125 Gal. Setup Ideas Needed

[flagg6805]

Hi All! I just stumbled across this forum and thought I'd ask ya'll for your advice on a 125 gallon tank I'll be setting up w/in the next few weeks. The tank will be well-planted Walstad-style setup (ie, potting soil under small gravel, no CO2/dosing, little maintenance, next to a window for sunlight). I don't have the results of my water test, but so far as I can remember my pH is around 7.5 and the water is VERY hard. Temperature will obviously be kept at whatever suits the fish best.

My idea so far is to include the following fish:
12 rainbowfish
pair of angel fish
6 pearl gouramis
20 harlequin rasboras
5 kuhli loaches
1 weather loach
10 cories
2 bristlenose plecos (M and F)
1 gold nugget (or other exotic) pleco

The numbers are rough estimates as are the fish themselves. I can't decide whether to go with a big school of rasboras or a school of rasboras and another school of some other active fish (tetras, barbs??). In any case, I'd love to hear people's suggestions and comments on my setup/fish selection. Your input will help determine the final fauna choices!

Thanks,
Ricardo

PS If you have not read Diana Walstad's "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" or read about "El Natural" or NPT setups, please do not comment on my use of soil and sunlight, that is a discussion that I'm sure I'll get into in the thread about the actual setup of the tank. For more info. you can visit the "El Natural" forum at aquaticplantcentral.com

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site

I think you'll have problems with the kuhlis and dojo digging up the substrate, which is something you don't want in a tank with potting soil. I have a feeling that's too heavy a bioload for a Walstead-style tank.

 

[flagg6805]

Yeah, you're probably right about the bioload. I also worried about the digging by the loaches. Maybe I'll cut them out and reduce the fish load by half...

-ricardo

 

[Fuzz16]

gouramis are kinda like bettas, they are finicky when it comes to being with their own kind. so you might want to stick with just one or two.
and ive never had kuhliis dig on me. as long as you provide something for them to hide under, like driftwood or what not they should be fine and not dig to much. never had a dojo so cant comment on that.
the cories, and plecos may not all get along since they bottom inhabitants

and i tried to find out what a walstead-style tank is but with little luck. could you explain please?

 

[flagg6805]

Fuzz16: Thanks for the info! I've never had my kuhlis dig either, but I've seen them do it. Now that I think about it, those tanks had lots of places for them to hide. Same thing with weather loaches. My friend had one it a heavily planted tank once and it too never dug, just hung out in the leaves.

As for a Walstad-style setup... It's a method of keeping planted tanks based on the book, "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist" by Diana Walstad. It's also referred to as Natural Planted Tank (NPT) or "el Natural". In her book, Walstad describes the benefits of maintaining planted tanks with potting soil as a substrate and with placing the aquarium near a window. Her book is based on her experiences and scientific experiments, and on scientific literature. This kind of setup, of course, goes contrary to what the "general" aquarium population always hears, but it works! Briefly, the setup goes as follows: 1" - 1.5" of soil (potting soil, soil from your backyard, cactus soil (if you have soft water)) under 1" - 1.5" of small gravel (many people seem to do well with pool filter sand). Lighting at about 2 wpg with the tank placed near a window to get sunlight. The only filtration in the tank is the plants and the bacteria found in the soil. I use power heads on my setups to circulate the water but no other filter. The tank should be heavily planted with a variety of plants and moderately stocked. That's where my question comes in: what constitutes "moderately" stocked? There's a community of folks who use this method and you can read more details about the setup here:

What is "el Natural?" A Step by Step? - El Natural - Aquatic Plant Central

and here (for starters)

Goldfish and Aquarium Board Article-Setting up a Walstad-Type Natural Planted Tank

-ricardo

PS I'll post a link to my setup thread as soon as I update it..

 

[Fuzz16]

ooo wow...what about like major algae break outs from being near the sun bit?
how does oxygen get into the tank? the plants alone?
and does the bacteria die from no oxygen or is the bacteria in the soil able to stay alive with what is has?

 

[flagg6805]

ooo wow...what about like major algae break outs from being near the sun bit?

With a heavily planted tank, you don't have any major algae problems. They do happen, and people have reported them, but rarely is it anything too difficult to control. Generally it is caused by not having enough plants, especially emergent plants.

how does oxygen get into the tank? the plants alone?

Yes, just the plants.

dand does the bacteria die from no oxygen or is the bacteria in the soil able to stay alive with what is has?

Soils go through various changes when submerged and exposed to anaerobic conditions. According to Walstad, in freshly submerged soil, bacteria quickly use up the remaining O2 before flooding the water column with iron and manganese cations. This is followed by the realse (in many cases) of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and organic acids.

Once plants are introduce, they start providing the soil with O2 via their roots, keeping the soil from becoming "dead". Thus the plants help maintain the health of the soil substrate. In this setup, one also feeds a little extra for the plants in order to slowly build up a later of mulm (which in well-established tanks is quickly decomposed by bacteria) in order to keep the soil from becoming depleted of nutrients.

I too wondered the same things you ask about, even after reading Walstad's book, but it works. Here's a couple pictures of one of my NPTs...

Fish are happy too, here's the pair of angels w/ guarding their eggs. They bred w/in a month of the tank being set up in my new house. No maintenance was done during that time at all, not even a water change, which I only do about once every two or three months. I do top-off almost weekly to replace water lost to evaporation.

-ricardo

-ricardo

 

[flagg6805]

ooo wow...what about like major algae break outs from being near the sun bit?

With a heavily planted tank, you don't have any major algae problems. They do happen, and people have reported them, but rarely is it anything too difficult to control. Generally it is caused by not having enough plants, especially emergent plants.

how does oxygen get into the tank? the plants alone?

Yes, just the plants.

and does the bacteria die from no oxygen or is the bacteria in the soil able to stay alive with what is has?

Soils go through various changes when submerged and exposed to anaerobic conditions. According to Walstad, in freshly submerged soil, bacteria quickly use up the remaining O2 before flooding the water column with iron and manganese cations. This is followed by the realse (in many cases) of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and organic acids.

Once plants are introduce, they start providing the soil with O2 via their roots, keeping the soil from becoming "dead". Thus the plants help maintain the health of the soil substrate. In this setup, one also feeds a little extra for the plants in order to slowly build up a later of mulm (which in well-established tanks is quickly decomposed by bacteria) in order to keep the soil from becoming depleted of nutrients.

I too wondered the same things you ask about, even after reading Walstad's book, but it works. Here's a couple pictures of one of my NPTs...

Fish are happy too, here's the pair of angels w/ guarding their eggs. They bred w/in a month of the tank being set up in my new house. No maintenance was done during that time at all, not even a water change, which I only do about once every two or three months. I do top-off almost weekly to replace water lost to evaporation.

-ricardo

PS Here's the link to the journal of this tank. You can see how the tank has evolved over time. There have been ups and downs of course, but overall, the tank has done well...

[Wet Thumb Forum]-30 Gal Photo Journal - El Natural - Aquatic Plant Central

 

[tom91970]

I've read about Walstad-style setups before and have considered doing one, myself.

As for the gouramis you won't have any problems with having six. Pearls are rather peaceful for a gourami and get along well with one another.