😊😊 14:23 pp pp

I am also grateful for father fish direction and knowledge of a planted tank. I started my first planted tank following his direction and my 50 gallon tank is flourishing. He is so right about fish finding and sustaining its feeding from the tank!

Thank you so much

I am a big fan of father fishes methods kinda annoying some of the fish I have destroy plants so I can't keep many but even having a deep substrate helps alot

Pls post again, to let us know how it's working for your new set-up. I've only added 1 fish - a couple months ago. Still reluctant. Old habits ....

Great to hear!

let's see it discord.gg/father-fish-shoal

I wish I could work up that nerve Congrats!!! 😊

For some reason, I can't hook up to the shoal. Dammit! 😢

What you suggest is what I’ve been looking for!

Happy Tuesday from Ireland 🙏

Hello father fish,

add coarse gravel on top for the gldfish

Very creative idea!

What's really delaying me from using it at all is my extremely poor eyesight. I FEAR that I'll miss a dragon fly or tapeworm, w/ deadly results.

She is, of course, corrdfct. The chelation takes at least that long. With sand the plants can be planted immediately and are not subject to the intensity of soil chelating. They derive nutrients early on and are able to sustain in a matter of a few days. Walstad never tried sand. Her most recent edition does recommend sand.

@@FatherFish Ah, I see. So, that is why you always recommend a sand cap. Ok, got it! Thank you very much, Father Fish! 😄👍

Now exactly that issue I have water so cloudy, and even I do water changes, when I plant something, sand makes clouds in the water again....so frustrating, it's like a desert storm instead of fishes, and the plants get covered by fine sand particles...

goldfish will tolerate temps into the high 80's for a few days. Ick will not.

Yes, absolutely

The plants need the minerals in the water.

@@FatherFish Does it mean I should refill tank with tap water? Or should I use RO / demineralized water?

@@blackredroll tap

I have 1" of soil in my tanks and plant everything.

the guy you had on yesterday had a tank with a carpet of dwarf sag, which he said stays short, and goes through cycles where it stops growing. then he showed the next tank with a stand of the same plant that was a foot tall, he had it planted in deep sand or a pot, i forget now. he said he didn't know why there was such a difference. well that got my attention, i have the same plant and the same phenomena. in deep pots it grows well over a foot, but the runners coming out of the pots and carpeting the bottom are only a couple inches tall. i conclude from both of these situations that it has a hard time growing in a shallow substrate, possibly stunting it. anyway i like the idea of deep planting, getting big plants, and these baskets will fit nicely in a 75 Gal. i want amazon swords to fill up the tank, possibly like your ''mother plant''. (do you remember woolworth's pet dept? they sold sword plants for 19 cents each, i think i bought everyone they had. they also had lake malawi cichlids when they were a new fish for $4, and they had imported wild type green bettas, man i miss those days.) i believe you stated that $50 ''mother plant'' was in a pot as well.( i had a mellon sword once that grew 18'' stems and the leaves floated on the surface. it was great.) the only other way to do it is build a rock wall to retain the soil and keep it from spilling all over the tank eventually. these baskets will be spill proof and easy to hide from view. i bet those red lilly bulbs you sell will grow like gangbusters in them. anyway i live in dc and saulsbury is 90 minutes away. i'll bring a ruler....

Yes, shrimp & snails contribute waste to the tank. I think 1"of animal still = 1 gal of water. Ie 20 gal fish tank, you can have 20" total of all animals.

the wild soil should be about half of the soil. Add peat and compost to enrich it. Cap with sand

BTW - I am using your method for all my new tanks and things go splendidly! Will be purchasing some plants and your nutrient mix (ran out of my own) very, very soon!

As long as it's not a huge fish, it gets added to the nutrients of the tank.

hose in a bucket

Outdoor tubs are great for these fish.

Install a sponge filter. The tank will clear up. Be patient. If all is good - the fish and plants are healthy - be patient.

Add sand to your gravel. Try this link: discord.gg/father-fish-shoal

Thank you, i was gonna pull all the gravel out and add substrate/dirt and then sand. the link worked, ty!

yes

1" into the soil, lay on their side to make more nodule contact.

I won't say too much on the topic as I'm not the wonderful FF fella himself, but I will say if you break it down to dirt it, may as well keep the old water, and anything else you can. Old stuff is good stuff. I have some smaller projects that I use for temporary things that do quite well with nothing but sand and plants, as long as there is enough waste being produced, and plenty of plants. From my very basic understanding, the deeper more complex core principles presented in Father Fish's methodology, (By those more in the know than I), when properly implemented, will turn a tank from a short-term tank with an expiry date potentially, or more maintenance than one would prefer, into a long-term balanced ecosystem that does better without our interference more often than not. Other than a little cheeky feed here and there of course, to make ourselves feel better. It's a VERY deep topic, stick around and hear him out, or jump on the Discord better yet. It's crazy fun in there, and full of some real smart people.

Add two to three inches of sand, add lots more plants too..

But do it gradually not all at once

Have to plant into substrate

Perhaps the turtle knows

Yes you can! Go to the SHOAL and learn the formula. The link is at fatherfish.fish

Pool filter sand

Waste is a function of food. Feed less, less waste.

@@FatherFish thank you!

yes

No peat moss, it acidifies water. Make sure the potting soil is natural and without any added fertilisers, pure natural soil with Father Fish supplement works better. Aqua soil can be great to add.

buffers are critical as are humics.

yes discord.gg/father-fish-shoal

Take from a water source you know there is loads of fish and other creatures already living without any problems. If animals can live in it outside, they can also live with it in a aquarium.

use common sense and what @morganiothegamer said

@@TheRealEvilSink Yeah, I like the idea of having an ideal bio system going for a couple of months before adding fish.

fish and inverts are part of a bio system

@@FatherFish So, one needs the other? Thank you sir. Love your videos!

