# Walstad-Riparium 20H journal



## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

My one bit of criticism is regarding the ornamentation on your little potted spruce. It's only November!


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Bananableps said:


> My one bit of criticism is regarding the ornamentation on your little potted spruce. It's only November!




[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] My daughter wanted a Christmas tree while we were at Meijer so I bought a little Norfolk pine. It did have an elf as well but my daughter took it off. Lol. Its actually a tropical evergreen and requires humidity so I thought we would try putting it by the tank. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

*Low Tech 20g High journal*

So I bought a API 5 in 1 test and these are the results....







what I'm reading is a GH of 180, KH between 180-240, pH 9!, nitrites 0, and nitrates around 160? How bad is this. I've always just thought my riparium plants would keep things well maintained. Also I added a lot of mew plants and have been dealing with some serious melting. I'm receiving some more new plants next week that are all nitrate sponges as well. 

My questions are: how bad is my nitrate?
Is my GH/KH/pH to high for plants and fish/RCS and what could I do about it? 

Now that I bought strips how often should I check?
UPDATE: I did just do a 25% water change

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Also these are the results from my tap water.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Quack (Nov 14, 2016)

Strip tests aren't too great, the liquid ones are more accurate. I would recommend a liquid gh/kh test kit to see if your water really is that hard. That would explain a higher pH.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Quack said:


> Strip tests aren't too great, the liquid ones are more accurate.




Truth. I got these for cheap. So this is all I have


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

by the way I redid the test today after another water change and the nitrates looked to be below 80 and the ph had dropped to 8-8.5 (I added a few beech leaves yesterday). Water still has a GH & KH that is quite high. 

*Will that negatively impact my plants/fish/shrimp?*

Thanks!


----------



## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

bbroush said:


> by the way I redid the test today after another water change and the nitrates looked to be below 80 and the ph had dropped to 8-8.5 (I added a few beech leaves yesterday). Water still has a GH & KH that is quite high.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



KH is mostly an issue for shrimp and fish because it drives up the pH, like in your case. The KH should be between 1-4 dKH, which is about 20-75 ppm. The GH is also a bit high for neos, since GH of 180 ppm is about 10 dGH. 4-8 dGH is a generous but safe range for neos, so about 75-150 ppm. Can't speak to each of the plants and fish species, but they are usually more forgiving than shrimp. Ideally you'll want to bring both parameters down, and thus the pH. The KH will need to come down more than the GH. This can be done with remineralize distilled or RODI water.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

mrfiock said:


> KH is mostly an issue for shrimp and fish because it drives up the pH, like in your case. The KH should be between 1-4 dKH, which is about 20-75 ppm. The GH is also a bit high for neos, since GH of 180 ppm is about 10 dGH. 4-8 dGH is a generous but safe range for neos, so about 75-150 ppm. Can't speak to each of the plants and fish species, but they are usually more forgiving than shrimp. Ideally you'll want to bring both parameters down, and thus the pH. The KH will need to come down more than the GH. This can be done with remineralize distilled or RODI water.


I appreciate the advice. I'll have to look in to how financially feasible that will be, (medical student). 

If there are other ways of lowering it that would be great to know. 

Also this might be a dumb question but would a TDS meter be beneficial? That's taking into account all solids where GH is....???? I should know this as someone in science but last chem class I took was way too long ago.


----------



## mrfiock (Nov 15, 2015)

bbroush said:


> I appreciate the advice. I'll have to look in to how financially feasible that will be, (medical student).
> 
> 
> 
> ...



People say you can soften water with peat, but I've never done it... You can buy distilled water by the gallon at the grocery store, but it's much better to get a cheap RODI system for around $60. They last for a couple years before you have to replace the membranes, depending on how you use it and how hard your water is. I use this one, but they have lots of models:
http://www.purewaterclub.com/catalo...d=324&osCsid=c2dfc5ebbcedfbf9e936e998e37294a6

