40 gallon planted tank setup journal

698 Views 13 Replies 3 Participants Last post by dwalstad, 12 d ago

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

I really enjoy reading other people's setup journals so I thought I'd try my hand at it.

I have a few small Walstad tanks (ranging from 3 gallon bowl to 10 gallon tank) but have been really wanting to try something bigger especially because my favorite plants tend to be bulbs like aponogeton and they just don't get the space to thrive in a 10 gallon.

I'm still in the planning and setup stage and likely won't be able to deal with planting and soil for few more weeks.

This is my initial hardscape layout.

Shelf Shelving Rectangle Gas Audio receiver

One of the things I learned the hard way from my 10 gallon was don't put rocks/decor on top of substrate. One suggestion I found online was to use cermic tiles to lift things up so they will be level with substrate. I have lava rocks in the back right (I have more in the 10 gallon I plan to add). The decor in the center left is a resin planter intended for aquarium use and I was thinking of putting a nice large aponogeton in it. In the foreground I have these neat 3D printed tunnels and caves I found on Etsy for my eventual corydora catfish to explore. The goal is to place them so the substrate is flush with the openings. I also have some small (a couple 3-4 inch fragments) of driftwood I plan to add because I want to also get a bristlenose pleco.

For soil, I was going to use my garden soil which is what I've used in my other tanks and to grow my outdoor lotuses. I tried looking into STS to mix in (and thanks for everyone's advice on that thread!) But I don't think I can get my hands on it. A local hobbyist who is moving gave me his used flourite and from what I understand, it should have a similar effect to STS for mixing in the soil. My plan is to cap with eco Complete because it's cheap and matches my lava rocks. I was also considering mixing in crushed coral as my water is on the softer side (ph 6.8, kh 80, GH 75 out of tap)

For plants, from my current 10 gallon, the rooted plants I have are 2 stunted aponogeton and some crypts, a sad hydrocotyle. For stems, I have a ton of rotala. Other water column feeders, 2 massive annubis, subwassertang, guppy grass, some sad java fern, couple mossballs. I have frogbit and duckweed floaters.

Plants I intend to purchase are all rooted plants because those are the ones I don't think I have enough of given the 40 gallon footprint. I want to try valliseneria in the very back (and then plant the rotala stems right in front of it). I'm also going to try an amazon sword or two back there but I've never had success with them...they just melt and don't come back. I want to try a tiger lotus bulb and a red dwarf aquarium lily bulb in part because I can't get a good sense of what the difference is between them online. More wendtii crypts, another hydrocotyle, Monte Carlo and dwarf chain sword to see how they do.

I plan on using a powerhead filter and an air stone and maybe keeping the tank unheated as my house doesn't really get below 66 and I'm thinking of cooler fish. Maybe a heater as just in case for the winter.

For fish, I am thinking of nano fish but in large numbers, clown killifish on top, celestial pearl danios in the middle, cory catfish and pleco on bottom. Maybe a honey gourami once everyone else settles in. Of course snails, ramshorn, trumpets and pond snails because you can't escape them.

I would love any advice or suggestions (easiest to enact at this planning stage!) and will update this thread when things get underway.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

dwalstad

· #2 · 2 mo ago

Endlesserror said:
For plants, from my current 10 gallon, the rooted plants I have are 2 stunted aponogeton and some crypts, a sad hydrocotyle. For stems, I have a ton of rotala. Other water column feeders, 2 massive annubis, subwassertang, guppy grass, some sad java fern, couple mossballs. I have frogbit and duckweed floaters.

Plants I intend to purchase are all rooted plants because those are the ones I don't think I have enough of given the 40 gallon footprint. I want to try valliseneria in the very back (and then plant the rotala stems right in front of it). I'm also going to try an amazon sword or two back there but I've never had success with them...they just melt and don't come back. I want to try a tiger lotus bulb and a red dwarf aquarium lily bulb in part because I can't get a good sense of what the difference is between them online. More wendtii crypts, another hydrocotyle, Monte Carlo and dwarf chain sword to see how they do.

I plan on using a powerhead filter and an air stone and maybe keeping the tank unheated as my house doesn't really get below 66 and I'm thinking of cooler fish. Maybe a heater as just in case for the winter.

For fish, I am thinking of nano fish but in large numbers, clown killifish on top, celestial pearl danios in the middle, cory catfish and pleco on bottom. Maybe a honey gourami once everyone else settles in. Of course snails, ramshorn, trumpets and pond snails because you can't escape them.

I would love any advice or suggestions (easiest to enact at this planning stage!) and will update this thread when things get underway.

