Walstad Goldfish Tank Update May 2009
It’s been a busy month of vigorous growth in the Walstad tank.
Algae is on the slow retreat, the front glass used to get green film over it in just a few days now it’s about 3 weeks and it’s due for a wipe. Hopefully this gets longer and longer as the plants out compete it for nutrients.
All the water parameters are looking fine, Nitrate is practically 0 which means new algae growth should be extremely slow to non-existant. I can’t wait for the black algae on my Anubias nano to die off, I haven’t seen some of those green leaves in ages!
The green wisteria continues to assert it’s dominance over the left side of the tank and attempts to choke out the red ludwigia. Sometime over the next few days I plan to do a mass prune again, I’ll take a photo and add it when I’m done.
The goldfish are going great, I did lose one zebra danio due to old age I think but everyone else is doing fine.
Here’s what the tank looked like in early April;
May 4th, 2009 at 7:52 am Van(Quote)
It’s looking good, Oz! I can’t believe how much the plants grew. Soon enough, you may have nothing but a tank of seaweed.
How often do you prune?
May 4th, 2009 at 10:03 am Scribbler(Quote)
This is unbelievable. Cycling and now goldfish. My wife has a goldfish aquarium thingy too. Only it seems you know what you are doing
Can you recommend a website that has a step by step guide on how to keep a gold fish ‘tub’ like yours ship shape?
Or can you blog about the steps to take?
The other half is seriously jealous of your setup.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:26 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
goldfish tub? That’s like calling a bike a toy!
I’ve made a post about setting up a standard tank or alternatively what I have which is a ‘Walstad tank‘ (soil based).
I’ve also got a few equipment articles in the goldfish section. If there’s anything specifically she wants to know just fire me off an email or what not.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm Scribbler(Quote)
lol I thought the word ‘tub’ might get a response
May 4th, 2009 at 2:43 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Van
Yeah I’m over the moon with the plant growth. I don’t mind the jungle look but I want to preserve the red plant on the left.
At this stage I’m pruning once a month (usually shortly after taking pictures) out of laziness. However I don’t think I need to do it much more often then that. I’m a big fan of low maintenance.
Other then topping the tank up every 3 weeks or so with a few litres of water (you can see it’s due for a top up in the recent photo) I haven’t done anything else to it since I set it up.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:51 pm Van(Quote)
I’m all with you on the low maintenance idea.
Ever since you turned me onto the Walstad approach, I’ve been doing a lot of research. I expect I’ll get something up and running within the next month (once my life goes back to ‘normal’)
I’m still shocked at how much things have grown. Really, nice job.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:11 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Sounds good. Make sure you post about it!
May 6th, 2009 at 1:43 pm Van(Quote)
Once I do, I’ll keep you informed. =)
September 27th, 2009 at 9:21 am Peta(Quote)
Good morning from Townsville,
I happen onto this site, whilst having Sunday brekkie in front of the computer-talk about timely.
Just about to go and get my new aquarium [have not had one since my move from Mbne 5 years ago] Where I had been friends with 2 goldfish, one of which died at 20 years from purchase date, the other now lives with a friend, and must be at least 18]
Anyway read all about the W** method, and will be dropping off at Bunnings on the way home, and starting it off this way. Only a 35lts one, as I have a veryn small area avaiable for a tank-so again 2 fish- but will also take photos and be patient in placing the fish. Thank you for a v. interesting and exciting article, v. much appreciated.
Peta Kenchington.
Townsville.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:05 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
No worries Peta, glad to hear your getting back into it. Hopefully your goldies don’t tear up the plants!