9:59 this page is so helpful. I want to start the hobby and do a no-soil no-sand hornwort shrimp build and find things around the house to put in the tank without it being cruel which means a lot of individual water testing on certain composts and rocks. Spinach, zucchini, and bananas are going to become treats.
That spinach idea is brilliant, potassium seems to be one of the common elements deficient in aquarium plants and fish food doesn't provide enough of, I think I will try to add some spinach myself.
3:21 Did you notice that the plants used in the research are all a floating plants, and or emergent leaves? These are amongst the FASTEST growing plant if you put em in a small container. Especially Duckweed (Lemna) or even Water Hyacinth. I've seen water hyacinth clogged waterways in my local reservoir, a prolific grower. these plants CAN filter the water in a little aquarium and bigger ponds.
Yea mate, floating plants are excellent for this type of tank. Water Hyacinth was banned in the UK but OATA put a press release out back in March 2023 saying its going to be unbanned so I really want to try it in a Walstad Method aquarium but I still can't find it for sale anywhere in my area :(
8:13 In my experience with the plants Egeria Densa/elodea/anachari. The plants can absorb heavy amount of calcium. It even releases them back in every strand of its leaves. my groundwater source for all my tanks had tds reading about 180-200. so that's hardwater. I'm no scientist but this is fascinating to see.
@@GlassBoxDiaries I live in Indonesia. trust me it's not suitable for aquarium ... maybe for outdoor pond is the best. Its flowers are gorgeous. even better than water lily.
Cheers man! I really like how you develop the whole video around research and the book from Mrs Walstad. I think duckweed is so good at controlling all the parameters you mention at 3:50 because it grows really fast😇 Also, this albino Cory looks really nice! Greetings
@13:40 Have you checked your free nitrogen percentage on the bag of your potting soil? Free nitrogen is water soluble and will leach, leading to ammonia spikes. You'll want to use a soil base with little to no free nitrogen and a higher amount of insoluble nitrogen.
Thats a really good point mate. Unfortunately, I use a really cheap top soil and there's nothing on the bag and even the saftey sheet on the official website says "No information available on mixture" for the section 12 insets. I will try a more expensive one once this one runs out though with no free nitrogen :)
@GlassBoxDiaries Might I suggest a brand called Fox Farm? I currently use their Ocean Forest formulation with 0% free nitrogen and 0.3% insoluble nitrogen. Day 5 and no ammonia. My first tank is running fine after a year and never spiked either
@@kinglyzard Thanks for the recommendation mate, I'm guessing you are in the USA? I'm in the UK and only one importer has it but is very expensive but I will keep an eye out for cheaper alternatives :)
Glass Box Diaries: "duckweed is the best plant for removing ammonia, and nitrite" Me: no...... NO....... NOOOOOOOOOO! **Insert Nicolas Cage bees meme** NOT THE DUCKWEED! NOOOO!
🤣 I'm the same mate, I literally spend an hour removing it from my betta tank last week, got most of it out of my Medaka and CPD tanks too before researching it and deciding I will keep it in the tanks.
@@GlassBoxDiaries I leave it in my tanks as well. I have a big stock tank with goldfish, so I have an easy disposal method, where it goes to good use. I am glad to hear that it's that beneficial though. Water comes from my tap, hard and a little alkaline, so keeping ammonia in check is important. I think I'll keep duckweed around. Just wish it slowed down JUUUSTTT a bit lol
Interesting tip about the spinach. I get potassium problems and my tanks are heavily planted. I do top ups rather than water changes. I do still have filters because I like the backup. I find my tank water will have lower nitrates than my tap water. I think a 20 to 40% water change every six months is perfectly fine, clean with the filters
As usual another great video mate! I understand those with mixed opinions on Walstad Methods. Or maybe more specifically as it relates to those who loosely advocate it with people who have little to no experience playing hard and fast with the claims such as no water changes. Thinking it will only further validate those with lazy proclivities causing more harm than good. When rather I think those people were always going to cut corners with or without dubious claims. Personally I owe a lot to those espousing the Walstad Method. It inspired me into the hobby and helped me setup a good substrate with plants. Never detected any levels of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Even though some of those same content creators would absurdly insist on not buying test kits. I do water changes too, chiefly vacuuming my internal filter of gunk, in large part because my tank is decently stocked. I remove decaying leaves too because with the presence of algae I think it shows I have enough nutrients as is. All in all I would say to anyone starting out is to learn as much as you can before buying a tank. Starting out slow and being patient with results. Being observant with what works and what doesn't as each tank is different leaning more into it's needs than what we demand of it.
