simply amazing results. love the shots at the end of the video. inspiring! I have an empty 7 gal fish tank... very tempting to do a filterless with that!
I’m a fellow “girl “ who recently got into planted aquariums at a not so tender 49 … 😉 I love your journey. I wish I would have been as thorough in research. Your video Makes me wish I would have recorded mine too- it hasn’t been a year yet that I started my first tank. It’s never too late! Fantastic aquarium by an amazing young lady❤ thank you for sharing 👍🐡🌿🪷
The thoroughness of your research BEFORE buying live fish is admirable. The quality of this video is remarkable. This channel deserves way more subscribers and I have no doubt it will very soon with an intelligent person like you. 👏👏
As a fellow girl aquascaper and fishkeeper that was first introduced to this amazing hobby at the age of 16 (now 20 and still madly into it!) seeing you begin your journey following the exact steps I took, having the same influences and role models, carrying out extensive research, citing every source imaginable and obsessing over the gradual development and slightest changes of the ecosystem you have created is truly heartwarming. Your origin story, if you will, is especially close to my heart as it is the first time I see another girl my age pursuing this hobby and more so someone who reminds me so much of how passionate I was at the time I started. So I take my hat off to you and after 4 years in I can only encourage you to keep doing what you're doing! P.S. Congratulations on catching Fish for Thought's attention ;)
I share in your enthusiasm. I too fell down the aquarium rabbit hole in February of 2021 when it was super cold outside and I longed to see something green. Four tanks later, I’m going on three years since I began my planted tank journey. Beautiful tanks! Well done! 👍
This is awesome!! I had a similar beginning as you did. I work on cargo ships, started aquascaping just before joining a ship for a 7 month contract. All i could think of was making my own scape when i go back home. I wrote all my ideas and research about different methods of aquascaping on papers, cost, brands etc. I had a bunch of paper just like you did.. I musy have watched 100+ videos on youtube despite limited access to internet at sea. I used to fantasize about reaching home and making my own scape. 2 years later, i now have 7 aquascapes. 2 hi-tech aquascapes, 4 walstad aquariums and 1 pond scape. Keep scaping and posting videos!!
That is impressive! I cannot imagine how challenging it would be to wait 7 months to build a much wanted aquascape. ❤Good luck on your current aquariums:)
This if not the best one of the best videos of all time from videography, editing, capturing minute details everything is top notch. I have been in this hobby for more than 5 years and i saw myself in you. Thanks for doing the effort and making the video
This is amazing, this is how all "beginner" aquariums should be, with proper research and thought put into keeping these amazing living organisms. keep up the great work!
This is an excellent video. There are adults who have been in the TH-cam game for years who aren't able to match your production values and thoughtful approach to video essays. Well done! The effort you put towards researching this topic really shone through in the video from the start and as soon as you mentioned that you have Bulgarian heritage I couldn't help but to think that you'd be doing the Bulgarian heroine Elena Lagadinova, "Амазонка", proud - she was a trailblazer who dedicated the later part of her life to agronomy and she would be so happy to know that young people like yourself are also dedicating themselves to studying the same sorts of things as she did.
Oh well youve done it now, you have the aquarium bug and will likely never escape! I caught it age seven when I went into a neighbours kitchen and saw a goldfish bowl sparkling in the sun with plants. That was all it took and I was hooked for life. I discovered Diana’s brilliant book nine years ago and have dirted several tanks since then, a complete game changer! Well done with this and so impressed that you write up notes too. It’s so good to be able to look back at what you did, why you did it and how it worked out, I hope you post more of your adventures as time goes by! Thanks for sharing too!
GREAT job…not just the tank, but the research, your documentation, filming…I SO enjoyed it! You, young lady, are a real inspiration for this old lady! ❤
Well done! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you spent on research. I work in the "fish industry" and I would give just about anything to see even half of the people I help on a daily basis put in the effort you have for your first fishkeeping attempt. I wish you the best of luck in your journey! And don't lose hope if/when you get thrown a curve ball. 🙂
I paused and read your thoughts on scuds. I also really like scuds. I’ve got a strong scud colony in my ghost shrimp tank. Every now and then I catch a couple and give it to my gouramis as a treat. Scuds’ bio load is teeny tiny. They’re a great live food for bigger fish. And I’ve never seen them bother my shrimp or slow down their breeding (they also haven’t bothered white cloud fry/eggs). They’re handy little critters to keep around. There’s not enough scud appreciation in the hobby.
