Walstad-Inspired Scape

[Atitagain]

Will be keeping you in my thoughts on Tuesday (also before and after) but especially Tuesday. Positive vibes ➡️

[Brandon p]

Hope all is goes well

[Torrey]

On 11/26/2021 at 2:41 PM, eatyourpeas said:

I hope all goes well and you have a speedy recovery!🙂

Thank you!

We had to finish clearing out my spouse's mom's storage unit (my MiL passed away in May) and my body said "this is enough".

So I probably won't get the tank filled like I wanted....

On the plus side, I will have several weeks where I can't lift anything heavier than my shampoo bottle, so I can remake the 'turtle safe planters' and a few other projects I started and have yet to finish. 

I would rather take my time, not be rushed, and know I set everything up properly, than rush it and make a mistake. 

On 11/26/2021 at 9:06 PM, Atitagain said:

Will be keeping you in my thoughts on Tuesday (also before and after) but especially Tuesday. Positive vibes ➡️

@Atitagain, I will be lighting candles for both of us on Monday night. 

[Torrey]

I trimmed the plants in the Walstad, and discovered fry!!!

I removed enough plants to halfway fill a 5 gallon bucket, and that doesn't include the wolfia, duckweed, and dwarf water lettuce I moved to the turtle pond😳

Did a 30% water change, and still can't see clearly because the tannins are that dark. @Atitagain, yours will be there soon!

Bag in the back is filter media that I am seeding for the 4' dining room build. I didn't get as much done as I wanted, my booster shot knocked me on my butt.

Better to wait, and do it right, than rush and not be happy with the results, right?

Left side of the tank with Carolina bacopa, pogestemon, and cranial flatulence on the red leafed plant.😅

Right side of the tank, with milfoil, I believe 2 small watersprite, and cranial flatulence on the thicker stemmed, pink leaved plant.

And the bedtime lights in the tank.

Goodnight all!

 

 

[Atitagain]

On 11/29/2021 at 2:31 AM, Torrey said:

Better to wait, and do it right, than rush and not be happy with the results, right?

I seem to have had the best success when i practiced this⬆️. So why am I so impatient so often? 😂 😂 this tank is so amazing, with the bedtime lights it looks so mysterious!

[Torrey]

On 11/29/2021 at 4:55 AM, Atitagain said:

So why am I so impatient so often? 😂 😂

Impatience and instant gratification are trained into us, I believe. 

They are very much frowned upon traits in The Original People here... which is probably why I have developed them, lol.

Over 3 decades of working with/ among N'de, Diné, and Tiwa people, I have had to learn how to get comfortable with their only being 2 times: now, and not now.

Made marrying into my spouse's Samoan family much easier 7 years ago. 😅

[Atitagain]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:30 AM, Torrey said:

their only being 2 times: now, and not now

Such a great philosophy!

[Torrey]

Getting some gorgeous boys in the Walstad. It's been 6 weeks since the massive trim, and I am hoping for the all clear to start tank maintenance again. 

Obviously, the plants are thriving, the green in the middle is light trying to penetrate the overgrown ludwiga and milfoil, and the pogostemon is filling up quite a bit of the left side of the tank. Bacopa Caroliniana is chugging along, a new pair of leaves every few weeks. 

Everyone have a great weekend, and welcome to 2022!

[Guppysnail]

Milfoil 😍  though I love it I can’t get it to grow. Your boys are so cute. They way the tannins are it looks like sunrise. I love the affect. 

[Torrey]

On 1/8/2022 at 4:51 AM, Guppysnail said:

Milfoil 😍  though I love it I can’t get it to grow. Your boys are so cute. They way the tannins are it looks like sunrise. I love the affect. 

I suspect that milfoil consumes as much calcium from the water as hornwort, but grows better in neutral or slightly acidic water (hornwort is happiest with harder, alkaline water).

Why do I suspect this?

Because as the pH has slowly dropped, the milfoil is growing more. And it grows better in the diffuse light than under bright lights.

The only tank that can grow both the milfoil and the hornwort, is the 4' tank in my spouse's room that is essentially a palludarium with definitively different water zones.

For anyone struggling to read the liquid API water tests, placing the test tube on the phone's flashlight makes it **infinitely** easier to get a correct reading.

