I have this book coming in the mail now! Discovered her through Foo the Flowerhorns YT channel. So happy to find this interview, thank you for the upload!!
@@Aquarimax I have been doing WAY to many water changes, poor plants of mine, i'm going to start pushing back my water changes now after listening to this. And now to listen to more! Thanks again.
I'd recommend the book to every aquarist even if you never plan to set up a Walstad method tank, it's just such a good resource backed up by science on water chemistry and biology.
there are very few videos online with Diana Walstad in them. This was an amazing episode for sure. I really love how she simplifies really complex topics to make them easier to digest
+Mario Hemsley Thanks for listening! It was great to have Diana on the show. I recommend another episode she interviewed with us for on Mycobacteriosis.
Nice. To echo what Diana said, my most successful tank to date was a ten gallon, in front of a northeastern-facing window, with two whole inches of dirt (I went a little overboard). At the time, I used Miracle Grow “Organic Choice” just based off of YT videos I was watching. Basically Dustin’s fish tanks! This was 2012- 2013. I didn’t want to screw it up so I figured “why not follow what he does.” But later on a diff tank I used Fox Farm Ocean Forest, and about half an inch instead of two inches. They’re a great brand with phenomenal products all across the board, btw. Plants I had growing were growing like MAD. It may have been small and common to some, but I had the best substrate in my mind. So all the plants came worth it! We had an Amazon sword (_Echinodorus_), a _Crinum thaianum_ ‘Onion Plant’ which responded outrageously well to the dirt. Too well. It looked like Dwarf Sag or Val growing as a grass background. Except the dirt stimulated it so much, I’d get runners in every corner. The Crinums, particularly when in dirt, can easily become your focal plant! Short in front, tall in back kind of. Plus we had giant _Cryptocoryne wendtii_ ‘Bronze’, and ‘Green Gecko’, the tiny one that resembles _C. parva_ a little. Also had _C. lutea_ and a _C. spiralis_ at one point. Then we had also a bushy bundle of magenta _Alternanthera reineckii_ that was my pride and joy. Lol. Bought from the gel pack plants at Petsmart! In my ten gallon dirt tank, I didn’t mind the extra soil because it was a lidless shrimp tank mainly. I wanted plants growing emersed from the top anyway. The Amanos I had never escaped and I never found any dried up anywhere. For a time there were five panda corydoras as well, and some otocinclus, but they never jumped. That northeastern exposure, to me, was idea, because it’s the morning sun on repeat each day. The plants knew or they could sense sunrise and sunset. No artificial lighting. All I had was a hanging filter and small black filter, the kind that’s encased in black plastic rather than exposed glass. The filters are something I like to experiment with. Like, rather than “HOB” on the back, I had it as a “HOS”, hanging on the side. That creates more horizontal, stream-like flow in my opinion. I just think that if you have a rectangular tank with a current forming right in the center, from the filter output bumping into the center glassfront of the tank, it’s a little odd. Then in current will fan out in both directions, and maybe the animals don’t care, and the plants don’t, but I prefer the “feng shui” of it horizontally I guess. Flowing as far of a length as possible given the small space. Makes more sense to replicate nature, and attempt to have the rate of flow emulate a river flowing. I also try to buy the next size up of filter for whatever tank it is. For example, on a ten gallon, I buy a “20” filter. It’s a bit like a “nano sump” then or, at the very least, super effective filtration and water exchange. I try not to have too intense of a flow, depending on tank size and inhabitants. Random ramble sorry lol
