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Lo-tech Or Natural Aquariums

Started by Guest_TurtleLover_* , Aug 20 2007 03:39 PM

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16 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 20 August 2007 - 03:39 PM

We're looking in to setting up a low tech or natural aquarium, no active filteration, natural sunlight type thing with low light plants growing. I've read a little about them, but I don't know of anybody that has actually tried them out. Has anyone here setup this kind of aquarium? Any ideas or pointers how to do it? Thanks.

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#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 20 August 2007 - 04:35 PM

I have had similar setups but with medium-high light instead (due to my love of native plants).

What have done is essentially:

3 inches of potting soil
1/2 inch pea gravel or finer
LOTS of plants
full sun (outdoors), sunny window, or lots of fluorescents, depending on the plant species
not too many fish, no sensitive fish (e.g. those that need high O2 or cool water), no fish that eat too much (like game fish). For this setup it's probably best to pick fish that naturally occur in still waters.
Occasional tiny bit of fertilizer stick jammed near the roots of heavy feeders (plants)
Occasional dose of peroxide for occasional algae breakout (1 oz per 10 gallon of 3% peroxide)
I have in the past dumped blackworms in at night with the hopes that they establish in the soil.
I have also used Malaysian trumpet snails (in INDOOR tanks) to carry debris back down into the soil.

I've done this at the 55-gallon scale and smaller. If you are wary, you might want to try it using a 10-gallon and a couple pygmy sunfish or bluefin killies.

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#3 Guest_fuzzyletters_*

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Posted 20 August 2007 - 09:07 PM

My advice is to buy and read Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad. Most of it explains the science (chemistry) behind natural planted tanks but it serves as a basic guide as well. It is one of the coolest things I've ever read.

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#4 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 20 August 2007 - 11:25 PM

Thanks guys. We want to try it with a 24 gallon Nano cube. Apparently when you use the pump, it overheats the water and while it is a beautiful looking tank, it's cooking the fish and plants. The water is too warm even for the tropicals we had in it and we're ready to try something new with it. When we first set it up as a planted aquarium, it looked outstanding even without fish. Then everything slowly started boiling. That's why we want to try it without the filteration built in the back tank, we have a spot picked out that gets lots of natural sunlight and I think the lights in the hood are plant growing bulbs. I'll just have to see where we can manage to net some nice looking bait fish in these high mountain southwestern waters. I live in Northern New Mexico and pretty much all the waters around here are full of rainbow and brown trout, pike and white suckers.

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#5 Guest_rumblefische_*

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 05:12 AM

Some of the cubes have overheating problems causes by the lights. A lot of people mount fans on their hoods. Not sure if the Nanocube is one of those. I know the BioCube is. Our LFS has a marine BioCube on their checkout counter with a big fan mounted on top. The new cube designs all include hood fans, and some even include 2 in case one goes out.

Sounds like an interesting project, good luck,
r

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#6 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 12:43 PM

I think there is a fan in the hood and we cut the amount of time the lights are on (we use timers for all our aquariums) down, but it's still pretty warm in there. We may be using it without the hood or with the hood propped open part of the day with this project. We'll have to play around with it. Right now we have something called eco-substrate (we got it off the Dr. Foster and Smith), it's designed to help waste break down and feed plants. Would this work as the substrate in this type of setup and do you all think I'll still need to add a layer of gravel on top. Any input is helpful. Thanks all.

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#7 Guest_fuzzyletters_*

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 08:11 PM

A lot of the tanks I see on other sites have those nutrient-rich plant soils and they usually just leave them exposed, though the texture of many of them is very granular and if you have something that's particulate you may want to put gravel over top. Turbidity, as far as I've heard/read, is something that unless extreme does not harm fish and usually settles out after a while, so the gravel's effect would likely be mostly aesthetic.
I think the book I recommended says that ordinary potting or garden soil may actually be better than those enhanced substrates because they can skew algae growth, but Diana Walstad, the author, is active on other forums, and I think she'd be the first to admit that her observations and suspicions are not necessarily the rule, and that even if they were there would always be exceptions.
Anyway, good luck and congratulations on choosing to go this route; it can be really natural-looking and really low-maintenance... perfect for native fish tanks.