This reminds me of my tank! It's a 5 gallon walstad tank with some wild-collected plants from ponds nearby me (my parents wouldn't let me spend too much money on plants, I reaaally wanted some rotala, anubias, aquatic moss, crypts, java ferns, staurogyne repens, and monte carlo or pearlweed for a carpet 😥). Instead I have elodea, hornwort, and parrot's feather (submerged version). Since they were from the wild, bladder snails also started to pop up. It's always so fun to watch them in the tank❤🐌. I added 6 wild-caught rainwater killifish to that tank as well. They all only take live food (the only live food I have readily available in large quantities is mosquito larvae because I have two large buckets outside with tons of them), except one which likes eating dried egg yolk lol. So interesting to observe their different personalities. Unfortunately, two of them jumped out and dried out when I was on a trip for a week, RIP. The tank has been running for a few months now and all the other inhabitants are happy. In terms of the set up, I made the mistake of letting my dad supervise me while I added the soil and the subsequent cap of sand. He thought that I added too much soil and that it should be less than 1 inch (even though ppl say 1 to 1.5 in is good) and when I pre-soaked the dirt it got too watery so after adding the 5lb layer of sand the dirt was still leaking out and it was a mess. Since the sand cost almost $20 on amazon and I spent a lot of time removing the larger wood chips from the soil so it would be finer, we decided not to start over and just cap it with more sand. So now there is not enough dirt and too much sand. It's working alright now, but I am starting to think about rescaping / restarting the entire thing. I won an art competition with some money prizes so I might have enough to buy aqua soil to cap the dirt and also buy some of the actual aquarium plants I originally wanted 🤞. I'm fine with starting over since I didn't get that far the first time, but the fish look so happy in there right now 🥺(despite the plants and the tank overall looking not that good) so I am having trouble deciding whether to restart or not. Something else I was thinking about was to have a darker substrate cap, since the light sand meant that the fish would also be very light colored (the rainwater killifish were not that colorful in the first place, but I would rather see more contrast in their natural pattern than just the light milky gray color they have now. The last thing to consider would be building trust again. It was a slow and gradual process of getting them to not be scared of me and to come out whenever it was feeding time. They are still a little skittish and putting them in a temporary home and then back into their rescaped home would not only make them stressed, but also I would have to restart that process. If you have any suggestions or input please let me know! Thx! I started at around the age you started, like one year younger. I also did a ton of research, watching videos and reading online forums and subreddits. I learned a lot of information and eventually I also learned about the walstad method. It's so cool to see that there are other people around my age who are also fascinated by the hobby and will do a ton of research on everything. Your tank looks amazing right now and I wish you and your ecosystem good luck! :) 🍀 btw I know this comment was way too long but if you actually read to the end then TYSMMM!!😊
So nice actually seeing people interested in this amazing hobby. Start over and make the tank as you want to. You don’t need aqua soil. Trust me. Add a little bit of any kind of clay to the dirt. I took an old flag pot one time and busted it up really fine. It will bring out the red in red plants. Hope you make the tank you want. Don’t give up and start again. Some cheap organic soil at least one inch. 2 inches of sand. Make sure to add clay then you pretty much have aqua soil right there. Aqua soil isn’t much better. You can get pond compost also and it is rally good and last forever. Well maybe not literally forever but I had a tank go for 8 years with it. MD fish tanks even done a tank with it and it turned out amazing. Good luck and your just getting started on an amazing journey of aquascaping.
I envy you getting to start the hobby with so much information on the internet, instead of just crappy little booklets in the pet store like when I was twelve, with my common pleco and betta and neon in a ten gallon tank- we all work with what we have, and even with your limitations, how wonderful your access to knowledge! Good luck and have fun!
Your naturalistic aquarium with wild aquatic plants is so amazing! I’ve been on the search for some wild elodea, salvinia floaters and perhaps water lilies in local bodies of water. I believe that you learn so much more if there are limitations. By exploring places where aquatic plants are growing in the wild you gain more knowledge than if you buy them at a store. Truly inspiring! Also keep in mind that the layer of terrestrial soil will be the main nutrient provider in a hypothetical planted Walstad tank without fertilizers and root tabs, so don’t be shy with this part! Thank you for sharing and good luck on future aquariums:)❤
@ Fuzzy little Duckling , when you are going to change your aquarium to separate the soil & sand is very simple IMO.....I know that you have to do it eventually and I think adding some o4 all the soil / sand into a storage container or my favorite is a small 3 - 6 gallon bucket with a good garden hose and the obvious conclusion is the sand stays in the soil goes back to the earth and repeat until the sand cleaning is complete ( close enough but not perfect like the best lakes, ponds and streams) !!! We will always have the time to wish for the things we want , and I hope you never forget that feeling & that you are going to make some decisions today , tomorrow and before you get going on the mission never forget life's better when you're WISHING 😉☘️🌾
What should I use for the soil layer? Also, can I make my own substrate gathering the resources from the wild? Planning to do a filterless tank based on a wild pond, I will be taking the plant cuttings from it
Hi! Amazing video, really informative. You mentioned you made some notes about the walstad method. I was wondering if you could possibly upload those notes online? It would be incredibly helpful for me, and I'm sure many others would appreciate it too. Thanks a ton for considering it!
