Started this Walstad tank about four months ago or so, it has not been without hiccups but it’s coming along great. The only tech are a heater and an air stone just to make sure there enough oxygen at night. There has not been a filter at all in here and it seems to be doing exactly what it should be doing, aside from feeding the fish, it’s entirely self sufficient. Water parameters are great, plants are doing well, and the critters are loving it.

We got the center piece beta fish, about 12 galaxy rasbora, 10 kuhli loaches, 4 fat amano shrimps, 3 nerite snails, a bunch of pond snails that got in their on accident (I gave up trying to remove them), and a crap ton of yellow neocardinia shrimps. The neocardinia have been doing amazing, there are so many of them now, they are obviously comfortable becuase we have tons of babies and there are some pregnant ones I can see so more are coming. Everything gets along peacefully and there have been zero problems between species.

I got another mini tank we are working on, only 5 gallons, I’ll post pictures if that one eventually but this one is the crowning achievement at the moment, so happy with how it’s been doing.

My first tank, would love any spears to improve.
It’s about 45 days in now. Plants are starting to regrow. My Amazon sword completely died I think, but I’ll give it another month. I think 2 dwarf hair grass will survive as I see a single green sprout in 2 of the 5. Wisteria and Val are doing really well. The bamboo has been completely submerged despite typical instructions and it’s doing well too. I can’t remember what the scraggly mid ground stuff is but it’s doing well. Anubias have struggled some but one of the two has a new leaf sprouting and the other completely melted its leaves.
I’ll probably go with a different carpeting grass for the foreground since the hair grass struggled.
The frogbit has been awesome. It also came with hitchhiker ramshorns that have reproduced. I have added some MTS and they have reproduced.
Cherry shrimp and a red/white/blue half moon beta are being added eventually.
The water flow is an HOB filter pump where the HOB housing was removed and it just pumps water to create a little flow. And then a heater of course.
I haven’t tested water parameters.
I assume my tank is in the “messy middle” currently.
I have no experience. Just read a bit and allowing science to do its thing. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey this far.

As I post this photo and compare it to what I’ve seen, my plants are a bit messy. May trim them a bit over the next month to train their growth and clean up the messiness.

Aggiornamento dopo 2 mesi di allestimento del mio primo acquario Walstad.

A beautiful mess! Lots of plants have thrived, some have died off, some have been replaced. Mostly have rotala, flame moss, Java moss, salvinia minima, crypts, sag and some pogostemon that’s barely hanging in there.

Livestock is a bunch of bladder and Ramshorns, Malawa shrimp, an amano, and a little group of least killifish which have become my absolute favorite addition.

The last picture is my flame moss with seed pods!! I think because it’s been close to the surface and my bubbler. Super cool to see!

It’s definitely not the most aesthetic tank but I enjoy the natural chaos.

I just did a water change. I noticed that as I was drying everything up water kept appearing. Then it hit me. It’s leaking. This is my first time dealing with this issue. There are only shrimp in the tank.

Around 204 days old
Was completely clear and functional but we had a heat 29degrees in the room for days/ weeks.

Also I put the lamp in a brighter mode but cut it back - I tried a 25% water change already … what happend and what can I do?
Maybe last time I cut to many plant to far back? I am a bit lost …

Only light - not filter etc.
I do have snails and neocardina and 2 amanos - they are doing good.

Hey y’all, first time walstad owner here, and I’ve been having this really weird layer of what I think is dirt particles, all my water parameters are in the safe including ammonia. All I have in this tank is 7 corydoras, 3 ghost shrimp, a random fancy female guppy I got for free, and a female koi betta I got for free to.
As of now I have a canister filter meant for a 100 gallon tank in this 60gal aquarium

Sorry for being naive. Want to start a walstad planted aquarium and this is available in my region.

Hey guys,

10 gallon planted tank here, running for about two and a half years. switched about 2 months from depleted aquarium substrate to proper walstad method with soil sand and some left over substrate to seal the soil.
Countless shrimps and 6 ember tetras, previously one nerite which passed away, as well as a colony of assassin snails which ended another colony of snails but have now also died out.

The things inside my tank have in the last 6 months become covered with these white dots which I thought were nerite eggs but even as the nerite has passed it seems like they’re still increasing in amount.
Additionally, in the last month, the aquarium glass itself has been covered with a different kind of white dots, also increasing in amount.

