A Quick Update On My Filterless Pearlweed Jungle Planted Tank!
Quick update on my filterless pearlweed jungle tank—514 days old today! 🌿🐟
I recently added a black medaka to keep my orange female company, but I finally tracked down more orange medaka locally and plan to grow the group soon.
The fish are doing great and adjusting to the cooler water as winter approaches.
My Bloody Mary neocaridina shrimp, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about the temperature—they’re still breeding nonstop. 🦐
My new shrimp bowl has arrived, and once it’s cycled, I’ll move some over as a backup colony.
Meanwhile, the pearlweed just keeps thriving, soaking up excess nutrients and helping keep the whole ecosystem balanced and healthy.
Many people say Walstad-style tanks start to struggle after a year, but this one is nearly a year and a half in and still going strong.
My goal is to keep it running as long as possible and see how far it can go before it naturally fails—if it ever does.
#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #walstad #aquariumplants #aquaticplants
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💡 Quick Shrimp Jar & Bowl Light Comparison 💡
I recently picked up a couple of 20W SANSI House Plant Lights for a new shrimp bowl after @tinyecosystems on TikTok recommended some decent bowls.
Most bowls available here in the UK are very poor quality, so I thought it’d be a good chance to test these lights against the ones I currently use on my shrimp jars.
📸 Images:
1 – Side-by-side comparison of both lights
2 – The 6W Hygger Clip-On Light
3 – The 20W SANSI House Plant Light
The bowls are about twice the size of the jars, so they need more powerful lighting. Even so, I was surprised at just how big a difference the SANSI lights make.
With the lower-powered Hygger lights, a lot of algae goes unnoticed (especially since my eyesight isn’t great), but under the SANSI lights it’s far more visible.
I’m planning to get the first test bowl planted this weekend.
If it goes well, I’ll order another one since the SANSI fixture I ordered actually comes with two lights.
#aquarium #shrimptank #cherryshrimp
148 - 14
A quick update on my 160L (40G) planted community tank, now 567 days old.
Overall, everything’s doing really well—the plants, fish, shrimp, and snails are all thriving.
With summer over and water temps dropping a bit, my corydoras and harlequin rasboras have slowed down on breeding, which has brought some order back to the tank.
I suspect I may have lost one corydoras since I haven’t seen all five together in a couple of weeks—but they’ve surprised me before by all showing up at feeding time, so I’m still hopeful.
Either way, I’ve been loving watching them lately and I’m thinking about adding a few more soon.
The shrimp population has exploded again—you’d never guess I removed over 30 a few months back!
I’m still battling a bit of algae on some leaves, but regular 50% weekly water changes are helping keep nutrients in check since I removed all the stem and floating plants during the last rescape.
I’m also considering swapping my Fluval FX2 for an AllPondSolutions HOB 500 to free up space and make better use of the shelf.
#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #aquariumplants #aquaticplants #communitytank
344 - 28
🚨 Massive shoutout to everyone who watched my videos last month! 🚨
Thanks to you, the channel hit over 1.1 MILLION VIEWS in September alone! 🎉
I’m blown away by the support and so grateful for each and every one of you who watches.
Thanks again for being part of this journey — here’s to keeping the momentum going. I’ve got big plans ahead! 🐟🌱
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3 months in on this little filterless cherry shrimp tank 🦐✨
It’s only 25L/6.6G, running on a simple soil + gravel substrate.
No filter—just plants doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to water quality 🌱💧
Breeding has really taken off—first baby shrimp showed up last month, and now the tank is full of tiny grazers!
Several females are berried again, so I’ll be moving some to other setups soon to avoid overcrowding.
Plant growth has been incredible too:
🌿 Limnophila sessiliflora = absolute powerhouse, trimmed multiple times already.
🍂 Rotala H’Ra is starting to glow with reds and oranges.
🌱 Marsilea hirsuta is spreading nicely as a carpet.
Healthy plants = clean water, and this setup proves it. Loving how it’s all coming together.
#aquarium #fishtank #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #cherryshrimp #shrimptank #neocaridina
232 - 10
✨ Walstad tank update! ✨
This setup was originally for a betta 🐠, but sadly he never thrived and passed. Since then, I’ve moved my Endlers into the tank 🐟, and they’ve settled in beautifully – super active and loving the space.
