Planted Tank For Beginners - NPT Method

I have decided to write this article to encourage a fellow online friend, Constance, to re-setup her tank after all her fish went to the Heaven. :) Hopefully, your kids will get the opportunity to learn a thing or two out of this hobby as well. I am pretty sure they will learn about science (biology and chemistry to be specific).

Since Constance mentioned to me that her fish died when she was on vacation. She suspected that starvation could be the cause. Yeah, this is possible for a non-planted tank. Her Platies might have died because there's no algae or any critters acting substitute food. The risk is even higher for fry. Usually a fish can survive without food for about 5 days. The risk goes up as the number of days increases. If you decide to use an auto feeder, make sure you test it first before going for vacation. Honestly, I have never used it. In a planted tank, normally you will find some critters that you can hardly see with your naked eyes. These critters could be the fish food when you're away from home. Furthermore, planted tank is more stable in terms of water chemistry - the plants can absorb some of the chemistry that is harmful to the fishes such as ammonia. In other words, the plants act as natural filters. At the same time, the plants also make the tank feel more secure for the fishes. So stress is reduce.

Some people say that NPT (Natural Planted Tank) or Diana Walstad's method may not be suitable for beginners. I am doubt so. I would say that anybody can do it as long as the person is willing to try. This is the cheapest way to have a proper planted tank without using expensive ADA or other manufactured soil made specifically for aquarium tank. If you're willing to spend money on the expensive soil, you may go ahead though. It's like driving a Myvi or BMW to get to your destination.

Before going into very detail with soil, let focus on light first. Light is one of the important elements to keep plants alive. However, getting the wrong type of light does not help much in a planted tank. For a planted tank, you'll need lighting tube of 5,000 - 10,000 Kelvin. A lot of lighting tube companies do not supply you this information. Therefore, sometimes people go for 2 watt per U.S. gallon theory which is not very accurate. If you do not intend to go into too technical, consider "copying" from your friends - basically find out what lighting set works in their tanks and try to buy the same lighting set for your tank. I use 2 sets of ADA 15 watt florescent tubes for one of my 15 gallon (2 feet) tank. As usual, all ADA products are expensive. You can consider PL (compact florescent) tubes from Dymax and Aqua Zonic as they work fine in my tanks. You can also use Phillips 36 watt PL. Bear in mind that majority of the lighting set supplied along with the tank you purchase are not suitable for plants unless you asked about it. Meanwhile, don't trust the salesperson too much as well.

Here's a sample information about the lighting set I use. Like I mentioned earlier, no information about Kelvin:



The other element that ensure the survival of plants is the substrate. Here I would like to suggest a mixture of Holland Sand and Top Soil. Holland sand is a common cheap aquarium sand you can find in most of the LFS (local fish shop). The sand may consists of different colour but I highly recommend the colour of the sand in my photo below. The main reason is, you won't spot the dirt. White colour sand is the worst - everyone with a common sense will know the reason:



Top Soil is a common garden soil sold very cheaply at the nursery. No, you don't buy this at the LFS.



Before using the soil, may consider doing some test on the soil. The method to test is basically use a bottle, fill it up with some of the soil. Measure the level of the soil and mark it. Fill it up with water and shake it. After 30 seconds, measure the soil and mark the level. After 2 minutes, measure the soil and mark it again. Check out how murky is the water. You may want to leave it over night to see whether it clears up. This method helps identifying whether the soil is suitable or not. Check out the following link about my Diana Walstad's Experiment for more details and also check out how to fill up the tank with the soil & Holland sand:

My Diana Walstad's Experimental Tank

As for the filter, the following are some of the cheaper options. You may go for canister filter which is more expensive and looks neat in the tank.

Internal Foam Filter:
It takes up space inside the tank but it works great especially in a livebearer tank with frequent production of fry. You have to hook it up to an air pump.


HOB(Hang On The Back) Filter:
For my case, it's hang on the side filter because I hang it on the side instead of at the back. It occupies space at the top of your tank making placing lighting set a bit of headache. You may tie a piece of foam to prevent fry from being sucked into the inlet. Eheim is my favourite brand in terms of filter but it is more expensive. It comes with quality though.


Plants selection:
For beginners, I suggest the following plants. Try to google to find out how they look like. It's better to do some research before purchasing. Otherwise, you may end up getting non-aquatic plants such as Mondo Grass that is often sold at LFS.
1. Hornwort or CeratoPhyllym Demersum - you can even leave it floating if you don't have any strong current. Good as hiding space for fry especially livebearer.

2. Elodea or Egeria Densa - you can even leave it floating if you don't have any strong current. Good as hiding space for fry. Good as hiding space for fry especially livebearer.

3. Java Fern - There are a few varieties or sub-species including Philippines Fern, Windelov, etc. You don't need substrate to keep this plant. Just tie it to a driftwood.

4. Hygrophila Polysperma - You can see this plant in my previous post or just google. It's a fast growing plant.

5. Duckweed - Most of us will eventually grow to hate it because it grows like weeds blocking the light from other plants.

