# 5 Gallon Walstad Attempt



## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Substrate 









Soil Layer - small sticks removed









Added crushed oyster shells









Soil and oyster shells mixed together









Rinsing the Black Diamond blasting sand - rinsed it 5 times until the water was clear









Capped soil - soil depth 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches, cap 3/4 inch


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Planting - I decided not to have any hard scape. This will be my first tank with only plants. 









Crypts in









Added the Cyperus Helferi and Alternanthera Reineckii from my other tank









Flooded









Added the Hornwort and Water Wisteria to float and take up the extra nutrients until the other plants get going


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## Kirbalicious (Nov 10, 2014)

wow, looks like you've got a heckuva collection, i really like your approach on the 5G, actually all of them, haha! The Alternanthera Reineckii, what have you been doing to keep it looking so nice? that looks like nice growth, whereever it came from! mine went from bright red to bronzed :/


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

I love it!


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Kirbalicious said:


> wow, looks like you've got a heckuva collection, i really like your approach on the 5G, actually all of them, haha! The Alternanthera Reineckii, what have you been doing to keep it looking so nice? that looks like nice growth, whereever it came from! mine went from bright red to bronzed :/



Thank you - I went from 1 tank 2 years ago to 8 now. I definitely ended up with MTS. My husband has been really good about it with only a few sighs. [emoji5]️

I pulled the Alternanthera Reineckii out of my 75 gallon high tech tank. I had trimmed it about a week ago and replanted the tops. It is also in the picture of my no-tech tank still pretty red. It has grown around the container and now has some emersed growth. I really like that plant. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Zoidborg said:


> I love it!



Thank you. Now is the hard part - waiting for it to grow in. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Seeing some algae growth. I am not sure what it is however it is growing on the substrate. I will work on removing when I do the water change later today. I have some crypts starting to melt. Water parameters are looking good. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

jlfkona said:


> Seeing some algae growth. I am not sure what it is however it is growing on the substrate. I will work on removing when I do the water change later today. I have some crypts starting to melt. Water parameters are looking good.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Pretty sure it wasn't algae. I think it was hornwort leaves. Vacuumed right up. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Getting some afternoon sun. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Update - 2 weeks 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Week 3 - major melting going on


























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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Everything except the Cryperus Helferi melted. Yesterday I was checking out a different LFS and saw this piece of driftwood. I also picked up some Pennywort and water lettuce for this tank and Blyxa Japonica for my high tech tank. 

I decided to redo some of the tank and hope that some of the melted crypts come back in the front of the tank.

Added...
Driftwood
Anubias
Pennywort
Blyxa Japonica (we will see how it does)

I also added more Alternanthera Reineckii from my "no tech" tank. 

I removed the floating wisteria and hornwort. 


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Really dig your 75g

What do you think went wrong on your Walstad?


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

My choice of plants - 95% were crypts. Sometimes I get a melt - other times they are fine. Another factor may we that I didn't have any water flow. I added a small internal filter for awhile to see how that goes. We will see how this version goes. I am still really liking the approach. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

I wasn't sure what I was going to put in this tank. Probably two weeks ago I saw a lavender colored Dumbo Betta at Petsmart. I had never seen one that color before and was thinking that I should have bought it. Well - I went there today for a light bulb and he was still there. I guess that answers the question what is going in this tank. 










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## MissOddi (Mar 2, 2011)

He's gorgeous!


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Looks like a female betta?


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Neatfish said:


> Looks like a female betta?



It was in a container marked as a Male Dumbo Betta - however when I put together my Betta sorority 2 of the 9 "female" Bettas ended up being male. I will give this one some time to figure it out. It is still pretty small. I have a couple males and 4 females. I enjoy both. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

He is very happy to be out of his pet store cup! Any ideas on a name for him?


























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## Kirbalicious (Nov 10, 2014)

I love dwarf water lettuce, but I have to stay so so vigilant about thinning it, otherwise it completely mats the surface and chokes out the light. it also truly scrubs the excess nutrients out of the water column I find, very competitive for other plants who feed from the water directly. My shrimp and celestial pearl danios love it in my 10g, and my dwarf gouramis never made bubble nests until I added it to their tank. Once it matures, the roots (in my tank anyway) are about 6-8 in long. I'm bummed to hear about the crypts! T.T


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

It's almost been a month since I replanted the tank. It is growing in nice. I am really liking how it looks. 

My Betta is really settling in. His fins are starting to heal up. He is the most active Betta I have ever seen. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

A little afternoon sunshine...


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

2 month update









Front view


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

4 months

Before trim


















After trim and removal of a bunch of water lettuce











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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

7 month update 

I removed all the water lettuce and decided to replant the crypts. So I guess it is now a combination of my two designs. 

I really am enjoying the Walstad Method. I am doing water changes every few months. I checked the water parameters a couple weeks ago and nitrates were maybe 5. The Betta (still no name and is definitely male) is very happy and enjoys all the plants.

I am struggling with the urge to get a twenty long. I would really like to design another tank. I don't need one and I am pretty sure my husband thinks the five I have already are enough! [emoji4]

Here are a few pictures of the tank. 









































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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

*Betta name*

Suggestion:

"Five-Star" because he lives in a five-star five-gallon home.


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## Bine (Jul 12, 2015)

These Walstad and jars are growing on me.


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

When I started this tank I wanted it to be all crypts. They all melted and I went a different route. Well the crypts I planted a couple months ago are growing like crazy! I may need to adjust some of the planting. 


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

It's official. The crypts got out of hand. I also have been fighting green hair algae.










So - I decided to remove a bunch of the crypts, cleaned off the hardscape, and remove some of the plants that had a bunch of algae on them. It looks like a newly planted tank. Looking forward to when it grows in again. 










The betta is freaked out a bit without all his hiding spots. 











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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Starting to fill in.









Quite a difference since I pulled out the crypts. This is quickly becoming my favorite tank. 


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