Saw some space! Started a planted tank! Never swore so much in my life 😂😂

[DGJ]

So I saw a tiny little gap in the house and thought it could fit a 10g, measured and then found a tank in LFS that fitted perfectly!

cue quick persuasion on the wife and she agreed so in shock I rushed to LFS for some advice and rushed home to set up my “simple” planted tank.

bought.

10g tank
Substarte
Soil
White sand
Rock
Spiderwood
2 x anubias
2 x Java fern
2 x Sicily flora (not sure on spelling)
3 x staurogen reopens (sp)
Seachem advance and flourish

All going well until I start planting. Not sure if I’m too heavey handed or just clumsy but everyone I plant a couple, on the next one I uproot the previous! Very frustrating!! However finished up and slotted it in the gap. It’s then I realised that although the space looks awesome for a tank, in practice it’s a nightmare as I can barely get in the top

also managed to pretty much ruin my whole scape when I filled with water

had a quick question,

do I still dose stability to cycle? There are no fish in there.
Do I dose prime with the new water?

Not sure how well you can see with the reflection!

 

[Wills]

Thats certainly commitment to MTS

Few things I've spotted that might help you out. I wouldnt put aquarium soil ontop of the sand, you could get dead spots in the sand which can release all kinds of nasty gasses into the water when it gets disturbed.

The Anubias and Java Fern should be tied onto rocks or wood so the roots are in the water rather than planted in the soil like in pic 2, if you leave these planted the roots will eventually rot.

The Sicily Flora is a plant called Limnophilla Sessiflora Really nice and easy to grow plant but it does get tall so you might need to keep trimming it if you keep it at the front. The S.Repens will do much better at the front as it is pretty low growing.

When you say about plants uprooting as you plant others - are you using tweezers or just by hand? With tweezers or pincettes it is much much much easier .

The final picture without water looks really good though can see how the plants will fill in over time Cant quite see the full one due to reflection.

Wills

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Great start!

 

[PorshaF]

Perhaps a good tank for some dwarf shrimp? Looks good!

 

[NannaLou]

You need to be careful with soil that deep, it could have been an error I made, but I have just had to strip my tank and start again due to gasses building up in the soil (mine was under a sand cap).

 

[DGJ]

Some clearer pics from this morning?

Mia it planted heavily enough or do I need to add more to carpet the front with the r.opens?

I’ve got a blue and red light but am going to buy a white led today as well? Is it best to alternate on a schedule with them?

 

[DGJ]

@Wills - The advice I got from the LFS was to lay the lava rock sand on the bottom and then put the soil on the top? is this wrong?
Will pull the roots out of the soil and have them hanging, do they just grow into the soil on their own?
Was using tweasers but the plants kept sticking to them and coming back out when i pulled the tweasers out.

@Porsha - The plan is for 10 x cherry shrimp, 10 x jelly blue shrimps, 4 x Netrite snails, 6 cardinal tetras and 4 Sterbai Corys. I'm cycling the tank first, do I add stability to help cycle? prime to decholrinate?

@NannaLou - Would you suggest rescaping it now? Or waiting to see how it progresses? When you did rescape, did you use on the same plants or did you need to start from scratch?

I have a concern about the white pathway, should i just be resigned to the fact that this will get overtaken with the soil at some point? I have built little rock walls but they don't seem to be high/strong enough

 

[NannaLou]

Mine

@NannaLou - Would you suggest rescaping it now? Or waiting to see how it progresses? When you did rescape, did you use on the same plants or did you need to start from scratch?

@DGJ mine was planted for about two weeks (I was attempting a low-tech/Walstad style) when I noticed a ‘hill’ in the substrate, I poked it with long tweezers and LOADS of gas bubbles came out, showering topsoil all over the sand. It smelt disgusting and then it happened another couple of times.

Yesterday, we spent about 6 hours and emptied the whole thing. Down to a two-inch layer of sand now and I managed to replant most of the plants. It was very heavily planted with lots of quick growing, bushy type plants to absorb the ammonia and not need a filter. I’m probably back to early week two in plant measures rather than the actual 3 1/2! The plants did do well in the soil, but cleaning them to replant was messy…

I haven’t bought any new plants, I’ll just sit and wait for these to grow again, I’ll add fertiliser tabs to the sand to aid the growth.

