The First Planted Tank Shopping List

The short version

• About ten items get a planted tank running: a tank, substrate, light, a gentle filter, a heater if you want tropical plants, a liquid test kit, a water conditioner, hardscape, and a starter set of plants.
• Buy the tank first and the animals last. Livestock does not belong on this list, because it goes in weeks later, after the tank has cycled.
• The two purchases beginners skip and regret are a liquid test kit and a real light: the test kit reads the cycle, and the light decides which plants live.
• A 10-gallon starter build runs cheap, and most of the cost sits in three places: the tank, the light, and the substrate.

A planted tank needs about ten things, and the animals are not among them yet. That last part trips up most beginners, who buy a tank and livestock on the same trip and lose the animals to a tank that was never cycled. The gear below is the whole build, and it is deliberately ordered so the living things come last, once the water is ready for them.

Prices are shown as bands, from cheap to pricier, because the real numbers move with brand and tank size. Here is the list, category by category, in the order you actually buy it.

The tank

Start with a 10-gallon. It is cheap, it fits on a shelf, and it holds enough water to stay chemically stable in a way a 2 or 3-gallon nano never will, which is exactly what a first tank needs. If you have the space and a little more budget, a 20-gallon long is the better first tank still: the wide, shallow footprint gives plants more floor, and the larger volume swings temperature and parameters more slowly. Skip anything under 5 gallons for a first planted build, since small water volumes punish beginner mistakes fast. The tank and a matching lid are purchase number one.

The substrate

The substrate is the plants' root zone, and there are two honest routes. The route with the least fuss is aquasoil, a baked, nutrient-loaded clay that feeds root plants directly and pulls pH toward 6.5, sold in a mid price band; it leaches ammonia for the first few weeks, so it needs a full cycle before any animal goes in. The cheaper route is inert sand or gravel with root tabs pushed in beside the hungry plants, which costs less up front but feeds nothing on its own. Either way, plan for 2 to 3 inches of depth at the back so tall plants can anchor, and buy the substrate before the water.

The light

The light decides which plants you can keep, so this is not the place to cut the most. A dimmable full-spectrum LED bar covers everything from low-tech plants to a carpet, and you aim for roughly 30 to 50 PAR at the substrate for a medium-light planted tank; more than that invites algae without added CO2. If your plant list is all low-light species like java fern and crypts in a tank up to about 10 gallons, a cheap clip-on nano light does the job for a fraction of the cost. Whichever you buy, put it on a timer for 6 to 8 hours a day, because a consistent photoperiod starves algae better than a long or erratic one.

Filtration and a heater

A planted tank wants gentle filtration, and an air-driven sponge filter is the cheap, forgiving choice: it grows a large bacteria colony, moves water softly, and will not shred anything small you add later. A heavily planted low-tech tank can even run with no filter, since the plants and substrate do the biological work, but the sponge is inexpensive insurance. A heater is optional and depends on your plants and your future livestock: many beginner plants like java fern (Microsorum pteropus) sit happily from 68 to 82 F and tolerate an unheated room, while a tropical stock later on will want a small adjustable heater sized to the tank.

The test kit and the water conditioner

These two are cheap, unglamorous, and the ones beginners regret skipping most. A liquid test kit that reads ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH is the tool that tells you when the tank is cycled and safe, and liquid tests are far more accurate than paper strips for tracking that cycle over 4 to 6 weeks. A GH and KH test is worth adding, because hardness decides which plants and which future stock suit your tap water. A water conditioner, or dechlorinator, is the last essential: tap water carries chlorine or chloramine that kills the beneficial bacteria your tank depends on, so you add a capful with every top-off and water change.

Plants and hardscape

Now the part that makes it a planted tank. A piece of driftwood or a few stones give the layout structure and, in the case of wood, a mount for epiphytes, and driftwood sits in a mid price band while leaching harmless tannins that tint the water for a few weeks. For a first plant list, lean on cheap, forgiving species: java fern and Cryptocoryne wendtii both run on low light and no CO2, and a handful of stems or a floating plant rounds out the tank while out-competing algae. Buy more plants than you think you need at the start, because a heavily planted tank from day one is more stable and far less prone to algae than a sparse one.

What is not on the list yet

Livestock is deliberately left off, and that is the most important line here. The animals go in last, weeks after the plants are rooted and the test kit reads zero ammonia and zero nitrite, because a tank added to on day one is a tank that loses its stock to an uncycled system. Here is the full build at a glance, in buy order:

Frequently asked questions

What do I actually need to start a planted tank?

About ten items: a tank and lid, substrate, a light, a gentle filter, a water conditioner, a liquid test kit, hardscape, and starter plants, plus a heater if you plan tropical plants or stock. Livestock is not on the starting list, because it goes in weeks later. Everything else fits on one trip.

Do I need CO2 for a planted tank?

No. Plenty of plants grow well with no added CO2, which is what a low-tech planted tank is built around. Low-light species like java fern, crypts, and many stems run on light and root nutrients alone. Add pressurized CO2 only later, if you decide to keep demanding carpets or high-light plants.

What is the one thing beginners skip and regret?

A liquid test kit. Without it you are blind to the nitrogen cycle, and adding livestock to an uncycled tank is the most common beginner loss. The kit costs little, reads ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH, and tells you the one thing you cannot see: whether the water is safe. Buy it with the tank, not after a problem.

How much does a first planted tank cost?

It varies with size and brand, but most of the spend sits in three places: the tank, the light, and the substrate. A 10-gallon low-tech build with a clip light comes in cheap, while a 20-gallon with a full-spectrum bar and aquasoil runs higher. The consumables, conditioner and test kits, are minor by comparison.

With the gear on the shelf, the next step is putting it together and getting the plants in the substrate. Plan the layout and stocking with the build planner, browse species by light and difficulty in the plant database, or read the rest of the build guides. Start with how to plant aquarium plants so nothing floats away, then move up to how to set up a 20-gallon tank or a planted tank without CO2.