# my first aquascaping , did i make mistake?



## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

hello
yesterday I just tried to make my first aquascape after watching few videos about how to make aquascape with walstad method on youtube its makes me interested to try it, it looks very easy in the video but what I experienced was quite difficult.

my first difficulty is soil, i cant find any suitable soil except to buy dedicated soil for aquascape as well as fertilizer and others things..So I decided to take dirt soil in the mountains near my house and try to filter out unwanted particles such as big gravel , worm , bug and other pests.
my second difficulty i have no idea what gravel or sand to use for top layer..and so i decided to use cheap black volcanic sand.
and my last difficulty is i have trouble planting plants because the sand is too light , i have to several times to replanting because the plants float after being filled with water.

-the volume of the jar are 2 liter and 4 liter ( i did 2 jars at the same time)
- size of the substrate dirt is 2.5 cm (1 inch)
-size of the sand is 3cm (1 inch more)
-plants are used (vallisneria spiralis, ludwigia sp red, cryptocoryne wendtii , bacopa monnieri , sagittaria subulata)
-for bulb i use cheap white LED bulb (3W for 2 liter and 5W for 4 liter)

some of the plants are turning yellow especilly vallisneria maybe this is because i had to pinch the plant too strong tight with my tweezers when replanting , should i worry about it?

here are some photos i took today


































thanks in advance


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

One day is too soon to know much of anything, but, I have to tell you, your water looks remarkably clear for a brand new NPT! How much soil do you have in there?


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## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

johnwesley0 said:


> One day is too soon to know much of anything, but, I have to tell you, your water looks remarkably clear for a brand new NPT! How much soil do you have in there?


how long does it usually take to know if something is wrong or not? 
maybe its because i used dechlorinated water or the cloudy dirt already settle? i dont know exactly how much , but i put 2.5cm (1 inch) of soil and 3cm (1.2 inch) of black sand for top layer


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

justwood79 said:


> how long does it usually take to know if something is wrong or not?
> maybe its because i used dechlorinated water or the cloudy dirt already settle? i dont know exactly how much , but i put 2.5cm (1 inch) of soil and 3cm (1.2 inch) of black sand for top layer


Sounds like your plants have been through a lot. I would have chosen a heavier gravel and a thinner top layer - no more than an inch. Maybe, their roots will reach the soil and they can revive themselves through some good growth. But, if they continue to come loose, I wouldn't bother trying to replant them. I would let them float until I could replace the gravel.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

It's too early to tell, but you have done quite a bit right. Thank goodness I don't see any driftwood!

Jar looks sealed. You need gas exchange. I would take the lid off and lower the water level an inch.

Make sure that the light is on for at least 11 hours/day. 

Make sure that your water has medium hardness, GH greater than 4-5 degrees (i.e., 70 ppm CaCO3). If you are using R.O. water or a house water softener, then Val, being a hardwater plant, would be the first to show its unhappiness. Ultra-soft water is a common problem for people living in New York, Seattle, Raleigh, all cities where the water is too soft. Water without calcium will actually kill hardwater plants (my book, p. 114).


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## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

dwalstad said:


> It's too early to tell, but you have done quite a bit right. Thank goodness I don't see any driftwood!
> 
> Jar looks sealed. You need gas exchange. I would take the lid off and lower the water level an inch.
> 
> ...


thank you for the advice , im super excited with my first planted tank looks like i really need to be patient.
for the water i used tap water and i let it sit overnight i didn't know soft water would be bad for some plant , is there any recommend method to increase the water hardness?


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would just wait. Even if your water is too soft, the soil may release enough calcium into the water for the plants. Therefore, I would advise not changing the water unless you feel you have to. Increasing water hardness is complicated and may be unnecessary.

If ALL the plants collapse, then I would start worrying about water hardness. In that case, investigate your water department or talk to a local plumber. A basic rule of thumb: If water source is ground water or from desert area, it will be sufficiently hard. If it is surface water from a rainy region, it may be too soft. Ideally, you should know whether your tapwater is hard or soft before growing aquarium plants. All USA municipal water department release statements on the Internet about the chemistry of their waters. You can always phone them.

I would give the plants two weeks. By then you should know whether your venture worked out or not. Remember that planted aquariums are complicated and have hundreds of variables. Some plants may adjust, others may not.

In Summary: I applaud you for starting out small, using soil, lots of good growing plants, no driftwood, and consulting with this forum.

Write back in a couple of weeks with your results and we can go from there.


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## jatcar95 (Oct 30, 2019)

justwood79 said:


> is there any recommend method to increase the water hardness?


There are a few recent-ish threads on the forum about increasing water hardness. There is a recipe in _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium _to increase hardness, there are Wonder Shells which are dissolvable "shells" that increase hardness, or you can try using crushed coral/aragonite/etc (although this tends to release more slowly and may not be adequate on its own, depending on your base water parameters).