Oh snap! TDS meters are super important! I didn't know when I started out and it was a struggle. They make everything much easier. I would highly recommend picking up a ~$15 one on Amazon, they work great. Just look for one with a high rating. 
They work by measuring the amount of dissolved particles in the water including GH (calcium and magnesium), KH (carbonate), and other salts (potassium, iron, phoshate, etc), as well as dissolved organic material. Besides checking on the tanks to see if they stay in range due to evap and waste (I keep it between 170-250 ppm for most tanks), I use it to remineralize pure RODI water with a GH booster (no KH), like Salty Shrimp GH+. Instead of messing with strips or drops, a TDS meter can be used to accurately estimate the GH. If you have neos, you can estimate your KH by subsequently adding a carbonate source, like Seachem Alkaline Buffer. Since each degree is about 17.9 ppm, I usually estimate it as 20 ppm, then add GH+ up to about 80-150 ppm (4-8 dGH, I stop here for TB), then add alkaline booster to about +10 to 30 ppm from what you read before (~0.5-1.5 dKH; this is only for my tigers, neos, and mischlinge). It's very quick.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

mrfiock said:


> People say you can soften water with peat, but I've never done it... You can buy distilled water by the gallon at the grocery store, but it's much better to get a cheap RODI system for around $60. They last for a couple years before you have to replace the membranes, depending on how you use it and how hard your water is. I use this one, but they have lots of models:
> http://www.purewaterclub.com/catalo...d=324&osCsid=c2dfc5ebbcedfbf9e936e998e37294a6
> 
> Oh snap! TDS meters are super important! I didn't know when I started out and it was a struggle. They make everything much easier. I would highly recommend picking up a ~$15 one on Amazon, they work great. Just look for one with a high rating.
> They work by measuring the amount of dissolved particles in the water including GH (calcium and magnesium), KH (carbonate), and other salts (potassium, iron, phoshate, etc), as well as dissolved organic material. Besides checking on the tanks to see if they stay in range due to evap and waste (I keep it between 170-250 ppm for most tanks), I use it to remineralize pure RODI water with a GH booster (no KH), like Salty Shrimp GH+. Instead of messing with strips or drops, a TDS meter can be used to accurately estimate the GH. If you have neos, you can estimate your KH by subsequently adding a carbonate source, like Seachem Alkaline Buffer. Since each degree is about 17.9 ppm, I usually estimate it as 20 ppm, then add GH+ up to about 80-150 ppm (4-8 dGH, I stop here for TB), then add alkaline booster to about +10 to 30 ppm from what you read before (~0.5-1.5 dKH; this is only for my tigers, neos, and mischlinge). It's very quick.




Phenomenal response. I really appreciate it. 

Likely I won't be able to get a RODI until I'm no longer a medical student (renting/no money) but a TDS meter should be doable. I appreciate your explanation!


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Update: I had to move my tank to a different room in the house and decided it was high time I replace the substrate with dirt + BDBS cap. I also decided to add a bunch of new plants and some new driftwood + superglue ferns and moss to all the hardscape stuff. Here's the imgur link: https://imgur.com/gallery/CABak 

Almost forgot! I upgraded the lighting with a planted + 24/7! I still have the overhead lighting for the riparium plants. 
One other picture I just took of it.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

*Low Tech 20g High journal*

Current plant list:
Riparium Plants
Pothos Vine
Ruellia simplex ‘Katie’
2 unknown house plants (a focus and some succulent-ish thing)
Purple waffle 
A palm of some sorts
A random emersed stem of L. Aromatica 
A little bit of Monte carlo

Aquarium Plants
Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri)
Java Fern
Crypt wendtii brown (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Brown')
Sword (Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius )The 
Telanthera Cardinalis
Anacharis (Egeria densa)
Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri var. nana )
Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala rotundifolia)
Monte Carlo (Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo')
Unkown plant in the middle, looks like Sag? 
Giant Hygro
Salvinia Rotundifilia
Sag Chiliensis
Pygmy Chain sword narrow leaf (still need to add this)
Echinodorus Xingu
Littorella Uniflora
Val Americana (growing out in jar fir now)
Sag Subulata narrowleaf (waiting to add this as well)
*Najas Roraima
Flame moss.
Ludwigia "Mini Red, 
Microsorium pteropus "Windelov
Salvinia culcutta.


----------



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

how is the 24/7 working out for you? I plan on getting it for my 75G tank (coming soon, not yet :3)


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

BettaBettas said:


> how is the 24/7 working out for you? I plan on getting it for my 75G tank (coming soon, not yet :3)




Today is the first day with it but so far I like it! We will see how it fares while I'm out of town!