I‘ve only had this one experience, I’m new to fish keeping and plants so wouldn’t want to give bad advice, but I won’t be repeating this experiment!
I would think it would be easier to take the plants out now before they have established roots in the soil…and goodness that soil did smell

 

[Essjay]

Java ferns and anubias have rhizomes. That's the thick horizontal stem like thing that has leaves growing out of one side and roots growing out of the other. It's the rhizome that will rot if buried. Many people ask if they can just lay the rhizome on top of the substrate but this runs the risk of it accidentally being covered. The safest thing with these plants is to have the rhizome on top of decor where it can't get accidentally covered. If the roots go down into the substrate, that's not a problem as long as the rhizome is well clear.

 

[Wills]

@NannaLou did you use potting soil for walsted method or aquarium soil? I think @DGJ is using aquarium soil which is different (its not actually soil, its crushed lava rock mixed into balls with fertilisers.) I have aquarium soil about 8 inches deep and you dont get the same issue that you do with potting soil or sand.

I see now the sand under the soil is crushed lava rock so you should be ok to leave it as it is too, just visually you might not want it that deep at the front of the tank but there is no reason to change other than visually if you wanted to at this stage.

In time your sand path could fade with the soil but its just something to keep on top of and be ready to vacumm some out occasionally and add more clean sand in.

Anubias and Java Fern are a type of plant called epiphytes which means they grow on things rather than in soil. I dont have many in my tank as a good example but this tank by @Wells does it to great effect - see how he has some Anubias sat on the branches? https://www.fishforums.net/threads/250l-aquascape.471287/ Thats the way to attach these kind of plants.

In terms of the fish you mentioned I saw on your African Cichlid thread that you have hard water - if so I'd avoid the fish you have mentioned as they need soft water. A better choice would be Celestial Pearl Danios, Emerald Rasboras or Rummy Nose Rasboras all three species come from an area with hard water and will do much better in your tank. I'd go for one big school of about 10-12 and not go for any bottom dwellers as your shrimp will fill the bottom layers, I'd be careful too going for expensive fancy shrimp as they do not always do well in hard water either with some species requiring RO water to survive well. I'd recommned getting some Amano Shrimp too to help keep on top of algae

Wills

 

[NannaLou]

@NannaLou did you use potting soil for walsted method or aquarium soil? I think @DGJ is using aquarium soil which is different (its not actually soil, its crushed lava rock mixed into balls with fertilisers.) I have aquarium soil about 8 inches deep and you dont get the same issue that you do with potting soil or sand.

I see now the sand under the soil is crushed lava rock so you should be ok to leave it as it is too, just visually you might not want it that deep at the front of the tank but there is no reason to change other than visually if you wanted to at this stage.

In time your sand path could fade with the soil but its just something to keep on top of and be ready to vacumm some out occasionally and add more clean sand in.

Anubias and Java Fern are a type of plant called epiphytes which means they grow on things rather than in soil. I dont have many in my tank as a good example but this tank by @Wells does it to great effect - see how he has some Anubias sat on the branches? https://www.fishforums.net/threads/250l-aquascape.471287/ Thats the way to attach these kind of plants.

In terms of the fish you mentioned I saw on your African Cichlid thread that you have hard water - if so I'd avoid the fish you have mentioned as they need soft water. A better choice would be Celestial Pearl Danios, Emerald Rasboras or Rummy Nose Rasboras all three species come from an area with hard water and will do much better in your tank. I'd go for one big school of about 10-12 and not go for any bottom dwellers as your shrimp will fill the bottom layers, I'd be careful too going for expensive fancy shrimp as they do not always do well in hard water either with some species requiring RO water to survive well. I'd recommned getting some Amano Shrimp too to help keep on top of algae

Wills

Yes, it was potting soil. I followed lots of advice from various sources…but it didn’t work for me

 

[Wills]

Yes, it was potting soil. I followed lots of advice from various sources…but it didn’t work for me

It is cool when it works but quite hard to get right hang in there though sure you’ll get it next time

 

[DGJ]

Here is a clearer pic as I bought a white led to go
Along side the blue and red one.

just tested my ammonia and after 24 hours it’s between 1 and 2. Is this normal?

do I need to do anything like a water change? I don’t have fish in, just the plants

 

[Cydeth]

It's looking great, although in time the soil will likely cover the sand in the middle. Some edging pebbles may help prevent that.

On the planting, you really do need to have a touch like a midwife to avoid disturbing other plants. It is worth the effort though.

 

[DGJ]

with the soil and sand,I did put little rocks down but I think i pushed them too deep, should I just buy some 3-5cm pebbles and just line the sand with them?

Any suggestions on stocking?

I have 6 cardinal tetras and 4 sterbai cory doras in another tank that I want to move over.

I want to add 10 cherry shrimp, 10 jelly blue shrimp and 4 netrite snails.

Is this ok? Would I be able to add 6 guppies as well?