Like this:

Sadly, my phone is a little off on my white balance? IRL it looks like it's smack between 6.6 and 6.8 pH. Definitely too green IRL to be 6.8, but not enough yellow tint to be 6.6 pH.

So... tested all the tanks, and only 2 deviations:

Walstad tank is lower pH (~6.7?) and the rest of the tanks are holding steady at 7.8 pH.

The bachelor's tank is the **only** tank with detectable nitrates. The orange tray is misleading, that front right vial is not quite red enough to register 40 ppm nitrates. All the rest of the tanks are reading 0/0/0 ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.

So, not bad considering the tanks were last deep serviced with massive trims at the end of November, and I have only done trims on the 4' in my spouse's room, and then last weekend I serviced the Walstad (meaning I trimmed a 5 gallon bucket worth of plants from the Walstad, and topped off all the tanks because I still can't carry more than 10 lbs. No water changes, yet)

 

Walstad tank is seriously out of control growth!

[Torrey]

Realized that I didn't update:

So, a week ago I was filling an order for my LFS, when I discovered that the turtle pond was in the 50's.

The heater died.

This is also the origin of multiple lines and the body of water that held the original grandmother of my endlers.

So.... I played musical tanks with an eye for long term breeding and how to protect the lines I had established. At the end of the day, I had 140 endlers of good quality that I had no space for, so I called and said I was filling the order and due to the heater failure I wasn't just bringing culls for feeders, I was able bringing some breeding stock. I just wanted to make sure to preserve genetic diversity that was finally breeding true.

For a broken heater, it was the closest to a win/win situation. 

It also meant having to catch some fish in heavily planted tanks, including the Walstad....

The Walstad plants were not appreciative. 

By the time all was said and done, the plants were all floaters.

The pH is solidly 6.4 due to the dirt substrate, IAL, and the lack of water changes post surgery. Which is great, because the net caught a plant that had roots growing from one end of the tank to the other and dirt was floating, fish were hiding, my scar tissue was screaming, and no fun was to be found. 

I delivered the fish as ordered for the prior Thursday... when the shop had to close because snowstorm,  and we couldn't even get out of our apartment parking lot. Grateful for the storm delaying my order delivery until after the heater broke.

A gentle reminder from the universe that we are where we need to be, when we need to be there, AND we don't have to like it 😅

Also, endlers are incredibly strong and durable fish.

Pond water is going to be staying unheated. I thought I caught all the fish.

I went back to see if I could replace the turtle heater with a more durable version, inside the repticage (of course I can't, because my cage is old and why would it be that easy) and discovered endlers swimming and frolicking in water too cool for the turtle. 

10 days now, of 50° to 53° F pond water, and these endlers hid well enough I thought I caught them all (it's cold. How did they hide? How can they swim so FAST?)

Biggest surprise?

Brand new endler babies, in 52°F water.

So no, lowering the temp doesn't inhibit breeding. 

These are living up to their reputation for bomb proof fish😳

 

Oh, and a week of PT, plus ridiculous weather changes,  means I have not recuperated sufficiently to work on any of the tanks, beyond testing water and crossing my fingers that all the tanks are stable. 

The Walstad now has green water (of course) and has 5 ppm nitrates, at a solid, steady, 6.4 pH....

And all my tanks (even the cold turtle pond) are still needing Easy Green, because plants are growing like crazy....

So, stay tuned!

Expect some photo documentation (maybe even video) to be presented in April.🤷‍♂️

[Torrey]

Not surprisingly, the heavily planted, very cold, turtle pond is finally testing with lower and lower nitrates. No nitrites. No ammonia. 

And the frogbit the turtle normally eats all of in a week, has grown and recovered the tank each time the turtle, Karma, takes a quick polar dip to eat a little frogbit and a few escargot. So yes, at 50° F frogbit can grow faster than a turtle can eat it....🌿

[Torrey]

Okay, due to surgery and a double whammy of covid, I am exploring the opportunities instead of getting frustrated with what didn't meet my expectations 😁 As is often the case, I learn best from doing it wrong the first time... or is that not doing it right the first time, for where I am at this point in my development 🤔

Regardless, all plants in the Walstad (except Bacopa carolinia) have been uprooted. I have essentially separated out the majority of the males who *aren't* looking like what I want (all coloration and all tails of the remaining males in this tank are now similar enough to not distinguish individuals unless side by side).