The notes are from the book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" by Diana Walstad. All the information is already available there:) My notes will probably be too illegible for people to read LOL.
@@juliazuskeyUnfortunately, the book is unavailable in my first languages. I skimmed it in English, but there was still much information I didn't fully understand. Even if your notes may be a bit messy, I'm sure I'd learn more from them than the book :)
bravo, great content. thanks for not talking too much and balanced use of background audio. your visuals and research are immersive and kept me interested to the end. please continue in sharing your time and love, i enjoyed it!
Really congratulations. You understood the real spirit of aquarium, and nature. And your research and deep learning is impressive. Hence the wonderful result. Great job young lady.
Julia I love this! I can’t believe how many “aquatic hitchhikers” you have acquired. So cool! The shrimp are amazing too. It’s so exciting that they are reproducing. Listening to you share your thoughts made me smile. ❤
Thank you for sharing. You and the other kind and generous people have done a lot of the homework for me - Bentley Pascoe and KG Tropicals: Lisa Hudson with special guest Diana Walstad. I’m learning so much about this method. Thank you for sharing your personal experience/info with us - such knowledge is invaluable.
Very very impressed. You've outdone most adults setting up their first tank. Plenty of research, understanding and patience. Time for an upgrade. 6x6x2ft next??........😊
Good job, young lady. Having been in the hobby for over 45 years and keeping fish and plants, your research and interest in this hobby will probably grow. It's a wholesome and wonderful hobby to get involved in. I can see you have the bug for it and the ability to do well. Good luck to you, and god bless.
Wow, absolutely 'love' your tank and style of video. Clearly the next MD Tanks ....... totally fun watching your environment grow. Very happy to see that you investigate things. So few people take a few minutes to look up things. We're dealing with LIFE so it's important. Thanks for making your video.
In 1977, a German man taught me how to keep fish and plants using garden soil and silica sand. Europeans have used the ecology of soil long before Waldstad appropriated the name, just like in reef aquaria Germans developed the Berlin School of reef keeping, which is one of the basis of modern reef keeping. So what you created is a Natural planted aquarium in the old German school. Natural methods were first pioneered in England around the late 1800s. i totally admire that you researched much before starting your aquarium project, because I think we need much more people who research and study before starting any project in their lives, specially if it involves animal and plant life.
Great job! I wish I started out using this method. It would have saved me and the fish. You should also look up father fish he also uses this method. Good luck on your further fishy adventures 😊
I’ve been keeping fish for ~3 years now. I downloaded the PDF for this book and wow… you’re absolutely right. All the bits of advice and teachings people tell you to keep a tank all come together and make sense after reading it. At first, a lot of the different pointers people give seem contradictory or insignificant, but exactly like you said, this book connects everything together.
Great video! I’ve done the same this year…. I think everyone should have a tank like this! Also may already know but there are allot of house plants you can grow from the top of the tank with the roots just submerged in water.. and these actually filter water more than submerged plants… orchids are one of them as I noticed u had some of these … just need to may a basket or a clip hold… I have spider plants in mine and there thriving and water is clear… but notice I need to top up more as there probably drinking it all…also want to mention that your description of how memorising a tank is great…. Really can watch forever all the little things… cherry shrimp are legends!
Ah, I wish I discovered this at 15! I was 20 years behind you. I hadn't considered getting guppies before, but these ones kind of sold me on it. The colours are so vibrant. Beautiful work!
Amazing! Very proud of you. I have a notebook with a page for every fish I keep even though I know parameters and what not. Love that you learned before you bought I do that too. Keep it up
hahah I'm a teen & absolutely obsessed with aquariums too! Great video! I find myself spending so much time looking at each tank every day. It's impossible to get bored of them. I'm currently a bit more into the breeding side of the hobby, but am looking to convert more of my tanks into planted aquariums, and this video is exactly what I needed!
The natural sunlight shining into your tank is just awesome to see and gives it a lovely warmth and feel, a rare video to watch as most TH-camrs tanks you just won’t see this. That space umm, I’m just visioning it now with a larger tank.😊
Brilliant !!! ... Well done, !!! ... Probably the best TH-cam Aquarium video I have seen. Love that it's a "Start to Accomplished" upload :) ... I've been watching a lot- of "How to", from all the most popular guys (they never seem to show full timelines - A few have, but not the so-called "mainstreamers". Totally, and still, inspires me to create a 6ft (maybe bigger) aquarium - starting next year (from @ April time). I'd like to have the same patience as you, and not do multiple uploadsl lol
This is really, really cool! I have a few setups going but all are high tech (high lighting, CO2, ferts) and have been doing some research on this method... just to try something different. I must say you did a heck of a job not only with the tank but all your research and persistence to get this thing going. Excellent video quality and it sounds like you took time to plan out what was going to be said in the video. You are a talented kid, keep up the good work!
