How To Set Up Your First Filterless Walstad Method Tank! (Step-By-Step - Month 2)

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Tank (Or Similar) - https://glassboxdiaries.com/nanotank
Light - https://glassboxdiaries.com/seaouralight
Heater - https://glassboxdiaries.com/hyggerhg083
USB Water Pump - https://glassboxdiaries.com/usbwaterpump
Test Kit - https://glassboxdiaries.com/watertestkit
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YouTube Playlist For Future Updates On The Tank - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnAt53J5w5F8n0B-HyvVojQmAQnHMPjJq
Fish Poop Fertilization Method - https://glassboxdiaries.com/fish-poop-fertilizer/

PLANT LIST
🌿 Spirodela
🌿 Rotala Rotundifolia
🌿 Limnophila Sessiliflora
🌿 Bucephalandra Bukit Kelam
🌿 Anubias Petite
🌿 Echinodorus Tropica
🌿 Cryptocoryne Beckettii Petchii
🌿 Helanthium Tenellum Green

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📚 Recommended Reading Pinned To Home Page - https://glassboxdiaries.com/
🛒 List Of Recommended Aquarium Accessories (Regularly Updated) - https://glassboxdiaries.com/aquarium-accessories/
📖 Most Recent Blog Posts - https://glassboxdiaries.com/category/blog/

🐠ECOSYSTEM AQUARIUMS 🐡
🌱 Walstad Vs Father Fish: Which Builds A Better Planted Aquarium? - https://glassboxdiaries.com/walstad-vs-father-fish/
🐟 Self-Cleaning Aquariums Made Easy - https://glassboxdiaries.com/self-cleaning-aquarium/
🌿 Cycle An Aquarium With Plants - https://glassboxdiaries.com/how-to-cycle-an-aquarium-with-plants/
💩 Fish Poop Fertilizer Method - https://glassboxdiaries.com/fish-poop-fertilizer/
🚰 Debunking Aquarium Water Changes Myths - https://glassboxdiaries.com/aquarium-water-changes/
☘️ Best Plants For Natural Water Filtration - https://glassboxdiaries.com/best-plants-for-walstad-method/

How To Set Up Your First Filterless Walstad Method Tank! (Step-By-Step - Month 2)

This is the two-month update on my beginner-friendly Walstad Method aquarium, a simple and low-maintenance setup that has quickly become one of my favorite tanks. It’s home to a small group of platinum medaka rice fish along with a colorful “skittles” colony of neocaridina shrimp. If you’re interested in trying the Walstad Method for the first time, this is exactly the kind of build I would recommend—straightforward, easy to manage, and rewarding to watch develop over time.

The foundation of this tank is a half-inch layer of garden topsoil capped with an inch of fine gravel, around 2mm in grain size. This natural substrate approach fuels plant growth without the need for expensive aquasoils, and the plants themselves handle all the filtration. I don’t run a filter here—the combination of fast-growing background plants like Limnophila sessiliflora and floating Spirodela polyrhiza keep the water clear and safe for the livestock. Other plants provide cover, grazing areas for the shrimp, and visual balance. Lighting is provided by a budget-friendly Seaoura SR616 aquarium light, set to maximum intensity for six hours a day, which keeps costs down while still providing everything the plants need.

At just two months in, the ecosystem is already showing exciting signs of life. The medaka rice fish have started breeding, with females carrying eggs, and although it’s late in the season, there’s a chance I may see fry appear soon. The dense growth of Limnophila sessiliflora offers plenty of hiding spaces for any babies that hatch. Meanwhile, several of my female shrimp are also berried. With shrimp generally being safer from predation in this kind of setup, I think there’s a much higher chance of seeing baby shrimp survive and grow compared to the medaka fry. Since this is a skittles colony made up of mixed colors—red, yellow, orange, and blue—it’s always exciting to see what colors the next generation will bring.

Feeding in this tank is simple and plays into the natural cycle that makes Walstad tanks thrive. I feed the medaka a rotating diet of Hikari Micro Pellets, Fluval Bug Bites, and NT Labs Microcrumb, though I’ve noticed the Bug Bites can be a little large for their mouths. The shrimp get algae wafers and Bug Bites as well, but they also spend much of their time grazing on algae, biofilm, and melting plant matter. The waste from all of this becomes food for bacteria, which in turn release nutrients that the plants absorb—a natural loop I like to call the “fish poop method.”

#aquarium #fishtank #walstadmethod

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
01:18 - Fish Breeding
01:50 - Shrimp Breeding
02:56 - Feeding The Tank
04:49 - Plant Growth
08:28 - Today

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