# Aquascaping with Walstad Method...



## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Are there any rules to placing rocks and wood when dealing with the el natural style substrate? Just wondering if it's supposed to be on top of the soil & gravel, gravel around the rock/wood on the soil, or just place the rock/wood on the glass bottom and put the soil & gravel around it?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

To my knowledge, no one has done real experiments to see if any of these make a difference. That said, most people try not to cover large areas of soil with stone or wood. The fear is that the stone or wood might prevent gas exchange between the water and the soil, resulting in oxygen-poor areas in the substrate.

There are several ways to avoid this. One is to put stone or wood directly on the bottom of the tank, as you already figured out. Another is to put an inert object underneath the stone or wood that will be covered up by the substrate. Flat rocks, ceramic tile, inert gravel, and mesh bags filled with lava rock have all been used. In the aquascaping forum, there are some build threads that show stones perched on top of bricks that are later covered by substrate, although in these cases Aquasoil was used instead of the prepared natural soils used in most Walstad tanks.

Small stones or pieces of wood are usually placed on top of the soil layer with the gravel added around them, or directly on top of the gravel. This just depends on the appearance you want.

Anyway you do it, it is helpful to have strongly rooted plants around such objects because their roots can grow into any pocket of soil and bring oxygen to that area of the substrate.


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Good to know. So when placing the wood on something inert, it's placed on the glass then the wood on top with the soil and gavel covering the inert platform?

The dimensions of my tank is about about 17"L x 10"D and the wood I'm going to use will be about 8" long by 3.5"W, so it will cover about a 6th of the sub.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Yes, depending on how tall the inert object is. For example, 3 or 4 layers of ceramic tile would be about 1" tall, which is the entire height of your soil layer, more or less. In this case, no soil would need to go on top of the tile unless necessary for planting. The tile could be covered only with gravel.

Since your wood is realtively narrow, you are not likely to have problems no matter how you do this. If the wood was 8" x 8", then the chance of an anaerobic pocket developing near the center underneath the wood is much greater.


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Sounds good. 

Is there any reason to not use layered tiles in the back of the tank to create more of a topographically contoured look?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

You can do that. If you don't want very much topographic change, you can simply use a deeper layer of gravel over the soil.

Take a look at this thread to see how styrofoam was used in a similar way: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/80803-55g-npt-scape-newcastle-australia.html

If you read the discussion, the owner of the tank was not entirely satisfied with the result. This is because subtle topo is often completely covered up by plants unless the plants are very short and very uniform in height.


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## firefiend (Aug 17, 2009)

In my 5 gallons where I scaped with all rocks I made the substrate beneath them gravel to avoid dead spots. The gravel allows good gas exchange with the surrounding soil, plants still root through it. I used a sand cap for this tank as well (in case you're curious).


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

firefiend said:


> In my 5 gallons where I scaped with all rocks I made the substrate beneath them gravel to avoid dead spots. The gravel allows good gas exchange with the surrounding soil, plants still root through it. I used a sand cap for this tank as well (in case you're curious).


I was going to use gravel for the cap so would the same gravel work (1-3mm) for this application. Just use gravel where the wood would be in contact and then soil around it then cap?

Can I use any ceramic tile for doing the contouring stuff under the sub?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Yes to both questions.


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Thanks again, Michael. Appreciated!!


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## firefiend (Aug 17, 2009)

michael said:


> yes to both questions.


+1

There's no need to overthink it... your hesitation probably comes from the fact that it just seems so easy that it can't possibly be right... You'll get this feeling a lot with using the Walstad's principles. But all is well, I promise. hehe.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

firefiend said:


> There's no need to overthink it... your hesitation probably comes from the fact that it just seems so easy that it can't possibly be right... You'll get this feeling a lot with using the Walstad's principles.


That is a really good point! I felt this way often when I first started doing Walstad tanks. My first tank went together easily, despite having driftwood float out of the substrate and release soil into the water. (It cleared up in 24 hours.) I worried about it constantly, having read all the internet horror stories, but it never had a problem.

I thought I just got lucky the first time. When I set up my second tank, I obsessed over it, feeling certain that disaster would strike: algae, anaerobic substrate, ammonia spike, etc. But nothing happened, except healthy plants and happy fish.

