Nice! Οut of curiosity, what soil are you using?
Haha. The reason I did that is that they will just decay under water and cause extra ammonia. In such a small tank, I was concerned about the effects of that.
Thank you! I'm using Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil.
That's what I used, too. As for the big chunks, I figured they'd decompose more slowly and keep the plants fed long-term. Seems to work.
Hmm... maybe I could have saved 30 minutes of my time.
hat light will you be using?Hmm... maybe I could have saved 30 minutes of my time.
This tank is on my bookshelf with another 10g. Hanging above them I have a large shop light with 6500k and 5000k tubes.
That should work great! Even with the messy shelf! (It's OK as long as they're fish books)This tank is on my bookshelf with another 10g. Hanging above them I have a large shop light with 6500k and 5000k tubes.
The plants do very well in the other tank so i'm hoping they will do well in this one as well.
Here's a picture:
View attachment 309494
Apologies for the messy shelf
Thanks for the information @Byron, always a big help.
Oh one other thing, What do you mean by "a dry start method"?
buceplant.com
Good point. Walstad tanks are always very heavily planted, with lots of floaters and fast-growing plants, at least at the start. In my experience: A good cap of sand slows down the ammonia infiltration enough that the plants take care it, if they are growing well. This is why Walstad herself tends to add fish right away--she is a wizard at growing aquatic plants, so her ammonia levels probably don't ever get high enough to register. I give my Walstad tanks at least a couple weeks for the plants to get a good start and the soil microbes to stabilize. It's pretty much a silent cycle, with a bit of added ammonia to speed up the process. I've had it take as long as six weeks or as little as a few days.
Thats very interesting.Oh, now you're really challenging my mind! This research was about 12 years back, when a couple people on another forum were trying to persuade me to do this method. It involves planting and hardscaping the tank, but not adding water other than keeping the spoil moist. The avoidance of ammonia is one benefit, another is the aerial advantage we all know about for CO2. Aquatic plants whose leaves are in the air are able to take up CO2 four times faster than when submersed and relying on CO2 in the water, so you get a faster and stronger start. Here is a link that from a cursory look seems to be reliable.
You could browse Diana's forum of course, you can find the web address by searching for "Diana Walstad forum" as we are (correctly) not allowed links to other forums.Dry Start Method Step by Step Guide
Written by Bryson and Team Buce Plant The initial weeks of starting a planted aquarium are often the most frustrating. You might experience plants that seem set on floating and sparse growth. Let me introduce you to the dry start method (DSM). This bad boy solution gives you the opportunity to...
