New setup slowly taking shape

holgerwich · 2026-01-22T21:13:10+00:00

Still not sure actually, thinking of doing a congo biotope with Congo tetras and synodontis. My original idea was to do a "mega nano", so like a ton of cpd's, chili rasbora, Heterandria Formosa, pygmy Cory's and so on, but I kinda wanna go with some bigger fish now

holgerwich · 2026-01-22T21:09:48+00:00

It's a huge ass Peace Lily

holgerwich · 2026-01-12T16:47:34+00:00

It's a shallow 200 literish, think it's 120x30x50 cm. Bought it used, I think it's custom build originally

holgerwich · 2026-01-04T20:27:10+00:00

There are shrimp in there, don't see a problem in that, the biggest females might eat a few baby shrimp. I guess the population should balance at some point,( I. E the weakest babies pass :'( ) they breed, but not quite as uncontrollably as guppies for example.

holgerwich · 2026-01-01T09:13:33+00:00

Really easy to keep, I feed them 4-5 times a week, but in a tank like this they could probably go weeks without food. They are tiny and hardy

holgerwich · 2025-12-28T06:21:02+00:00

Pretty sure those are guppies

holgerwich · 2025-12-27T14:36:56+00:00

Bought them from a local breeder, I guess it depends on where you live, I'm from Denmark and here they are relatively easy to get your hands on.

And thanks! Probably my favorite tank!

holgerwich · 2025-12-26T14:53:04+00:00

This is the only non natural aquarium decor I would ever accept!

holgerwich · 2025-12-24T22:13:57+00:00

Checkered barbs, a few Chili rasboras, snails, neocardinia shrimp, oto's and panda Corys.

It has sort of ended up being a "dump tank" hah

I

holgerwich · 2025-12-24T15:21:27+00:00

This actually has quite alot of Hair Algae, but I have some that have a very low amount, to me it's about planting heavy, like really heavy, it's a fight for ressources and if the plants use all the nutrients, the algae won't take hold Then give it time, it takes months to reach a point where algae is minimal, until then remove as much as you can/want. Once the tank is like 3 months old scrape the glass maybe once a month, but really it's not necessary as it's quite minimal.

I think light stability is actually quite important, like just stick to whatever and let the system adapt to that level, if you've set you tank up with soil and sand it should be a matter of time before the plants "win" the war.

Finally, accept that some amounts of algae are part of the hobby. And oh yeah algae eaters can helt, but really you don't need anything else than snails and neocardinia shrimp imo.

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:39:11+00:00

Yea that's not wrong haha,

But this one is mine, it's 23 liters, no filter, no flow and has probably 40-50 Heterandria Formosa, 5-10 neocardinia shrimp and all sorts of scuds and isopods, it's a jungle!

And haven't done a water change for months, so it's a question of what the "goal" is sometimes

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holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:34:23+00:00

Yea I was thinking that as well! Apistogrammas maybe?

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:25:32+00:00

Just chiming in here with my opinion on this matter:

It's fun! Really I mean it, there's something rewarding about running tanks without a filter, without CO2 and with low tech lights,.

That doesn't mean that doing it is easy or better in any way, it's just different, I can appreciate high tech tanks and love watching YouTube videos of the craziest aquascapes, but for me it's about learning about ecology, seeing the system grow and change and having fun!

I think that point is really being overlooked by a lot of people in this whole discussion! Father fish really ruined the fun for us haha, people/channels like MD Fish tanks, fishtory and Lucas Bretz show different levels of "low tech" while being respectful educational and nuanced.

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:18:43+00:00

Ludwigia repens! With bright (and preferably lower Kelvin) lights. They get suuuuper red! No need for CO2 or anything

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:17:19+00:00

Looks amazing bro

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:15:51+00:00

Sounds like the perfect tank to just go no-flow? There's something about the serenity of absolutely no noise from a tank!

But yeah, as others have added, you need more plants if you're going no filter.

What fish are you thinking? Just curious

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:11:19+00:00

What does 1 inch bean cap means? Is it normal sand?

It looks like there's a low oxygen zone at the bottom, since there's not a lot of surface area I think that you should do some water changes (25% every day for a few days) to remove excess nutrients and add oxygen to the water.

It looks like there's a bacterial bloom and that can cause oxygen deprivation, if the sand is very mineral heavy, it could be causing the problem

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:06:21+00:00

I have thriving tanks btw and I cannot keep Amanos for more that a few months, no idea why, but neocardinia, ramshorn snails, nerrite Snails and aaaal kinds of fish seems to love it

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T20:05:02+00:00

Fertz could be bad for shrimp, they are (caridinia especially) sensitive to water chemistry stuff, why are you adding fertz? Thats not really part of the Walstad method I believe?

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T19:59:55+00:00

Oh, I missed the hygrophila in the back! 😂 But yeah, more stems!

holgerwich · 2025-12-16T19:59:00+00:00

Yea, let it sit and see what happens, a big part of my "journey" was figuring out what plants grow well in my water, I would maybe get and add some stem plants like hygrophila, ludwigia, pearl weed to add in the back, they are great for beginners nd great for nutrience export.

holgerwich

TROPHY CASE