# New Walstad tank 55L



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everybody! Just started my first Walstad method tank and super excited about this! Many years ago I had a "high-tech" tank and always felt it was too unnatural for me, being a scientist myself . So, here it goes! Hopefully the wood will not cause any anaerobic issues. Let me know what you think and would recommend to be successful. After 5 days (see photos), some plants show a good growth already. Greetings from Switzerland.


----------



## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC! We love to hear from international members.

Problems with wood usually come if the wood is directly covering a large area of soil. (Stone can cause problems in this situation too.) Your piece is mostly vertical and this will help.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thanks Michael! As I was a bit into aquascaping before, I decided to give it a try in a NPT tank. If it doesn't work I will just remove it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Great start! Swordplants are the perfect fit for a 55 gal.

Minor Point. Make sure that those reddish stem plants are not all bunched together. That clump in the middle looks like it could be spread out a little.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thank you for the recommendation Diana! I will spread a little bit more the red plants. It's Alternanthera reineckii and I'm actually surprised how fast it's growing.The sword plants were my first choice for the tank of this size. 


Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Glad you identified the reddish plant. I wasn't sure if it was Alternanthera marcandra, another beautiful red stem plant that seems to do well in NPTs.


----------



## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

So under the gravel,you have potting soil?..It looks like you skipped that. Potting soil will degrade and basically become a gas...so maybe mix some backyard clay soils for longer term use.
I still use potting soils and some dirt in my potted plants...Others can get by in the sand and gravel mix.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

I used potting soil but from the photo it's not really clear. And it seems it's quite rich, maybe too much? I'm starting to see some detritus worms. Probably will do some water change today. Thanks for the advice.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## zahtar (Sep 29, 2019)

Nice start! I really like the way that the sword plant hides the heater!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thanks zahtar! It's quite close to the heater so I might have to put a protection cover on the heater to avoid burning.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

pedrom said:


> I used potting soil but from the photo it's not really clear. And it seems it's quite rich, maybe too much? I'm starting to see some detritus worms. Probably will do some water change today.


Pure potting soil is fine. (Trust me, it won't degenerate into a gas!) I like that you made substrate just about the right depth for this tank. I wouldn't worry about worms. They're a bonus. They'll either aerate the substrate or be live food for future fish!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thank you Diana! I did as you recommend in your book. Hopefully soon I will be able to add some Amano or red cherry shrimps and a snail. Afterwards probably a Beta fish or some guppies, not sure yet.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everyone! After 10 days, here is a quick update if someone is interested.

The levels of ammonia drop to 0 mg/L, pH has always been at 8 but nitrite still at 1mg/L. Nitrates maintain at 25mg/L.
I did my first big water change 2 days ago (roughly 70%) and before, all values were exactly the same with the exception of ammonia that was 0.5mg/L. So, things are getting better and as soon as nitrite drop to 0mg/L, I can add fish.

Although, I do see that the biofilm formed it's almost opaque. Is this normal? I was not expecting that would be so thick.

Unfortunately, as someone wrote in this forum (sorry, don't know exactly who and which post), I started to see some holes on the althernera reineckii but all other plants are growing quite well.

Thank you for reading!


Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

pedrom said:


> Although, I do see that the biofilm formed it's almost opaque. Is this normal? I was not expecting that would be so thick.


If you have a thick biofilm floating on the surface, I would probably remove it. You can scoop it up with a cup.

Sounds like you could add some animals very soon!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thank you for the advice, Diana. Just did it!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everybody! As I mentioned before, the althernera reineckii is unfortunately, kind of struggling... Specially the bottom leaves. Although, the upper leaves seem to go well and even growing some roots (pic 2). Would it make sense to cut it below the new roots and plant it?

I know red plants on NPT tanks are difficult to maintain but I'm trying .

Thanks in advance for your input!


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Alternanthera reineckii always has aerial roots like yours has. Those roots don't mean you should prune the plants and replant them with the roots in the substrate. My experience with that plant is that it is difficult to grow without getting black brush algae growing on it. Too little light and the bottom leaves die. Too much light and BBA attacks. But, it is worth the effort because it is always a bright red color. Whether it works well in an El Natural tank I don't know.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thanks for the input.
I guess I don't have enough light for it then, maybe also because of the siesta. Nevertheless, I will keep it as it is and if it doesn't succeed I will try another red plant species.


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would try spreading at least one of those bunches of _A. reineckii_ out a little. They look like they're all clumped together. That said, the plants look healthy to me. (Bottom leaves will naturally senesce and drop off.)


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

In fact, they look quite cramped together. Will spread them more. I would have said the same but as some people mentioned here, they seem not to be successful in NPT tanks. Maybe I will be lucky 
Thank you for your advice Diana!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

So, after almost one month, everything is perfect to add some habitants .
I will have some Amano and red cherry shrimps and a nerite snail.
What fishes and how many would you guys recommend?
Thanks a lot for your input!


