This 60U is the first attempt at keeping plants in a while. I was in the hobby before for about 4 years, then was out for about 3 years. (You can find some of my aquariums on my page) I had every plan of getting back into Planted tanks and this is what I had to start with - I'll be sharing as many details as possible in hope of helping someone along the way or taking advise that can help me! I will do my best to update this journal weekly. Thank you!
Everything About the Tank as it stands today: (Changed through the last 5 months)
Equipment List
Light: SB Reef 32" - Blue Channel 25% - Red Channel 30%
Substrate: UNS Contrasoil - 1.5 years old - (See journal notes for updates)
CO2: Inline reactor - 20lb tank - Aim for yellow before lights turn on
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
*lights turn on @ 5:30pm and are off @ 9:30pm - CO2 is on @ 3:30pm and off @ 8:30pm
Substrate Notes
UNS contrasoil - 10.2 L currently in the tank - 1.5 years old
*Adding 1% new soil under selected plant groups.
Water change Schedule
2 water changes per week at 50%
RO water Demineralizing
Plant list: Plant list has grown over time
Rotala Singapore
Rotala Rotundifolia
Rotala Mac. Green
Rotala Tulunadensis
Rotala Mac. Variegated
Rotala Mini Butterfly
Ludwigia Sp. Super Red
Bacopa Caroliniana
Bacopa Colorata
Myriophyllum Golden
Pogostemon erectus
Cryptocoryne Flamingo
Buce. Brownie Ghost 2011
Eriocaulon Parkeri
Eriocaulon Quinquangulare
Anubias Pinto
Anubias Barteri
Samolus Parvifolrus
Staurogyne Purple
January 23rd 2025
Phase 1 - better than I thought...
I started this tank on July 22nd 2025 - I started with basic plants that i acquired from a close friend and some that were purchased from local fish stores. I started the tank with very old aqua soil that was in a previous tank then sat for about 3 years. I simply didn't want to purchase new soil hahaha. Plant mass was very minimal - NPK was very len for a couple of months as well - I began with weekly water changes using RO water. Plants grew even though dosing was lean (Ammania was loving it) below is over a couple months in which not much changed. Tank made good progress the first 2 months.
During this extended time the tank did go through the diatoms stage which was over pretty quick as I stayed on top of water changes and focused on manually removing the diatoms - I used a wire brush as well as rinsing heavily covered plants off in a bowl with tank water. I did not take picture unfortunately.
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline diffuser - turned on at 4:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Penn Plax Cascade 700
July 29th 2025
August 30th 2025
September 16th 2025
Phase 2 - This is too easy!
On September 18th I added more plants to the tank to build plant mass - also removing Ammania as it was starting to show signs of stunting, most likely due to me changing to a slightly higher dosing of NPK. From here, the tank proceeded to progress in a great way. Everything grew and grew well - plants were recovering after trimmings and growing with no issues. I felt like I was well on my way to a great tank!
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline diffuser - turned on at 4:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Penn Plax Cascade 700
September 18th 2025
September 21st 2025
October 5th 2025
October 22nd 2025
October 30th 2025
Phase 3 - Uhm, What just happened...
Starting from the last picture above - I cut the plants after a good period of growth and replanted to create more mass in the tank once they grew in. Expecting this was the last phase of the tank and believing it would cruise from here on out, a couple of things happened. First, I got lazy with husbandry and would just rush through water changes, not focusing on taking out bad leaves or decay. I was also skipping dose days on accident - which eventually led to routine being thrown off by multiple days.
In the first few weeks you can see the tank growing just fine and starting to fill in. However, color was starting to wash out - specifically in Rotala Singapore and Crypto. Flamingos. Super Red was also having a tough time recovering from the reset and growing properly. Pogostemon Erectus flattened out on growth and never recovered from the reset - you can see the algae starting to grow. Myrio. Golden started to melt badly from the bottom up.
Between Nov. 11th and Dec. 10th I completely slipped on the tank and went 9 days with out a water change - then another 14 or so day with out one.... The tank completely crashed by the end of it. Through out that time as the tank progressively worsened, I started to panic and change things up. Unfortunately I didn't take enough picture of this.
I increased CO2 significantly as this was my biggest concern.
I went from a leaner dosing method to full on EI dosing
I dialed the light back to the lowest setting in hopes of control some algae
I also began to do 2 water changes per week.
The tank continued to rapidly deteriorate, multiple plants completely melting off and me being forced to trim some back to almost nothing due to algae over the next few weeks. I fought to hold onto the few plants that remained.
