Glass Box Diaries

This is my 25-litre (6.6 US gallon) Walstad Method aquarium, and it’s now 743 days old.

My Full Long-Form 2 Year Update Video For The Tank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqlCQ...

It's filterless, using a topsoil base capped with fine gravel for substrate, and it’s lit by a Seaoura SR616 aquarium light running at full intensity for 12 hours a day.

At the moment, the tank is home to a group of blue lyretail guppies, although they’ll soon be moving to a friend’s breeding setup.

After that, I’m planning to switch things up and stock the tank with Medaka rice fish, which I personally prefer over guppies.

This tank is also home to my oldest colony of cherry shrimp, and they’re thriving.

With the warmer months here, breeding has really taken off, so I’ll be giving some away to another friend to make room for the next generation.

I’ve recently trimmed back the Rotala rotundifolia and Bacopa caroliniana, as they were starting to take over and limit the swimming space.

Rotala rotundifolia, in particular, plays a big role in the tank’s natural water purification due to its fast growth and sheer volume, so it should recover quickly—likely within a couple of months—and will probably need trimming again soon.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #nanotank #guppy #neocaridina #cherryshrimp

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4 days ago | [YT] | 472

Glass Box Diaries

This is my 25-litre (6.6 US gallon) Walstad method tank, designed to be as beginner-friendly as possible—and it’s now 291 days old.

My Medaka rice fish are already in full breeding mode. I’ve had two batches of eggs so far, but unfortunately, the shrimp in the tank have either eaten or damaged them.

To make hatching easier, I’ve placed the water lettuce inside a 3D floating plant ring in the front-left corner. This keeps it within view from my work desk, so I can quickly spot any fresh eggs laid on the roots and remove them before the shrimp get to them.

The shrimp themselves are breeding heavily right now, with several females currently carrying eggs. I’ve got a long-form video planned where I’ll go over the results of this skittles shrimp colony test in this tank. Once that’s published, I’ll be moving a large portion of the shrimp into my much larger 70-litre (18 US gallon) tank.

As for the plants, the Pogostemon quadrifolius has started to fill in nicely after replacing the Limnophila sessiliflora, and its higher nutrient demand should help keep algae under control. The regular Rotala Blood Red and Blood Red SG are both doing well, although I recently trimmed the SG to transfer some into another tank.

Finally, the Helanthium tenellum ‘Green’ carpet seems to be growing much better now that it’s no longer competing with the Limnophila sessiliflora for nutrients.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #walstad #walstadmethod

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 645

Glass Box Diaries

My neocaridina shrimp bowl is just over six months old, and everything is going great!

If you want to see how it was set up:

My article on the bowl setup – glassboxdiaries.com/cherry-shrimp-bowl/
My video on the bowl setup – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnbIT...

The bowl holds around 11 litres (just under 3 US gallons) and runs without a filter, heater, CO₂ system, or fertilizers.

At the moment, I’m using two USB-powered grow lights designed for houseplants, although I’m planning to upgrade the lighting soon.

Right now, I feed one light green label granule of Fluval Bug Bites three times per week. However, after spotting a female carrying eggs, I may increase feeding slightly.

Plant list:

Rotala rotundifolia
Lobelia cardinalis ‘Mini’
Anubias ‘Mini Coin’
Bucephalandra ‘Kedagang’
Eleocharis parvula

#aquarium #fishtank #shrimptank #shrimpkeeping #cherryshrimp #neocaridina

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 358

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my golden white cloud mountain minnow tank, which has now been running for 586 days.

The tank holds 45 litres (around 12 US gallons) and uses Fluval Stratum aquasoil as the substrate. It’s lit by a Hygger HG76 light, running at full intensity for six hours each day. This is an unheated, room-temperature setup, with temperatures dropping to around 18°C (64°F) during winter.

The fish are doing well overall, although the dominant male still spends most of his time chasing the others away from the foreground. As a result, the other males and females tend to spawn in the background. Unfortunately, the snails eat the eggs, so I’ve yet to see any fry survive.

Speaking of snails, I’m planning to move some of the pink ramshorns into two new Medaka rice fish grow-out tanks I’ve recently set up. The idea is to turn those into dedicated snail breeding tanks, which will eventually help support the feeding needs of some pea puffers I’m hoping to get later this year.

