Walstad Aquarium - 4 Months Later.

Highlights:
- Major water change(20%) was performed after Pruning. Cutting were propagated. 
- No weekly water changes.  
- Pygmy Grass has shown new offshoots. These were replanted in the front of the tank. Pygmy grass was pruned a little.
- To add in some Iron, small dried balls of Red garden Soil were insert in substrate at various places. 
- Addition of Potassium Sulphate has facilitated new growth in slow growing plants. Growth of Brown Algae was relatively less.


Lots of new Fishes Added:
- Diamond Angels - 2.
- Neon Tetra - 10.
- Serpae Tetra - 10
- Neon Rainbow - 4


Also added some bunches of Ambolia plants. I hope this time its not eaten away by some fish.

Walstad Setup Before Pruning - Full View.

Walstad Setup After Pruning - Full View.

Walstad Setup Before Pruning - Center View.

Walstad Setup After Pruning - Center View.

Walstad Setup Before Pruning - Lawn View.

Walstad Setup After Pruning - Lawn View.

Rosy Barbs ate my Plants. :(

I had been keeping a pair of Rozy Barbs in one of my old tank. They are notorious and like to nibble on plants.


I had been on a vacation for a week. So I transferred them in my main tank. I was expecting, with good food being fed through my Automatic Fish Feeder, they may not nibble too much on the plants.


I was disappointed after I came back from my vacation. I soon realized that they have nibbled away two different species of plants and made them extinct.


I no longer have

• Parrot Feather.
• Ambolia.
• Red Cabomba is also almost extinct. Only two stalk have remained.  

Note the changes after adding the Rosy Barbs. 


I have also noticed that my Angels like to feed on duck weed. They seem to like it and I happen to throw a weekly feed of duck weed in the tank.

  

Before adding Rozy Barbs while going on Vacation.

After 1 Week of Vacation.

Lush Green Lawn - Another 2 months Away - Part 2.

Aquarium Progression for Last 1.5 months.

Aquarium Setup Initial Setup (1.5 Months Ago).

Aquarium Setup (1 Month Later After Initial Setup ).

Aquarium Setup Current(1.5 Month After Initial Setup).

1.5 Months has passed, waiting for some Lush green grass. I will be covering the Lawn status in a short while. Before that lets go through some highlights:


1. If you are wondering how come there is lush green growth in last 2 weeks on the left hand side of the aquarium. Well the credit goes to Baking Soda (Sodium bi-carbonate). 1-small spoon of baking soda was added for last two week(every Friday) to provide bi-carbonates to the plants and that seems to be working great. 


Good growth was seen across all aquatic plants when Baking soda was added each week. This is significantly seen on on the Left Hand side of the tank.


2. For inital 1 month weekly water changes of 15% was being carried. But still diatoms started showing up. If you are wondering how did I remove the brown algae (diatoms) in last 2-weeks. Then answer is "sucker fish". I bought a sucker fish and its does a great job of cleaning my fish tank. Just see the difference in the leaves in last 2 weeks.   


3. Three new aquatic plants species have been added


a. Ambolia: This is certainly the best looking plant in my aquarium. All credit goes to a office colleague Sohan for sharing a few stems of Ambolia Plant.

Ambolia

b. Parrot feather & Water Lettuce:


The two stems, almost touching the water are Parrot Feather Plant. These have been trimmed by my Rosy Barbs but still the plant is sturdy and is doing great. 


The root like structure floating on the left top corner are the roots of water Lettuce. These are floating plants and have a aerial advantage and are doing okay. The roots are being trimmed by Rosy Barbs when they are hungry and don't have any food around.

Parrot Feather and Water Lettuce.

Lush Green Lawn

1.5 Month has passed by and even though all the other aquatic plants are doing good, Grass doesn't seems to be showing similar growth trajectory.


Cobra grass is almost dead. Micro swords are growing new leaves but no new offshoots like it did the last time. I have added some chemical Fertilizer(after 1.5 month of Walstad Setup) and have also trimmed the grass. Trimming encourages growth (spawning runners) according to most forums.


Hair grass are new additions (2-weeks back) but they also are not doing great. Lets wait and watch, I expect some new runners in micro swords in next two weeks.

Aquatic Lawn 2-Weeks Back. (1-Month After Initial Setup).

Aquatic Lawn Current (1.5 Month After Initial Setup).