Newbie: Seeking advice on self-sustaining tank

[Urban Aquaria]

Water: Tap water treated with a capful of the common blue chemical found in LFSs.

Do make sure it is a de-chlorinator solution that you are adding to the tap water, not Methylene Blue medication.

[wongce]

Hi TS, apart from what UA and others mentioned, you need to take care of some other stuff

Light:is your southfacing window has sufficient sunlight for the plants,
if no:insufficient photosynthesis
If yes: water temperature might be too high for some if not all fauna

Oxygen : you may need to add an air pump, not all fauna can withstand low oxygen level

Cycling of tank: better follow the steps

Diana walstad style might not suit everyone, and its not easy to balance the tank without mechanical /electrical support .the main point is suitable plants + plant heavily, fertile base substrate, sufficient light n proper temperature, low livestocks.... I did try on a smaller scale with only a CFL lighting setup and it did end up looking like a small pond in my living room as whats phillipians mentioned lol... Well decommed it after being complained by my wifey

Well, don't be discouraged, research more and restart...We will try to guide along the way....

If you lazy to research, read up my blog below...

[chefiction]

Dear Gurus,

This is my Diana Walstad(DW) inspired tank that I would like to share.

20141224_111937.jpg

This is my first DW Wannabe tank that I started since 25th Oct 2014, after reading the book 'ECOLOGY of the PLANTED AQUARIUM.'

@Dimension : 45cm(L) x 30cm(W) x 30cm(H)
@Lighting : China Led suitable for 2 feet tank (bought from china website)
@10 hours(siesta : 7am - 12pm , 5pm - 10pm)
@No co2 Injection
@Seachem flourish 1.2ml every monday
@Hang on Power filter(all filled up with filter media)
@Set up last week (25/10/2014)
@Last water change is Jan 2015
@Gentle surface movement & circulation
@Water not tested(no proper kit)
@No frill organic potting soil($2/bag from kovan flourist) + black quartz sand to cap off

My take on diana walstad tank *Personal thought no evident or scientific based explanation*


Key to no water change(more information can be found from the book)
1)To ensure sustainability for long run like a few years, it is a must to feed enough fish food from start to ensure slow decomposition by the soil to generate enough nutrients and co2 for the plant
2)Use easy plant and less demanding plant, root plant is the best as it keep the soil oxygenated
3)Put floating plant in(Duckweed, frogbit, dwarfwater lettuce), highly recommended!!!!

Key drawback
-Zero resilience to black brush algae, once introduced into the tank, no way to remove it without using additional chemical(Algexit, Seachem Excel)
-Other types of algae will minimally be presence that is inevitable.
-Due to nature of this kind of set up, which to ensure stability in the tank, it limits creativity.

Due to tight budget, I only have some experienced with indoor and outdoor tank, which is cheap, no frill and minimal maintenance. Pardon me for the long post. But these are my 2 cents worth that I hope someone can benefit from my mistakes.


Chris

[Il Pirata]

Hi cmlee, I'm unable to help with your shrimps. You need to figure out which parameter is out. I avoided having to deal with these by using garden soil. It is very stable.

Hi Phillipians, i do get your point. Perhaps I'm not so faithful a follower of the Walstad method in that i do care about the visual appeal of the tank and take pains to achieve it.

Hi Bagelfire, thanks! I have made some stupid mistakes which i won't want to repeat. I was stupid enough to grossly overfeed for several months resulting in a near crash of the tank which i only stopped by doing substrate vacuuming and water changes over a few days. So still trying to find the correct balance such that my plants uptake = feeding of fish. Garlic is a weak medicine and has its limits.

Hi chefiction, seachem flourish is probably counter productive for walstad method. If you need to use it then its an indication your plants are not competing successfully with the algae and your tank circulation is likely insufficient. I used kangkong to supplement my delicate aqua scape plants and mosses. I also use 2 air pumps with double outlets each to create circulation. With these in place i have minimum algae issue. Your hang-on filter probably functions like my kangkong. But that would again be unwalstad.

[Cmlee]

Which brand of garden soil do you use?

[Il Pirata]

Per walstad instructions i looked for the cheapest garden soil. $1.50 type from World farm should do it. I soaked it for several days to remove any fert or additive before using. Do not get composts or peat moss type of soil.

[Cmlee]

Where did you buy the soil from? NTUC ?
got any brand for reference?

[Il Pirata]

I bought mine from Ang mo kio nursery. But its closed already. World Farm in Yishun is another source. Or Hawaii Landscape in Thomson. Get the cheap $1.50 or $2 type.

[Cmlee]

Can I buy them from department stores or supermart?

[bagelfire]

tank.jpg

Here's a picture of my tank - hopefully the attachment is successful.

Current denizens: Common pleco (I think; from Haig Rd market $1.50), red cherry shrimp (from RCS Haven, $2 each), yellow cross-backed shrimp (says the Polyart label, $6 each *ouch*), orange sunkist shrimp (C328 Florist and Aquarium), Neon Tetra (10 for $2.50 at Blk 85 Bedok N market), nerite snails (free, somehow hitched a ride on the initial leafy rooted water plants).

