No Filter, No CO2, No Ferts, Mini Planted Tank - 2 Months Progress

This is my natural planted aquarium with No filter, No CO2, and No fertilizer. I'm going by the book called Ecology of Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad. Basically, the organic soil and the power of plant growth are all you need.

This is not a beginner's tank, imo. It was really hard to keep everything healthy for the first 2 months. Now that after 2 months have passed and the plants have established themselves, it is much easier to take care of it. If I were to do it again, I would not have put any livestock, only the plants, for the first 2 months.

Aquarium:
It's around 5 gallons. 9.5inches X 14 inches X 9.5inches or 24 X 35 X 24 cm. LxHxW Low iron glass. (custom made at a LFS)

Circular duckweed separator:
This was done DIY. I used a 3mm clear acrylic pipe/tube, and bent it using a lighter by heating the pipe. I cut out a circle from a cardboard and use it to bend the pipe to a circle. Then I super glued the ends together. It floats. This was very time consuming and difficult to make. Making a square or triangle would be much simpler and easier.

Plants:
Floating plant = duckweed(Lemna minor), dwarf hair grass(eleocharis parvula), Narrow Leafed Anacharis(Egeria najas), ludwigia brevipes, bacopa caroliniana, water nymph(Najas guadalupensis), pennywort (Hydrocotyle leucocephala), shield pennywort (Hydrocotyle Verticillata), vallisneria natans.

Livestock:
betta, 3 Amano shrimps, 12 blue velvet shrimps, 2 horned bumble bee nerite snails.

Soil:
generic ORGANIC potting soil. NO chemical fertilizers. I removed all of the wood chips. I laid the soil in the tank, then I wetted the soil - mixed it with water so that there were no bubbles in the soil. then I added the cap. Walstad recommends Miracle gro organic potting mix.

Light:
CFL 14w coolwhite. duration: 13 hours a day for the first 2 months, 12 hours a day thereafter. I'm trying to simulate summer light hours to promote fast growth. I'm using a timer. it's very convenient. I'm going by the 2~3 watts per gallon rule. this is for florescent only.

Temperature: 26°C(78°F) ~ 27°C(81°)
At these temps, everything seemed to be doing well. However, during summer time, b/c it's next to a window, the tank went up to 32°C or 91°F for a while, and to my surprise, the plants actually did very well. They grew very fast. However shrimps and snails really didn’t like those temps, and my betta also didn’t seem to like it.

Maintenance:
ONLY water changes. NO cleaning of the tank. Never disturbing the gravel or the plants. I trim the plants when they are about to reach the surface and replant the trimmings or throw them away.

Because I started out with livestock, I did daily water changes of 5~50% for the first 2 months. I only did 5% when there was surface bio-film. I did 50% when the water became too brown or when the shrimp became lethargic. Usual water changes were around10~20% daily. after 2 months, around 10~20% a week. if you don't start out with livestock, there's no need to do daily water changes, just when water becomes too brown. I always used a separate bucket and added water conditioner to get rid of chlorine and matched the temperature of the new water to the tank's water. I used a cup to remove and add water gently.

* this aquarium has almost NO algae! This is achieved b/c the plants are thriving and release chemicals that naturally fight algae. (according to the book, and shown as evidence) Also Amano shrimps help.