# Questions about new Walstad tank



## henryprice (May 28, 2015)

Hello all, I am returning to planted aquariums after a long break-- I used to have a 10g planted tank in the 90's, but have had just fish-only community and goldfish tanks since, as well as brief daliances with turtles and a 13" tiger oscar I inherited from some friends whose small child was terrified of him-- he was a notorious jumper, which is ultimately how he met his demise.

I now find myself with an empty 44-gallon pentagon-shaped "corner" tank that was formerly used for fancy goldfish. I am planning to convert to a Walstad-type dirt tank and have read her book on my Kindle. I would like to seek the additional expertise of the folks on this thread before I get started on the build. Right now it is just sitting empty with the lights off and the filter running, of course I will be draining it and breaking it completely down to start this build. Planning to start with a small school of some small tetras (black neons seem to do very well for me) until the cycling and any startup jitters are over with. Eventually I plan to house angelfish.

First the facts of the tank. It is now equipped with an old (12+ years) Marineland Magnum HOT canister I found lying around and a run-of-the-mill heater from the LFS (Amazon in my case-- we live pretty far out in the country). I figure I can switch the media out as the tank cycles, using carbon at first if I need to and eventually switching to mechanical only as the plants get more established. I am also equipping it with an old 2-bulb incandescent hood light that came with a 10g aquarium kit, which I will be setting directly on the glass cover equipped with a pair of compact fluorescent bulbs, 75w incandescent equiv., set on a timer. (and as a side note, is that enough light? I have some other various fluorescent hoods and incandescent desk lamps that are options to add on.) I am planning to stock with the "Starter Plant Pack" from LiveAquaria.com. This tank is in the dining room, so it has to look nice, but the room also has very little natural light-- all the windows are in an adjoining room. My tap water (from a well) comes out 3GH/3KH/6.0pH. Oh, and did I mention the house is heated by a cast iron stove, so sometimes in the winter the room temperature gets into the 50s. I may be adding a second backup heater for the winter months.

Now the details of my build plan. After removing the old substrate (river pebbles that are far too big and have been a thorn in my side for quite some time-- inherited the tank from someone else and never changed it out). 
-Planning to use thoroughly washed playsand (I have a bag lying around in the shed) to cap the soil, but I am up in the air between Miracle Gro Organic (also had some lying around) mixed with some crushed oyster shell to raise hardness and help stabilize pH (the same stuff I mix with my chickens' food to strengthen their eggshells) for the soil layer; 
-or some soil out of some old flowerpots, mixed with said oyster shell; 
-or some soil from a now-unused vegetable garden (switched to raised beds this year) mixed with said oyster shell. This particular plot has been in use as a vegetable garden for 10 years or so. The soil started out as red clay, and each year it has been tilled up and supplemented generously and variously with bagged mushroom compost, peat, aged manure, ashes from a wood stove, rotting fall leaves, etc. Last used for vegetables last summer, and has been sitting fallow with just some weeds growing up so far this year.

Wondering what are the thoughts on here on digging up a good bit of that garden dirt and using either stand-alone with said oyster shell, or mixed 50/50 with the miracle gro and said oyster shell, or some combination of all 3 soil options?

Also, regarding tank decor-- I have a good quantity of slate from a local creek that seems to be fairly iron-rich, lots of red and metallic streaks through it. I used it in fish-only tanks for quite some time, but at the moment it is unused. Benefits/risks of using it in a Walstad type planted tank? I also have a nice stick of driftwood with a piece of slate screwed to the bottom to weight it down. I am assuming I would place these directly on the glass bottom and place the substrate around it in order to avoid anaerobic pockets.

Also-- one last question-- do I need to add plants immediately on the day I fill everything with water, or can I wait a bit? This affects my timing as far as ordering the plants. Also-- how quickly should I add the planned small school of tetras?

Thanks in advance for all your advice, and apologies for the length.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Henry, I have moved your post from the Suitable Soil thread to its own thread since you ask several questions not related to soil.

