Setting up a new 'nursery' tank - Walstead Method
Discussion
We're due a baby in about 7 weeks, and I've left it a little late, but we want to set up a tank in the nursery. The aim is to have a few 'biggish' and colourful fish so that the baby can see them, and the tank will also provide a night light and some 'calming and relaxing' water noises. That's the theory anyway - probably just an excuse for another tank.
I thought I'd do a little write up of setting up me new tank in the style of the "Readers' Cars" section. Despite this being my eighth tank in the house, I'm going about it slightly differently to usual so its going to be a learning curve. I thought I'd document the process, and ask for advice along the way.
First step was Ebay, and I managed to get a 24"x12"x15" tank for £40, including a hood with a strip light. It's a bit smaller than I would have liked, especially as I'd like some reasonably large fish, but it fits in the space I have available. Depending on my fish choice, I can always rehouse them into one of my bigger tanks if needs be.
First job was to remove the filter housing on the back as the seller didn't have the original filter, and I'm going to use an external one anyway. Razor blades at the ready and off it came - with surprisingly little trouble.
Then I put a black background on using black vinyl. To be fair I made a bit of a crap job of it, as there were a few creases and bubbles to sort out - but that shouldn't be an issue as the tank will be fairly well planted.
I'm going to set the tank up using the Walstead Method - which is a little bit controversial as it goes against a fair amount of accepted practice - and yet seems to work well. It is a low-tech, low expense, and low maintenance way of creating a planted tank. Get it wrong though, and it will kill your fish due to high levels of nitrates/nitrites, and other nasty stuff. Fingers crossed then.
Rather than use a commercially available substrate specifically designed for planted aquariums, I am using good old fashioned peat compost from my local garden centre. It cost me a couple of quid, whereas to use commercially available substrate for planted tanks would have cost me around £40. I've had is soaking in a bucket for the last two weeks which starts the soil cycling. Essentially the bacteria in the soil use up vast quantities of oxygen in the water as the decompose the soil, and produce high levels of nitrates. Needless to say, adding fish at this point would be disasterous.
I've added the compost to the tank but am a little concerned that I've added a bit too much water - the trick is to just submerge the compost rather than fill the tank as the high levels of nutrients can cause an algae bloom. I'll probably remove a little tonight and let it stand for a while.
Anyway, here's my tank of sludge:
Depending on whose advice you take, pre-soaking is either unnecessary, or should take 2 months. I'll probably be moving on to the next stage at the weekend as time is short (rest assured though, no fish will be introduced until the water quality is suitable - probably another 2-3 months away). Next step (for the tank at least) will be to add some gravel over the compost and start planting.
Until then, I'll just wait for some goodies to arrive ...
I thought I'd do a little write up of setting up me new tank in the style of the "Readers' Cars" section. Despite this being my eighth tank in the house, I'm going about it slightly differently to usual so its going to be a learning curve. I thought I'd document the process, and ask for advice along the way.
First step was Ebay, and I managed to get a 24"x12"x15" tank for £40, including a hood with a strip light. It's a bit smaller than I would have liked, especially as I'd like some reasonably large fish, but it fits in the space I have available. Depending on my fish choice, I can always rehouse them into one of my bigger tanks if needs be.
First job was to remove the filter housing on the back as the seller didn't have the original filter, and I'm going to use an external one anyway. Razor blades at the ready and off it came - with surprisingly little trouble.
Then I put a black background on using black vinyl. To be fair I made a bit of a crap job of it, as there were a few creases and bubbles to sort out - but that shouldn't be an issue as the tank will be fairly well planted.
I'm going to set the tank up using the Walstead Method - which is a little bit controversial as it goes against a fair amount of accepted practice - and yet seems to work well. It is a low-tech, low expense, and low maintenance way of creating a planted tank. Get it wrong though, and it will kill your fish due to high levels of nitrates/nitrites, and other nasty stuff. Fingers crossed then.
Rather than use a commercially available substrate specifically designed for planted aquariums, I am using good old fashioned peat compost from my local garden centre. It cost me a couple of quid, whereas to use commercially available substrate for planted tanks would have cost me around £40. I've had is soaking in a bucket for the last two weeks which starts the soil cycling. Essentially the bacteria in the soil use up vast quantities of oxygen in the water as the decompose the soil, and produce high levels of nitrates. Needless to say, adding fish at this point would be disasterous.
