Calling all soil substrate, filterless hobbyists

[allnatural]

I have all planted, filterless tanks with a soil substrate (except two). I am starting this thread to see if there are any adovcates that would like to share experiences. Gravel only filterless are welcome too!

This thread is NOT to debate this method, please , but if you are interested, feel free to ask questions!

If you are interested in filterless aquaria, checkout
www.naturalaquariums.com

--Tim

 

[revengeishere]

Im a convert(thanks to you). I 'm still trying to get everything right, buying more plants and such. I have 2 aquaclears in my tank and I'm planning to turn 1 off after this week(I just added several crypts, vals, sprites, and amazon swords).

I don't use soil cause the tank is already established, but will use soil on my next 55 gallon! I did add laterite(for nutrient storage and iron, so no fertilizing anymore).

I'll keep you guys updated.

Hope several people out there posts about thier experiences.

Revenge

 

[crimsontsavo]

Does this apply?

While living in Texas I had a five gallon aquarium set up for about six months.
It had only a light and a bottom layer of silt with one large plant.(dont know what kind)
I used no man made filters.
I had about 7 common minnows that lived in it. I never fed them, and added water only as it evaporated.
I never lost a fish and they all grew into nice large minnows.
This set up was going until we moved back to Florida.

I used the water from the pond to set the tank up.

 

[allnatural]

That's cool about the minnows. I must confess something. I got from aquabid.com some Endlers livebearers. Well, I didn't have a tank set up for them yet (but I wanted them so bad!), so I had this new empty 5.5gal just sitting there. So I filled it with room temperature water, put in dechlorinator, and dumped them in. I was going to set up some new planted tanks in the next couple of days to put them in, so I knew they would be OK for now.

Well, you know how time flies! Days went by, I just kept feeding them and thinking, "I've got to change that water soon, or get them in a planted tank". They seemed to be thriving and already dropped some fry. So I had some hornwort, Ergia densa, and duckweed from some pruning of my other tanks and just threw it in! I set a 15 watt flourescent light over the top of it. Two days later the water was crystal clear and everyone seemed happy. That was 4 weeks ago I have not changed the water. Just added some from evaporation. The floating Ergia has sent roots down to the bottom now, and the Endlers have dropped more fry! This is a bare bottom tank with fish poop gathering on the bottom, so I threw in some common snails. I also had a little piece of Java Moss, and that is now growing on the bottom. I'm going to keep this little tank going just as it is for now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Here's a picture of an Endlers male in this tank. The tank behind it has Gold Inca Applesnails- same situation but in a 10 gallon . This is against all the rules isn't it?

Endlers

 

[revengeishere]

That looks amazing! Wow, I like how the egerias roots are all the way to the bottom! So you didnt cycle the tank? Well, that only shows natural tank works. I will probably only change water now whenver my ammonia starts to pick up(less than .5) an adjust my water changes accordingly. I hope that the ammonia will feed the plants(I read that ammonia is absorbed better than nitrates).

Revenge

 

[crimsontsavo]

I'll get railed on for this I'm sure.
I've never tested my water, in ANY of my aquariums. (I've been keeping aquariums since i was a kid)
Don't ask me how I've done it cause I don't know!
The only problems I can think of that ive had are with new fish I'd just purchased.
If you can manage to get the water just right, the tank will take care of itself.
I dont mean get a five gallon tank and dump thirty fish in it,lol.
Everything fitting perfectly............it happens!
Buhaha...K I'll stop now,lol.
(let me mention, the filter I'm using now has a carbon insert that I have'nt changed in about...oh i dont know.......two years.I just rinse it out occasionally.).

(editing cause I forgot to compliment your fishies! They are ADORABLE!That little green (female?) looks like my fishies.)

 

[allnatural]

Glad you didn't change the carbon filter if you have a planted tank! The carbon removes many trace elements that plants like! Many people who do use filters in planted tanks take out the carbon inserts.

As far as cycling the tank, no I didn't. I didn't plan on having them in there long enough to matter! Oh, well....

In a planted tank, you don't need to "cycle" it to get the biological process going. The plants eat the excess ammonia instead of waiting for the bacteria to do it. With a soil substrate tank however, I do like to let it sit for a week or two before adding FISH. I plant the tank and add snails right away. This lets the soil calm down a bit before adding the fish. Remember, a soil can take 6-8 weeks or more to stablize. So sometimes you may get green water. But never fear it will clear up!

As far as testing the water, if you plant heavily from the beginning, you probably won't have an ammonia problem. As far as PH, All my soil substrate tanks seem to have a steady PH of 7.5 despite the fact that there is some peat in the soil (which should lower the PH). My tap water is VERY high. I put tap water in large containers and lower the PH to about 8.0 before using it for replacement water. PH can be a real fish killer if wide changes occur when you add new fish or add/change water. I wiped out a whole tank of fish once by doing a large water change using dechlorinated tap water. That's why I do mess with PH a bit so that there is not a drastic change when I add water.




--Tim