In the last picture of this Phase - December 29th I noticed that the tank finally started to stabilize just a bit.
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline Reactor - turned on at 3:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
November 11th 2025
December 10th 2025
December 18th 2025
December 29th 2025
Phase 4 - The Great Reset
Finally recognizing some stability from the plants, no more melting, and algae was not as persistent... January 2nd I made the decision to do a total reset on the tank. Trimming everything back to only the healthiest parts. I cut just about every leaf that had any algae or looked decayed. Algae came to a halt almost completely - the only issue I did have was with a tougher hair algae, which my friend mentioned to be Spirogyra. Eventually I dosed two rounds of API Algae fix and as of now it is finally dying back. I came up with a routine to completely commit to and stayed focused on that. More groupings were added to the tank to assist with the loss of plant mass. The pictures below show the progress from January 6th to today, January 23rd. With the most recent photo of the tank being at the top of this Journal.
The Lotus Lily at one point melted completely - over the last to weeks I have had 2 lilies start to grow from the previous spot and are growing effortlessly.
Erectus and Golden continue to struggle, with little to now grow and seem to have a tough time rooting at all. But algae seems to not attack them
Rotala Singapore has it's color back and is growing.
Rotundifolia is growing like the weed it is. lol
Parvifolrus is bouncing back as well and regaining color
Newer plants have adapted pretty quickly and grow healthier as time goes by. Anubias Bareri and Bacopa Caroliniana have both taken off.
CO2 has stayed the same.
- The reactor continues to be superior
I lightened up on the dosing slightly
- N is closer to 14 to 17 ppm
- went back down to 20 Ca : 7 Mg.
I do a 50% water change at the end of every 3rd day.
Dialed the lights to 25% Blue channel and 30% Red Channel
Equipment List:
Co2: inline Reactor - turned on at 3:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
*Added a power head that is only on during Co2 hours
I will continue to keep the most updated picture at the top of the page as well as any changes to equipment or dosing. previous pictures and information will then be added to this forum at the bottom as time goes on. This as been a journey already - and i have loved every minute of it.
January 6th 2026
January 11th 2026
January 16th 2026
January 21st 2026
Everything About the Tank as it stands today: (Changed through the last 5 months)
Equipment List
Light: SB Reef 32" - Blue Channel 25% - Red Channel 30%
Substrate: UNS Contrasoil - 1.5 years old - (See journal notes for updates)
CO2: Inline reactor - 20lb tank - Aim for yellow before lights turn on
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
*lights turn on @ 5:30pm and are off @ 9:30pm - CO2 is on @ 3:30pm and off @ 8:30pm
Substrate Notes
UNS contrasoil - 10.2 L currently in the tank - 1.5 years old
*Adding 1% new soil under selected plant groups.
- Started on January 2nd
- add 11 grams of new soil under selected plant groups weekly
Water change Schedule
2 water changes per week at 50%
RO water Demineralizing
Plant list: Plant list has grown over time
Rotala Singapore
Rotala Rotundifolia
Rotala Mac. Green
Rotala Tulunadensis
Rotala Mac. Variegated
Rotala Mini Butterfly
Ludwigia Sp. Super Red
Bacopa Caroliniana
Bacopa Colorata
Myriophyllum Golden
Pogostemon erectus
Cryptocoryne Flamingo
Buce. Brownie Ghost 2011
Eriocaulon Parkeri
Eriocaulon Quinquangulare
Anubias Pinto
Anubias Barteri
Samolus Parvifolrus
Staurogyne Purple
January 23rd 2025
Phase 1 - better than I thought...
I started this tank on July 22nd 2025 - I started with basic plants that i acquired from a close friend and some that were purchased from local fish stores. I started the tank with very old aqua soil that was in a previous tank then sat for about 3 years. I simply didn't want to purchase new soil hahaha. Plant mass was very minimal - NPK was very len for a couple of months as well - I began with weekly water changes using RO water. Plants grew even though dosing was lean (Ammania was loving it) below is over a couple months in which not much changed. Tank made good progress the first 2 months.
During this extended time the tank did go through the diatoms stage which was over pretty quick as I stayed on top of water changes and focused on manually removing the diatoms - I used a wire brush as well as rinsing heavily covered plants off in a bowl with tank water. I did not take picture unfortunately.
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline diffuser - turned on at 4:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Penn Plax Cascade 700
July 29th 2025
August 30th 2025
September 16th 2025
Phase 2 - This is too easy!
