I have watched 1000s of aquarium videos and man is your series a breath of fresh air. You don't skip important details . You don't waste a ton of time. You rapidly cover all the angles, with enthusiasm and humor. Your videos are awesome 👌
First time ever seeing one of your videos. Subscribing just because you told people with plastic plants not to talk to you 😂 I feel that. Plastic plants suck!!
Right???? I CRINGE when I look back when I was a little kid and I used to be obsessed with all of the bright colored/neon gravel and neon purple plants LOL. But hey, that's typically how people do it when they're kids or when first setting up their first tank. As an adult I definitely take a purist approach and can't stand to put anything fake in. Not my style!
You don`t just explain , you educate . Beginner Series..... that`s for me ! I don`t even have a tank yet , I`m just researching , and the conflicting information is really frustrating. Regardless , I have just aquired Diana Walstad`s book and the learning has begun. Subscribed.
Good the hear. Now jump in. Nothing will teach you more than experience. And if you fail, start again. Like I say in this video, you will most likely fail: ua-cam.com/video/w2WStvtz52Y/v-deo.html
great video and helps me focus more on how to get started lol got a 65L tank sitting here for..... almost 2mths now lol, ever since someone mentioned aquascaping and I fell in love with the whole idea of making my tank unique and full of plant life and fish
A good Planted Tank starts before you start it. A good Plan is everything What Plants do you want to keep When you know this you know what Light you need To much Light is even bad than to low light. When you know that you can plan your Hardscape, playing around with rocks and Roots, choose the whole Plantcomposition. Even it all starts with a really good Substrate I always recommend Soil when it comes to heavy Planted Tanks A good Substratebuild is very important. I understand when People say the Ada-System is to expensive for me. But there are cheaper soils, instead of Additives you can get Nutritioncapsules in the Substrate etc But it isn't just getting Sand in it, plant some Plants and it will work. Well, I found this channel a few weeks before and this is one of the few good Channels outside of Europe. Thumbs up. Not pushing some Articles for Money, just pure Education. Love it. Got a new Sub
Planted tanks look amazing .... I've tried and failed but I guess it was because my heart wasn't it 100% and o gave up pretty easily .... great info and perfect video 🤗🤗
Me, crying with my silk plants cuz my goldfish would even eat me without hesitation if they had teeth: I watch these videos to live vicariously through y'all
Godfish are goats (water pigs), but you can actually grow some plants with them. You're not relegated to plastic even with goldfish :) . Just more work
I can agree with the statement of conflicting information! I am new to live plants and aquascaping (I've owned fish tanks in the past) and find peace in setting up/ creating scenes however it can be intimidating at times! Looking forward to learning a lot and sharing my future creations with you all! Thanks for helping me start out :)
just for the troll comment you get a thumbs up. in the 25 years I've kept aquariums, I've been discouraged so many times esp about nano reef setups! you can tell the people who want to help, they usually use IMO rather than snarky or condescending comments. my current planted tank has been up for 6 years. 2 power heads, a heater and an AI prime FW. never ran mechanical filtration, just 50% WC every other week, ferts. AND I feed pretty heavily twice a day. my bamboo shrimp has been in there since after cycle! really good advice man, I think you did a good job of touching mid water so to say. from there it's just a matter of getting more complicated as you learn.
Just wanted to say thanks for the great planted tank videos! Your videos are easy to understand, interesting, and encouraging. I'm getting back into the aquarium hobby after years away, starting with a 10 gal planted for nano fish. There's SO much info out there, it's overwhelming. Your channel is really helpful!
extremely helpful video! I've had a 10 gallon aquarium for an year and a half, with no success with plants. for my 15th birthday, i was given the opportunity to do a complete makeover, funded by my parents. i'm deciding to do a heavily dirted tank with plants like S Repens, val, bacopa, and dwarf sag. great series!!
Yay! I'm glad you think so and it helped! Help share it around and that'll help me get more subs. :) Thank you for subbing and welcome to the Water Box! :)
I watched all these videos one year ago, and today I have a beautiful planted tank that is running beautifully! Of course I've had several sad trial-and-error learning experiences, but I'm so glad I jumped in and turned in to a true hobbyist! I'm having so much fun! P.S. I highly recommend Dr. Tim's bacterial products, particularly the nitrifying one. I think they are the reason my tank has done as well as it is.
Good God, why I haven’t got the net in mid 90’s when as a early teenager I’ve tried to do planted tanks. Videos like this one would be a whole ton of info which I’ve had to learn over 20 years. Some of tanks were a disasters some of them were quite good, there was plentiful of mistakes and some success too. These days all you young (and not only 😉) people need to research a bit and follow simple guidelines in precious videos like this one. Great job 👍.
you know what ... i can spend hours listening to The Water Box, man, i have watched weeks of UA-cam trying to understand more about aquascaping and boy they talk alot of crap and without any topics and breakdown as clean as this one, or maybe i should spend another months watching other youtube channel ? nay ... i just bought a tank today and i'll stick to The Water Box ... simple because its packed with information and proper step by step guide ... oh and i stop asking question in the forum too ... basically they will ask me to go read the previous post ... but that post usually is full of showoffs with extreme expensive setup ... hello .. im noobs ... great work dude and all the best ...
Awe! Thanks man! I'm super glad this is helping you. This is why I make the videos in the first place and make me want to keep making more. I been on a break but coming back soon! Keep aquateching!