Please don't malign goldfish; I had RUNAWAY success with a hundred gallon aquarium planted and set up Walstad-style with GOLDFISH and a little school of white cloud mountains in it. Don't run away with the idea of a typical commercial shaped tank though. This tank was really oddly shaped but super ideal for plants. it was only 18 inches deep and lo-o-ong. Naturally this meant all the plants were well within the reach of the cheap shop-lights I used (it was a very cheap, make-do kind of set-up.) I discovered goldfish are not really inherently plant uprooters. After being plopped into this well-lit, well-planted *bathtub* of a tank, they were initially wildly excited and dashed about --well, waddled about--loving the extra room, exploring every corner and tugging on a few plants, but then they settled down and left them alone. I used all the classic easy plants and lots of them, since the tank shape lent itself to lots of bottom real estate. Forests of Amazon swords, vals out the wazoo, crypts, water sprite, a carpet of dwarf sagittaria and red root floaters, they were all in there. It may have helped that I regularly hand fed the goldies frozen peas, flakes of cod and other whitefish I had for us to ea,t and any other veg they seemed to like, plus occasional frozen food. I think these were so much sweeter/tastierto them than the aquatic plants, they lost interest in the others-but that's just a guess. Who knows if they can taste? Not me. The goldies grew immense -they weren't the really expensive kind to start with. But one was 13 yrs old and spawned every spring. The white clouds seemed really content too, in part, I think, because they liked the same things: cool room-temp water with a little current. Because the little white-clouds were so tiny and such fast swimmers, I never lost any to the big, waddle-y goldfish whose mouths were plenty big enough to inhale them if they could catch them, but having them in there gave the goldfish something chase, so it was good for their tiny little minds to interact with them. There weren't too many chubby goldies in there...five, I think? it seemed fine as far as the plants using up what the goldies sh*t out. Only once or twice did the nitrites get a little high, which I managed by water changes as needed. I think I averaged about once a year. And of course the vegetation was full of snails. I don't think I had cherry shrimp in there as they like it warmer. It lasted years. If I recall I messed it up eventually by not quarantining a new purchase. So ultimately, the tub might still be up and running right now if not for my carelessness.
I've tried keeping a number of walstad tanks after watching YT videos and tutorials. These are my observations. I'm from India and room temp averages 30 deg C and above. Plants that grow well in that temperature : Dwarf sags, vallisneria, easy crypt species, hygrophila family (polysperma, difformis corymbosa, guianensis etc.), Java/christmass moss, water lily, anubias, myriophyllum mattagrosense/tuberculatum, lagenandra family Plants that are supposed to be easy but never worked for me : 1. Ludwigia family (repens, mini) 2. Rotala green, rotundifolia etc 3. Amazon swords (amazonicus, bleherae, argentinensis etc) 4. Java fern! 😭 5. Hair grass I have seen videos showing amazing good growth of stem plants and amazon swords with walstad method. Followed every step of walstad method, father fish's deep susbtrate method, etc. Only parameter different was water temp. and mayb the tap water quality. (Gh 2, kh 1). I have tried RO water with remineralization. Same results.
Hello. I'm from the Philippines🇵🇭. My father has an aroana fish. And he wants to put samd substrate on his tank. Currently, it's a bare tank. Most of fish keepers here in our place just use bare and very sterile tanks. And then suddenly, they will complain that their fish always die.Last 2 week ends, I converted one of my tanks into a dirted tank and cap it with 2 inches of sand. I even put few elodea water weed plants and hornwort on it and pick some mango and almond leaves.Until now, my swordtails are still ok. And in the morning, I found many pennywort plant in our garden. I will get some and put it on my newly dirted tank.
Aquarimax This is an area I would like to talk with you about in more detail, in particular about making a series of helpful videos to both novices and advanced fishkeepers. You have far greater video skills than I have.
Thank you for this, there was so much information that just made sense. I'm learning about planted tanks and there's such a wide variety of opinions on the "best" method when all I want is to spend more time admiring my tank and minimal time babysitting water parameters and fighting algae. I have her book on order, and I'm very anxious to start reading it.
❤️ Great Interview I'm really late seeing this but happy I found it. And your channel I subbed. @dustinfishtank brought me here. You are loved by planted and fish tank owners the world over. My God Bless You All
Christopher Lamar Thank you Christopher! I really appreciate it. Thanks to Dustin for sending you over! Was it from a link on his website or a shoutout on a video?