I may have found a solution to my liquid calcium + minerals and jet fuel that we call water out of the tap. I bought the ZeroWater for less than the TDS meter costs if I bought separately. 

We shall see if this works.

Idea is, run water through the Pūr first (straight from the tap) and use Pūr filtered water to fill the ZeroWater. According to a friend who works at the SNL, this will make the ZeroWater last longer (each filter is $10😳), and I will get to calibrate my TDS meter that came in the box against their system that they calibrate at the labs.

So, the unveiling is a bit off, and yes I bought things, but these things will [hopefully] reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating our dependence on bottled water. Costco water has jumped up in price, so the next month will be all about testing the quantity of water that can be treated against what we spend on bottled water for us and dogs.

By April 1st I will know whether this model is cost effective, consistent, and lives up to what is promised.

Stay tuned!!!

[Torrey]

Proof, as they say, is in the pudding. 

I installed the 2 filters, and let the Pür run for 5 minutes as directed. Poured the water on the plants.

Tested the tap water, straight from the tap: 288 ppm TDS

Then, I tested a cup of the Pür filtered water, for 265 ppm TDS:

Filled the ZeroWater reservoir (6 bottles of 16.9 oz, of Pür filtered water), and tested the first glass of my double type, multiply filtered water: TDS are now 000 ppm

Then, to see if the water that went into the ZeroWater was consistent, I tested the tap and the Pür again.

Tap stayed the same, Pür dropped a bit:

So, it looks like Pür is able to reduce TDS by 30 ppm.

First 40 cups of ZeroWater are a nice, consistent 000 ppm, TDS.

If it really does keep the TDS down for 40 gallons (before needing a filter change), that is way less expensive and less waste water than RO.

I also learned that the TDS meter is currently consistent with my friend who works at the labs. So the meter alone has been worth the expenditure 😁

@Guppysnail might be worth investing in 2 filtration units: one TDS meter for the tanks, and one for the filters.

That way, hubby won't have kittens over using the same meter, lol

[Guppysnail]

I have tried 2 types. One faucet and one hose for camping drinking water. Most remove calcium and other essential minerals and even the one that did not “collected”? copper then when it was “full”? released it in mass quantities and wiped out a few snails and a bunch of shrimp in the process. I tested when I got them no copper which my water has trace amounts just not enough to hurt anything. When my snails died I tested straight from the “full” filter and it was high. But it was a great thought. I just ordered purigen to try again. First time even rinsed well it mass flooded particles so I removed it. This time I will run it in a bucket first. I do have a tds meter “somewhere “. I just never used it 

[Torrey]

On 2/20/2022 at 6:50 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have tried 2 types. One faucet and one hose for camping drinking water. Most remove calcium and other essential minerals and even the one that did not “collected”? copper then when it was “full”? released it in mass quantities and wiped out a few snails and a bunch of shrimp in the process. I tested when I got them no copper which my water has trace amounts just not enough to hurt anything. When my snails died I tested straight from the “full” filter and it was high. But it was a great thought. I just ordered purigen to try again. First time even rinsed well it mass flooded particles so I removed it. This time I will run it in a bucket first. I do have a tds meter “somewhere “. I just never used it 

I was disappointed in the Pür, especially considering the high rating it was given in laboratory tests. 

Blown away by the ZeroWater.

I'll probably be mixing Pür + ZeroWater to get the TDS my plants and fish need. Will definitely be able to test the source water more reliably than the API drops. Don't have to buy distilled water for top offs.

Overall, I am in the happy honeymoon phase, now. We will see how long it lasts.

That is horrible about the copper! I can only imagine how devastated you were, your snails and shrimp terrorists are your babies. I have no idea how to test for copper in my water, now that my mom was forced out of the lab. I'll have to ask my friend at the SNL if they have access to anything to test for copper.🤔

I definitely don't want to accidentally concentrate the copper and then knock some loose.

[Guppysnail]

I just use one of these. Either works fine I’ve used both. I go for whatever is cheapest when I buy. 

[Torrey]

On 1/22/2022 at 7:28 PM, Torrey said:

I suspect that milfoil consumes as much calcium from the water as hornwort, but grows better in neutral or slightly acidic water (hornwort is happiest with harder, alkaline water).

Why do I suspect this?

Because as the pH has slowly dropped, the milfoil is growing more. And it grows better in the diffuse light than under bright lights.

