I got all the plants I wanted out of my test wall and in my new wall on 2/22. I still have three big plants and a bunch of background stuff still to plant but that will have to wait a bit. Visually the wall is a mess . . . but that’s a temporary condition. The plants will grow and find their place. It takes time for it to fill in and become a mass of greens.
If you’ve ever had an aquarium and have had to mess with all the extra equipment needed to keep your fish healthy, you will really appreciate a plant wall used as a biofilter. The wall does it all! The only maintenance required to keep the aquarium healthy is to keep the water topped up and the fish fed. That’s it. Nothing else. No extra equipment, no water changes, no fuss, no mess.
Our aquarium is in full daylight and there is no algae except on the glass side of the thermometer where the pleco and cats can’t reach. That’s a total of 26 fish. As the wall matures and the fish grow the system will stay in balance.
If Wadly had stuck with goldies I wouldn’t need an air stone or a heater, though I will say the plant wall does better using heated water.
So let’s look at the chemicals. I didn’t bother with doing a PH test because our water is low PH and we moderate it with oyster shell in the wall gutter. Everything is perfect.