# Scape with me (The Journal)



## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Greetings everyone,

Welcome to my journal, this tank will be based on Walstad method. And I would like you all to join and help me be successful in this project, any advice are welcome. I have fish tank experience in the past 5 years but just started live plants in past year. And I must say I can’t believe I didn’t encounter this method years ago. I’m excited and I’m looking forward to the ups and downs of this journey, so read on and scape with me.
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Tank, light, filter and heater;
5 gallons (17x6x11 inches height)
5:4:5 siesta (LED 821 lumens)
Lowest setting 55gal/hour
77 F (Hydor 25 watt)

Substrate
1inch of Miracle gro organic potting soil (sifted)
1inch of Carib sea pea sand gravel

Plants
Micromeria brownei (Creeping charlie)
Bacopa caroliniana
Ludwigia repens red 
Shinnersia rivularis (Mexican oakleaf)
Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass)
Myriophyllum pinnatum (Foxtail green)
Cryptocoryne wendtii red
Ceratuphyllum demursum (Hornwort)

Salvinia minima (Water spangles)
Limnobium laevigatum (Frogbit)
Pistis stratioes (Dwarf lettuce)

Invertebrates 
To be decided as we go along. But definitely some type of shrimps and fish that’ll be a good fit in my tank and keep things balance. 
—————

At the moment, plants are ordered and should arrive next week. Most of the soil is sifted, about 5 percent consist of some wood chips. 

Picture below is my tank with 1 inch soil. I’ll give it some time to air out some ammonia. And I’ll swirl things around everyday to make sure all gassing out will be even. 

Special thanks to Hoppy, Michael, Ms. Walstad and everyone else who gave me some tips in advance already. 

Thank you for reading stay tuned! 

Keep those arms wet,
Rodgie


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

fluval tank? 
Nice journal btw  and good luck I'm following!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Yes sir! This light will test my patience and strategy to find its balance. We’ll see I think my siesta regime is a good start. My little problem right now is that, tank isn’t near any window. But the room gets very bright, and if I open my curtains at specific time of the day it’ll probably get some direct sunlight.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Some direct sunlight isn't bad. I have my fluval almost in front of a window and it does fine if not great. But its adjusted and adapted to being in that position. Which I'm sure yours would do as well. 
Wouldn't worry about that. out of curiosity, what type of fluval? Spec V?


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Yes Dutch it’s the Spec V. The picture is just the side view of it. I have a Finnex Fugeray planted plus light that I can use someday on this. But I’ll stick with the stock light for now. I’ll do my best to find it’s sweet spot. 

I’ll be interested to see your Spec set up. Can you PM me a picture?


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

yea when i get back home id be more than happy to send u a pic, or actually nvm i forgot i have one on file, sending pm!


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

It may be a bit late, but you can "tune up" your hard-scape with slopes etc.

The way I did it, I put some material under the soil, so that you dont need to make the substrate too deep and it helps for me to maintain the 1" soil depth recommendation. Even if you just put in a slight slope from front to back, I think the tank may look better. I also don't put soil close to the glass, just gravel. I think it looks better from outside. Also it can add interest if you are using different gravels, small stones etc, not just the very same cover all over the place.

To stabilize the slopes, sometimes I cut a plastic bottle into small pieces and I insert it into the soil. This way the whole thing stays together better. If I add larger stones, I do not put soil under them.

Happy 'scaping!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Hi zoolteC,

Thank you for passing by. I actually thought about hardscape, I have driftwoods from my other tank (got shut down) but it’s too chunky. And, with 6” width of the tank, there’s almost no room for your hand to move around. So I decided just to keep this set up simple. Plus, it’s my first walstad set up. When I get more experience from this I’ll be more adventurous I promise. 

By the way the picture is a side view only. But I really like the slope idea of the soil and I’ll take note of your suggestion for future use. For now I think I can do something similar by trimming the hairgrass (hopefully it will create a lawn) with a slope style. 
—————
Check image below. 

Thought it was cool when I woke up this morning, to see marks of live species in the soil crawled by the glass.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Day 1 -Planting-
————————

Finally plants arrived today, I was shocked how much plants I actually ordered. Anyways, I almost give up on dividing the dwarf hairgrass and planting them. But I sticked with it and happy with the result. 
————————
Just a little update on plant list. I got a bonus Nymphea aquatica and the Foxtail I got didn’t look good to me so I didn’t add it. 