I've added the compost to the tank but am a little concerned that I've added a bit too much water - the trick is to just submerge the compost rather than fill the tank as the high levels of nutrients can cause an algae bloom. I'll probably remove a little tonight and let it stand for a while.
Anyway, here's my tank of sludge:
Depending on whose advice you take, pre-soaking is either unnecessary, or should take 2 months. I'll probably be moving on to the next stage at the weekend as time is short (rest assured though, no fish will be introduced until the water quality is suitable - probably another 2-3 months away). Next step (for the tank at least) will be to add some gravel over the compost and start planting.
Until then, I'll just wait for some goodies to arrive ...
Hurrah, goodies arrived:
Despite the tank being a low-tech, and fairly low-budget set up, I've still managed to persuade myself to go overboard on a couple of things!
Filter is an Eheim Ecco Pro 130 - I use a bigger version of this on my main tank and it is a cracking filter. It's quiet and supposedly uses slightly less electrickery than other filters. The 130 for this tank is a bit of an overkill (especially when you consider that a true Walstead tank supposedly doesn't need additional filtration, just water flow) but in my mind you can never have too much filtration. It will have a fairly high flow rate for the size of tank, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem as I'm planning on getting some barbs for the tank who like moving water. I'll need to construct a spray bar though, so that's a job for the weekend.
The filter is being set up on one of my existing tanks to run for a couple of weeks to help it cycle - again, shouldn't really be necessary on a Walstead tank and given my timescales, but the only potential downside of doing it this way is if I get some sort of infection in the tank which I accidentally transfer to the new tank.
The heater is pure extravagence as it is three times the cost of a normal heater. It's a Hydor 200 external heater and I've fancied using these for a while. They connect up to the external filter and sit outside the tank. This not only frees up space in the tank and makes it easier to adjust the temperature, but also helps to minimise hot spots (not that that should be in a problem given my anticipated flow rate). It's pure indulgence, but I thought I'd give it a go so that when I replace the heaters in my other tanks I can make an informed decision. As a 200w heater, it's overkill as I only really need a 75w heater so potential issues if the thermostat stays on as it will gently poach the contents of the tank - shouldn't happen but worth keeping an eye out for.
A quick trip to Pets at Home for some gravel led to some impatience on my part and I ended up buying some plants as well - doh! A bit more research showed that the 2 month soaking for the compost isn't strictly necessary, so last night the black gravel was added on top of the compost to a depth of about an inch and a some planting done. The key thing will be to quickly plant the tank up so that the plants can start to process the harmful nitrates that build up caused by the decomposing compost. The decomposition also causes a CO2 build up, so unless the tank is well planted, there is a risk of algae. Fingers crossed.
For those that know their plants (or are otherwise interested), I've added some Pogostemon Helferi (or Downoi) which should start to carpet the floor of the tank in a lovely bright green. It can have a tendancy to wilt when first introduced, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed and move it to another tank if that starts to happen. I've also added some Glossostigma Elatinodes to add some contrast as this will also carpet (hopefully). I'll see how they take over the next week, but may need to separate the plants out a bit as I think I've bunched them a bit too much to promote the sort of growth that I'd like.
Height comes from two Echinodurus Bleheri (or Amazon Sword) which are pretty indestructible. They will no doubt grow too big for the tank, at which point I will take some cuttings and move the larger plants to another tank. I've also added an Anubia cutting from one of my other tanks, and plan to move some Java Fern across tonight as well which will provide a bit more height.
Here's the tank now, things are taking shape quickly:
At the moment I'm just using an old air pump and a couple of airstones to create some water movement, but these will be removed once the filter is transferred across as the pump is far to noisy to be used in a nursery.
Despite using compost and the sludge that I've been culturing, the water is remarkably clear and I've not had any issues yet with the compost leaching out from under the gravel.
First water test tonight - expecting it to be fairly acidic with high nitrates and ammonia so totally unsuitable to move fish in. Depending on the acidity I may need to add some crushed oyster shells to the filter media to bring the pH up. My impatience meant that I missed the opportunity to mix some in with the compost which would have been a good idea - whilst I want a slightly acidic tank, there's a good chance that it will be too acidic for my purposes.