Amazing all the way around, beautiful tank and the entire video made for some great content. Thanks for sharing everything, its all definitely very inspirational.
This is an amazing video, this is how it should be done, loads and loads of research before you even set the aquarium up. You probably had a better understanding of how it all works before you even started construction, highly commendable. Subscribed.
Ngl after 7 minutes I realized I was hypnotized by the plant shots. I'd definitely follow a video series turning those notes into lecture style videos even though I have the book myself lol. I was reminded of an idea I've meant to share with the right creator; I'm in the same fish club as Dr Walstad and I've hoped someone passionate would interview her. Those few words at the end reminded me of what I believe is the philosophical underpinning that generated Dr Walstad's scientific work- a respectful yielding to natural ecology to be studied, understood, and reproduced that comes from a real reverence for nature. Makes me think you'd be great for it, lmk if that's something youd want to do and I can find her contact info
Thank you so much for sharing your lovely aquarium with us! Your enthusiasm for all of the aquatic creatures is infectious, even for someone that's been keeping aquariums for over 30 years like myself. I'm definitely subscribed in hopes for additional update videos. I see you've already received several comments on how planaria and hydra can damage your shrimp populations, but clearly your outstanding care and attention more than makes up for their predation since you seem to have a thriving shrimp colony. Keep up the good work!
I love how you showed the changes over a long time of the life of the aquarium! I’d love to see a video where you do a aquarium tour and point out what each plant is called and your thoughts/experience with them. I love the leafs growing outside the top.
It’s so cool to see your enthusiasm! And your video production is fun and beautiful at the same time! I can’t wait to see more from you! Definitely subscribing ❤️
Thank you so much for making this video and sharing your journey, it gives me a lot of hope for me accomplishing something similar for the first time. I'm doing a 20 gallon long blackwater aquascape for a betta fish. Wish me luck! The way your tank glows is so magical. Sunlit tanks are known for having algae problems, but your plants are so well established and balance that they outcompete the algae. That's truly impressive! Incredibly well done. You're also an extremely talented artist and I could definitely see you going to CalArts someday if you wanted to. Well done!!
Very good job with the research and with the work on the tank, it is amazing. I am also really happy as Bulgarian to see someone showing Bulgaria to the world. Maybe i need to start my own channel to show my 9 betta tanks, some of which i only top up and no water changes (if necessary i can change 10-15% once every two months).
Amazing to see the result of your passion. As a trained biologist I keep fingers crossed for your passion! Your observations and questions would make a good start for a serious research project. Hope you go this way!
simply amazing results. love the shots at the end of the video. inspiring! I have an empty 7 gal fish tank... very tempting to do a filterless with that!
OMG! Fish For Thought, I'm a big fan of your content, love your videos.❤Thank you for commenting. A filterless tank would be very cool btw.
Our boi Chris is here! Kuddos🎉
Cool
Cory gang gang
Hi Chris!
I’m a fellow “girl “ who recently got into planted aquariums at a not so tender 49 … 😉 I love your journey. I wish I would have been as thorough in research. Your video Makes me wish I would have recorded mine too- it hasn’t been a year yet that I started my first tank. It’s never too late! Fantastic aquarium by an amazing young lady❤ thank you for sharing 👍🐡🌿🪷
The thoroughness of your research BEFORE buying live fish is admirable.
The quality of this video is remarkable.
This channel deserves way more subscribers and I have no doubt it will very soon with an intelligent person like you. 👏👏
Took the words right outta my mouth Tex 👍
As a fellow girl aquascaper and fishkeeper that was first introduced to this amazing hobby at the age of 16 (now 20 and still madly into it!) seeing you begin your journey following the exact steps I took, having the same influences and role models, carrying out extensive research, citing every source imaginable and obsessing over the gradual development and slightest changes of the ecosystem you have created is truly heartwarming. Your origin story, if you will, is especially close to my heart as it is the first time I see another girl my age pursuing this hobby and more so someone who reminds me so much of how passionate I was at the time I started. So I take my hat off to you and after 4 years in I can only encourage you to keep doing what you're doing!
P.S. Congratulations on catching Fish for Thought's attention ;)
Thank you so much for commenting and sharing! The aquarium hobby is truly a fun one, and the research it takes is so worth it in the end.
You deserve a medal for videography as well as fishkeeping! Awesome video. ❤️👌
I share in your enthusiasm. I too fell down the aquarium rabbit hole in February of 2021 when it was super cold outside and I longed to see something green. Four tanks later, I’m going on three years since I began my planted tank journey.
Beautiful tanks! Well done! 👍
This is awesome!!
I had a similar beginning as you did. I work on cargo ships, started aquascaping just before joining a ship for a 7 month contract.
All i could think of was making my own scape when i go back home. I wrote all my ideas and research about different methods of aquascaping on papers, cost, brands etc. I had a bunch of paper just like you did..
I musy have watched 100+ videos on youtube despite limited access to internet at sea. I used to fantasize about reaching home and making my own scape.
2 years later, i now have 7 aquascapes. 2 hi-tech aquascapes, 4 walstad aquariums and 1 pond scape.
Keep scaping and posting videos!!
That is impressive! I cannot imagine how challenging it would be to wait 7 months to build a much wanted aquascape. ❤Good luck on your current aquariums:)
This if not the best one of the best videos of all time from videography, editing, capturing minute details everything is top notch. I have been in this hobby for more than 5 years and i saw myself in you. Thanks for doing the effort and making the video
This is amazing, this is how all "beginner" aquariums should be, with proper research and thought put into keeping these amazing living organisms. keep up the great work!
This is an excellent video. There are adults who have been in the TH-cam game for years who aren't able to match your production values and thoughtful approach to video essays. Well done!
The effort you put towards researching this topic really shone through in the video from the start and as soon as you mentioned that you have Bulgarian heritage I couldn't help but to think that you'd be doing the Bulgarian heroine Elena Lagadinova, "Амазонка", proud - she was a trailblazer who dedicated the later part of her life to agronomy and she would be so happy to know that young people like yourself are also dedicating themselves to studying the same sorts of things as she did.
Oh well youve done it now, you have the aquarium bug and will likely never escape! I caught it age seven when I went into a neighbours kitchen and saw a goldfish bowl sparkling in the sun with plants. That was all it took and I was hooked for life. I discovered Diana’s brilliant book nine years ago and have dirted several tanks since then, a complete game changer! Well done with this and so impressed that you write up notes too. It’s so good to be able to look back at what you did, why you did it and how it worked out, I hope you post more of your adventures as time goes by! Thanks for sharing too!
GREAT job…not just the tank, but the research, your documentation, filming…I SO enjoyed it! You, young lady, are a real inspiration for this old lady! ❤
great video Julia, keep making videos !! Really enjoyed this
If most people only done a fraction of the research you did then hobby fish would be so much more happier. Nice results
Well done! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you spent on research. I work in the "fish industry" and I would give just about anything to see even half of the people I help on a daily basis put in the effort you have for your first fishkeeping attempt. I wish you the best of luck in your journey! And don't lose hope if/when you get thrown a curve ball. 🙂
I paused and read your thoughts on scuds. I also really like scuds. I’ve got a strong scud colony in my ghost shrimp tank. Every now and then I catch a couple and give it to my gouramis as a treat. Scuds’ bio load is teeny tiny. They’re a great live food for bigger fish. And I’ve never seen them bother my shrimp or slow down their breeding (they also haven’t bothered white cloud fry/eggs). They’re handy little critters to keep around. There’s not enough scud appreciation in the hobby.
This reminds me of my tank! It's a 5 gallon walstad tank with some wild-collected plants from ponds nearby me (my parents wouldn't let me spend too much money on plants, I reaaally wanted some rotala, anubias, aquatic moss, crypts, java ferns, staurogyne repens, and monte carlo or pearlweed for a carpet 😥). Instead I have elodea, hornwort, and parrot's feather (submerged version). Since they were from the wild, bladder snails also started to pop up. It's always so fun to watch them in the tank❤🐌. I added 6 wild-caught rainwater killifish to that tank as well. They all only take live food (the only live food I have readily available in large quantities is mosquito larvae because I have two large buckets outside with tons of them), except one which likes eating dried egg yolk lol. So interesting to observe their different personalities. Unfortunately, two of them jumped out and dried out when I was on a trip for a week, RIP. The tank has been running for a few months now and all the other inhabitants are happy.
In terms of the set up, I made the mistake of letting my dad supervise me while I added the soil and the subsequent cap of sand. He thought that I added too much soil and that it should be less than 1 inch (even though ppl say 1 to 1.5 in is good) and when I pre-soaked the dirt it got too watery so after adding the 5lb layer of sand the dirt was still leaking out and it was a mess. Since the sand cost almost $20 on amazon and I spent a lot of time removing the larger wood chips from the soil so it would be finer, we decided not to start over and just cap it with more sand. So now there is not enough dirt and too much sand.
It's working alright now, but I am starting to think about rescaping / restarting the entire thing. I won an art competition with some money prizes so I might have enough to buy aqua soil to cap the dirt and also buy some of the actual aquarium plants I originally wanted 🤞. I'm fine with starting over since I didn't get that far the first time, but the fish look so happy in there right now 🥺(despite the plants and the tank overall looking not that good) so I am having trouble deciding whether to restart or not. Something else I was thinking about was to have a darker substrate cap, since the light sand meant that the fish would also be very light colored (the rainwater killifish were not that colorful in the first place, but I would rather see more contrast in their natural pattern than just the light milky gray color they have now. The last thing to consider would be building trust again. It was a slow and gradual process of getting them to not be scared of me and to come out whenever it was feeding time. They are still a little skittish and putting them in a temporary home and then back into their rescaped home would not only make them stressed, but also I would have to restart that process. If you have any suggestions or input please let me know! Thx!
