Natural Aquarium?

[TankGirl]

Anyone here using the "natural aquarium" method, i.e. no powered filtration?

On another board I moderate one of the members is very heavily into this method (he is a member at naturalaquariums.com) and he has finally talked me into trying it.

The idea is that heavy planting and vigorous plant growth will uptake all waste produced by the fish, and in turn produce enough oxygen to support the fish, without any kind of externally powered filtration. Lots of people run tanks like this with great success, so I was interested in trying it with my Endler's tank. I recently unplugged the filter in my 5.5gal, since it has very vigorous, thick plant growth and not a very heavy stock of fish. So far after two days of nothing but a heater and about 2.5wpg fluorescent lighting the fish appear to be doing fine. I will be following my usual practice of 50% water changes weekly and daily dose of Flourish Excel.

This is a fishkeeping method that can't be done with any tank, and can't be done with any kind of fish, but I was curious if any of our members here on AA are doing this, or are familiar with this practice.

Sign me,
Walking on the wild side

[BrianNY]

I've a cousin that runs a nature preserve in NJ. He has a 55 gallon tank with pond life from the preserve. He doesn't even feed the tank. Personally, I don't see any joy in keeping a tank like that. Come to think of it, the tank is murky I can hardly see in it.

[xxmoorishmanxx]

Just wondering why this is considered natrual if u still have to use heaters and lights,? Sounds like a fun thing to try out, and in [acronym:3468591e10="Saltwater"]SW[/acronym:3468591e10] that is common useing a [acronym:3468591e10="Deep Sand Bed"]DSB[/acronym:3468591e10] with a possible plenum, [acronym:3468591e10="Live rock"]LR[/acronym:3468591e10], some may use pumps for airation, but others dont

[PatM]

I love this idea, I've been wondering about this my self. In my reef it's just live rock and caulerpa doing all the filtration, and I have wanted to get a planted tank going with this same idea in mind. I have a friend out of state that I am getting a 125 gallon acrylic tank from and this is my plan for filtration: fully plant the tank beyond belief, then run a 30 gallon sump which will house more plants, snails, f/w clams, ghost shrimp and crayfish. I think with the right amount of water movement, combined with the right balance of livestock/waste removal methods can work, but you must have tons of water flow. I don't think this is mechanical filtration, just powerheads and pumps, am I right? Sounds like a great experiment.

[An t-iasg]

TankGirl, just curious -- what kind of filter do you have in the 5.5 gallon? Mine have sponge filters, which don't provide a lot of water flow, but that's ok, since they're betta tanks.

[czcz]

TankGirl, [acronym:e8ee74506f="For what its worth"]FWIW[/acronym:e8ee74506f] I'm trying it in a 2.5g (female betta, anacharis, hornwort, java moss, low light/ambient sunlight) w/ 2 cups of water changed every other day and no current. Plants grow pretty quickly and nitrates are added for a positive test reading. The Betta is active and seems fine. There is a persistent green water and hard green algae problem. Inner tank walls are cleaned regularly to keep visibility. Plants must be shaken to dislodge build-up. Frankly, my "natural" tank is more high maintenence than interesting. Will you have a clean-up crew in your tank? Perhaps a good algae eater and/or filter feeder (fw clam?) in a bigger tank with proper lighting would solve my problems.

PatM, that's a very interesting experiment Just a thought: how about a mountainside-like paludarium in the 125g? Sump return feeds chambers and looks like a river flowing downstream, and drain bulkhead is in a pool at the bottom. Fast, natural waterflow with no powerheads or visible pump.

[PatM]

Yeah czcz I definitely don't want to see any equipment in the tank but I think that water movement is very important. You won't keep water clean without it, [acronym:e37bbfd42b="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:e37bbfd42b]. I have thought about the land/water idea, since I have a turtle who could always use a bigger home, but I really want to house the cichlids I have, which aren't too many and would be considered a light load in a 125. Though they are a heavy load in my 29 (I won't say how many, just that I change water every other day to keep water tolerable) so I think I'll probably go all water. I guess it's not totally natural but there will be no carbon or other junk in there, I'm slowly realizing after all these years that that stuff just seems to hold the nitrates, I want to get them out naturally. Keep us posted on your experiment, I saw your progress, looks promising, though loots of work.

[TankGirl]

If you look in the gallery at naturalaquarium.com you will see the tanks are not murky, but look like a typical planted tank. I think when you have the balance right of light and bioload and plants you don't have problems with algae and whatnot. You can easily mess this up, as can happen to all of us no matter what equipment we have running.

I have a Penguin Mini on the 5.5gal, and I simply unplugged it for this experiment. Believe me, this whole concept is an anathema to me - and the subject of much hand-wringing. My buddy has been pestering me and pestering me, basically calling me "yella" (and a "bubble lover" - a most scathing insult) so I had to try it to save face.

I'm not ready to unplug my 55gal, though I think the dense planting and the high light/[acronym:56e2e365c7="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:56e2e365c7] would probably make it a most excellent candidate. Several members of the Endler's forum http://www.endlersr.us/index.php have unplugged their 55gals and are keeping everybody posted with the results.

My husband thinks I have gone off the deep end, no lie, and though he is extremely supportive of my hobby this one has given him pause. It is probably one of the most radical things I have done with any tank in 22 years of keeping fish, so I'll be monitoring things very carefully. The first sign of oxygen deprivation and I'm first going to move out some of the population before I resort to turning the filter back on. I have a ramshorn snail and cherry shrimp in this tank currently for scavenging, [acronym:56e2e365c7="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:56e2e365c7].

There is nothing "natural" about a glass box with no water movement at all, so this label is misleading. I don't think what I have in my tank is a replica of nature at all, in any way, but that is how it is referred to on the web so I use the term here so folks can google it and see what they come up with. Sometimes I get tired of the splashing sound on that tiny tank, sitting on my kitchen counter, and if the fish swimming and the plants growing is adequate to maintain the tank like it has been, then I'm all for unplugging it.

czcz - I'd quit dosing nitrate and see what happens. Your fish is producing the nitrate that ought to be adequate, so rather than dose for test results, let the fish provide the dosing and only add ferts if the plants seem to be struggling. The goal here is to make the plants your "filter" so many practitioners of this method dose no ferts at all.

This concept is wholly a planted tank method, so maybe I should have posted in the planted forum, but I wanted to get a general idea of how familiar the average fishkeeper was with this practice.

[PatM]

Great topic! I can't wait to get my 125 running, I will keep all posted.

[czcz]

Thanks Pat, I'll post sump progress soon (really just increasing one-way current in the main tank). How many [acronym:f516b778de="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:f516b778de] do you think you'll need to move through your project to provide adequate current, with no powerhead? How about multiple bulkheads and return pumps and do it all with the sump? I don't know, but I'd think no filter floss/mechanical/chemical filtration makes that hi-tech yet natural

Edit - Ah, I see. Thanks TankGirl; I will follow your suggestion. I started dosing nitrates when I first noticed the algae problem and didn't have a positive test. Perhaps I've been making the problem worse.