Been there done that for decades Diana. I've kept even all dirt bottom aquariums. In the 70's I used a 5 gallon by the window to keep a Betta in a dirt bottom tank. He loved it. I've always tried plants in pots with potting soil under gravel. It's easy to remove it as time goes by and replace with fresh. Divide the plant usually is the best reason. I cant handle hundreds of pounds of gravel or sands in my large aquarium. 1" of sand is enough..and my plants are in pots. I am kind of surprised that you admit it's better to have UV and Co2..more gadgets to go wrong or use as a crutch. I like Salt and Hydrogen Peroxide as cures for most problems. Vallisneria is an invaluable algae fighter. Just keep it in pots or it will run rampant. Potted makes for a happy aquarist.
so the question still remains in my mind...I understand how long to leave the lights OFF during the day (4 hour 'siesta') yet how long is best to leave the lights ON for aquatic plants in a dirted tank in general. Great interview. Thank you for this!
Sean Meister You're welcome, and great question. I wish I could ask Diana, but in my opinion, it depends on many factors, so you might need to tweak it for your individual tank. You could start with 8 hours of total photoperiod and increase or decrease it based on how the tank does.
The comment concerning the siesta period of from 12noon till 4pm,then lights on after that period,but what about when light is off when you go to sleep,she didnt mention this,because i leave light off when i go to sleep at midnight and turn light on at 4pm,this confused me when she mentioned this siesta period🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
A dark period at night is normal and beneficial, the siesta period is an hour or two in the middle of the light period when the lights go off. This can help some CO2 to build up for the plants, and help reduce algae issues.
2:53 - What is she saying? and 3:06 -The yard with the cover and without the full sun, the stock tank was newer from the cover, or what? I'm very interested in her method
If I I have a Walstad tank and decide to add filtration on top of it, would the ecology of the system then depend on that additional filtration? In other words, if you want to do a Walstad tank is it all or nothing from the beginning?
Hey Now While we were talking to Diana, we touched on this...it is possible, and in some cases desirable, to start with a Walstad tank and then add some technology later, once the nutrients in the substrate begin to run low. I think as long as the plants are growing very well, filtration would be more expendable than it would in a system more dependent on nitrifying bacteria, but adding filtration and then suddenly removing it might cause issues, depending on bioload, etc.
Have her book and listened a bit to this....No water changes? but like Diana said she changes 10% every month to remove surface film and bacteria....as they cause fish sickness? ( i don't have too much understanding of this ), but wouldn't a surface skimmer filter do the job of removing the film? Also..I have read abt and confirmed with a Seneye Reef device that PAR is very different from the light with the presence and without the presence of surface film, hence affecting plant growth. My local "expert" aquarists also educated me that long periods without water change is not possible for health of the fish and aquarium..among other reasons, but in nature plants and fish don't stay in the same body of water for long time...
+Joachim Sim s you mention, a surface skimmer would help a lot with surface film. I am myself a fan of weekly wart changes, but then, with the exception of a small shrimp tank, have never tried the Walstad method myself.
8:15 Reds, Rotala and Ludwigia having more difficulty than a Sword and Crypts in taking up CO2, really? Did they have enough iron? I need to learn more about what plants work well together (without one taking over the other). Where does one learn more of that specific plant stuff? Is that info in her book? 12:19 How can the plants be robust when fish feces is not the perfect plant food? There will be an excess of nitrates in comparison to potassium, iron, calcium, and stuff. Rakocy, in the Virgin Islands, let excess food decompose to provide the needed buffers, and then had a denitrification chamber (which I can describe if you want me to) to remove the excess nitrates. Is the Walstad method more for medium light plants that use a lot of nitrates, without needing much iron and stuff? Does her book have a list of such plants that work well in such a system?
mef1975 The soil she adds under the substrate provides many nutrients, including CO2, via bacterial decomposition. Over the lifetime of the tank, however, the growth of fast-growing species will slow, and certain high-nutrient plants that thrived initially will fade, and other hardier plants will tend to take over.