I started at around the age you started, like one year younger. I also did a ton of research, watching videos and reading online forums and subreddits. I learned a lot of information and eventually I also learned about the walstad method. It's so cool to see that there are other people around my age who are also fascinated by the hobby and will do a ton of research on everything. Your tank looks amazing right now and I wish you and your ecosystem good luck! :)
🍀
btw I know this comment was way too long but if you actually read to the end then TYSMMM!!😊
So nice actually seeing people interested in this amazing hobby. Start over and make the tank as you want to. You don’t need aqua soil. Trust me. Add a little bit of any kind of clay to the dirt. I took an old flag pot one time and busted it up really fine. It will bring out the red in red plants. Hope you make the tank you want. Don’t give up and start again. Some cheap organic soil at least one inch. 2 inches of sand. Make sure to add clay then you pretty much have aqua soil right there. Aqua soil isn’t much better. You can get pond compost also and it is rally good and last forever. Well maybe not literally forever but I had a tank go for 8 years with it. MD fish tanks even done a tank with it and it turned out amazing. Good luck and your just getting started on an amazing journey of aquascaping.
I envy you getting to start the hobby with so much information on the internet, instead of just crappy little booklets in the pet store like when I was twelve, with my common pleco and betta and neon in a ten gallon tank- we all work with what we have, and even with your limitations, how wonderful your access to knowledge! Good luck and have fun!
Your naturalistic aquarium with wild aquatic plants is so amazing! I’ve been on the search for some wild elodea, salvinia floaters and perhaps water lilies in local bodies of water. I believe that you learn so much more if there are limitations. By exploring places where aquatic plants are growing in the wild you gain more knowledge than if you buy them at a store. Truly inspiring! Also keep in mind that the layer of terrestrial soil will be the main nutrient provider in a hypothetical planted Walstad tank without fertilizers and root tabs, so don’t be shy with this part!
Thank you for sharing and good luck on future aquariums:)❤
@ Fuzzy little Duckling , when you are going to change your aquarium to separate the soil & sand is very simple IMO.....I know that you have to do it eventually and I think adding some o4 all the soil / sand into a storage container or my favorite is a small 3 - 6 gallon bucket with a good garden hose and the obvious conclusion is the sand stays in the soil goes back to the earth and repeat until the sand cleaning is complete ( close enough but not perfect like the best lakes, ponds and streams) !!! We will always have the time to wish for the things we want , and I hope you never forget that feeling & that you are going to make some decisions today , tomorrow and before you get going on the mission never forget life's better when you're WISHING 😉☘️🌾
What should I use for the soil layer? Also, can I make my own substrate gathering the resources from the wild? Planning to do a filterless tank based on a wild pond, I will be taking the plant cuttings from it
Hi! Amazing video, really informative. You mentioned you made some notes about the walstad method. I was wondering if you could possibly upload those notes online? It would be incredibly helpful for me, and I'm sure many others would appreciate it too. Thanks a ton for considering it!
The notes are from the book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" by Diana Walstad. All the information is already available there:) My notes will probably be too illegible for people to read LOL.
@@juliazuskeyUnfortunately, the book is unavailable in my first languages. I skimmed it in English, but there was still much information I didn't fully understand. Even if your notes may be a bit messy, I'm sure I'd learn more from them than the book :)
bravo, great content. thanks for not talking too much and balanced use of background audio. your visuals and research are immersive and kept me interested to the end. please continue in sharing your time and love, i enjoyed it!
Finally someone that did there own research ❤ Good job from Canada ❤
I respect the drive and dedication
Really congratulations.
You understood the real spirit of aquarium, and nature.
And your research and deep learning is impressive.
Hence the wonderful result.
Great job young lady.
We need more videos like this 🙌
Julia I love this! I can’t believe how many “aquatic hitchhikers” you have acquired. So cool! The shrimp are amazing too. It’s so exciting that they are reproducing. Listening to you share your thoughts made me smile. ❤
Enchanting! Thank you for sharing 😊
Thank you for sharing. You and the other kind and generous people have done a lot of the homework for me - Bentley Pascoe and KG Tropicals: Lisa Hudson with special guest Diana Walstad. I’m learning so much about this method. Thank you for sharing your personal experience/info with us - such knowledge is invaluable.
