# Walstad method in saltwater



## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

@dwalstad do you know if it’s possible to make a sumpless skimmerless reef Tank with a focus on macroalgae and micropredators and inverts having lots of hiding areas and things doing rare water changes and having stable parameters able to keep soft corals alive? People on a reefing forum are saying I’m being an idiot about wanting to do it and I need to spend over 1000$ for some weird glofish acropora tank with skimmers and reactors which I hate. Do you have advice for doing a saltwater tank?


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I’m gonna use a 75G rated hob and a reverse UG


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## Dude (Nov 14, 2018)

This reminds me of a video I stumbled upon a while ago. Unfortunately, he doesn't really go into a whole lot of detail, but it sounds similar to what you're wanting to do.


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## Hank Junior (Oct 1, 2020)

I would go for it and maybe look into 'miracle mud'. Its actually out of the ocean. I applaud your spirit of discovery and willingness to break the rules - breaking aquarium rules is how we learn imo. I have always ignored 'the rules' - been using soil/natural sunlight etc for years despite all the books and aquarium stores that tell you not to. Currently experimenting with fresh water muds with varying success (my present problem is inadequate nutrients in the muds I am using, some natural muds out of ponds with native plants growing in the ponds and some I have created myself from various soil types) so I am still dependent on liquid fertilisers to some extent. Am only trying to grow plants not manage water quality - have no fish, only fresh water fauna - worms, daphnia, some sort of miniature shrimp looking creature and plants. From what I can tell certain native plants have specific nutrient needs/substrate PH/clay content etc which suits that plant but not others. It is very complicated and alot of trial and error but the problem with liquid nutrients is green-water - I get too much of it. My mud tanks are almost completely clear water.

I know nothing about marine aquariums but if I was doing marine I would be experimenting with mud. The supplier of miracle mud claims that the fish require the chemicals in the mud for their health - makes sense to me.

I recently asked an aquarium store if I could buy the fresh-water version of miracle mud, just out of curiosity, and the guy looked annoyed by the question - seems that deep substrates/mud is a controversial topic in fish stores as an alternative method of aquarium water quality management.

Whatever you do I suggest you start small. Almost all of my experiments are small tanks less than 10L. Problem with small tanks and sunlight is overheating in summer - something I have to keep any eye on. For me 20L is the break even point (I have larger tanks but most are tiny) - the tank size I can leave in the sunlight and not get over 30 degrees C in 2-3 hours of direct sunlight, as I get very hot summers. My smaller tanks I have to move around depending on the season. I have tried micro-tanks, less than 1 litre with plants and soils/various substrates in them, in clear plastic containers but have found that evaporation and topping up becomes an endless problem in summer. Another experiment for me at the moment is along the lines of bacteria films. That scum you get on the water surface. Have found it has a very negative effect on the carbon dioxide levels in my aquaria - potentially killing my fauna and flora. Have noticed that in my natural light tanks I get no film on the water surface at all. In my artificial LED tanks I get a heavy scum on the surface which needs constant attention. Seems that the UV light has antibacterial qualities?


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