Don Freecs She talked about Vallisneria growing in the stock tank. I have put links in the description, so you can see pictures of what she was talking about.
Eric K I just went to my website (episodes 152 and 170) where I had put the links...it's been a while since those interviews, and it looks like both of the links have expired. UPDATE: Her new website features links to all of her articles: dianawalstad.com/
Rico Suave Our podcast is not on blog talk radio, although we may look into that. Our podcast is available at aquarimax.com, on iTunes, and various other podcast sources.
i asked because they have a couple of aquarium related shows that i listen to on there ..i went to your site and listened to some of the older episodes
Great interview and quite informative. Diana keeps referring to "valefeneria" that was in the stock tank - what is that? I tried to google the name but can't seem to find it. Maybe I am spelling it wrong? Can someone that knows what that is please give me the correct spelling?
You can really hear the joy in her voice. She wants you to have a beautiful aquarium, and is happy when you get joy from the hobby.
Underwater Culture I agree!
I have this book coming in the mail now! Discovered her through Foo the Flowerhorns YT channel. So happy to find this interview, thank you for the upload!!
Jacob Snover You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it! We really enjoyed talking to her.
@@Aquarimax I have been doing WAY to many water changes, poor plants of mine, i'm going to start pushing back my water changes now after listening to this. And now to listen to more! Thanks again.
Jacob Snover I love the fact that her method can be very easy, as well as effective. 👍
Thanks for posting this...
Subscribed 👍🏼
Loved this. I’ll be buying her book for sure! Thank you!!!
I'd recommend the book to every aquarist even if you never plan to set up a Walstad method tank, it's just such a good resource backed up by science on water chemistry and biology.
there are very few videos online with Diana Walstad in them. This was an amazing episode for sure. I really love how she simplifies really complex topics to make them easier to digest
Gracias por subir esto!!!
Me alegro que te guste!
Simply excellent! Thank you, Diana, I bought your book! Planning my first Walstad method aquarium!
+Mario Hemsley Thanks for listening! It was great to have Diana on the show. I recommend another episode she interviewed with us for on Mycobacteriosis.
@@Wrongald That link doesn't seem to work anymore, but it's here on youtube too:
ua-cam.com/video/C8pjZFCay38/v-deo.html
Such a great interview - I learned so many things listening to this. Thank you so much.
hi and thanks for posting this. What a fun, genuine great lady !
Craig Athonian Thank you! She was great fun to talk to, and a wealth of information!
Great video. Thanks to you guys and Diana.
Amazing interview! I love how Diana is aware of how complex her book is and simplifies a lot of the information for this interview.
Amazing interview!
That was so enlightening for me...
Thanks for doing the interview and sharing
Gratitude.
Glad to hear it!
Nice. To echo what Diana said, my most successful tank to date was a ten gallon, in front of a northeastern-facing window, with two whole inches of dirt (I went a little overboard). At the time, I used Miracle Grow “Organic Choice” just based off of YT videos I was watching. Basically Dustin’s fish tanks! This was 2012- 2013. I didn’t want to screw it up so I figured “why not follow what he does.” But later on a diff tank I used Fox Farm Ocean Forest, and about half an inch instead of two inches. They’re a great brand with phenomenal products all across the board, btw. Plants I had growing were growing like MAD. It may have been small and common to some, but I had the best substrate in my mind. So all the plants came worth it! We had an Amazon sword (_Echinodorus_), a _Crinum thaianum_ ‘Onion Plant’ which responded outrageously well to the dirt. Too well. It looked like Dwarf Sag or Val growing as a grass background. Except the dirt stimulated it so much, I’d get runners in every corner. The Crinums, particularly when in dirt, can easily become your focal plant! Short in front, tall in back kind of. Plus we had giant _Cryptocoryne wendtii_ ‘Bronze’, and ‘Green Gecko’, the tiny one that resembles _C. parva_ a little. Also had _C. lutea_ and a _C. spiralis_ at one point. Then we had also a bushy bundle of magenta _Alternanthera reineckii_ that was my pride and joy. Lol. Bought from the gel pack plants at Petsmart!
