Here goes - Tank Two - Low Tech/Walstad style

Nice one Nanna! Looking forward to seeing what those plants do in there ? I've always loved plantage in a tank, the more the merrier

CaptainBarnicles said:

Nice one Nanna! Looking forward to seeing what those plants do in there ? I've always loved plantage in a tank, the more the merrier

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Thank you Captain!

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. I've got a fascination for the filterless walstad tanks these days

NannaLou said:

I couldn’t face any more tank dramas yesterday, but today my plants arrived and I’ve had a go at planting them ?

The little pieces that arrived look nothing like the pictures of the full grown plants so who knows what it will look like (assuming they grow ?).

I’m quite pleased with the look of it as a newly planted aquarium...just need to sit and watch for the next couple of weeks...

Here it is “just planted” with nothing looking dead yet ?:
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Not that there will be fish for a while, but can I just check that about 76 degrees is right for Endlers..? The suggested ranges on the internet have vast variations...

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It's looking very nice so far, I look forward to seeing how it matures.

I always think of tanks at this stage as almost the ugly duckling and try to get quite a few photos. It's remarkable how a few months turns them into that beautiful swan.

I've got a tank in a very similar position right now and I'm excited to see how it comes on. I know that it, like yours, will be beautiful quite soon.

Sunday...I’m not sure if this is day 3 or 4, I planted on Thursday evening so I’m thinking day 3..?

Anyway, I’ve added a black background, I know fish like to have a background, although I’m still a long way from getting fish... and I’ve added the peace lily, that took some working out, so I have utilised a knitting needed as a support and tied the top into the corner where the top glass bars leave a little gap.

I can see that the plants are growing, tiny, little leaves on the front plants, the Dwarf Tiger Lotus is unfurling and another leaf had appeared. I’m not sure that I’ve planted the Anubias Nana properly. I’ve sort of got the whole plant tied down with thread rather than the roots. Should I re-do this? It seems to be turning the leaves to the top...so I’m not sure about disturbing her again...

I‘m getting confused with the “cycling” aspect/logic of this one though and would welcome some clarification....

In this type of tank you don’t add bacteria and start up products as, apparently, everything that is needed is in the soil/water/plants. But I have read that is there is any signs of ammonia you should do a water change. I’m getting a reading of 0.25ppm of ammonia and 0 Nitrites and about 5ppm Nitrates. I thought that the plants used the ammonia for their food and cut our the nitrite stage of the cycle. So, in my world of logic, changing the water to remove the ammonia would remove the food source for the plants that I want to be growing as quickly as possible. I know that some people put fish in the low tech/Walstad tanks as soon as they are planted so that might be the reason for removing the ammonia - any more educated thoughts for me to digest..?

Also, I can’t find the thread where K2Aqua were recommended, but thank you - the plants seem to be of a very good quality ?
Forgot the photo!!

Wow its going to be beautiful! I want to do a nano walstad shrimp someday soon! If you're interested in a above tank plant that vines- you can look into a Pothos, they're very easy to keep alive and do excellent help with filtration. Following your journal ?

PorshaF said:

Wow its going to be beautiful! I want to do a nano walstad shrimp someday soon! If you're interested in a above tank plant that vines- you can look into a Pothos, they're very easy to keep alive and do excellent help with filtration. Following your journal ?

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Thank you ?. I’m a bit worried about the Pothos, they are apparently very toxic to cats. Norah hasn’t been anywhere near this tank yet, but I think I’ll give it a bit longer to see how she is likely to interact with it (if at all) before adding one of those...it’s a shame because I’ve had lots of recommendations for them.

With plant cycles, the plants do remove ammonia, but they need to have grown quite a bit to do this. That's why it's recommended to take a photo of the tank when it is first planted, then another at least 2 weeks later to see the amount of plant growth. The more plant mass there is, the more ammonia that can be removed.
Anubias is a slow growing plant which won't do much for ammonia but the other plants should if they are fast growers.

Some types of plant substrate are known to leach ammonia - if you do some research on the one you've used it'll flag it up if it is one that leaches ammonia. Or if there's any left over, leaving some in a tub of water for a few days will show if it is or not - leave a tub of just water alongside to compare the soil-water to.

Essjay said:

With plant cycles, the plants do remove ammonia, but they need to have grown quite a bit to do this. That's why it's recommended to take a photo of the tank when it is first planted, then another at least 2 weeks later to see the amount of plant growth. The more plant mass there is, the more ammonia that can be removed.
Anubias is a slow growing plant which won't do much for ammonia but the other plants should if they are fast growers.

Some types of plant substrate are known to leach ammonia - if you do some research on the one you've used it'll flag it up if it is one that leaches ammonia. Or if there's any left over, leaving some in a tub of water for a few days will show if it is or not - leave a tub of just water alongside to compare the soil-water to.

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Off to turn the kitchen back into a lab! I’ll test the soil against a pot of water - thank you x

I know the plants are a long way off being able to deal with the ammonia at the moment, but if I remove it, do I also then remove their food source which is what they will need to grow quickly...? Will this level of ammonia be a threat the the newly planted plants?

I would leave the ammonia there, as you say it will feed the plants. If it turns out the soil is leaching ammonia, you'll know that you'll have to wait to get livestock - until the plants can remove it all. But think of how lush the plants would be by then

Just saw this, neat setup, Nanna...the "plant cycle" thing is all new to me, though I've been keeping fish for a while now

Here is a picture of my 29-gallon Pleco tank. I used top soil capped with sand. This very similar to what you are doing. This is my third tank doing this, and in time the plants will grow wild because they really like the soil. I strongly suggest you have root plants in your tank to take advantage of the soil. The roots will help stop the build up of dangerous gases that can get trapped underneath the sand. Also get a good liquid fertilizer to help get your plants started.



Here is a picture of my 55-gallon tank at about seven months after I set it up and planted it. The plants grew like crazy. I have since cut back the plants due to all the baby plecos, and having to catch them to move them to their own tank. So this is now an old picture but it does show how well the plants will grow using soil in the substrate.

I agree with @Essjay your soil could leach natural ammonia which is what you want at start. The plants will use it as fertilizer, but wait until the tank balances out with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and keep the nitrate low before adding fish, etc.

My planted tanks using top soil capped with sand and or gravel leached ammonia, but in a few weeks it all balances out.

On a completely different note, if you are going for an open top tank. Always be careful about using household spray cleaning products around you new tank. Even spray air fresheners is can be dangerous around your tank. You don't want to accidentally get any unwanted chemicals inside your tank water.

Utar said:

Here is a picture of my 29-gallon Pleco tank. I used top soil capped with sand. This very similar to what you are doing. This is my third tank doing this, and in time the plants will grow wild because they really like the soil. I strongly suggest you have root plants in your tank to take advantage of the soil. The roots will help stop the build up of dangerous gases that can get trapped underneath the sand. Also get a good liquid fertilizer to help get your plants started.

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Here is a picture of my 55-gallon tank at about seven months after I set it up and planted it. The plants grew like crazy. I have since cut back the plants due to all the baby plecos, and having to catch them to move them to their own tank. So this is now an old picture but it does show how well the plants will grow using soil in the substrate.
View attachment 136774

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Thank you for this, it’s a bit scary moving away from the “norm” but the logic seems good and if I can get away from lots of chemicals etc. too.

Essjay said:

I would leave the ammonia there, as you say it will feed the plants. If it turns out the soil is leaching ammonia, you'll know that you'll have to wait to get livestock - until the plants can remove it all. But think of how lush the plants would be by then

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I think my reading says about 4 weeks to grow the plants out, I’ll have worked the balance on the water parameters by then ?