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Tom's Bucket O' Mud (semi self-sustaining aquarium)

198K views 339 replies 132 participants last post by  Saxtonhill 
#1 ·
Hi all,

At the risk of spamming this on every fish forum going I thought I'd a post a bit about my largely self sufficient aquarium, as this seems to get discussed on here a fair amount.

As a bit of background, I set this up because I'm frequently away from home for 5-6 weeks at a time, and wanted an aquarium I could just leave on it's own for this length of time. As such it is entirely pragmatic and practical in it's design, and is not intended as a closed system, biotope 'simulation' or whatever.

Neither is this particualary new or innovative, pretty much all the ideas were stolen from somewhere or other. However, it does all work, so might be of interest to anyone considering a similar setup.

Specs:
3'x1'x3' 10mm glass aquarium, open topped
300W heater
70W metal halide light 2 feet above water surface (8 hours/day)
Small, heavily throttled powerhead providing very slow water movement to help prevent surface biofilm

Hardscape:

John Innes compost (unmineralised) cut 50/50 with sand, with pure sand cap
Some rocks, and locally collected heather twigs

Emergent plants:
Echindorus, water pickerel
Riparian plants ('foliage' houseplants from DIY shops):
Prayer plant, parlour palm, peace lillies, unidentified lillies. Planted in shower caddies using hydroton as a substrate.
Submerged plants:
Swords, crypts, mosses, hydrocotyle, Micranthemum micranthemoides, water lillies, other low-medium light plants, various floating plants.

Fauna:

6 Parosphromenus sp. 'sentang', 7 Bororas maculata, 4 otos, cherry shrimp, assorted snails, ostracods and other inverts.

Maintenance and feeding:

I normally just top off the water lost to evaporation with dechlorinated tap water and add beech/oak/ketapang leaves for the inverts to feed on. Roughly every couple of months I'll do a small water change, and sometimes supplement the food with the odd algae wafer.

Set up:

Once everything was planted I waited about a month for the plants to adapt (the riparian plants required a few weeks to grow new root systems) and for the initial ammonia spike to pass then added about 50 shrimp, the otos and a few other inverts - lots had arrived already on the aquatic plants. Once the shrimp population was looking good (about 3 months in) I added the rasboras, then the gouramis after another month or so when I was sure the food chain was stable.

Tank is now 10 months old and doesn't require any more maintenance than topping up the water and replacing the beech, oak and ketapang leaves as they are broken down. I do do a small water change every couple of months and supplement the feeding a bit when I happen to be home, but I don't feel it's essential.

The gouramis and rasboras seem to find plenty to eat in the tank (ostracods and baby shrimp are the main food items I think), and the otos always have bellies that I would describe as moderately rounded.

Video:

http://vimeo.com/30028289

Photos:








Parosphromenus 'sintangensis' (male) :


Parosphromenus 'sintangensis' (female):


Bororas maculatus (male):


Otocinclus affinis:


Neocaridina heteropoda var. "red" (female):
 
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#82 ·
: ) you look just like a big game hunter, getting the trophy pic taken. They even hold the antlers that way... lol
 
#83 ·
You sent the girlfriend into the swamp to retrieve the big wooden stump (*cough cough*)?

I wondered about that, too. ; )
 
#88 ·
Hi Don. There is no filter (the plants cover all of that), and I'm afraid I can't really get at the powerhead to show you, it's buried at the back under all the riparian plants (it's just a small koralia which has been heavily muffled to produce a very slow flow).
 
#89 ·
I really love this tank. I love that it is pretty much self sustaining and and allows for frequent trips.
I just have one question about it tho. Do you get a musty/swampy smell in the room from the tank? With the low flow and pretty much non existent water changes, I'd imagine that it might start smelling like an actual pond.
 
#96 ·
Sorry, forgot to reply to this. There was a slight earthy smell for a bit when it was newly set up, but that faded after a while. Since then I haven't noticed any odours at all really. Even when I was tearing it down just now and had mud everywhere, there wasnt any swamp gas smell or anything, just smelled like earth.
 
#103 ·
Yup, all fish made the transition fine. Was finally able to do a recount on the secretive Parosphromenus - turns out I've lost a couple over the last year, but I'm not really surprised given that the water params were totally unsuitable (hadn't realised the soil I used contained lime). Other than that all the fish survive fine without a filter. That amount of emergent plants will easily keep up with the waste from a few small fish.

Love the smell of dirt. Always thought the tank was in a living area, not a bedroom. It looks much smaller when you step in the frame lol :D Except that plant + roots, geez. Good thing you have hard wood floors. How long did all that take you?
Heh, yeah. I am 6'3'' and pretty chunky for reference. Took a whole weekend to tear down, put back up and tidy up.

This thing is awesome! Love all the concepts you put into this beauty! My roommate/best friend is from Scotland by the way!
Cheers!

Did you build that tank? It's lovely. I think it looks great as is. I hope you can get them to breed!
Was custom built by a LFS, cost £150 in 10mm glass, quality is OK if not amazing.

I can't believe I am just now seeing this! this is awesome! loved the old scape and can't wait to see the new one. what do you use for filtration if any?
No filtration (plants do that), just a small koralia (heavily muffled) to provide a small amount of flow.

Very nice tank. I really want to see how you fit that stump in there.
Have some pics before planting, will stick one up if I get time.
 
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