I second this comment!! I'm just beginning to research setting up co2 on my tanks and these videos are the KEY. I'm a person who likes to understand the science behind things. So the fact that you explain how to do it AND the science behind all of it... is just... amazingly helpful. I just found your channel YESTERDAY and have already learned so much!! The science I was already familiar with; but, connecting it to my planted tanks just connects all the pieces!! I've had this puzzle in shambles, and now I can successfully connect the pieces to see the beautiful zen garden... The kind that doesn't make me want to punch a duck 😂👊🦆
Such a great series on planted tanks. This video is both informative and entertaining and I've not seen it done better on UA-cam. Great job!!! Thanks for sharing and keep doing what you do if it works for you.
Awesome intro video. Looking forward to starting out with planted aquarium. I'm planting a brand new 37 gallon, since everybody says larger tanks are more forgiving when it comes to water chemistry.
Thank you for sharing this very educational tutorial on the Planted Tank. I enjoyed watching. Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to see the other parts. I already subscribed and put notifications on, so I won’t miss any videos.
Awesome video man really appreciate it! Good content I've noticed in my years of doing this that the fish behavior is completely different one except planted tank. When I was a kid we weren't even planting planting times or at least I wasn't what they were selling in the stores but that was a long time ago.
Great video and thank you for the knowledge, most of all, for encouraging new aquarists to continue about their journey and gain experience. You're right, the internet is full of trolls,.which can discourage new aquarists when they encounter their first failure. We all fail, all we can do is pick up the pieces and learn. Who would have thought that an MBU puffer could live with guppies like Cory has it set up lol. I love this hobby while tinkering with ideas, we learn a lot about ourselves.
Totally agree. One of the worse is the trolling about what can or can't live together. I think really it drills down to if it's working for you then you're good to go.
Also I bought some shrimp from pets at home (the British pet store chain), and ended up with a legion of tiny snails, which was cute until I had more snails than fish. So yeah, I'd recommend quarantining plants (especially moss balls as they're in the fish tanks) from pets at home!!
This was perfect, I'm properly basic with this 🙌 🙏about to set up my first tank ever and going with real plants, I hope they survive. Fishy comes later
I agreed with everything you said here! Great info and you didnt preach anything like it was factual. Like you said, there is no one proven way, different people have had success in any number of ways. Only thing I noticed is at 9:16 you say Submersed. Plants grown out of water are called " EMERESED " plants grown in water is called " SUBMERSED".
Yeh, as a fellow planted nut, We find out easy nothing is every the same with every tank. It's frustrating but kinda fascinating at the same time! DAMN IT! Did I get that backwards again? I keep doing that!!
You know, I do that with football all the time. I get mixed up because defense and offense because I can never remember if you are DEFENDING the goal or DEFENDING the ball! lol So is is EMERSED IN WATER or EMERSED IN AIR kinda thing
Hey! That works! Or... next video you'll see my tanks with no plants and just models of submarines in them. And when people asks me why, I shall say, "I don't know, Sean said so." ;)
Ill be filiming an update video this week for " dueling volcanoes ". Not sure if its going to be cinematic or if im going to talk in it... Not sure. I want to do a break down of each component and how much I spent on it. Once a video gains popularity, like my 3 gallon setup video that has over 215,000 views, i get asked everyday how much it cost to setup, itll me nice to have a video that I can point people to. Plus id get to use my voice recorder box I made :)
"conflicting info" is so true. A lot of the issues i have these days with UA-camrs info is almost all the popular ones are now selling products so you don't get an unbiased opinion. UA-cam is just used for their own personal advertising. Everyone is selling something.
It happen. I do that to for things I review sometimes, though I do it mostly about the product itself and details about them rather than just saying it's good. Though I do that too if I really like the product.
Just starting out, had a small 20L tank for about 4 months and about to buy a 200L opti white tank to start an aquascape& really like the idea of having no filter and just letting the plants and nature deal with the nitrates and ammonia etc, not gonna have many fish , maybe just a samurai fighting fish and some snails/shrimp:)
What's that stone in the background? I'm going to start a planted tank using the DSM method, and I just want to say thanks for making all this info all consumable
Awesome! You're going to have fun! I have a couple of aquascaping concept videos. I'll be doing more about aquascaping in the future as well. Thanks for watching Qian! 🙂
Awesome Video Brother, Im glad we crossed paths in the live chat. If you'd ever like to team up and do a joint episode, Id love that. Im a history buff, be it related to plants and medicinal uses, or odd reasons why certain species became popular (wars and such)
I got it from someone who was selling them on their website. I heard they don't sell them anymore so you can google "finnex light risers" and you might be able to find someone selling them. People usually 3d print them.
Do you know if I’d need/ how would I do a planted aquarium in a 700L/180 Gallon Discus tank? The best co2 system I can find can do 300L per system, and that’s stretched as much as possible. I would need 2 and those would last a month per can, quite expensive to maintain, is there any other way to keep a heavily planted tank or should I go with the 2 systems. EDIT: Should I use liquid ferts instead?
Snails normally doesn't bug me either. So I dunno. Too many pest snails though is annoying and they tend to put holes in the plants but if you're tank is well maintained and balance, you won't get much to worry about it
I'm with you, I love having "pest snails" I consider them a little freebie when I buy a plant. I've also never had any issues with them eating the plants because I make sure they get a steady supply of food. They also keep your water crystal clear, no algae if you have snails
You probably haven’t had an INFESTATION of them while trying to have a neatly balanced planted tank 😂 I had over 1,000 I would bet, in my 5 gallon planted aquarium w a bettta , shrimp and mystery snail it was very annoying. I feel you though, the reason this happened was BECAUSE I love snails and tried saving only 4 while I set my tank up and then it turned for the worst 😓😂
Hello! Could you kindly give me an advice. Here in the Philippines, we do not have the products that most UA-cam videos like yours suggest we should buy. I am going to start a planted tank but I do not have that Eco something soil. You said that a kitty liter could help me with my planted tank. I have cats and kitty liters. How should I go about using kitty liter? Would it kill my Angelfish? They have been with me for so long, I kinda don't want to kill my Angels because of the kitty liter.