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I would use no more than 10 fish, 1 to 1.5 inch adult size, and all of them the same species. Less than 8 same species fish could end up with social problems. And, schooling fish look best with at least that many. I would try to pick fish that don't try to use the shrimp for food.


----------



## Guibang (Nov 11, 2019)

I have Celestial pearl danio in a 55L tank. They're great. And they don't eat shrimps


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thanks Guibang and hoppycalif!


----------



## Pendulum (Oct 13, 2014)

This is my NPT from several years ago ( this was the first)










Alternathera reinecki did quite well.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

That's gorgeous!


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Beautiful tank! Thanks for posting picture.

And we can add _A. reinecki_ to the list of red plants for NPTs.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

A short update after approximately 1.5 months. Everything seems to be fine. I stopped to control the parameters and don't do any water changes anymore, just topping up. Added guppy's, neons, Amano and red cherry shrimps and nerite snails. Nevertheless, the water is a little bit cloudy but everybody seems happy . Is it something I should be concerned?

By the way, once I did a water top up at the tank limit and next day couldn't find one of the nerite snails. It felt from the tank and was on the back, on the floor. Don't know for how long was there, but survived! I was in shock...


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Cloudiness could be from green water algae. No emergency. However, you could do a water change and then reduce the lighting SLIGHTLY. 

The plants seem to be growing well. Eventually, they should outcompete the algae. Sometimes, GWA just goes away serendipitously without any manipulations.


----------



## bertha (Sep 19, 2018)

great start, congrats


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

dwalstad said:


> Cloudiness could be from green water algae. No emergency. However, you could do a water change and then reduce the lighting SLIGHTLY.
> 
> The plants seem to be growing well. Eventually, they should outcompete the algae. Sometimes, GWA just goes away serendipitously without any manipulations.


I did a water change and decreased the light a bit.

Before it was also quite cloudy and started to see some cyanobacteria so I slightly increased the light and cyano disappeared.

As I decreased the light now I put another fast growing stem plant to outcompete with the algae.


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

You're using the right tools and have got the right mind set.

Good job!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thank you Diana! The best tool is definitely your book!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

And, after 2 months, with crystal clear water, happy life in the tank! Never thought I would achieve such clear water without filtration!


----------



## barongan (Jul 31, 2018)

That's a good start! I really like the sword plants hiding the stove!


----------



## zahtar (Sep 29, 2019)

Your underwater garden evolves very nicely! Congrats!

You mentioned that you stopped monitoring values some time ago, but do you happen to remember where your GH and KH were around? I am asking because you mentioned your ph was usually around 8 (much like mine) and I am also trying to keep Alternanthera reineckii (mini).

Thanks in advance!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

zahtar said:


> Your underwater garden evolves very nicely! Congrats!
> 
> You mentioned that you stopped monitoring values some time ago, but do you happen to remember where your GH and KH were around? I am asking because you mentioned your ph was usually around 8 (much like mine) and I am also trying to keep Alternanthera reineckii (mini).
> 
> Thanks in advance!


Thanks zahtar! Actually I never tested for GH and KH as my tap water is quite hard so I didn't even bother to buy the tests. Although, I can try to find out the values of the tapwater.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everybody!

Some of my plants started to develop kind of like paper leaves. Mainly the A. reineckii, but just saw the same on the bacopa caroliana, to my surprise.
I also started to see some white fungus (?) on several other plants. Could it be too many nutrients available? With this line of thought I just replaced 25% of the water to see the development. Worth to mention, I guess, that I'm constantly see a thick biofilm forming after one week of removing it.
Parameters seem to be completely fine.
Here are some photos:


http://imgur.com/D8vZlzX


Any ideas what I could do?
Thanks a in lot!


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Puzzling.  A good start that seems to have stalled... Even if the stem plants aren't doing well, other species should be coming along. For example, the two Amazon sword plants should have doubled in size. If they haven't, then you've got a tank problem. Since the tank has been set up over 2 months, the soil should have stabilized by now.

Can you not call the water department in your city for a water chemistry analysis? Would be helpful in eliminating softwater as the problem.

If this water is indeed hard (enough Ca, Mg, and K) and you've got a potting soil underlayer, then I think problem has to be coming from the driftwood. It could have started rotting and leaching DOC, explaining the constant biofilm. In addition, that DOC could be injuring plant roots. (Driftwood has caused many otherwise unexplained problems.)

I would remove the driftwood and see what happens.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thanks for your reply Diana.
The sword plants grew a lot and I already cut several leaves as they were preventing the light to go in. Also, the driftwood was previously in another tank for some years and it's position is quite vertical with just some corners touching the gravel. I guess if the wood was rotting the water should smell bad right?