This was a super helpful video, Shaun, I’m planning to setup a 29-gallon walstad tank soon. I was thinking of planting the entire back section with rotala rotundifolia, and then having a big anubias nana “island” in the middle, sort of inspired by your first 29-gallon walstad scape.
Cheers mate :). I'm playing around with a few different varieties of Hygrophila in some tanks right now but Rotala Rotundifolia is my go to plant for this type of setup, it just works in all my setups regardless of parameters. I love anubias for decoration, grazing spots, and hiding spots too, its another great, reliable plant :).
7:00 Just need to realize that doing this will lead to accumulation of anything that is in the water. Heavy metals, copper ect. As well as anything that is in the air. I use re mineralized reverse osmosis water, and I like to maintain its parameters. I keep doing my weekly 25% water changes, no matter what. Not that I use the Walstad method. I've not really seen a single example of one that I was truly impressed with. The plants all look half dead and the dirt/sand is a total eyesore.
Phytoremediation prevents heavy metal accumulation in this type of tank as you remove the heavy metals with the excess plant growth during maintenance. Table S1 in the research paper "Duckweeds for Phytoremediation of Polluted Water" has a full breakdown of the removal rates of cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, nickel, palladium, lead, and zinc by duckweed across multiple tests and the majority of them are surprisingly high with many over 80% from that plant alone. Then there are the other plants in this type of tank that help too like fast-growing stems and stolons.
Walstad book does not say you need to do water changes. She says that she does a water change every once in a while. When reading Walstad it helps to distinguish ‘the science’ from her opinions. Alot of the book is ‘her opinions’. At least that is the way I interprete her book. I completely disagree with her ‘high light’ and ‘low light’ opinion on plants (there is no science put forward on that point, only her opinion) and opinion about CO2 injection and plants (ie some plants require CO2 injection to grow). It is a fantastic book. But not all of it is science. About 10% is her opinion. Water changes is completely absent (the science).
@@jasonyang5296 I am not anti water change. I am open minded about it. I think plants for example can benefit from a water change. I don’t do them because I have other methods which do not require water changes. I do zero water changes in my non fish plant tanks. Seems to work but I may change that in future. I am simply pointing out that Walstad’s book (the method) provides no scientific basis for water changes (no evidence). It is what she does, like most hobbyists do as well. If it is in her book, I have not seen it. I have the third edition. If someone told me they had a fish tank for 5 years with healthy fish and never did a water change I would not assume they are wrong. Maybe it is possible? Some people are doing some interesting things with deep substrates (the nitrogen cycle) for example. I think we need to keep an open mind in this hobby. One reason I am skeptical about the “you must do a water change” mentality is the outdoor pond. Nobody does water changes in their artificially lined ponds or tubs and the fish seem to do fine? Why is that? An artificial pond will never get a water change, surface water run off. Only ever gets rain water and maybe some top up water from a hose. With large ponds water changes are impossible. Fish survive outdoors just fine it seems without it.
I replenish minerals etc for my plants with top ups. My tanks have high rates of evaporation so they tend to get fairly significant water top offs. Plants us these water salts so I am not concerned about the water quality over time. If anything I have the other problem. Water acidification concerns me more. That is the reason my plant tanks don’t currently need water changes. I used to use rain water for top offs. I don’t anymore. Too acidic.
Thanks for sharing mate, as I mentioned in the video, plants can help manage the TDS of the tank for a very long time, especially if you don't dose any medication :).
Great video 🙌🏻🌿
Cheers mate :)
One of your best videos, really well made.
Cheers mate :)
9:59 this page is so helpful. I want to start the hobby and do a no-soil no-sand hornwort shrimp build and find things around the house to put in the tank without it being cruel which means a lot of individual water testing on certain composts and rocks. Spinach, zucchini, and bananas are going to become treats.
Thats a great setup, its similar to a quarantine tank I used this last summer and the shrimp were thriving in it :).
I never really understood this method until you explained it. Thanks for a great video. ❤
Cheers mate, glad its helping people :)
That spinach idea is brilliant, potassium seems to be one of the common elements deficient in aquarium plants and fish food doesn't provide enough of, I think I will try to add some spinach myself.