This must be NORMAL clay litter with NO scent or anything added to it. It can not be the new clumping stuff. It need to have NOTHING added to it. It's just PLAIN clay litter.
awesome video brother I thought you looked familiar another military modeler.lol Planet tank s &shrimp my other Hobby.. but good to see a modeller that's interesting fish tanks to .. thumbs up brother
If I have a carbon filter media piece like a Marineland bio wheel filter, should I remove it so it doesn't take nutrients away from the plants? What should I use instead if I need to remove the carbon filter?
It's up to you honestly. If you're worried about the carbon and if I remember correctly about the Marineland Bios, make a small slit on the bottom of one side of the carbon filter and pour out the carbon and just use the filter like that. That's what I used to do with my HoB filter with those types of cartridges.
In your other video parts (plants in low light) you mentioned Java moss as a carpet plant. (On steel mess). Do you always need a mess or a make shift screen to line your whole tank bottom so it does carpet out?
Ok cool so about how long until I add beneficial bacteria? 24/36 hours? Or immediately? I’m new to the whole aquarium hobby let alone planted I want a natural environment for my Berra and rasboras and zebra danios
On a small 5g, it's mainly about scale. Annubias, buce, and small type of plant will work great. You'll have to trim stems. You might get away with a compact sword but it may grow too big for a 5g. Stick with anything low light is always good. For carpeting, dwarf hair grass would work.
Hey! You have great videos. Wondering if you would give me a few tips on switching my tank substrate from gravel to sand? It's a fairly new tank with fish and plants but after a couple months I wish I had started with sand (due to the fish that I later picked out to stock the tank)
You can see how I switch out from inert to soil substrate in one of mine. The process would be the same except you don't have to watch out for ammonia spikes since sand it inert. ua-cam.com/video/2ZR7wb3OS1A/v-deo.html
We had to put a small filter on our Walstad after the yabbie dug to the bottom, which is disastrous for the Walstad tank. We are going to be fixing this issue for months.
i have a betta with silk plants and i wanna make her a planted tank. and i wanna get a snail with her too. i have a 5 gallon so is it okay if i do that?
Hey one last question. I’m trying to find a good heater for my 75 gal freshwater tank. I was thinking the aqueon pro heater or the cobalt neo therm. But both have reviews of breaking and overs heating the tank. As do all pretty much. Can you recommend a good heater? Thanks
Yeh, heaters cracking does happen. A lot of times I think it's the fault of the user but sometimes it's not. I always try and go for the EHEIM Jagers. They been around for a while and has had a great track record with me. It's a little more expensive though than a aqueon or neo
WHY did I start going to this HOBBY AGAIN?! I avoided this hobby for a decade now. LAST time I took care of tropical fish was 2002. BACK then my wants are simple and not expensive. But now my mind is blown with all the soil tools fish breeds. Damn you COVID! I don't need this additional expense haha.
Lol hey, I have SA/CA Cichlids, they'll destroy any live plant i put in there! Planning on starting up a planted betta tank for my daughter though! Great video!!
OMG! I need a goat fish right now. It looks amazing! Literally looks like someone crossed a goat with a fish. Did you make that strain yourself? You gotta tell me where I can get one 😳
Have you heard of Monterey beach sand as substrate? A big aquarium shop by my house uses it in some of their tanks they also use it for their plants that they sell. I think it would look nice for my ghost knife tank but I’m not sure the Monterey beach sand will support low-tech plants. Any thoughts?
Yup. Heard of it and yes you can use it. You can use any inert substrate to grow plants. That'll be my next video it seems. What you just have to do is plan out where you would be planting the root feeders and bury root tabs there. :)
You don't HAVE to but it'll be good to do it. If you're dosing your water column at least, it will help. The problem with using sand is the nutrients is going to have a harder time getting down to the roots from the water column. I don't remember how big the granular are for Monterrey beach sand though but it's sand so you should do root tabs. Sometimes root tabs last longer. Depends on brand. Just follow the directions on the box. I make my own tabs with Osmocoat+ , iron pelet and pill capsules and they last a few months (4 to 6)
Hey Chung that is my weakness is not having the patience. I'm really trying. So Chung you say not to use plastic plants I understand your feelings. I can't in my Mbuna they just eat them.. but what about my brackish tank.. are there plants I can have in there that can handle the salt? Great video. You are my goto guy.. hey I got a guy!!
It's ok, PATIENCE is my weakness too. Thus why I tend to work on high tech tanks for plants as they grow quicker. But one thing doing plants is that it'll teach you patience. lol And I think that's one of the qualities of doing planted tanks. For brackish water plants, the are a few actually but I'm not sure exactly which ones they are but if you Google-Fu it, it should come up. But that's another exception on the acceptable use of plastics. ;)
I have plastics in it right now but would like to see if I can get planted to work in there. I have some driftwood too and am getting tannins again GAH!!
Please help I am so excited and confused this is my first try at a planted tank and I don't know where to start I don't want to use soil or sand but am unsure what is best to use
Hi Lisa! There's always going the normal aqua soil way. The best that I can recommend is to use UNS Contrasoil. That works very well. Otherwise, Eco-complete are always a good one to start with. Both you should still dose nutrients. A good all in one like Thrive will be a perfect brand to get.
What substrate can I use for corydoras? I prefer not to use sand. Is plain gravel safe for their barbels? Any other suggestions? A reply is greatly appreciated.
