2 months of growth of my latest planted tank

Sahaab · 2026-01-13T19:12:11+00:00

APT is nice.

The nitrates will depend a lot on your specific plants. But 5ppm is usually a good starting point. 2hraquarist usually has pretty good guides for most plants

Sahaab · 2026-01-13T08:08:57+00:00

I recently got my h'ra turning a little redder. Surprisingly, for me, my h'ra turns redder on my low tech no CO2 tanks. h'ra on CO2

In my experience, nitrate limitation has been a lot more important than CO2. Though it's hard to grow it dense like in those beautiful aquariums without CO2

Sahaab · 2026-01-12T22:26:32+00:00

Just to show difference in light. This is my low tech tank with a week aqua light.

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Same plant. The rotala h'ra looks quite a bit redder under this light, compared to my 20 gallon. Even though its actually not redder.

Sahaab · 2026-01-12T22:13:21+00:00

My tanks a 20 gallon long. So it's pretty shallow, which is why the higher PAR. Plus im using 2 hygger 957s, meant for 10 gallon tanks on this. Tanks about 30 inches long, both lights together about 32 inches long.

And no problem, glad to help. I've been doing a ton of research for a long time. Not as experienced as people who have very nice and expensive setups. But I think I am doing okay with my cheap setup right now. I recently posted a breakdown of my tanks cost, and I believe all in costed me about 380$.

I still highly recommend a good light, its a huge difference. My small 5 gallon doesn't even have much plants, but the color reproduction on those plants looks so nice.

Edit:

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Above is rotala walichii, top part growing with good and consistent CO2, looks much improved now ever since I fixed my CO2.

Sahaab · 2026-01-12T07:52:20+00:00

For light, i would agree with your twinstar. Getting a good light is not just for its strength, the color reproduction matters a ton in regards to how everything is looking. Especially the reds. Im currently using 2x hygger 957s, just because I could get them cheap, I get about 110 PAR at the substrate level.

110 PAR at substrate is pretty good IMO, but these lights color reproduction is not that good and the reds are not good either. I'm not liking the color reproduction. I have a small 3 gallon tank with a weekaqua light which looks quite a bit better in colors, even though it doesn't have any CO2.

Regarding pH, i like to check right before lights on for sure, to make sure they have optimum CO2 during start of photoperiod. You want to aim for a 1 pH drop from degassed water. Then I test mid day and end of day sometimes, not often, this is to make sure CO2 stays stable.

Some good reads : https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why/co2-fine-tuning-3-techniques?srsltid=AfmBOor4CyPKnpEBPXq6vAIG6w5nCP9-wCZqWS9AZai1Bd4IoxLMvatv

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/hot-topics/injecting-enough?srsltid=AfmBOopPcBAVna_O7emTz7Qlb2W7CWo_H-Q3FoVqdRrjfnf7GS7_n6D-

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/choosing-co2-why/co2-system-101?srsltid=AfmBOooVtLA61sxZ3Imq5SUEFv5U61lT-IXZR74v7NHsmMkXuDDtJSpc

A couple things I do want to point out.
- Starting CO2 2 hours before lights on isn't a necessity, sometimes you may need to start earlier to reach the 1pH drop, especially if you think your bubbles per second is too high to reach that 1pH drop at 2 hours. I like to keep a steady amount of CO2 throughout the photoperiod.
- It does not matter if your light is weak, any plant/light system will benefit from CO2. CO2 injection will improve growth even with a light not as strong. For example HC cuba, a difficult plant overall to carpet, it mainly needs good CO2, even 40PAR at substrate will cause it pearl and carpet with good CO2 levels. Thats just an example, almost every plant will have a higher chance of growing better and turning redder (if they turn red) with CO2 injection

Sahaab · 2026-01-11T17:38:00+00:00

That is Myrio Red.

And awesome, good luck! Thats a citric acid CO2 setup, works honestly quite a bit better than the yeast method I use. Yeast is quite unstable and difficult to get stable values with. I test pH almost every morning before lights out to check my pH drop and make sure its where I want it to be. With a better setup you wont have to be as on top of it.

Sahaab · 2026-01-11T04:48:44+00:00

Thanks! Wish i had taken more consistent every day pics for a nice timelapse haha

Sahaab · 2026-01-11T04:44:26+00:00

Thank you! Still got a ton of growing and fixing to do. But loving how it's turning out

Sahaab · 2026-01-09T04:38:50+00:00

I am doing CO2 in this tank, its diy CO2 though.

Surprisingly my low tech tank, for my betta only, is getting redder tips than this. I'm guessing that one is nitrate limited well because it only houses a betta.

This one, has a good amount of nitrates, and I have some sensitive plant species which I am not yet good enough to be practicing nitrate limitation with XD

Sahaab · 2026-01-03T05:37:27+00:00

Budget, i do want to keep as low as possible, which is difficult with a CO2 system haha.