Planted aquarium = living art. Wonderful job 😊
Amazing work. Excellent video. lovely 😍 Enjoyed watching. Meticulous production. Simply awesome
This is The best video I think I've ever seen So peaceful! Absolutely beautiful You did and amazing job
Very very impressed. You've outdone most adults setting up their first tank. Plenty of research, understanding and patience. Time for an upgrade. 6x6x2ft next??........😊
Good job, young lady. Having been in the hobby for over 45 years and keeping fish and plants, your research and interest in this hobby will probably grow. It's a wholesome and wonderful hobby to get involved in. I can see you have the bug for it and the ability to do well. Good luck to you, and god bless.
You did amazing.
Your approach to learning about a new hobby is going to serve you well in the future
What an amazing job and documentation you've done with this setup
Wow, absolutely 'love' your tank and style of video. Clearly the next MD Tanks ....... totally fun watching your environment grow. Very happy to see that you investigate things. So few people take a few minutes to look up things. We're dealing with LIFE so it's important. Thanks for making your video.
3:50 damnnnnnnn!!!!
That tank from Reddit.....was my goal tooo
The lushiest walstad style Ive ever seen....
It's just magical !!!❤
In 1977, a German man taught me how to keep fish and plants using garden soil and silica sand. Europeans have used the ecology of soil long before Waldstad appropriated the name, just like in reef aquaria Germans developed the Berlin School of reef keeping, which is one of the basis of modern reef keeping. So what you created is a Natural planted aquarium in the old German school.
Natural methods were first pioneered in England around the late 1800s. i totally admire that you researched much before starting your aquarium project, because I think we need much more people who research and study before starting any project in their lives, specially if it involves animal and plant life.
This is what I am going to be creating out in my Garden room, you have done an amazing job, I could sit all day watching your aquarium, well done.
Well done. Very inspirational.
Your selection of plants is gorgeous !
A great, well documented journey into the aquarium hobby. And with an amazing result. Keep it up!
Great job! I wish I started out using this method. It would have saved me and the fish. You should also look up father fish he also uses this method. Good luck on your further fishy adventures 😊
I’ve been keeping fish for ~3 years now. I downloaded the PDF for this book and wow… you’re absolutely right. All the bits of advice and teachings people tell you to keep a tank all come together and make sense after reading it. At first, a lot of the different pointers people give seem contradictory or insignificant, but exactly like you said, this book connects everything together.
Great video! I’ve done the same this year…. I think everyone should have a tank like this! Also may already know but there are allot of house plants you can grow from the top of the tank with the roots just submerged in water.. and these actually filter water more than submerged plants… orchids are one of them as I noticed u had some of these … just need to may a basket or a clip hold… I have spider plants in mine and there thriving and water is clear… but notice I need to top up more as there probably drinking it all…also want to mention that your description of how memorising a tank is great…. Really can watch forever all the little things… cherry shrimp are legends!
Awesome! Looking forward to see you grow
Fantatic job, was a great watch the growth throughout video 😊
This was an awesome journey throughout the video, thanks or sharing! Aquarium looks amazing!
Well done...keep it that way and simple👍
That is an amazing result for a first aquarium! All that research sure payed off. Great job!
This video was simply a masterpiece. Thank you soo much for sharing ❤️
Great job! Can't wait to see what comes next from you.
Best video on TH-cam! Great job!!!
Ah, I wish I discovered this at 15! I was 20 years behind you.
I hadn't considered getting guppies before, but these ones kind of sold me on it. The colours are so vibrant.
Beautiful work!
One of the best videos on TH-cam.
Amazing! Very proud of you. I have a notebook with a page for every fish I keep even though I know parameters and what not. Love that you learned before you bought I do that too. Keep it up
What a wonderfully detailed and helpful video. Keep it up.
Wow, great work. This is so high quality, I love your aquarim.
This video was so professional… I thought you had thousands of subscribers! You absolutely deserve them. Got me sucked in. Also major tank envy :o
This was so enjoyable. I share your passion. Brilliant.
hahah I'm a teen & absolutely obsessed with aquariums too! Great video! I find myself spending so much time looking at each tank every day. It's impossible to get bored of them. I'm currently a bit more into the breeding side of the hobby, but am looking to convert more of my tanks into planted aquariums, and this video is exactly what I needed!
Congratulations on your achievement...can you please share what substrate???
This is a brilliant account of the Walstad method. It was an absolutely great video to watch
Welcome to the awesome world of the planted tank!
The natural sunlight shining into your tank is just awesome to see and gives it a lovely warmth and feel, a rare video to watch as most TH-camrs tanks you just won’t see this. That space umm, I’m just visioning it now with a larger tank.😊
I really enjoyed your video, thank you for sharing!
amazing tank!! I love it!
