20g Long Dirted

I know I started a thread months ago about this project but I'm having a difficult time looking for that thread on my phone so just making a new one.

I started with a tank, I got it with a lid for a pretty good deal. Decided on doing a walstad or a dirted tank, ultimately went with dirted capped with sand and transitioned to gravel on the right.

Installed a Fluval 206 canister filter, modified with Biohome media and a mix of coarse, medium, and fine sponges (idea from Pondguru on YouTube).

Used dragon stone and one piece of miscellaneous driftwood to create the hardscape.



I didnt have a proper light fixture for some time, I was borrowing a Marineland LED unit from my 20 gallon QT tank while I built the scape of this tank and decided on a proper fixture for this tank. Ultimately, I decided on a Beamswork DA FSPEC. In a tank with such short depth, PAR was easily 100. With that said, I'm going to do short photo-periods of 6 hours in the evenings when I'm home to keep algae in check while the plants settle and really take control of their environment.

I still had some Easy Green (from Aquarium Co-op) so I started using that once I set up the Beamswork. I just changed to ThriveC, which is NilocG's newest liquid fertilizer product, marketing how it also contain a non-glute based source of carbon that is allegedly 2-3x more readily taken by plants. It is too soon to say, but I think in a month or two I will have an impression.

I've been constantly playing with my plant layout. I've changed it several times now, as I wasn't quite happy with the layout. I haven't done a proper trim yet since I haven't give the plants a chance to settle (I know, bad me).

I'm at least up 18 different species/variants of plants in this tank to see what I can get away with, some of which have been said to be co2-demanding. I'm not running co2, and I don't plan to. Part of why I wanted to try and see how ThriveC works. Anyway, I may stop here with plants unless I get my hands on a true Ludwigia palustris. It seems difficult to get my hands on a true one at this time. If you want a list and want to know how it's working in my setup lmk.

Here is a current pic of my setup thus far.



Still in the process of cycling but should be nearly completion soon enough.



I'm not in a rush though, might be thinking over my original idea for stock. I still want to do marbled hatchetfish.

 

That's so cool! could you try to make a list of all the plants so all of reading could see how you did it?
And I love your choice of gravel.

 

SeanyBaggs123 Forgot to tag you, but you asked for pics I'm assuming of this tank since I've been following your walstad setup.

That's so cool! could you try to make a list of all the plants so all of reading could see how you did it?
And I love your choice of gravel.

I guess I should have just done the list LOL. Well, here it is:

Limnophila aromatica (this is supposed to be a difficult plant but this thing is going nuts)
Hydrocotyle tripartita
Ludwigia sp. Mini
Cryptocoryne wendtiI "Pink"
Alternanthera reineckiI "Variegated"
Ludwigia palustris (I suspect this is the infamous mislabeled crossbreed)
Cryptocoryne undulata (I think)
Nymphaea lotus "Red" (aka Red Tiger Lotus)
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Hygrophila sp. Red
Echidnodorus amazonicus (I've had this plant for years but it never grew larger than 6", I got it from Petco so idk if it was mislabeled or just doesn't like my water)
Ludwigia repens
Lobelia cardinalis
Bacopa caroliniana
Bacopa monnierI (saved these from the wrath of my angelfish in another tank)
Alternanthera reineckiI "Rosenverg" (this plant is melting back on me, we will see what happens)
Pogostemon stellata (loving this plant)
Rotala h'ra
Hygrophila corymbosa "Compact"
Rotala macrandra (I got a deal on 4 bunches as they weren't doing good, unfortunately only 2 small stems made it, but I've got some new growth on one of them)
Marsilea crenata (I get mixed opinions, either it's a super easy low tech / beginner carpeting plant, or it needs co2, we'll see... but I am already seeing growth)

Edit: oop, forgot about the floating plants
Salvinia cucullata (aka Asian Watermoss)
Lemna minor (aka Duckweed)
Phyllanthus fluitans (aka Red Root Floater)

 

I don't have photographic evidence lol, but I have confirmed I have some animals in this tank. I think there's a very small colony of daphnia living in this tank, and some kind of snail. I think there might be two different species of snails, I suspect bladder snails and leopard ramshorn snail. Gonna leave them be at least for now.

