Aquarium nitrogen cycle is driving me insane in walstad tank

Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrites: .25 ppm
PH: 7.6+
No filter
Strong lighting

I have a very heavily planted tank with a soil substrate, and no matter what I do, the ammonia and nitrite levels refuse to go down, even after 3 months. Changing 1/3 of the water does absolutely nothing. I recently took out my duckweed, and red root floaters are slowly taking over the water surface. The water has a slightly white "fog" and yellow tint and the entire tank is completely filled with these tiny organisms.

I don't know what to do and I don't know what's causing the ammonia and nitrite levels to remain at .25 ppm. Any help would be appreciated

 

Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrites: .25 ppm
PH: 7.6+
No filter
Strong lighting

I have a very heavily planted tank with a soil substrate, and no matter what I do, the ammonia and nitrite levels refuse to go down, even after 3 months. Changing 1/3 of the water does absolutely nothing. I recently took out my duckweed, and red root floaters are slowly taking over the water surface. The water has a slightly white "fog" and yellow tint and the entire tank is completely filled with these tiny organisms.

I don't know what to do and I don't know what's causing the ammonia and nitrite levels to remain at .25 ppm. Any help would be appreciated

I'm not an expert here but it could be the substrate? Is it regular soil or like eco-complete? Do you use water conditioners for your water changes?

 

This is a common issue in Walstad tanks.

Regardless of what kind of soil you used (but this applies doubly if it's an "enriched" soil) it's going to leech ammonia into the water as the organic matter in the soil decays.

It looks like you have a relatively thin (for a Walstad tank) gravel cap, as well, so that could be contributing to the issue. Your tank is heavily planted for a regular tank, but I'd say it's not planted enough for a Walstad tank, IMO. I've had two Walstad tanks in the past (so I'm not an expert by any means), and I had the tanks so full of plants that there was no space between them. You couldn't see more than an inch into the tank before it was just a green jungle. It was all fast-growing stem plants - I just made sure it didn't grow too thick at the top so the bottoms of the plants didn't rot.

This is a good video for this. They discuss Walstad tanks around 30 minutes (ish) into the stream. I'd watch the whole thing - there's a lot of good info!

 

This is a common issue in Walstad tanks.

Regardless of what kind of soil you used (but this applies doubly if it's an "enriched" soil) it's going to leech ammonia into the water as the organic matter in the soil decays.

It looks like you have a relatively thin (for a Walstad tank) gravel cap, as well, so that could be contributing to the issue. Your tank is heavily planted for a regular tank, but I'd say it's not planted enough for a Walstad tank, IMO. I've had two Walstad tanks in the past (so I'm not an expert by any means), and I had the tanks so full of plants that there was no space between them. You couldn't see more than an inch into the tank before it was just a green jungle. It was all fast-growing stem plants - I just made sure it didn't grow too thick at the top so the bottoms of the plants didn't rot.

This is a good video for this. They discuss Walstad tanks around 30 minutes (ish) into the stream. I'd watch the whole thing - there's a lot of good info!

Could I make the gravel cap possibly thicker to solve this issue?

 

Could I make the gravel cap possibly thicker to solve this issue?

Yeah it would help to get more gravel!

Also IMO you should add a house plant like pothos to suck up nutrients (check out my article about this in the bio below). It is an absolute life saver

Also when it comes to a walstad tank it's all about balance and in order to achieve that balance I actually don't recommend high amounts of water changes. What is your KH, and GH.

As for your Ammonia I would wait it out and add houseplants.

Although It's kind of weird to be how you have this much Anerobic bacteria to actually affect Ammonia levels.

 

Yeah it would help to get more gravel!

Also IMO you should add a house plant like pothos to suck up nutrients (check out my article about this in the bio below). It is an absolute life saver

Also when it comes to a walstad tank it's all about balance and in order to achieve that balance I actually don't recommend high amounts of water changes. What is your KH, and GH.

As for your Ammonia I would wait it out and add houseplants.

Although It's kind of weird to be how you have this much Anerobic bacteria to actually affect Ammonia levels.

I have no idea what my KH and GH is. I never payed attention to those two statistics.

How would you add in the pothos plant?

 

.25 ammonia isn't bad at all, the tiny creatures you see are most likely seed shrimp and copepods and maybe some other tiny crustaceans. They are more sensitive to ammonia than fish are, so having them abundant in your tank is a positive sign on overall health. Like others mentioned, aquasoild tend to leech small amounts of ammonia, but they should still be formulated to limit the amount and remain fish safe. If your ammonia has been static at .25 and not growing over time, it could also be a faulty test kit. Check it against bottled water to rule that out

 

Maybe I misunderstood - are you using an aquasoil or just soil underneath your gravel cap? I was thinking you were doing a "traditional" Walstad tank with dirt underneath the gravel cap.

 

Maybe I misunderstood - are you using an aquasoil or just soil underneath your gravel cap? I was thinking you were doing a "traditional" Walstad tank with dirt underneath the gravel cap.

I'm using the "nature's care organic & natural potting soil" by MiracleGro from Home Depot.

 

Have you ever heard about mineralizing your soil before using it? I realize this won't help now without taking the tank down and starting over... but just some good information below. Basically how to take soil like what you bought and mineralize beforehand so that the organics break down before tank set up.

How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot