LJ's 75 gallon Walstad inspired planted tank

[Lamental Jester]

Hello all!

So, after several months of planning/daydreaming, I finally started to convert my 75 gallon tank into a naturally planted tank using the ideas of Diana Walstad, first time doing this. So let begin, here's what I started with:

Wasn't much to look at. Here's the soil I'm using, about $5 a bag at safeway:

The first step was strain the soil to get rid of the bark, peat, etc...

I went through five or six bags to fill up a 5 gallon bucket of strained soil. Next, I put the strained soil into a large plastic container and soaked the soil to mineralize and release some ammonia...

Mmmmmm, messy. I left the soil for two weeks, adding water periodically to keep it wet, but not too much as to drench it. Then, last night I drained the tank and moved the tank mates into a 20 long for a temporary home. I filled the 20 Long with tank water from the 75, I'll put that water back into the 75 sometime when I'm ready to put the fish in. Once everything was out of the tank, I lined the sides with new gravel about 1.5 to 2 inches high (got tired of the blue gravel, so I got black gravel 1-3 mm diameter), then filled the interior with the soil...

Next, I took a few pounds of unfired raw red clay and rolled them into small chunks:

I buried the clay chunks in the soil through out the tank, then topped it all with about a 1.5 inch layer of gravel and added water up to the gravel:

Next, hardscape:

I got the wood from local fish stores a while back ago The larger piece is hollowed out, very cool piece! I found the rocks nearby the Seattle Center, and large shell at a beach in Ballard. I scrubed and boiled the shell and rocks.
Then the plants...

Plant list:
Dwarf Baby Tears
Narrow Leaf Chain Swords
Red Tiger Lotus
Italian and Contortion Val
A large Rose Sword
A "Giant Mother" Amazon sword along with a few small ones
Hygrophila Corymbosa (Green Temple)
Hydrophila Polysperma 'Rosanervig' (Sunset Hydro)
Hydrophila Angustifolia (Willow Hydro)
Hygrophila Difformis (Water Wisteria)
Cryptocoryne Wendii
Water Sprite
Dwarf Hairgrass
Rotala Nanjenshan
Rotala Indica
Ludwigia Repens

I also have some java fern attached to a couple small pieces of wood I will add later, they are currently in the 20 long.

Here's how it ended up after very slowly adding water:

I'm using a Fluval 405 canister filter. I removed the carbon from it and replaced it with polishing pads. I also added a powerhead with pre-filter spunge. For lighting, I have two duel bulb T5HO fixtures and one standerd T8 fixture. Right now for the T5HO bulbs I'm using a 10,000k, a 18,000k, a 6700k, and an aquaflora bulb. The T8 has an actinic for color. Any suggestions for what bulbs you'd recommend would be welcome. I also have a blue and white LED for night lighting. I will probably dose with Flurish Excel as I have a gallon of it just sitting here waiting to be used.

Well that's where I'm at. I'm gonna moniter the water conditions, water changes as needed, and add the fish once it's safe for them. I'll post updates in the future. Again, suggestions welcome.

 

[Lamental Jester]

Sunset Hydros are beginning to bring out their pink

I also have a tiger lotus bulb that started sprouting, but I can't get a pic of it in focus. As for water conditions, ammonia level is less than 0.02ppm, PH is at 7.0, however both GH and KH are pretty up there. Gonna continue with water changes, maybe put some peat in an empty media slot in my canister filter

 

[binbin9]

sweet plant journal, are you doing co2 for the HC?

 

[Lamental Jester]

Thanks... This is my first time doing a dirted tank, hoping it goes well... I'm gonna try it without co2 and dose it with flourish excel instead. If that doesn't work then I'll try DIY co2. And if my HC doesn't work out I'll get some Marsilea minuta for the middle foreground, supposedly it's less demanding than HC

 

[pbmax]

Marsilea is way less demanding but a slow grower. It's thriving in a tank I have with amazonia 2 and no ferts at all with decent lighting.

 

[binbin9]

yeah I bought some of the marsilea as well. It definitely is slow. or maybe I'm just extremely impatient =)

 

[pbmax]

It only grows when you're not watching

 

[Lamental Jester]

It's alright, I'm a pretty patient person 8)

 

[Lamental Jester]

Time for an update. I was able to get the water hardness down with water changes, so, I added fish; I put in the six rainbowfish I had in my 29 gallon (two Westerns, one Turquoise, three Australians). There's also a blue gourami, rainbow shark and a spotted raphael catfish (which I'll probably never see) in there that were in there before I started the convertion (I had a big Eclipse catfish, two featherfin catfish, and a pleco as well, but I donated them to Sierra)... I also got three Ren Irians and two Boesemanis from Sierra Fish and Pets. As for the plants, have a look:

As you can see, the plants have taken off! The sunset hydros and growing like crazy. My big amazon sword has been melting leaves, which I expected to happen. But it's growing new green leaves as it's adapted to the tank. The java ferns have been struggling as well, it maybe due too too much light. The baby tears don't appear to be doing well either, probably cause I'm not doing co2. But for no co2, I'd say the tank is doing awesome, I'm really happy with the results! Here's more pics:

 

[cichlid-gal]

I think it looks great....and nice to know the process too...thank you!

 

[Gizmo]

I posted on another thread you posted pics on, but are those Legos you made the legs for your fixture out of?

 

[Lamental Jester]

Lol, yes! I have two big bins of them in my closet from my childhood. The feet that came with one of my fixtures doesn't fit onto my tank, so I had to improvise, I just had to "double brick" it to make sure it was stable. It works out well cause it made hooking up my LED nightlights a breeze

 

[binbin9]

the plants are looking super lush, nice job. The HC could benefit a move away from the shaded area. Those tiger lotuss are big leaves that cast a big shadow. I've seen some folks do well with HC only using excel.

 

[Lamental Jester]

Thank you!!!!! That's a good idea, I'll move the HC closer to the front, they'll be out of the shadow there. I was keeping all of my lights on for 12 hours a day, but resulted in massive algee blooms, so I now have the T5HO with the 10,000k and 18,000k bulbs on for 4 hours a day, while keeping the other T5HO with a 6700k and an aquaflora bulb, and a T8 with an actinic on for 12 hours. It helped dramaticly, virtually no algee growth. But i want to get more light on the HC, so I may extend the 4 hours to 6-8 hours. If I start getting algee again I'll add some java moss to soak up the extra nutriants, and maybe get a few snails

 

[pbmax]

Looks great! HC is picky and snobby... I wouldn't sweat it if it didn't make it.

 

[Lamental Jester]

Thanks! I'm gonna at least make an effort for the HC to work out, but yes, def not gonna sweat it if it doesn't

 

[binbin9]

worse case go with glosso if you want a carpet. They are a bit less finicky than HC and grow faster then marsilea. This is about 13 days worth of growth.

Feb. 8th

Feb 21

 

[Lamental Jester]

Ah yes, that's in your 12 long right? I like it! If the HC doesn't work I'll try out glosso

 

[lars on]

why did you wet the soil for 2 weeks? To release ammonia? Im gonna try and replicate what you did in my 55g, this is the most simply well explined walstad tutorial thing ive seen on the entire internet!

 

[pbmax]

The soil tends to float rather obnoxiously if you don't soak it.