4.8g (18.17L) Cube | Welstad Method | Day 1

Day 1

The Welstad Method is a process where a tank is set up using non-additive soil, something to cap the soil, and plants. These are used to make a natural filter to hold the nitrogen cycle, instead of using a mechnical filter (e.g. HOBs, canisters, sumps, etc.) since the soil will give room for bacteria to break down debris and continue giving nutrients for the aquatic plants. This process was made popular by Diana Welstad, author of 'ECOLOGY of the PLANTED AQUARIUM - A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist'.

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Soil

The soil I used is an organic soil I bought a long, long time ago and put into it's own bucket. I do not know what brand I bought, but I know that I specifically labeled the bucket "organic soil, welstad" since I wasn't sure when I was going to set this up (as life got in the way). Anyway, since it was so dry, I put a thin layer in the bottom with occasional mists to rehydrate it, but it's going to expand a lot more in the next 24 hours.

Cap Substrate

For my cap substrate, I choose to completely use pool filter sand. It's my favorite substrate since I like the color, it's not too light in weight, it tends to go with everything, and it's affordable in bulk. I put about 1 inch (2.54 cm) of sand over the soil, so hopefully that's think enough to prevent the soil from absorbing through. If not, I will add more if I need to.

Hardscape

Side story: we have on our property a falling apart foundation of a very, very old barn. You wouldn't be able to tell it used to be a barn if you looked at it. We are demolishing it for safety as rocks are starting to randomly fall, and we don't want any people or animals getting hurt. I don't know what type of rock it is, but that is where I took it from. I tested them again, and they ed the vinegar and test kit test. I do not think I will be adding any wood, as I wanted to go for a mountain look, and the plants I have will make it look like a jungle.

Plants

I am going to be using plants from pre-existing tanks: val, anubias, ribbon plant, bamboo, pothos, crypts, etc. It's going to be a low-tech tank, so I'm not going crazy. In the future when I know this tank is going to be stable, I may add more variety of plants.

Livestock

This tank is not planned for any livestock. It is my first time doing a welstad, so I plan on letting this tank sit and balance itself out before I move onto larger projects when I am able to in the future. Welstad tanks take a very, very long time to establish and can easily cycle crash if you go about it wrong. Due to that reason, I am not going to worry about any animals. Additionally, there are not many animals I would feel comfortable housing in this size of aquarium as it isn't spacious. If I ever add anything in the future, I would expect a single snail.

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Final Thoughts

What is in the picture is what I set up today, and I am going to let it sit for the next 24 hours before I do anything else. If the soil is expanded enough, I will start to add plants then fill it up, set up the timer for the light and start posting photos. I am hoping that I will be able to take a picture everyday, so by the time a year ed, I can do a time-lapse. Otherwise, a few to-do things is to buy some little lip things so I can put a proper lid on this. I will need to custom make the lid to fit for semi-aquatic plants as well, but I have enough plexi-glass to do so. Besides that, this is a very simple tank to set up, so I don't really need anything else. Most supplies I already had from past projects or had laying around for this project.