The only tank that can grow both the milfoil and the hornwort, is the 4' tank in my spouse's room that is essentially a palludarium with definitively different water zones.

For anyone struggling to read the liquid API water tests, placing the test tube on the phone's flashlight makes it **infinitely** easier to get a correct reading.

Like this:

Sadly, my phone is a little off on my white balance? IRL it looks like it's smack between 6.6 and 6.8 pH. Definitely too green IRL to be 6.8, but not enough yellow tint to be 6.6 pH.

So... tested all the tanks, and only 2 deviations:

Walstad tank is lower pH (~6.7?) and the rest of the tanks are holding steady at 7.8 pH.

The bachelor's tank is the **only** tank with detectable nitrates. The orange tray is misleading, that front right vial is not quite red enough to register 40 ppm nitrates. All the rest of the tanks are reading 0/0/0 ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.

So, not bad considering the tanks were last deep serviced with massive trims at the end of November, and I have only done trims on the 4' in my spouse's room, and then last weekend I serviced the Walstad (meaning I trimmed a 5 gallon bucket worth of plants from the Walstad, and topped off all the tanks because I still can't carry more than 10 lbs. No water changes, yet)

 

Walstad tank is seriously out of control growth!

@BabyShark I was this many days old when I figured out the  cell phone light was the exact same size as the base of the test tubes, and I could just put the test tube on the cell phone light, and take my picture with the other phone.

Of course, this is not an option without a second cell phone🤔

[Torrey]

On 2/20/2022 at 6:34 PM, Torrey said:

Proof, as they say, is in the pudding. 

I installed the 2 filters, and let the Pür run for 5 minutes as directed. Poured the water on the plants.

Tested the tap water, straight from the tap: 288 ppm TDS

Then, I tested a cup of the Pür filtered water, for 265 ppm TDS:

Filled the ZeroWater reservoir (6 bottles of 16.9 oz, of Pür filtered water), and tested the first glass of my double type, multiply filtered water: TDS are now 000 ppm

Then, to see if the water that went into the ZeroWater was consistent, I tested the tap and the Pür again.

Tap stayed the same, Pür dropped a bit:

So, it looks like Pür is able to reduce TDS by 30 ppm.

First 40 cups of ZeroWater are a nice, consistent 000 ppm, TDS.

If it really does keep the TDS down for 40 gallons (before needing a filter change), that is way less expensive and less waste water than RO.

I also learned that the TDS meter is currently consistent with my friend who works at the labs. So the meter alone has been worth the expenditure 😁

@Guppysnail might be worth investing in 2 filtration units: one TDS meter for the tanks, and one for the filters.

That way, hubby won't have kittens over using the same meter, lol

42 gallons later, the ZeroWater TDS are at 12, and if I add a squirt of Easy Green to a 16 oz bottle filled with ZeroWater I can get the bottle up to 200 nitrates (happy face) and more easily dose my pico tanks from the 16 oz bottle... approximately 1.5 shot glasses get the 2 gallon pico tanks to register 10 ppm nitrates, and 2 shot glasses gets the 3 gallon pico tanks to register between 10 to 25 ppm nitrates. Shockingly, the Easy Green dose added to the ZeroWater makes it acidic 😲. Maybe not shockingly? ZeroWater has 0 buffer and I couldn't tell if it was 6.8 or 7.2 pH.

Far left is the results on spouse's 4' tank, middle is the pico Scapes from Scraps tank, and far right is the 16 oz of ZeroWater + 1 squirt Easy Green. (Can everyone tell I love my Co-op test strips, especially the part where I can confirm my filters are removing the chlorine/chloramines and my fish, snails, amphipods, and microfauna, as well as the turtle, are THRILLED I am not having to treat the water!)

Now that the Scapes from Scraps is almost ready for some fish (probably more bachelors I want to keep) I will be rescaping the Walstad inspired tank soon. So look for new images, soon!

 

On 2/20/2022 at 9:48 PM, Torrey said:

@BabyShark I was this many days old when I figured out the  cell phone light was the exact same size as the base of the test tubes, and I could just put the test tube on the cell phone light, and take my picture with the other phone.

Of course, this is not an option without a second cell phone🤔

So much easier to use the Co-op test strips, however!

[AquaHobbyist123]

nice