From what I've read, high-tech planted tanks where one might care about TDS and CO2 end up being more work than a complete reef tank! In this comparison, I choose the reef.
I have 5 freshwater tanks right now with varying degrees of success over the past year. Four are the top 40B tanks in my basement fish room double stacks and one is a 36g bowfront rescue tank from a house my co-worker bought that contains 6 comet/common goldfish ~3". I'm planning to consolidate some tanks and end up with a recently-acquired 150g tall tank for comet/common goldfish and other cool-water species, such as weather loaches, reticulated hillstream loaches, and white cloud mountain minnows as well as a tank or 2 for tropical species I'd like to keep. The 40B double stacks (4 top, 4 bottom) are planned to be all saltwater QT/hospital tank(s), live rock culture tanks, and some species-specific or special-community-reef tanks at smaller scale.
Current top 40B tanks contain: Community with cherry barbs, zebra danios, harlequin rasboras, otocinclus catfish, and corydoras catfish; black mollies and Siamese algae eaters; few types of rainbowfish and Siamese algae eaters; and 4 weather loaches ~6"+ (too big and dirty for a 40B which caused poor success with my first attempt at white cloud mountain minnows and hillstream loaches, especially since I started too many tanks initially for proper research and this tank became last priority)
Val and dwarf sag. were some of the plants I tried, but I don't think my cheap lights were enough to let them thrive and most died off over time except in one tank.
I wish I could keep a jungle like yours! ...maybe in the tank resets in the future.
No surprise, I still have too many first priorities and too many dreams...
I currently have in descending order of size the 75 previously pictured with angels, tetras both black neon (on their third generation I think), and glowlight, there were white clouds in there too. panda cories that have also bred in the tank, a glass catfish that was a rescue along with others I can't name. I had been running co2 till I didn't clean the defuser and it got all clogged. that's when the rotala hra and green started to ebb in growth, along with the cabomba. the val and sag kept on steady as can be. also in the tank, green hair algae, greed dust algae, and some buce that is doing great. My secret is neglect I guess. When I was running co2 it was hard to keep up with trimming, mostly because I am lazy. it looked great though.
A 29 gallon (that's the wife's but I keep it on the list). various easy plants and I need to replant some.
20 gallon plant grow-out with anacaris, rotala, cabomba, rosy red minnows and at least one red NeoCardia.
10-gallon desert scape: java moss and fern, yellow neocaradina and a female betta.
5-gallon guppy hospice: dwarf sag, crypt something or another, maybe anacaris and rotala
my two cents are a reef can be easier than the lfs and forums will tell you. Very little or no dosing, feed, light, test water, top off and water change. And a planted tank can be much harder than it needs to be: monitoring CO2 adn Ph levels, nutrient dosing, regular trimming, cleaning, building water. I'd put the spectrum like this (if it doesn't work typing, I'll have to draw it):
easy hard expert
[--------setting up a low tech planted tank-----]
[---------running a low tech planted tank------------]
[--------------setting up high tech-----------------------------]
[---------------running high tech--------------------------------------------------]
[-------------------- setting up a reef---------------------------------------------------------------]
[---------------------------running a reef------------------------------------------------------------]
Thanks for coming to my TED tank. I don't think they should have let me on stage.