First, your soil. I suggest you use the vegetable garden soil. If you want to be very careful, soak and drain it a few times before putting it in the tank. A member of our local club uses soil from his organic vegetable garden with great results.

Second, lighting. Corner tanks can be difficult to light because of their weird shape. I suggest using the old incandescent hood with spiral compact fluorescents on the front, and add a cheap clamp light from the hardware store in the back corner. Or use three clamp lights. This is actually a little better because the SPCs are more efficient when mounted vertically rather than horizontally.

Third, the slate will be fine.

Fourth, when to plant? Don't fill the tank until you are ready to plant heavily. Walstad tanks depend on plenty of healthy plants for their stability. By planting heavily from the start you will save yourself problems with water quality and algae bloom.

Good luck!


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## henryprice (May 28, 2015)

Thanks so much for your advice Michael! I am still hoping to hear from some of the other folks as well.

I am still curious about timing for adding fish. Should I let it cycle a while with just plants, or just place the fish right in after the first day/couple days, as soon as the water settles out fairly clear? The Walstad book is not terribly opinionated in advising on fish timing-- it seems she has a sort of instinctive understanding of her tank setups and adds them at the opportune time depending on the tank.

Also, thoughts on the necessity of adding the oyster shell to the soil-- is this necessary due to my very soft water, or should I just leave it out and stay simple?

And finally, thoughts/tips on the play sand? I would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has used play sand as a soil cap. What is the best advice on cleaning it, besides poking it with a stick from time to time and/or MTS? I know Walstad recommends just letting the mulm accumulate, but I imagine that at least sometimes a good cleaning will be necessary, and it seems a traditional gravel vac siphon would really muck things up.

Thanks again for all of your advice.


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

there is no need to 'add iron' to natural soil.

an average 20lbs of soil contains enough iron to last the tank indefinitely. if all of it was usable - you're looking at a 27,000 year supply. and thats before you add any to the tank in the form of fish food or possible trace amounts in water.

when cleaning.. clean only what you can see and 'offends' your eye. leave the rest. my own tank is 100 days old and hasn't been cleaned at all.. the fish are thriving.

if you use the miracle grow.. then do add at least a little natural soil to it.. this will 'inject' billions of bacteria into the eco system and get it off to a great start.

I added the first fish on the day after 'set up'. then I waited 5 days and added more.. and kept to that time scale until the tank was fully stocked, all the while keeping a close eye on ammonia/nitrite levels.

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.


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## henryprice (May 28, 2015)

Thanks for the reply, Eutexian-- and thanks for the tank photo. Your tank looks awesome! I think I am aiming for a similar chaotic jungle sort of look. My eventually-planned angelfish and schooling tetras will look awesome with such a huge jungle of plants. And I am leaning strongly toward using mostly the soil from my old garden, but maybe just throwing the dregs of a half-used bag of miracle gro in with it, for good measure. Based on Michael's advice above, I am now planning to use the old 10-gallon screw-in hood with twisty CFL's, plus an additional clip-on swing-arm desk lamp over the back corner. My timer has 4 outlets, so shouldn't be a problem adding lights.

My question about adding oyster shell and the slate with the iron streaks in it was not strictly about iron supplementation or concerns of iron deficiency. I am fairly sure I will have more than enough iron from the red clay that forms the basis of my garden soil. My concern with the iron-rich slate was that I might end up with too much iron, or that it might contain other metals that would produce disastrous results in my tank, although in reading other strings on this forum and thinking more on it, plus Michael's advice above that the slate is likely safe, I think the greater concern would be development of anaerobic areas around/under a large slate chunk. Oyster shell supplementation would be aimed at increasing the hardness, as my tap water is so soft, and whether the oyster shell will be an effective way to do so if mixed just with the soil and not also with the sand.

Thanks for the advice on adding fish-- I think I will add my small school of tetras as soon as the water has settled itself out of any suspended particulates. 

Thanks also on the cleaning advice. You said you had not cleaned except for aesthetic reasons, but what sort of filtration do you have, and have you changed any water? I know Walstad-method orthodoxy is small amounts of mechanical-only filtration with minimal or no water changes. I am planning to stick with my old Marineland HOT canister loaded up with mechanical media, but maybe a little carbon or bio-media at first just to get things going. Thoughts on this?


