The nitrogen cycle takes longer when the capping material is so course. Because it's so course it allows the nutrients from the soil to leach into the water column delaying the cycle with every water change. All those nutrients are also causing all the algae. Try using finer material like sand, that will help progress the nitrogen cycle and help slow the algae outbreak.
The Walstad recommended substrate cap allows extensive intrusion of soil nutrients into the water column thereby reducing substrate effect and limiting the water's ability to control algae.
Here is a tip,,,,, Mix clay with ground up charcoal whilst wet,,, then bake the mixture until its rock hard and the colour has altered. The clay will seep into the micro porous structure of the charcoal then once baked it will expand which will increase the surface area and impregnate the charcoal permanently.....Consider the ratio and any other possible variables.....
Doing my first walstad tank, 10 gallon. I heavily planted it with already pretty grown plants and all my parameters checks out. Should I add shrimp or wait?
If the plants are established, there is a healthy population of beneficial bacteria, and the parameters have been ok for a while then it probably should be fine. From my experience its easier to add shrimp than fish as they're hardier and produce less ammonia, generally.
if you capped that gravel with 2 inch of sand it would be perfect. that gravel substrate cap is too thin and it leaches lots of nutrients and organics into the water column. Attach the anubias to a rock or a driftood.
Is the snail population gone? Or can they still reproduce at the size of this tank? I have a 100 liter / 26 gallons new tank and want to set it with Walstad method. My goal is to achieve an ecosystem with nearly no feeding
I have the same tank heavily planted wuth hornwort only i love hornwort i have 6 glofish doing weekly water change but now can i increase it to two week for a change i added the plants a week ago plz help new sub
Do you recommend adding an air pump to an all-natural aquarium? Is it necessary for bettas, guppies, angels or goramis? Wondering if the plants provide enough dissolved oxygen for these fishes....
how many days it takes to cycle walstad tank with top soil and used aquasoil. 1 month or more?... my jar with no filter shows 4ppm ammonia after 5 days i did 50% water change for 3days but still ammonia high and unfortunately 99% of my plants melted .. due to such high ammonia..
1 inch pit soil,2 inch sand, 70% of plant leave it for 3 days and than put in 2 or 3 fish in it..make sure your light is on for 24/7 in two weeks and sfter that adjust to 8 hours a day..mine was crystal clear and no algea at all..too bad i was using 2 feet size of aquarium,wisho bought a bit bigger than that size.
Unfortunately no, the tank kept getting covered in algae far too quickly. It was either due to an excess of nutrients or lighting. I'm currently working on another setup that should do better and that video should be released in the coming weeks.
Actually not all the time. I had a tank 2 years ago with 20 Red Cherry shrimp and 4 Pea Puffers. They did fine with eachother as I kept everyone well fed. Now it's not recommended as they will kill the shrimp. But many people have housed both with no issues.
+1 this. I've had experience with both happenning. I trusted Frank with the shrimp as I've kept them with him before with no issue. I think a big part is getting places to hide. The biggest problem I've found is when a puffer is hungry it will eat shrimp. With puffers being very picky eaters they can often not eat the frozen food or what I've experienced is sometimes they can't find it. When this happens it's bye bye to the shrimp usually. Overall if you want the shrimp to be happy and live a long time and you can't be certain of the fish's behaviour then yeah, shrimp and puffers are a bad idea
As with keeping all animals extensive research is essential and the most responsible thing todo .... Its no different with keeping fish....the motivation to question all best practice solutions is how you decipher truth from what others prefer to think for their convenience! Unfortunately in reality best practice is a long way from advanced knowledge! yet people seemingly settle at what their told by someone who suggests they know better enough to hinder any further enquiry....... do not be a sheep!
Ma infatti, cosa è meglio ascoltare una biologa come la Wastald, oppure le decine e decine di youtuber che s'improvvisano solo per vendere prodotti commerciali? Il metodo wastald sicuramente può essere rivisto aggiornato modificato ma buttarlo a mare dicendo che lei è una cretina è proprio da sciocchi tanto piu che basta guardare la realtà dei fatti, la massa degli youtuber segue il commercio che ti vende prodotti chimici e quant'altro per avere un acquario sempre limpido pulito acosto elevato, mentre chi segue il metodo wastald è sempre una minoranza guarda caso