A couple quick comments. If you Swordplants didn't do well, it was probably the ultrasoftwater. A CaCO2 hardness of 75 ppm is pretty soft and the soil sometimes pulls hardwater nutrient out of the water. Thus, your Val may have problems as well. I would make sure you add a calcium source to the substrate or add some calcium, magnesium, potassium to the water (my book, p. 87).

Some plants (Crypts, Aponogenton) don't thrive at low temperatures below 70F. Make sure you include some Val spiralis, Bacopa, Anacharis, Pearlgrass, Sagittaria, all temperate plants that do well in cooler water.

Since you're going to use a filter, I'd hold off on the aerator unless you see that your fish actually need it.

Save

Reactions: 2

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #3 · 2 mo ago

Hi Diana

dwalstad said:
A couple quick comments. If you Swordplants didn't do well, it was probably the ultrasoftwater. A CaCO2 hardness of 75 ppm is pretty soft and the soil sometimes pulls hardwater nutrient out of the water. Thus, your Val may have problems as well. I would make sure you add a calcium source to the substrate or add some calcium, magnesium, potassium to the water (my book, p. 87).

Some plants (Crypts, Aponogenton) don't thrive at low temperatures below 70F. Make sure you include some Val spiralis, Bacopa, Anacharis, Pearlgrass, Sagittaria, all temperate plants that do well in cooler water.

Since you're going to use a filter, I'd hold off on the aerator unless you see that your fish actually need it.

Hi Diana,

Thank you so much for the help with plants! I didn't realize that a lot of my issues were coming from keeping temperate plants at tropical temperatures and vice versa and also the hardness! I will switch out the plants as you suggested. I dose my current 5 gallon pretty regularly based on the suggestions from your book but it is a lot of work. I might go with crushed coral here to make things easier.

Save

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #4 · 2 mo ago

Ok, my chemistry is not strong (I'm primarily a terrestrial gardener where it matters a lot less...). So I did a lot more reading and I think you're concerned more about the low gH. Crushed coral only helps with kH which is about about buffering the pH.

You're concerned about the gH which is measuring primarily the calcium and magnesium and based on how some plants have not thrived in the past, the soft water is worsening an existing calcium deficiency. I've been using Calcium chloride to dose the water as per the book but it's a lot of finicky testing and I hate the gH test so I really want to keep water dosing to a minimum.

If I were gardening outside I'd just use garden lime for this. Is that something I can mix into my aquatic soil? Should I try crushed eggshells instead but in my experience with compost those can take a very long time to break down unless they are very finely powdered?

Save

johnwesley0

· #5 · 2 mo ago

Endlesserror said:
If I were gardening outside I'd just use garden lime for this. Is that something I can mix into my aquatic soil? Should I try crushed eggshells instead but in my experience with compost those can take a very long time to break down unless they are very finely powdered?

I have soft water too. Do yourself a favor. If you're chemistry-averse like me, get hold of some Wonder Shells.
EDIT: I see we've cross-posted on another thread under the same subject. Good luck!

Save

Reactions: 1

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #6 · 2 mo ago

johnwesley0 said:
I have soft water too. Do yourself a favor. If you're chemistry-averse like me, get hold of some Wonder Shells.
EDIT: I see we've cross-posted on another thread under the same subject. Good luck!

Thank you for seconding it though because it's always good to know it works! I basically trawl old threads for particular problems I am having🤣

Save

Reactions: 1

dwalstad

· #7 · 2 mo ago

Endlesserror said:
Ok, my chemistry is not strong (I'm primarily a terrestrial gardener where it matters a lot less...). So I did a lot more reading and I think you're concerned more about the low gH. Crushed coral only helps with kH which is about about buffering the pH.

You're concerned about the gH which is measuring primarily the calcium and magnesium and based on how some plants have not thrived in the past, the soft water is worsening an existing calcium deficiency. I've been using Calcium chloride to dose the water as per the book but it's a lot of finicky testing and I hate the gH test so I really want to keep water dosing to a minimum.

If I were gardening outside I'd just use garden lime for this. Is that something I can mix into my aquatic soil? Should I try crushed eggshells instead but in my experience with compost those can take a very long time to break down unless they are very finely powdered?

You can try mixing in some garden lime with the soil. Dolomite lime, which has both calcium and magnesium, should work well. A tablespoon per gal of soil?
Don't use lime (gypsum) that contains calcium sulfate. Soil bacteria will convert the sulfates to toxic H2S.

Save

Reactions: 1

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #8 · 2 mo ago

Thanks so much, Diana for pointing me in the right directios! I'm going to do more reading and then follow up as I have more questions.

