Planted Nano Community Tank Setup: A Perfect Project For Small Spaces!

Here’s how I set up my 45-litre (12 US gallon) nano community tank and how it’s evolved over the first five months. This tank is home to ember tetras, pygmy corydoras, blue neocaridina shrimp, amano shrimp, and a nerite snail, all chosen for their peaceful nature and suitability for a planted nano setup. For the hardscape, I used a mix of smooth river cobbles and spider wood. These were glued together with aquarium-safe glue to create a stable, natural-looking base that wouldn’t shift over time. Onto the spider wood, I attached Anubias coffeefolia and Bucephalandra ‘Brownie Ghost’, using them as living décor while keeping their rhizomes safely above the substrate to prevent rot. The main substrate is Fluval Stratum aquasoil, added to a depth of around 5 cm (2 inches). This depth makes planting much easier thanks to how lightweight aquasoil is, especially when working with stem plants. In the front left corner, I added a section of black sand to create a dedicated sand bed for the pygmy corydoras so they can forage naturally. When planting, I aimed for a filterless, plant-based cycle, so the tank was heavily planted from day one. I intentionally used far more stem plants than the tank has now, allowing them to absorb excess nutrients and manage the bioload once livestock was introduced. During the first month, the tank went through a bacterial bloom, which is very common with aquasoil setups due to nutrient release and residue from in-vitro plant gel. I also added aquaponically grown houseplants to the back rim of the tank, which add colour above the waterline and improve natural filtration. By the end of month one, water parameters were stable enough to add eight standard pygmy corydoras, two albino pygmy corydoras, and ten ember tetras. At the start of month two, algae became more noticeable than usual, so I added six amano shrimp, ten blue neocaridina shrimp, and a nerite snail. I also performed a partial rescape, switching to a triangle layout and adding a small nano filter after removing many of the stem plants. Month three was a real algae battle, mostly due to the light being far more powerful than expected. I slowly reduced intensity from 100% down to 35%, which is still where it runs today. Now in month five, the tank has really settled in. Algae is under control, the livestock are healthy and active, and I’ve even seen signs of ember tetras breeding among the houseplant roots. Full plant list is included, and apart from Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’, everything has been easy to grow in this setup. #aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #nanotank #communitytank