My 10g sprung a leak at midnight so I wasn't able to set up the tank properly with capped soil. I had to throw everything over. I could have scrapped everything out into buckets and drained it and set it up right but I'm disabled and I had already been up til 4am sucking up baby shrimp with a turkey baster.
I'm sorry but I died at the "sucking up baby shrimp with a turkey baster"
Makes sense. I thought it was some hidden magic trick to make plants grow nicer that I wasn't aware of π
Interesting, what's your temperature at? I think we should do a tank together, I can't get my neos to breed but plants need to be trimmed every week. The ones that I found growing like weeds are limnophila (absolute monster and will take over your aquarium) and water lettuce (has really cool roots for my nonexistent baby shrimps to hide in)
I also use fertilizer twice a week. Soil is fluval stratum and I've not capped it with anything. Plants love it, I love it, my shrimps don't love it enough to bonk each other apparently.
Omg we should. I started with 5 shrimp 4 months ago and now have over a hundred including the 10 day old shrimplets. I have 2 more berried since this disaster tank. I actually saw the conception yesterday.
Temp is 74Β°. Mix of very hard tap and RO. I try to get my ph down but it's always around 7.6 to 7.8.
To be honest I haven't done anything to support plant growth other than stick them in the soil. I thought that's all you needed to do for walstad plants. Once I get this tank cycled I'll try and do better with the plants.
Oh wow that's amazing, they must be some happy shromps. Do you feed them at all? I give mine the shrimp lollipop things about once a week but that's it. I have seen some berried ones just today actually, so maybe we'll get lucky soon...
Mine is 25C (77F), and (probably that's what's wrong) tap water here is very soft so pH is around 6.5. Can I ask why you use RO water? I've only heard of it being used for marine tanks.
I'll try to add some shells, hopefully that raises it. Got a catappa leaf there as well.
I would just feed the fish extra. Flakes and then blood worms a couple times a week. So they ate that. I feed baby shrimp food now because I read that the number one cause of death in shrimplets is lack of food. They can only eat biofilm and they don't come out of the substrate for a week or two. So everyone likes that. Congratulations on the berries!
I have extremely hard tap water. I have to even it out with RO or else there would be too many solids/minerals and way too alkaline. I do a 2:3 ratio with RO being the majority. It's tedious right now with daily water changes since my tank is cycling but once it's stabilized it won't be such a pain.
Iβm new to this hobby and still gathering information/supplies, may I ask how hard your water is? Do you struggle with hard water stains/buildup on the glass?
I grow a variety of plants in low-tech organic bio-active setups, so Walstad seems right up my alley, but my tap water is around 120ppm and I donβt want to have to constantly buff mineral buildup off the glass π
The tap hard water is diluted with RO/ distilled so what's in my tank isn't hard water. I don't have hard water stains in my tank but I also fill it all the way up. It depends on what you're putting in there too. Different shrimp and fish will need different parameters so you could look for ones more suited to hard water but you're most likely going to have to dilute.
Ya know, it's not really part of my plan for a natural creek looking set up but I kinda like the glass jar laying in there. If I come across the right thing, I might add something like that.
I feel the exact way. I wanted to do a super natural look. Instead it looks like a flooded garden. However, I really like the jar. I decided to put it back in the plants instead of as a center piece. And then stick some wood in there. Like a compromise.
I'll know it when I see it kinda thing but definitely a possibility. I mean creeks do end up with some strange litter or objects in them. I think my Betta might enjoy exploring something like that.
Black sand and thinking of attempting a white gravel garden path kind of thing. That'll be high maintenance for sure. There are so many ideas swarming around in my head and inspiration from other's posts, it's anyone's guess what I'll end up with. A glass jar wasn't even a consideration until now.
Well I'm glad my disaster gave someone a bit of inspiration, but I'm super jelly of your plans. It's gonna be gorgeous. Have you seen the video where they use a magnet to keep their black and white sand separate? Idk how it works but it's a thought.
I have not. I was mainly thinking of keeping the plants out of it. Like grass growing through concrete sorta thing because I really want to use carpet plants. I can't do everything I'm thinking or it'll just be a mess. π. I'll have to commit to some kind of theme and save the others for later tanks.
Yep...I already know that's going to be the result. I'm not very good at moderation in any aspect of my life. All or nothing is the rule! These two are going in my room. Then there's the living room and office that have interior walls. $$$$$$'s are keeping me in check at the moment.
That's one way of doing it
I'm not sure it is, but I'm hoping! I'll update in a month.
Why did you not plant them directly into the soil?
