Walstad Tank - Rio 180 - Do I Need Co2?

[Spishkey]

am turning my spare rio 180 into a heavily planted shrimp tank, no fancy plants just cuttings from the overgrowth in my two 6ft tanks, these mainly include ancharis, anuabis(sp)amazon swords, a few types of vallis and some that look similar to amazon swords. will also be adding java moss and fern.

i plan on not having a filter (going for a walstad esq type of aquarium for a change) but will be adding my large cherry shrimp colony and *maybe* a small group of platys (will decide on the platys later)

so my question is will i need co2 to keep all these plants healthy? i dont have co2 in my larger tanks - but quite often my plants (all apart from the java fern, java moss, anuabis and amazon look-a-like) tend to go through phazes of not doing too well, developing brown edged leaves, going stringy, the majority of the plant dying off then new shoots appearing and starting to regrow? any idea of the cause of this? is it lack of co2 or some other problem perhaps?

 

[Mikaila31]

I would say no CO2. Walstad tanks are supose to be "simple" tanks in the idea that you don't need ferts or co2. I understand not needing a filter, but ideally you want a powerhead of some sort to give some flow in the tank if it is going to heat evenly.

 

[three-fingers]

Walstad had filters for water movement, she just removed the media.

What soil did you use?

How often are you feeding?

Is there a lot of plants in there?

Do any have access to air?

And yep, the idea of a Walstad tank is low maintenance natural tank, CO2 is generated by lots of bacteria and the few fish in the tank.
Plus most plants wont need it, since they will have the access to the CO2 in the air, or will have less demand on it due to the lighting.