Brilliant !!! ... Well done, !!! ... Probably the best TH-cam Aquarium video I have seen. Love that it's a "Start to Accomplished" upload :) ... I've been watching a lot- of "How to", from all the most popular guys (they never seem to show full timelines - A few have, but not the so-called "mainstreamers". Totally, and still, inspires me to create a 6ft (maybe bigger) aquarium - starting next year (from @ April time). I'd like to have the same patience as you, and not do multiple uploadsl lol
Excellent quality video, very thoughtful and clear step by step transformation of your little piece of nature. Wonderful job👍, I enjoyed watching it.
This was a such an enjoyable video! I’m impressed by all your research before setup, and all the things you discovered along the way after setup.
This is really, really cool! I have a few setups going but all are high tech (high lighting, CO2, ferts) and have been doing some research on this method... just to try something different. I must say you did a heck of a job not only with the tank but all your research and persistence to get this thing going. Excellent video quality and it sounds like you took time to plan out what was going to be said in the video. You are a talented kid, keep up the good work!
Very well done young lady. The end result looks great.
Amazing all the way around, beautiful tank and the entire video made for some great content. Thanks for sharing everything, its all definitely very inspirational.
Wow beautiful tank and you have amazing video skills !!
A beautiful aquarium...truly!!
This is an amazing video, this is how it should be done, loads and loads of research before you even set the aquarium up. You probably had a better understanding of how it all works before you even started construction, highly commendable. Subscribed.
glad to watch at the beginning some of youtubers that i am following for several months
Nothing better than seeing your tank thriving!!! Looks great!
Ngl after 7 minutes I realized I was hypnotized by the plant shots. I'd definitely follow a video series turning those notes into lecture style videos even though I have the book myself lol.
I was reminded of an idea I've meant to share with the right creator; I'm in the same fish club as Dr Walstad and I've hoped someone passionate would interview her. Those few words at the end reminded me of what I believe is the philosophical underpinning that generated Dr Walstad's scientific work- a respectful yielding to natural ecology to be studied, understood, and reproduced that comes from a real reverence for nature. Makes me think you'd be great for it, lmk if that's something youd want to do and I can find her contact info
Meeting Diana Walstad would be a dream come true.
Thank you so much for sharing your lovely aquarium with us! Your enthusiasm for all of the aquatic creatures is infectious, even for someone that's been keeping aquariums for over 30 years like myself. I'm definitely subscribed in hopes for additional update videos.
I see you've already received several comments on how planaria and hydra can damage your shrimp populations, but clearly your outstanding care and attention more than makes up for their predation since you seem to have a thriving shrimp colony. Keep up the good work!
Beatiful video. I simply loved it.
I would look into father fish as well. Give and take some of the information given but he's got alot of very good knowledge to spread.
Beautiful film.. Tank you.. Keep enjoying & learning.. BOTH are a joy. ❤
I love how you showed the changes over a long time of the life of the aquarium! I’d love to see a video where you do a aquarium tour and point out what each plant is called and your thoughts/experience with them. I love the leafs growing outside the top.
the level of research is extrodaniry this is probably the best first time aquarium
Great Video! Love the time line super insightful!
A video with many informations about the process of your aquarium.
Very nice to watch, Julia
It's a content different than the usual, congrats!
After seeing all you ve done,
I want to say You are Good Person. ❤
Fantastic video Julia! Thanks for the efforts you put into making it for us.
Do you recommend having a filtered tank over a fliterless tank? Absolutely love this video and your aquarium
Very well made video Julia, well done. Keep it up
Amazing work. I can't wait to try my own Walstad. I'm 59 years young and will be happy to do 1/2 as good as you.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ❤❤❤❤👏👏👏
I find myself having dreams related to the hobby as well! That's how you know it's for you :)
What an amazing ecosystem you have there! Wonderful to see all the research you did. Between that and your patience, well done!!! 😊
It’s so cool to see your enthusiasm! And your video production is fun and beautiful at the same time! I can’t wait to see more from you! Definitely subscribing ❤️
Thank you for sharing your journey, this was breathtakingly beautiful in every way.
Thank you so much for making this video and sharing your journey, it gives me a lot of hope for me accomplishing something similar for the first time. I'm doing a 20 gallon long blackwater aquascape for a betta fish. Wish me luck! The way your tank glows is so magical. Sunlit tanks are known for having algae problems, but your plants are so well established and balance that they outcompete the algae. That's truly impressive! Incredibly well done. You're also an extremely talented artist and I could definitely see you going to CalArts someday if you wanted to. Well done!!
Thank you so much❤
Very good job with the research and with the work on the tank, it is amazing. I am also really happy as Bulgarian to see someone showing Bulgaria to the world. Maybe i need to start my own channel to show my 9 betta tanks, some of which i only top up and no water changes (if necessary i can change 10-15% once every two months).
Very well done!
Amazing to see the result of your passion. As a trained biologist I keep fingers crossed for your passion! Your observations and questions would make a good start for a serious research project. Hope you go this way!