Probably won't be anything happening for a week or two as I just need to start the filter cycling and check water parameters.
Despite the tank being a low-tech, and fairly low-budget set up, I've still managed to persuade myself to go overboard on a couple of things!
Filter is an Eheim Ecco Pro 130 - I use a bigger version of this on my main tank and it is a cracking filter. It's quiet and supposedly uses slightly less electrickery than other filters. The 130 for this tank is a bit of an overkill (especially when you consider that a true Walstead tank supposedly doesn't need additional filtration, just water flow) but in my mind you can never have too much filtration. It will have a fairly high flow rate for the size of tank, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem as I'm planning on getting some barbs for the tank who like moving water. I'll need to construct a spray bar though, so that's a job for the weekend.
The filter is being set up on one of my existing tanks to run for a couple of weeks to help it cycle - again, shouldn't really be necessary on a Walstead tank and given my timescales, but the only potential downside of doing it this way is if I get some sort of infection in the tank which I accidentally transfer to the new tank.
The heater is pure extravagence as it is three times the cost of a normal heater. It's a Hydor 200 external heater and I've fancied using these for a while. They connect up to the external filter and sit outside the tank. This not only frees up space in the tank and makes it easier to adjust the temperature, but also helps to minimise hot spots (not that that should be in a problem given my anticipated flow rate). It's pure indulgence, but I thought I'd give it a go so that when I replace the heaters in my other tanks I can make an informed decision. As a 200w heater, it's overkill as I only really need a 75w heater so potential issues if the thermostat stays on as it will gently poach the contents of the tank - shouldn't happen but worth keeping an eye out for.
A quick trip to Pets at Home for some gravel led to some impatience on my part and I ended up buying some plants as well - doh! A bit more research showed that the 2 month soaking for the compost isn't strictly necessary, so last night the black gravel was added on top of the compost to a depth of about an inch and a some planting done. The key thing will be to quickly plant the tank up so that the plants can start to process the harmful nitrates that build up caused by the decomposing compost. The decomposition also causes a CO2 build up, so unless the tank is well planted, there is a risk of algae. Fingers crossed.
For those that know their plants (or are otherwise interested), I've added some Pogostemon Helferi (or Downoi) which should start to carpet the floor of the tank in a lovely bright green. It can have a tendancy to wilt when first introduced, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed and move it to another tank if that starts to happen. I've also added some Glossostigma Elatinodes to add some contrast as this will also carpet (hopefully). I'll see how they take over the next week, but may need to separate the plants out a bit as I think I've bunched them a bit too much to promote the sort of growth that I'd like.
Height comes from two Echinodurus Bleheri (or Amazon Sword) which are pretty indestructible. They will no doubt grow too big for the tank, at which point I will take some cuttings and move the larger plants to another tank. I've also added an Anubia cutting from one of my other tanks, and plan to move some Java Fern across tonight as well which will provide a bit more height.
Here's the tank now, things are taking shape quickly:
At the moment I'm just using an old air pump and a couple of airstones to create some water movement, but these will be removed once the filter is transferred across as the pump is far to noisy to be used in a nursery.
Despite using compost and the sludge that I've been culturing, the water is remarkably clear and I've not had any issues yet with the compost leaching out from under the gravel.
First water test tonight - expecting it to be fairly acidic with high nitrates and ammonia so totally unsuitable to move fish in. Depending on the acidity I may need to add some crushed oyster shells to the filter media to bring the pH up. My impatience meant that I missed the opportunity to mix some in with the compost which would have been a good idea - whilst I want a slightly acidic tank, there's a good chance that it will be too acidic for my purposes.
Probably won't be anything happening for a week or two as I just need to start the filter cycling and check water parameters.
Filter is up and running with some media from my other tank.
First set of readings:
pH 6.6
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Plants seem to be starting to take, but I'm going to need to add some more temporarily as I'm getting a bit of algae.
Blue moonlight LEDs arrived yesterday but are a bit too bright so will need to be cut down or replaced.
First set of readings:
pH 6.6
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Plants seem to be starting to take, but I'm going to need to add some more temporarily as I'm getting a bit of algae.
Blue moonlight LEDs arrived yesterday but are a bit too bright so will need to be cut down or replaced.