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#8 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 10:27 PM

You might look here and see if this'll work for you:

http://www.farmertod...e_fish_tank.pdf (1.1 mb)

You can look at some film I've posted here, about half way down the page:

http://www.farmertodd.com/aquaria.asp

Mind you, my website is under heavy construction right now

I've got a lot of new video to move up and in other formats. So I appologize for any inconveniences.

I've done this with natives and exotics. Doesn't matter. And I've run quarantine tanks like what you're describing without all the filters with a very suprising number of fish and plants. My approach has also been based of the Walstad book, although I've modified it some.

Todd

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#9 Guest_ckraft_*

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 10:41 PM

A good book for this is "Dynamic Aquaria; building Living Ecosystems" by Walter H Adey and Karen Loveland.

It's a fun book to read even if you're not building a system like they do. they discuss problems and solutions to aquaria systems where there is no input other than makeup water.

Lots of technical info that makes me feel all warm inside.

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#10 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 09:52 AM

Thanks everybody, this is good grounds to get started on once we finish with our move and the remaining tetras can be moved into the 55 gallon we're cycling now for the tropical set up (my boyfriend loves his tropicals :rolleyes:

). I forgot what a pain it is to move when you've got a zoo like we do, tanks and cages are not the easiest things to transport. I guess now would be a good time of year to go scouting for plants, too. Guess I should get on that before we hit a cold snap, those things come over night. We used to have some really nice little ponds and wetlands around town to go through, unfortunately all the developers around here see a better use for them by filling them in and building over them ](*,)

. Would have been nice places to find little bait fish, too ( I say baitfish because here everything is pretty much classified either as baitfish or game fish. Only baitfish can be taken with a net. )

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#11 Guest_joia2181_*

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 10:42 AM

Where are you located by the way?

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#12 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 11:10 AM

I'm from Northern New Mexico, a tiny little town called Taos. It's about 70 miles south of the Colorado border. Very touristy.

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#13 Guest_arnoldi_*

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 04:28 PM

Taos, thats a name I haven't heard since my hippie road trip days... ahh, memories.

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#14 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 04:50 PM

I think there is a fan in the hood and we cut the amount of time the lights are on (we use timers for all our aquariums) down, but it's still pretty warm in there. We may be using it without the hood or with the hood propped open part of the day with this project. We'll have to play around with it. Right now we have something called eco-substrate (we got it off the Dr. Foster and Smith), it's designed to help waste break down and feed plants. Would this work as the substrate in this type of setup and do you all think I'll still need to add a layer of gravel on top. Any input is helpful. Thanks all.

The substrate you have will probably work just fine. I use the layer of gravel just to keep the soil from getting mixed up in the water. So long as there are no sensitive fish in there, I'd just turn off the filter. Keep an eye on the fish; if they start to look stressed you can always turn the filter back on. But I do think your setup will be OK without a filter running.

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#15 Guest_TurtleLover_*

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Posted 23 August 2007 - 12:19 PM

Ok, one more question. Since this is my boyfriend's tank and he maintains and feeds it, I forgot he had a small UV sterilizer/filter mounted inside the tank. This is what it looks like
UV Sterilizer

Should I leave this in or take it out for the new setup. Since we won't be using the filter built in the back and you can adjust the flow on this UV sterlizer, it might just add a little turbidity for surface gas exchange. Any thoughts on this?

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#16 Guest_fuzzyletters_*

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Posted 24 August 2007 - 02:22 PM

I think Diana Walstad actually said that a UV filter is a major benefit and that she uses them herself to control harmful pathogens, especially those that cause mycobacteriosis. I'm not sure about the specifics exactly, but I do think she said that it was a good thing to have.