Everything here is written by people who keep tanks — how plants actually behave, why the third month is when scapes fail, and what to do about the algae that arrives in week two.
Six subjects cover almost every question a planted tank raises. Read them in this order if you are setting one up; jump straight to the last one if something has already gone wrong.
New pieces roughly every fortnight. Nothing here is sponsored, and no link on this site earns us anything.
Almost nobody loses a tank in week one. The failure point is around day ninety, when the initial nutrients in the substrate run out and the routine has quietly slipped.
Read on maintenance
Four species sold as beginner plants that will melt in a new tank, and four genuinely forgiving ones that rarely get recommended because they are unfashionable.
Read on plants
The single most common fault in first scapes. Why hardscape has to look oversized when the tank is empty, and how to judge scale before the plants go in.
Read on hardscapeGlassmeadow does not sell plants, hardware or substrate, and does not take commission on anything we mention. That is the whole editorial policy. It means we can say a popular product is not worth buying, and occasionally we do.
Reader tanks are the most-read thing we publish — particularly the ones with problems. If something in yours is not working, photograph it and tell us the parameters. We will look at it properly.
