I’m setting up a 10 gallon walstad tank!

[littlegoldsnail]

Hey guys! So, a little while back I got a 40 gallon tank, and because of lack of space, I had to move Rosencross (my betta) to a 5.5 gallon sterilite tub as a temporary home. I just got the “go ahead” to set up a 10 gallon for him on the shelf below the 40 gal. I’m super excited!

I’m not going 100% walstad yet, It will still have a filter on it for a while. So basically, I’m doing a dirted tank!

My mix of dirt is about 1/3 Vermicompost (sifted to get the bark out), about 3/8 potting soil (also sifted) and about 1/8 red dirt/clay (for and iron source). I also added just a few grains of perfect blend fertilizer and a couple grains of epsom salt (it’s a mineral).

I’m planning on capping it with a thick layer of pool filter sand.

For plants, I’m planning on hornwort, pearl weed, ludwigia repens, anubias, some floating plants (probably gonna be duck weed) and maybe a few crypts.

Right now I’m just waiting on the light. I ordered a 24 watt planted tank light, which should be plenty of light (if anything it might be to much and I’ll have to use the dimmer). Since this is low tech tank, I’ll be going for around two Watts per gallon, so 24 Watts is a little more then I need. I’ll probably have to go with a shorter lighting schedule so I don’t get tons of hair algae.

I already have the tank, the hood (it’s a versa top, my favorite type of hood ), the substrate, heater and filter. I’ve got some of the plants I want, but I will need to order some.

I will keep you guys updated when I start setting it up!

Planning on just stocking it with a few nerite snails and Rosencross.

[littlegoldsnail]

Sorry this took so long. We moved so I had to delay dirting my tank, but here it is! I ended up just buying a bag of potting soil and sifting out the bark. I haven’t got pearlweed yet because it arrived dead, so I just did hairgrass, hornwort, anubias, Myriophyllum, and crypts. Don’t mind that out of place rock on the driftwood, I just have it there till the driftwood waterlogs, then I’m going to remove it.

Here it is!

Hopefully it will look better once the plants fill in.



P.S. just ignore the random green bean in there.

[littlegoldsnail]

I will continue to post update pictures as the tank grows out.

[pasi9]

Walstad tanks are so cool! I love seeing such green, alive environments.

Your tanks look beautiful. Can't wait to see the plants filled out.

[littlegoldsnail]

Here are some update pictures. It’s been growing and maturing for a while. The grass has filled in some, and I added some rotala roundfolia and a creeping Jenny. Also, it matured enough so I went fully filterless. It’s been filterless for a couple weeks and it’s doing good!

What do y’all think?



I am having a tad bit of hair algae problem though.

[indrajitmasuda]

the tank looks magnificent with so much green and you know the names of the plants thats quite expert. what a pretty snail it looks gorgeously colored but what about the fish for your 40 gallon tank - almost as big as my 44 gallons with Abgels wars oing on lol