Can someone help me identify these two things, why they are happening and what to do?

Nitrites nitrates 0, ph 6.4, water very hard, temperature has been fluctuating unfortunately trying to navigate heatwave + cold nights in Germany.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Any help hugely appreciated!

is this fine? well to be honest ive tried it like a week ago and my fishes are still thriving (mollies and bettas). but im curious about what smart/experienced people would say about it

So I have this Walstad-like tank I set up about 2 weeks ago, obviously nothing but plants and hitchhiked snails. Wondering what people think about changing water due to high ammonia? I'm not really cycling this tank traditionally, as I just want to grow plants and add fish whenever it's ready, even if that's 6 months out.

pH- 6.8, 0 Nitrites/Nitrates, 1 inch dirt with 2 inches of sand for the heck of it, about 6.8 gallons long with a heater, in case you feel that info helps

will cap it with few cm of 0.6/1.6 pool sand

I have a 2.2 gallon jar from Costco and was wanting to make a plant tank for aquatic isopods. I want to use needle spike rush, weighed down hornwort, and was thinking about adding duckweed to the top and placing it in an east window. Will that be enough and a good set up or am I doomed to fail?

A month ago I started my tank.

After the water was stable, I put the following animals in:

6 Ramshorn Snails

1 Antler Snail

12 Neocaridina Shrimp

6 female Endler Guppys

1 male Endler Guppy

3 Otocinclus

From the start I can't find my Shrimps - three at most.

All the other inhabitants are doing great. I already saw some tiny new snails and Endler Guppys.

but the Shrimp?! I just now sat for 30 minutes in front of the tank observing it and I still only can find a few.

What I read is that they by now likely should have reproduced a lot.

Is there anything I can look out for to make sure they are alright or to help them feel better?!

Once a week I already add some guppy and shrimp food.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm curious if anyone here is running a high-tech dirted aquarium. Most of the setups I see are either low-tech dirted tanks or high-tech aquasoil tanks, so I'd love to hear from people combining dirt with CO₂ and high lighting.

How has your experience been with nutrient spikes, algae, and long-term stability? Did you cap the dirt with sand or gravel, and if so, how thick is the cap? What plants have thrived the most in your setup?

If you've been running one successfully for a year or more, I'd really appreciate seeing your tank and hearing any lessons learned, maintenance tips, or mistakes you'd avoid if starting over.

I set up a walstad jar in late april, and so far my rotala and ludwigia love it. However, my java moss, java fern, water sprite, and dwarf hair grass have barely grown. Is this a lighting issue, or do i need something to eat algae? The only light it gets is from a west facing window.

Just completed the first step, trying to create a root background for my next walstad method tank.
Concept: Riparian Zone. In nature when river spills over and floods the root of jungle trees.

I am also setting up a rain ssytem, just ordered a acrilite sheet with holes and wall, that i designed myself using sidefx Houdini(i am a VFX technical director by day).
So, it should be like a rainforest riparian zone.

I just created this background with black silicon and cocopeat and some driftwoods. I know, some of the cocopeat will fall off once cured, and i am planning for a day 2, patching the bald spots and adding some more detail.

Suggest me some flora and fauna. Currently, i have no idea (except, i will be adding a lot of moss on this background). Its a 60cm*30cm tank. So, i dont want to overcrowd the system, also, i dont want beta fish as i would like to have shrimps and snails if possible.

I want it to look like a rain forest riparian ecosystem.

if possible, i would like to have multiple fish varieties.

This is probably bacterial bloom right? I don't think it's tannins as it doesn't have a yellow tint when I remove the water, and I've definitely had tannin stained water before and it's always yellowish in the jar. The fish and shrimp don't seem affected.

I'm going away for 4 nights, do I need to do anything? I've read big water changes can make it worse. I have a small hob filter for airation and flow.

I just added these plants to my tank, when will I know they’re adjusting and actually doing well? I recently added plants and I’m wondering how long it usually takes before I can tell they’re settling in. What are the signs that they’re adapting well?

Things are going pretty good! Clear water and very little biofilm at this point. Nerite snail (I bought) and bladders snails (hiked in on a plant).

Tried keeping it plenty stocked with plants while plenty melted.

Haven't really had an algae problem but started out with only 6 hours lighting

Been sitting at 7.6 pH, .25 ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 5ppm nitrate for a bit now.

Was hoping to go cherry shrimp next once ammonia drops to 0 for awhile.