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Bump: added original pictures (from 4+ years ago and story to the first post! )


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

*Low Tech 20g High journal*

Update: I got home to no deaths but for some reason my filter wasn't working, (after looking into it, it appears it was because of my water level, though it wasn't that low...) 
I had decent growth on either my Pygmy chain sword or my sag subulata narrow leaf(I'm getting them mixed up, help would be appreciated... Haha); has grown four runners already. I had to do some trimming of my sword, it might be struggling with the move, but otherwise most everything is doing well. My sag chilensis has sent off a runner as well. It appears the najas in the back right has started rooting!
Here is a picture: 










Since being back I have some updates! 

Today is my birthday and my wife took me to the LFS and said that I could pick out any fish I want. So instead of increasing my schools of any fish I decided to add a female betta! My daughter named her gully
















I was a little worried that my lone big flag fish would take issue with the addition of a betta, and that ended up being the case a little bit. No nipping, just general stress, so I went back and got 4 more flag fish to see if it would call her down, and I think it did. Now we'll wait and see! 

Also while at meijer I waltzed by their fish section and noticed the most gigantic potted crypt and that they had a sale going on so I said, hey it's my birthday! And bought it. The clerk also threw in two floating ludwigia repens stems for kicks, when I got home I broke the potted crypt into at least 10-12 plants. 
between that and the raok I won coming Tuesday I'll be set on crypts for.a long while. Here's a pic from tonight!


----------



## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

what type of cory is that? he looks like hes the grandpa cory -(o-o-) he look old


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

BettaBettas said:


> what type of cory is that? he looks like hes the grandpa cory -(o-o-) he look old




Haha, I believe he is a peppered Cory! My next project is to give him a school of friends.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

It looks like everyone is getting along. "gully" the betta has even found a place to sleep on the driftwood out of the way. Here are some pics from today:


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

So I was watching 'Gully' the betta and 'Betsy' the flagfish interact today and I saw no fin nipping from Betsy. She is too fast for Gully to be able to nip her but Gully follows her or the four juvie flags around. I'll continue to monitor. Here is a picture










My ludwigia mini red is so fragile that my Cory and pleco have broken many of the stems. Hopefully it recovers. 

I've recently been having an aphid problem mainly on my frogbit and on some of my salvinia that originated from my one gallon Jarrarium. I've been moving most of it over to this tank so I can have my top feeders eat them. I've manually been removing them with both tweezers and a pipette either sucking them off or squirting them off. Dunking has worked okay as well. Here is a pic:









This next week I have some more plants coming from a raok and my manzanita I bought myself! It's two 24" trees. I'd love some recommendations on where to put them. I'd definitely get rid of the maple wood on the far left, and maybe my really cool piece on the middle. I could possibly break down one piece for my 2.5 gallon jar, but I'd prefer both stay in this tank. 
Here is an example pic of the branches:
https://www.bloomsandbranches.com/v/vspfiles/photos/BBNRCH18-2.jpg


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Today I received a package of additional plants! (Thanks Doogy!) I'm very excited  So I ended up doing some rescaping. 

First what I moved: So I took the E. Xingu out of the back left and moved it into the middle in front of the mopani driftwood piece. I also lifted that piece of driftwood up a fair amount, which I think looks better. I also removed all stems from the front half on the left and move them back as far as I could. I also moved more of the crypts back to make room for the new plants. 

These are the plants I received: 
Elatine Triandra which I put in the front, mainly on the right.
2 green crypts
2 blyxa japonica that I was able to break up into 4 plants in the middle.
a few sag.subulata which I put in the front left.
A bunch of Red ludwigia stems i added to the mini reds on the right.
some Bacopa caroliniana which replaced the E. Xingu in the far back left.
A BUNCH of Hydrocotyle japan which I was unsure what to do with. Most went into my jarrariums. For now it’s in the middle back. 
More mini xmas moss that I’m likely going to be attaching to some manzanita. 

I also removed the vertical piece of driftwood on the left to prepare for the manzanita I’m getting this next week. 