6. Anubias - There are several varieties such as Anubias Nana, Anubias Nana var Petite, Anubias Nana var Marble, etc. You don't need substrate to keep this plant. Just tie it to a driftwood. Best to keep them sheltered by other plants.

7. Cryptocoryne Wendtii - the easiest Crypt to keep

8. Cryptocoryne Retrospiralis - this is an easy Crypt suitable as background plant.

9. Potamogeton Gayi - This is an easy background stem plant.

10. Riccia - Most of us will eventually grow to hate it because it grows like weeds and it's hard to keep it tied to the driftwood or rock because it's naturally a floating plant.

11. Marsilea Quadrifolia - The easiest carpet plants to keep. Will grow taller if the light is insufficient.

12. Corkscrew Vallisneria - As long as the substrate is rich in nutrients..even fish poo will do, it will grow and produce runners very fast. Suitable as background plant.

13. Subwassertang - Just tie it on a driftwood/rock. Subwassertang

Fish selection:
Livebearers are generally not well taken care of by the farms because they are cheap fishes. Therefore, it's very common for you to get sick ones home and they die within days. You may consider livebearers such as Guppies, Mollies (need brackish water), Swordtails (need at least 20 gallon tank) or Platies if you can find good quality ones. These are some of my favourite hardy fishes:

1. Ember Tetra - Small sized and the colour will brighten up in a planted tank. So, don't overlook them.

2. Lemon Tetra - Medium size tetra. Best to keep them in a group. Just beware that they're jumpers.

3. Cherry Barb - Very hardy colourful barbs.

4. Yellow Phantom Tetra - Very hardy medium sized tetra. Not aggressive as the cousin, Black Phantom Tetra.

5. Kuhlii Loach - Interesting because it looks like a worm/snake. Very fun to look at but require some hiding space.

Here's a list of things I will do to re- setup a tank:

1. Bleach the tank to make sure it's free of disease. Use non-perfumed bleach. Rinse the tank over and over with tap water.

2. Fill up the tank with Holland sand at all four corners. Then add the soil inside the tank. Then cover the soil with more Holland sand.

3. Add the plants you want into the tank and make sure they're well planted into the substrate. Make sure you moisture the plants to make sure they don't dry up (you may spray some water onto the plants). Tall plants should be planted at the back and short ones in front (make sure you know the plants you're having)

4. Place a clean plastic bag to cover the substrate and plants to prevent water from stirring them up. Then, fill up the tank with water.

5. Add some anti-chlorine into the tank.

6. The water may appear a bit murky. Just leave the tank alone for at least 24 hours.

7. When the murky water is gone, you should look into cycling the tank with hardy fish. Try with 3-4 fish first and keep it that way for at least 1 month. You may consider fishless cycling too - this method utilises ammonia to cycle the tank. Cycling process is introducing beneficial bacteria into your tank to ensure the survival of fish.

8. Theoretically water change should be 10-50% on weekly basis. I prefer 50%. Sometimes I go beyond 50%. At the initial stage, I believe 50% water change is the minimum when the tank is going through cycling process.


Additional Notes:
It's very important to find out the exact size of your tank, so that you can plan to set it up properly. Example: The amount of lighting, fishes and fertiliser depend on the size of your tank. Here's a useful link to find out the actual measurement of your tank along with various aquarium related calculators:

Aquarium Stuff Calculators

Activated charcoal is unsuitable for planted tanks. The main purpose of activated charcoal to get rid of chemical in the water that are harmful to the fishes. In a planted tank, it also get rid of fertiliser of chemical needed by the plants.

In a planted tank, normally we don't vacuum the substrate like we used to do in non-planted tank. The fish poo and debris act as fertiliser to the plants. You will uproot the plants or even kill the plants if you do so regularly.

In order to control the duration of light or even CO2 (if you decide to use it), it's best to get yourself a timer. IKEA offers the best price for timers in my opinion - you'll get two timers for the price of one. Even though the timers are made in China, it's hassle free to get them replaced in IKEA if they're found to be faulty within the first week. Usually, you will discover faulty one within one week. So make sure you test them 24 hours for 7 days during the first week :) Using a timer, you don't turn on the light 24 hours a day. So, it's very safe even if you're away from home.

Normally, it's very safe to run the air pump, filter and powerhead even though you're away from home as long as the water in the tank does not dry up. I heard of powerhead caught fire - it happened because some stupid people decided to place powerhead outside the water when powerhead was meant to be inside the water. Anyway, I don't fancy powerhead because it generates heat inside the water. I have never heard of air pump or filter catching fire before. The highest quality filters are made in Germany. To be specific, the brand is Eheim as I have mentioned before. If you use air pump, it's best to look out for one that does not produce too much noise. Otherwise, the noise will be very irritating in the long run.

In a tropical country, sometimes we use a fan (similar to a PC fan) to cool down the temperature of the tank to optimise the growth of some plants. The only drawback is the water evaporates causing the water level to go down. Usually I switch off the fan if I am away from home - I don't want to damage my filter.