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I have discovered that planting out aquascapes, especially when one doesn’t yet have a large enough ‘farm tank’, creates a bit of a hot dogs vs. buns problem. Order too many plants, now you need somewhere to put them.

Having recently planted two smaller tanks, I found myself, once again, with an excess of plants left over. I have four choices. Throw them out. Put them in my holding/quarantine tanks (that are already beyond capacity). Start a new tank (but I don’t want to move it later). Or try my hand at some little terrariums?

With the holidays coming up, I figured I would try the latter. I had the plants, and some extra jungle soil after making a friend a Shizuku for Christmas. I found some cute little terrariums with built-in LEDs on Amazon. At least this way I can use up the plants I have, and have decided I will gift these to my employees for the holidays. As they have the light integrated in the lid, which does have an adjustable vent, at least they won’t need to source their own light.



It was fun to play with some stones I haven't used in an aquascape. Jade Stone, Millenium Stone, Dragon Stone, and Dark Seiryu, and I knocked these four out over the weekend. Not complicated, but at least the plants now have a chance to do something other than wither away in their pots and TC cups. My Lindernia started blooming out of its holding tank this week, and I never realized what lovely little blue flowers they have when growing emersed. So a little of that found its way into the jar with the Millenium Stone. Hoping it makes it!

I am curious how many of you also dabble in growing some of our standard aquarium plants in emersed setups? I can totally see myself making more, maybe a Neo Glass Air next. Nobody warned me how much of a slippery slope this hobby was going to morph into when I started back up a year ago. Are there enough of us that would make it worthwhile to set up a ‘Planted Terrariums & Paludariums Discussion’ forum here to share our setups and experiences growing emersed? It’s still scaping, and growing plants, just with a little less water and maintenance. Or would that be outside the scope of this group?

Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.

Started a new tank with the idea of show casing Lagenandra meeboldii which I have not showcased before. Wanted to feature Hygrophila lower Hlaingbwe, but I removed it later as I think it would be too large for this tank.

New substrate, new filter, squeezed filter mulm from the other matured tank, then ran the tank one week day before planting. 100% water change after planting, then 100% water change every other day since then. Dosing 1ml APT3 after water change day, and remineralizing to 5dGH using APT Sky. Trying out the low water column dosing approach for the initial period.

Filter: Oase 250
Lights: Week aqua a430 80%
Substrate: APT Feast

Was going to Journal about startup issues, however, it seems like the tank has already stabilized, skipping diatoms and green dust phase.

Freshly planted for a couple of days:
13/2/2026


Replanted the tops for Myriophyllum roraima, Cut and replanted Rotala blood red to begin building up the bush form. Trimmed old leaves
Foreground seems a bit blocky for now, so I think I'lll move stuff round again. Probably when the BV grows out some more.
Pic on 23/2/2026

Readings at this stage:
Potassium: 2.3ppm
Ammonia: 0.1ppm

reduce water changes to 2 times a week.

Santa came early this year with a new 75g tank. I've never owned a 4' tank ever been stuck on the normal 30" wide 29g and 20g's forever. I wanted the uns 90u 36x22x22 but 750.00 is nuts to me I don't have that much in all tanks and equip I own so went cheap route.
Saw the 75g at PetSmart the imagitarium brand for 150 on sale. Those cheapos have bad reviews on leaking and I believe it as I actually picked up a free leaky 75g imagitarium at petco last week and sold it for snake terrarium for 40.00. Went to petco they also have the 50% off sale on marineland and aqueon. The tank was 159.00 out the door. Got lucky the manager said take this set of new glass tops for free, were a return they cant sell it.I assume the made in USA marineland is a better tank than the other cheapos and I actually don't mind the black silicone.

Went to Lowes today for some wood 4- 2x4x8 and 2- 2x4x10 and sheet if 1/2 osb for top and bottom shelf and for extra strength. When I get done I'm sure it would hold a 300g tank. Will wrap the tank in either bead board wood paneling or 1/4" plywood with some nice moulding on corners. Def gotta make a lip to hide the bottom plastic rim as well so its not so ugly. probably build a hood to why not hide some rims! Just gotta build or find a pair of doors on something else I can steal and use for this stand. I don't plan on getting it setup for few weeks but want stand base 1/2 done now so I can try some diff dry scapes with wood and rocks in it. This will be replacing my 20long I was scaping in other journal its now a plant farm full of ludwigia and plants for sale.
Still not sure on the name on this tank, Whipple landing is where I took some pics I want to copy for the tank. Its feed by the great pee dee river here so name may change later.

