The evolution of my planted tank (Oh there's fish, by the way. And shrimps)

It was March of 2016 when I decided I wanted to have a big enough tank for it to be low maintenance (FYI the smaller the tank, the harder it is to tend).

I went with a 22-gallon tank, and it appears I may have selected the wrong shape. I wanted to have plenty of depth for the fishes to swim around, but it appears having a tall tank is a bad idea if you want to add plants in it. My plan was all about the plants. I have always been fascinated with growing aquatic plants, and how they come in different shapes and sizes and colors.

Tall tanks are not very good for plants because the plants will tend to stretch out to reach the light, and that leaves them with overly long stems. Anyway, since I'm stuck with this tank, might as well make the most of it.

So here is how it looked like on day one:

A little bare. When you do your own tank, don't do this. Start with a lot of plants!

One month on, and this is how it looked...

Yeah, I added some vegetation I got from the local hobby group (Facebook helps!)

Another couple of months passed by, and I got to collect different species of plants. I had to try them out to see which ones would work for me. I didn't really have much rocks and soil to do a scape, so I stuck with a flat bed.
By then it it has started to develop good nutrient cycle with the fish and the filter working together. The plants are much greener, and I also went a stretch to get the best fertilizers I can afford.

Some few months more...

And some more...

And then it got to this. My favorite setup. I am just in love with the Downoi and Blyxa...

And then I went away for about four days. Hair algae infested everything. So I nuked it. I don't have a picture of it. I will just tell you, it was bad.

After another four days from DDay, this is what it looks like now...

It does not look as good, but at least I got rid of all the algae. I cleaned out the filter and made sure CO2 is sufficiently running, and hopefully they don't come back. Or I'll have to nuke it again!

I like keeping a planted tank. They say it's hard, and I agree. Getting my plants to grow as beautiful as they should gives me the satisfaction. And it's fun experimenting with different setups, so yeah. It's also expensive. I don't want to put up my budget here because I'm using the cheap stuff. Hahahaha!

Thanks for reading, and hope this inspires you into trying out the hobby!