@@smf00027 It's not your substrate. Brown Algae you're getting is probably from either too much silicates, phosphates or nitrates in your tank or poor lighting. It's hard to figure out on the comments and need to know more about your tank. I suggest joining our facebook group and asking there so we can get more info: facebook.com/groups/thewaterbox/
@@TheWaterBox Thanks for the reply sir... Looks like i already where the brown algae coming from. at first i was using a distlled water for my aquarium. But since i use a tap water the brown algae starts. I observed the water i stock a tap water from a bucket after a week i saw some brown color at the bottom. looks like need to go to distilled water. Thanks sir. I will join the group on facebook.
I’m Getting ready to set up a 75 gallon tank for my ghost knife. I plan on using a low tech plants because they really don’t like bright light. Can I use plain gravel when using real plants?
Yes you can. Just make sure you are using root tabs for the root feeding plants. Stuff like amazon swords or Crypts. Dose the water column for the stem, moss and rhizome plants.
That gold fish with goat head made me laugh out a lot, thanks for making me happy
Glad it did make you smile! :)
I have watched 1000s of aquarium videos and man is your series a breath of fresh air. You don't skip important details . You don't waste a ton of time. You rapidly cover all the angles, with enthusiasm and humor. Your videos are awesome 👌
Thanks 👍
First time ever seeing one of your videos. Subscribing just because you told people with plastic plants not to talk to you 😂 I feel that. Plastic plants suck!!
Haha! Well thanks for Subbing! Can't think of a better reason to.
Right???? I CRINGE when I look back when I was a little kid and I used to be obsessed with all of the bright colored/neon gravel and neon purple plants LOL. But hey, that's typically how people do it when they're kids or when first setting up their first tank. As an adult I definitely take a purist approach and can't stand to put anything fake in. Not my style!
Hey captain. Would like to see your setup. Have any?
@@ArtByStephenB I don`t even have a tank yet , but I understand what your`e saying here.
You don`t just explain , you educate . Beginner Series..... that`s for me !
I don`t even have a tank yet , I`m just researching , and the conflicting information is really frustrating.
Regardless , I have just aquired Diana Walstad`s book and the learning has begun.
Subscribed.
Good the hear. Now jump in. Nothing will teach you more than experience. And if you fail, start again. Like I say in this video, you will most likely fail: ua-cam.com/video/w2WStvtz52Y/v-deo.html
great video and helps me focus more on how to get started lol
got a 65L tank sitting here for..... almost 2mths now lol, ever since someone mentioned aquascaping and I fell in love with the whole idea of making my tank unique and full of plant life and fish
Glad I could help! Good luck!
A good Planted Tank starts before you start it.
A good Plan is everything
What Plants do you want to keep
When you know this you know what Light you need
To much Light is even bad than to low light.
When you know that you can plan your Hardscape, playing around with rocks and Roots, choose the whole Plantcomposition.
Even it all starts with a really good Substrate
I always recommend Soil when it comes to heavy Planted Tanks
A good Substratebuild is very important.
I understand when People say the Ada-System is to expensive for me. But there are cheaper soils, instead of Additives you can get Nutritioncapsules in the Substrate etc
But it isn't just getting Sand in it, plant some Plants and it will work.
Well, I found this channel a few weeks before and this is one of the few good Channels outside of Europe.
Thumbs up. Not pushing some Articles for Money, just pure Education. Love it. Got a new Sub
Wow! Thanks for the insightful comment. Keep rocking!
Planted tanks look amazing .... I've tried and failed but I guess it was because my heart wasn't it 100% and o gave up pretty easily .... great info and perfect video 🤗🤗
You can do it! I believe in you! Don't cha know? If you believe it, you can fly! At least... that's what the song says.
The Water Box maybe one day 🤗
Me, crying with my silk plants cuz my goldfish would even eat me without hesitation if they had teeth: I watch these videos to live vicariously through y'all
AWE! Well gotta keep goldie from that salad! :)
Try anubias plants as my common goldfish won't even touch it ;)
YOU ARE AMAZING! WISH I WOULD'VE FOUND YOUR CHANNEL SOONER, BUT FEEL BLESSED I DID! THANK YOU! I LEARN SO MUCH FROM YOUR VIDEOS!! 💙💙❤❤
Thanks!
@@TheWaterBox Thank you!!
Goldfish are the goats of the fish community
:p
Baaaaah! ;)
Godfish are goats (water pigs), but you can actually grow some plants with them. You're not relegated to plastic even with goldfish :) . Just more work
Love this begginer series! I just got into plants so this is perfect!
I'm glad it helps!
You've made me smarter in the planted tank game 😳. Nice vid Chung!
Woot! Glad it helps! Next video gonna be a littler more indeph
Wow. I just learned so much, your beginner series is completely understandable. Spoken in words a newbie like myself can understand. Thanks! 👍
I'm glad it helped! Thanks for watching!
I can agree with the statement of conflicting information! I am new to live plants and aquascaping (I've owned fish tanks in the past) and find peace in setting up/ creating scenes however it can be intimidating at times! Looking forward to learning a lot and sharing my future creations with you all! Thanks for helping me start out :)
You're welcome! If you need help, I'm here all week long! Or go join our facebook group! facebook.com/groups/thewaterbox/
Will do! Thank you sir!
Right on!
just for the troll comment you get a thumbs up. in the 25 years I've kept aquariums, I've been discouraged so many times esp about nano reef setups! you can tell the people who want to help, they usually use IMO rather than snarky or condescending comments.
my current planted tank has been up for 6 years. 2 power heads, a heater and an AI prime FW. never ran mechanical filtration, just 50% WC every other week, ferts. AND I feed pretty heavily twice a day. my bamboo shrimp has been in there since after cycle!
really good advice man, I think you did a good job of touching mid water so to say. from there it's just a matter of getting more complicated as you learn.