I started my first tank as an adult about a year ago, and have posted updates on it in my other journal , the Beginner Scaper Journal. I had intended the other journal to be a journey for this new tank but there were so many variables and many questions about the other set up that i thought it would best to start this new journal.

I am going to hold on to my beginner/amateur flair to the post since I think this is such a great hobby and want newcomers to know that everyone started as an amateur

Tank Inspiration
Dennis Wong's planted tanks. If you guys don't know who this is, I have already served a good purpose by introducing you to the founder of the 2Hr aquarist. He has a scientific horticulturist approach to planted tank that resonates well to my scientific mind. He is one of the few that I have read and listened to who mentions the different schools of thoughts when it comes to managing planted tanks and does not stick with a single approach.

Anyways a long winded rambling to say that everyone should read through the 2hr aquarist website. His products are all called APT (Advanced planted tank), and i think that is what his company was called before. His current display tanks are all planted tanks, which are beautiful mostly without hardscape but with lush plant growth and do not follow the rules of Dutch scaping. To anyone who wants to understand his philosophy more, i would recommend in addition to the website watch some videos where he has been interviewed.

I wanted to re-create this type of tank, but obviously as a beginner/amateur. I am hoping to learn more about growing plants with my ultimate goal to advance to a next scape which might be more nature style where i can take the knowledge from growing plants and now incorporate hardscape to it.

Equipment
Tank
- Waterbox mini 25

• 60 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm
• 90 liters or 24 gallons
• This is a big upgrade from my 29 gallon standard tank. The silicone work is flawless.
• It does come with a leveling mat.
• It is deeper and slightly taller than a 60P or UNS 60U. I thought it would be useful to have more depth.
• Background - Thanks to @Jeff Miotke suggestion

Stand

• Waterbox stand - Black
• The main contention is that it does not come with side holes like some of the other expensive stands do.
• It just comes with opening in the back, so getting the tubing out is messy.
• The door attachment is a soft close but it needs to be leveled which can be finicky
• I did add a magnetic holder for tools and will add some light as well at some point.
• It does come with leveling foot holders.
• It is nicely built other wise.
• I wish it came with a pull out like the Oase stands but guess would be very expensive.
• Overall Ok, but nothing to highly recommend about.

Filter

• Oase Biomaster 350 thermo
• Replaced the biological media with Seachem Matrix
• Replaced one of the foams with Seachem Matrix as well.
• Steel lily pipes from GLA with extension. I think many of liked this company. But I personally would not buy anything again from them. They had quality control issues with this. One of the holders were metal and other acrylic and they would not send me another metal one. These are not the cheapest especially and you also have to buy extension separately. These are made by a chinese company and not made by GLA.
• I used to have glass lily pipes but got tired of cleaning them.

Skimmer

• I read many people commenting that using a skimmer attached to the inflow or outflow might be a pain to adjust, so ended up getting the Oase Crystal skim

CO2

• Fzone Co2 inline diffuser
• These work great and this is the second one that i have gotten. Trouble free but might need to replace parts of it if it gets clogged. Important thing is that it can be opened to clean.
• I have a Fzone dual stage regulator
  • Cheapest that i could find and works very well - highly recommend

Water

• I use RO water and remineralize it with APT Sky to a GH of around 4. Use the calculator on APT webpage.
• My goals are to have a low KH, and GH of around 4 - 5.

Substrate

• APT feast about 12 Liters
• You can read about my experience cycling it here using Dark Start (sort of)
• I did not want Aquasoil in the front of the tank and wanted a thin lining of gravel so used a gravel from Carribsea, and some smooth lava stones to separate them. More about this later but i don't really like the way it turned out.

Lighting

• Chihiros WRGB II - 10th anniv edition - 60 cm.

