# Questions about my 30 gal aquarium ala Walstad



## justjulie (Aug 16, 2010)

I stumbled across Diana Walstad's book on Amazon and bought it because it was so highly reviewed. Many thanks to all those who posted five-star reviews, and to Diana herself, for introducing me to a really fun hobby!

My husband and I set up a 10-gal about a month ago and it's going great. On Saturday we went to a thrift store and found a 30-gal set up for $30! Now the expensive part comes in: getting enough plants and light for a 30-gallon tank. So here are my questions:

1) What online plant retailers can you recommend? There are three pet stores in my area but none of them have a good selection of plants. I looked at the trading section on APC and I'll probably try a few plants from there, but I still need more. Any suggestions would be appreciated--including websites to avoid.

2) We located our tank in front of some VERY LARGE east-facing windows. The windows are 4.5' tall and 16' wide. There's direct sunlight for a couple hours in the morning, and then really good indirect sunlight for the rest of the day. As for artificial light, the tank only came with one 18" fluorescent--the other was missing. We will go buy some sort of fixture(s) because that's obviously not enough. But how much light is too much? With as much natural light as we get, I'm worried that I'll add too much artificial. I have read on other threads that the watt-to-gallon ratio should be between one to three watts per gallon. So should I aim for just one watt? One and a half? 

I'm also very confused about all the different options out there--T5, T8, T12, etc. I can understand CFLs--they have the wattage listed right on them and they have one standard size. But tube fluorescents? It's pretty much all greek to me. For instance, I just found one fixture that has 68 Fixture Wattage, 40 Lamp Watts. What's that all about--how many watts do you actually get from that? What would you buy? I need to keep it somewhat aesthetically pleasing, but I don't want to spend a hundred dollars on it, either. Aargh.

3) Which snails do you like? My husband used to keep aquariums and he thinks I'm nuts for believing that we should have some snails (like Diana says in the book). I told him about clown loaches, and he's willing to give it a try. So what kind of snails should we get? Or are they all created equal?

4) I feel like I should be testing "stuff." Maybe I just think it would be fun to know the ph and the ammonia levels and stuff. What do you test for? Should I get a kit with tests for ph and nitrates and ammonia and water hardness (I already know it's very hard water, but not specifics) and "stuff?"

Thanks in advance for some help--I'm really looking forward to getting this tank set up and I'll make sure to post pictures.


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

I can not answer all your questions because lighting is confusing to me as well. I would aim for 1.5 to 2 watts per gallon, but i do not know how to account for the sunlight. Clown loaches get huge, i would not recommend them for your tank. Snails are great, and their population is directly linked to how much you feed the tank. If you overfeed, you will have lots of snails. If you do not want breeding snails, you could get nerite snails. they are the best snails for algae eating in my opinion, but they leave eggs on your walls, plants, and decorations. the eggs will not hatch in freshwater, but are similar in size and color to sesame seeds. They are hard to remove but you get used to them, and they go away eventually. Honestly, you will probably get other "pest" snails somehow in your tank, but as long as you do not overfeedd they will keep their own population in check. They will also eat excess food, algae, and dead plant matter. 

do you know about the nitrogen cycle? food and waist breakes down into ammonia, which is toxic to fish. It is removed by plants and converted into nitrite by benificial bacteria. Nitrite is also toxic to fish, but thankfully it is also absorbed by plants and converted into nitrate by other bacteria. In a convential aquarium without plants, none of it is absorbed by plants, and all ammonia is eventually converted into nitrate, which is fine for fish in low levels. Nitrate would then be removed by water changes. In a NPT, there are biological processes as well as plants to remove the nitrate. This cycle keeps the fish alive, so it is important to know how much of each substance is in the water (ammonia and nitrite should be zero, nitrate should be less than 40ppm) I would recommend API master test kit, i have found it more reliable than cheaper test strips, and it also will last longer.

I do my plant shopping locally, not online so i cant help there, sorry.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Howdy justjulie,

1) buying on the for sale or trade forum here is usually the cheapest way to get any quantity of plants, plus the quality is generally superior to what you'll find elsewhere (IME).

2) I have black backgrounds on my tanks to keep sunlight out (I buy backing online cause it's cheaper than the pet stores, even with shipping), and I run 6 wpg on a 3 gallon, 2.5 wpg on a 10 gallon, and just under 1.9 wpg on a 125 gallon. I also have an emmersed set up, but wpg, while it is right at 2.4 wpg, doesn't really count in this case. Lighting is tricky, but in the end your plants and the tank will settle in more or less with what you provide. Decide first what plants you want to grow and that will tell you whether you need high, medium, or low lighting. Check out a few tanks in the journals forums and see what different folks are getting with various systems. I run T5 HO except in the picotope (CFL).

3) I love ALL snail EXCEPT the big apple snails and mystery snails (veg eaters). Snails I've kept that breed redily and will eat the bad stuff, including dying vegetation, are ramshorn, pond snails, and Malaysian trumpet snails. The only snail I know of that eats green spot algae is the nerite that potatoes mentioned. I can only keep trumpet snails anymore because my Apistogramma LOVE the way they taste (they have a tougher time eating the trumpets, so I maintain a good population of them). 

4) I have never tested for anything, so I am no help there.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!!!!!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

JustJulie, I am a beginner too, with about as much experience as you have. But something occurs to me about your lighting situation because I have some shrimp bowls set up in a sunny window.

Get a light fixture that will give about 2 wpg, but don't use it during the day. In the morning your tank will get lots of sunlight (you may need to shade it some). In the afternoon the natural light will be much less intense, allowing CO2 levels to rebound. Turn the lights on only in the evening for about 4-5 hours. This will approximate the "siesta schedule" that Walstad describes in her book: 5 hours on, 4 hours off, 5 hours on. CO2 level rises at night, but is depleted by photosynthesis at the end of 5 hours of light. The siesta of low light allows CO2 level to rise so that it can be used again during the second bright light period.

Like most people, I've found the subject of lighting very confusing. Short of using a PAR meter to actually measure light levels, we are all guessing. But with some experimentation, I bet you could make the siesta work. You will probably need to adjust for seasonal changes in light, running the lights longer during the winter to compensate for reduced sunlight.

On sources for plants, try to join a local aquatic plant club, or as least locate some other hobbyists close by. Water plants grow like WEEDS, and anyone who is even moderately successful with planted aquaria will have extras to give you.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

justjulie said:


> I just found one fixture that has 68 Fixture Wattage, 40 Lamp Watts. What's that all about--how many watts do you actually get from that?


To me that means the light fixture was designed to take a maximum of 68 watts and the bulb in that fixture happens to output 40 watts.

In my 30-gallon Walstad-tank (not against a window), I have no problem with a single 30-watt T8 bulb. But I use only low light plants in that tank.



justjulie said:


> 3) Which snails do you like?


I like pond snails for their relatively small size. Unless I overfeed a tank which causes the snails to quickly multiply, the snails are like "invisible" agents doing their cleaning job.


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