Thanks for sharing and watching! :)
This was very clear and concise (esp. compared to other vids). Super helpful, thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Just wanted to say thanks for the great planted tank videos! Your videos are easy to understand, interesting, and encouraging. I'm getting back into the aquarium hobby after years away, starting with a 10 gal planted for nano fish. There's SO much info out there, it's overwhelming. Your channel is really helpful!
Glad to help!
I've always thought these were really cool now I'm almost 30 and just now giving it a shot
Yay! Good luck!
extremely helpful video! I've had a 10 gallon aquarium for an year and a half, with no success with plants. for my 15th birthday, i was given the opportunity to do a complete makeover, funded by my parents. i'm deciding to do a heavily dirted tank with plants like S Repens, val, bacopa, and dwarf sag. great series!!
I'm glad it helped! If you got questions. We're here for ya!
This is a fantastic video for beginners, thanks. You deserve a lot more subs. I Subbed. :)
Yay! I'm glad you think so and it helped! Help share it around and that'll help me get more subs. :) Thank you for subbing and welcome to the Water Box! :)
I watched all these videos one year ago, and today I have a beautiful planted tank that is running beautifully! Of course I've had several sad trial-and-error learning experiences, but I'm so glad I jumped in and turned in to a true hobbyist! I'm having so much fun!
P.S. I highly recommend Dr. Tim's bacterial products, particularly the nitrifying one. I think they are the reason my tank has done as well as it is.
That is awesome to hear!
Good God, why I haven’t got the net in mid 90’s when as a early teenager I’ve tried to do planted tanks. Videos like this one would be a whole ton of info which I’ve had to learn over 20 years. Some of tanks were a disasters some of them were quite good, there was plentiful of mistakes and some success too. These days all you young (and not only 😉) people need to research a bit and follow simple guidelines in precious videos like this one. Great job 👍.
Thanks!
New to the channel but just wanted to say thank you I'm learning a fair deal from your videos
Glad to hear it! I hope it helps get you going! :)
you know what ... i can spend hours listening to The Water Box, man, i have watched weeks of UA-cam trying to understand more about aquascaping and boy they talk alot of crap and without any topics and breakdown as clean as this one, or maybe i should spend another months watching other youtube channel ? nay ... i just bought a tank today and i'll stick to The Water Box ... simple because its packed with information and proper step by step guide ... oh and i stop asking question in the forum too ... basically they will ask me to go read the previous post ... but that post usually is full of showoffs with extreme expensive setup ... hello .. im noobs ... great work dude and all the best ...
Awe! Thanks man! I'm super glad this is helping you. This is why I make the videos in the first place and make me want to keep making more. I been on a break but coming back soon! Keep aquateching!
I second this comment!! I'm just beginning to research setting up co2 on my tanks and these videos are the KEY. I'm a person who likes to understand the science behind things. So the fact that you explain how to do it AND the science behind all of it... is just... amazingly helpful. I just found your channel YESTERDAY and have already learned so much!! The science I was already familiar with; but, connecting it to my planted tanks just connects all the pieces!! I've had this puzzle in shambles, and now I can successfully connect the pieces to see the beautiful zen garden... The kind that doesn't make me want to punch a duck 😂👊🦆
This is a great video - thanks for keeping things so straightforward! I learned a lot!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Such a great series on planted tanks. This video is both informative and entertaining and I've not seen it done better on UA-cam. Great job!!! Thanks for sharing and keep doing what you do if it works for you.
Thanks buddy!
I am learning a lot. HAHAHA I've been watching your videos whole day long
Glad it's helping!
Really love this channel and your representation of the hobby. Have had much success and satisfaction following your advice! Thank you.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
At first you sound make me thought my speaker broken. But now your voice sound so comfy, I would play it when my wife doing spa. Lol
Haha. Sorry. I'm not sure why that's happening.
I never knew I needed this video! Im glad youtube showed this to me. You are so helpful, thank you so much for making this video ^^
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome intro video. Looking forward to starting out with planted aquarium. I'm planting a brand new 37 gallon, since everybody says larger tanks are more forgiving when it comes to water chemistry.
It's true! Glad you're jumping in! :) Good luck!
It's like growing pot. Ask 100 people the best way to do it. you will get a 100 different answers. I love your show!!
Hahah yup!
Research, research, research.... Loving my research here! Thanks for another great video!!🙏🌿🐟🌱👍✌️
You bet!
Thank you for sharing this very educational tutorial on the Planted Tank. I enjoyed watching. Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to see the other parts. I already subscribed and put notifications on, so I won’t miss any videos.
Awesome Jose! Thanks for watching!
The Water Box most of your vids are great tutorials on Planted Tanks. Your welcome!
Your videos are amazing and informative, thank you for sharing!
Thank you for watching!
Awesome video man really appreciate it! Good content I've noticed in my years of doing this that the fish behavior is completely different one except planted tank. When I was a kid we weren't even planting planting times or at least I wasn't what they were selling in the stores but that was a long time ago.
Thanks for watching!
Awesome video on plants!! Very informative! Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
most useful video to me so far. Thank you, Mate!!
Thanks! Glad it helps!
Great video and thank you for the knowledge, most of all, for encouraging new aquarists to continue about their journey and gain experience. You're right, the internet is full of trolls,.which can discourage new aquarists when they encounter their first failure. We all fail, all we can do is pick up the pieces and learn. Who would have thought that an MBU puffer could live with guppies like Cory has it set up lol. I love this hobby while tinkering with ideas, we learn a lot about ourselves.
Totally agree. One of the worse is the trolling about what can or can't live together. I think really it drills down to if it's working for you then you're good to go.
