Hi everyone, I am very new to planted tanks and have not had the best of luck in my 55 gallon, I think because I have a very rocky substrate. I am going to be setting up a home office and thought it would be cute to have a little 5 gallon planted tank.

Does anyone have any advice on the tank I should get? I have looked at the Marineland 5 gallon, and the Fluval Spec 5 gallon. Wanted to know if you had any experience or advice with them?

I was also curious what type of substrate I should use, and what plants would be easy to get a very lush kind of overgrown look. I plan on having the plants with some driftwood and the shrimp in there first, making sure they have plenty of hides, and then introduce the beta. And what are your thoughts on one of those mini Fluval CO2 systems to get the tank started?