BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 5,011
Great discussion! If you can locate it, read D Crosby Johnson's book. It's titled "Never Change Your Fish Water Again!" I read it some time ago and it's very informative. I've never cared about how pretty my tanks are, because really no one sees them, but my wife and me. I only care about pure water conditions for my fish and plants. I keep several larger tanks of Fancy Guppies and have many Corydoras. Corys are the only fish that don't go after my male Guppies. Guppies are very hardy and easily tolerate less than perfect water conditions, Corys not so much.
Anyway, there are many ways to a healthy tank. I'm just interested in different ways of getting it. If I don't have to do a lot of maintenance, I'm all for it. To get to the point you don't need water changes, you need large plants, like the Aglaonema. In my 55 gallon tanks, I use half a dozen, 12 inch plants. There is pea-gravel substrate and quite a number of fish.
I also have tanks that combine the "Ag" plants, Anacharis, Pennywort, Cryptocoryne, Singapore moss and varieties of Anubias. These tanks require water changes because there aren't enough "Ag" plants to keep the water pure without changing some of the water every 2 weeks.
I'd love to answer specific questions, but like Rivercats said. These tanks aren't showy, but I'm sure there are some very creative people who could take this idea and do wonders.
B
Anyway, there are many ways to a healthy tank. I'm just interested in different ways of getting it. If I don't have to do a lot of maintenance, I'm all for it. To get to the point you don't need water changes, you need large plants, like the Aglaonema. In my 55 gallon tanks, I use half a dozen, 12 inch plants. There is pea-gravel substrate and quite a number of fish.
I also have tanks that combine the "Ag" plants, Anacharis, Pennywort, Cryptocoryne, Singapore moss and varieties of Anubias. These tanks require water changes because there aren't enough "Ag" plants to keep the water pure without changing some of the water every 2 weeks.
I'd love to answer specific questions, but like Rivercats said. These tanks aren't showy, but I'm sure there are some very creative people who could take this idea and do wonders.
B