Also I bought some shrimp from pets at home (the British pet store chain), and ended up with a legion of tiny snails, which was cute until I had more snails than fish.
So yeah, I'd recommend quarantining plants (especially moss balls as they're in the fish tanks) from pets at home!!
thanks for sharing! :)
This was perfect, I'm properly basic with this 🙌 🙏about to set up my first tank ever and going with real plants, I hope they survive. Fishy comes later
Good luck to you then Shannon! Hope it works out!
Great video with a lot of important points and insight. Looking forward to the next one.
Glad you thought so! Thanks bud!
You’re a cool dude! Definitely fun to learn from and watch!
Thanks man!
I agreed with everything you said here! Great info and you didnt preach anything like it was factual. Like you said, there is no one proven way, different people have had success in any number of ways. Only thing I noticed is at 9:16 you say Submersed. Plants grown out of water are called " EMERESED " plants grown in water is called " SUBMERSED".
Yeh, as a fellow planted nut, We find out easy nothing is every the same with every tank. It's frustrating but kinda fascinating at the same time!
DAMN IT! Did I get that backwards again? I keep doing that!!
You know, I do that with football all the time. I get mixed up because defense and offense because I can never remember if you are DEFENDING the goal or DEFENDING the ball! lol So is is EMERSED IN WATER or EMERSED IN AIR kinda thing
Just think about what the plant was grown in. Was it grown in air, or water. SUBmarines are underwater, SUBmersed is underwater ;)
Hey! That works! Or... next video you'll see my tanks with no plants and just models of submarines in them. And when people asks me why, I shall say, "I don't know, Sean said so." ;)
Ill be filiming an update video this week for " dueling volcanoes ". Not sure if its going to be cinematic or if im going to talk in it... Not sure. I want to do a break down of each component and how much I spent on it. Once a video gains popularity, like my 3 gallon setup video that has over 215,000 views, i get asked everyday how much it cost to setup, itll me nice to have a video that I can point people to. Plus id get to use my voice recorder box I made :)
Love your way of explaining. Thank you!
Thank you for watching!
He had me at “crapola”
Haha well welcome aboard!
Very informative, Thankyou.
Glad it was helpful!
Love your background tank. Great tutorial, you have really inspired me to pursue this hobby 😁
Awesome! Thank you!
"conflicting info" is so true. A lot of the issues i have these days with UA-camrs info is almost all the popular ones are now selling products so you don't get an unbiased opinion. UA-cam is just used for their own personal advertising. Everyone is selling something.
It happen. I do that to for things I review sometimes, though I do it mostly about the product itself and details about them rather than just saying it's good. Though I do that too if I really like the product.
Good ,easy to understand info. well done man ,tank on 👍
I'm glad it helped!
Just starting out, had a small 20L tank for about 4 months and about to buy a 200L opti white tank to start an aquascape& really like the idea of having no filter and just letting the plants and nature deal with the nitrates and ammonia etc, not gonna have many fish , maybe just a samurai fighting fish and some snails/shrimp:)
Very nice. The Walstad method!
I'm looking forward to this series
I hope it helps!
Great video, going to be getting a tank with fish and plants soon, this was an informative video. Subscribed :)
thanks for watching!
Thank you for the great information. Just starting out and trying to absorb all I can!
You're welcome. Good luck. Take it a step at a time if you feel it's overloading ya.
What's that stone in the background? I'm going to start a planted tank using the DSM method, and I just want to say thanks for making all this info all consumable
Which stone?
@@TheWaterBox Maybe it's wood? But you have it in the back of your tank and it looks really nice
The one in this video?
@@TheWaterBox Uh huh
@@Elo.1717 not really sure honestly. Forgot where I got it from.
nice to find your videos when I just about to start aquascaping
Awesome! You're going to have fun! I have a couple of aquascaping concept videos. I'll be doing more about aquascaping in the future as well. Thanks for watching Qian! 🙂
no, thank you for giving me knowledge
You're welcome! :)
Awesome Video Brother, Im glad we crossed paths in the live chat. If you'd ever like to team up and do a joint episode, Id love that. Im a history buff, be it related to plants and medicinal uses, or odd reasons why certain species became popular (wars and such)
Sounds like a good time! Line you up for one of my live shows yes? I'll talk to you later about it.
The Water Box awesome im open about my # and email 425 478 4929 and Alexanderjwilliamson@gmail.com lets chat a bit whenever you have a moment. Peace.
Hello. Where did you get the LED light riser? To bring the light up higher on top of the tank
I got it from someone who was selling them on their website. I heard they don't sell them anymore so you can google "finnex light risers" and you might be able to find someone selling them. People usually 3d print them.
Do you know if I’d need/ how would I do a planted aquarium in a 700L/180 Gallon Discus tank? The best co2 system I can find can do 300L per system, and that’s stretched as much as possible. I would need 2 and those would last a month per can, quite expensive to maintain, is there any other way to keep a heavily planted tank or should I go with the 2 systems. EDIT: Should I use liquid ferts instead?
What co2 system are you looking at?? A 180g tank you should go pressurized. You'd have to get a regulator and tank.
Very could production worth the watch
Thanks1
spot on nice tank well done
Thanks
I watched my first video on this it was a bonsai tree planted aquarium. This is my second and I'm hooked.
