Yoshelb

You can just remember to turn your lights on and off everyday at the right time, but I never could so I went with a timer. This is the timer I started out with It's the cheapest I could find online and it does the job. I've since switched to smart plugs since I can schedule them and turn them on and off via homekit on my phone.

For if you want to feel like a Jetson. I mean this feels like the future. I schedule my lights to turn on and off at a certain time.

I have this on my 1 gallon vases and it's just so darn cute.

This light is great. I like that it clips on and it's plenty bright for my planted two gallon vase. It also has a switch which means it'll turn on with the rest of my tank lights on a timer. Some that just have a little button won't turn on at the plug with a plug timer.

This is the LED I started with on my 6 gallon. It's great and really affordable. It's just not quite as beautiful as some others but it does the job very well. They have various sizes for between 5- 25 gallon.

I just upgraded the 2 gallon to the 7W version of this light. (which is much more light than necessary but I want those bright red plants!) It comes in various sizes which will fit a lot of different tanks. It's a very high quality aquarium light for the price.

But some things to consider: I don't love that it's difficult to remove from the bamboo board, it doesn't adjust for height, and it's not dimmable. So if its not right out of the box for you it'll take a little DIY to make it work.

I love this light. It's a bit pricey but so worth it for the clean aesthetic, high quality build, and beautiful light output. I've had this one for several months and it's been incredible for plant growth.

This has been a sleeper hit. I chose it again for the idea that it would allow the tank to rotate by not having to attach it to the tank itself. This light this creates is absolutely gorgeous 10/10

A splurge but so worth it. This is the absolutely stunning light I have on my 6 gallon. I could not believe the difference it made not just to the look of the aquarium but to the colors of my plants and plant growth.

Teenie Tiny terrarium kit with substrate and aquatic plants. I keep Rolly Pollies in mine.

These are awesome for tiny terrariums or as a really humid grow out space for special aquatic plants like bucephelandra or anubias.

Rimless low iron glass tanks are the most beautiful thing. 7 gallon is a perfect starter size if you're brand new to planted filterless aquariums.

High clarity glass and perfect starter size for a filterless planted shrimp tank.

This is the one that Walstad suggests, but look for one with similar content if you don't end up going with this soil. You want to avoid any chemical fertilizers.I use an organic potting mix from a local nursery that includes more fertilizer than Walstad suggests but it worked just fine.

You'll need some kind of fine gravel or sand to top your soil. This is the one I use, but any fine gravel or sand will work as long as it's aquarium safe. I like black because it hides the waste animal waste.

You'll need some kind of water conditioner to remove chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals during water changes. Even if you don't have fish or shrimp chlorine can harm your hard earned bacteria colonies and throw the whole balance off. From everything I've read Seachem Prime is by far the best and one bottle can last years.

I use Fritz aquatic water conditioner when acclimating new shrimp because it does not use up oxygen in it's process (Seachem Prime does). However it does not remove heavy metals so I use Seachem Prime for normal water changes.

This is a very cheap siphon I use for water changes. I like this one because it has a cover on the bottom preventing larger items from getting sucked up. Some people use just airline tubing which can be even cheaper. Or there are of course nicer more expensive versions. But mine's still going strong after more than a year.

In the USA this is the best affordable test kit available to us. You can buy the strip kind but I've found they can be highly inaccurate. Better to just go for accuracy in the beginning than have something go wrong because of a bad test strip.

Annoyingly, the master kit does not include the KH and GH test, but don't let that make you think it's not necessary. Knowing your KH and GH right at the beginning can make a big difference to how you stock your tank and how you set up your tank. My KH and GH are almost non existent in my tap water so I add crushed coral to all of my tanks to raise the TDS.

This one is fabulously cheap and it works perfectly. If you want to add fish and/ or shrimp it's important to keep an eye on water temperature. If your room varies by more than 10-15 degrees you may want to think about getting an aquarium heater.

This is the very affordable set I have. You can absolutely make a planted tank without them. I've seen people use chopstick and regular scissors. These just make things much easier.

The flipping cutest little shrimp net you'll ever see. Shrimp nets are less floppy with smaller holes so shrimp don't get stuck in them. It's also got some Inspector Gadget vibes going with its telescoping handle.

There are definitely other ways of accomplishing drip acclimation, like tying off some airline tube. But I've found this little tool immensely helpful for acclimating new shrimp and fish.

You can find driftwood for free obviously! But if you're impatient or not near a beach these were awesome and they arrived in a day. Always do a roaring boil for about 20 min on any hardscape if you can.

This is the base of my lazy susan turning shrimp vase. I wanted something that could hold a good amount of weight and that was super cheap. This ticked those boxes. I used this as a base and then added a wood base to give the vase somehwere level to sit.

I used these wooden craft circles to create a flat base for the vase to sit on. You could also do something beautiful and decorative but I was looking for something minimal that wouldn't overhang.

An aquarium safe glue for attaching plants or hardscape to hardscape.