If I'm honest, a lot of the stuff I talk about is stuff I learned from the likes of George Farmer's forum from the harcore planted tank guys who ran Walstad tanks and shared their experiences. A lot of them seemed to have moved on to other types of plants now. But I still enjoy tinkering with dirted tanks. People seem to really enjoy me talking about the topic, so I just keep on going
I enjoy trying several methods. My favorite is my planted tanks but can't do it in my goldfish tanks but in my ponds... I use much more plants Very well explained
Cheers, Paul! I really like the look of the larger of the 2 tanks with the big plants at the back and the small crypts in front. It gives the tank a clear definition that I think I'm going to try to do a lot more in the future!
some great points here. Your point that the dirt becomes rendered inert quickly I think is a good one. It is also rapidly consumed. I just took down a 2 year old aquarium and was shocked to see how little potting mix remained. It had been replaced by a mass of roots. Reminded me of what a pot plant looks like when it needs re-potting. Almost no potting mix left other than the ADA Amazonia, except a few bits of wood and alot of liquid mulm. I had kept it alive lately with garden variety standard osmocote fertiliser.
That liquid mulm is exactly what I was trying to define when I kept saying aquatic sediment. Everything in the tank, the soil, plant leaves, and fish food should break down into this mulm over time. It's interesting you mention the repotting thing. I once compared a mature dirted tank to a bonsai pot and said you should consider repotting similar to a bonsai. Reset the soil, give roots a prune, etc, and was told they were not comparable. But I've had dirted tanks basically root bound before where the roots had filled the bottom of the tank. I've also had the opposite. In my third or fourth dirted tank, I used the wrong dirt. It was the fertilised miracle gro, and the roots never grew into it. The plants never did well, and when I broke the tank down, the roots were in the cap but had all burnt off as soon as they touched the soil. In my next tank, I used a really mild soil and got much better growth, especially from the crypts.
@@aquaticfanaticsuk i have been thinking a long time that my depleted dirt tanks are like pot plants. Pot plants eventually need repotting and we are using similar techniques (same soils and potting mixes). Not that I have much experience in pot plants, very little to be honest. But I have seen a mature pot plant and when it came out of the pot there was almost no soil left. It was just all roots with a bit of dirt. I didn’t mention but your comments about ‘balance’ and algae is exactly what I am dealing with right now. Every tank has a balance and when that gets upset bad things tend to happen. In the first few weeks of a dirted tank balance can take a while to happen. Patience is key - riding out the storm. Biofilm. Algae. Hard to avoid them. You just have to trust that over time things will balance themselves out as the plants establish themselves.
There'd be less plant matter to uptake nutrients in theory. But I've had to do it a few times because my val has gone gang busters, and I've never really noticed a significant difference. I've always put this down to my floating plants doing the heavy lifting in my tank. I literally remove a couple of litre jugs of the stuff a week.
Hi, what is your experience with dirt covered by sand? It works by me but I wonder what is more effective. I remember also classic t8 light bulbs and it worked great wit 6500k. Now we have led and in my opinion it has to much blue light pick causing hair alge.
The tanks I've set up with dirt capped with sand. I've found the sand got big black and grey patches suggesting the production of anaerobic conditions and found the plant roots have struggled in these conditions. I've also found mulm builds on top of the sand far more than it does with gravel. Creating further problems for the sand below while also causing issues with stuff like cyano and algae on the sand bed. I definitely think that the modern LED lights are far too powerful for most planted tanks. I usually turn the blues off if I can and ramp the rest right down to about 30-40%. Even then, I find myself having problems with algae in the top half of the water column at times. I've taken to using a lot of floating plants to combat this. I did find an old T5 driver for sale at a local shop, I was tempted to buy it but when I spoke with the owner it would have cost me more than an LED unit to buy and then I would have had to buy £100 of new bulbs every 6 months with no guarantee of being able to get the bulbs.
love that you tell people what you think about Walstad method❤. its what brings me back. Not afraid to say what you believe. respect
If I'm honest, a lot of the stuff I talk about is stuff I learned from the likes of George Farmer's forum from the harcore planted tank guys who ran Walstad tanks and shared their experiences. A lot of them seemed to have moved on to other types of plants now. But I still enjoy tinkering with dirted tanks. People seem to really enjoy me talking about the topic, so I just keep on going
just i would like to see a topic on limitation of walsted tank .and Red plants on walsted tank
I enjoy trying several methods.
