# Planted tanks



## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

So far I have 2 walstad natural planted tanks, and I love the ease of keeping fish in them. I have a 125 gallon planted tank, and a new 55 gallon planted tank.
As soon as I get my plant order I'm going to set up my other 55 gallon tank as a walstad planted tank as well. So far I just have plants in pots in it, but it's growing tons of hair algae 
I have it full of duckweed as well.
I'm wondering how hard it's going to be on the fish if I bread the tank down and put all the fish in a bucket, or I could transfer them all to my 125 gallon tank for now, but I don't look forward to trying to catch them again later, LOL.
Any suggestions on what I should do with my fish while I'm tearing down the tank and resetting it up as a walstad planted tank?


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## clearleaf (Oct 4, 2008)

I say bucket and an airstone. Long as it doesn't take you more than a couple hours I can't see what harm it would cause.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Put them in a large storage container or cooler with a powerhead for circulation. You can even throw a few plants in there for them. I did that with mine when I moved and they stayed in a cooler with powerhead and plants for 1 or 2 weeks (can't remember now) with no problems.

-Dave


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

yea. big rubbermaid with their filter on it, heater, etc.


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Okay I put the fish in a bucket with duckweed for about an hour and a half while I broke the tank down and switched it to a natural planted tank. :cheer2:
I have had the dirt airing out for over a month so that's not an issue there, and it's organic black gold. It does have some nitrogen added (in the form of worm castings) but it's supposed to be a slow release fertilizer. I planted the tank heavily and put the potted plants back into the tank that were already in there in the first place.

I have duckweed, hornwort floating, some water wysteria floating and planted as well, several narrow leaf swords, several dwarf sag, a java fern (in a pot), 4 leaf clover (in a pot), I added some bulb plants too such as madagascar lace and a couple others who's names I forget now, LOL. I also got a moss ball, a potted ludwigia, and 2 potted crypts of some sort. Oh and a tiger lotus for a nice centerpiece. I also got another bunch plant but I'd have to go find my packing list to remember the name it was all scientific and very long, LOL. It looks a little like a bacopa type plant and it's a reddish pink color on the leaves and stem, it's supposedly a low-medium light plant.
This tank has 2 x 65 watt CFL bulbs that I have on for 8 hours a day, I know it's high lighting which is why I have so many plants floating on top  I am also going to let the tiger lotus grow floating leaves to help diffuse the lighting more.

When I have some more spare time (this weekend) I plan on taking the plants out of the pots and planting them directly into the substrate, I just put them in for now because I ran out of time 
All fish seem to have acclimated well (my tap water pH is close to what my tank water was so there shouldn't have been much to shock them).


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Good work, Barnsten! Now you can sit back and relax and watch your tank grow.

-Dave


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Well that spare time happened tonight, guess I'm just on a roll  LOL.
I took all the plants out of their pots and trimmed them up a little if they had algae on them, then replanted them into the new walstad natural planted tank. I took a before picture as welll so I will have something to compare to later .
I have an odd piece of driftwood that doesn't seem to want to find it's right spot in the tank, may have to see how the tank fills in first before I place it for good, it has java moss growing on it as well. It's shaped like a root of a tree, very neat piece of driftwood, one good perk to living in Alaska on an island, LOL.
All the fish seem very happy and excited at the new landscaping, exploring all over still. I think the cory's like it the most 
The bleeding hearts were a little shaken up, but I plan on moving them over to the 125 gallon soon, I didn't want to transfer them twice in one day  Maybe this weekend or next week.
I have 6 females waiting for them in the 125 gallon though  I'm sure they'll be happy to meet them.
I'd have to say the happiest are the guppy's, but then again they like to look at everything, new or old  LOL.
I will share pictures once I get them uploaded.


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## clearleaf (Oct 4, 2008)

Glad everything went well, look forward to the pics!


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Pictures of my 2 newest set up walstad tanks, I will get pics of the 125 gallon soon, I think it needs more plants because it's covered in black beard algae, hard to get rid of stuff.


















Forgot this one with the drift wood picture in it


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

The top picture is my 55 gallon Angel fish tank
the other two pictures are my 55 gallon community fish tank,
obviously both of them are my new walstad natural planted tanks 
The one with higher lighting (CFL's) is filling in quite nicely (the community tank)
the one with the regular fluorescent bulbs (not CFL's) is doing just fine but not growing as fast, I planted it mostly with crypts so there has been some melting but overall not much, and some new leaves are showing up already, and the hornwort is doing good on top. The duckweed is doing okay, had a lot of die off at first, probably due to the new tank, but it's still alive.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Barnsten said:


> This tank has 2 x 65 watt CFL bulbs that I have on for 8 hours a day, I know it's high lighting which is why I have so many plants floating on top  I am also going to let the tiger lotus grow floating leaves to help diffuse the lighting more.
> QUOTE]
> 
> Nice looking tanks. Its good to hear that you got the fish into their new home without a hassle.
> ...


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Before I set this tank up as a NPT I had algae issues so I lowered the light timer, I didn't up it because I didn't want an algae bloom right away, I was going to slowly raise the lighting.


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Also the 125 gallon tank has a bad case of black beard algae and I need some very fast growing plants to help out compete it. I think raising my pH by adding crushed coral to the filter helped it though, as it's not growing as fast (it prefers soft water like around 6, and my pH has settled up to 7.2-7.3).
Is it safe to up the lighting or should I still add more plants?


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Barnsten said:


> Is it safe to up the lighting or should I still add more plants?


The community tank looks like its got a very nice planting density. You could up the daylength from 8 hrs to 12 hrs for this tank alone and see what happens. Plants could take off and surprise you!

I would also suggest manual algae removal if you have algae problems. NPTs may need a little help the first few months.


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

Yeah I do manual algae removal every week or more depending on the growth so far. I've just added a bunch of guppy grass to the community tank as well so that might help starve out the algae 
I've upped the lighting the plants seem to like it so far (been a day so far since I changed it to 12 hours on).

Will post when I have an updated pic to show new growth, the bacopa is growing very well so far though, heading for the surface  and my Aponogeton ulvaceus looks like it's trying to bloom, will see


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## Barnsten (Jul 3, 2009)

New purple/magenta mystery snails in my 55 gallon NPT community tank, happy and busy little guys, I love 'em.


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