Yea its such a good idea, testing it in several tanks now to see how it goes :)
3:21 Did you notice that the plants used in the research are all a floating plants, and or emergent leaves? These are amongst the FASTEST growing plant if you put em in a small container.
Especially Duckweed (Lemna) or even Water Hyacinth.
I've seen water hyacinth clogged waterways in my local reservoir, a prolific grower.
these plants CAN filter the water in a little aquarium and bigger ponds.
Yea mate, floating plants are excellent for this type of tank.
Water Hyacinth was banned in the UK but OATA put a press release out back in March 2023 saying its going to be unbanned so I really want to try it in a Walstad Method aquarium but I still can't find it for sale anywhere in my area :(
8:13 In my experience with the plants Egeria Densa/elodea/anachari. The plants can absorb heavy amount of calcium. It even releases them back in every strand of its leaves.
my groundwater source for all my tanks had tds reading about 180-200. so that's hardwater. I'm no scientist but this is fascinating to see.
@@GlassBoxDiaries I live in Indonesia. trust me it's not suitable for aquarium ... maybe for outdoor pond is the best. Its flowers are gorgeous. even better than water lily.
Cheers man! I really like how you develop the whole video around research and the book from Mrs Walstad. I think duckweed is so good at controlling all the parameters you mention at 3:50 because it grows really fast😇
Also, this albino Cory looks really nice!
Greetings
Cheers mate :) I keep flip-flopping on duckweed but I think I'm happy to keep it in my tank after researching it more :)
@13:40
Have you checked your free nitrogen percentage on the bag of your potting soil?
Free nitrogen is water soluble and will leach, leading to ammonia spikes.
You'll want to use a soil base with little to no free nitrogen and a higher amount of insoluble nitrogen.
Thats a really good point mate.
Unfortunately, I use a really cheap top soil and there's nothing on the bag and even the saftey sheet on the official website says "No information available on mixture" for the section 12 insets.
I will try a more expensive one once this one runs out though with no free nitrogen :)
@GlassBoxDiaries
Might I suggest a brand called Fox Farm?
I currently use their Ocean Forest formulation with 0% free nitrogen and 0.3% insoluble nitrogen.
Day 5 and no ammonia.
My first tank is running fine after a year and never spiked either
@@kinglyzard Thanks for the recommendation mate, I'm guessing you are in the USA? I'm in the UK and only one importer has it but is very expensive but I will keep an eye out for cheaper alternatives :)
Glass Box Diaries: "duckweed is the best plant for removing ammonia, and nitrite"
Me: no...... NO....... NOOOOOOOOOO! **Insert Nicolas Cage bees meme** NOT THE DUCKWEED! NOOOO!
🤣 I'm the same mate, I literally spend an hour removing it from my betta tank last week, got most of it out of my Medaka and CPD tanks too before researching it and deciding I will keep it in the tanks.
@@GlassBoxDiaries I leave it in my tanks as well. I have a big stock tank with goldfish, so I have an easy disposal method, where it goes to good use. I am glad to hear that it's that beneficial though. Water comes from my tap, hard and a little alkaline, so keeping ammonia in check is important. I think I'll keep duckweed around. Just wish it slowed down JUUUSTTT a bit lol
Interesting tip about the spinach. I get potassium problems and my tanks are heavily planted. I do top ups rather than water changes. I do still have filters because I like the backup. I find my tank water will have lower nitrates than my tap water. I think a 20 to 40% water change every six months is perfectly fine, clean with the filters
Thanks for sharing mate, totally agree about the water changes.
As usual another great video mate!
I understand those with mixed opinions on Walstad Methods. Or maybe more specifically as it relates to those who loosely advocate it with people who have little to no experience playing hard and fast with the claims such as no water changes. Thinking it will only further validate those with lazy proclivities causing more harm than good. When rather I think those people were always going to cut corners with or without dubious claims.
Personally I owe a lot to those espousing the Walstad Method. It inspired me into the hobby and helped me setup a good substrate with plants. Never detected any levels of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Even though some of those same content creators would absurdly insist on not buying test kits. I do water changes too, chiefly vacuuming my internal filter of gunk, in large part because my tank is decently stocked. I remove decaying leaves too because with the presence of algae I think it shows I have enough nutrients as is.