On September 18th I added more plants to the tank to build plant mass - also removing Ammania as it was starting to show signs of stunting, most likely due to me changing to a slightly higher dosing of NPK. From here, the tank proceeded to progress in a great way. Everything grew and grew well - plants were recovering after trimmings and growing with no issues. I felt like I was well on my way to a great tank!
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline diffuser - turned on at 4:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Penn Plax Cascade 700
September 18th 2025
September 21st 2025
October 5th 2025
October 22nd 2025
October 30th 2025
Phase 3 - Uhm, What just happened...
Starting from the last picture above - I cut the plants after a good period of growth and replanted to create more mass in the tank once they grew in. Expecting this was the last phase of the tank and believing it would cruise from here on out, a couple of things happened. First, I got lazy with husbandry and would just rush through water changes, not focusing on taking out bad leaves or decay. I was also skipping dose days on accident - which eventually led to routine being thrown off by multiple days.
In the first few weeks you can see the tank growing just fine and starting to fill in. However, color was starting to wash out - specifically in Rotala Singapore and Crypto. Flamingos. Super Red was also having a tough time recovering from the reset and growing properly. Pogostemon Erectus flattened out on growth and never recovered from the reset - you can see the algae starting to grow. Myrio. Golden started to melt badly from the bottom up.
Between Nov. 11th and Dec. 10th I completely slipped on the tank and went 9 days with out a water change - then another 14 or so day with out one.... The tank completely crashed by the end of it. Through out that time as the tank progressively worsened, I started to panic and change things up. Unfortunately I didn't take enough picture of this.
I increased CO2 significantly as this was my biggest concern.
- I switched to a reactor
- started the CO2 an hour earlier
I went from a leaner dosing method to full on EI dosing
- N was well above 25ppm
- went from 15 Ca : 5 Mg to almost 4 times that.
I dialed the light back to the lowest setting in hopes of control some algae
I also began to do 2 water changes per week.
The tank continued to rapidly deteriorate, multiple plants completely melting off and me being forced to trim some back to almost nothing due to algae over the next few weeks. I fought to hold onto the few plants that remained.
In the last picture of this Phase - December 29th I noticed that the tank finally started to stabilize just a bit.
Equipment during this time:
Co2: inline Reactor - turned on at 3:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
November 11th 2025
December 10th 2025
December 18th 2025
December 29th 2025
Phase 4 - The Great Reset
Finally recognizing some stability from the plants, no more melting, and algae was not as persistent... January 2nd I made the decision to do a total reset on the tank. Trimming everything back to only the healthiest parts. I cut just about every leaf that had any algae or looked decayed. Algae came to a halt almost completely - the only issue I did have was with a tougher hair algae, which my friend mentioned to be Spirogyra. Eventually I dosed two rounds of API Algae fix and as of now it is finally dying back. I came up with a routine to completely commit to and stayed focused on that. More groupings were added to the tank to assist with the loss of plant mass. The pictures below show the progress from January 6th to today, January 23rd. With the most recent photo of the tank being at the top of this Journal.
The Lotus Lily at one point melted completely - over the last to weeks I have had 2 lilies start to grow from the previous spot and are growing effortlessly.
Erectus and Golden continue to struggle, with little to now grow and seem to have a tough time rooting at all. But algae seems to not attack them
Rotala Singapore has it's color back and is growing.
Rotundifolia is growing like the weed it is. lol
Parvifolrus is bouncing back as well and regaining color
Newer plants have adapted pretty quickly and grow healthier as time goes by. Anubias Bareri and Bacopa Caroliniana have both taken off.
CO2 has stayed the same.
- The reactor continues to be superior
I lightened up on the dosing slightly
- N is closer to 14 to 17 ppm
- went back down to 20 Ca : 7 Mg.
I do a 50% water change at the end of every 3rd day.
Dialed the lights to 25% Blue channel and 30% Red Channel
Equipment List:
Co2: inline Reactor - turned on at 3:30pm
SB Reef Light 32" - turned on at 5:30pm
Filter: Vevor 528GPH Canister Filter
*Added a power head that is only on during Co2 hours
I will continue to keep the most updated picture at the top of the page as well as any changes to equipment or dosing. previous pictures and information will then be added to this forum at the bottom as time goes on. This as been a journey already - and i have loved every minute of it.
January 6th 2026
January 11th 2026
January 16th 2026
January 21st 2026
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