For the most part, the plants are doing well. However, the Hygrophila 53B has started developing holes in its leaves, likely due to the colder winter conditions. I’m planning to replace it with Lobelia cardinalis, as it’s native as far north as Canada and should be better suited to a cooler, room-temperature setup like this.

My yellow Neocaridina shrimp colony is also thriving, but the snail population is starting to get out of hand again. They may begin to outcompete the shrimp for food, so moving some of them out should help bring things back under control.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #nanotank

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 582

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my ember tetra and pygmy corydoras tank 👇

I started with 10 ember tetras, but they’ve been really shy in this setup, so I added another 10 to try and boost their confidence.

At first, the new group was far more outgoing and swimming in the open—but after a couple of days, they settled in and now they’re just as hidden as the original group.

Not sure if they’ve picked up that behaviour from the others or if something in the tank is making them feel cautious.

I’ve checked all the water parameters and everything is spot on, so I added some floating plants to give them more cover.

I’m also considering introducing some Endler’s livebearers as dither fish to help bring them out more.

The pygmy corydoras are doing great as always—just cruising around and getting especially active at feeding time.

The blue neocaridina and amano shrimp are also doing well, although I suspect the ember tetras are picking off the baby shrimp.

I see tiny ones occasionally, but never any juveniles, even after a few months.

The amano shrimp have also been stealing food from the pygmy corys, so I’ll likely move them to another tank soon.

Overall though, really happy with how the plants are growing—just planning to add some floaters this week 🌱

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #nanotank #plantedtank #plantedaquarium

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1 month ago | [YT] | 748

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my 160-litre (40 US gallon) community tank, now 737 days old.

The tank is set up with Fluval Stratum aquasoil and runs on an AllPondSolutions HOB500 filter.

For lighting, I’m currently using a Nicrew C10 alongside a Hygger 957, although I may replace the Nicrew soon as it seems to be losing intensity.

All of the fish are doing really well. The new neon tetras and pearl gourami I added recently have settled in nicely.

The neons quickly joined my existing group of neon and cardinal tetras, and they’ve been schooling together ever since.

The pearl gourami tends to keep to itself, weaving in and out of the plant cover, and thankfully it’s been completely ignoring the shrimp in the tank.

Speaking of shrimp, I’m considering moving some over from a few of my smaller tanks, as those are starting to become a bit overstocked.

Most of the plants are doing well too. However, as I mentioned in my two-year update, my Echinodorus ‘Red Diamond’ is being overshadowed by the anubias and java fern, so I’m planning to move it into a new tank once it’s ready to be replanted.

I also have some zebra danios currently in quarantine, and in about a week I’ll be adding them to this tank so my two older danios can finally have a proper group of their own species.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #tropicalfish #plantedtank #plantedaquarium

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1 month ago | [YT] | 651

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on what used to be my jungle-style betta tank. It’s set up with Fluval Stratum as the substrate and lit by a Hygger 957 light, which I run at full intensity for six hours a day.

Unfortunately, Marmalade the betta passed away a couple of weeks ago. That said, it was likely for the best, as her quality of life had declined quite a bit after developing dropsy around six months ago.

For now, I’ve moved a few Endler’s livebearers into the tank, and they’ve settled in really well. However, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of these portrait-style tanks, so later this year I’m planning to replace them with larger rectangular setups that provide more horizontal swimming space.

The yellow Neocaridina shrimp and pink ramshorn snail colony haven’t changed much since the last update—they spend most of their time grazing on algae and biofilm around the tank.

I’ve also removed the Limnophila sessiliflora that was growing in the back right, as it was starting to take over, sending out stems almost like runners. In its place, I’ve added Hottonia palustris, which seems to be settling in nicely so far.

The rest of the plants are doing well, but as I mentioned, this setup is likely temporary. Many of these plants are essentially being held here until I upgrade to a larger rectangular tank later this year.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium

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1 month ago | [YT] | 643

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my filterless, heaterless Bloody Mary Neocaridina shrimp bowl, which is 156 days old.

The bowl uses Fluval Stratum aquasoil as the substrate, along with a small piece of corbo catfish wood and two small rocks for the hardscape.

For lighting, I originally used a 20-watt Sansi grow light, but it was to be far too powerful for this setup.

I’ve since switched to two small houseplant grow lights for the time being, although I’ll probably move to a 10-watt Sansi puck light once I find a permanent rack for this bowl.