 

I lied. I managed to get pics of the snails.
The little gold speck on the far right is what I think might be a bladder snail. I could be uninformed and that it's a baby ramshorn? I can't imagine two types of snails got into this tank but who knows.

 

Your tank looks great now and will be awesome as plants grow. Keep us posted!

 

Man this snail is super dope. I feel like I lucked out.

 

Updates::
-Tank is just about cycled
-Ive realized that the copepods I mistook for daphnia are more likely cyclops
-There are detritus worms in the tank
-Added some small trimmings of ludwigia sp red (rubin?), they are fully emersed form so we will see how it goes
-Added a gold lyre tail molly, he is a temporary resident to solidify the cycle and also take care of as many detritus worms and whatnot to his hearts content, he will then be added to my 55 gallon community tank
-His name is Jeus (juice+Zeus... I was supposed to only be out to buy juice for my mom lol)

 

Ooo I’m really liking this so far! I look forward to seeing your new additions as your tank cycles

 

So. Jeus is vicious. He ate one of the bladder snails and I'm wondering if I should take out the ramshorn snails to spare them from his wrath...

 

So. Jeus is vicious. He ate one of the bladder snails and I'm wondering if I should take out the ramshorn snails to spare them from his wrath...

Jeus must think he’s king of the tank who can just do whatever he wants I would spare your extra nice ramshorns if you want to keep the population alive. My first crown tail betta would kill for sport

 

Jeus must think he’s king of the tank who can just do whatever he wants I would spare your extra nice ramshorns if you want to keep the population alive. My first crown tail betta would kill for sport

I didnt take them out and he seems to leave them alone, at least the bigger ones anyway. Theres 4 relatively big ones, a bit larger than a pencil eraser. Gonna let them be.

He has done his job though, I barely see any detritus worms now. Hes quite personable too, acts as if hes not a murderer. It's always the sweet ones that get you...

 

Cycle is officially showing 0/0/10! Whoop!

On the downside though, I left the lights on too long on Sunday as I was not feeling well and had slept most of the day, so there are signs of algae. Going to keep in control...

Messed with the scape again. Took out Ludwigia "palustris" (I still think it's actually lacustris) and hygrophila sp. red. Trimmed and replanted Ludwigia repens and Alternanthera reineckiI "variegated". Moved Bacopa caroliniana, B.monnieri, Lobelia cardinalis, Alternanthera reineckiI "rosenverg", Rotala Vietnam h'ra, Pogostemon stellata, and Marsilea crenata. Basically everything on the right side lol.

I found someone who will be importing some plants for me, Ludwigia palustris red and Staurogyne repens. It's a bit of a gamble for the former as we are both unsure if it will be the true species I've been hunting for, like John Wick. As for s.repens, I just figured I'd grab some too lol. I liked this plant, I had some before but my angelfish destroyed them and I couldnt get them to come back. It should do well in the 20 lol.

The only fish I've considered keeping are marbled hatchets, zebra otos, and MAYBE shrimp if I don't think of another fish I'd want to keep in there that may prey on them. Sigh. It's more of a planted tank now, so my original stocking plan was pretty ambitious to me now lol.

Anyway, update pic! May wind up pulling more plants depending on how they do or which I like better.

 

Cycle is officially showing 0/0/10! Whoop!

On the downside though, I left the lights on too long on Sunday as I was not feeling well and had slept most of the day, so there are signs of algae. Going to keep in control...

Messed with the scape again. Took out Ludwigia "palustris" (I still think it's actually lacustris) and hygrophila sp. red. Trimmed and replanted Ludwigia repens and Alternanthera reineckiI "variegated". Moved Bacopa caroliniana, B.monnieri, Lobelia cardinalis, Alternanthera reineckiI "rosenverg", Rotala Vietnam h'ra, Pogostemon stellata, and Marsilea crenata. Basically everything on the right side lol.

I found someone who will be importing some plants for me, Ludwigia palustris red and Staurogyne repens. It's a bit of a gamble for the former as we are both unsure if it will be the true species I've been hunting for, like John Wick. As for s.repens, I just figured I'd grab some too lol. I liked this plant, I had some before but my angelfish destroyed them and I couldnt get them to come back. It should do well in the 20 lol.