Plant List (Links provided to their care on the 2 hr Aquarist website if interested)

Background

• Left - Rotala blood red
• Middle - Rotala Tulunadensis (From Burr Aqua)
• Right - Alteranthera Reineckii Rosaefolia

Midground

• Left - Blyxa Joponica
• Middle - Ludwigea Arcuata, Pogostemon Decannensis, Rotala Florida, Staurogyne Repens
• Right - Syngonathus Belem/Macrocaulon(From Burr Aqua)

Foreground

• Left - Lobelia cardinalis mini
• Middle/Right - S.Repens and Montecarlo
• Still to come - Eleocharis Aricularis mini (in the place where the stones are)

Misc

• Clump of Hydrocortyle Tripartita to absorb nitrogen - Trust me you do not want this plant for any other reason, will take over your tank and get everything into a tangled mess.

Fish List (Preliminary)

• 4 Rasbora espei
• 2 Otos
• Will be adding more from my prior tank

Maintenance Parameters

• Lighting - 30% - 8 am - 3 pm
• Co2 - 40 ppm by Hanna co2 kit, 5 am - 3 pm
• Fertilizer - APT 1 - Still not settled on a routine but the recommended dose for daily dosing would be about 2.3 ml and i do about 2-3 ml every 3 days.
• Water changes 75% every 3 - 4 days, will make it weekly in the next couple of weeks

Photos
photo 1 - Day 11
Photo 2 - Day 20
Photo 3 - Day 21 - Current - Testing - Ammonia 0, Nitrate about 10 on API kit - Changed filter outlet location to get reduced current
Photo 4 - Day 21 - Side view

Thanks for reading so far!

There has been some good growth, some expected filamentous algae/diatmos and some melting, all expected hopefully this would not get too bad.
The Rotala blood red, Florida and Ludwigea arcuata are doing great. Both the florida and Arcuata seems to do much better on the aquasoil than on my prior intert substrate.
Blyxa melted a little but getting better, the Tulunadensis is struggling. The rest holding stable.
Interesting observation - The Rotala blood red, started putting out lot of roots and side shoots which i think is mainly because the plant was being pushed by the current to almost bend sideways and I believe it is thinking that it close the surface and doing its thing. With the changed filter outlet location I am hoping that it will be more erect and when i cut and replant there will be less roots. 2hr aquarist has written about this as well, but i think the bending sideways leading to rooting is not mentioned.

I am not liking the layout as much as i thought i would. Have been discussing with BurrAqua and have some suggestions but still thinking about this. Thoughts and suggestions welcome. Hopefully lot of people with (@Burr740 , @Dennis Wong @Art @techman81 @Pepere @Unexpected @Naturescapes_Rocco @Jeff Miotke @BenB @DutchMuch ) and without experience will follow and share this tank journey with me.

This is a great forum and i have tagged people that i am familiar with on the forum who have answered my questions and helped.

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @skittlepuke!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

Hey all,

Just wondering what your thoughts or experiences are with running some form of moon or dusk lighting.
With my tank only running 8hrs of light per day, I have recently added a 2-3% setting on my Chihiros WRGB II from 18:00 - 21:00.
It's running quite a blue light and is just so that I can still get some enjoyment from my fish when I am at home in the evening.

Does anyone else do this in planted tanks? Do you think it will create algae issues?

Cheers
Chimera

I am working on my mistakes…. The next one will be huge.

Instead of continuing the old build thread, I wanted to make a new one. This build might go just as terrible, but I want to put the old one behind me. I really wish I had given myself a month or two break because I feel like I have algae PTSD. I’m pretty burned out, and I sort of dread trying again. Oh well, too late now.

I wanted to try 2Hr Aquarist stuff, but already had the Controlsoil. I bought it a year prior (see previous journal) and decided to go ahead and use it. Hopefully I’ll make a successful transition to nutrient depleted aquasoil, and then restart with the 2Hr stuff later.

I didn't plan on starting a new journal until about a month in, but since my aquasoil is already starting to give out of ammonia, I need to get it going to get help making the transition to full NPK dosing.

With that said…..

Ben’s Plant Pharm 2.0
(BTW, in case you were wondering, I’m a pharmacist. Hence the pharm)

Setup Date
8-11-25 (Day 0)

Goals
Enjoying some farming.
Successfully navigate the different stages of aqusoil nutrient release and subsequent depletion.

