# ****New Walstad Tank: Questions on Soil, Cycling, and Lighting****



## Jaeroo (Mar 24, 2015)

Hi guys, I am new to the Walstad method and have a 20g long and an Aqueon Evolve 4 (barely 3g and about 2.5g of swimming room) that I want to use the method on (I have read her book too, btw). I mineralized my Miracle Gro Organic Potting Soil (I think?) by soaking it and drying it in the sun about four times and then sifting out the sticks and rocks. I have decided to cycle the tank beforehand instead of adding fish the day of only because I may not buy as many plants as Diana suggests and they might not be as healthy as the plants she would use from her other well established tanks to start a new one. I fear that the balance would be off because of this and I really don’t want any fish to die right off the bat. As you probably already figured, I want to do fishless cycling and have bought ammonium chloride solution to start building bacteria (from Dr. Tim’s Aquatics). I have a few questions regarding the soil, cycling, and lighting.

Q1: Soil: I have heard that I should mineralize the soil and have already explained what I have done so far with it.

•	I have red clay that I will dry out, crumble into dust, and mix in with it. Is this okay? I have it solely for the purpose of bringing out the redness in plants.

•	Also, I have no idea if my water is soft or not (I sent out a water hardness test to Home Depot, but I haven’t gotten a reply yet). My mom mentioned that we have a water system with limestone in it? I think that makes water soft, right? (we have well water) I have crushed oyster shells and am wondering if I should use those mixed into the soil to make the water harder? (Only because I’ve heard that most tropical fish do better in hard-ish water rather than soft. Except angels, but I’m not getting those.)

•	I also heard that people have a 50/50 mix of soil and something else because the soil is too nutrient rich? Thoughts on this? I figured since I mineralized the soil it would be more stable (like humus?) and would have less chance of spiking. (I will have duckweed also)

•	I was thinking 1.5 inches with a 1.5-2 inch cap would be fine. I will probably make the soil layer thinner in the Evolve 4. Thoughts on this?

Q2: Cycling: Doing fishless with ammonium chloride solution.

•	I did a little researching and I think that it’s okay to cycle the tanks without anything in it. I think I am going to go through the process with just water in it and when everything is ready I’ll drain it, keeping the filter media soaked/submerged so the bb doesn’t die, put the dirt in, place the plants in, etc. Is this safe to do? Opinions?

•	If this is safe to do, I was thinking to wait a few days after putting plants and dirt in, just in case the water levels are weird so that it can all be balanced before adding fish. Or should I just add fish when the dirt and plants are to be added?
Q3: Lighting: Okay, this is probably the worst thing ever for me and has been holding me back from getting everything started. I don’t think I’ll need them for cycling so I can at least do that while I’m trying to figure out what to buy.

•	Diana’s book was written a while ago, and since then, LEDs have come into the picture. I know from reading threads on here that people have talked about it before, but I really need some clarity on this, once and for all. For some reason, I have never really wrapped my head around the different terms of par (and…per?) let alone watts and all those fancy numbers and letters that are supposed to mean something. I would like to have LEDs since they “last longer” and look altogether nicer than the uh… “bulbs”. For a 20g long I would need… about 30 watts of light, right? (1.5 watts*20g) Is there a way to transfer 30 watts into the same equivalent as par? (Dear Lord I hope I’m making sense because I really need help.:hail Like, what would 30 watts be on a “par scale”. There is this new aquatic LED light fixture that I can buy that has adjustable par or something like that. It’s a new product that dims like the sunset/sunrise and you can set whatever par you want as the peak/afternoon of the “day” on the fixture. Or you can set it on a par without the dimming aspect. It’s quite a bit of money and I don’t know if that would be more cost effective than just buying bulbs every year. Lighting is probably the most annoying thing for me to learn about with the Walstad method (or any method, for that matter) and I really really need help on this part especially. Thoughts on this? (I don’t have my heart set on the LEDs. If I need to get bulbs, then I will. Anything that’s best for the tank.)

Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope I can get answers from you guys! Sorry that this is so terribly long!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC!

Q1: The red clay is fine as long as it doesn't have any additives. As you have probably read, MGOC is nutrient rich so it is sometimes mixed with one of the clay products used in aquariums: Flourite, Turface, Safe-T-Sorb, and even cat littler. This helps to keep the nutrients in the substrate and not circulating in the water where they can contribute to algae or an ammonia spike.

Let's talk about your water. Do you have a water softener for your house? If so, then the well water is hard. Don't use the softened water, use the well water before it goes through the softener, unless there are major problems with it. That said, water softeners use sodium chloride or potassium chloride, not limestone. Limestone would make the water harder, not softer. So figure this out and let us know.

If you go with 100% MGOC, just use 1" and only 0.5" or o.75" in the small tank. 1.5" - 2" of cap is fine.

Q2: You don't need the ammonium chloride, the MGOC will provide all the ammonia your need to cycle the tank. I suggest that you set the tank up with soil, cap, plants, filter, and lights, then run the filter and cycle the tank that way. You can test for ammonia to determine if the tank is safe for fish. If you have a fish store in your area, they may test the water for you for free or a small fee. Walstad tanks depend on plants to do most of the chemical and biological filtration, with the beneficial bacteria in the tank and filter as a back-up.

Q3: Lighting has become a very complex subject, so don't feel badly for having a hard time figuring it out! There is no easy way to convert watts per gallon to PAR, and no easy way to compare fluorescent and LED lighting, except with a PAR meter. A 20 long tank is relatively shallow and easy to light. For example over my 20 long I use two clamp lights from the hardware store with 23 watt spiral compact fluorescents in the fixtures. These are the common lights sold everywhere. I look for the highest color temperature that I can find; Sylvania makes 6500 Kelvin "daylight" ones that work very well.

