Often Overlooked Downsides of Filterless Aquariums: Problems & Challenges of Non Filtered Fish Tanks
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2022
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Setting up a filterless aquarium
• Creating A FILTERLESS ...
Nitrifying v. Denitrifying bacteria, anoxic vs aerobic
• Truly Understanding Ni...
7 important steps for "water change-free" aquariums. Only doing evaporation top offs.
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Non filtered tubs (a good first filterless set up plan):
• No-Tech/No Filter Tubs...
Removing algae with shrimp/ "the 2 tank system":
• MY SECRET TO REMOVING ...
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Setting up a filterless aquarium
ruclips.net/video/CLaWAYem6aw/видео.html
Nitrifying v. Denitrifying bacteria, anoxic vs aerobic
ruclips.net/video/rFXSEIsjvIE/видео.html
7 important steps for "water change-free" aquariums. Only doing evaporation top offs.
ruclips.net/video/woaStNw0Efs/видео.html
Do you need a cap on substrates?:
ruclips.net/video/PotZy4LvC8E/видео.html
Why do my aquarium plants melt and how it impacts water parameters.
ruclips.net/video/1YV5ltAs9Aw/видео.html
The true aquarium clean up crew:
ruclips.net/video/6wX0I2ilHCM/видео.html
Which substrate is right for you?
ruclips.net/video/MLX-YgPKCNY/видео.html
Jackfruit and benefits of tannins deep dive:
ruclips.net/video/h8vm4vZTyJM/видео.html
Non filtered tubs (a good first filterless set up plan):
ruclips.net/video/lj97evu_pAQ/видео.html
Removing algae with shrimp/ "the 2 tank system":
ruclips.net/video/kAOzqOglN5k/видео.html
So I legit keep tanks very similar to you, not all are the same, some have filters, heaters, and air stones, some have none! I have 2 tanks where is something does pass away, my bottom feeding fish and snails eat it with in hours, if I do not see it, my tanks are so stable that I honestly do not have much of spike, to where I have to step in and help the tank. It happens in my 40 breeder with my smaller tetra and rasbora fish. That tank has a canister filter and sponge filter along with a air stone, due to bio-load levels. The tank is also 5 years old as well, I have not done to much to it substrate wise or anything like that.
I have tanks with filters and several filterless, no heater, Walstead like tanks. One of the very first things I add is hornwort and guppy grass. I find they do a much better job of filtering a new tank than slower growing planted plants.
The first critter I add is a mystery snail because they produce a ton of infusoria which I think is vital to have before you even think about adding any fish.
I have 5-6 inch substate beds and nano tanks 8-10 gallons and I keep nano fish. An example of an 8 g cylinder tank is: a small breeding colony of heterandria formosa and 6 male endlers, along with a few ramshorn snails. i also have pothos growing out of the top of that tank, it's rimless even though it came with a cover with a built in light, but I keep it rimless for the very important oxygen exchange.
The male endlers are all over the tank, very active swimmers so they move the water around, while the heterandria formosa are slow and mostly keep themselves in the plants. I feed this tank very lightly maybe 3 x a week.
That's why my filterless tanks are so successful. Now the white clouds that are going in a new twenty long will have a fast flowing filter because of the type of fish and what they prefer and what makes them happy. I'm also going to have some hillstream loaches in there, again they like a faster water movement so and extra air... so maybe a very small sponge filter along with the hang on back or maybe just an airstone, noy sure yet.
You covered so many good points in this video. Before you set up a filterless tank you really need to know what kind of fish you want to keep in there, and yes, you are correct, filterless tanks do require a lot more hands on work, taking out excess hornwort every week, figuring out if you neex to top off with distilled water, checking for dead fish or snails daily because so many little things can swing or unbalance a filterless tank that a filtered tank would take care of before you even noticed.
But I love my filterless, slice of nature tanks and I understand what they can and cannot do with fishloads and fish sizes. And I don't mind the daily inspections.
And I love how you let people know that there is no shame in throwing a filter in if you can't get it to balance or you want things to move along faster. No shame in that at all and no judgements.
I'm always left feeling upbeat and happy after your videos. You talk about so many different ways to keep fish with no bias towards THIS is the ONLY way you will ever have success, and how you're always willing to help people when they have a problem, suggesting a tweak here or there.
👍❤👍
YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME UPBEAT AND HAPPY during my videos hehe I love your high quality comments so much! Have a great week's end and I'm sure we shall talk soon!
How mystery snails produce infusoria ???