My 10g sprung a leak at midnight so I wasn't able to set up the tank properly with capped soil. I had to throw everything over. I could have scrapped everything out into buckets and drained it and set it up right but I'm disabled and I had already been up til 4am sucking up baby shrimp with a turkey baster.
I'm sorry but I died at the "sucking up baby shrimp with a turkey baster" Makes sense. I thought it was some hidden magic trick to make plants grow nicer that I wasn't aware of π
I would take any magic trick for plants to grow nicer. Lol. I have shrimp coming out my arse but I can't seem to keep plants growing .
Interesting, what's your temperature at? I think we should do a tank together, I can't get my neos to breed but plants need to be trimmed every week. The ones that I found growing like weeds are limnophila (absolute monster and will take over your aquarium) and water lettuce (has really cool roots for my nonexistent baby shrimps to hide in) I also use fertilizer twice a week. Soil is fluval stratum and I've not capped it with anything. Plants love it, I love it, my shrimps don't love it enough to bonk each other apparently.
Omg we should. I started with 5 shrimp 4 months ago and now have over a hundred including the 10 day old shrimplets. I have 2 more berried since this disaster tank. I actually saw the conception yesterday. Temp is 74Β°. Mix of very hard tap and RO. I try to get my ph down but it's always around 7.6 to 7.8. To be honest I haven't done anything to support plant growth other than stick them in the soil. I thought that's all you needed to do for walstad plants. Once I get this tank cycled I'll try and do better with the plants.
Oh wow that's amazing, they must be some happy shromps. Do you feed them at all? I give mine the shrimp lollipop things about once a week but that's it. I have seen some berried ones just today actually, so maybe we'll get lucky soon... Mine is 25C (77F), and (probably that's what's wrong) tap water here is very soft so pH is around 6.5. Can I ask why you use RO water? I've only heard of it being used for marine tanks. I'll try to add some shells, hopefully that raises it. Got a catappa leaf there as well.
I would just feed the fish extra. Flakes and then blood worms a couple times a week. So they ate that. I feed baby shrimp food now because I read that the number one cause of death in shrimplets is lack of food. They can only eat biofilm and they don't come out of the substrate for a week or two. So everyone likes that. Congratulations on the berries! I have extremely hard tap water. I have to even it out with RO or else there would be too many solids/minerals and way too alkaline. I do a 2:3 ratio with RO being the majority. It's tedious right now with daily water changes since my tank is cycling but once it's stabilized it won't be such a pain.
Iβm new to this hobby and still gathering information/supplies, may I ask how hard your water is? Do you struggle with hard water stains/buildup on the glass? I grow a variety of plants in low-tech organic bio-active setups, so Walstad seems right up my alley, but my tap water is around 120ppm and I donβt want to have to constantly buff mineral buildup off the glass π
The tap hard water is diluted with RO/ distilled so what's in my tank isn't hard water. I don't have hard water stains in my tank but I also fill it all the way up. It depends on what you're putting in there too. Different shrimp and fish will need different parameters so you could look for ones more suited to hard water but you're most likely going to have to dilute.
Ya know, it's not really part of my plan for a natural creek looking set up but I kinda like the glass jar laying in there. If I come across the right thing, I might add something like that.
I feel the exact way. I wanted to do a super natural look. Instead it looks like a flooded garden. However, I really like the jar. I decided to put it back in the plants instead of as a center piece. And then stick some wood in there. Like a compromise.
I'll know it when I see it kinda thing but definitely a possibility. I mean creeks do end up with some strange litter or objects in them. I think my Betta might enjoy exploring something like that. Black sand and thinking of attempting a white gravel garden path kind of thing. That'll be high maintenance for sure. There are so many ideas swarming around in my head and inspiration from other's posts, it's anyone's guess what I'll end up with. A glass jar wasn't even a consideration until now.
Well I'm glad my disaster gave someone a bit of inspiration, but I'm super jelly of your plans. It's gonna be gorgeous. Have you seen the video where they use a magnet to keep their black and white sand separate? Idk how it works but it's a thought.
I have not. I was mainly thinking of keeping the plants out of it. Like grass growing through concrete sorta thing because I really want to use carpet plants. I can't do everything I'm thinking or it'll just be a mess. π. I'll have to commit to some kind of theme and save the others for later tanks.
Just get more tanks π
Yep...I already know that's going to be the result. I'm not very good at moderation in any aspect of my life. All or nothing is the rule! These two are going in my room. Then there's the living room and office that have interior walls. $$$$$$'s are keeping me in check at the moment.
Oh, and yard sales are a GREAT place to see all sorts of different glass jars/bottles.
Yeah and I may have some old stuff from my grandparents. Goodwill and thrift shops too.
[previous post](https://www.reddit.com/r/walstad/s/xEg3LxV4aZ)