Sunken Gardens: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting Freshwater Aquariums

Karen Randall’s “Sunken Gardens” is one of the most comprehensive beginner-friendly guides to planted freshwater aquariums. Randall draws on decades of experience as a planted tank hobbyist and writer for “Aquatic Gardener” magazine to cover every aspect of setting up and maintaining a planted aquarium, from choosing your first plants to understanding the role of CO2, lighting, and fertilization.

Why Consider This One

Where George Farmer’s book leans toward aquascaping as a design discipline, Randall’s approach is rooted more deeply in the plants themselves. She provides detailed portraits of dozens of aquatic plant species, explaining their light requirements, growth habits, and placement in the aquarium. If you are the kind of person who wants to understand why certain plants thrive in certain conditions, this book will satisfy that curiosity.

The step-by-step photography is strong, and Randall covers both low-tech and high-tech setups. She also addresses fish and invertebrate selection as part of the planted aquarium ecosystem, helping you choose species that complement rather than destroy your plants.

What to Expect

At 256 pages with over 200 color photographs, this is a thorough reference that works equally well as a cover-to-cover read and as something you return to when planning new layouts. It leans slightly more toward the horticultural side of the hobby than the pure design side, making it an excellent complement to more design-focused aquascaping books.