What kind of fishload do you achieve with these filterless tanks? Care to describe it in terms of the old "inch per gallon" metric? Eg do you get half an inch per gallon, quarter, etc.
Incredible video! I feel like these limitations aren’t normally covered when talking about filterless systems and they’re super important to point out
Thanks. I realized I'd never seen a video on the limitations and down sides either... so I figured it was about time!
A good point... If you buy a fish that you never see, is it worth the money & bioload to the tank? I absolutely love khuli loaches, but I don't keep them. I've had 'em... never saw them, or had to get them out of trouble constantly. We should always think about what is going into the tank and why (beginners, keep learning)!
Agreed. It they have a function in the ecology of the tank...that's one thing, but if not.... maybe it's worth debating even stocking them
My green neon tetras hide throughout the day and come out to school around midnight 😭😭😭 But they're amazing, so 🤷♀️
I absolutely love my kuhli loaches. If the set up is heavily planted on the bottom and middle sections, they will come out quite a bit. BUT the big reason I love them: they clean up after my pea puffers. PP are messy eaters and tend to pick at their food. My Kuhlis clean out the half eaten snail shells. It's a perfect symbiotic relationship. 😀 And yes, they do come out boldly, even with the PP swimming around. That's how I know the set up is good.
People spend hundreds of dollars on fancy plecos that you never see.
@@masterpython They should spend hundreds on me instead! I promise they'll never see me (in their tank) ever!
I just wanted to say thank you. You do a really nice job of talking about the pluses and minuses of so many parts of fish keeping that I think that’s where you do your best stuff and really help us all out. Thank you again.
You're very welcome! Thank you for your feedback and for stopping by!
When I started my pond I "chased the bacterial bloom" as the tank was cycling and while I still had trace nitrate, the ammonia had already cycled, I'd add a few new clean up crew... granted it's 200gal nano pond, and all the fish/shrimp/snails and plants were as healthy as cane be when I added them few at a time... I know this isn't the most popular way to do it, and it probably won't get me any fans, but I cycled a 200gal pond from 0 to fully stocked in a month. The premise I went with is since the ammonia was "nugatory " and nitrate was low I'd add more bio load while both bacteria were still in excellerated growth stage. This allowed me to continually add more load at a faster rate. It also helped that I only added cleanup crew to the tank until it was fully cycled. I added load in this order "roughly"
7 ottos
2 bristlenose pleco
Rams horn,pond,trumpets and blatter snails
5 cory cats
15 glass shrimp
3 pair endlers
24 cherry shrimp
Almost 3 months in and I had to add 1 elephant ear beta male
3 pea puffers to keep my shrimp/ snails and endlers in check...
Thinking about add a scarlet basis and a honey gorami as well just in case I get hydra or planaria in my tank... I'm line breeding shrimp and endlers in other tanks in case spontaneous hostility and planning on setting up a silver gar tank to take care of over stock. All along using the water to feed my garden
Very nice! In a good sized tank, you can accomplish so much more
I have a confession to make.
I have never, ever "cycled" a tank without fish.
And I have never lost a fish.
No bs.
I have also never quarantined fishes either.
The only fishes I've lost was to predation.
What can you do when you have big meat eating fish.
I believe that fishes help to get a tank going early on.
But I'm no scientist.
I'm just speaking on my personal experiences.
@@jeffalbillar7625 oh I agree... danios and guppies etc are gonna survive a tank cycle usually... like you said, most small or non carnivorous fish can handle 1ppm of ammonia and with water changes that's do-able. If you just put 15 fish in a 20 gallon with no plants... it doesn't matter on the type, they'll usually all die without frequent water changes... but you can fudge the rules and add a few...add more plants... you can add more fish ...more water changes ...more fish. I just don't recommend it, especially with no filter...but a zebra danio will definitely survive usually lol
Great information and examples as always! I also love that you emphasize that (my interpretation) this isn’t a cult that demands allegiance to rigid ideology. Experiment, observe, and have fun!
Sounds like we are on the same page, then haha. Welcome 🙏 .. have a cup of cool-aid, my friend
I really like the fact that you have not taken a single line on this. The single line can really drive beginning or even intermediate aquarist in the wrong direction ( admit to having been and still am one). There are so many factors that come into play.
I have made a TON of mistakes and looking back I beat myself with " I should have known better". The central theme in this revolves around patience and probably trying to follow advanced Fishtubers in too short of a time frame.
