Low Tech and El Natural Forum

[JackBinimbul]

I'm looking to go as low-tech as possible with my 20 long.

As of now, I'm planning on a mix of eco complete and sand for looks. I'll be planting java moss, anubias nana, a ground cover, some dwarf lettuce and frogbit.

For fish, I'm going Endler's, peppered cories and red cherry shrimp. I might go for a couple of snails, I haven't decided.

I'll have a HOB, possibly an inline filter in the winter and a light. I may have to use an air stone. Other than that, no chemicals, no CO2.

 

[Caliban07]

I'm looking to go as low-tech as possible with my 20 long.

As of now, I'm planning on a mix of eco complete and sand for looks. I'll be planting java moss, anubias nana, a ground cover, some dwarf lettuce and frogbit.

For fish, I'm going Endler's, peppered cories and red cherry shrimp. I might go for a couple of snails, I haven't decided.

I'll have a HOB, possibly an inline filter in the winter and a light. I may have to use an air stone. Other than that, no chemicals, no CO2.

I’d go for sand only. Eco complete is dual grain size so on its own you end up with all the fine grains at the bottom and larger grains on top. If you add sand to this you will just be doubling the smaller grain layer at the bottom.

The problem with eco complete and sometimes gravel is that the larger grains easily trap waste to be broken down. This isn’t as much of an issue of you have good o2 levels but sand won’t trap the dirt as much and will be better oxygenated and less of an o2 drain on the tank.

If you go hang on back I’d make sure you keep the sponge free of waste by means of regular cleaning. You can use tap water or old tank water for this and relay on beneficial bacteria within the tank to take care of ammonia production.

Last piece of advice would be to plant very heavily from the beginning to help keep the tank clean and the substrate clean.

You will want the air stone in from day one or you can use an air driven sponge filter. Sumps, overflow, wet dry trickle filter, inline venturi’s ams biowheels also help with o2 addition.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Thanks for the input! I didn't know eco complete was that big/heavy. Seems like sand is the way to go. I can always use tabs if necessary.

I'm actually still feeling around for a filter/pump solution. I had originally thought of a canister, but the flow rate will be far too high for my set up. Do you have any simple, affordable suggestions there?

I know I don't want to fuss around with a sump or anything that's too DIY. This is my first aquarium, after all, and it's only 20G. I'll go with an air stone, but I've heard a lot of conflicting information about biowheels so I don't want to fiddle around with that sort of thing until I know better what I'm doing.

 

[Caliban07]

Thanks for the input! I didn't know eco complete was that big/heavy. Seems like sand is the way to go. I can always use tabs if necessary.

I'm actually still feeling around for a filter/pump solution. I had originally thought of a canister, but the flow rate will be far too high for my set up. Do you have any simple, affordable suggestions there?

I know I don't want to fuss around with a sump or anything that's too DIY. This is my first aquarium, after all, and it's only 20G. I'll go with an air stone, but I've heard a lot of conflicting information about biowheels so I don't want to fiddle around with that sort of thing until I know better what I'm doing.

Lol if you want simple, you can get no simpler mechanical filtration than the air driven sponge filter.

An air pump connected to a tube via silicon tubing creates a stream of bubbles that rise to the surface aerating the water. The action of the bubbles rising to the surface creates suction and water is drawn in through two fine course sponges. The sponges provide a media for biological filtration to establish. You wont need the airstone either.

 

[JackBinimbul]

OK, I'm new to all of this so I'm a little bit dumb. I can't really picture what you're talking about.

I understand that an air pump sends air through a tube and that you can put an air stone on the end in the water. I'm confused after this point. I assume that to actually filter the water in the tank, water must be drawn through another filter and then expelled. How is this done?

I did some research, but it seems to be all over the place. Is this something DIY or a "kit" that is easily accessible? Do you have any links to kits or instructions?

 

[Caliban07]

OK, I'm new to all of this so I'm a little bit dumb. I can't really picture what you're talking about.

I understand that an air pump sends air through a tube and that you can put an air stone on the end in the water. I'm confused after this point. I assume that to actually filter the water in the tank, water must be drawn through another filter and then expelled. How is this done?