Tank
ADA 60p

Light
Chihiros WRGB Pro II
Starting out at 40% of the Fish setting
Red 53, Blue 34, Green 55, White 23
PAR 105 under the light (estimated)

Substrate
UNS Extra Fine Black 1 x 10L bag

Plants
From Previous Build
Xiris Red from S21 Aquatics
Eriocaulon quinguangulare from Cherries Nature Aquarium

TC plants from Buce Plant
Cryptocoryne parva, Pogostemon helferi, Rotala Sunset
Came in in questionable shape despite paying extra for insulated box. Were very jumbled.

TC from The Fish Room
Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’, Rotala macrandra, Gratiola viscidula, Rotala wallichi, Lobelia Cardinalis ‘Mini’

From S21 Aquatics
Synogonthas Vichada, Centrolepis drummondiana (Blood Vomit)

From Aquatic Plants Factory
Pogostemon stellatus Dassen and Rotala Florida? (TBD)

Fertilizer
Micros: Burr Aquatic Trace (BurrFertz)
Macros: DIY- dosages to be determined
PO, K, Mg at the beginning. Been adding about 2-3ppm PO4 daily
Transition to the addition of NO3 as aquasoil depletes

Filter
Oase HOB BioStyle

CO2
Injected via GLA regulator
Bar type diffuser placed inside the HOB filter

Livestock
None

Notes

• The Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’ was in bad shape when I opened the container. Might have been bad when I got it and then it was a week before I used it.
• 8-15-25: Added Synogonthas Vichada and Blood Vomit. Checked NO3 for the first time. It was 40. Started making twice weekly water changes.
• 8-18-25: Increased light to 45% of the full “Fish” setting. PAR should be just about 114
• 8-23-25: Pogostemon stellatus Dassen and Rotala Florida added
• 8-29-25: Discovered my NO3 was 0. Aquasoil is giving out way earlier than I expected
• Had a short diatom period, but it seems to be resolving
• I had planned to increase my light to 50% of full "Fish" setting which would be a (tested) PAR of 126, but right now, things are going so good, I don't want to mess it up. We'll hold off for now.
• 8-31-25: Starting to dose my own mixture of NPK and Mg. I really need to determine my actual water volume. What I am trying to dose, and what it tests as after I dose it are a good bit off.

Day 0






Day 1


Week 1


Week 2


Week 3






Here you can see the older Rotala Sunset on the left. On the right is supposed to be Rotala Florida, but it is looking a lot like the Sunset did at the same stage. Argh!


Pogostemon stellatas Dassen changing from emersed to submersed form


Syn Vichada is doing pretty good. It is growing slow. The new growth is all green and the old growth is dying off. I want to cut old leaves and clean it up a little, but right now, I don't really want to disturb it. I watch it every minute. I loving having it.

I've done some reading on the subject of reusing aquasoil. There are videos showing fully removing the soil, cleaning it to remove all old detritus, and then even baking it. @Dennis Wong (2hr Aquarist) discusses regular replenishing of depleted aquasoil but I didn't see an article on a complete new scape using old soil. It seems to me that once you have removed all hardscape and livestock from a tank, you could remove a partial amount of soil, stir up what is remaining quite well while also doing a deep vacuum to remove as much detritus as possible, and then add in fresh soil to desired substrate level. In theory this would leave a substantial amount of beneficial bacteria in the tank, and if you're also reusing biomedia, the tank would cycle in very short time.

I was about to start the next couple new tanks with new soil but have paused to consider these options. I currently have 3 scapes that I'll be breaking down, but I can break down one tank at a time now, clean the soil in the tank as I described and, move the soil to the new tank (along with the additional new soil). The catch is that I would still have to do the scaping either underwater, or holding off filling with water for the extended time while I place hardscape, so I don't know how well live bacteria in the old soil would handle that.

Curious to hear other's thoughts, especially if you've actually done this.

I hadn't seen it mentioned by others that attended Aquashella, but if you hadn't already heard about it or seen it in Aquashella videos, ADA has come out with Amazonia Pro. It's not a replacement for Version 2, but an addition. It is essentially Version 2 on steroids with higher nutrients and of course the negative side effect of potentially higher initial ammonia leaching and, if your not prepared and skilled, more chance of algae. That's even from the mouth of Homma-san himself. The scaping competitors were using it in the competition and AFA was selling 9l bags at the show. They said it would be available on the website within the next couple weeks.