In my ten gallon dirt tank, I didn’t mind the extra soil because it was a lidless shrimp tank mainly. I wanted plants growing emersed from the top anyway. The Amanos I had never escaped and I never found any dried up anywhere. For a time there were five panda corydoras as well, and some otocinclus, but they never jumped. That northeastern exposure, to me, was idea, because it’s the morning sun on repeat each day. The plants knew or they could sense sunrise and sunset. No artificial lighting. All I had was a hanging filter and small black filter, the kind that’s encased in black plastic rather than exposed glass. The filters are something I like to experiment with. Like, rather than “HOB” on the back, I had it as a “HOS”, hanging on the side. That creates more horizontal, stream-like flow in my opinion. I just think that if you have a rectangular tank with a current forming right in the center, from the filter output bumping into the center glassfront of the tank, it’s a little odd. Then in current will fan out in both directions, and maybe the animals don’t care, and the plants don’t, but I prefer the “feng shui” of it horizontally I guess. Flowing as far of a length as possible given the small space. Makes more sense to replicate nature, and attempt to have the rate of flow emulate a river flowing. I also try to buy the next size up of filter for whatever tank it is. For example, on a ten gallon, I buy a “20” filter. It’s a bit like a “nano sump” then or, at the very least, super effective filtration and water exchange. I try not to have too intense of a flow, depending on tank size and inhabitants. Random ramble sorry lol
Please don't malign goldfish; I had RUNAWAY success with a hundred gallon aquarium planted and set up Walstad-style with GOLDFISH and a little school of white cloud mountains in it.
Don't run away with the idea of a typical commercial shaped tank though. This tank was really oddly shaped but super ideal for plants. it was only 18 inches deep and lo-o-ong. Naturally this meant all the plants were well within the reach of the cheap shop-lights I used (it was a very cheap, make-do kind of set-up.)
I discovered goldfish are not really inherently plant uprooters. After being plopped into this well-lit, well-planted *bathtub* of a tank, they were initially wildly excited and dashed about --well, waddled about--loving the extra room, exploring every corner and tugging on a few plants, but then they settled down and left them alone.
I used all the classic easy plants and lots of them, since the tank shape lent itself to lots of bottom real estate. Forests of Amazon swords, vals out the wazoo, crypts, water sprite, a carpet of dwarf sagittaria and red root floaters, they were all in there. It may have helped that I regularly hand fed the goldies frozen peas, flakes of cod and other whitefish I had for us to ea,t and any other veg they seemed to like, plus occasional frozen food. I think these were so much sweeter/tastierto them than the aquatic plants, they lost interest in the others-but that's just a guess. Who knows if they can taste? Not me.
The goldies grew immense -they weren't the really expensive kind to start with. But one was 13 yrs old and spawned every spring. The white clouds seemed really content too, in part, I think, because they liked the same things: cool room-temp water with a little current.
Because the little white-clouds were so tiny and such fast swimmers, I never lost any to the big, waddle-y goldfish whose mouths were plenty big enough to inhale them if they could catch them, but having them in there gave the goldfish something chase, so it was good for their tiny little minds to interact with them.
There weren't too many chubby goldies in there...five, I think? it seemed fine as far as the plants using up what the goldies sh*t out. Only once or twice did the nitrites get a little high, which I managed by water changes as needed. I think I averaged about once a year.
And of course the vegetation was full of snails. I don't think I had cherry shrimp in there as they like it warmer. It lasted years. If I recall I messed it up eventually by not quarantining a new purchase. So ultimately, the tub might still be up and running right now if not for my carelessness.
