The two tanks I set up a month ago for the big Expo on May 2 are ready for their road trip to Charlotte, NC to be displayed and then auctioned off. Pictures show tanks at setup and after one month. Plant growth is good. Readers please note that there are no filters or aerators. Do not need them in these tanks with their shallow depth, lots of good-growing plants, and a soil underlayer. Plants grow better without filters and aerators that just remove the ammonia and CO2 that plants like.
Tank on left (setup for fish breeding): I easily caught the 40 juvenile guppies that I was raising in it temporarily by removing all the little plastic pots with their plants. Plant growth in the bone-meal fertilized garden soil is good; I have had to trim the Vallisneria heavily and remove excess floating plants. Otherwise, they would take over the tank.
Tank on the Right (typical “Walstad” tank with soil underlayer): Plants and the ~15 Blue Dream Shrimp I added 3 weeks ago are doing quite well. (Will sell them with the tank.) I think that the substrate fertilization (See previous post) helped. (The potting soil I chose as the soil underlayer was perhaps a bit too infertile; its NPK was only 0.08/0.03/0.06.)
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