Take home messages are TDS can only be followed if you know it's composition. Know thy water! This is ongoing. Your plants talk. Yes, they do. How they are doing will often give you a warning that your tank is becoming unstable.
I could go on but thank you for your analysis.
Thank you for your input and wisdom! You sound like a pro to me :) have a great weekend
Alex, you are the first American person I have heard use the phrase "Bob's your Uncle" since I first heard it from my room mate in L.A. in 1999!
Haha I have traveled quite a bit, and like using things I hear randomly
@@Fishtory Alex, we are so PARELLEL in life's trajectory.
Man, when you go in, you go head first, and I love it. The amount of information you give is better than most college classes!
And I'm quite certain, it's because you truly care. So thank you endlessly and beyond words!
Thank you again. I truly appreciate that and feel humbled and honored by your thoughts and support. Have an amazing weekend, Cheers!
I am just getting started and trying to understand how to create these systems. Set up a 10 gallon dirted tank. I have been watching lots of videos...the usual round of experts with lots of vids. No denying they seem to have lots of knowledge BUT.....Hands down...not only do you have knowledge but your method of explaining makes you The Professor for me. I am grateful for your willingness to share your extensive knowledge.
Well I can't think of reading something that would bring a bigger smile to my face! Welcome Simone! Good for you, doing your research, I'm sure you'll do great- simply for that fact of respecting nature and your passion/compassion alone.
If I can ever be of assistance please just drop a line, or visit my live streams 445 pm Pacific Fridays and likely new time of Mondays at 8pm Pacific or so.
I will definitely. Thanks
Thank you for this topic. It's content like this that will help me to grow as a fishkeeper and try new freshwater setups. You explain it well.
Im So glad It was of some usefulness to you! Thanks for dropping by. I also pinned a comment with my top 10 or so, other videos on how to create and understand various filterless tank variables. Cheers
A very informative video Alex , Greetings from the UK Keep up the good work and don't change your channel to please others .
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate that feedback, mate. Cheers
Great info video Alex loved it
Thank you very much for coming by and having a watch!
Great video!! Thanks!!
Glad you liked it!
Very interesting as always.
Glad you thought so my friend! How us your Nano fountain tank doing? Still set up?
SIMPLY AWESOME INFO! TRUTHFUL AND REAL
Thanks. I figured if I talk about how much I enjoy my filterless setups, I should probably also discuss the issues
I'm glad to see your video on no filter tanks. Very informative 👍👍
Oh thank you kindly! I still love filterless tanks, but new hobbyists should be aware of the "issues" associated with the methods used and any potential difficulties In that style tank. Have a great week@
A wealth of knowledge. Thanks for the great info
Thank YOU for coming by and for the support. Cheers!
Great video Alex!
Glad you enjoyed it
I learned SO much from this! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Have a great week!
While filterless tanks, aren’t my style, I found this interesting. It presented a unique problem solving situation.
It's a challenge of sorts...and once it'd cycled and seasoned or 'cured' most these tanks are really stable and as long as you QT critters before adding more, it's nearly as Resilient as a sponge filter tank in my experiences.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge 🙏 😊 🐠🐟
Thank YOU for coming by, tuning in and staying curious about the natural world around us! Have a great week
Thank you for the video. I have a low tech tank with a bubbler, heater and lights. It took a long time (maybe a year or 2) for the tank to establish a good ecosystem. Starting a tank I recommend a person to grow lots of plants first without fish, after the plants finally fill the tank then add fish in a little at a time. Also Bacter AE seems to be a pretty good addition that not many people mention.
Yeah I agree that both of your tips are good ones ...especially with shrimp and snails, that LOVE bacter AE. I'll use it at the start, but I've noticed you need to keep using it once you rely on it for several months, whereas a naturally encouraged ecosystem of microfauna and flora tends to be more stable if you can introduce healthy diversity of nutrients and habitat (botanicals, plants, animals and various Fungi algae and bacterial cultures from existing tanks or ponds...but if you don't already have old tanks, that stuff is the next best thing for sure!
@@Fishtory Good points, appreciate all you do for the community.
Nice subject! Other alternativs:Green water,you can use "clear"plastic storage boxes as dont see anything anyway.Plants growing out of tank,if planted in a BCB roots tend to stay in box and not fill up the tank.Lot of plants works ,Coleus is one if use that one hang the BCB at surface level.
Great advice! Thank you Sten!