This was very much enjoyable to listen too! I can't wait to set up my first dirted tank!
I've tried keeping a number of walstad tanks after watching YT videos and tutorials. These are my observations.
I'm from India and room temp averages 30 deg C and above.
Plants that grow well in that temperature :
Dwarf sags, vallisneria, easy crypt species, hygrophila family (polysperma, difformis corymbosa, guianensis etc.), Java/christmass moss, water lily, anubias, myriophyllum mattagrosense/tuberculatum, lagenandra family
Plants that are supposed to be easy but never worked for me :
1. Ludwigia family (repens, mini)
2. Rotala green, rotundifolia etc
3. Amazon swords (amazonicus, bleherae, argentinensis etc)
4. Java fern! 😭
5. Hair grass
I have seen videos showing amazing good growth of stem plants and amazon swords with walstad method. Followed every step of walstad method, father fish's deep susbtrate method, etc.
Only parameter different was water temp. and mayb the tap water quality. (Gh 2, kh 1). I have tried RO water with remineralization. Same results.
Thanks for sharing, this would be really helpful
Hello. I'm from the Philippines🇵🇭. My father has an aroana fish. And he wants to put samd substrate on his tank. Currently, it's a bare tank. Most of fish keepers here in our place just use bare and very sterile tanks. And then suddenly, they will complain that their fish always die.Last 2 week ends, I converted one of my tanks into a dirted tank and cap it with 2 inches of sand. I even put few elodea water weed plants and hornwort on it and pick some mango and almond leaves.Until now, my swordtails are still ok. And in the morning, I found many pennywort plant in our garden. I will get some and put it on my newly dirted tank.
What a wonderful interview. Congratulations Rus and Kelly.
colinbarsby Thank you Colin! It was great fun talking to Diana.
Aquarimax This is an area I would like to talk with you about in more detail, in particular about making a series of helpful videos to both novices and advanced fishkeepers. You have far greater video skills than I have.
colinbarsby I would be very glad to collaborate with you, feel free to PM me and we can discuss how to start
Uma entrevista maravilhosa. Muito Obrigado!🐟🐠
De nada! 😁👍
Thank you for this, there was so much information that just made sense. I'm learning about planted tanks and there's such a wide variety of opinions on the "best" method when all I want is to spend more time admiring my tank and minimal time babysitting water parameters and fighting algae. I have her book on order, and I'm very anxious to start reading it.
TheJestermint You’re welcome! I learned a lot from speaking with Diana, and I am sure you will learn even more from her book!
Thank you!!
Great show I love all the shows you guys do
+The Fish Tank Guy 9057 Thank you for listening!
❤️ Great Interview I'm really late seeing this but happy I found it. And your channel I subbed.
@dustinfishtank brought me here.
You are loved by planted and fish tank owners the world over.
My God Bless You All
Christopher Lamar Thank you Christopher! I really appreciate it. Thanks to Dustin for sending you over! Was it from a link on his website or a shoutout on a video?
loved that thank you
The only useful audio i have ever heard.
Varun Haridas Thanks for listening, I'm glad you appreciate it!
Aquarimax This was really helpful for some one who is going forward with their Walstad's setup. The blackout period really works.
how long do you leave your lights on when using this 'siesta' method?
Been there done that for decades Diana. I've kept even all dirt bottom aquariums. In the 70's I used a 5 gallon by the window to keep a Betta in a dirt bottom tank. He loved it. I've always tried plants in pots with potting soil under gravel. It's easy to remove it as time goes by and replace with fresh. Divide the plant usually is the best reason.
I cant handle hundreds of pounds of gravel or sands in my large aquarium. 1" of sand is enough..and my plants are in pots.
I am kind of surprised that you admit it's better to have UV and Co2..more gadgets to go wrong or use as a crutch.
