Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Pawel on September 18, 2014, 04:44:20 PM
-
So my 180 l tank has been running for three months and I've been battling with high nitrates, algae and bacteria growth. The tank is not looking good and I'm getting a bit fed up with worrying about it and trying to fix issues. So I want to do a fresh start and try a Walstad method. I read a few posts about it here and it this setup looks more balanced and closer to a natural fish habitat. I am hoping it will mean more enjoying the fish and less trying to fix problems.
From what I gathered the Walstad tank ideally should run for about month before the fish are introduced, but as I have fish and shrimps already I can't really do that, I need to switch over in one day. (I also have a little 22l aqua nano tank, but I don't think it is big enough to keep all my inhabitants for a month.) Do you think setting up the Walstad tank and introducing fish the same day will work or I am setting myself up for different kind of problems down the line?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
-
Diana Walstad herself says she introduces fish the same day or the day after setting up. I think if you have a few fish and a lot of plants you might be OK. I assume your filter is already cycled anyway.
-
Thanks for advice Richard. Yes, my filter is fully cycled.
I guess if that's what Diana Walstad did, then it should be OK! :)
I looked at your other posts from a while back and you recommend a garden soil and also mention a couple of retail products suitable for this method. John Innes compost no 1 for the soil layer and Arthur Bowers lime free silver sand for the top layer. Are they still what you would use now after you'd run your tanks for a while?
-
I actually used my own garden soil and that is the cheapest and easiest unless you have no garden or are worried about contamination. The John Innes would be best if you have to buy, but only No 1 as Nos 2 and 3 have too much fertiliser.
Be aware that the method is not a cure all, if you had problems with ammonia etc before, you still need to manage your tank correctly to avoid these problems.
You do need a lot of plants, no good putting in five or six. For your tank I might look at 50 plus. I also strongly recommend some floating plants which are very efficient at using up nitrates.
-
I actually used my own garden soil and that is the cheapest and easiest unless you have no garden or are worried about contamination.
I thought the ThinkFish style was to steal your neighbour's soil? :))
-
I thought the ThinkFish style was to steal your neighbour's soil? :))
That reminds me there away this weekend and i could do with some more soil for my next tank :raspberries
-
:rotfl:
-
I can picture myself being caught scaling neighbour's fence with the spade and bag of soil, LOL!
-
I actually used my own garden soil and that is the cheapest and easiest unless you have no garden or are worried about contamination. The John Innes would be best if you have to buy, but only No 1 as Nos 2 and 3 have too much fertiliser.
Be aware that the method is not a cure all, if you had problems with ammonia etc before, you still need to manage your tank correctly to avoid these problems.
You do need a lot of plants, no good putting in five or six. For your tank I might look at 50 plus. I also strongly recommend some floating plants which are very efficient at using up nitrates.
Thanks Richard. My garden soil has lots of chalk, I'm also guilty of an occasional sprinkling of weed killer and ferric phosphate for snail control. Would that soil be suitable? I don't know enough if this could cause problems once in the fish tank, so I thought the John Innes would be a safer bet.
My ammonia and nitrites have been fine, but I have high nitrates in tap water, about 50ppm and while trying to fix the nitrates I managed to get my algae out of control. I like the look of a planted tank, but don't want a high tech/high maintenance setup a 'normal' aquascaping tank seem to require. So I hope the Walstad tank is the right one for me. I'm looking to buy plants from ebay and it's a bit hard to gauge how many to get, as they are sold in stems or multi-stem bunches etc. I guess I'll order more than I think I need, as I'm likely to order too few. I was looking at: Amazon Sword, Echinodorus Tenellus, Hygrophila Polysperma, and Green Rotala Rotundifolia.
-
Perhaps better to avoid your soil if you're not sure what's in it.
I bought all my plants from Ebay, the supplier I used is Premier Aquarium Plants and they did supply very good plants.
I've found Amazon Sword a bit unpredictable, does well in some tanks but dies out in others. Hygrophila polysperma grows fast, but is a bit untidy for some people. I've found Sagittaria subulata to be very similar to Echinodorus tenellus, but it grows faster. Another nice one is Limnophila sessiliflora which has very fine foliage for a different effect, like Cabomba but much easier to grow. Loose "stem" plants are far better value than potted, they are really just cuttings but root and grow away very quickly.
