[Jnad]

Hello!

http://naturalaquariums.com

Anyone seen this side and tried this approach?
Any experienced with this?

Jnad

 

[Fajita]

Hello!

http://naturalaquariums.com

Anyone seen this side and tried this approach?
Any experienced with this?

Jnad

i've been a member of that site for years and tried this approach years ago...it was really cool and farely easy. the the thing you'll have to get used to though is the water will always be a little cloudy and the plants will be smaller (and frankly more realistic) than the "hulked out" versions we create with extra co2, higher lighting, and extra ferts....all in all it was a fun little experiment but i decided to go back to a "hulked out" version lol...the other benefit is it is FAR cheaper both in the short term and long term.

 

[sbinf]

This is more or less the system I subscribe to (though I do borrow a few concepts from higher tech approaches). I do like the wilder look you get from setting up tanks this way. I have a 10 gallon setup that is so overgrown, it would make many forum members cringe. A few amano shrimp, a dwarf crayfish, a betta, and about 7 neon tetras seem to like it ok.

I do use filters on all of my tanks, but it's more so that bacteria have a place to colonize, no carbon or other type of chemical filtration though. In the cycled tanks, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia all read zero. The plants don't grow quite so fast, but that suits me fine as I hate to prune them anyway. I'm very sparing with ferts and I don't use any kind of CO2. Water changes are rare, but I do top off once or twice a week. I prefer open tops, so evaporation happens rather quickly.