After some thoughts my idea is that the stem plant that I add before, Pogostemon erectus, as a counteraction for the growth of cyanobacteria, might have induce allelopathy. I removed it yesterday.
Regarding the white fungus I didn't reach a conclusion.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

These are my tapwater parameters:

Ca: 60.7 mg/L
Mg: 8.2 mg/L
K: 1.6 mg/L
Total hardness: 185.1 mg/L


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

pedrom said:


> Thanks for your reply Diana.
> The sword plants grew a lot and I already cut several leaves as they were preventing the light to go in. Also, the driftwood was previously in another tank for some years and it's position is quite vertical with just some corners touching the gravel. I guess if the wood was rotting the water should smell bad right?
> 
> After some thoughts my idea is that the stem plant that I add before, Pogostemon erectus, as a counteraction for the growth of cyanobacteria, might have induce allelopathy. I removed it yesterday.
> Regarding the white fungus I didn't reach a conclusion.


Check underneath the driftwood to see if it is rotting on the bottom.

Your water is *plenty* hard, so that's not the problem.

Since the swordplants are doing well, it could be allelopathy or just plant competition for light, nutrients and CO2. The stem plants are usually the first to go. They do well for first few months when the soil is releasing a lot of CO2 but often die out afterwards. I would consider adding some Cryptocoryne species or some other tough rooted plants. For me, Cryptocoryne did well with sword plants and hardwater. You may just have to try out some new plant species.

The fungus could be due to DOC release from leaves and roots of dying plants. If the stem plants are truly dying, you could just pull them out and start replacing them with other species.

Maybe someone else has some ideas.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

dwalstad said:


> Check underneath the driftwood to see if it is rotting on the bottom.
> 
> Your water is *plenty* hard, so that's not the problem.
> 
> ...


Just checked and the driftwood is not rotting. I pull out one of the A. reineckii and it had quite deep roots and no signs of rotting as well. They where white, so I guess they are ok. 
Interestingly, the bacopa started to grow some new shoots below the damaged parts. Might have been competition or allelopathy.

I will wait and see and may later on add a Cryptocoryne.


----------



## JohnyMayer (Mar 30, 2020)

It was interesting to watch your fish tank 4 months journey. Good looking fish tank! Now you can truly call yourself fishtank.expert! Congratulations!


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everybody.
Unfortunately, after 6 months, my plants started to show signs of what I think is potassium deficiency (see pics below). Actually it has been like this for a while but I have been neglecting it and focused on optimizing my method of growing seeds .
Does anybody have an idea how could I increase the potassium levels without any fertilizers? I read several topics here about using K salts but not sure if this will affect the ecosystem.

Thanks a lot for your input!


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Your tank looks normal, healthy, and natural to me. Granted, the plant leaves have blemishes, but not to worry. I don't see an impending disaster.

If you want to tinker with potassium, that's great. Add a little salt substitute and see if the added KCl doesn't take away the blemishes.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Thank you for the advice Diana.

I guess something around 2 mL of KCl in 55L would be ok. I read in another post from Michael that he added 5 mL to 150L.


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

Hi everybody! Here is my tank after 8 months. I've been neglecting it on trimmings and removing dead leaves but on the other side I like to keep it as wild as possible. No water changes for the past months and no checking parameters. Some leaves die and some are growing. Fishes are healthy and thriving. At the end, I'm just letting nature taking its course 🙂. Cheers from Switzerland!


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

That is a very nice looking aquarium! You have a good variety of plants, and it looks like all of them are now doing well. I suspect you will soon (after another 6 months) you might want to prune a little. El Natural tanks are just so demanding, huh??


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

hoppycalif said:


> That is a very nice looking aquarium! You have a good variety of plants, and it looks like all of them are now doing well. I suspect you will soon (after another 6 months) you might want to prune a little. El Natural tanks are just so demanding, huh??


Thanks hoppy calif! Some blemishes and I think it lacks some potassium but the shrimps take care of them. Extremely demanding!! I've really busy by just looking at it

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------



## jatcar95 (Oct 30, 2019)

Is that marsilea in the front? How has that done in your aquarium? I have some in mine but it grows very slowly - interested to see if it just gets out-competed by the other plants, or if it can fill in a bit.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

jatcar95 said:


> Is that marsilea in the front? How has that done in your aquarium? I have some in mine but it grows very slowly - interested to see if it just gets out-competed by the other plants, or if it can fill in a bit.


I had to stop using marsilea because it grew so aggressively it covered almost everything at the bottom. I think I was using low CO2 at that time, but I'm not sure. As I recall I had little luck with it with no CO2.


----------



## jatcar95 (Oct 30, 2019)

hoppycalif said:


> I had to stop using marsilea because it grew so aggressively it covered almost everything at the bottom. I think I was using low CO2 at that time, but I'm not sure. As I recall I had little luck with it with no CO2.


Yeah, I have no CO2, so I don't have high expectations. But it looks nice and I thought I'd give it a shot


----------



## pedrom (Dec 2, 2019)

jatcar95 said:


> Is that marsilea in the front? How has that done in your aquarium? I have some in mine but it grows very slowly - interested to see if it just gets out-competed by the other plants, or if it can fill in a bit.


Initially was growing quite fast but now grows slowly. I have some variety of plants and I don't see is being out-competed by other plants. It's just not enough CO2 I believe.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


----------