The snowball shrimp 🦐 are thriving too, and I even spotted one carrying eggs recently! 🥚👀 Fingers crossed for some baby shrimp soon. 💕
Plant growth is coming along 🌱 – the Rotala Blood Red didn’t make it, but the epiphytes are spreading across the rocks just how I imagined. The Cryptocoryne beckettii petchii is filling in the foreground nicely, and the Limnophila sessiliflora is thriving in the background, keeping the water crystal clear 💧.
The red root floaters 🍃 lost some color after lowering the light to fight algae, but I’ve been experimenting with the DLI method to find the right balance. 🌞⚖️
#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #tropicalfish #endlers #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #nanotank
328 - 11
Quick update on my main aquarium rack 🌱🐟
Shrimp jars moved to make room for a future chili rasbora tank
Golden white clouds thriving ✨
Ramshorn snails mostly cleared out with cucumber slices 🥒
My blue betta sadly passed, but the endler’s are loving his old tank
Cherry shrimp colony exploded—lots of babies lately! 🦐
Marmalade the betta is almost fully recovered from dropsy 💛
Ember tetra + pygmy cory tank looking a little rough, but I just added shrimp to help with algae
CPD tank recovering after some hair algae by lowering the light 🌿
Always something changing in the fish room!
#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #tropicalfish
306 - 12
A little update on my 25L (6.6g) filterless Walstad guppy tank 🌿🐟
This setup uses a thin layer of garden soil capped with gravel, letting the plants handle all the filtration naturally.
My two new lyretail guppies have settled in nicely, while my yellow guppy keeps showing off and sparring with them.
The blue guppy stays away most of the time—except at feeding!
The cherry shrimp colony is bouncing back fast, even after moving some to new tanks and sharing a few with friends.
Hair algae has cleared, and my Rotala rotundifolia is starting to glow with yellow, orange, and pink now that I’m thinning out the duckweed more often.
Stable water, healthy fish, thriving plants—exactly what I hoped for with this Walstad setup. 💧🌱✨
#aquarium #guppytank #plantedtank
355 - 34
✨ One of my favorite low-tech carpeting plants — Helanthium tenellum ‘Green’.
My Helanthium Tenellum Green Care Guide - glassboxdiaries.com/plant/helanthium-tenellum-gree…
My Article About All Low-Tech Carpeting Plants I Have Tried - glassboxdiaries.com/carpet-plants-for-aquarium-low…
It spreads by runners to form a dense, bright green carpet that stays compact, usually under 5cm (2"). What makes it amazing is how easy it is to grow: no CO2, no fancy fertilizers, and it adapts to almost any water conditions. I’ve had it thrive in both soft, acidic water and hard, limestone-rich setups. Even cooler temps just slow it down, but never stop it.
Sometimes it melts a bit after planting, but healthy new growth always bounces back and quickly carpets the tank. A true beginner-friendly carpeting plant. 🌱🐟
#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #aquariumplants #aquaticplants
167 - 6
Quick update on my Jungle Betta Tank 🌿🐠
Short form video update on the tank - www.youtube.com/shorts/muqjW_...
Long form video on how I set the tank up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JhsF...
The plants are thriving overall, though the Limnophila sessiliflora looks a bit rough from a recent trim.
My shrimp colony has been braver lately, spending more time out in the open—and my betta doesn’t bother them at all.
Unfortunately, my betta has been going through some health struggles.
She’s had a tumor on her side for a while, but more recently developed dropsy symptoms, including bloating.
I’ve been doing daily 90% water changes and treating with Esha 2000, and thankfully she’s showing signs of improvement.
The pineconing has subsided, the swelling is going down, though she’s still a little bloated.
For now, I’ll keep up with the treatment for another week or two before reevaluating.
The good news is she does seem to be on the mend—and with some luck, she’ll pull through. 💙
#aquarium #fishtank #bettafish #betta #bettatank #bettafishtank #fishkeeping #tropicalfish #plantedtank #plantedaquarium
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Sharing my adventures in the aquarium hobby focusing on planted tanks, betta fish, guppies, shrimp keeping, and other community or nano fish.
23 August 2023