I like Salt and Hydrogen Peroxide as cures for most problems. Vallisneria is an invaluable algae fighter. Just keep it in pots or it will run rampant. Potted makes for a happy aquarist.
LMAO Well then ... They might as well call it the Stan The Observer method.
She didn't say it's better to have CO2, she said that certain plants will be easier to grow with it.
Thanks
You’re welcome! It was a pleasure to talk with Diana.
This is my first time know about Walstad fish keeping. Hope to get her book one day.
@@Ttblondey the digital
Version of her boom is quite reasonably priced.
I love walstad method 😀
relatively low effort and potentially great results!
so the question still remains in my mind...I understand how long to leave the lights OFF during the day (4 hour 'siesta') yet how long is best to leave the lights ON for aquatic plants in a dirted tank in general. Great interview. Thank you for this!
Sean Meister You're welcome, and great question. I wish I could ask Diana, but in my opinion, it depends on many factors, so you might need to tweak it for your individual tank. You could start with 8 hours of total photoperiod and increase or decrease it based on how the tank does.
that is exactly where I have started, 8 hours...thank you.
Sean Meister Great! I would be interested in hearing whether or not you end up tweaking the photoperiod over time as you observe your aquarium.
I will certainly keep you posted for sure...I suppose one good monitoring gauge would be algae growth. So far I have had NONE.
Sean Meister Sounds pretty perfect so far! How long had the tank been on this regimen?
The comment concerning the siesta period of from 12noon till 4pm,then lights on after that period,but what about when light is off when you go to sleep,she didnt mention this,because i leave light off when i go to sleep at midnight and turn light on at 4pm,this confused me when she mentioned this siesta period🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
A dark period at night is normal and beneficial, the siesta period is an hour or two in the middle of the light period when the lights go off. This can help some CO2 to build up for the plants, and help reduce algae issues.
2:53 - What is she saying? and 3:06 -The yard with the cover and without the full sun, the stock tank was newer from the cover, or what? I'm very interested in her method
Was OUT in full sun, the substrate was probably manure from the cow.
What do you think of adding a few tea leaves (the large whole leaves that can be pushed below the gravel) when CO2 begins to limit your growth?
Bai Toei I haven't heard of that method...sounds interesting!
Great interview. I would love to have her on my show.
Great idea! We would love you to have her on your show too!
If I I have a Walstad tank and decide to add filtration on top of it, would the ecology of the system then depend on that additional filtration? In other words, if you want to do a Walstad tank is it all or nothing from the beginning?
Hey Now While we were talking to Diana, we touched on this...it is possible, and in some cases desirable, to start with a Walstad tank and then add some technology later, once the nutrients in the substrate begin to run low. I think as long as the plants are growing very well, filtration would be more expendable than it would in a system more dependent on nitrifying bacteria, but adding filtration and then suddenly removing it might cause issues, depending on bioload, etc.
Have her book and listened a bit to this....No water changes? but like Diana said she changes 10% every month to remove surface film and bacteria....as they cause fish sickness? ( i don't have too much understanding of this ), but wouldn't a surface skimmer filter do the job of removing the film? Also..I have read abt and confirmed with a Seneye Reef device that PAR is very different from the light with the presence and without the presence of surface film, hence affecting plant growth.
My local "expert" aquarists also educated me that long periods without water change is not possible for health of the fish and aquarium..among other reasons, but in nature plants and fish don't stay in the same body of water for long time...
+Joachim Sim s you mention, a surface skimmer would help a lot with surface film. I am myself a fan of weekly wart changes, but then, with the exception of a small shrimp tank, have never tried the Walstad method myself.
What was the plant she tried putting in the aquarium starting at 3:40 to 3:45 ? Thanks!
Camille Crisostomo I listened to that section a couple of times, but unfortunately, I don’t think she specified which type of plant.
@@Aquarimax was it "put some gravel on in" tho?
Camille Crisostomo Yes! I believe she said “put gravel in ‘em, and get your plants’
@@Aquarimax thank you! You're so friendly and helpful. God bless you!