If you want to use an LED fixture, the Finnex FugeRay or Ray2 have worked well for many people. These are simple on-off fixtures, and probably less expensive than the dimable and programmable fixture that you are looking at. Walstad tanks do not need high light, so you do not need a powerful fixture. You can control the brightness (PAR) of the fixture by moving it closer or farther away from the surface of the water. Just a few inches can make a big difference. I suggest that you post in the lighting forum with questions about any particular fixture that you are considering. Be sure to mention that you have a 20 long, and that it is a Walstad tank so does not need high light.

Good luck! Once you figure out your water hardness and settle on a light fixture I think it will go smoothly. Just take your time. Any planted tank, and a Walstad tank in particular, takes several months to mature and become stable. Many problems that occur at first go away with time and water changes.


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## Jaeroo (Mar 24, 2015)

Thank you so much for responding!

Okay so, the clay is from Michaels and its Amaco Red Clay. It was suggested by Dustin’s Fishtanks on plantedtank.net or YouTube so I went and got that. Could I use a larger amount of that to keep the nutrients under control instead of using Turface, Safe-T-Sorb, etc?

My mom said it’s a softener but that it has limestone in it so idk what’s going on there. I'll have to look into it myself. If I can find a way to get the well water without it going through that system, should I retest it at Home Depot? I didn't really think at first that the water hardness mattered. Some people didn't even mention it, and some people stressed hardcore on it. My older brother has a 40b high tech set up for a couple months now and it’s doing well despite the constant algae bloom. The water hardness didn't seem to have any great effect on his tank though, so I really didn't think much about it until almost every “new tank” thread mentioned it. So now here I am wondering.

I think I might do the ammonium chloride beforehand because I legit just bought it and want to do something with my tank already lol. And it can only be safer, right? There’s no harm to doing it this way? After that I think I’ll put my dirt, plants and fish all in there. I figured it’ll get a little head start since the ammonia from the Miracle Gro will just go straight to the healthy bb. That way I guess the tank settling down can move along a little faster. Thoughts?

Okay so I don’t think I’m going to get a $90 LED fixture for my little 20g long. Especially since LEDs are new to this method, so I’m just going to stick with what works. The clamp lights you for yours, do they look like desk lamps or something? I want the lighting to be aesthetically pleasing since I‘ve got a snazzy stand and canister filter. Is there any snazzy lighting that works well that you would recommend? I would like to see what the lighting looks like on your tank too! (If you want)

P.S. I hate to ask so many questions, but I really want to “know” what’s going on with my tank before jumping right into it (like I have done too many times before). You see, I’ve never really had a long lasting tank because of this lack of knowledge, and this new method (I know it may be more challenging than others, but I’m up for it!) is also new to my brothers (they aren’t doing it, they’ve just never heard of it before) and they are very skeptical that it’s going to work. They never thought (and still don’t) that a tank could “take care of itself” in a way. They’re doing high tech everything and are spending a ton and doing loads of maintenance. Words can’t describe how much I want to prove them wrong! After months of studying this (yes, I got my 20g when it was still freezing outside) I think I might be close to being ready to start.

Again, thanks so much for responding. I really appreciate it!


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

Eutexian said:


> I planted exceptionally heavily and included floating plants. I wanted a jungle.. an anarchic riot of plants. and thats just what i ended up with. the fish apparently love it.





Jaeroo said:


> How heavily did you plant it? Do you have a picture of when it was first planted? I want mine to look like that too. It's beautiful! How did you know how to organize them to look like that? And, isn't it hard to uproot something if you want to move it? How do you go about that? sorry lots of questions.


Does Nature have a plan?

simple question isn't it.. the answer is just as simple. No, she does not. Plants take advantage of any scrap of sediment or soil they can get their roots into.

When I set up the tank i practically threw the plants in and let them fight it out for themselves. The tank has no hardscape. no big rocks, no branches of wood. It does have to half buried pieces of african mopani wood - this was put in the act mainly as a barrier - to hold the soil layer back. and also to act as an attachment point for a few Java ferns. plants that don't like to by buried in gravel.

If all the plants were removed all you would see is a fairly flat 'plain' of gravel from front to rear. It doesn't slope.. at most it undulates a little.. its not completely flat.

For me the plants themselves give a structure to the aquarium. its them alone that give it the look i wanted. large stones and branches just 'get in the way' and cut down on the available floor space. a rock does nothing - it just creates an open space above it.

Im in the UK. we have various plant specialists that supply all sorts of aquarium plants.. the one i used sold what they describe as a 'jungle collection'.

So.. I ordered one of the larger collections and received something like this:










This photo was taken 5 days later. I added some more plants the day before.










10 days later:










about a month old.










at about 8 weeks i did a massive prune.. a lot of plants taken out. particularly the Vals.. which were springing up everywhere and in danger of taking over.. by removing so many fast growing plants.. the rest now had the light and space they needed to take off.. and they did.










so that now.. its looking like the photo above. though this is a little more recent:










as you can see... its evolved over the past three months.. and yes, it really is just 3 month, or a little over. the first plants went in the tank on the 18th of february.


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## aquariumhobbyist (Mar 27, 2015)

Eutexian said:


> so that now.. its looking like the photo above. though this is a little more recent:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What is the large leaved plant center-left behind the java fern with what appears to be red streaks in the leaves?


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

aquariumhobbyist said:


> What is the large leaved plant center-left behind the java fern with what appears to be red streaks in the leaves?


Echinodorus Ozelot, (Leopard) It stands 18" above the gravel.


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