Walstad Method, Tannins, And Api Master Test Kit

[attibones]

I've got a couple of questions about my fishless Walstad tank right now. I'm seeing some crazy dark ammonia readings. First, info!

10 gallon tank
82 degrees (which I might lower, I'll have to check my plants list)
3 mopani driftwood
1 TopFin 10 cycled filter
1 homemade sponge filter with possibly cycled sponge and ceramic
Plants including ozelot sword, amazon sword, bacopa, cardinal plant, staurogyne repens,undulata crypt, El Niño fern, and anubias species (it's got narrow, long-ish leaves)
About an inch or so of MiracleGro organic choice potting mix topped with gravel

Let me reiterate that there are NO FISH IN THIS TANK

My ammonia stats are super dark green, almost black
My nitrite is probably around 1 ppm
I have not checked nitrate.

I use Prime with water changes. I performed a water change between the ammonia and the nitrite tests.

My questions:
1. Do the tannins from the driftwood mess with the results? I didn't soak these because I wanted the tannins in the tank to do good stuff for the rasboras I plan to put in the tank. The water in the test tube before regent has a slight yellow tint which is why I ask. Could these readings be false?

2. My soil is obviously producing the ammonia. Will my filter eventually be able to handle all of the ammonia, or will I need to upgrade?

3. I'm seeing nitrite, so this means my filter is working with something. I previously had puffers, and before that a single male betta. I temporarily had guppies in there to make sure there was an ammonia source before I could get this whole business sorted. Could tannic acid be interfering with these readings, though?

4. If I'm seeing ammonia, I'll want to bump up the heater a bit so that the bacteria will grow faster, would 85 kill my plants?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

1. Do the tannins from the driftwood mess with the results? I didn't soak these because I wanted the tannins in the tank to do good stuff for the rasboras I plan to put in the tank. The water in the test tube before regent has a slight yellow tint which is why I ask. Could these readings be false?
Yes they do. Not accurate is my preferred term here as soil leaching caused some? Also, iron, which is common in plant ,will also throw off ammonia test results.

2. My soil is obviously producing the ammonia. Will my filter eventually be able to handle all of the ammonia, or will I need to upgrade?
That depends. If ammonia hits 6.4 or nitrite hits 16.4 on an API test kit, the bacteria are in trouble. Barring that, the odds are the tank will handle it even if the filter won't hold all the needed bacteria.

3. I'm seeing nitrite, so this means my filter is working with something. I previously had puffers, and before that a single male betta. I temporarily had guppies in there to make sure there was an ammonia source before I could get this whole business sorted. Could tannic acid be interfering with these readings, though?
Possibly. Probably not though. The odds are there was some amount of bacteria at the start.

4. If I'm seeing ammonia, I'll want to bump up the heater a bit so that the bacteria will grow faster, would 85 kill my plants?
Some may not like it and the benefit of only a few degrees won't make that much of a difference. Besides the ammonia bacs like it warmer than the nitrite bacs in terms of optimal growth rates. So t that temp you gain and lose so its not a huge deal. You are fine at 80 or so.

 

[attibones]

Ah, thanks, TTA. I appreciate your answers.

I think now I'll just do a water change a day to make sure the ammonia doesn't get so out of control that my bigger-than-mini cycle doesn't stall, but I'll keep an eye on the test results and keep adding more plants. If I'm reading Walstad's book correctly, then the plants should help with the ammonia issue as they eat up ammonium, or at least I think that is what I'm understanding. It's not exactly light reading.

While testing, I'll assume that my readings are also slightly lower, but I won't add any fish until I'm getting much more manageable results. Eh, I didn't realize that doing this would cause such a freak out in my tank though. Haha

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes- most plants prefer ammonium over other sources of "food". However, there is a limit to how much they can uptake in any 24 hour period. So it is still possible to have ammonia in even a heavily planted high tech tank under the right circumstances. Plus over a certain concentration, ammonia levels can harm or kill plants
 
Now we could be fertilizing our tanks with ammonia for the plants except that just might cause problems for the fish and other critters. Instead we tend to provide nitrogen in the form of nitrate since the plants can use that as well and it is much less toxic to fish.
 
I have never had any desire to read her book nor to try her method for two very basic reasons. I keep fish first and foremost and in her system the fish load has to be way below levels I want. The other downside is her tanks do not do well if one regularly likes to rearrange or rescape their tanks. But the thing about this hobby is there are a lot of options and this is just one more challenge that some folks love to take on, so keep us posted on your progress.

 

[attibones]

I usually don't rearrange my stuff. I usually just add more plants. This is mostly just an experiment anyway. I figured the ten gallon would be the best tank to tamper with because it was already so lightly stocked with plants and fish. Redoing it would have been easier than the twenty. I'm keeping the journal updated as I work through it.

I'm going to pick up more plants today, and I'll take another test before I go to see if there is any progress. I plan on doing a water change before I plant the new stuff so it is easier to get to the bottom of the tank anyway. I'll update this when I get my results in.

 

[attibones]

Ammonia is still high, though it might be possibly lower. It also might just be me wishing it to look like it is getting lighter. It seemed to take a longer time to get dark green, so that's good, yeah? I did another water change today, doubled the plants, and took the test before topping off again. I only did ammonia as I only have one test tube remaining and not much patience for rinsing out the tube before refilling the tank. I'm not really worried about the nitrite reading though because it will only go up from here. Plus with ammonia as high as it is, my nitrite bacs might not even be developing yet anyway.

I feel like I should reiterate that this filter was cycled, but only enough for one or two small fish at a time. I haven't had a community in this tank since the firs few months after I set it up when I bought it. It's just not used to heavy bioloads. I also feel that this will be an advantage for me with this method.

TTA, I believe the reasons why the Walstad method is recommended for lightly stocked tanks is because the Walstad method does not expressly encourage heavy duty filters that we would use in our standard aquariums. Walstad writes that a small power head should be added for water movement, but most of the nitrogen cycle should occur in the substrate. I'm attempting to blend the "traditional" method with her method so that I can keep more creatures in this tank than I believe other Walstad method enthusiasts would approve.

 

[attibones]

Ammonia is way down from last night. It's actually around 3 or 4 ppm. It is sad that this is "way down from last night," but it is true. Nitrite is probably around 2-4 ppm. Definitely not 5 ppm. Nitrate seems to be around 10 ppm, but I'm not sure if that is our usual level or if it is the level after plants have absorbed some.

 

[attibones]

Zero ammonia!! Wooo!! Now I wonder if I should add ammonia or just assume that the soil is steadily releasing ammonia?