Surely my luck could not hold a third time. . .but it did. And the fouth, and the fifth, et cetera. I finally realized that I wasn't lucky, the method works! Walstad tanks are predictable, and quickly become stable. It is a great way for a beginner to have success with his/her first tank.

Relax, and enjoy your aquarium!


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

> There's no need to overthink it...


But that's my thing.... 

I tend to like to get all the pieces of the puzzle before starting to put it together. I really like the idea of the Walstad Method, but what concerns me is not knowing if my lights will suffice for the certain plants I'd like and that I need to plant a little heavier than what I would like for the look I'd like to achieve. What would be the minimal percentage of plants (as seen from above), I could get by with and still have balance? Should I stay with the 75% to 85% or can I go lower.

Also, if I'm only able to get certain plants on my list thru my LFS, can I start planting a few and add as the others come available? What would I do to provide adequate nutrients for the starting plants until I receive all and actually employ all the principles of the Method?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Your soil will give you plenty of nutrients for the plants in the first 6 to 12 months. It is after this period that the fish food takes up the slack.

I strongly recommend that you plant heavily from the beginning--try for 75% coverage. It is the mass of plants that gives a Walstad tank its stability. But, you can stuff the tank with cheap, fast-growing floating and stem plants at the begining, and gradually remove them as your desired species become available, or multiply.

Walstad tanks become more stable over time, so it is possible to reduce plant mass in an older tank for aesthetic reasons.


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Michael said:


> Your soil will give you plenty of nutrients for the plants in the first 6 to 12 months. It is after this period that the fish food takes up the slack.
> 
> I strongly recommend that you plant heavily from the beginning--try for 75% coverage. It is the mass of plants that gives a Walstad tank its stability. But, you can stuff the tank with cheap, fast-growing floating and stem plants at the begining, and gradually remove them as your desired species become available, or multiply.
> 
> Walstad tanks become more stable over time, so it is possible to reduce plant mass in an older tank for aesthetic reasons.


Ok. Is there any resources that can explain the various types of plants? Such as stem plants etc...


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

The PlantFinder on this forum has a searchable data base. Under "plant type" choose "stem" from the drop-down menu, and click on go. Any of the stem plants classified as easy or very easy would work.


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## activesize (Jun 26, 2011)

I think that you can get away with adding some rocks, driftwood, or whatever nonplant material at the beginning if you are careful about it, but there still may be a price to pay. I covered about 1/5th of a 55 gallon with gravel going down to the glass and then lace rock piles over the top of those. Then I planted the rest of the tank in a normal NPT way. I had a lot of trouble with black brush algae growing on the lace rock, and I was also pulling out pounds of string algae for various reasons. Then, I got rid of all the lace rock and replaced it with hammer-split petrified wood pieces after removing the sharp edges. I cut down on the lighting regime by several hours a day and upped the water changes and the algae is basically gone. 

My point is that my 55 gallon would've probably stabilized a little quicker if I would've gone 100 percent with plants only, but the aquascaping results are well worth it. Also, the non planted areas with petrified wood, cactus wood, or whatever, helps to keep proper spacing between the plants and prevent overcrowding. It's important to keep these additional things low to the ground, or otherwise to prevent them from blocking the light to the plants. If you go with this sort of method then this allows you to basically keep all the rocks and things off the parts of the tank where you have a soil underlayer.


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## ryguy76 (Nov 19, 2011)

Ya, it's not that I don't want to start with as many plants as I should, it's a matter of availability in my small town. The LFS was supposed to receive 60 plants last week and got 6. I've given her a list of what I want, but I'm not sure I can get it all at once to start the way I should. So I was wondering if I should start slowly and build it up as my plant list trickled in, but I know understand the implications with that. It's also hard because I've never actually seen the size that plants are when they're bought so its tough for me to estimate what I'll need.... I'll figure it out though.


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## activesize (Jun 26, 2011)

It's probably too cold in your area right now to ship plants to and/or too cold on the other end where they were shipped from. Unless you can get your hands on some really fast growing plants then you might just consider waiting until the spring on your tank. A little patience could avoid a lot of frustration.


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