I also added a sponge on the outlet of the filter. Though it was on a minimum setting, it was still blowing strong current and plants were getting pushed hard.

The roots of the dwarf hairgrass were so tiny after being removed from the mat. Hopefully this little fellas will bounce back. Meanwhile the floating plants have crazy roots! I’m sure one of the water lettuce, if I allow it, it would probably hurry it’s roots to the soil that’s how long it is. 

Keep those arms wet,
Rodgie


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Thanks for the update.

If I may add couple of suggestions from my quite limited aquascaping experience  I would add some driftwood and maybe a couple of smaller stones (or maybe just one-two taller dragon stones) to fill in the "empty" vertical space and make it less "flat". Don't try to make everything symmetric, rule of thirds apply not only to photography.  Crypts might look a bit better moved farther away from back as they will probably get overrun by fast growing stem plants eventually. 

From what I was reading, you can trim roots of water lettuce without damaging the plant. Just cut them somewhere in the middle and you should be good to go. I wouldn't let it put roots into the substrate. Be aware that it grows fast and big, you'll have runners everywhere in no time. However they are very easy to remove and you can use them in other tanks or give/throw away. 

I started my second attempt with banana plant in my big tank (first one got eaten by plecos) few days ago, so we can compare the progress of its growth. I'm mainly curious if we'll get those huge 6 inches leaves


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

mysiak said:


> Thanks for the update.
> 
> If I may add couple of suggestions from my quite limited aquascaping experience  I would add some driftwood and maybe a couple of smaller stones (or maybe just one-two taller dragon stones) to fill in the "empty" vertical space and make it less "flat". Don't try to make everything symmetric, rule of thirds apply not only to photography.  Crypts might look a bit better moved farther away from back as they will probably get overrun by fast growing stem plants eventually.
> 
> ...


Also one challenge may be, that the plant species used are relatively large compared to the tank size.
The good news is, that NPTs are so cost effective and easy to maintain in larger size, that this problem can easily be solved. Go BIG!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

@Mysiak- hi thank you for your inputs. Trust me, I thought about putting driftwoods or rocks as well. But, with the tight width (6”) I backed out, there’s almost no room for my hand after all the plants were in lol. My goal with these plants is for them to just kind of fight it out. Whoever stays healthy will stay and win the tank (though I hope DHG will be one of them). 

With banana plant, it’s really a cool simple plant. I’m my other tank before my banana plant had 3 floating leaves. Though for some reason it didn’t last long. It started losing all those floaters and the banana tubes disentigrated one after another. My guess is that, Co2 wasn’t enough. Good luck with yours hopefully your new plant isn’t with the Pleco’s again? Haha those fish are quite on top of the food chain. I saw one of my friends Pleco ate a small cichlid once! Poor fish. How many leaves does your banana has right now? 

@Coolzek - your challenge would be accepted if I have a bigger space in my apartment and I have more free time. I completely understand that NPT is cheap to assemble even with a larger tank. I actually felt bad throwing a bunch of plants from my orders because they would just not fit anymore or if I planted more, plants won’t get lights anymore haha. 

Thank you guys for passing by. I’ll update this thread once a week with pictures. 

Have a nice weekend everyone,
Rodgie


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Thank you guys for passing by. I'll update this thread once a week with pictures.


Looking forward to see how the tank develops!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

@zolteeC thank you! Sorry i miserably mispelled your username on my previous post. 

I’m looking forward as well, as of now I’m nervous about the hairgrass not having plenty of roots to begin with. But all I can do now is wait and be patient. 
————————
Question for anybody who has idea. When I wet the soil I wasn’t confident that all parts of it get wet. That, even after I added the gravel I feel like some soil areas still had dry parts and even after I put water. Is that going to haunt me later on? 

Thank you


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Rodgie, I didn't realize that tank's so narrow, I should have checked and "translate" the dimensions first  But I still believe that one tiny finger wood would squeeze in, shrimps/snails will certainly appreciate it as well and you'll have a place for moss growing.. Just my 2 cents of course. 

I had to rehome both plecos (bristlenose btw), they were constantly fighting over food with other fishes, devastating my amazon sword, ate all bananas(!) and they didn't help with algae whatsoever.. So my new banana plant should be safe, unless it disintegrates by itself this time. There is only one leave, but second one is growing already. I am not sure if I want those surface leaves though, read somewhere that bananas disappear then.. Cutting leaves before touching surface might help to preserve the plant, but no idea if it's true or not. It's very rare and hard to get plant around here, so I am not very keen on experiments


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Hmmm mine lasted over 6 months. But some people had it for a good year. I think it’ll depends on you, if you’ll let it grow fast or slow. I personally don’t like bothering plants with what they want to do. They’re a living thing and spend so much energy on creating new sprouts, stems, leaves etc. and, cutting it seems like unfair to me.


