Best Practices: Setting up an Aquarium.

1. Width:
    Try to keep the width between 12-14 inches. This forces the fishes to swim near the glass. That way you have a closer view of them. If you have a large width, they can remain at the back side of the aquarium and you cannot have a closer look at them unless they come forward.

2. Height:
     If you are planning a low-tech planted aquarium then see to it that the water column is max 12-14 inches. This will reduce your needs for having powerful lights. You will be having 2-3 inches of gravel at the bottom and would leave around 2-3 inches of air column at the top. So the final height comes to 18-20 inches.

3. If you are going to use a tube-light with shades, You cannot place them very close to the water surface because it may not cover the whole bottom. So plan that according to you tank size.

4. If you have larger aquariums (4+ feet) then do buy an automatic feeder. It will help you a lot in the long run. DIY Automatic Feeder are economical and practical for small aquariums only.  

5. Buy a filter which creates a steady stream of water movement.

5. When you are placing the gravel/sand at the bottom, make it sloping from back to the front. So that all the solid waste comes to the front and it makes easier to clean/vacuum.

How To Control Snail Population in a Planted Aquarium.

I have been maintain a 5-Foot Walstad Type Natural Planted Aquarium from last few years. 

Scalability and Flexibility always creates a problem when the task gets huge. The problem with maintaining a large aquarium is you don’t get the liberty of just flushing out all the water and cleaning everything. The problem definition is a bit difficult and complex. So the solution also has to be a bit different and un-orthodox.

A year back, I had got some new Amazon swords from a local shop and with them came some super tiny Ramshorn snails (max. adult size < 5 mm) and some super tiny black apple snail (max. adult size < 5 mm).

Ramshorn Snail.

                                                  Black Apple Snail.

Initially I was happy, since they will add to my Algae cleaning crew. But very soon, I got disappointed since these snails multiplied exponentially. Being a Walstad setup, I could not risk using any chemical weapons against these snails.

Manually killing/removing, lesser feeding cycle, were the only options which did not give any appreciable results.

Accidentally a neighbour of mine gave me a 2-inch gold fish. Some friend of theirs was relocating out of town and therefore was giving out all their fishes. As per my understanding, Gold Fishes and Planted Aquarium don’t go well. Gold fish tend to eat away most of the plants. I could not deny my neighbour and since it was a tiny 2-inch Gold fish, I let it in. 

My plants had grown up in jungle, so having a small gold fish should not create much of any issue.

Days went by and I was minutely watching the Gold fish behaviour and the plants. I did see the Gold Fish nibbling out here and there, but it seemed to be eating the decaying leaves/plant matter.

Almost a month went by and I suddenly realized that the snail population (ramshorn and tiny black apple snails) had dropped drastically. I was literally scratching my head trying to identify if there was some change in my Aquarium routine. But unfortunately no!! I had my same Aquarium routine. 

I thought that possibly the Gold Fish must have something to do with it. But I never saw it aggressively getting after these snails. Even Google didn’t say anything about Gold fish eating snails. I was a bit skeptical about my inferences. 

For some reason, I had to move this gold fish in my secondary tank which I used mainly was some miscellaneous stuff. It also had the snail problem and viola, around a month later there are almost no snails. 

So Gold Fish is your ultimate weapon for controlling your unwanted snail population. But I still think Gold Fish do eat plants, possibly when there is not too much of food for him.

Note: My Orange Apple snails were un-harmed, possibly because they were too big for the gold fish to handle.

Walstad Aquarium - 1 Year Later.

Its been almost 1 year now with the new aquarium setup. And things have now got stabilized with lush green growth every where. I am now actually getting bored to update this blog because there is nothing interesting happening. Everything is going just going smooth, touchwood!!

No Masive Algae problems!! No browning of glass due to Brown Algae!!

I need to rethink whats next. Here are a few things I am planning to consider:

1. No Algae Regime: Increase the 10% water change from monthly to weekly basis. The objective is to get rid of all the minute growth of Brown Algae. I am not sure if its worth the effort.

