i first read about the Walstad method a few years ago and i found it fascinating that a
densely planted aquarium could keep itself clean without a filter i found it even more
fascinating that fish and shrimp could be added to create an active ecosystem that by and large
looked after itself i'm going to make a series of videos tracking my progress
at my second attempt at making a Walstad method aquarium i made this one way back in march 2020
and it went really well have to excuse the photos as i didn't realise i'd be making this
video when i took them here it is a month later in april 2020 you can see how clear the water is
here's a shot from the end of that april i added some floating plants and as you
can see they got some algae on the roots i cleaned this up and it never came back
this photo is from early may june 2020 clearly the shrimp and snails have bonded
now we're going into mid-june and the plants are really starting to kick off
these three photos are from july 2020 i performed some light pruning but this
is when i realised just how difficult it was going to be to sustain this jar
it was really difficult to get in through this opening even with a pair of long-handled scissors
this is the last photo i have of the jar at this point i removed all the inhabitants
and gave them to my friend where to this day they're still alive in his aquarium
so it was largely successful but i did make a few mistakes and hopefully i'll have learned from
those and won't carry them on into this build i've chosen a container with a large opening so pruning
the plants should be easy this method was made famous by diana walstad in her 1999 book ecology
of the planted aquarium now i've attached a pdf in the description below but of course it's always
better to buy directly from the author so if you can afford to do so please do that so in simple
terms the walstad method uses minimal tech in this case i'll be using some artificial light and
a small heater but there are examples of people relying on natural light and using no heater i
didn't use a heater in my last build and it worked just fine basically it works by using the plants
as a natural filter or water purifier but the container must be densely planted for this to work
using a nutrient-rich substrate is vital so the plants can grow strongly and that is capped or
top dressed by a layer of gravel or coarse sand so it doesn't float away or cloud the water
i'll be using an organic peat free topsoil with a little tropica aquarium soil added
for good measure it's important not to add any creatures until the nitrite
nitrate and ammonia levels have stabilized or they will die this can take a few months
once a few months have passed and the levels have stabilized then small fish snails and shrimp can
be added the fish contribute to the ecosystem by producing waste which fertilizes the plants
and the shrimp and snails act as a cleanup crew consuming certain kinds of algae helping keep the
bowl clean so that's a really basic explanation into how the walstad method works i wanted to
keep this as basic as possible so here are the materials that i'm going to use aquarian plants
aquarium sand as a cap a bottle with some holes in it
this minimizes disturbance to the substrate and sand layer when the water is added
lava rocks of varying sizes
the glass bowl this was 7.99 from homesense tropica aquarium soil and john innes number three
topsoil reverse osmosis water with added minerals super glue for gluing the plants to the lava rock
first i clean the bowl using warm water and soap i dried it and used a glass cleaner
with a microfiber cloth to wipe it down this is how i clean all of my glassware
now i add the soil i'm not adding too much as in my research i discovered that
a little goes a long way as you can see there is roughly an inch or so in here
now it's time for the cap or top dressing of sand it's important that this isn't
too thick so the plant's roots can find their way to the soil quickly
but it's also important that it's not too thin or the soil will seep out and make the water brown
i'm using roughly one and a half to two inches
okay so because the bucephalandra won't survive in the substrate
i'll be gluing it to these pieces of lava rock i really don't want the rock to be a feature
so i'm choosing slightly smaller pieces i'm just getting an idea of where i'll be placing them
at this point i start separating the plants they come in this rock wool or sometimes a gel and it's
important to remove as much of this as possible before planting i won't make you watch me do every
single plant because it took half an hour but you get the idea i'll do the foreground plants first
foreground plants are done
now for the mid and background plants
i divide the booths into smaller pieces like this and glue them to pieces of the lava rock
i repeat this until all five pieces of lava rock are attached with plants
i also glue the anubius to a piece too
now i'm going to put the plants in place
i realized that this looks absolutely ridiculous at the moment but bear with me as i promise it
gets better and also at this point i realized that i didn't like the color of the sand in
contrast with the lava rock so i decided to cap the cap with a layer of lava rock
start to add the foreground plants in
and fill the bowl with water just until the substrate and sand is saturated
i probably should have done this before planting the plants but
now i'll add the rest of the plants in the Pogostemon erectus will be the main
background plant and the cryptocoryne beckettii will be dotted around it
it's really important to firm the plants in or
they will become dislodged and float to the top when the water is added
so
this is eleocharis acicularis mini and it grew really well the last time i used it
so i want to create a mat of it at the front i divided the plant into seven pieces and dotted
them in the foreground it's fast growing and i have a decent light so i'm sure this will work
i lost the label for this plant and i've never used it but it looked cool on the
packet it's pretty light though so i placed this stone on top to stop it floating away
java moss is a super easy plant which i've never had trouble with
so i dot a few pieces of that around the bowl
to get rid of this hideous sand color i top dress it with the small grain lava rock
this will also help keep the plants in place
okay so that's the planting scheme finished now it's time to add the water
i do this slowly by using this improvised bottle with holes in which helps distribute the water and
stops the cap and substrate from being disturbed it does look a little cloudy but that will settle
i did debate draining and refilling the bowl but this happened last time and it cleared soon enough
i'll add this heater to the bowl so it will sit at a consistent 25 degrees celsius
which will keep the plants happy especially as we're heading out of summer in the uk
i'll be using this with light as it works so well for me in the past and if it doesn't do so well
i'll consider replacing it with a stronger one but in all honesty i don't think that this will happen
if these bulbs admit up to 500 foot candles but we will see so i'm definitely going to be adding
shrimp to this bowl but i'm going to hold fire for now as i need to wait for the nitrite nitrate and
ammonia levels to stabilize i'm really excited to see how this bowl is going to progress and
i will be making this into a series of videos to track its progress i hope you enjoyed part
one of this video series be sure to keep your eyes peeled for some future updates i'll see you soon!