Pretty addicting stuff! :)
Why are people against snails so much? I like having snails in my aquariums
Snails normally doesn't bug me either. So I dunno. Too many pest snails though is annoying and they tend to put holes in the plants but if you're tank is well maintained and balance, you won't get much to worry about it
I'm with you, I love having "pest snails" I consider them a little freebie when I buy a plant. I've also never had any issues with them eating the plants because I make sure they get a steady supply of food. They also keep your water crystal clear, no algae if you have snails
You probably haven’t had an INFESTATION of them while trying to have a neatly balanced planted tank 😂 I had over 1,000 I would bet, in my 5 gallon planted aquarium w a bettta , shrimp and mystery snail it was very annoying. I feel you though, the reason this happened was BECAUSE I love snails and tried saving only 4 while I set my tank up and then it turned for the worst 😓😂
@@poldoll5683 All part of a natural set up I think. I like them.
@@allthingsfelicia7133 EEEEK ! Four turned into a thousand ? Hmmm.....something to think about.
Good advice, and once again you cracked me up. The goat-goldfish should be you channel mascot. :)
Haha! I may!
Your tank is beautiful
Thank you!
LOL! Loved the goatfish! :D
Why thank you! Goatfish loves you to!
Hello! Could you kindly give me an advice. Here in the Philippines, we do not have the products that most UA-cam videos like yours suggest we should buy. I am going to start a planted tank but I do not have that Eco something soil. You said that a kitty liter could help me with my planted tank. I have cats and kitty liters. How should I go about using kitty liter? Would it kill my Angelfish? They have been with me for so long, I kinda don't want to kill my Angels because of the kitty liter.
This must be NORMAL clay litter with NO scent or anything added to it. It can not be the new clumping stuff. It need to have NOTHING added to it. It's just PLAIN clay litter.
Just like me, getting back into the hobby. When I left Barr was relatively new to the scene.
That must have been years ago.
awesome video brother I thought you looked familiar another military modeler.lol Planet tank s &shrimp my other Hobby.. but good to see a modeller that's interesting fish tanks to .. thumbs up brother
Haha thanks for watching man! Glad to see you in another similar hobby
If I have a carbon filter media piece like a Marineland bio wheel filter, should I remove it so it doesn't take nutrients away from the plants? What should I use instead if I need to remove the carbon filter?
It's up to you honestly. If you're worried about the carbon and if I remember correctly about the Marineland Bios, make a small slit on the bottom of one side of the carbon filter and pour out the carbon and just use the filter like that. That's what I used to do with my HoB filter with those types of cartridges.
In your other video parts (plants in low light) you mentioned Java moss as a carpet plant. (On steel mess). Do you always need a mess or a make shift screen to line your whole tank bottom so it does carpet out?
Anything that helps anchor down the Java moss that it can grow on. AND not rust on you or put anything bad in your tank
Hey question? Do I chlorinate the water before adding bacteria startup or old media from a previous tank or after?
I always do. chlorine can affect the beneficial bacteria you have built up in the tank/filter.
Ok cool so about how long until I add beneficial bacteria? 24/36 hours? Or immediately? I’m new to the whole aquarium hobby let alone planted I want a natural environment for my Berra and rasboras and zebra danios
So I would flood the tank, chlorinate the water, then add the beneficial bacteria right?
@@peekaboo9976 Sounds right.
@@peekaboo9976 I add it afer the tank is flooded. Then wait until the tank is cycled on it's own.
Man! You are going to make me want to get a planted tank!
That's the point! You NEED one ;)
Just curious about plants in a five and a half gallon.. And any info to get started
On a small 5g, it's mainly about scale. Annubias, buce, and small type of plant will work great. You'll have to trim stems. You might get away with a compact sword but it may grow too big for a 5g. Stick with anything low light is always good. For carpeting, dwarf hair grass would work.
@@TheWaterBox thanks so much..
NP
Keep up the good work bro!
Thanks
Hey! You have great videos. Wondering if you would give me a few tips on switching my tank substrate from gravel to sand? It's a fairly new tank with fish and plants but after a couple months I wish I had started with sand (due to the fish that I later picked out to stock the tank)
You can see how I switch out from inert to soil substrate in one of mine. The process would be the same except you don't have to watch out for ammonia spikes since sand it inert. ua-cam.com/video/2ZR7wb3OS1A/v-deo.html
Do you cycle your tank before adding plants?
No, you don't have too.
We had to put a small filter on our Walstad after the yabbie dug to the bottom, which is disastrous for the Walstad tank. We are going to be fixing this issue for months.
Awe. They tend to do that. haha
Very usefull video, indeed!! Thanks for your enlightment...
Thanks for watching!
i have a betta with silk plants and i wanna make her a planted tank. and i wanna get a snail with her too. i have a 5 gallon so is it okay if i do that?
Yes, of course.
Hey one last question. I’m trying to find a good heater for my 75 gal freshwater tank. I was thinking the aqueon pro heater or the cobalt neo therm. But both have reviews of breaking and overs heating the tank. As do all pretty much. Can you recommend a good heater? Thanks
Yeh, heaters cracking does happen. A lot of times I think it's the fault of the user but sometimes it's not. I always try and go for the EHEIM Jagers. They been around for a while and has had a great track record with me. It's a little more expensive though than a aqueon or neo
Thank You so Much👍
Anytime! Have fun!
WHY did I start going to this HOBBY AGAIN?! I avoided this hobby for a decade now. LAST time I took care of tropical fish was 2002. BACK then my wants are simple and not expensive. But now my mind is blown with all the soil tools fish breeds. Damn you COVID! I don't need this additional expense haha.
Haha!
Omg! I know this is an older video but I thought I was the only one who says crapola.
Crapola is a the technical term!
hey can you tell me about CO2 supply to aquarium? How can i select how much of CO2 is needs to provide?
Just search for co2 videos on my channel. I have pretty much all that explained in other videos.
Entertaining and informative video. Thanks for taking the time to make it.
I want Goatfish. Do you sell breeders?
Haha, I wish.