2. Re-design a new Automatic Fish Food Feeder: Here I am planning to get hands dirty with low level electronic ICs, stepper motors/relays and things like that.

Anyway here are the pics:

Walstad Aquarium - Full View.

Note: Around 5 Amazon Sword Plants have been added. they have added filled the vacuum at various places.

Aquarium - Center View.

Aquarium - Left Hand Side View.

Aquarium - Right Hand Side View.

9 - Months - Progression Gallery.

Its 9 months now since the new setup was performed during Sep 2012.

Here are some pics:

Sep-2012: Initial Setup. 

Jan-2013: Not so encouraging Setup. :(

Jul-2013: Lush Growth. :)

Updates:
1. Added 3 new Angels fishes (Qty-4) a few days back.
2. Added Red Tail Sharks (Qty-7) around 2 months back. 
3. Added Crypt (Qty-1) around 2-weeks back and they are doing really great. I am impressed with their growth.
4. Also added Bacopa, But not that impressive growth.
5. Java Fern is still stagnating. I have ran out of ideas now. :(
6. Dead Fishes: Some Angels, Neon Rainbow, Serpae Tetra. :(

Aquarium Center.

The Lawn.

Left Side.

Left Side.

Right Side.

My Learnings:

1. Its all about CO2: CO2 (Carbon dioxide) is the most deficient nutrient for most Walstad style (Low-Tech) Natural Planted Aquarium. My 3 months results were not that encouraging. Adding lots of plants in the initial setup could have solved my problem. But since there wasn't too much many of aquatic plants, I had a tough time bringing up this aquarium.

Just 3 months back I have started Glut dosing and I am happy with the results. I was able to multiply my plants in no time.

2. Control the Algae: I had a hard time trying to control the deaded Brown Algae. But Glut dosing ans monthly siphoning of 15% water has brought things in control. 

Also the filter (running for 5 hrs Daily [overnight]) also is helping.

I am expecting that my lush green growth of aquatic plants will help me to get to a state of almost no algae.

Amazon Sword 1 Year later.

The results are really devastating. I need to get my Amazon Sword growing large leaves.

Amazon Sword - In the center - Jan 2012.

Same Amazon Sword a Year Later - Jan 2013.

New Aquarium Setup After 3 Months.

My New Aquarium Setup is more than 3 months old. And the results are not that encouraging.

- All fast growing plants have shown super slow growth and are almost dead.
- Slow growing plants are showing growth.
- The Lawn[Pygmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus Tenellus)] has started spawning new daughter shoots. The Lawn is now spreading.
- Java Fern has given out lots of baby Ferns.
- Amazon Sword has grown new leaves but they are thin and slender.
- Java Moss is all dead.
- Around 30+ Swordtails/Platty babies growing.

New Additions:
- Giant Ambulia.
- Added a Internal Aquarium Filter (Not shown in pics). 

Possible Causes:
- Inconsistent Light Timings.
- Aerating Filter decreasing carbon-dioxide.
- Tube lights are now 9 months old. Most Aquarists say that tube lights should be changed every 6 months.


Changes Made:
- Light Timings: 8-13, 14-16. 17-22, every day. 
- Aerating Filter turned on overnight.
- Tube lights how changed to "Philips Trulight (Warm)" Fluorescent (Not shown in Pics).

Aquarium Full View - Without New Giant Ambulia.

Aquarium Full View - With New Giant Ambulia. at Left corner.

Java Fern has grown lots of baby ferns, on the log.

Amazon Sword with lot of slender leaves.

New Giant Ambulia.

New Giant Ambulia.

New Giant Ambulia. - Top View.

Natural Planted Aquarium - The New Setup.

- New Plants Added: Java Fern and Java Moss. 

I am too bored to write anything right now. So for time being, just enjoy the pics. ;)

Day 1- A Very Cloudy Setup.

1 Week Later - Its lot better now.

Natural Planted Aquarium (Walstad Method) - Left View.

Natural Planted Aquarium (Walstad Method) - Center View.

Natural Planted Aquarium (Walstad Method) - Right View.

Natural Planted Aquarium (Walstad Method) - Angled View.