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

Rodgie said:


> @zolteeC thank you! Sorry i miserably mispelled your username on my previous post.
> 
> I'm looking forward as well, as of now I'm nervous about the hairgrass not having plenty of roots to begin with. But all I can do now is wait and be patient.
> --------
> ...


No worries. Sit back and relax. It will be all right. You will see some bubbles coming out of your sediment which is good.

Use your best H2S detector in your house, which is your nose. If it smells, then do a water change and maybe a bit of aeration will help. Chances are low for this, just in case.

The bubbles will likely be CO2 which is actually good for your plants. I don't do this "poking" thing, why would a little bit of CO2 hurt in the substrate? (It can also be N2 or who knows what else.)


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

I appreciate the re assurance zolteeC.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Day III -Touch Down-
——————————

Some Mexican Oak leaf, Creeping Charlie and bacopa stems made it out of the surface. Some more are fast approaching. 
The Ludwigia is still sleeping beauty though.

I didn’t check my water parameters yet with my API kit. Temperature is 79 though my heater is only at 77. I guess the room temperature is warm enough to not use the heater. But I’ll keep it still just Incase my dog decides to open my balcony again.

Lastly I forgot to mention when I planted, I’m using siesta period of 6:4:6 instead of 5:4:5. I figured I need my stem plants to be out of surface very fast to prepare for algae impact. So far it’s working. 

Keep those arms wet,
Rodgie


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Day III -Touch Down-
> ----------
> 
> Some Mexican Oak leaf, Creeping Charlie and bacopa stems made it out of the surface. Some more are fast approaching.
> ...


Nice update! love the pic.
FTS needed! (full tank shot) 
I had the same thing happen with my current heater I'm using, room temp in house is usually 70, and the tank is 78! even though its setp to 75, so i lowered it to set 70 and now the tank is just above 75-76 degrees F. lol guess ya just gotta work it!

Siesta is the lighting sched. where it goes On-Off-On-Off right?
Also your fluval looks like my first scape when i started it (profile picture is the end of my scape in my fluval before dismantling it)


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Hi Dutch,
Thank you! I like this side too picture a lot so far haha.
And check my previous post, I have a FTS. Nothing changed yet from day one. At least not big difference. 

And I think I’ll do what you also did maybe I’ll lower the setting in my heater down to mayb just 72-75 and see if it’ll go down. 

And yes, siesta period is when you have 2 lighting period with few hours rest in the middle to help Co2 bounce back up. 

Thank you for passing by Dutch! I’ve been following your own journal too!


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Hi Dutch,
> Thank you! I like this side too picture a lot so far haha.
> And check my previous post, I have a FTS. Nothing changed yet from day one. At least not big difference.
> 
> ...


Thanks! hope I'm not spamming your thread to much, but i used to siesta period and it Didn't work out for me... although it was in a high tech tank, i heard it helps fight algae but it didn't do a darn thing, actually made it worse. When you want to tell us how its doing for you, i know its only been a short time XD but time flies when your having fun! Didn't realize you had a previous fts, gonna have to look back on page 1


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

No worries about spam, we’re all here to learn from each other. And as little as any idea can be an important information. As for Siesta period, this is how I understand it. We need it for Non Co2 injected tanks specially NPT. Because we rely the source mainly from the soil, fish and bactierias basically doing their daily chores which is also to eat and live. That in turn releases Co2. And to keep the plants have a light for 12 hours straight in a NPT tank will cause a disaster. Because Co2 will be almost depleted after 5-6 hours. That’s why we give the tank a Siesta, for the Co2 to replenish and have a great amount again when the lights turn back on

Now for the High Tech tanks. I believe it’s counter productive, because you don’t need it. You have your Co2 injector that can keep up with the plants Co2 need for a long duration. I’m not sure why algae takes over if Siesta is used in those tanks. My guess is imbalance. Too much Co2 is present when lights are off maybe? And when the lights turn back on. Both plants and algae have fair amount of Co2 to use for each other’s need.