Current flora: Two leafy rooted plants I have yet to identify because the LFS assistant didn't know, Taiwanese moss ($18 from RCS Haven *ouch*), marimo moss ($4 each from Polyart).

Thank you very much as always for sharing.

@Urban Aquaria: Yes, I made sure that the blue chemical I added to the water was for chlorine treatment, not fish medicine. *phew* The LFS uncle who sold that to me at the Blk 85 Bedok N market is very chatty and regales any willing listener with interesting tales about his customers. Apparently he saved some rich uncle's entire outdoor pond stock with that common chlorine treatment. (I took it as an anecdote of course but fortunately the treatment seemed to work for my tank)

@wongce: Thanks for the tips. I will read your blog posts in earnest. To answer your questions, my tank is placed on a shelf about 2m away from the window and doesn't get direct sunlight. There is some algae growth but the snails and the sucker fish seem to take care of that. As for air, I succumbed to a non-Walstad step and installed an air pump, as you mentioned. However, I have not cycled the tank at all - will look into that.

@Chris (chefiction): I think your suggestions about feeding enough to add to the substrate and adding floating plants make sense. Keeping Il Pirata's experience in mind, I am trying not to feed them too much for fear of unbalancing the water parameters so I will proceed with caution. Will also go to the nearby canal near a forested area to look for duckweed this weekend

@Il Pirata: I do have some plain old gardening soil bought from Katong Nursery at Tanah Merah so I am looking forward to trying your gardening soil tips! As my tank already has a layer of black aquatic soil, I'll have to slowly ease the gardening soil underneath it.

[Urban Aquaria]

The two plants you haven't ID yet are java fern ("windelov" version, based on the branched tips) and anubias (probably "barteri" version, based on the large size of the leaf), those are common hardy plants.

You haven't mentioned the size of your tank, but that pleco will grow larger and its currently your highest bio-load fish in the tank (they are very high waste producers). Based on its current size compared to the rest of your livestock, it could quickly overload the tank system. A better alternative would be otocinclus, which are much smaller in size with much lower bio-load, and they do the similar algae eating job too.

Unlikely the hitchhiking snails that came with the plants are nerite snails, most likely they are either pond snails or ramshorn snails. If you don't want snails in the tank, best to remove them as they will multiple quite fast.

Since you already have aquatic soil in the tank, its already designed for aquarium use... there is no need to add in gardening soil.

[bagelfire]

Thank you, Urban Aquaria!

My tank is of the nano variety: approximately 40x20x25cm. Yes, it was a mistake to get the common pleco and I am actually looking for a LFS to donate it. While researching algae-eaters, I liked otos the most but read that otos prefer to be in pairs, so I mistakenly went for the solo pleco option. Even then, I probably should have gotten a dwarf pleco.
Do you think I'll need a pair of otos or is one okay?

Hmm… I see, my snails are not ramshorns either (from pictures on the Internet) so they are probably the common pond variety, like you said. They do seem to breed pretty fast, so I will remove a couple of them tonight. I do want snails as they are part of the natural ecosystem, but I'd like to att/maintain a balance.

Thanks again!

[Urban Aquaria]

My tank is of the nano variety: approximately 40x20x25cm. Yes, it was a mistake to get the common pleco and I am actually looking for a LFS to donate it. While researching algae-eaters, I liked otos the most but read that otos prefer to be in pairs, so I mistakenly went for the solo pleco option. Even then, I probably should have gotten a dwarf pleco.
Do you think I'll need a pair of otos or is one okay?

For your tank size (around 20 liters), you'll really have to keep the bio-load in check due to the small water volume, as its parameters will fluctuate much faster with alot less buffer against toxic spikes.

Otocinclus can be housed solo in tanks, not necessary to be kept in pairs or groups... the important thing is they have access to sufficient algae and bio-film to supply them with natural food, otherwise you will need to feed algae wafers which add even more waste load to the tank (not so ideal if you want to create a self-sustaining tank).

For your tank size, just one adult oto (3cm length) is sufficient... or perhaps two smaller sized juvenile ones if you prefer to keep more (just choose the smallest ones at the LFS to minimize the initial bio-load).

Hmm… I see, my snails are not ramshorns either (from pictures on the Internet) so they are probably the common pond variety, like you said. They do seem to breed pretty fast, so I will remove a couple of them tonight. I do want snails as they are part of the natural ecosystem, but I'd like to att/maintain a balance.

Maybe post a photo of the snails? See if they can be identified.

Some aquarists allow snails to establish and multiply in their tanks as the snails do the job of clean up crew too, just that most people find the common brownish pond snails or malayan trumpet snails unsightly in large numbers... on the otherhand, some people like the look of red or blue ramshorn snails and deliberately buy them to add to their tanks.

The other alternative is to stock nerite snails instead, specifically Clithon corona (aka horned nerite snails, they have nice striped patterns and stay small in size). Just 2-3 of them will be enough for your tank size. These type of snails are excellent algae eaters and don't multiply in freshwater tank environments so they wouldn't over populate the tank (the females may lay dormant white eggs on plants or hardscape, but they need brackish water to hatch ).

[reefkeeper]

It is possible provided your aquarium is situated in a place where you have direct sunlight (at least 6 hours daily).


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