We’ll see how everything does. Likely I have too many carpeting plants, but we’ll see what does well and what doesn’t! I really like my mid ground plants and the stems. I also thought I’d attempt to put some random plants such as my floating najas and some baby java ferns into the planter with holes in the middle back to hopefully grow in and cover it up. Happy New Year!


----------



## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

I was another recipient of the RAOK from doogy!

Quite a nice package! Thanks doogy!

DougN


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

So today I got home and noticed that I had almost zero flow in my canister filter and decided that I'm done with that filter for now. If I'm going for the Walstad method I should probably get rid of it at some point, so why not now? I'm a tiny bit worried about how everything will turn out so I added back in my two little sponge filters in the back corners. We'll see how it turns out. I had to do some rescaping and realized that the large piece on the far right was still buoyant :/ I added a little more moss to it and another baby java fern. I also moved the bacopa stems up out of the back corner. 

So my plan is to just run the sponge filter at night between 12am & 6am. Should I just go completely filterless? 

by the way my TDS meter came and my tank was running at 577 so I did a 4 gallon water change with RO water and got it down to 400. I think my tap water is somewhere around ~300. I checked and I had zero nitrates & nitrites as well. 

So here is my question: Should I just go full walstad and get rid of the sponge filter and get some sort of powerhead for circulation? 

I’m continuing to dose metricide at ~2 mL daily. 

Here’s a couple pictures from tonight!


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Update! My manzanita came in the mail and it's beautiful and I love red manzanita. I moved a couple plants around as well and got rid of the black lava rock and the large maple branch. 

The manzanita was gigantic so I had to cut the two branches down into smaller parts.


Hope you guys like it!


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Update: tank has been doing well. ~4 weeks ago I traded in all the flag fish since they were eating all the plants. At first I thought it was just the roots of the frogbit but then I realized it was all my carpet plants too. My poor blyxa looked like it had a buzz cut 


I had an outbreak of what I think was a parasite about 3 weeks ago. that week I had added 4 peppered cories. It started with a missing pepper Cory, and then a listless cherry barb that died within a day. Then my oldest fish (BN Pleco) mysteriously died. Nitrate and ammonia have stayed at zero or close to it the whole time. I dosed metronidazole & praziquantel at recommended dosing for two days and put a sponge filter back in to give some circulation. During this entire time my TDS has stayed consistent in the low 300s (varying with top offs of TO). No casualties since that time. I did about a 60% water change of 80/20 RO/tap 48 hours after last dose and got my TDS back down below baseline. I've done a couple small water changes since then but other than that water parameters have been stable. Since then I have added 5 white cloud minnows and I think plant wise I added some more crypts and moved over some more stem plants from my Jarrariums. After the loss of my pleco I decided to get rid of the large maple branch and replace it with some more ludwigia stems. 

I moved more of the crypts to the back and tried to balance out the sag chilenses. My Amazon sword has grown several new leaves and my inkown echinodorus has had some incredible growth and has darkened a lot. I'll try and get a close up of it. My e. Xingu is looking fantastic and I actually don't mind it being in the mid-ground because of the thin leaves. The najas has always just been floating around and hasn't grown much, so I've attempted to get it to root in a few places in the tank.

So far I haven't had much luck with any of the carpeting plants. I blame the flag fish for eating the tips of the blyxa and micro swords and pulling up everything else. 

Since they've been gone I made some changes. I got rid of all Monte Carlo and m. Minutea and I filled in with some hydrocotyle Japan and some E. Triandria. 

The micro sword has sent off several runners but they're all still small. The dwarf sag on the middle left has been fine. Some growth.

I got rid of the black background to allow more ambient light for the plants in the back. I had several plants that haven't done much other than the crypts back there. I also added some jungle val in the back left to try and see how that will do. 

Floaters: the water aphids got a little ridiculous there for a while. I've thrown out at least twice the water surface worth of floaters since I rescaped this. I also have found that the minnows LOVE eating the aphids, so now I know longer am trying to get rid of them. I imagine the increased circulation from the powerhead will keep the floater population more under control. 

A couple other things: I added about 12 RCS after the pleco died as well and have created a little cholla wood/moss tower in the front right. While I had lots of circulation they stayed close to that side but I've cut the sponge filter back almost completely and they've bow spread out. I saw at least two berried females last I checked. 