Somewhat surprising results from my water test this morning:
pH 6.6
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 2ppm
Despite my adding enough ammonia yesterday to take it up to 4ppm it hasn't changed on the test kit. If the ammonia had been reduced by the bacteria to such an extent I would have expected some nitrites, so am surprised that there isn't any at all.
Water has a lovely brownish tinge to it caused by the tannins from the peat and the wood leaching out (I presume). Nothing to worry about as it is not harmful to the tank, but I'm told by SWMBO that it can't stay like that!
Unfortunately the external heater isn't going to be used as I can't mount it vertically from the filter in the space that I have, so it is going on one of my other tanks as an additional heater and I've got a standard heater to add to this tank later tonight.
Plants are wilting a little and turning yellow - I imagine that they were grown emerged and are just adapting to being fully submerged. It does look like I'm getting some root growth so not overly concerned. I've got some black brush algae (BBA) forming on the Anubias and wood so have added some Easy Carbo which provides CO2 for the plants and will help them outcompete the algae. I've added a couple of Vallis from one of my other tanks and some Riccicia which should help to use up any spare nutrients.
First livestock is in the tank - I forgot to check the plants from P@H and they obviously had some snail eggs on them as there are some very newly hatched snails visible. I 'think' that they are Malaysian Trumped Snails (too small to fully identify at the moment) so that's no bad thing as they will bury in the substrate and help prevent anaerobic pockets. If they get out of hand I've got a few Assassin Snails who will no doubt enjoy a holiday.
Stocking-wise I'm tempted to go with some sort of Barbs as the water conditions suit them pretty well. I'll see what is available, but fancy a six cherry barbs to give some colour. If the plants take as I hope, I'll add some red cherry shrimp once the tank is settled who will either provide a clean-up crew, or lunch for the cherry barbs. Not the end of the world if they are eaten as I've got a couple of colonies breeding well so have a plentiful supply.
pH 6.6
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 2ppm
Despite my adding enough ammonia yesterday to take it up to 4ppm it hasn't changed on the test kit. If the ammonia had been reduced by the bacteria to such an extent I would have expected some nitrites, so am surprised that there isn't any at all.
Water has a lovely brownish tinge to it caused by the tannins from the peat and the wood leaching out (I presume). Nothing to worry about as it is not harmful to the tank, but I'm told by SWMBO that it can't stay like that!
Unfortunately the external heater isn't going to be used as I can't mount it vertically from the filter in the space that I have, so it is going on one of my other tanks as an additional heater and I've got a standard heater to add to this tank later tonight.
Plants are wilting a little and turning yellow - I imagine that they were grown emerged and are just adapting to being fully submerged. It does look like I'm getting some root growth so not overly concerned. I've got some black brush algae (BBA) forming on the Anubias and wood so have added some Easy Carbo which provides CO2 for the plants and will help them outcompete the algae. I've added a couple of Vallis from one of my other tanks and some Riccicia which should help to use up any spare nutrients.
First livestock is in the tank - I forgot to check the plants from P@H and they obviously had some snail eggs on them as there are some very newly hatched snails visible. I 'think' that they are Malaysian Trumped Snails (too small to fully identify at the moment) so that's no bad thing as they will bury in the substrate and help prevent anaerobic pockets. If they get out of hand I've got a few Assassin Snails who will no doubt enjoy a holiday.
Stocking-wise I'm tempted to go with some sort of Barbs as the water conditions suit them pretty well. I'll see what is available, but fancy a six cherry barbs to give some colour. If the plants take as I hope, I'll add some red cherry shrimp once the tank is settled who will either provide a clean-up crew, or lunch for the cherry barbs. Not the end of the world if they are eaten as I've got a couple of colonies breeding well so have a plentiful supply.
JFReturns said:
Really enjoying this thread, keep the updates coming 
I've always been rubbish keeping plants. As soon as SWMBO lets me I want to get a proper planted tank set up and working.
Any useful links for plant growing of the top of your head?
www.plantedtank.netI've always been rubbish keeping plants. As soon as SWMBO lets me I want to get a proper planted tank set up and working.
Any useful links for plant growing of the top of your head?
www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk - useful features on the main site, and a whole section of the forum dedicated to planted tanks which has provided me with inspiration, and given some really useful advice. No doubt I'll be posting on there if/when I run into difficulties.