Anyone correct me please if I’m wrong. I base my answers from how I understand things in my researches. Which can still be mid interpreted hehe.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Rodgie, you are correct. Siesta schedule is used to manage natural CO2 in low tech or Walstad tanks. I don't know if or why it would cause algae problems in CO2 injected, high light tanks. It isn't done in high tech because it isn't necessary.

Almost all of my Walstad tanks are on siesta schedule, and I have few algae problems.

P.S. Now that you are getting some emersed growth on your stem plants you can reduce the number of floaters like water lettuce if you want.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

What i meant was that when i had my fluval v old dutch setup, i didn't have injected co2 and such. was basic EI low tech dosing, which worked beyond fantastic actually!  *recommend* 

My thingy was that when i tried the siesta thing on the old fluval setup, i thought it'd reduce algae but for me it didn't. Dont know why, eventually the algae went away with excel but i was just sayin' lol!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Thank you Michael, 

I’ll slowly remove some water lettuce after 2 weeks. For now they’re not yet crazy big to block too much light. Question, do you know any proven performer terrestrial plant that is safe for aquarium? I’m planning to put one by my filter area.

@Dutch,
I tried the same method (EI Dosing with Excel) on my 15 gal tank before. I would say the plants were growing very healthy and faster. But my main problem was my sand substrate and my Kuhli loaches. They would keep digging and sand particles will lay on the leaves, I strongly believe that was the main cause of my own algae problems. I ended up shutting down the tank because of how much water I have to keep remove and refilling once a week. I don’t think I’ll go back to that method again, it gets expensive with excel dosing. 

I’m glad your algae problem is gone, I saw Hoppy answered and gave you very good pointers on the other thread. Which is to find out the main cause of the algae problem. Hopefully you’ll find it’s sweet spot, maybe on the light, water change, or maybe distribution, or maybe same thing with me. Sand particles being attached to the plants. Good luck!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

There are many house plants that work for filtering aquarium water. The ones that come to mind first are pothos _Epipremnum aureum_ (the plant with a dozen common names) or any of the smaller _Syngonium_ or _Spathiphyllum_ (which also have too many common names).


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Cool! Thank you Michael. I’ll take a look at those in next coming days. Because eventually I’ll only keep very few floating plants to spots where they won’t block the light. And the rest will be given or thrown away. But I’m itching to try a house plant that’ll hang by the filter section and somehow do the same work like the floating plant does. By the way, you have amazing pictures of your walstad tanks! I can’t remember where I found it yesterday here but, gosh I got jealous. Your tanks is a proof that aquascaping in NPT isn’t impossible at all! Great job.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Day V -Crawling Guests-
———————————

Greetings everyone, 

Finally it’s my day off and had more time to literally stare at my tank for hours today. A lot of fun so far. Yesterday I checked the parameters for the first time with liquid API kit and here are the results;

Ammo - 1.0
Ph - 6.4
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Gh - 2
Kh - 2

Now, I know you all will wonder why my nitrate is 0. Trust me I shook my apartment when I did the nitrate tube and it’s container. I probably didn’t do it enough I’ll try again tomorrow. 
My tap waters GH and KH is always 2ppm so I’m not surprise it’s reading the same in the tank. Though, I added 3 tablespoon of crushed oyster grit when I set up the soil. It’s probably not yet enough time for them to start dissolving. I’d like to see my GH to reach 7-9, which I was able to do in my previous tanks with calcium chloride. Same thing with Ph, Id like to see it a little higher. But overall of course stable parameters is my main objective if these will be my tanks characteristic then so be it. Except for ammonia of course. Let me know guys what you think. 
——————

Part of the fun today was seing all my plants except ludwigia pearling. It was cool watching the bubbles float up. And lastly! We have guests. Pest snails! Lol. I saw maybe 4 today sized from very tiny to maybe the adult size. I’ll probably just keep them for now or hire an assasin one of these days. I also trimmed some dying leaves from transportations damage today. 

Pictures below are the snails, and a top front view of the tank. 
Thank you for reading.

Keep those arms wet,
Rodgie


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Pet Snails Are The Best Snails


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

The tank looks good, I can already see a lot of growth on the plants.

Most people think of assassin snails just for pest control, but they are attractive and interesting in their own right. I have them in most of my tanks, and they seem to reach a classic predator-prey relationship with the other snails: enough predators to keep the prey population moderate and stable without exterminating them.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

i just set up a 40b to in my own journal thread, be looking forward to following yours  good luck!!!