The only fish I've considered keeping are marbled hatchets, zebra otos, and MAYBE shrimp if I don't think of another fish I'd want to keep in there that may prey on them. Sigh. It's more of a planted tank now, so my original stocking plan was pretty ambitious to me now lol.

Anyway, update pic! May wind up pulling more plants depending on how they do or which I like better.
View attachment 557272

I’m interested to see how the back fills out. I think you’ll know which ones to remove as everything fills in

 

I’m interested to see how the back fills out. I think you’ll know which ones to remove as everything fills in

I agree. I think I'm gonna let this tank go once I get the new plants in maybe for a month or 2. I'm honestly learning what I like as I go, and what works with my water. I say this because people have said sword plants are pretty easy but my Amazon sword has remained tiny for years no matter how many root tabs I shoved under it.

 

Algae is becoming quite prevalent but it's not really bothering the plants (I think its thanks to the snails tbh) so I'm just going to keep at my current processes. Plants are pearling everyday. I got plants to pearl when I first started getting into plants maybe 2 years ago but then I couldnt ever do it again. To have this happen everyday just by turning the light on and sometimes dosing ferts depending on the day is pretty self-satisfying. I thought this was only possible with high tech setups. I'm just super stoked

 

Algae is becoming quite prevalent but it's not really bothering the plants (I think its thanks to the snails tbh) so I'm just going to keep at my current processes. Plants are pearling everyday. I got plants to pearl when I first started getting into plants maybe 2 years ago but then I couldnt ever do it again. To have this happen everyday just by turning the light on and sometimes dosing ferts depending on the day is pretty self-satisfying. I thought this was only possible with high tech setups. I'm just super stoked

Before BBA killed off my temple plants they used to do the same thing! Then one day I bought pearlweed and now I see them “pearl” all the time! I love how it adds to the tank, and it makes me feel like I’m doing a great job growing plants without CO2

 

Before BBA killed off my temple plants they used to do the same thing! Then one day I bought pearlweed and now I see them “pearl” all the time! I love how it adds to the tank, and it makes me feel like I’m doing a great job growing plants without CO2

That's awesome! Makes me want to try pearlweed too and see what happens. How did yours grow in your setup? Was it tall like a stem plant, or train it to stay compact and bushy like staurogyne repens?

 

That's awesome! Makes me want to try pearlweed too and see what happens. How did yours grow in your setup? Was it tall like a stem plant, or train it to stay compact and bushy like staurogyne repens?

It does both, I have it as more of a full stem plant on one side of my tank and more of a “carpet” on the other side. It will grow horizontally for high light set ups and although mine does in the middle I trim my “carpet” every week to get the effect I like. I’ve just been experimenting with it the past few weeks and so far I’m happy. It grows really quickly so I’ve propagated it a lot just by trimming and now my mom has it too

 

It does both, I have it as more of a full stem plant on one side of my tank and more of a “carpet” on the other side. It will grow horizontally for high light set ups and although mine does in the middle I trim my “carpet” every week to get the effect I like. I’ve just been experimenting with it the past few weeks and so far I’m happy. It grows really quickly so I’ve propagated it a lot just by trimming and now my mom has it too

That's awesome. I ought to pick some up and see where we can go with that lol

 

HI candiedragon! I just found your thread. Nice start up so far! I love how you are documenting everything, very helpful.

About the pearlweed, I had the HM (Hemianthus micranthemoides) variety, not the dwarf HC, and it grew well with lots of light and I didn't have co2. It makes a nice carpet for me. My picture stinks, but it was healthy.


But I had to keep it trimmed short/low because it eventually chokes itself out with the dense growth. I'd have to trim this real soon! You can see some hair algae growth probably cuz lights:co2 balance was too far off.

 

HI candiedragon! I just found your thread. Nice start up so far! I love how you are documenting everything, very helpful.

