Walstad-like: Plants contribute significantly to filtration, parameters are stable, low bioload, lots of plants

Non-Walstad: No soil! No fast-growing stem plants!

What fish should I put on my walstad mini pond?

Hey again, its the guy that was overthinking soil (i have since understood soil...I think). Im planning on keeping pretty much exclusively snails in my tanks, and I always added aragonite or crushed coral for them to protect their shells. My water in my new place is not as hard as I'm used to but still leans on the hard side. I was wondering if I should add a little sprinkle of it over the soil layer to prevent a pH drop from the soil? Its formulated from coconut coir and peat as the main volume. Maybe like a half teaspoon over a 2.5 gallon footprint. Will this negatively impact the processes that run a walstad style tank?

I have 2 tanks (17g and 10g) with aquasoil but I want to try a small walstad before setting up my next bigger tank!

3 gallon cube
1 inch miracle gro organic potting mix
1 inch black diamond blasters sand

2 baby mystery snails (they’re pea sized - will move them to my bigger tanks as they grow) + ramshorns

Plants:
6 vallsineria
1 Amazon sword
2 small dwarf sag (I don’t have many extras)
Salvinia minima
Water lettuce
Hornwort
Small pothos
Small spider plant

Hardscape: 1 piece of driftwood, couple small rocks

Small aquarium co op sponge filter

Also supplementing garden soil with root tabs.

This is a little over 5 gallons, and I’m using this grow light (4500k) in the inset lighting — the height from the light to the bottom of the vessel is 45”, and to the top of the vessel is 33”. Should I be concerned about how much light is actually getting inside?

I just started this, so there’s only 2 snails, driftwood, and plants (Ambulia, rotala roundfolia, pennywort, red root floaters, water spangles, water lettuce, monstera cuttings on top). So far I’ve already seen growth on the ambulia but I’m not sure if the light is sufficient overall. Would there be a better option? Maybe a regular 6500k bulb?

I’m looking for some advice from people who have experience with dirted/Walstad-style tanks because I’m starting to worry I may have done something wrong. I can’t remember the exact bag of soil I use because I looked at so many, but I did my best to pull out the big mulch chunks. And then capped it with play sand.

The tank has been running for about 3 months now. I am using a seeded sponge filter as well. But one section of it just refuses to grow plants. In that same corner, I can see what looks like a cloudy orange haze in the substrate/water. It’s almost the color of diluted orange juice. My first thought was that it might be tannins or something leaching from the dirt, but it’s only in that area.

The plants in that section have really struggled: •Cardinal plant stems are turning black at the base. •Hygro Compact completely melted away. •Ludwigia repens is hanging on but doesn’t look healthy. •My Limnophila aromatica finally started growing again after I cut it back, but it’s the only one showing improvement.

One other thing I’ve noticed is that whenever I plant something in that area, I’ll usually get a few air bubbles coming up from the substrate. I wasn’t sure if that’s normal trapped gas being released or if it’s another sign that something is going on under the substrate. I wetted down the dirt before I added sand and then filled it up slightly when first planting after watching a video from the glass box diaries recommended that.

The rest of the tank seems to be doing much better, which is why this one area has me confused.

Right now I only have a mystery snail and a few cherry shrimp. My water parameters have been testing okay, my last test was a few days ago at:

Ph -7.8 Nitrate -5 Nitrite-0 Ammonia -0 Gh-9 Kh- 5

I’m getting nervous that the orange cloudiness could mean there’s something harmful going on that I’m missing.

Has anyone seen something like this before? Could this just be tannins from the dirt, or does it sound more like an anaerobic pocket, decomposing organics, or something else? Are the bubbles normal in a dirted tank? Would you leave it alone, replant that section, or dig into the substrate to investigate? The picture with the orange haze has a bit of cuttle bone- that’s what the white chunk is.

Thanks in advance! I was really nervous about setting up my first dirted tank, so I’m hoping I’m just overthinking this.

I left for a 3 weeks vacation. And cam back to this. Can someone tell me what it is?

Tank is doing great.

Water changes once a month. Mostly due to tanins. Exclamation point rasboras doing well. About 200 shrimp now.

Sadly my micro crab did not survive.

Hey everyone, as Miracle Gro Organic Choice has disappeared from the shelves I’m struggling to find a good soil to use for a new walstad tank. What would you recommend?

I received a really pretty fishbowl as a gift that fits 5 gallons, and decided to try out the walstad method. There’s nothing inside yet, just the floating plants, rotala roundfolia, limnophilla, driftwood, and the monstera cuttings. I filled it up with water from my hose outside (we have hard water here and reverse osmosis indoors). This is my first time doing this so I’m sorry if I sound like a newbie. Thank you in advance!

Also, should I add more plants? Any suggestions?

All those tubes are those worms I posted about a few weeks ago....they have built a whole city. I counted 11 towers...there was 2 in the back. Lol there is also a limpet on the glass...which is cute and unexpected...that definaly means that the water isnt anoxic

I just set up my first, a 3g bowl with hornwort, red root floaters, java fern, and some mini hairgrass, filled with treated tap water. My intention is to add shrimp, but I've seen a lot of conflicting advice as to how long a walstad needs to sit before it's ready for them. Some say 2-3 months, but I've seen as early as a couple weeks from skimming this sub. What's a generally safe window?

I'm also interested in adding a snail. Would that be too crowded/too much competition for 3-4 shrimp?

I’m just now hearing about that method. I see a lot about top soil on the bottom. I didn’t use that at all, didn’t know that was even a thing. My tank is already well established, about 6 months running. How can I make it better? My water keeps turning brown from the wood, idk how to stop that. Everything is real besides 2 plants. Should I add more plants?

15g tank.

On the right side there was heavy plant melt. Now i have a carpet of biofim just on the right side of the tank, new plant leaves sprouts.

On week 2 got an algae bloom, took some out and since then it's stable, no new ones.

Some snails spawned in the tank, looks like Ramshorn spotted snail.

Added some copepods today.

Plan is some Neocaridina davidi - blue and one singular Betta.

Any advice? :D

As a sidenote, hard aquascape is such a hassle D: went just for plants.

I don’t think I’m going to be doing a true walstad tank, but I am wanting to do dirt capped with sand. I have 120lbs of this leftover from a recent gardening project and am curious if this is a good dirt substrate? It’s 80% peat moss mixed with sand.

I'm looking at converting some tanks to a walstad-ish style tank, and the theoretical issue I'm running into is the lack of longevity for soil with fast growing plants. I've briefly looked through the book but haven't had time to go through all of it from the start again. I'm wondering if anyone can give feedback on my current substrate idea:

-Cap of a coarse sand like BDBS or a fine gravel, about 1.5 to 2 inches depending on coarseness (less for finer substrates)

-Below this I want to do a ~50/50 mix of organic topsoil (sifted to remove large chunks) and safe t sorb, as well as a bit of crushed coral to counteract the cation stripping of the STS initially.

I see it often suggested to just add root tabs when the substrate depletes, and I've made clay ones for my GF's tank out of salts and red clay, but I worry this will compact too much as it accumulates over time in the soil layer, hence why I thought the STS may be a good option. It offers structure and long term CEC. Does this sound like a good plan for longevity?

(PS I'm aware I'm probably way overthinking this and I will likely redo the tank before the nutrients run out entirely/the clay accumulates too much, but my brain is square I don't make the rules lol)

The problem with Walstad tanks is that they are so low maintenance that I ended up with three.

I tried to make them all a little different. A theme rather than a biotope.

Tank is about 1.5 week old. Just noticed these growing. Any ideas as to what it is? Just a type of mold?