Googling 'the walstead method' or 'the walstad method' has been pretty useful too - I should really buy her book (Diana Walstead - Ecology of the planted aquarium), but with a little one on the way and a heap of decorating left to do I'm not sure when I'll have time to read it.
Whilst I've always had fairly well planted tanks, I've never been too serious (never used 'proper substrate' just river sand, and never used fertilisers). I did once make a DIY Co2 system which had impressive results, but was a bit (lot) of a faff to use. This is my first attempt at a 'proper' planted tank so should be interesting - not least as my water readings don't seem to match what I thought they would be!
I thought I'd put this thread up as a record of my attempt rather than offering any advice other than for people to learn from my mistakes - I am in no way an expert!!
Edited by therealpigdog on Tuesday 8th May 13:21
Bugger.
I've discovered why I was getting unusual readings - my test kit doesn't appear to be working. Another test result showing no ammonia tipped me off, so I decided to test some neat ammonia and guess what, it came back as 0ppm - despite stinking the whole room out!
Another test kit has been ordered, but I think this may set me back some way as I'm pretty sure that my true ammonia readings will be a little on the high side! I suspect that the Nitrate and Nitrate test kits have also expired. Lesson learnt - don't but test kits from somewhere where you suspect they have been sat on a shelf for a while!
On the plus side, after a couple of water changes the peatiness colouring has subsided and I have crystal clear water - plants are looking to be in good shape and are putting down roots so I'll need to thin out the carpetting plants later this week to encourage some sideways growth.
A trip to my LFS also revealed that Mrs TRPD wants a some Rosy Barbs - I'll probably go for four, and then rehome them to a bigger tank when they get a bit bigger. Just got to decide on some tank mates - Mrs TRPD wants Pictus cats, but I think the tank is too small. A bit more research needed - but they'll probably be fine in one of my bigger tanks (just need to let my rainbows grow a little bit first to stop them becoming lunch).
I've discovered why I was getting unusual readings - my test kit doesn't appear to be working. Another test result showing no ammonia tipped me off, so I decided to test some neat ammonia and guess what, it came back as 0ppm - despite stinking the whole room out!
Another test kit has been ordered, but I think this may set me back some way as I'm pretty sure that my true ammonia readings will be a little on the high side! I suspect that the Nitrate and Nitrate test kits have also expired. Lesson learnt - don't but test kits from somewhere where you suspect they have been sat on a shelf for a while!
On the plus side, after a couple of water changes the peatiness colouring has subsided and I have crystal clear water - plants are looking to be in good shape and are putting down roots so I'll need to thin out the carpetting plants later this week to encourage some sideways growth.
A trip to my LFS also revealed that Mrs TRPD wants a some Rosy Barbs - I'll probably go for four, and then rehome them to a bigger tank when they get a bit bigger. Just got to decide on some tank mates - Mrs TRPD wants Pictus cats, but I think the tank is too small. A bit more research needed - but they'll probably be fine in one of my bigger tanks (just need to let my rainbows grow a little bit first to stop them becoming lunch).
Good project. I would have broken the glosso down further and if possible planted in very very small clumps of like 5 or so leaves. It will carpet if light is good and can take over a tank. I usually use a plastic barrier in the soil to stop it creeping along,
Love pogo, just waiting one some for my tank.
Looking forward to seeing it grown in.
Love pogo, just waiting one some for my tank.
Looking forward to seeing it grown in.
megapixels83 said:
If you want to get rid of tannins look into purigen. Amazing stuff. Just be sure to get 180micron bags for it. It polishes the water and can be re used by soaking in bleach
Wholeheartedly agree! I've got a pretty big bit of wood (weeyyy) in my tank which used to stain the water something awful, stuck 100g of Purigen in and the water is now crystal clear!
FTS by Allan.Jones, on Flickr
STS by Allan.Jones, on Flickr
If it wasn't for the tiny air bubbles caused by filters you couldn't see the water!
megapixels83 said:
Good project. I would have broken the glosso down further and if possible planted in very very small clumps of like 5 or so leaves. It will carpet if light is good and can take over a tank. I usually use a plastic barrier in the soil to stop it creeping along,
Love pogo, just waiting one some for my tank.
Looking forward to seeing it grown in.