My favorite is my planted tanks but can't do it in my goldfish tanks but in my ponds... I use much more plants
Very well explained
Cheers, mate! I'm a massive fan of keeping plants with fish. To the point that if I don't have plants in my tank, I worry about nitrates quite a lot.
I love your tanks! 🌿
Thank you! I definitely want to work on making my tanks a little more aesthetically pleasing.
Tanks are fire mate
Cheers, Paul! I really like the look of the larger of the 2 tanks with the big plants at the back and the small crypts in front. It gives the tank a clear definition that I think I'm going to try to do a lot more in the future!
T shirt idea
Do You Do
WALSTAD
That's a cool idea!
some great points here. Your point that the dirt becomes rendered inert quickly I think is a good one. It is also rapidly consumed. I just took down a 2 year old aquarium and was shocked to see how little potting mix remained. It had been replaced by a mass of roots. Reminded me of what a pot plant looks like when it needs re-potting. Almost no potting mix left other than the ADA Amazonia, except a few bits of wood and alot of liquid mulm. I had kept it alive lately with garden variety standard osmocote fertiliser.
That liquid mulm is exactly what I was trying to define when I kept saying aquatic sediment. Everything in the tank, the soil, plant leaves, and fish food should break down into this mulm over time.
It's interesting you mention the repotting thing. I once compared a mature dirted tank to a bonsai pot and said you should consider repotting similar to a bonsai. Reset the soil, give roots a prune, etc, and was told they were not comparable. But I've had dirted tanks basically root bound before where the roots had filled the bottom of the tank. I've also had the opposite. In my third or fourth dirted tank, I used the wrong dirt. It was the fertilised miracle gro, and the roots never grew into it. The plants never did well, and when I broke the tank down, the roots were in the cap but had all burnt off as soon as they touched the soil. In my next tank, I used a really mild soil and got much better growth, especially from the crypts.
@@aquaticfanaticsuk i have been thinking a long time that my depleted dirt tanks are like pot plants. Pot plants eventually need repotting and we are using similar techniques (same soils and potting mixes). Not that I have much experience in pot plants, very little to be honest. But I have seen a mature pot plant and when it came out of the pot there was almost no soil left. It was just all roots with a bit of dirt.
I didn’t mention but your comments about ‘balance’ and algae is exactly what I am dealing with right now. Every tank has a balance and when that gets upset bad things tend to happen. In the first few weeks of a dirted tank balance can take a while to happen. Patience is key - riding out the storm. Biofilm. Algae. Hard to avoid them. You just have to trust that over time things will balance themselves out as the plants establish themselves.
@@thesolaraquarium you've just given me an idea for another video!
first view from India
Thank you!
I agree that there should be less swings
This is the main thing that appeals to me. The fact that the aquarium should be purifying itself and stabilising any swings. I find this fascinating.
What would happen to the balance if say you pulled out a heap of val because it was taking over?
There'd be less plant matter to uptake nutrients in theory. But I've had to do it a few times because my val has gone gang busters, and I've never really noticed a significant difference. I've always put this down to my floating plants doing the heavy lifting in my tank. I literally remove a couple of litre jugs of the stuff a week.
Hi, what is your experience with dirt covered by sand? It works by me but I wonder what is more effective.
I remember also classic t8 light bulbs and it worked great wit 6500k. Now we have led and in my opinion it has to much blue light pick causing hair alge.
The tanks I've set up with dirt capped with sand. I've found the sand got big black and grey patches suggesting the production of anaerobic conditions and found the plant roots have struggled in these conditions. I've also found mulm builds on top of the sand far more than it does with gravel. Creating further problems for the sand below while also causing issues with stuff like cyano and algae on the sand bed.
I definitely think that the modern LED lights are far too powerful for most planted tanks. I usually turn the blues off if I can and ramp the rest right down to about 30-40%. Even then, I find myself having problems with algae in the top half of the water column at times. I've taken to using a lot of floating plants to combat this. I did find an old T5 driver for sale at a local shop, I was tempted to buy it but when I spoke with the owner it would have cost me more than an LED unit to buy and then I would have had to buy £100 of new bulbs every 6 months with no guarantee of being able to get the bulbs.