-
Hygrophila corymbosa is another one to consider. Mine has lovely light green leaves which contrast nicely with my other darker plants.
-
Thank you for suggestions, I'll take a closer look at them.
Premier Aquarium Plants was the seller I bookmarked for my plant shopping, so looks like the one to use! :)
-
Right, the plants have been ordered, sand washed so it's all on track for the changeover this weekend! Exciting times :)
The question I have, is it important that the plants are more or less spread over the entire surface of the substrate or is it OK to leave some of the foreground or middle of the tank unplanted. I guess some the grassy type plants will spread a bit over time?
-
i left wide open sandy areas in my tank for ornaments and also so there was somewere on the bottom for my scavenging fish , but yes many of the plants will bush out and expand
-
You can leave part unplanted. I've found that Sagittaria spread rapidly by sending out runners, soon covering a large part of the substrate. Pygmy Chain Sword Echinodorus tenellus did the same, but more slowly .
-
Great, thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing how the layout will evolve over time.
-
So an update is in order. I switched as planned and I think it went well, all the fish and shrimps are alive! Picture is 1 week on.
I guess it doesn't look like there are that many plants, but there are over a hundred individual cuttings and plants, I hope that's enough and they just need to do some growing!
The plants are: Rotala Rotundifolia, Anubias Barteri Nana, Limnophila Sessiliflora, Echinodorus tenellus, Sagittaria Subulata, Hygrophila Corymbosa. I've also added Amazon Frogbit since to help consume the Nitrates.
The water parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates are a bit high, between 40 and 80ppm, but my tap water has about 50ppm according to my water supplier.
pH has gone down to 7.4 from 8 before the switch.
Hard water: 100 mg/l or 14.01 German deg.
I started to see some green hair algae on the glass, so the good thing is there is food for the shrimp but might be a sign that there is something not quite right.
The lights are on for 5 hours, then off for 5 hours and back on for 5 hours, so I wonder if reducing the lights would help to control algae. Is there anything else I should try doing?
-
water lettuce is pretty good for lowering nitrates. it has nice long, hairy, flowing roots too. a bunch of cabomba can also be good as a natural filter. dirt cheap and easily available, usually sold in bunches that you seperate and can be planted or left to float around the tank.
-
Thanks for that! I'll look then up.
-
You are likely to get SOME algae whatever you do. The plants are not really growing yet and when they do get going they should help. However, I've found that even indirect light in a room will encourage algae on the front glass. I discovered that putting an old blanket over a tank so that room light is excluded from the front glass caused the algae to disappear after a few days. Even if the tank is well away from a window, the daylight reaching the front of the tank is often much stronger than people realise, probably greater than the tank lights. The same is true of the other walls of the tank if they are clear glass e.g. if no background.
High nitrates may also indicate high phosphates which can increase algal growth.
Algae are a natural part of every aquatic system there is not a pond in the world that doesn't have them and their presence doesn't mean that there is something wrong with your tank.
-
Thank you Richard. I like your balanced view on the subject, I guess a little big of algae doesn't mean that there is a problem. As you say I need to give the plants a chance to start growing properly.
All walls of aquarium are clear glass with a white wall behind them, so it looks like there is quite a bit of ambient light entering the tank. I've got a light meter, from the days when I was more seriously into photography and I'll see if I can measure the light coming from inside and outside the tank and if get any sensible results.
For now I haven't altered anything. The Shrimp seem to enjoy walking on glass and eating the algae and I can't see any algae on plants and decor so far. I haven't got the phosphates test, do you think it's worth getting it?
The Amazon frogbit is multiplying nicely and the grassy plants are sending out runners. The only plant that is not doing greatly is Limnophila Sessiliflora. After a week of growing OK, some of the the shoots floated up and seem to have rather weak stalks. When I try to replant them they break off and float back up. About a half of the cuttings I planted originally looks like it's growing OK still. I wonder if I should try a different plant in its place. (I'll obviously leave all the ones that are doing well.)
-
i would use j Arthur bowers as your soil under layer
i have had good results with this on planted tanks
its an aquatic compost