Here's the full plant list for the bowl, and thankfully, none of these plants struggled during the winter months when the room temperature dropped to around 18°C, or 64°F.

As we move into the spring months, temperatures are starting to rise, so plant growth should begin to increase, and the Neocaridina shrimp should breed more frequently.

The Rotala rotundifolia in the back left of the bowl is the key plant for this setup, as it’s the main source of water purification. It helps remove toxins from the water and keeps the shrimp colony safe.

The rest of the plants are mostly decorative and grow too slowly to provide any real water-purifying benefits.

When it comes to feeding, I’m currently adding a single Fluval Bug Bites Green Label granule three times per week, as the shrimp colony is still very small.

That said, the majority of their diet comes from the algae and biofilm that naturally grows in the bowl and overfeeding can easily cause water parameter issues in a setup like this, so it’s always best to keep feeding light and play it safe.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #shrimpkeeping #shrimpbowl #shrimptank #plantedtank #plantedaquarium

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1 month ago | [YT] | 459

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my Medaka Walstad Method aquarium, which is now 250 days old.

Like most Walstad-style tanks, it uses a capped dirt substrate — a thin layer of topsoil covered with fine gravel.

The tank is lit by an affordable entry-level Seaoura SR616 light. I recently increased the photoperiod from six hours to twelve hours per day at maximum intensity.

For most of its life the tank has been completely filterless, but about a month ago I added a small filter to increase water flow as an experiment for the shrimp. That said, I’ll probably remove it again soon.

The Hygger nano heater that was previously running on this tank did eventually fail. Thankfully it didn’t short out, electrocute anything, or overheat — it simply began losing power gradually. I’ve since replaced it with an EHEIM heater.

Unfortunately, I did lose one of the Medaka a couple of weeks ago. Since these fish typically only live for a couple of years, I suspect it was simply natural causes.

I currently have a few new Medaka in quarantine that will be moved into this tank soon.

The shrimp colony is doing incredibly well. I actually lost count of how many generations they’ve had months ago, but there are babies everywhere, so I’ll probably move some of them into other tanks soon.

This tank is also a bit of a “Skittles” test. I originally started with three red, yellow, blue, and orange Neocaridina shrimp to see how quickly their offspring would revert back to wild-type colours.

So far, most of them are either red, pale yellow, or wild-type, although I have spotted at least one blue baby in there as well.

Moving on to the plants, the cooler water temperatures recently seem to have pushed some of them into a slight dormancy period. That’s caused a few minor issues, but they should bounce back soon.

I’ve also made a few changes to the background planting. The back left now has regular Rotala Blood Red, the back right has Rotala Blood Red SG, and the back middle now features Pogostemon quadrifolius. This is a new addition and is still growing in.

There was nothing wrong with the previous plants — I just wanted to test how both versions of Rotala Blood Red would perform in the same tank. Since I already grow Limnophila sessiliflora in several of my other tanks, I also thought it would be a good opportunity to try a Pogostemon variety instead.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #walstad #walstadmethod

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1 month ago | [YT] | 478

Glass Box Diaries

Here’s a quick update on my 25-litre (6.6 US gallon) filterless guppy and cherry shrimp tank, which is now 686 days old.

This aquarium follows the Walstad Method, using topsoil capped with fine gravel as the substrate. The plants handle most of the filtration, naturally purifying the water and helping keep conditions stable and safe for the livestock.

The tank is lit by the entry-level Seaoura SR616, an affordable aquarium light. Recently, I doubled the photoperiod, increasing it from six hours per day at maximum intensity to twelve hours per day.

As you can see, the plants are already responding to the additional light. The Rotala rotundifolia is beginning to develop pink, orange, and red hues, while the Bacopa caroliniana is also starting to show some reddish coloration under the longer photoperiod.

For the most part, the guppies are doing well. However, one of them has lost a section of its tail at both the top and bottom, and the missing areas are almost exactly the same length.

Because of how suddenly it appeared, I suspect the damage may have been caused by the fish resting its tail against the heater during a heating cycle, rather than it being tail rot.

The cherry shrimp colony is also doing well and seems to be benefiting from the longer photoperiod, as it allows more algae and biofilm to grow in the tank, providing them with a natural food source.

#aquarium #fishtank #fishkeeping #plantedtank #plantedaquarium #walstad #walstadmethod

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1 month ago | [YT] | 670