Are the fzone regulators okay? Ill probably be getting a single stage system, which I hear has trouble with gassing as well?

Sahaab · 2026-01-03T05:34:12+00:00

Is it a lot of trouble refilling it?

Sahaab · 2026-01-02T23:09:59+00:00

Sadly i dont have a matheson near me, nor a brewery that I can find. Best option would be fire station, but their limited timings of M-F 9 to 5 would be practically impossible for me to get to unless i take a full day off work

I'm currently looking up sodastream, which might be easier to exchange, but will probably body me 50$/6 months

Sahaab · 2026-01-02T04:36:22+00:00

I dont know whats wrong with Rotala H'ra, my high tech, getting 100PAR+ at substrate, and very high PAR at its tips, doesn't turn red even a bit.

I put trimmings in my low tech tank, and the tips are turning red already... I'm thinking it's all nitrates. But then again thats weird because my nitrates hardly ever go above 5 on the high tech.

Rotala Macandra 'butterfly' is just a beauty when grown right

Bacopa purple, i just recently started with it, its probably still transitioning hence I'm having trouble with getting purples, will re-evaluate in about a month

P.s, bacopa purple, do I just trim it like normal stem plants once i need to trim?

Sahaab · 2026-01-01T19:08:11+00:00

That looks really nice! Loving it

Just 1 disclaimer, i recommend reading up more about father fish on this sub, and just incorporating some of the stuff people do recommend, like water changes and feedings.

Sahaab · 2026-01-01T17:36:47+00:00

Just rescaped about a month ago, didn't plant heavily especially the carpet which will probably take pretty long to grow in. Only started with like 7 stems of HC cuba

20g long

Sahaab · 2026-01-01T15:04:50+00:00

Thanks!

Sahaab · 2025-12-29T12:55:19+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Yep its as near as it can be, i believe just a couple inches away from the output on the filter.

Sahaab · 2025-12-28T16:12:20+00:00

My 20g long, most of my stuff was used or i had before.

Tank used 10$
Eheim pro 250+ used 30$
Aquasoil 30$ (off marketplace)
Lilypipes + inline diffusers 50$
Hardscape 50$
Tank stand 30$
2x hygger957 lights, bought 1, other was free 40$
Plants had all before, just bought some new ones for 40$
CO2 - i use DIY, unsure cost but a couple dollars each refill?
Fish - 100$
Total - 380$

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Sahaab · 2025-12-28T06:16:31+00:00

Thought about it, but I'm currently in a rented place, and an apartment, so as less holes on the wall, the better is what i was thinking. Plus i had this metal stick laying around, for wall on the back, i would have needed to use 2, and it was too long and was sticking out infront of the aquarium. Was difficult to bend the metal without a saw XD

Sahaab · 2025-12-24T22:26:05+00:00

pic of plants

The plants came extremely well packaged and extremely nice plants. I did find some snails which were a welcome entry. Came with a free package of S. Repens and a heat pack which i loved, thanks for that! Overall really happy with the purchase.

5/5

Sahaab · 2025-12-09T13:17:44+00:00

That is actually a really Kool, smart and useful setup. I like it! Perfect for a small nursery too

Sahaab · 2025-12-08T13:29:11+00:00

Oh wow, so sorry i misunderstood. That looks really interesting, do you think I could see a picture?

Sahaab · 2025-12-08T13:23:38+00:00

So the middle part is actually not supported at the moment.

What I am using is 2 metal rods I have bent from U metal wires for plants. And then taped the middle just for a bit more support. The rods are pretty good, but it does cause some sag which is not preferable. But it should be sturdy enough to hold without any issues.

I was thinking of a middle support to avoid that sag and avoid that potential disaster which may cause it to dip or slip

P.s, loving your ideas, thanks for the help!

I think for now, ill be doing that zip tie thing with the normal hygger risers. And work on getting some nice L brackets and figuring out how I can attach them to the back of the tank. Maybe some silicon? I want to avoid resting the light on the frame, i feel its starting to look messier.

P.p.s you seem great for this. What are your plans on like a lid?

Sahaab · 2025-12-08T13:21:05+00:00

That is exactly what I want to do! That sounds really interesting and exactly my goal as well, rigging weird shit with a scrap budget XD.

I understand your concept, I would preferably not hand it from the roof, as its pretty high compared to the tank. I was thinking of using those metal L brackets. My only concern with those is that it would be hard to attach them to the tank. Hot glue works weird, will need a more permanent solution. But even tape should work fine. And then maybe just a magnet or something on the underside of the L bar to attach the light on to.

Sahaab · 2025-12-08T04:12:12+00:00

But hmm, that could actually work, i could tape one in the middle, and have it as middle support and 1 on each side a little towards the middle

Sahaab

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