Rimless 10 Gallon- Aquisoil's All Wet 10.27.08

[eyebeatbadgers]

I started a new tank venture about a month ago now. I went to a local stream with a bucket and scooped up about a gallon of mud. I picked out the sticks and rocks and dumped the rest in the tank, giving me about an inch or two of soil at the bottom of the tank. I capped that layer with an inch of large grain sand from home depot (I got ten pounds for 5 bucks in the fireplace section)

Lighting comes from two clip-on desk lamps, with a 26 watt spiral fluorescent bulb in each fixture. Photoperiod is six hours. More than this results in severe algae outbreak.

I wish to have a dwarf hairgrass foreground eventually, so I am forced to supplement CO2, which comes from a 2 liter DIY setup, diffuser is a limewood airstone. The hairgrass was failing badly without it.

Here are some pictures of the tank on day one.



The second picture is a little dark, but the mud layer starts just beneath where the light reaches.

The soil that I collected had lots of critters in it. There were lots of tiny red fingerlike organisms that protruded from the soil, filter feeders I'd suppose. There were also some freshwater clams, I found about four or five. I removed them because they were disturbing my plants very badly, and knew that they would die in a few weeks without supplementary food anyhow.

Now a month later, I have added some endler/guppy mixes to eat the small red organisms, and to clean algae. They have not been exposed to flake food yet, and are growing at twice the speed of the fish in my other tank. I have also added to the tank one otto and one flying fox. The plants have taken hold in the last two weeks, and now grow at an unbelievable pace, without any supplementary fertilization.

Here's a pic of growth after a huge trim:


Here's a pic of a smiley face guppy I'm working on:

[MARIMOBALL]

Mud From A Stream Is An Interesting Concept. Were Did You Get Your Rimless Tank?

[eyebeatbadgers]

I took the rim off myself. It is just an ordinary tank from Wal-Mart.

[A Hill]

Cool stuff. I'm reading Diana's book right now.

Those fish look happy even smiling!

-Andrew

[eyebeatbadgers]

The fish are most definitely happy. The smiley face pattern on the tail is pretty cool if you ask me. We'll see how true the third generation is.

The fish in this tank also grow unbelievably fast. I can only guess there is a constant supply of food from the microorganisms in the soil crawling around, and the abundant algae in the tank.

The only big differences between having an inorganic base layer and an organic one seems to be some extra algae growth. The water stays super clear, there is no odor from the tank as of yet. Even the algae is minimal now that the plants have grown in some. The plants took about two weeks to adapt to the tank, and now double in volume every week (they are all very fast growing plants)

Natural tanks are lots of fun and a new adventure in tank keeping everyone should try at least once. I've got less than 30 bucks invested in this tank and it looks just as good as the one I have a couple hundred invested in.

[druxboyz]

i see you kept the black bottom base on. Did you think that the walls would fail? What tools did you use to take the top off? Pliers, clippers, etc

[tropicalfish]

Probably a safety measure since the glass isn't very thick and the tank is from Wal-Mart.

[eyebeatbadgers]

Originally Posted by druxboyz

i see you kept the black bottom base on. Did you think that the walls would fail? What tools did you use to take the top off? Pliers, clippers, etc

I used a razor blade and patience. It took about an hour or two, cutting the silicone very slowly and gently pulling up the trim one corner at a time.

Without the bottom trim, I'd say the tank would likely fail. The glass is 1/8" thick, and deflection is 1/8". I have no worries about it with the top trim off, but it is certainly more fragile.

[eyebeatbadgers]

The tank is starting to settle in. Hairgrass is growing in the front at a nice pace. I started a moss wall two weeks ago, and am looking forward to seeing it grow out.

I'm still using DIY CO2 and a limewood diffuser in this tank. I add a small pinch of nitrogen potassium and phosphorus every week after a 50% water change. The desk lamps are on for six hours a day.

Questions/comments welcome!

[A Hill]

Looks great. Be careful with the tank since you took the rim off, I wouldn't hang all that stuff on there.

-Andrew

[Enoch]

I had some doubts in your first few pics, but it's turning out REALLY nice!!

What kind of moss wall is that?

[fishscale]

I'm not sure if I would be too concerned about the top trim. It doesn't look like it's doing much on my 10 gals. It's actually pretty loose and doesn't look like it's taking any load at all.

[eyebeatbadgers]

The tank walls a plenty strong enough to hold the small filter that is hanging on it. The clamp-on lights are also very light.

The moss wall and moss on the rocks is taiwan moss I believe.

[Buck]

I like the simplicity and the look. Your stone work looks nice and it will be a nice looking tank when it matures, if it gets that far.

I dont think I would have removed the top rim though.
It may be nothing now but after a few months you will most likely be mopping up the floor. Why bother removing the rim that the company who built the tank deemed necessary? Something just dont make sense to me here...

[EdTheEdge]

Great thread. Nice tank. Do you think the mud you put in there is helping the plants? Probaly is huh? I've tried potting soil under both sand and Flourite. IT worked OK. But I bet stream bed mud would work wonders.....