😊
8:15 Reds, Rotala and Ludwigia having more difficulty than a Sword and Crypts in taking up CO2, really? Did they have enough iron? I need to learn more about what plants work well together (without one taking over the other). Where does one learn more of that specific plant stuff? Is that info in her book? 12:19 How can the plants be robust when fish feces is not the perfect plant food? There will be an excess of nitrates in comparison to potassium, iron, calcium, and stuff. Rakocy, in the Virgin Islands, let excess food decompose to provide the needed buffers, and then had a denitrification chamber (which I can describe if you want me to) to remove the excess nitrates. Is the Walstad method more for medium light plants that use a lot of nitrates, without needing much iron and stuff? Does her book have a list of such plants that work well in such a system?
mef1975 She definitely goes into a lot more detail in her book...the eBook copy is often pretty inexpensive.
mef1975 The soil she adds under the substrate provides many nutrients, including CO2, via bacterial decomposition.
Over the lifetime of the tank, however, the growth of fast-growing species will slow, and certain high-nutrient plants that thrived initially will fade, and other hardier plants will tend to take over.
with deeper substrate denitrification will improve the balance
hey, could you please write down the name of the species that she talked about. I am not able to figure them out.
Kamalnain kaur she talked about Vallisneria and Cryptocoryne sp...are those the ones you are looking for?
@@Aquarimax Well! thank you so much for answering. Although i am interested in Vellisneria.
Kamalnain kaur ah, good! I am glad that I was able to help.
Are you taking the exam for Transcribeme? ;-)
what did she say? ballast and area? about the stack tank? i need it pls enlighten me.
Don Freecs She talked about Vallisneria growing in the stock tank. I have put links in the description, so you can see pictures of what she was talking about.
TranscribeMe audio test brought me here. lol
Kris Men LOL! 🤣
same also i need help with the spelling of the plant she found in the stock tank
Felix_Cyrus Ameyaw-Bediako That would be Vallisneria 👍
@@Aquarimax thank you :)
Galaxy 👍
I tried looking on your website and couldn't find it, but where can I find the Walstad articles you referred to? I have her book.
Eric K I just went to my website (episodes 152 and 170) where I had put the links...it's been a while since those interviews, and it looks like both of the links have expired. UPDATE: Her new website features links to all of her articles: dianawalstad.com/
Aquarimax awesome, thanks!
Eric K Diana herself commented with a link to her newer website (I pinned it) that features links to all of her articles: dianawalstad.com/
Aquarimax I saw! Very cool of her!
The articles (on planted shrimp tanks; mycobacteriosis; and N uptake by aquatic plants) have been moved to my new website at: dianawalstad.com
hell yeaa beastmode...are u guys on blog talk radio?
Rico Suave Our podcast is not on blog talk radio, although we may look into that. Our podcast is available at aquarimax.com, on iTunes, and various other podcast sources.
i asked because they have a couple of aquarium related shows that i listen to on there ..i went to your site and listened to some of the older episodes
Rico Suave I see. Thanks for listening!
Its good keep one specie plant only in tank so they dont compete with co2 and release bunch of chemicals to fight each other
I don't want the plants to take away my heavy metal.
I love heavy metal.
Are there plants that absorb shlager or country music?
LOL…I wouldn’t mind a plant that absorbed certain types of music…
Great interview and quite informative. Diana keeps referring to "valefeneria" that was in the stock tank - what is that? I tried to google the name but can't seem to find it. Maybe I am spelling it wrong? Can someone that knows what that is please give me the correct spelling?
Brenda Ngubeni sure, happy to help. She is talking about Vallisneria. 👍
I prefer to stick with one species of plant so you won't get the competition
I thought the point was no filter but it sounds like she uses filters.
She does use something for water movement, doesn’t do a lot with mechanical filters as I understand it
I would just use a skimmer to remove the bioflim on the surface
Faux scientifique