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No tech tank

22K views 53 replies 18 participants last post by  PaulG 
#1 ·
25G. Unheated. Unfiltered. Eledoa Crispa and Duckweed taken from the pond.

Will probably change to a daylight spectrum bulb soon enough.

Dirt. Gravel. Wood. Done.

 
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#4 ·
No Tech Tank

Hello Paul...

Nice idea. Low maintenance. The light is heating the water, and the plants are filtering it. You have natural CO2 injection from the surrounding air. Actually, it's pretty high tech.

You will need to replace the water that's lost to evaporation too.

B
 
#6 ·
Hello Paul...

Nice idea. Low maintenance. The light is heating the water, and the plants are filtering it. You have natural CO2 injection from the surrounding air. Actually, it's pretty high tech.

You will need to replace the water that's lost to evaporation too.

B
Low wattage tank?
 
#5 ·
I would like to see how this turns out, I hope you keep us posted as time goes on! What fauna are you thinking?
 
#8 ·
Zebra danios would defiantly prefer some more swim space, but gold barbs might work well. I haven't kept them myself. And shrimp are always an fun option! Good luck deciding :)
 
#11 · (Edited)
Ah, the Walstad method, giant-sized.

I say you should just go shrimp, either that or solitary fish, like a Betta. With 25g and no mechanical filtration you have limited options for stocking. Unless you maintain diligence in water changes and have nitrogen-hogging plants, you wouldn't be able to keep anything larger than a small school in there at optimal parameters. Of course you can always get away with letting things slide, as fish are highly adaptable... I wouldn't recommend it though.

Shoot for small bioload stock, and overkill the waste with fast growing plants, what you have now is not enough to filter a 25g for stock. You have Duckweed, but Ricca looks nicer and isn't a huge PITA when it comes to rescaping your tank or removing it entirely.

Many of the mosses are great for this kind of tank, they grow fast (under higher PAR), filter pretty well, and are pretty nice looking. Taiwan, Java, Xmas, are all good fast growing mosses.

I like the glowing tetras for set ups like this, my go to is the Cardinal, you can easily keep a school of 10-15 in there with no problems. CPD are always a nice choice, but that depends on what kind of fish you want.

I would go with loaches or other bottom dwelling fish that don't require a lot of water movement or light.

But before anything, get more plants in there! It is not densely planted enough for stock!
 
#15 ·
This is my 2nd Walstad in fact, definitely need more plants I know. Put some L. Repens and H.Polysperma in behind the wood, only tiny cuttings so far but they always grow super fast for me. Other than that the only thing that's changed is some massive duckweed growth, it's close to covering 2/3 of the tank now.

I know, slow progress!

Not sure about adding pothos, may add some emersed plants once it develops a little. It's a north facing window so maybe I'll even wait until the summer so they can benefit from the natural light.
 
#18 · (Edited)
A Bit Larger Maintenance Free Tank

This is my 2nd Walstad in fact, definitely need more plants I know. Put some L. Repens and H.Polysperma in behind the wood, only tiny cuttings so far but they always grow super fast for me. Other than that the only thing that's changed is some massive duckweed growth, it's close to covering 2/3 of the tank now.

I know, slow progress!

Not sure about adding pothos, may add some emersed plants once it develops a little. It's a north facing window so maybe I'll even wait until the summer so they can benefit from the natural light.
Hello Paul...

If you want to consider emersed plants, Pothos is average at best. Chinese Evergreen will filter the water much better, but the root ball will need to be aerated to ensure the roots get the nutrients from the water, so the plants grows and keeps the water pure for any fish you may want to add. Attached is a pic of one of my no water change tanks. I do have to replace the water lost to evaportation.

Good luck and above all, have fun.

B
 
#16 ·
WCMM are awesome - such beautiful little fish.

You might consider using a sponge filter to create some water movement - I do this in my 5.5 gallon Ghost Shrimp tank, just to keep things from getting stagnant, but it does generate a moderately decent flow.

You might also consider using a Marina Slim 10 just to create some flow as well - they are beautifully silent, self-priming, include a nice reticulated foam intake filter and are dirt-cheap (~$20 at Petsmart here in Canada). That's what's running on my Walstad 5.5 gallon WCMM tank. It just has a piece of foam in the filter chamber, but no filter material - and quite frankly, I'd be better off with nothing in there at all, since it's just for flow, basically.
 
#17 ·
I second a sponge filter. It's such a simple, inexpensive, quiet item that will make the tank that much better. With a sponge filter some longfin white clouds would look very pretty. I have a very similar set up.

Now if that tank were in a window with more light, then you'd have lots more options for plants. I would consider moving the tank, but I know what it's like having limited sunny-window space.
 
#23 ·
Ok so I have an idea. Instead of emersed plants in planters how about some Echinodorus radicans in the substrate and allowed to grow right up through the surface? Tank is 15 inch deep and they can supposedly hit 30inch or so. Will this species be able to tolerate around 17c? That's the lowest temp I've recorded in this tank.

 
#28 ·
A paradise fish would be great in there and they have huge personalities. They do jump and quite high, I often hear a splash when one gets startled so definitely lower the water level a few inches if you can't cover the tank it any way. If you could get some sort of mesh to act as an anti jump barrier it would be a good idea.
 
#31 ·
Don't fancy adding a cover, paradise fish are out!

WCMM I would love but I don't think they'd do well without water movement, I'm determined to do this without any tech aside from the lights.

I've removed all the Elodea. Wasn't feeling it at all, it's now just completely covered in duckweed with a few stems slowly emerging from behind the driftwood. I have some new plant ideas I'm excited about trying out but won't be much progress until after Xmas I'd imagine, too many presents to buy and blah blah blah.

Lots of life in the tank, few pond snails and random invertebrates.

Sorry for the slow progress it's just how I roll :fish1:
 
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