About the pearlweed, I had the HM (Hemianthus micranthemoides) variety, not the dwarf HC, and it grew well with lots of light and I didn't have co2. It makes a nice carpet for me. My picture stinks, but it was healthy.
View attachment 558444
But I had to keep it trimmed short/low because it eventually chokes itself out with the dense growth. I'd have to trim this real soon! You can see some hair algae growth probably cuz lights:co2 balance was too far off.

It looks great! I am likely to pick some up today now lol.

I feel this should have been in the journal forum lol but at the same time, I am still building up this tank slowly but surely.

 

I'm sure it could be moved later

 

So... I'm thinking there is a lot of name mix-ups in the planted hobby, at least in my area. In my spare time I have been looking at plant profiles to get an average on the needs of my plants as I'm thinking of buffering the hardness in my planted tanganyika tank a bit. Well here is a list of identifying the true species or the following plants:

 

I ordered a bunch of plants with a local importer, s.repens and (hopefully) ludwigia palustris red, also picked up some ludwigia peruensis "diamond". All of which are in their emersed form. Dealing with the transition from emersed to submersed form has been quite a struggle for me with the alternanthera species (I'm losing my A.reineckiI "rosanervig" and haven't really figured out the "Red Hygro" needs) so I'm going to have a different approach here to make sure things go well. Plus, it would make it easier if I don't want/need them and sell them off this way.

 

Thinking of shutting down this 20 long and restarting. It was definitely bladder snails along with the ramshorn snails and they are overpopulating too quickly for me to keep in control. I did find out where these snails came from, they hitchhiked on some plants I got from a particular store. I noticed the next time I went back to that store and I saw the same exact snails all over the tank that I got the plants out of last time. These darn things are way too prolific for my liking.

It's not just for that reason though. The plants stalled out on growth for whatever reason, maybe because I changed the fertilizer from Easy Green to ThriveC or maybe because I had a couple plants converting from emersed, and so algae took the opportunity to rise. Although it's mostly attacking some of the OG stem plants but has left alone the S.repens, bacopa species, and crypt species.

It's just a bit frustrating to deal with and I'd rather restart. Especially knowing what plants I like, and I will be able to pack the tank properly off the bat this time.

 

Oh I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out this time. I do get what you're saying though, with a dirted tank, you want your plants growing well. I used easy plants I have experience with. Lots of easy stem plant like stargrass (for me). I add to the scape and try new plants later little by little. That way algae doesn't take over.

It happened once where algae took over. My 90g. I didn't have enough light (PAR) to penetrate to the bottom and I grew algae instead. I really really considered restarting it, but a 90g is a big deal to restart, so I kept it going, added assasin snails and worked on getting rid of the algae. It took a long time (like a year of hating my tank), but now it is my favorite!

Anyway, I'm just saying, I know you can get this. Now that you know which plants to concentrate on, and treat the plants for snails before adding them! Actually I just look at the plants really well and wash away snail eggs and pick snails out. (I'm going to bring them back to the LFS lol. The last sword had these minI ramshorns!) I do keep snails in some tanks, but I like them. I've never accidentally infested a tank.

I guess a newly dirted tank isn't the best thing to experiment with plants. Live and learn. Thanks for sharing your experience! I'll be excited to follow setup number 2

 

Unless you want pea puffers overpopulated snails suck. It’s hard to destroy your own work, possibly consider a DIY snail trap? If not I’ll be looking out for the second set up

 

Oh I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out this time. I do get what you're saying though, with a dirted tank, you want your plants growing well. I used easy plants I have experience with. Lots of easy stem plant like stargrass (for me). I add to the scape and try new plants later little by little. That way algae doesn't take over.

It happened once where algae took over. My 90g. I didn't have enough light (PAR) to penetrate to the bottom and I grew algae instead. I really really considered restarting it, but a 90g is a big deal to restart, so I kept it going, added assasin snails and worked on getting rid of the algae. It took a long time (like a year of hating my tank), but now it is my favorite!

Anyway, I'm just saying, I know you can get this. Now that you know which plants to concentrate on, and treat the plants for snails before adding them! Actually I just look at the plants really well and wash away snail eggs and pick snails out. (I'm going to bring them back to the LFS lol. The last sword had these minI ramshorns!) I do keep snails in some tanks, but I like them. I've never accidentally infested a tank.