I did some research, but it seems to be all over the place. Is this something DIY or a "kit" that is easily accessible? Do you have any links to kits or instructions?

It’s ok. You probably are unfamiliar with them because people rarely use them anymore.

https://youtu.be/Rc5aICDyorM

The water is drawn in through the sponges trapping debris.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Oh, I see! The suction created by the expelled air draws water through the filter. I do remember seeing stuff like that when I was a whipper snapper.

That's an awesome solution. Thanks, so much!

 

[Caliban07]

Oh, I see! The suction created by the expelled air draws water through the filter. I do remember seeing stuff like that when I was a whipper snapper.

That's an awesome solution. Thanks, so much!

No problem bud. You wont regret it. Keep the tank clean. O2 high, surface like a mirror and you’ll be fine. Keep the filter low so it draws up deoxygenated water. No fry or shrimp will get sucked up by this either.

 

[King Fisher]

Thinking about lining the entire back of my tank with these. A guy I know lines the back of his 120g with airstones under his gravel with no HOBs for surface agitation but does use a FX6 canister filter. Rather than use a canister filter in this setup, I'm thinking using a series of small sponge filters lined across the back of the tank.

 

[Caliban07]

Having the two airstones in caused a tiny problem. Any disturbance within the tank resulted in mulm being pushed up by the bubbles which settled on the plant leaves. Having maximised my lighting a few days ago a tiny string algae occurred. So i simply moved both stones a couple of inches from the surface. What i noticed after that was the shrimp and snails immediately begin to feed on the string algae.

And finally.....i have the magic mulm that i was promised!



This light brown highly mineralised mulm is the start of things to come.

My rooted plants are starting to throw up new leaves now. The crypts and my hairgrass. I haven’t fed fish food for 4 days just a bag of cyclops. Fish pick waaaay more at algae and biofilm when they don’t rely on fish food and i believe this is much better for the ecosystem.

 

[Delapool]

Interesting! Sounds promising.

 

[Caliban07]

Heres the mulm you get from a tank thats been set up 11 years with no water changes



As you can see the density of the leaves, despite little light and flow [emoji846]



No co2
No ferts blah blah

 

[JackBinimbul]

That's crazy! The first shot looks like a rich swamp. What animals do you keep in that tank?

 

[Caliban07]

That's crazy! The first shot looks like a rich swamp. What animals do you keep in that tank?

Its not my tank so im unsure but its well and truly alive.



Tons of shrimp and copepods. TDS is at 800.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Ah, my bad! That's still awesome. Have to keep telling myself that a "clean" tank isn't a healthy one. Especially for plants.

 

[Caliban07]

Ah, my bad! That's still awesome. Have to keep telling myself that a "clean" tank isn't a healthy one. Especially for plants.

It doesn’t really matter as long as there’s enough o2 going around. I like to call it ‘positive feedback’ where oxygen, microbes and plants are the three most important factors to balance. People only ever seem to talk about light, co2 and ferts for balancing a planted tank these days. This is where most people go wrong.

Having said that. High tech tanks can just be as much in positive feedback as the tank pictured above.

If you have enough o2, low BOD etc. Most things are possible in an aquarium. What do you think is more rewarding is the question you should ask yourself. What is better for the ecosystem? Show me a high tech tank that has been running for 11 years.

 

[Caliban07]

Fact or fiction? Why did they disappear?

 

[Delapool]

Here it’s just shocking - I often feel left out that I ‘only’ have a 4ft tank. They are somewhat rare here on tank size.

 

[Caliban07]

Here it’s just shocking - I often feel left out that I ‘only’ have a 4ft tank. They are somewhat rare here on tank size.

I can imagine. Probably need a decent size air pump to get things going on a tank that size. Having said that, i can only imagine they were kiboshed due to the fact that once you purchased the filter and the pump and walked out of the shop you were good for the next 30 years. Not exactly good for business.

 

[earhtmother]

Are we talking undergravel filters here? I think i still have one in pieces some where here, but would have NO idea how to set it up anymore6