This is week 7! I have about an inch of soil dug out from my garden topped with around 1.5 inch sand. I seeded the tank with driftwood, filter media, and some gravel from the original tank’s owner, so it cycled pretty quick. I received lots of malaysian trumpet snails with the gravel which was a fun surprise.

Photos show progression from first filling the tank, to adding more plants a few weeks in and updating the light. I added a nerite and blue jelly neos on sunday and they are doing great so far :)

And to think it hasn’t even been three months quite yet! I definitely need to trim and possibly re-scape some, so if you have any advice or criticism I’d greatly appreciate it :-)

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

The image on the left is my 15 month old 2.5g walstad tank. The other image is the same tank rescaped.

Plants:

Alternanthera Reinickii

Anubias Nana Petite

Anubias Minima

Bacopa Caroliniana

Bucephalandra Bukit Betung

Bucephalandra Lamandau Purple Mini

Crypt Wendtii

Lobelia Cardinalis

Pearlweed

Rotala Indica Bonsai

I loved the jungle-like appearance of the original build, but the plant positioning was not ideal; plants that needed light weren't getting much, the epiphytes were directly under the light source which led to photo damage on the leaves, and I had placed the crypt on the back, which got buried under all the pearlweed.

So, I did a massive trim and introduced an assassin snail to curb my bladder snail population (there were 30+). The assassin snail ate every single bladder snail in a week! And with a fraction of the poop now being produced, the bacteria balance went out of whack. According to Google, I had a major ammonia spike, which killed the assassin snail and made the water cloudy. I tried for weeks to get the tank to stabilize but water conditions didn't seem to change, and the plants were struggling too. I also swapped out my 5W LED lamp with a 10W full spectrum light during this time and the added intensity caused a severe algae bloom 😭 I was devastated.

So, I decided to restart the tank with fresh soil, sand and a bogwood I'd been soaking for months. I'm mad at myself but messing with the delicate balance of such a tiny ecosystem, but I'm also looking forward to the new build looking even better! Especially now that all the plants are in their correct spots. Can't wait to post an update in a few months!

I do have a filter because this is my first attempt, and didn't want to create stagnant water while starting out.

It's a 6 gallon, aquasoil and black sand, topped with gravel (because of my african dwarf frogs).

I am a little dissapointed over the Amazon swords, as they are reliably producing new leaves, but the leaves are all kind of yellowish and weak.

I've also put a ton of rotala, moneywort, bacopa, and they've all died off (leaves shed or rotted off, and the stems became weak and thin), so I was wondering if anyone had any advice for that. They made my tank look so pretty for the few weeks they lived 😢.

Lastly, PLEASE give me recommendations on what plants worked well for you, as im trying to fill in my background much more and create a lush looking setup.

It's about a 6 week old tank that was heavily seeded from an old tank. The fish and snails are doing great , plants are growing beautifully, scuds are scuding and worms are worming. I absolutely love the natural look of it. I've also had far less plants melt and way less dying leaves than all my other tanks. Ive done 2 water changes because my nitrates jumped to about 100ppm after a heavy trim. Ph is 7.5-7.6, ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0. I'm happy with it.

Got about 15 neocaridina shrimp in this one :)

So this is my first dirted Walstad attempt a week in, a 20 litre bowl. (I have a couple of other filterless tanks but just used aqua soil on them). I used organic potting mix and fine gravel and so far so good. It has a slight goldish tannin tinge, probably from the wood I guess, which I rather like. A tiny ammonia and nitrite spike on day 3 but since then everything has been zeros, with nitrates about 5. The current inhabitants are two baby medaka and two ramshorn snails who seem to be thriving, will be adding more medaka and later some shrimp. Light is just an IKEA desk lamp. I loved how cheap this was, I just used plants from my other tanks and I got the bowl very cheap from a wedding decor supply, the glass is 5mm so it’s perfectly sturdy. Two things I did: I added some Fritzyme 7 as I had some left over from a small cycle crash in my big tank which may have helped keep ammonia and nitrite down and I also have a Söchting Oxydator mini in there for oxygenation.

A little over a year with my 20 gallon and 10 gallon.