All in all I would say to anyone starting out is to learn as much as you can before buying a tank. Starting out slow and being patient with results. Being observant with what works and what doesn't as each tank is different leaning more into it's needs than what we demand of it.
Totally agree mate, I see different things in different tanks even though they are built in very similar ways so observation is key :)
This was a super helpful video, Shaun, I’m planning to setup a 29-gallon walstad tank soon. I was thinking of planting the entire back section with rotala rotundifolia, and then having a big anubias nana “island” in the middle, sort of inspired by your first 29-gallon walstad scape.
Cheers mate :).
I'm playing around with a few different varieties of Hygrophila in some tanks right now but Rotala Rotundifolia is my go to plant for this type of setup, it just works in all my setups regardless of parameters.
I love anubias for decoration, grazing spots, and hiding spots too, its another great, reliable plant :).
Very informative.
Cheers mate :)
for clarification, when you said your dad fed them spinach daily does that mean he only fed them that?
Hes my friends dad but he only target feeds them spinach but they also get whatever the fish don't eat before it gets to the bottom.
yep said it a few times .. i only knew that from watching KGTropicals video with the lady herself
Yea the one where they make the shrimp bowls has some good tips in it :)
I need to try this method in my chanel . NAtural ecosystem is so intresting , and i wonder how hard it will be :)
Its a solid method mate, well worth trying at least once :)
7:00 Just need to realize that doing this will lead to accumulation of anything that is in the water. Heavy metals, copper ect. As well as anything that is in the air. I use re mineralized reverse osmosis water, and I like to maintain its parameters. I keep doing my weekly 25% water changes, no matter what. Not that I use the Walstad method. I've not really seen a single example of one that I was truly impressed with. The plants all look half dead and the dirt/sand is a total eyesore.
Phytoremediation prevents heavy metal accumulation in this type of tank as you remove the heavy metals with the excess plant growth during maintenance.
Table S1 in the research paper "Duckweeds for Phytoremediation of Polluted Water" has a full breakdown of the removal rates of cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, nickel, palladium, lead, and zinc by duckweed across multiple tests and the majority of them are surprisingly high with many over 80% from that plant alone.
Then there are the other plants in this type of tank that help too like fast-growing stems and stolons.
Walstad book does not say you need to do water changes. She says that she does a water change every once in a while. When reading Walstad it helps to distinguish ‘the science’ from her opinions. Alot of the book is ‘her opinions’. At least that is the way I interprete her book. I completely disagree with her ‘high light’ and ‘low light’ opinion on plants (there is no science put forward on that point, only her opinion) and opinion about CO2 injection and plants (ie some plants require CO2 injection to grow). It is a fantastic book. But not all of it is science. About 10% is her opinion. Water changes is completely absent (the science).
She does water changes every once in awhile bc she thinks that's what's best. Why wouldn't you when your copying her method.
Plus doing water changes help replenish the minerals that the fish and plants use up.
@@jasonyang5296 I am not anti water change. I am open minded about it. I think plants for example can benefit from a water change. I don’t do them because I have other methods which do not require water changes. I do zero water changes in my non fish plant tanks. Seems to work but I may change that in future. I am simply pointing out that Walstad’s book (the method) provides no scientific basis for water changes (no evidence). It is what she does, like most hobbyists do as well. If it is in her book, I have not seen it. I have the third edition.
If someone told me they had a fish tank for 5 years with healthy fish and never did a water change I would not assume they are wrong. Maybe it is possible? Some people are doing some interesting things with deep substrates (the nitrogen cycle) for example. I think we need to keep an open mind in this hobby.
One reason I am skeptical about the “you must do a water change” mentality is the outdoor pond. Nobody does water changes in their artificially lined ponds or tubs and the fish seem to do fine? Why is that? An artificial pond will never get a water change, surface water run off. Only ever gets rain water and maybe some top up water from a hose. With large ponds water changes are impossible. Fish survive outdoors just fine it seems without it.
I replenish minerals etc for my plants with top ups. My tanks have high rates of evaporation so they tend to get fairly significant water top offs. Plants us these water salts so I am not concerned about the water quality over time. If anything I have the other problem. Water acidification concerns me more. That is the reason my plant tanks don’t currently need water changes. I used to use rain water for top offs. I don’t anymore. Too acidic.
Thanks for sharing mate, as I mentioned in the video, plants can help manage the TDS of the tank for a very long time, especially if you don't dose any medication :).