Couple of threads that may interest you:








Increasing GH with Wonder Shells


For those living in NYC, Seattle, Raleigh, etc where water is ultra soft (GH = 0-2), Wonder Shells may be an easy and fast way to increase water hardness. Not only that, but the shells reportedly contain other nutrients associated with hardwater (Mg, K, S, B, etc). This is a bonanza for...




www.aquaticplantcentral.com












Increasing Water Hardness Recipe


Recently, I increased water hardness in my tanks with growing guppies, plants, and molting shrimp. This is because the well water I use went from a GH of 10-17, when I last measured it back around 1991 and 2007, to a too-low GH of 3. The decrease was due to continuous rainfall last few years...




www.aquaticplantcentral.com


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

jatcar95 said:


> There are a few recent-ish threads on the forum about increasing water hardness. There is a recipe in _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium _to increase hardness, there are Wonder Shells which are dissolvable "shells" that increase hardness, or you can try using crushed coral/aragonite/etc (although this tends to release more slowly and may not be adequate on its own, depending on your base water parameters).
> 
> Couple of threads that may interest you:
> 
> ...


Thanks for posting this. It shows that increasing water hardness is complicated--and to be avoided if possible. Hopefully, her tapwater has adequate hardness and/or her soil is releasing enough calcium, magnesium, etc to compensate for the potential problem of ultra-soft water..


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## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

dwalstad said:


> I would just wait. Even if your water is too soft, the soil may release enough calcium into the water for the plants. Therefore, I would advise not changing the water unless you feel you have to. Increasing water hardness is complicated and may be unnecessary.
> 
> If ALL the plants collapse, then I would start worrying about water hardness. In that case, investigate your water department or talk to a local plumber. A basic rule of thumb: If water source is ground water or from desert area, it will be sufficiently hard. If it is surface water from a rainy region, it may be too soft. Ideally, you should know whether your tapwater is hard or soft before growing aquarium plants. All USA municipal water department release statements on the Internet about the chemistry of their waters. You can always phone them.
> 
> ...





jatcar95 said:


> There are a few recent-ish threads on the forum about increasing water hardness. There is a recipe in _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium _to increase hardness, there are Wonder Shells which are dissolvable "shells" that increase hardness, or you can try using crushed coral/aragonite/etc (although this tends to release more slowly and may not be adequate on its own, depending on your base water parameters).
> 
> Couple of threads that may interest you:
> 
> ...


thankss for a lot of informations! 
I heard from my father that the tap water in my city uses a filtration system with chlorine so I believe that the tap water I'm using may be too soft, but i think i should check it again just to be sure.
today i decided to replace some of the water by about 50%, i used dechlorinate water and also added a bit of dolomite sand (with ratio 4 gallon water and 1 teaspoon of dolomit sand) I read that on google about dolomite sand can increase water hardness and contains calcium and magnesium but im not sure about what I did just by dissolving it in water now i regret it perhaps i should change again the water next day? or just let it be?


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## jatcar95 (Oct 30, 2019)

justwood79 said:


> filtration system with chlorine so I believe that the tap water I'm using may be too soft


Most treated water has chlorine added, it shouldn't affect the hardness (to my knowledge). You should be able to find a more detailed report for your city/area; for example here's the water quality report for Portland, OR (found by searching "portland oregon tap water quality report"): https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2021/ccr-2021-r13.pdf. It notes we have very soft water from our main water supply, but the backup is groundwater that can be harder (80ppm, ~4.5GH). 



justwood79 said:


> perhaps i should change again the water next day? or just let it be?


It's probably fine. Ideally it may be good to get a GH test kit to tell for sure, but I doubt it raised it that much. It will dissolve over time to add hardness, but maybe not at the rate at which plants are taking it up. Similar to adding crushed coral/aragonite.


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## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

update after 2 weeks some things happen

i experience brown algae (i believe its diatom algae but not sure) added snails to take care of the algae after few days its almost clean.
i saw some white worms swimming around , i did research on google they called detritus worm i read they're not harmful i think its probably a good sign for my tank.
trimmed the sag subulata , added little amazon sword and amazon frogbit.
haven't changed the water at all since first water change 2 weeks ago (I can't wait for the next water change looks like it's still no needed to water change right now).
seems like my ludwigia red will not make it , i dont know why i think its lack of some nutrients from the substrate 🤔and the vals bit more greener now but some of the leaves still looks like gonna melt.
bacopa moneri and crypts seen growing new shoots.
will keep update after few months 😃😃































i planning to make next walstad method tank in bigger aquarium (12x8x8 inches) should i mix dirt with vermicompost (worm casting)? will it give better nutrients and boost the longevity of the nutrients? or it just waste my money because im planning to buy the vermicompost


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

Wow. I think your patience has really paid off. I wouldn't touch a thing for another two weeks.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would not add anything to the soil. Keep it simple and save yourself a lot of headaches. Submerged plants are "shade plants." Extra nutrients beyond what soil provides only stimulates algae.


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## justwood79 (Nov 7, 2021)

ah i see , then it makes lot more easier i dont have to buy vermicompost
thankss Mrs Diana


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