First Planted Tank-Walstad Style: Pic heavy

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RisiganL.

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Ok, so here is my first try at a planted tank. This tank was set-up just under a month ago. I got the plants from aquariumplants.com, and quite frankly, I was pretty dissapointed. When the plants arrived, they were beat up and they smelled like something pretty rotten.

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I first put down the mud layer. I used Miraclegro Organic choice that was seined through window screening.
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After I put down the mud, I covered it in an 1" thick layer of Estes black sand. Looking back, I am regretting not evening out the mud. The thickness of the sand varies throught the tank.
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This is when I was filling up the tank. There was expected cloudiness and some of the sand also floated. The floating sand was quite a problem for me. It was like airbubble coated in sand, it over the next few days, the bubbles rose and fell.
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This is the tank as of 2 weeks ago. The cloudiness has dissapeared, with many of the plants. Majority of the plants died and were removed. I also added some pygmy chain swords in my foreground.
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This is one of the few plants that survived, my spiral vals. Most of the plant rotted away, but there is some new growth.
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Another big problem I was having was planaria. There were THOUSANDS OF THEM! Since the photo was taken, they have mostly cleared up.
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Ok, I don't have any pics of the tank right now, but I will get some up as soon as I can. Questions, comments, or opinions?

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Big Mike

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Are you happy with the results? I just finished reading her book. (very scientific and I think I should read it again) I wonder if soil or Eco-Complete is better?
 

RisiganL.

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Right now, I am very happpy. The plants that survived seem to doing well. This being my first planted tank, I did have a rough start, but I think most of my troubles are over with. The one thing I am worried about is that there are large bubbled that sometimes come from within the substrate. They don't have a sulfur smell so I don't beleive that they are anaerobic. Any ideas about what they are?
 

cab395

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I always wondered with layering soil under sand. When you plant the plants, how do you prevent the two layers from mixing?
 

RisiganL.

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When I plant, I am not always 100% certain the layers aren't mixing. I just poke a hole using my finger and I place a plant it. For some reason, I don't get an explosion of mud into the water. I also have malaysian trumpet snails in this tank. They dig into the sand a whole bunch, but they never seem to go into the mud.

ROYWS3, I didn't reimburse my losses. I am new to the whole buying online thing, so I didn't know I could. I'll remember that next time.
 

jetajockey

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I would've sent them a pic of the plants and let them know what was up, at least you know now for the future.

I like the mineralized topsoil method better than the straight potting soil, I've yet to see any gas bubbles in the tanks I've done that have been pre-mineralized. I believe that the gas bubbles come from the gas released by the breakdown of organics in the soil (or possibly trapped air).
 

RisiganL.

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Actually, this was mineralized soil! To be fair, this is not really 100% walstad. More like Walstad Modified. I think the bubbles might just be regular air bubble that was trapped beneath the sand and mud. I didn't make the soil as runny as I should have. This is really a learning experience for me.
 

jetajockey

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Yeah it could've been just air, normally gas bubbles have some kind of swampy funk to them (I call it stank tank syndrome). How long did you mineralize the soil for?

I wouldn't worry about the worms, fish should eat them, if they don't you could use fenbendazole to kill them.
 

RisiganL.

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This soil was mineralized over a period of ~4 weeks. Right now, the only fauna in the tank are trumpet snails, worms, a single mosquito fish, and a oto catfish that is MIA. I have seen the mosquito fish peck at the worms some, so he is probably keeping thier numbers down.
 
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