I guess a newly dirted tank isn't the best thing to experiment with plants. Live and learn. Thanks for sharing your experience! I'll be excited to follow setup number 2

Yes, live and learn lol. Yeah I totally get the whole restarting thing. I've been mulling it over for the last week, wondering if I should just stick it out. However, I didnt want to have spent all that time planning and building and investing in it just to hate it for however long it takes before it finally came around. I totally commend you for sticking it out for so long lol.

Unless you want pea puffers overpopulated snails suck. It’s hard to destroy your own work, possibly consider a DIY snail trap? If not I’ll be looking out for the second set up

I've thought about pea puffers but I like my ramshorn snails. I actually took out the ramshorn (grown ones anyway) and all the plants already. I just could no longer stand looking at the tank anymore. Any plants I decided to put in my 40b was thoroughly stripped of any snail eggs and baby snails of any kind... the rest is sitting in a bucket overnight until I can inspect them too.

We will see how 20 long dirted 2.0 comes along...

 

I know it's been a while since I've updated. A lot has happened in the last couple weeks.

I added more dirt, thinned out the cap, 86 the driftwood, and simplified the scape. Planted with the plants I liked the most and have left them alone.

June 3rd


New scape who dis? From left to right I have half-transitioned Ludwigia palustris red, a mysterious cryptocoryne species, Ludwigia sp MinI Super Red, emersed Staurogyne repens, Limnophila aromatica, Rotala h'ra, Lobelia cardinalis, Ludwigia Red, Pogostemon stellata, Hygrophila pinnatifida, Cryptocoryne wendtiI Pink, Ludwigia repens (back of right stone), and Red Tiger Lotus (very smol on right, maybe unable to see).

June 10th


Post water change, plants seemed to have settled and are slowly out competing the algae for the nutrients in the water. Growing quite well. Added more Ludwigia palustris red on the right. It's at this point I'm realizing that perhaps either the lack of dissolved co2 and/or my light unit isn't strong enough to get these plants to turn any shade of red. No big deal.

June 17th


Plants are doing quite well, except the Pogostemon stellata which seems to be struggling immensely or perhaps even dying. All plants converted to submersed, s.repens almost completely converted. You can kinda see the Red Tiger Lotus on the right, you can see two little leaves if you look carefully lol.

At this point, I've added fish. Hifin Barbs (Oreichthys cosuatis), Marbled Hatchetfish (Carnegiella strigata), and an Orange Fin Goby (Stiphodon maculidorsalis).

Unfortunately, I lost 5 hatchets because they found one little sliver where the filter intake comes into the tank to escape and became dried cat treats by the time I discovered they were missing. I have one left and I have to wait for more to be shipped in. The goby was a bit malnourished when I got it so I'm trying to farm some algae for him and adding some bottom feeder repashy to try and transition him to that too. The hifin barbs have settled nicely and are doing well, eating well, quite active and curious. They're like minI Bala Sharks in my opinion, I enjoy them quite a bit. They are eating HikarI Micro Wafers and some frozen cyclops.



I've ordered the newest Finnex Honda CRV, I mean the Finnex 24/7 CRV lol. It's the newer and supposedly improved model of the CC and SE models. I wanna see if it will make a difference for my plants.

Oh and apparently I have hydra going on in this tank. No idea where they came from and what they're eating. No sign of planaria, thank goodness. Ordering some fenbendazole as I'm not taking any chances of what they maybe able to do to my livestock.

EDIT: I just realized you can kinda see the hydra in the last photo lol. Right below the barbs on the s.repens is where most of them are. I believe that is the area that has the least amount of flow so I guess it's easier for them to root there.

 

That's more like it! Nice job Now that you know how the plants will grow, you can roll with those. The pogostemon doesn't look that bad......to me anyway if I'm looking at the right plant lol. Love the new fishies!

 

That's more like it! Nice job Now that you know how the plants will grow, you can roll with those. The pogostemon doesn't look that bad......to me anyway if I'm looking at the right plant lol. Love the new fishies!

The last photo, the two stems on the right edge are pogostemon stellata. Holey leaves and I don't think they grew much as the other plants have noticeably. I really enjoyed this plant when it was healthy so I may just pick up more plants and leave the OG stems alone until they actually die off if they do.

