Ecology of the Planted Aquarium – Diana Walstad's Books and Articles

One Month after Tank Setups

The two tanks I set up a month ago for the big Expo on May 2 are ready for their road trip to Charlotte, NC to be displayed and then auctioned off. Pictures show tanks at setup and after one month. Plant growth is good. Readers please note that there are no filters or aerators. Do not need them in these tanks with their shallow depth, lots of good-growing plants, and a soil underlayer. Plants grow better without filters and aerators that just remove the ammonia and CO₂ that plants like.

**Photo Taken 3/29/2026.** Tank (left) for breeding fish set up 2 days ago; ‘Walstad Method’ tank (right) set up just hours ago.

**Photo Taken 4/29/2026.** The first month is always a race against time. Rooted plants need to take hold quickly to counteract “soil chaos” and outcompete algae. Looks like they have succeeded!

Tank on left (setup for fish breeding): I easily caught the 40 juvenile guppies that I was raising in it temporarily by removing all the little plastic pots with their plants. Plant growth in the bone-meal fertilized garden soil is good; I have had to trim the Vallisneria heavily and remove excess floating plants. Otherwise, they would take over the tank.

Tank on the Right (typical “Walstad” tank with soil underlayer): Plants and the ~15 Blue Dream Shrimp I added 3 weeks ago are doing quite well. (Will sell them with the tank.) I think that the substrate fertilization (See previous post) helped. (The potting soil I chose as the soil underlayer was perhaps a bit too infertile; its NPK was only 0.08/0.03/0.06.)

Indexing Scientific Papers

Without my ‘Aquatic Ecology Subject Index’ (175 pages, available here), I never could have written Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. From the 1990s onward, I subject-indexed every scientific paper I read. Eventually, the index provided a framework for my book. I enjoy reading scientific papers. Many contain interesting experiments and inspiring ideas. Admittedly, the scientific jargon, conflicting nomenclature, and statistics can be daunting. But these barriers can be breached by further investigation and being organized. To be a scientist, you do not have to have a Ph.D., but you do need a love of science.

Me and Scientific Papers--all subject indexed. — **Diana Walstad at the Filing Cabinet. All Papers are Subject-indexed for Easy Retrieval.**

NEW 4th EDITION has gone GLOBAL!

‘Ecology of the Planted Aquarium’ (4th Edition, 2023) is now available as an affordable paperback to hobbyists overseas (Britain, Italy, Japan, etc.), not just to those in the U.S. While there is a different–and maybe prettier– cover for Amazon-printed books, all BTPS-printed books, eBooks, and Amazon Kindles contain the same material. This is a long-awaited improvement, because shipping a printed book overseas is prohibitively expensive.

Amazon-Printed Paperback for 4th Edition (2023) of 'Ecology of the Planted Aquarium' — **Amazon’s Cover for Fourth Edition** (April, 2023)

Czech Version of Ecology of the Planted Aquarium

Czech translation of ‘Ecology of the Planted Aquarium’

I am thrilled to announce a Czech translation of Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. It is a high-quality printed book now (2017) available for sale to the people of the Czech Republic. (This is the fourth published translation of my book. Others were German, Italian, and Polish.)