After several years of reading about her articles as well as various people who utilise her method to setup their aquarium. I have decided to try it myself with the help of a fellow American friend from FishGeeks forum who happened to be someone named Diana as well. This is a useful diagram I got from Diana of FishGeeks forum. So the credit goes to Diana of FishGeeks and FishGeeks Forum
I did the experiment 1 - 2 weeks ago but I lost my mood to update my blog because an ex-colleague passed away. Also along the way, I got pissed off with my job and the whole damn corporate world.
I started by selecting 2 types of soil in my experiment. The main reason is to identify which soil is suitable and which soil may cause murky water as well as the PH. I don't really have anything to measure the PH. So my experiment is based on my own eyes.
In the experiment, I fill up some soil in a bottle. Take the measurement of the soil's level in the bottle and mark it. Add some water into the bottle with soil and shake it. At 30 seconds, mark the level of the soil. At 2 minutes, mark the level of the soil again. See how murky is the water and look out for floating organic stuff as well. The amount of clay is the difference between the original level before the bottle shaking and the level at 2 minutes.
The red garden soil I got from my mother-in-law:
Not much organic stuff in the soil. The water is consider very clear. The issue is it may not have sufficient fertiliser.
The black soil I got from an abandoned pot at my mother-in-law's garden:
Full or organic stuff floating on the water. The water is too murky to suit the fish. Probably too acidic too.
The result of the red soil and black soil:
Top Soil:
I was not satisfied with both of the soil, so I bought the third one called Top Soil. It is also a garden soil. An ex-colleague recommended to me because he had tried it in his aquarium tank as well. The water is more murky than the red garden soil but not as bad as the black soil. Not much organic material floating. I conclude that I will use this soil for my Diana Walstad's aquarium setup.
As of 22 Feb 2009, this is the bucket of Top Soil I have been rinsing 10 times for the usage of my upcoming Diana Walstad's influenced tank. Currently waiting for the murky water to go away.
Even before the tank is set up, I have lost a number of Black Mollies I intend to use in this experiment. Even the fry died by more than 50% of them. It's a disaster! I believe it is a wrong decision to use Black Mollies because:
1. They prefer some salt in the water but the plants do not like salt.
2. I cannot have black background that I want. Otherwise, I cannot see the fish.
3. Livebearers from the shops/farms are generally full of disease. I could not find any home breeder.
If they all die, I will consider switching to Endlers that my friend offers me.
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