinking about putting it im my other tank once I get some other plants. Petsmarts plant selection was pretty slim last night.


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## falcooo (Sep 30, 2011)

Put together a list of the plants you want, and a lot of times you will be able to find those plants from other members on here.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Small tank, so plants with Nana, Dwarf and similar names is good.


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

Here is what my tank looks like so far. Still needs a lot of tweaking though. Still need to figure out what to put behind the drift wood. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## Katey (Mar 17, 2013)

Some crypts would look nice!


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## Midnighttide102 (Oct 2, 2014)

If u burry the java it will kill the plant there not meant to be planted into the substrate tie to either the wood or to a rock


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## sponge1234 (Jan 6, 2014)

Make sure to tie the java fern to the wood and that the anubias rhinziom is not buried. Crypts behind the wood would be cool. Something grassy like would be cool in back left corner.
Good start!!


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

sponge1234 said:


> Make sure to tie the java fern to the wood and that the anubias rhinziom is not buried. Crypts behind the wood would be cool. Something grassy like would be cool in back left corner.
> Good start!!


I took the java fern out and put it in my other tank on a small piece of drift wood. The anubias are being held by the drift wood. I didnt burry the rhizome. I do have some crypts behind the drift wood. They are small at the moment. I was thinking dwarf hair grass, but I dont know how they will do without CO2. For the back left corner I was thinking something like a sword then a little grassy area and then a bare spot in the front left corner. Thanks for your input. Keep the advice coming.


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## sponge1234 (Jan 6, 2014)

For the dwarf hair grass, you can do DIY co2 or flourish excel. If you do flourish excel then remember to start out small so you don't burn your plants.
Looking good!:icon_smil


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

Here is an updated pic of what my tank looks like. There is some new growth coming out of all the plants. This is after a week and a couple of days. I eneded up putting some root tabs to help a little with the crypts. I still need to add a few more plants, but I dont really know what to do with the left side. The repens will probably come out and go to my other tank.

11-21:
















12-1:


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I think vals would great in the background.


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

Update on my tank: I added some dwarf hair grass and some green crypt. I also started dosing .7 ml of excel and 7 drops of macro micro mix daily. It really has helped a lot. I just need to add some moss, blue and red shrimp and some pygmy cories and I think I will be finished. Let me know what you guys think.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

Looks nice to me! I'm about to start a planted small tank and I think I'll follow yours! Here I was thinking I was going to have to spend a boatload of $$ but looking at what you have makes me think I was wrong.


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## capt.dru (Nov 13, 2014)

schnebbles said:


> Looks nice to me! I'm about to start a planted small tank and I think I'll follow yours! Here I was thinking I was going to have to spend a boatload of $$ but looking at what you have makes me think I was wrong.


Thanks for the compliment. I probably have close to $300 invested in this tank. All of my plants came from Petsmart, the ones that come packaged, since I didn't want to run the risk of getting snails. I have been impressed how they have turned out so far. I just got 3 pygmy cories this weekend. Now I need to figure out what kind of shrimp to get. If you have any questions, let me know and I will try to help you out.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

Thanks! I'm going to try my LED light and if it doesn't work, get another one. I got some eco complete coming. Going to get a different filter too. Mine is all submersible and I doubt it is enough.


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## emoji (Jan 8, 2016)

I'm stoked to see this is a recent thread, was just googling to find some examples of people using this tank. This looks great so far, really promising. Will definitely be following. Some frogbit might look cool with the bent corners! 

I am really considering either this or a 6g long for my betta. Kind of feel bad taking him from a 20g long to a 10g to a 7.5. I was originally going to put him in the 17g I'm planning but he gets blown around unless there's basically no flow. You think this tank has a decent footprint for a betta tank? Sorry for getting off topic xD


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