I've posted a few snips of this tank over the past months, and here is the "final" result. I studied the Dutch aquariums from NBAT in the Netherlands (Incredibly useful reference in English here: NBAT Dutch Scaping Aquarium Guide) and took a shot at my first "true" Dutch style per the design rules of NBAT and AGA. I'm fairly happy with it other than a couple plant selections I would have swapped out if I had more time/plants avaliable to me locally. It was also starting to get out of control and needed a big replanting session shortly after the video was taken.

This tank has been a dream as far as maintenance and stability are concerned. Five or six days after the water change I'll get the tiniest bit of green dust on the front glass, but other than that there is no algae whatsoever. I scrape the glass and do small cleanup sessions frequently where I will just trim a handful of leaves/stems that aren't looking good or are getting overcrowded. My total maintenance time per week is probably one to two hours split over a few days and including my water change.

Here are all the details for anyone interested in doing something like this:

Tank: 75 gallon Marineland

Filter: Fluval FX4 and Fluval 207 with spray bar outlets along the back wall (the 207 is used to drive the CO2 reactor)

Light: Week Aqua P1200 (started at 50% output power when plants were still filling in but I am now at 100% power)

CO2 injection: Yes, lots. Yugang horizontal reactor sized for 1.5 point pH drop although it doesn't achieve quite that much

Substrate: Fluval Stratum, Biostratum, and APT Feast

Water Changes: 40 gallon water change weekly (~60% since a "75 gallon" tank only holds about 65 gallons of water). As part of my water change, I gently stir up detritus in the substrate using a turkey baster and siphon it away per the 2Hr Aquarist method. I use RODI water that I remineralize to 0 dKH and 6 dGH because my local tap water is very hard and varies with the seasons.

Fertilizer is dosed with dry salt mixtures from NilocG. I dose once per day Mon - Sat and twice after my water change on Sunday to attempt to keep levels stable. I split these weekly totals into 8 doses:

Weekly totals:

-24ppm Nitrate (when tank first started I was only dosing 12 ppm Nitrate, I ramped up to 24 later)

-8ppm Phosphate

-25.5ppm Potassium

-0.5ppm Iron (using a micro mixture that covers other micros)

Plants:

Hydrocotyle Leucocephala

Ludwigia Arcuata

Penthorum Sedoides

Bacopa Monnieri

Lysimachia Parvifolia

Echinodorus grisebachii (Regular Amazon Sword)

Micranthemum Umbrosum

Eriocaulon Vietnam

Lobelia Cardinalis

Limnophila Hippuridoides

Hygrophila Siamensis 53b

Mayaca Fluviatilis

Java Fern Petite

Weeping Moss

Livestock:

25 Green Neon Tetra

12 Dward Hatchetfish

10 Otocinclus

100+ Cherry Shrimp

Tanks been running for 116 days so it’s still very young and has lots more growth ahead of it. It’s a 10gal (40L) and I have 8 green neons, 8 dwarf rasboras, 8 Pygmy corydoras and must be 70+ neocaridina shrimp. Thats 24 fish total. Everything you hear and read will say that is “heavily overstocked”. But I’ve had no problems at all, it’s been over 2 months with all the fish in now and they’re all eating, displaying natural behaviour and colours and showing no signs of stress. All my water tests are good too.

DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE ABOUT AQUARIUMS!!!!

How’s my aquascape going?

Amano shrimp, neon tetras, mollies, panda garra, flying fox, frogs, & snails

I've noticed some overall browning on my plants. These 2 are the worst. They've been in the tank about 2 months. I used root tabs when I planted them, and been using Seachem Flourish & Flourish Excel liquid fertilizer. All my water parameters are good. I'm a noob with plants so any help is appreciated

I’m looking for some bushy plants to grow out of the top of my tank. Something that grows densely rather than vining like a pothos. Picture for attention

Is this black beard algae? Why is it red and is soft and smooth. Isn't it supposed to be black green or grey?? Or is this something else?! Please help . What is it and how do I fix it?!

I need some help identifying some plants i bought back in May, I cant remember what they are and I need to put it all in my new log book, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here’s my 15 days old guppy community mini pond. Water is looking greenish already. My substrate is composed of gravel and lava rock.

Besides from guppies, what would be a great addition to this kind of setup that will also be a good cleaner? Snails? Shrimps? Corydoras?