With hindsight I should have broken the glosso down a bit, but am hoping it will still carpet. It's taken quite well, with a fantastic bright green colour and roots showing. It's not a fantastically well lit tank (1x 15w Aqua-Glo and a fair bit of sunlight) but should be enough. I suspect I'll get a bit of height as it grows towards the light.Love pogo, just waiting one some for my tank.
Looking forward to seeing it grown in.
Pogos has wilted a little, but looks to be recovering - no doubt not helped by the ammonia overdosing I've been administering!
Will look into Purigen. For the moment the tannin stained water is actually beneficial as it reduces algae growth, but Mrs TRPD has advised it needs to be clear for when the little PD arrives.
Very jealous of Commachio's tank! If this one takes I may need to rescape my main tank.
Only other development until the test kit arrives is some blue LEDs for moonlight lighting. After trying a couple of units I'm going for a 24 bulb strip to keep the light levels low enough for the baby. £4 from eBay - bargain!
JFReturns said:
Any useful links for plant growing of the top of your head?
USeful tips for plant keeping, decent substrate, decent lighting not only watts but also the spectrum, decent co2 and also decent ferts.Bit of a balance really, I am using co2 at the minute that diffuses onto the water in a chamber after I manually fill the chamber through a pressurised mini co2 bottle but will be changing to a proper pressurised system with needle valves, a solenoid, bubble counter and bubble diffuser as these are visually appealing as they are small and glass but also with the solenoid and a timer plug can set it to come on with the lights then off with the lights.
I dose AE Nourish+ 4ml a day using a plastic syringe and add a root tab of two monthly.
Best thing about planted tanks is if they are well planted and healthy the chances of algea are lowered and any poop is fertiliser. add an otocinclus, some shrimp and algea should be non existent in a stable set up.
I must say if you do get algea and even if not Otocinlus are excellent little fish, brilliant to watch and are very suited to community tanks as they are peaceful and wont bother fry.
I'd actually put a couple of Oto's on my planned list. I may add shrimp, but would need to put some tights over the filter first - shrimp are the last thing to add to the tank though, so plenty of time.
Still waiting on my new test kit so nothing to report. Am looking into Purigen - it's a step away from the Walstead method in some senses, but then again do is running any type of filtration. I'm presuming just add a bag to the filter canister in place of some of the now carefully cultivated ceramic media?
Plants are looking healthy - 1ml of Easy carbo a day is helping. I've stopped all frets as the compost should be sufficient for now, and want to get the tests running again before I start doing anything different.
Still waiting on my new test kit so nothing to report. Am looking into Purigen - it's a step away from the Walstead method in some senses, but then again do is running any type of filtration. I'm presuming just add a bag to the filter canister in place of some of the now carefully cultivated ceramic media?
Plants are looking healthy - 1ml of Easy carbo a day is helping. I've stopped all frets as the compost should be sufficient for now, and want to get the tests running again before I start doing anything different.
I have to admit I have read about people putting tights etc around the filter intake. I have an externel filter giving 15+ times turnover and nothing round the intake. the shrimp actually hang out on the intake, I guess they get some food there and no fry have been sucked in.
Purigen is the best thing I have bought for my tank in terms of looks. Just stick around 100ml in the purigen bag, zip tie the top and place it as the final thing the water flows through in the filter. I didnt remove any of my media.
If it wasnt for the surface agitation in my tank you wouldn't even know there was water in it it is that crystal clear.
Got my pogo plant last night. Did some research and it appears Co2 is a priority over light for the plant (obv light is needed.
Purigen is the best thing I have bought for my tank in terms of looks. Just stick around 100ml in the purigen bag, zip tie the top and place it as the final thing the water flows through in the filter. I didnt remove any of my media.
If it wasnt for the surface agitation in my tank you wouldn't even know there was water in it it is that crystal clear.
Got my pogo plant last night. Did some research and it appears Co2 is a priority over light for the plant (obv light is needed.
Comacchio said:
I don't even know how half my plants survive.. Substrate is Argos play sand and I do not add ferts or CO2?!
I'm the same in my main tank - sometimes things just work.Purigen is on order, and still waiting for the test kit so only development is the re-installation of the blue LED moonlights after my attempt with a glue gun failed. Aquarium sealant did the job. I'll wait until the Purigen arrives and do a before and after shot.
