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Walstad Tank

Started by Guest_FishandFire_* , Jan 28 2008 11:08 PM

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19 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 28 January 2008 - 11:08 PM

I've been talking about setting up a Walstad tank for some time now. Bought the book. Read through what seemed like thousands of pages of biology, chemistry, and several other sciences I didn't even know existed. Finally decided to set it up.

For those of you not familiar with a Walstad tank, the premise is to use a top soil substrate with pea gravel on top of that. The soil will break down the fish waste into nutrients for the plants. By doing this, you only need to do water changes every six months. You should never have to vac the substrate. To go along with this is the only equipment you should have in or on the tank is a powerhead to move water (no filtration).

Now to the good part of the story. Bought the top soil. It had been sitting outside and it was frozen. Instead of being patient enough to let it thaw, I thought I could chip it apart and crumble it up in the water. That proceeded to make soup. After having around 1.5" of dirt in the tank, you are supposed to add a few inches of water and then plant your plants. After that you are supposed to put the gravel in. Well, because I had messed with the dirt too much, I couldn't see to place the gravel without burying the plants. I did the best I could and filled the tank. Filled it too fast and enhanced the mud effect in the water. Tried adding a sponge filter and a HOB to clear it up. A week later I still could not see through the tank.

By this time my fine fishy friends in the Quad Cities are getting a great laugh at my Mississippi River bottom.

Yesterday I drained the tank and removed the plants. Surprisingly, the plants were still alive. (I wasn't sure as I had not seen them in well over a week. I added 1.5" of gravel and left if for the night. Tonight I planted the plants through the gravel with no water in the tank and VERY SLOWLY filled the tank trying not to disturb any of my wonderful mud that I now had buried under the gravel. The tank is full and I can see all the way through! It is a little cloudy, but not much more than any other new tank setup. I probably would have given up on this project if it were not for everyone laughing at me. Thanks, guys---you gave me the motivation to continue.

The fish will house my North American native freshwater fish. I have added a couple of pics.

Posted Image

I will keep you updated as the tank clears, fish are added, and the plants grow.

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#2 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 28 January 2008 - 11:27 PM

Cool, cool, cool!

Don't worry about the silt. As soon as the biofilms catch up to the surface area, that stuff will settle out quickly. It looks like you've got about 2 days left. I've done this in established tanks (exchanged all the substrate) and the silt was gone in 2 days total. Just depends on what your source population of bacteria and algae were to start with.

Todd

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#3 Guest_joia2181_*

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Posted 28 January 2008 - 11:35 PM

SWEEEEEEEEEEET TANK!!!!!!!!

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#4 Guest_natureman187_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 12:15 PM

good stuff keep us posted
I'd love to see the outcome :-)

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#5 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 12:21 PM

Looks great!

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#6 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 29 January 2008 - 12:58 PM

I'll add my encouragement here as well... I set up a 25 gallon using nice red georgia clay from dirt in my backyard... topped some gravel and flourite that had previously been in the aquarium... it cleared very quickly with a HOB filter (with no filter in it!... that's sized for a ten gallon tank!). Your patience will be rewared... and the plants will be rewarded... and your fish too.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#7 Guest_arnoldi_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 09:26 PM

Just a tip for anybody who wants to fill a tank with a mud substrate, put a dinner plate or something similar (I used a ceramic tile) on the bottom and let the water hit it. That will greatly reduce the amount of mud and silt stirred up in the water.
I set up a walstad over a year ago and haven't changed the water ever. I have 0 nitrates, its crazy.

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#8 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 09:27 PM

Tonight the water is almost completely clear. I will probably add the fish on Thursday. I am now being cautious and will be putting an established sponge filter in the tank for a while to make sure the biological filtration establishes completely. Thanks for the encouragement. The fish that will be going in are:

5 Red Shiners
2 Blacknose Dace
1 Central Stoneroller
6 Northern Redbellied Dace
3 Johnny Darters
1 Fantail Darter

When spring hits, I am hoping to find someplace that I can collect some topminnows to have fish in all parts of the tank.

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#9 Guest_arnoldi_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 09:29 PM

What size is the tank?

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#10 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 11:24 PM

It is a 35g hex.

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#11 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 30 January 2008 - 09:33 AM

My experience with soil substrates is that you don't need to wait for the tank to cycle. The bacteria are already present in the soil in good numbers.

Tonight the water is almost completely clear. I will probably add the fish on Thursday. I am now being cautious and will be putting an established sponge filter in the tank for a while to make sure the biological filtration establishes completely. Thanks for the encouragement. The fish that will be going in are:

5 Red Shiners
2 Blacknose Dace
1 Central Stoneroller
6 Northern Redbellied Dace
3 Johnny Darters
1 Fantail Darter

When spring hits, I am hoping to find someplace that I can collect some topminnows to have fish in all parts of the tank.

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#12 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 31 January 2008 - 06:56 PM

The tank has cleared up nicely. The fish went in last night. Some pics from tonight.

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Fantail Darter
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Johnny Darter
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#13 Guest_octavio_*

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Posted 02 February 2008 - 01:54 AM

It turned out beautiful! =D>

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#14 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 03 February 2008 - 04:12 PM

Nice fish and tank! I just got through putting water in mine. It's a ten gallon. Right now the only plants I have in there are two species of Elodea and giant vals. I'm going to get some Cambomba soon and maybe some Ludwigia. I hope mine turns out as good as yours did!

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#15 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 23 March 2008 - 02:33 PM

Thought I'd post an update to this project. The tank has been up for almost 2 months. There is no filtration, only a powerhead. Last time I checked (about 2 weeks ago) the water parameters were: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate <5

Fish:

Red Shiners, Lowland Shiners, Blacknose Dace, Longfin Dace, Spotted Dace, Northern Red Belly Dace and also Ghost Shrimp.

Full tank pics:

Posted Image

Ghost Shrimp:

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The next plant started as a bulb when this tank was started. I'm not sure what it is. Lowest part:

Posted Image

Middle of plant:

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Floating on top of water:

Posted Image

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#16 Guest_NVCichlids_*

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Posted 18 April 2008 - 10:49 PM

absolutely awesome! I am going to do this in my 10 gal once I get my two 20 gal L's set up. Do you have lighting on the top? I remember in the articles I have read about these tanks they don't, maybe I just missed that part while reading.
Anyways, AWESOME!!

NV

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#17 Guest_FishandFire_*

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Posted 19 April 2008 - 12:08 AM

absolutely awesome! I am going to do this in my 10 gal once I get my two 20 gal L's set up. Do you have lighting on the top? I remember in the articles I have read about these tanks they don't, maybe I just missed that part while reading.
Anyways, AWESOME!!

NV

Just have a standard strip light with a Zoo Med plant bulb. Bulb is only around $20. It's typically on anywhere from 4-12 hours per day. I need to get a timer, but just haven't gotten around to it.

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#18 Guest_SnowShrimp_*

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Posted 29 October 2008 - 09:12 PM

So would back yard soil or maybe mud from the bottom of my local river work instead of the potting soil?

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#19 Guest_natureman187_*

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Posted 30 October 2008 - 12:40 AM

Yup. And you can get creative and choose the contents by choosing differing colors of soil depending on what you want to grow. I've also heard of people added a scarce bit of potash to prevent potassium deficiency on high maintain setups. I chose not my backyard but it's perfectly fine as long as you don't fertilize. I went to a creek bluff bank where the topsoil, subsoil, iron deposits, and blue clay lines were visible and picked and chose what I wanted.