A Walstad Tank...

[WhistlingBadger]

Off to a good start! Sieving out the large soil chunks? That already puts you ahead of me. ha ha

 

[betta4ever!]

Entry #2:
Got a sieve to try to filter out some of the larger organics(wood ships etc.) and it worked very well!
On the left is the filtered soil and on the right is what was filtered out.
View attachment 309479
Close ups:
View attachment 309477View attachment 309478
Added it to the tank:
View attachment 309476
Been videoing as I go so it's going a bit slower.
Now I will add a bit of dechlorinated water to get as many bubbles out as possible. Then I will cap it with PFS, and fill the rest of the way. I'll leave it like that for 24 hours and then drain all the cloudy water, add new dechlorinated and then get to planting!

Nice! Οut of curiosity, what soil are you using?

 

[connorlindeman]

Off to a good start! Sieving out the large soil chunks? That already puts you ahead of me. ha ha

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.

 

[connorlindeman]

Nice! Οut of curiosity, what soil are you using?

Thank you! I'm using Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

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.

 

[connorlindeman]

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.

 

[joeyr188]

W

Hmm... maybe I could have saved 30 minutes of my time.

hat light will you be using?

 

[connorlindeman]

W

hat light will you be using?

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:

Apologies for the messy shelf

 

[WhistlingBadger]

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

That should work great! Even with the messy shelf! (It's OK as long as they're fish books)

 

[Byron]

I don't know how much research you have carried out on this method, so I will just point out something I learned from Diana Walstad's forum. There is usually a very high ammonia level during the first few months from using soil. This may depend somewhat on the soil makeup, since Diana does not make too much of it but others certainly do, reporting fish deaths. Advice is to not add any fish for 5 or 6 months to allow the ammonia to wear out. I've no idea as to the effect on shrimp, but it seems possible they may be affected. A dry start method is another bit of advice from the forum. I've never tried a soil tank so just reporting the benefit of others' experiences.

 

[connorlindeman]

I don't know how much research you have carried out on this method, so I will just point out something I learned from Diana Walstad's forum. There is usually a very high ammonia level during the first few months from using soil. This may depend somewhat on the soil makeup, since Diana does not make too much of it but others certainly do, reporting fish deaths. Advice is to not add any fish for 5 or 6 months to allow the ammonia to wear out. I've no idea as to the effect on shrimp, but it seems possible they may be affected. A dry start method is another bit of advice from the forum. I've never tried a soil tank so just reporting the benefit of others' experiences.

Thanks for the information @Byron, always a big help.
I guess that once it's all going I'll watch the levels and see what happens.

 

[connorlindeman]

A dry start method is another bit of advice from the forum.

Oh one other thing, What do you mean by "a dry start method"?

 

[Byron]

Oh one other thing, What do you mean by "a dry start method"?

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.

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...

buceplant.com

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.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I don't know how much research you have carried out on this method, so I will just point out something I learned from Diana Walstad's forum. There is usually a very high ammonia level during the first few months from using soil. This may depend somewhat on the soil makeup, since Diana does not make too much of it but others certainly do, reporting fish deaths. Advice is to not add any fish for 5 or 6 months to allow the ammonia to wear out. I've no idea as to the effect on shrimp, but it seems possible they may be affected. A dry start method is another bit of advice from the forum. I've never tried a soil tank so just reporting the benefit of others' experiences.

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.

Test the water, and once the ammonia and nitrites are at zero, you're good to go.

 

[connorlindeman]

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.

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...

buceplant.com

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.

Thats very interesting.
Would that work for fully aquatic plants or no?
Thanks for the link.
I found the website. Thanks!