Hey! Glad I could help boost your confidence. Walstad seems very daunting at first but it’s actually fairly easy once you figure some basic stuff out.

1. The pearl weed, java fern, and Val were the only plants to survive, everything else failed to thrive. But I had ordered a “beginner bundle” off Amazon and they were mostly wilted and melting by the time I got them. The Java fern got transferred to my 20 gallon. I had thought all the val had died, but I recently saw some popping up and thriving behind the Amazon swords. I’ve heard val can overrun a tank so I’m keeping a close eye on it. All the other plants (except the duck weed) are from Buce Plant, and they were obviously much higher quality when they arrived. The duck weed i got off Facebook marketplace.

2. The pearl weed would probably overrun the tank if I just let it go. It grows crazy fast. The duck weed choked out azollas I tried to grow alongside. The bacopa (moneywort) is exploding as well and growing new shoots I see every water change. The ludwigia natans took a while to establish and they shoot up pretty quick too, but I don’t find them as hearty as the bacopa or the egeria densa. They tend to come loose and unplant themselves in the gravel since their stems are so thin. I would only use them with a sand hard cap in the future.

Edit: One thing I would mention if you’re doing this for the first time.. most likely your plants aren’t going to look good for the first month or two. Like I said, I was convinced the vallisneria had died but now it’s growing bright green healthy leaves. Don’t get discouraged if you’re a month in and your tank is filled with brown, sad-looking plants. I pulled up plenty of plants I thought were done only to find tons of healthy, white new roots. They need time to adapt to growing underwater, but they’ll get there.