I have done really good with the bigger plants but I can’t seem to get a ground covering plant to make it
Sounds like a lighting issue. It's hard to get light intensity to reach down to the substrate level if you don't have a powerful enough light.
I agree I have spent the money and got fluval sky light and it’s helped a lot but I think my corry cats r the problem they never take off now
@@charlessloop1552 On how high of a tank?
It’s a 55 gallon I believe it’s like 4’ft long 18” wide and like 20” deep not sure exactly
@@charlessloop1552 Yeh, that's a 20" height tank. It's your lighting.
Lol hey, I have SA/CA Cichlids, they'll destroy any live plant i put in there! Planning on starting up a planted betta tank for my daughter though! Great video!!
Thanks!
OMG! I need a goat fish right now. It looks amazing! Literally looks like someone crossed a goat with a fish. Did you make that strain yourself? You gotta tell me where I can get one 😳
HAHA! Let me know when you find one
Would u recommend one big heater or 2 150 watt heaters?
In large tanks, over 20g, I always do the double thing. It's nice to have back up if one goes out. Sometimes you won't know if a heater stops working
Have you heard of Monterey beach sand as substrate? A big aquarium shop by my house uses it in some of their tanks they also use it for their plants that they sell. I think it would look nice for my ghost knife tank but I’m not sure the Monterey beach sand will support low-tech plants. Any thoughts?
Yup. Heard of it and yes you can use it. You can use any inert substrate to grow plants. That'll be my next video it seems. What you just have to do is plan out where you would be planting the root feeders and bury root tabs there. :)
Thanks for the reply. Do you have to use the root tabs for the life of the plant? About every three months for as long as the plant lives?
You don't HAVE to but it'll be good to do it. If you're dosing your water column at least, it will help. The problem with using sand is the nutrients is going to have a harder time getting down to the roots from the water column. I don't remember how big the granular are for Monterrey beach sand though but it's sand so you should do root tabs. Sometimes root tabs last longer. Depends on brand. Just follow the directions on the box. I make my own tabs with Osmocoat+ , iron pelet and pill capsules and they last a few months (4 to 6)
SO helpful. Thank you!!!
I'm glad it helped!
I have a 10 gallon with plastics, but that was my first community tank. I’m looking into a planted 29 gal.
Awesome! Sounds good! :) Good luck!
The Water Box thanks for the good information in all your videos
Np! Thanks for watching!
Hey Chung that is my weakness is not having the patience. I'm really trying. So Chung you say not to use plastic plants I understand your feelings. I can't in my Mbuna they just eat them.. but what about my brackish tank.. are there plants I can have in there that can handle the salt? Great video. You are my goto guy.. hey I got a guy!!
It's ok, PATIENCE is my weakness too. Thus why I tend to work on high tech tanks for plants as they grow quicker. But one thing doing plants is that it'll teach you patience. lol And I think that's one of the qualities of doing planted tanks. For brackish water plants, the are a few actually but I'm not sure exactly which ones they are but if you Google-Fu it, it should come up. But that's another exception on the acceptable use of plastics. ;)
I have plastics in it right now but would like to see if I can get planted to work in there. I have some driftwood too and am getting tannins again GAH!!
ACK! Ya should have boiled it first!
Chung I did.. !! for much too long maybe??
Hmmmm, could be. You should do it a couple of times. Let it dry and boil it again. I think that's how to do it.
Please help I am so excited and confused this is my first try at a planted tank and I don't know where to start I don't want to use soil or sand but am unsure what is best to use
Hi Lisa! There's always going the normal aqua soil way. The best that I can recommend is to use UNS Contrasoil. That works very well. Otherwise, Eco-complete are always a good one to start with. Both you should still dose nutrients. A good all in one like Thrive will be a perfect brand to get.
@@TheWaterBox Where can you find rocks for aquascaping good ones
I'm adding a thumbs up because you used the term "crapola".
Why thank you! :)
Hello! That tank behind you looks amazing! What size is it?
10 gallons. :) Video build of it here: ua-cam.com/video/rM13WSiHBHM/v-deo.html
What substrate can I use for corydoras? I prefer not to use sand. Is plain gravel safe for their barbels? Any other suggestions? A reply is greatly appreciated.
Gravel is fine as long as it's not sharp
Should I replace my substrate?...all my plant got brown algae and melts. Some part of the substrate got brown algae too. Thank you
What is your substrate you're using now?
@@TheWaterBox Hi...its Tera Active. Thank you...
@@smf00027 It's not your substrate. Brown Algae you're getting is probably from either too much silicates, phosphates or nitrates in your tank or poor lighting. It's hard to figure out on the comments and need to know more about your tank. I suggest joining our facebook group and asking there so we can get more info: facebook.com/groups/thewaterbox/
@@TheWaterBox Thanks for the reply sir... Looks like i already where the brown algae coming from. at first i was using a distlled water for my aquarium. But since i use a tap water the brown algae starts. I observed the water i stock a tap water from a bucket after a week i saw some brown color at the bottom. looks like need to go to distilled water. Thanks sir. I will join the group on facebook.
Sounds like silicates in your tap water then. Had that same problem at my office tank.
I’m Getting ready to set up a 75 gallon tank for my ghost knife. I plan on using a low tech plants because they really don’t like bright light. Can I use plain gravel when using real plants?
Yes you can. Just make sure you are using root tabs for the root feeding plants. Stuff like amazon swords or Crypts. Dose the water column for the stem, moss and rhizome plants.
BTW, I hope you're staying away from Menzoberranzan. I heard that place is a killer. ;)
Bwahahaha 🤣 thanks for replying so quickly. I just watched all 8 vids
Awesome! Should check out other parts of the channel too when you have the chance! Thanks for watching! I hope it helps.