Save

dwalstad

· #9 · 2 mo ago

Endlesserror said:
I didn't realize that a lot of my issues were coming from keeping temperate plants at tropical temperatures and vice versa and also the hardness! I will switch out the plants as you suggested.

Caution PLEASE....Plants from temperate regions (North Carolina, Europe, etc) do fine at tropical temperatures. Remember that summer temperatures in temperate regions are tropical!
It's the plants from tropical regions that might have trouble adapting to cooler temperatures.

Thus, a planted tank kept at tropical temperatures can--and should--have a mix of tropical and temperate plant species. For a tank kept at cooler temperatures (below 70F), though, I would try to include temperate plants.

Save

Reactions: 1

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #10 · 2 mo ago

Thank you for this advice. I love aponogeton and definitely want it to do well so I'll add a heater and keep the it at 72. This way I should be able to do a mix of temperate and tropical plants as you suggested.

Save

Reactions: 1

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #11 · 17 d ago

I was finally able to plant out this tank!! The water is a little cloudy still and I need to get a surge protector with a longer cable because my powerhead cord does not reach the outlet. Biofilm has been forming on the surface and I've been manually trying to agitate it with little success.

I followed the substrate plan developed upthread (garden soil, mixed with dolmite and used flourite ripped with eco planted and some crushed coral and a wondershell. I have super soft water.).

I have jungle val across the back, 4 dwarf sag on the left some Monte Carlo and also trying to plant creeping jenny from my garden submerged in front of that to see how that works out. I'm waiting to see how the creeping jenny experiment turns out before buying more plants for the front. On the right I have pennywort, dwarf chain sword, stems of rotala, aponogeton, anubais and mountain of subwassertang in the back.

The only denizens are ramshorns, mst, and bladder snails....although I also saw some terrifying looking worms that I think are snail leeches that I'm not sure how I picked up. Pinkish brown worms, about 1 to 2 inches long that move like inch worms and also wiggle around in the water in an s-shape. When they move on glass they can contract down to less than half an inch. I guess I should not buy any expensive snails like nerites or mysteries for this tank....

See less See more

Save

dwalstad

· #12 · 13 d ago

You've gone to all the trouble to get a rich substrate and nice plants. Very good! But then you've ruined it with all this furniture. You've covered the soil layer with plastic boxes ? and what-not. This smothers the substrate, making the soil layer more anaerobic, resulting in the generation of toxins.

Planted tanks should be for plants, snails, fish, and shrimp. Rocks, and especially wood pieces, should be used with care and as carefully placed accent pieces to complement the plants. They should rest directly on the tank's glass bottom so that they don't smother the soil layer.

Save

Reactions: 1

Endlesserror

Discussion Starter · #13 · 12 d ago

The white plastic things are reused plastic forks that I've found helpful in planting plants where you don't want to cover the crown with substrate but tend to float when you first plant them. Once the roots establish into the substrate a little, I pull out the forks.

The three black plastic items in the front are 3D printed hides that cory catfish are really supposed to like and I was very curious to try them out. I made sure they are not placed on top of substrate and and prepared to pull them out if it seems like the fish are not interested. The Driftwood looks messy because I put it on top of one of these plastic hides in the front in part so that it is not directly on the substrate at all. I'd like to have it all work but I'm prepared to remove the hides and fill in with substrate if despite my efforts it creates anaerobic conditions.

As an update on the plants I'm seeing new shoots and leaves on pretty much everything except but the dwarf chain sword is struggling the Monte Carlo I think is a loss. The crypts are doing great though, as is the dwarf sag, val, and stem plants. My one mystery aponogeton is doing amazing and getting new leaves after having stopped growth in the 10 gallon it was in... The second one I broke the bulb while pulling it out of the 10 gallon and I think the plant is dead because it's not getting new growth and when I touch it it's soft. It's a shame because it was a Madagascar lace and I'm having a hard time finding it anywhere available for sale right now and I loved it.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

dwalstad

· #14 · 12 d ago

Sorry, I realize now that it's a work in progress. The first few weeks after setup can get messy. Using plastic forks to hold down plants until they take root is clever.
It will be nice to see a photo of this tank once its established.

Save

Reactions: 1

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

40 gallon planted tank setup journal

Endlesserror

dwalstad

Endlesserror

Endlesserror

johnwesley0

Endlesserror

dwalstad

Endlesserror

dwalstad

Endlesserror

Endlesserror

Attachments

dwalstad

Endlesserror

dwalstad

Top Contributors this Month