It might be a good idea. What you are seeing is most likely mulm/detritus judging by your comment. Sand cap can act like a storage for it. It will eventually find its way down into the sand, but it is a slow process. But it is not necessary per say, mulm and detritus is not dangerous. In fact it may be helping, since a lot of microfauna eats it. Keep in mind that if you do end up deciding to cover it with more sand, that all that will most likely go into the water column and may take a few weeks to settle down again.

Many thanks. I was not clear, it is at the top of the substrate, about 5mm below the top, not on top of the substrate.

​@@infpmatt Then thats very good! That means the process i was mentioning is taking place and the sandcap is taking it all up. I would not add any more cap unless there is some other reason you can think of, where that would be needed. I cannot remember for the life of me what the process is actually called, so you can read more about it. But hopefully someone can come along to tell us :) There is another youtuber Father Fish recently had a interview/talk with called Fishtory (secret history living in your aquarium) who has several videos on deep substrates and processes that take place in the substrate too, which are very good. I watch several and Father Fish and Fishtory are my favorites.

Thanks again, really good news all is well :)

If this is happening naturally after the initial setup, you can just leaveit, because that's the "nature". The nature will handle it.

Yes it is.

2 months ago, and I didn't ever see the notification 🙄 I ended up getting a 9 gallon, and now have a community tank with my betta, 3 ember, and 3 black emperor tetras living very happily together. The tank was planted with 2 anubias attached to a piece of driftwood, and several octopus plants in the back, along with duckweed. The plants have been growing so much now that I need to do some maintenance and trim a bunch out. I never had a single bit of ammonia or nitrites from day 1. The tank was basically cycled from the start. Everything is thriving.

sure

@@FatherFish thanks a lot!🤩 I really love it when the water becomes crystal clear! ...I know, eventhough it's not always natural in nature!

ok thanks i would imagine you are very busy but a heart reply maybe suggests you maybe got called away before reading till the end

Jason, mulm build up in a planted aquarium (based on my experience) varies alot, tank to tank, and seems to depend on alot of variables. For a long time I assumed that sand would encourage a mulm buildup. Lately I am not seeing it. FF has explained that he deals with it by adding more sand. My theory is that in some tanks the balance seems to be ‘just-right’ and the mulm does not build up for some reason? Others will have different experiences with their FF tanks no doubt. All I can say is that in most of my plant tanks (15-30 of them) I see no mulm build up, or it is not an issue I have to deal with. In my present FF tanks there is no mulm buildup at all, but they are only a few months old. No doubt there must be mulm, but I don’t see it and I have clean white sand. I don’t use punps or filters. So maybe the still water makes a difference?

@@thesolaraquarium Thanks for your input How do you feel about the 1in top soil and 2 in sand situation failing in say 4 ft and bigger . i ask this because the 2 ff tanks ive had direct experience with are far less robust than the smaller tanks . also when i watch ff videos the bigger tanks , say 4ft and up do not have 3 in substrates but rather more like 10 in substrates . i put it to you they are like that because otherwise they would not balance . if you look at the tanks iin the ff videos that are a bit larger , half the tank is substrate . The question im unaable to get answered is why?

@@jasonvesagie I think I get your point. For a long time, years, I thought the serious downside of a sand tank is a mulm buildup. ie Walstad allows the mulm to go through the gravel. I even bought a gravel vac (first time ever!) in anticipation as I want some clean sand in some parts of my tank. But strangely I have 2 FF tanks now and there is no mulm buildup? Mulm is really strange. All I remove sometimes is a carpet of algae which is really easy to remove and occassionally run my fingers thru the sand to clean it up a bit. Your point about the ‘keep adding sand’ is what I was disturbed about. Niw that I have become obsessed about anaerobic bacteria (the biggest failing of this hobby imo and the reason people struggle with plants - even Walstad struggles with plants - a fact most people have not seemed to notice) that does not bother me anymore. I want deep. 3 inches may not be deep enough? A large taller tank can handle a deeper substrate. I would like to experiment with a 6 foot substrate! But I can’t do that. But as you can see I am moving in that direction. I understand the objection. Right now I have a FF nano-tank, 18 litres, 1/2 dirt, 1 inch sand, (one inch and a half substrate) and it seems to be working well. 1 month old.

interesting that you have problems with larger aquariums. I am the same. I find small planted tanks easy (20 litres or less). The larger ones is where I start to get problems.

I tell you what is effective and you decide to change it. Your choice.

@@FatherFish sorry sir i am used your method using your method will use your method but small doubt that reason i am asked thank you so much for your valuable reply thank you

Too much dould foul

2”

But handy knowledge to have today and saves money in the long run

2" dirtied substrate qnd 4" sand

4-6 inches

Correct. That should be about 25% of the total wsoil i nthe substrate. Find the rest of the formula in the Father Fish Shoal at fatherfish.fish.

Get inert sand.

their advice is based on what they think, not what they have experienced.

I have noticed the same thing. Not a single critic has actually tried a Father Fish tank. There are things going on with the Deep Sand Bed which most of our mainstram hobby are ignoring. The bubbles for instance. What are they? How important is this process? In no other method do you get this out-gassing. It is a function of substrate depth. You see it in marshes and other still water locations. I see it all the time outdoors and am definitely not ignoring it. Seems to be the most important observation you can make with the FF method imo. I originally thought it was mostly oxygen from plant roots bubbling out of the mud in marshes. Now I am not so sure. Other things are going on down there - important things.