Even since I have started keeping fish, I have been interested in the idea of creating a self sustained ecosystem inside of my aquarium.
I know I can't get by without water changes (best I can do is automated), but I am hoping to stop feeding. My question is:
How do you create a sustainable ecosystem inside of your aquarium?
I haven't decided what size tank I want to try this on because I'm waiting to do more research. Has anyone out there created a successful one?
Here is the idea of what I am thinking. Create a tank where I have sustainable food for my fish to eat. That could mean shrimp, brine shrimp, etc.
This would be a fully planted tank, lights, filter, heater. Low tech.
My Tap Water:
0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, 5-10ppm Nitrate depending on day, 4-8 dGH depending on time of year (right now it's 4.2 dGH), and KH of about 3.8. I have pretty soft water.
Basically you need to add energy in some form (light, ferts/leaf litter) and stock really lightly.
The main drawback of this kind of tank is that fully supporting a single fish requires a huge volume of water. If you stock at the same density there is in nature you will be lucky to support half a dozen small fish in a hundred gallons.
This is entirely dependent on what your system uses to filter. You could easily have a high bioload without water changes in a 100g tank. A filter many have forgotten or put aside due to anecdotes that literally hold no weight which caused fear is sand filters. Incredibly efficient once set up. Another big factor is plant load, plants can easily offset the impact of a large bio load.
I personally don't change the water unless the numbers tell me I have to, plants and a good system keep the levels in check. Feeding however I enjoy doing so I've never attempted to automate this. I really love seeing some of my crazier fish come up to my hands for food, some even swim between my fingers, a connection I'd never want to lose.
With that said shrimp and snails are a great way to sustain fish assuming you get them well established and give them lots of cover.
So this is going to be my first trial. It's ~2.5 Gallons bowl that I made a few weeks ago. The bottom of it cracked off and I saw a weird opportunity. I've been watching video from the DYI King on YouTube because I haven't been able to properly seal weird edges on aquariums. I took the bottom and used aquarium safe cementer with silicone and create a seal with a filter INSIDE of the bowl! I had to really stuff it with filter padding so it would slow down the flow (it was pushing water out of the bowl. Anyways, here is the final product:
That's a good number to start with, and excel isn't really a fert and you don't really need it with such a small tank with I assume no dedicated light. Simplicity is best with such a small tank
Woops! I meant Flourish Comprehensive. I've been putting in maybe 2-3 drops of it. Barely anything. It's just getting sun light right now by the window.
I am only planning on adding a few ferts until everything has settled in. I noticed that in a few scenarios I've read where people haven't done that the plants didn't do so well and the tank collapsed. I just want to ensure everything gets a good start. I'm going to pull out a little bit of wisteria once it gets going, too. I also plan on adding more shrimp. This is the only the beginning
Let me know if you see anything wrong with that plan.
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