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

By the standards of a 'walstad' tank.. my aquarium is grossly overstocked, essentially i used a 'pick and choose' approach to the method and paid a lot of attention to one line on the aquarium wiki.

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method



> If you wish to increase the number of fish in the tank (or you've added too many), add a normal biological filter. This will supplement the nitrification process performed by the soil.


The filter is running at half capacity, by which I mean instead of two trays full of biological media I have just one.. so that takes up the slack (so to speak) of any excess ammonia that the plants or the nitrifiers that cover the plants and also live in the soil and gravel cannot deal with. To be honest I feel there is very little biological action taking place within the filter - but it has the additional benefit of moving the water and stripping out any larger particulates.

my approach to preventing 'anoxic' areas under any decorations was simple. i didn't put any soil there, nor did i put any soil at the edges of the aquarium - close to the glass.. so any casual observer wouldn't realise there is any soil under the gravel. If I were to use large rocks and similar, I would put them in first and then put the soil around them before covering that with a cap of sand. (though I prefer to use gravel)

Likewise there is little point in putting soil under an area that you never intend planting.

The only reason to use carbon for this kind of set up is to remove any tannin staining, which is pretty much an inevitable side effect, unless you thoroughly mineralise the soil first. But, its wise to bear in mind that 'tannins' are beneficial to the health of the fish and try to ignore them in the early days.. they will either go away on their own, or you can add carbon at some later point to strip them out. Tetras, which originate in highly stained water will appreciate it.. even if from an aesthetic perspective you do not. I would see how it goes. You need to be patient.. it can be a little chaotic at first, but it very soon settles down. The key to success from day 1 is to plant heavily with the emphasis on fast growing plants like Elodea, Cabomba, Vals, and floating plants like water lettuce, water fern. and then trust them to take care of water quality over the first couple of months, include some slower growing plants and then once you start thinning the fast growers they will have more access to light and take off.

you need to watch for ammonia spikes.. but if the soil is 'alive' with bacteria theres no reason to think you'll see any. I have never seen a positive reaction for ammonia. I had a very short lived Nitrite spike on about day 18. but dealt with that with a water change and since then - nothing.

I have tried all sorts of plants, most did well, the few that didn't - i gave them some time and if they sat there doing nothing I was brutal - they came out and went in the bin. a plant thats doing nothing is just taking up space. however that was in my case only 1 or 2 species.. which probably didn't like my particular water. so there are no hard and fast rules.

I do a monthly water change which is more about making cleaning up easier.. my tank is fairly deep so its easier to clean any algae traces from the glass if i drop the level slightly. I change maybe 20%


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Henry, if you have very soft water the oyster shell will help to buffer the pH of both the water and the soil and is useful.

The more healthy plants you have in the tank from the start, the sooner you can add fish. A tank started in this way may never show the typical ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle of a fish-only tank. The plants absorb the ammonia so quickly that it never "spikes". This is another reason to use the garden soil--MGOC straight from the bag almost always causes an ammonia spike because of the added poultry manure.

Eutexian is giving you good advice.


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## henryprice (May 28, 2015)

Thanks so much for all you guys' advice. My plan now is to use 100% garden soil, soaked and drained a few times, mixed with the oyster shell, and capped with the sand. I am going to stick with my Marineland filter with the "default" media of a bio media chamber with a foam sleeve on it, and light with the 3 twisty compact fluorescent bulbs on a timer. I think I will go for a larger initial number of plants than originally intended, add some tetras almost immediately, and add the angelfish after a couple months once the plants are growing really well. 

It's going to be a while before I actually get this going, I am trying to find some time between work, having a litter of puppies, and replacing our bathroom floor plus re-plumbing our water heater. I will post photos once the build is underway. In the mean time, I am still hoping to read any more advice anyone cares to share!


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## Jaeroo (Mar 24, 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.


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.


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