Inhabitants are lined up - six rosy barbs are enjoying my main tank until this one is ready. I also picked up five Congo tetras at the same time, but they're staying where they are. Again, photos will follow on the show me your tank thread, but only after the Purigen arrives!
The tank does have some occupants though. I'd been feeding some shrimp to the congos and then used the same net to hold plants as I cleaned the nursery tank and later discovered that a couple of shrimplets had transferred. I don't hold out much hope for them, even if the water quality is ok, the barbs will no doubt find them when they move in.
Quick update and some pics.
Unfortunately the tank no longer looks quite like this, as I have added six rosy barbs who took it upon themselves to redecorate somewhat. First thing they did was have a shrimp dinner with some riccicia on the side (actually all the riccicia on the side!).
Then they turned their attention to the pogo - which is now pretty much a stump. I managed to save a couple of pogos by transferring them to another empty tank, and I'm hoping that I can rejuvenate them before returning them to the tank.
Pogos decimated, it was time for them to eat the glosso. Carpetting plant? Lunch! It's safe to say that it now has a threadbare look.Again, I've managed to save some and transfer to another empty tank in an attempt to rejuvenate it and replant it at a later date.
So with the decimation of the plants, and worried that I'd get some unhealthy build-ups of nitrites I've added some java fern and crypto from one of my other tanks which seem to be taking the onslaught from the barbs in good stead. The Amazon swords seem to have taken very well though and have clumped up quite well, and also showing good roots at the side of the tank. The lone vallis is also growing at a rate of knots, to the extent that it may need to be removed.
Overall I'm disappointed by the decimation, as I thought the tank was looking pretty good at the point these photos were taken - hindsight says that I should have waited a little longer before adding the barbs so that the plants could fully establish. Wonderful thing hindsight - so I'm using it on one of my other tanks that I'm currently rescaping in exactly the same way!
I've added four otocinclus as algae control, and the tank is pretty much done. All the fish seem happy and content - the barbs are certainly active and hungry, and I have a sneaky feeling that they may have spawned and eaten the eggs. Males are a gorgeous red, and nice fat females.
Unfortunately the tank no longer looks quite like this, as I have added six rosy barbs who took it upon themselves to redecorate somewhat. First thing they did was have a shrimp dinner with some riccicia on the side (actually all the riccicia on the side!).
Then they turned their attention to the pogo - which is now pretty much a stump. I managed to save a couple of pogos by transferring them to another empty tank, and I'm hoping that I can rejuvenate them before returning them to the tank.
Pogos decimated, it was time for them to eat the glosso. Carpetting plant? Lunch! It's safe to say that it now has a threadbare look.Again, I've managed to save some and transfer to another empty tank in an attempt to rejuvenate it and replant it at a later date.
So with the decimation of the plants, and worried that I'd get some unhealthy build-ups of nitrites I've added some java fern and crypto from one of my other tanks which seem to be taking the onslaught from the barbs in good stead. The Amazon swords seem to have taken very well though and have clumped up quite well, and also showing good roots at the side of the tank. The lone vallis is also growing at a rate of knots, to the extent that it may need to be removed.
Overall I'm disappointed by the decimation, as I thought the tank was looking pretty good at the point these photos were taken - hindsight says that I should have waited a little longer before adding the barbs so that the plants could fully establish. Wonderful thing hindsight - so I'm using it on one of my other tanks that I'm currently rescaping in exactly the same way!
I've added four otocinclus as algae control, and the tank is pretty much done. All the fish seem happy and content - the barbs are certainly active and hungry, and I have a sneaky feeling that they may have spawned and eaten the eggs. Males are a gorgeous red, and nice fat females.
BigTom85 said:
Get some current pics up then, no need to only post the good ones!
I like your perseverance. Perhaps a bit early to say, but would you recommend this method?
If you have the patience to set up a planted tank, then I think it is a good method. Water readings seem excellent - very stable now, although I suspect that if the plant levels take too much of a hit then it could go wrong. I'm trying it on another tank at the moment and the plan is to leave it much longer before adding any fish who may disturb the plants which should help it to settle. At the moment that tank only has some shrimp in it, and they seem really happy - a great result given that shrimp demand decent water quality.I like your perseverance. Perhaps a bit early to say, but would you recommend this method?
Plant growth certainly seems stronger than in my tanks with a sand substrate.
Will take some pics of the devastation tonight.
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