Also the amount of mulm finally was getting to me so I replaced one of the riparium shower caddies with my aqueon 30 HOB filter full of filter floss and the riparium plants. 
I also added a peace lily and I think an arrow plant and a bit of ivy.

I'm waiting for a few things this week: my steel mesh filter intake to replace the foam I have right now. A bag of purigen to clear up all the tannins. I also am getting a Hydro pico powerhead to add a little more current since I've stuffed the HOB enough to decrease the circulation substantially. (plus I've done everything I can to make sure it isn't making to much noise or causes to much off-gassing.) 

The pico is going to be nice because it has variable output. I included some current pictures and some from the last couple weeks as well.


1/7









1/24


























Saturday


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Question: does it look like my sag (both species) and stems have been not growing to anyone else? I have been dosing met.... I do think that my riparium plants and e xingu and some other plants are growing.... I think. 

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm still doing 24/7 mode on my light


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

So I added some purigen to that HOB and everything has really cleared up. I think limiting the floaters to increase light might help the submerged plants compete more. I'll post some more pictures soon. My TDS has stayed around 250 for the last week so that is good!

Everyone was alive and well when I got home and I added a hydor pico pump that is currently on one of the lowest settings. I'm a little worried about it sucking up shrimplets or other things. I like it overall. 



Just did some maintenance after getting home:








Tonight after adding a red ludwigia stem from my jarrarium.








As you can see it was incredibly red in my one gallon jar.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Update: things have stayed steady and consistent. The addition of the HOB and the pico powerhead have worked wonders with the clarity of the water. I did some trimming of the anacharis because it's been explosive and the hornwort as well and I grouped all the stems. Hornwort has been moved to the back and the anacharis is still on the back left and bacopa on the far left. I haven't done much trimming of the ludwigia but they're probably do in the next week or two. I like having the multiple ludwigia species together on the right. 


I also switched my unknown sword plant and my e. Xingu, (which is now sending off a LOT of runners.) I've moved all the runners do they're staying in the middle or back. I moved my other sag. Chilensis to the right corner so they're sort of framing the tank. 

The plant I'm the most excited and impressed with is the narrow leaf pygmy chain sword. It has a lot of runners and has a lot of reddish coloration as well. I moved the blyxa to one of my jars (which then melted and was gobbled up by my snails)

I moved all of my hydrocotyle to different spots near the back now that my carpeting plants are doing better. 

The other carpeting plants: the dwarf sag, is really doing well on the left by the sag. Chilensis and I think the elatine triandria is also doing well in the front. 
I did a trim and also moved one ofthe anubias nana to the cholla wood in the front and congregated most of the najas roraima to.the front right.

I think my plant list is looking like this now:

*Riparium Plants*
Pothos Vine
Ruellia simplex ‘Katie’
2 unknown house plants (a focus and some succulent-ish thing)
A palm of some sorts
A random emersed stem of L. Aromatica 
A little bit of Monte carlo
Some other new house plants that I don't know the name of.

*Aquarium Plants*
Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri)
Java Fern (Microsorum)
Crypt wendtii brown and other crypts (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Brown')
Sword (Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius )
Ludwigia Repens
Anacharis (Egeria densa)
Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri var. nana )
Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala rotundifolia)
Unkown plant in the middle, looks like Sag? 
Giant Hygro (<--- this might still be alive? Maybe?)
Sag Chiliensis
Pygmy Chain sword narrow leaf
Echinodorus Xingu
Val Americana 
Sag Subulata narrowleaf

Frogbit
*Najas Roraima
Flame moss
Ludwigia "Mini Red, 
Microsorium pteropus "Windelov
Red ludwigia,
Bacopa caroliniana
Hydrocotyle japan 
mini Christmas moss







Here's some pictures of the riparium plants, which are doing well, as well as some emersed hydrocotyle japan. (this was before the trim and rescape seen above)


















as well as my girl betta eating some water aphids.










TDS has stayed consistent at 260ish.


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

BABY FISH! I think it's more likely to be a minnow than a Cory or cherry barb. Also I saw at least one baby shrimp recently. How old is this guy?

















Also I've asked this before, but now that it's really healthy, what on earth is this plant?


----------



## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Video of the little guy https://vimeo.com/205779929


----------