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Thank you Michael, 

I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll keep going like this. My ludwigia hasn’t budge yet, this one might not make it because of my parameters. I’d probably consider an assasin snail in this tank but I’m worried that it’ll be too small for one (correct me if I’m wrong) 

@dutch

The snails look cute actually haha. I’ll check your journal as well from time to time. 

When I woke up today I swear I can see very tiny bit white stuff organism crawling by the glass. Are these from the soil? They look like they’ll be a very good food for fry. 

Have a nice day all,
Rodgie


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

i think i posted my comment in the wrong journal, oh well xd good luck 2 u 2 rodgie, again XD 

*facepalm*


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## tomloebl!8 (Jan 24, 2018)

When I woke up today I swear I can see very tiny bit white stuff organism crawling by the glass. Are these from the soil? They look like they'll be a very good food for fry.

Have a nice day all,
Rodgie[/QUOTE]

I had them show up when I set up a 2L planted bowl and they died out a few weeks later for unknown reasons. More likely they came in with the plants. With my magnifier I could identify amoebas, paramecia single cell and other tiny creatures. They live most ponds and as far as I know they will not do any harm. They may be a small snack for newly born fry but not much food value when the fish get bigger...see http://www.microscope-microscope.org/applications/pond-critters/pond-critters.htm for examples.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Thank you for your information sir, I bet they’re fun to catch for fry fish. I wonder if they can keep multiplying in the tank though. Because that can be a regular source of snack haha. 

Nate, you’re all over the place hahaha.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Day VII -Ammonia is kicking-
—————————————
Greetings everyone,

We are now on 7th day with some nice growth from the plants. I have few concerns that maybe I’m just over thinking that I’d like you guys to help me with. And by the way I had some white see through cotton stuff on few spots of my hair grass I removed it with my tweezers. I wonder what it was.

Parameters
Day V ——— Day VII
Nitra - 0—— Nitra - 0
Nitri - 0—— Nitri - .50
Amm - 1—— Amm - 2
Ph - 6.4—— Ph - 6.6
Gh - 2 —— Gh - 2
Kh - 2 —— Kh - 2
————

I’ll upload pictures below, from the left with the old one and new one next to it. 

Concerns of mine are as follow;
1. With my ammonia still lingering around 1-2ppm, should I help the plants by doing more water changes? I’ve done only one time 80% water change and twice where I just scooped some surface water to remove some biofilm. What’s interesting is that, I woke up today and didn’t see any biofilm. 

2. Some plants still have some damaged leaves like bacopa for example. Should I keep trimming every dying leaves I’ll see from my plants? 

3. Gh, I know my tap water is soft (2GH). I added crushed oyster grit on the soil when I set it up. I haven’t seen any improvement yet. Now, should I add some more and put it by my filter area? 

4. Now I really feel stupid not knowing how to upload an image here using URL. Can somebody teach me? Haha. 
—————

Thank you for reading and I’m looking forward for some advice. 

Keep those arms wet,
Rodgie


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

No need to over-worry anything. Keep the lights on for reasonable time, so that the floating plants help to purify your water. A little bit of ammonium just makes your plants grow better. Think of it as a plant booster. I would keep up with water changes, maybe a bit here and there every 2-3 days for a little while. I don't know about your tap water, but mine contains tons of O2, which may not be a bad thing in the early phase of an NPT.

About hardness. We need an expert opinion here. My water is super hard (250 mg/l CaO equivalent), so I am in the opposite of your situation .


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Thank you zolteeC,

I think I’ll keep up with little bit of surface water change every 2 or 3 days. I’ve seen lots of growth overall from all plants, specially the floating plants. I have to remove some already because it was blocking the light. 

And yes hopefully I’ll get some great advice for my GH because it’s really soft.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

How is it going Rodgie?


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Day XXI -First Trim-
—————————

Hello folks,

It’s been a while, I’ve been sick the last couple of weeks. Flu season is real and I got hit really hard. Anyways, my tank! Men Walstad method can really make your tank explode. 

Attached pictures will be;

First - front shot of my over grown tank with Mexican Oak leaf, creeping jenny and Foxtail. 

Second - after trimming, I removed some Mexican oak leaf and the rest of exploding plants in the middle to give some more light for my hairgrass. 

Third - I manually helped the plants hang themselves to the back side of the tank.

Fourth - creeping jenny flowered! There’s already two flowers now. 

