# Plants melting in Walstad bowl 1.5g



## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

Plants tend to do some melting when first planted. So you may need to give it a little more time. I will say the frogbit needs very strong light. I put much stronger light just inches above my frogbit using CFL's. I would take it out and grow it in another bowl without substrate. It will multiply to cover the surface quickly, and will have roots that will take over the bowl.


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## gjmelb (Feb 27, 2016)

AWolf said:


> Plants tend to do some melting when first planted. So you may need to give it a little more time. I will say the frogbit needs very strong light. I put much stronger light just inches above my frogbit using CFL's. I would take it out and grow it in another bowl without substrate. It will multiply to cover the surface quickly, and will have roots that will take over the bowl.


I've never had plants melting this way while acclimating. This is even with dosing flourish. The vals don't look like they'll recover. Even the new growth on water sprite doesn't seem healthy.

Here's a photo of the setup on day 2, all the plants were very healthy.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

gjmelb said:


> I've never had plants melting this way while acclimating. This is even with dosing flourish. The vals don't look like they'll recover. Even the new growth on water sprite doesn't seem healthy.
> 
> Here's a photo of the setup on day 2, all the plants were very healthy.


You could try moving the light in closer. With all the nutrients you will need good light or you are wasting fertilizer. Mixing low light plants with high light plants can lead to problems. The frogbit is definitely high light.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

I forgot to mention that chlorine is bad for plants as well as fish. So if you are using tap water that is chlorinated, that could also cause problems.:laugh2:


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The Walstad method needs to be used in its entirety, not just used as a pick and choose list of things. I doubt that it will work very well for such a small container, and for one with such a small water surface exposed to the air.


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

I was thinking true demineralized soil might have a better chance, especially in such a small container. I seem to recall a thread posted by another forum member from Australia was doing small container 'tanks' using just plain sand as the substrate.


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## gjmelb (Feb 27, 2016)

Well I've seen small dirted bowls and jars that thrive. I've given the tank a good clean, took all the rotting plants out and added corkscrew val, lace fern and some more moss to it. Altogether there's 8 species in there now. Lets see how things progress in the next few days.... cheers!


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

gjmelb said:


> Well I've seen small dirted bowls and jars that thrive. I've given the tank a good clean, took all the rotting plants out and added corkscrew val, lace fern and some more moss to it. Altogether there's 8 species in there now. Lets see how things progress in the next few days.... cheers!


Yes they can, but it's all about stability, and you proved that your tank was unstable with the ammonia readings jumping around wildly. I can't help but think your choice of soil was one of the amended types with added nitrogen and other fertilzers. Also if your water is strongly alkaline, ( high in carbonates ) the ammonia will be more toxic to both plants and fish.


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## gjmelb (Feb 27, 2016)

The soil is 100% organic, no added ferts or wetting agent. I think not using prime for the first 3 water changes over the 36 hour period before planting destroyed the bbs in the potting mix. So I had ammonia shot up to 4ppm in the first 5 days which quickly reduced with the use of Stability. The soil is pretty neutral as the bowl's ph 7.0, kh & gh 3.0ppm are pretty much the same as our tap water. I'm gonna keep the photo period to 8 hours and dose a drop of Seachem flourish every other till plants seem to have acclimated. After that I'll stop flourish and see if the soil is good enough to sustain the growth, which I'm pretty sure it is. The java fern holding steady with the frogbit and water sprite showing new growth gives me a lot of confidence that it'd work.... cheers!


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