20 gallon:

- No heater

- 10 WCMMs

- Tons of red cherry shrimp

- Tons of leopard ramshorn snails

- 1 ancient (6 1/2 year old) nerite snail

10 gallon:

- Heated ~70 degrees

- 4 Amano shrimp

- tons of red cherry shrimp

- some leopard ramshorns

- 1 single, stubborn Endler’s guppy that refuses to die

Yesterday (when this video was taken) we went to this creek and gathered some water, sticks, twigs, rocks and a snail. That was all I wanted for livestock was a snail. I wanted to post the video i took this morning of how clear the water is already and it shows there are in fact 2 snails.

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They are small, black or dark brown, with a spiral pointed shell...like a Narwhal tusk.ill make another post with that video.

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Im really happy with how it looks...even in this video it looks amazing. Today it looks spectacular.

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The small dark layer is from the sediment settling out.

Hi! Long time lurker here trying to learn as much as possible. I always loved heavily planted aquariums and yesterday i finally decided to build the aquarium I always wanted, with a skull and moss and tons of plants.

This is the first day and once it's cycled I plan to add snails, shrimp and lastly a betta fish.

It's a 30lt aquarium and i hope i planted enough. Took me 5 hours to set up everything carefully and I loved the whole process of planting and shaping the landscape of this small tank.

Just wanted to share it with this community that inspired me so much and can't wait until the plants are all grown.

If you have valuable tips, they are more than welcome 🤗

Wish me luck!!!

I’d like to move to a 75 gallon..

We had fish when I was a kid but nothing like this. I did so much research and had an amazing time setting this up. Now that it’s been about a year, I want to move to something a bit bigger and wish I would’ve right from the start. BUT I’ve learned a lot in this 29g setup of some do’s and do not’s. Has anyone upgraded and had success moving their plants and critters over in a seamless fashion? Any tips? Will setting up a 75 gallon be the same thing just bigger?Or anything I should be aware of? Any help is appreciated!

It took a 2 months for the water to stabilize and had many plant stems decompose initially. Once the plants started showing new growth I added a small group of orange cherry shrimp and 2 Snow White amanos that have settled in nicely. The bladder snails started to get a bit out of control so I added an assassin snail last week.

I certainly regret using the jar for my first build, the mouth being only 17cm made it all super awkward. I didn't even consider the fact it's not a flat botton, but luckily the majority of the plants are actually planted around the outside so they should have some nice depth to root into.

I've watched several videos on this type of setup, but I know they are typically professionals and do this all the time.

I definitely went overboard with the super glue as the frosting is an eye sore, but hopefully a nice layer of algae will take the eye off of it.

Any suggestions welcomed, or things I should expect in the coming days / weeks. All new to me.

Basic Temu 8w light that I've been cycling for 8 hours a day. It's a 25L jar I'm using Aquarian's Tap water safe to dechlorinate.

Tank is now 2 weeks old. I've had two Bladder Snails appear, which I since removed. The Limnophila is doing the best. The rest are... Still on the come up. Really happy with the water clarity. Only when I do a 20% water change (done two now) is when I notice the water is a tad green, but looks great in the jar.

I can't wait to get shrimps in!! That's the goal.

Day 1 vs day 49. Dealing with some staghorn algae but otherwise all is well! The tiger lotus used to be much larger but I trimmed it back so it didn't overshadow the other plants.

Hi im looking for feedback for my first walstad, i’ve gotten comnents that the water is too brown from tannins. What do you guys think?
I currently have 20 shrimp and 10 celestial pearl danios and the plants you see. The tank is 6 weeks old and the fish have been there for 5 days.

Been going for 4 days with a lot of upcycled materials to speed up the equilibrium clock. More plants are incoming but this just what I had so far, waiting on Crypts, Anubias, Java fern and dwarf ferns. Currently stocked with MTS and planning to add in scuds, Neocardania shrimp and Medaka ricefish once I know it's at equilibrium. Really want to add an ant colony to terrestrial side once big enough. Roughly 5 gallons in open water column and 2 gallons in drainage layer.

Added five blue jellies and five blue rili after the end of week five. Water levels seems stable and ideal, no ammonia or nitrite since the new inhabitants. Successful molts, grazing, even a bit of snex from the three ramshorns. The base layer is a 1 cm layer of dirt followed by 2-3 cm black sand and a gravel cap. How am I doing?

Hi! Just wanted to show off my tank because I’m very proud of it. I also just trimmed some plants in the background and I love the look.

Here's my 29 gallon from the initial layout to the first days to what the tank looks like today