In general, all plants are still thriving. Even the ludwigia now is out of water surface, which I’m very happy. Some leaf of crypt melted but plenty of new leaves are out now. The banana plant and Bacopa have obvious roots reaching the bottom glass of the tank now. Now, only the hairgrass from the middle to the back are suffering. My first bet is the very dim light they were getting from the plants that were shading that area. The grass in the very front of the tank already have new shoots and are starting to spread. And that’s the only part that wasn’t shaded. 

Hopefully after this trimming and more consistent light in the middle, it would make the grass recover and continue to form a carpet. I still see few strands of grass from the dying areas so I’m still hopeful it’ll recover. 

Lastly, I not have lots and lots of tanins. I added 4 ghost shrimps and an assasin snail 5 days ago. My ammonia was still reading somewhere 1-2. I know I should’ve waited more, I just couldn’t resist the shrimps lol.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Your plant growth seems really good. It's interesting that you can still measure ammonia, I would expect it to be zero with emersed and floating plants. How are your nitrites and nitrates?


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Thank you for the response Mysiak,

I think the Miracle gro organic potting mix really just have abundant amount of manure. I didn’t liberalize the soil prior, so that’s probably why I’m still getting consistent ammonia. I have to check he parameters tonight and see where I am at. The last time I did (5 days ago) I can’t remember the exact numbers I have to check my notes. I had some reading for both nitra and nitri. But very minimal like 1 color down only. 

One of the shrimp died last night when I got home. I did a partial water hange right away. Hopefully things will get stable soon.


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

Your tank shows really good growth!

I would keep the emerged growth and use long light periods. I do not see any algae in your thank, which is good . The ammonia should be removed by the plants.
Also a little bit more frequent water changes may help in this case... I think soon you will be on the track so that maintenance can be reduced a bit...


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Thank you for the response Mysiak,
> 
> I think the Miracle gro organic potting mix really just have abundant amount of manure. I didn't liberalize the soil prior, so that's probably why I'm still getting consistent ammonia. I have to check he parameters tonight and see where I am at. The last time I did (5 days ago) I can't remember the exact numbers I have to check my notes. I had some reading for both nitra and nitri. But very minimal like 1 color down only.
> 
> One of the shrimp died last night when I got home. I did a partial water hange right away. Hopefully things will get stable soon.


yea when i setup my soil tank, i didn't even use organic potting soil. All worked great though, i used miracle grow moisture control potting soil. Things i did to "prepare" it were all in 1 day, it was soaking it and skimmer with a net all the floating debris, then dried in the sun for the rest of the day and tada! To this day it works great, no problems with fish dying in it either btw.


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Hi everyone,

Thank you guys for passing by. Actually tonight I checked my parameters and I’m happy to say that ammonia is 0! 

Here are the rest of the parameters;

Amm - 0
Nitrate - 10
Nitrite - 0
Ph - 6.6
GH - 3
KH - 2

I’m not quite sure why my shrimp died. But, today all three shrimps were still alive. I’ll check my parameters for the next 5 days again. And if it keeps having zero ammo. I’ll probably add some red cherry shrimps. And maybe I’ll add a betta after that.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Parameters seem great, however I'm not sure that ideal for RCS. I'm no shrimp expert, but as far as I know, Neocaridina davidi likes higher pH and hard(er) water. Their shell might damage in soft acidic water. For you water, Caridina cantonensis species (CRS - Crystal Red Shrimp) sounds like more suitable. I wouldn't put betta with them though, unless your tank is a real "jungle" - shrimps need a lot of hiding space if housed with a predator fish. And even then you probably won't see them much (compared to shrimp only tank).


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## Rodgie (Dec 28, 2017)

Hi Dirt tankers,

I apologize for this forgotten page of mine. Life got extremely very busy for me to the point that I couldn’t take care of the tank either. 

Anyway the tank survived a year and 3 months I believe. Throughout those times I was really impressed of how the tank took care of itself. Obviously no water change at all and I would be able to do just top off. Ludwigia Repens took over the tank to the point that other plants started dying because of no light reaching the bottom.

The tank was taken down last month for good. I’ll for sure start another Walstad tank when I get more free time again soon. 

Please let me know if I have to close the thread since I won’t be continuing this journal anymore.

Thank you all!


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Thank you for your feedback. 

Refreshing comment in view of fact I just listened to club talk on how you HAVE to use CO2 injection, select a commercial fertilizer, then prepare a reference standard, add micronutrients one day, macronutrients the next day, and change 50% of the water every week.

Keep up the faith in Mother Nature!


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