 

I think your remodel looks really nice. layful:

 

The last photo, the two stems on the right edge are pogostemon stellata. Holey leaves and I don't think they grew much as the other plants have noticeably. I really enjoyed this plant when it was healthy so I may just pick up more plants and leave the OG stems alone until they actually die off if they do.

I think I was looking at the rotala well it looks really good haha! Wallichi?

 

I think I was looking at the rotala well it looks really good haha! Wallichi?

Supposedly R. H'ra if I remember correctly. That one is doing okay, it is a little cute plant lol

 

Got the new light, Finnex 24/7 CRV. Gonna see how it works out. First pic was from last week Thursday when it came in. Tank looking pretty tannic at the time.



Today, post-water change. That Limnophila aromatica was a lot more bushier than the above photo so I trimmed it back today.



Pogostemon stellata definitely seems to have been dying off. Theres only one sprig left, barely holding on. Also, because of how much growth there seemed to have been in the past week I'm bumping up my fert dosage a smidge. More plant mass need more food! This tank has come along quite nicely.

 

Looks awesome, it's really growing nicely I like to see progress pics and read updates, so keep it coming So what do you think about the lights? The DA is not as good? Are you doing anything with the old fixture?

 

Looks awesome, it's really growing nicely I like to see progress pics and read updates, so keep it coming So what do you think about the lights? The DA is not as good? Are you doing anything with the old fixture?

It's hard to say at the moment. I think the DA worked alright, but to me it seems like the plants reacted noticeably to the CRV. I was going to put the DA on my 40 breeder but the legs are just millimeters too short to keep it from falling. I don't have a lid on that tank lol. I have thought about setting up a 29 gallon which would work great. But I have no idea what I would do with that tank. Was kinda thinking puffers lol.

 

Update! Haven't done my water change yet so it's looking pretty tannic atm.

Plants have definitely taken well to the new lighting unit, I'm quite pleased with the growth. Limnophila aromatica is quite the focal point lol. Everything has grown in considerably. Except the rotala h'ra behind the limnophila, or at least it has been considerably slower than the other plants. It's doing okay, but without co2 it will never be more than what it is now I suppose.

I've moved the ludwigia palustris that was on the left and combined it with the ludwigia sp super red minI in front of the left stone. It's not doing well and I noticed they don't have roots. I just trimmed them down and hopefully they will sprout roots again. I'm going to find something else to put there but haven't figured out what yet.

On the right you can definitely see the red tiger lotus coming back to life. This is probably the biggest I have ever seen it get in my care. It was pretty leggy and small when I first got it, too. So I think a rich substrate is definitely the way to go for this plant.

I'm thinking of running a disposable co2 kit as like a lame entry/test and see what happens. If I like the results AND I can keep up with maintenance then I will invest in a real co2 setup. Maybe. We will see.

 

Update! Haven't done my water change yet so it's looking pretty tannic atm.

Plants have definitely taken well to the new lighting unit, I'm quite pleased with the growth. Limnophila aromatica is quite the focal point lol. Everything has grown in considerably. Except the rotala h'ra behind the limnophila, or at least it has been considerably slower than the other plants. It's doing okay, but without co2 it will never be more than what it is now I suppose.

I've moved the ludwigia palustris that was on the left and combined it with the ludwigia sp super red minI in front of the left stone. It's not doing well and I noticed they don't have roots. I just trimmed them down and hopefully they will sprout roots again. I'm going to find something else to put there but haven't figured out what yet.

On the right you can definitely see the red tiger lotus coming back to life. This is probably the biggest I have ever seen it get in my care. It was pretty leggy and small when I first got it, too. So I think a rich substrate is definitely the way to go for this plant.

I'm thinking of running a disposable co2 kit as like a lame entry/test and see what happens. If I like the results AND I can keep up with maintenance then I will invest in a real co2 setup. Maybe. We will see.View attachment 573179

Wow, what a big difference since you first set up! The tannins in the tank also look really nice, it’s making me consider taking the leap and trying them as well. Also, are you dosing iron? It made the biggest difference for my dwarf Lily