tips for natural filtration 36 gallon bow

[Tessala_Corvae]

Howdy! Im still fairly new to this aquarium hobby and need some pounters with my big decision.

Right now I have a 36 gallon bow front in question (est since Christmas 2013) .. I am thinking of dropping the water down to allow some plants to get better lighting. I have excel flourish that I'll dose, regular gravel substrate with some eco complete mixed in. Dropping the water would mean that my HOB filter wouldn't be used for a while.. im thinking about a month til the plants grow taller. Im currently stocked with:

5 albino catfish
1 blue DG
7 zebra danios
5 flame tetras
2 otos
3 male guppies
6 silver hatchets

3 stems of wisteria
1 anubia nana
1 amazon sword
3 bunches of cyperius helferi
4 anacharis stems
(Possibly adding java moss carpet)

Id use an air stone to keep the water agitated..

Any thoughts? Not sure if im too stocked to use natural filtration.

 

[Coyne]

I'm not sure what you mean by "natural" filtration.
Your filter is where the vast majority of the nitrifying bacteria live. Fish waste and left over food break down into ammonia and the nitrifying bacteria is what converts the ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate. I'm not sure that this would happen efficiently without the filter.

 

[GodFan]

If by natural filtration you mean letting the plants filter the water without an actual filter then you may be too stocked for that.

 

[Tessala_Corvae]

Lighting is an aqueon full spectrum light btw.. its what came with the set

 

[Khuligirl93]

That light is not sufficient for growing most plants except anubias. I have the exact same set up. Lowering your water level is not going to do much. If I were you I would upgrade to high output LEDs or t5 HOs. Then you can have better light and can still use your filter.