The Walstad Method

[UltraMega]

In a nutshell, the Walstad Method is a way of setting up an aquarium or fish bowl that requires no input or output, and no filtration. The point is to setup a self sufficient environment where the shrimp/fish/frogs/whatever balance out with the plants in a way that is symbiotic.

 

My gf and I setup two Walstad jars with 2 gallon cookie jars from Walmart. We used some wire to make a cradle for the lights, and found LEDs that fit nicely under the lid of the jars.

 

Just another fish side hobby we enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27 by UltraMega

[ENTERPRISE]

On 27/08/2024 at 07:35, UltraMega said:

In a nutshell, the Walstad Method is a way of setting up an aquarium or fish bowl that requires no input or output, and no filtration. The point is to setup a self sufficient environment where the shrimp/fish/frogs/whatever balance out with the plants in a way that is symbiotic.

 

My gf and I setup two Walstad jars with 2 gallon cookie jars from Walmart. We used some wire to make a cradle for the lights, and found LEDs that fit nicely under the lid of the jars.

 

Just another fish side hobby we enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely a cheap and low maintenance way of having a pet!

[neurotix]

This is pretty cool Ultra. Definitely makes for some nice photos.

[UltraMega]

13 hours ago, neurotix said:

This is pretty cool Ultra. Definitely makes for some nice photos.

 

Thx!

 

I took a few more photos: 

 

 

 

From Wikipedia: 

 

Spoiler

Although serious aquascapers often use a considerable amount of equipment to provide lighting, filtration, and CO2 supplementation to the tank, some hobbyists choose instead to maintain plants with a minimum of technology, and some have reported success in producing lush plant growth this way. This approach, sometimes called the "Walstad Method" and popularized by Diana Walstad, can include the use of soil in place of aquarium gravel, the elimination of CO2 apparatus and most filtration, and limited lighting. Only a few fish or shrimp are kept to limit the quantity of fish waste. Plants are used to perform the water-cleansing role typically played by aquarium filters by utilizing what fish waste there is as fertilizer.

 

So the first jar, or the one on top, is my gfs jar. She started this whole thing because she has a 20 gallon standard fish tank with pea puffers. The puffers like to eat small snails, and you can typically get pest snails from any fish store for free, which we did. My gf originally started a smaller jar just to raise pest snails as food for her fish, but the jar turned out to be kinda interesting on its own so that evolved into a bigger, better jar, and then I made my own jar. 

 

Her jar has pest snails. My jar (bottom jar) does not. There is definitely a difference in how much plant growth goes on between the two and the plants grow a lot faster in the snail jar, though they're not all the same type of plants. Both jars are doing well though. Some other differences, her jar used natural sand that we got for free from a rock yard. When we told them we only needed a small amount of sand, they told us to just take it and didn't charge us. A lot of the plants we also go for free, but not all. Some came from our other fish tanks (we have 3). My jar uses a mix of sand and plain old dirt from my backyard. I had never put dirt into a fish setup before, but it works. 

 

Each jar cost about $30 to setup. $15 for the jar, and $15 for the light. The rest was pretty much free, aside from the living creatures. Jar one has about 15 cherry shrimp that we are hoping will breed soon, and a dwarf African frog, and snails. My jar has 6-7 cherry shrimp and 2 Otocinclus algae eater fish and nothing else. 

 

We got the shrimp on amazon. First time I have ever ordered live shrimp/fish online. Worked out pretty well. Was about half the price compared to getting them at a store. 

 

 

 

Pics from out 3 fish tanks. We have a 40 gallon, which is my tank that I've had for a long time (although the actual tank itself is new after the recent leak, but the setup is the same as it was before), a 20 gallon which is my gfs tank with the pea puffers and some other fish, and a ten gallon that we only setup recently. We had a spare 10 gallon tank with a light and filter so we just set it up recently as a very basic tank just to grow extra plants that we can move to our other tanks over time. 

 

 

 

If you like this sort of thing, this is a great youtube channel: tanks for nothin - YouTube 

^This channel came out of nowhere, put out 4 awesome videos and got ~10 million views; with a brand new channel and just 4 videos. They're all like a Planet Earth style episode, but about fish tanks. 

 

Edited September 2 by UltraMega