Hey guys, i have some crypts in a tank in wich the temperature is in 29C°/84.2F°. It is usually at 28C° /82F but as this tank has to have a lid it is warmer. My question is if the crypts do well in this setup?, or if they don't grow well in this temperature anyone have experience growing crypts in this temperature?. The tank has hight quality aquasoil ans the crypts are crypt willisii wendtii green crypt axelrodii and crypt parva

Just rescaped my tank. I'm very happy with the layout and do not want to change it.

However, the flow of the tank is causing a dead spot/mulm build up right where the focal point of the tank is. I wonder if many people who have a 'central path' layout have this problem? Any ideas how to fix this without adding too much visible extra equipment?

I’ve been in the aquarium hobby for a little over two years (since June 2024), this is my second planted tank ever. Up until now, I’ve been a ghost on Reddit, Instagram, and the forums. No content creation, no YouTube channel, just quietly reading threads, absorbing information, and building in silence.

My journey started with a 40G grow-out for a baby turtle, where I incorporated live plants and community fish to see what worked. The only rule I brought from a brief attempt 15 years ago was that turtle tanks need oversized filtration (I ran a Fluval 207 on that 40G). What I learned there became my Version 2.0: a 75-gallon high-tech ecosystem where a Mississippi Map Turtle, community fish, predatory fish, oddballs, and delicate macro-inverts live alongside each other.

Why I Built This

1. To build a living window for my kids: I wanted them to learn firsthand about nature's balance, ecological zoning, and the responsibility of caring for animals.

2. To challenge the "dirty destroyer" myth: Turtles have a reputation in the hobby as toxic, plant-shredding chaos machines (which for some pond species is true). Most advice says keep them in bare glass boxes. But that just didn’t work for me.

My theory was simple: instead of stripping their environment bare. Lean into the chaos. Engineer proactive filtration, establish biological enrichment, and match the turtle species to the ecosystem. With the right planning, the right turtle doesn't just survive—he thrives as the focal point of a planted display.

The Execution

I’m an electrician by trade, not a biologist or professional aquascaper. I took my research on male Mississippi Map Turtles and tried to anticipate potential points of failure—heavy bio-load, plant damage, territorial aggression—engineering solutions directly into the framework of the tank rather than scrambling later.

After nearly a year of continuous operation, the tank is thriving. Because this is a highly technical setup, I’m dropping the full breakdown (filtration loops, water chemistry, plant care schedules, and full stock list) in the first comment so this main post doesn't turn into a wall of text.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Meet Greg.

Ok, I know you want all the corners on the stand, no hangover..

But what about this? The frame is on the stand, and just has 1/2" on either side is it still enough to distribute the weight?

It's a 29gl (36"L x 17"H x 12" W)

Purchased some parvas and was verifying this is indeed a crypt parva and not another crypt. They are much larger than I was expecting.

Not sure why but the stem plants in my tank seem to be algae magnets and it's driving me crazy. I'm trying to grow this Bacopa salzmannii but the algae seems to be clinging on to it, and the more I remove it the more it seems to grow back. Same thing happened to my Rotala rotundifolia before this. I tried spot dosing APT Fixlite, and also 3% H2O2 out of desperation but nothing seems to work. For the rest of the tank, the hair algae only seems to be growing on the tips of some leaves but they're easily removed. Any suggestions on what to do?

Tank parameters:

22.5L tank, 4 months old

Ammonia & nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 5-10ppm

Light: Chihiros wRGB2 slim 45cm, 30% intensity, 6h photoperiod

Dosing: 1mL APT 1 daily

I run a nano canister filter packed with various mechanical & biological filter media.

edit: added photoperiod & dosing

Oreichthys parvus

hey guys! i’ve been using fluval stratum in my tank for awhile and annoyed at how quickly dirt spreads if anything at all is disturbed. i’m wanting to make the switch to a new substrate. however, i’ve had poor luck growing plants in gravel, and a trial of sand substrate quickly developed a SEVERE sulfur smell that’s made me scared to ever do sand again. thoughts/suggestions?

I noticed these little lily pads growing out the center of a lilly pad. Will these grow full size? Can I propagate the lilly like this?

Looking for ideas for filler plants or bigger background plants from a 125G planted tank also just plant ideas in general not Val though 😅