I have learned that if you can go to a river or creek and get a nice rock or wood or whatever from the water and some decaying leaves and put them in your tank all the natural bacteria will dissolve the dead fish and keep everything in place while also feeding your fish. I even once tried it with a little conditioner and put creek substrate and leaves and a piece of driftwood and two tiny minnow in it. I watched it for a few days and saw little creatures swimming about and the fish eating some of those little creatures. If you can get your tank just right you won’t even need to feed your fish. If you want much better info on how I do it I learned from father fish. And the little creatures and if you get a few fish will take care of the algae
I've been friends with Lou for nearly a decade now. He and I differ on this opinion point. I feed live culture food from local water...sticks and stones, but don't use leaf debris or mulm nor will I use stagnant water sources with fish in them. Only dried fallen leaves. But I'm well aware of Father Fish ,( lou,) we speak a lot.
Excellent video. I’ve watched it twice so far.
Haha thanks Ginger. You rock
Holy crap I love that first tank shown, I've recently been diving into plenums and BCB baskets. Since I've been making my own plenums with knitting mesh and spare lift tubes for non standard tank sizes, that means bit by bit pretty much all my tanks are getting redone one at a time. I find hot glue works great for the mesh, so I cut my sticks in thirds and glue those on the bottom to support the plenum.
Thanks for the tip, based on your experiences
I do the same with glue, mesh and landscaping cloth. I am more impressed with the BCB basket's at keeping Nitrates nil with a moderate feeding glass bottom setup. The plenum i set up seems to be working pretty well with the slow moving plenum.
Awesome job Alex! :D
Thanks my friend
Love your videos. This is the most educational aquarium channel. You are great!
Well my friend, that is just about the kindest thing I could imagine reading. Thank you so very much, and I want to let you know, how much it means to me, to read your words. Thank you. Have an awesome day.
@@Fishtory ❤️
You are smarter than mr Novak. That’s why he booted you that day he was threatened. He calls hornwort hornworth it makes me cringe.
You create community on your channel. channels like his create separation and competition
@@gokidooke1345 I don't know that I'm smarter but I'm not making up credentials lol... and yeah he gets quite a bit of stuff just sell sllllightly incorrect. But I have to give him credit for highlighting forms of filtration that were forgotten about in most of the USA hobby
My guys always so humble 🙏
I try
Very interesting. I am currently experimenting with a filterless nursery tank (/w an airstone).
The water movement seems to be a bit less intense, but there is circulation
Yes, depending on temperature changes (night v day) and depth of tank plus how active the critters are
@@Fishtory I have a small heater that keeps the water temperature as constant as possible. (So that rules out water movement because of temperature changes)
I have algae (and some food particles) in the water and what i noticed when i placed the airstone in the middle is that it pushes surface water to the edges of the tank and (because its a continuous push effect) when it reaches the edge of the tank it pushes the water down. When it pushed all the way down it goes back to the bottom middle where the airstone is and goes back up from the middle and is pushed to the surface and back to the edge and starts over again.
I never really noticed this when the water was clear, but as soon as my nursery tank had the algae particles in the water column it was noticeable
Hey guys all the way from Antigua 🇦🇬
Hello from the southern part of the us ✌️
And the north! (New England)
Hello!
Hello from Seattle! Thanks for coming by friends!
You know you made a solid video when you have this percentage of likes to views. Nice job!
(and not an easy topic)
Lol thanks
Great video. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! - Little Bobby
Thanks for being you, and stopping by Little Bobby!
Maybe if someone sees my comment, can you tell me if a sponge filter (classical, or an equivalent with an inner pump) is really a filter, or more a good support for biological filtration and mainly used for water movement?
Another wonderful video so much information sometimes it’s hard to absorb all of it but I get it eventually. Thank you Alex I am happy I was able to see your live stream from the other day made me feel really good.
Have you decided just how you’re going to change your channel , are you still thinking about it? Believe it or not I worry about you overdoing it. 😊 You have been through so much in your life time ,please take sometime for yourself and your wife . Work is important but so is your health . Take care 💕
You are so kind and compassionate! Thank you for your thoughts and incredible support of the channel and I. Honestly the pain and anxiety is reduced by putting my mind into the hobby and research so heavily. So while I am going to take note if I need to slow down a bit, I think this hobby and community really does invigorate me.
Have a great weekend, my friend!
Keep doing what you’re doing
Thanks man... that's all I know how to do haha
Master Aquarist.... Thank You!!!
You are so welcome hehe
Very interesting! I'm a little nervous to try filterless, my water has a pretty low kH and is prone to pH drops if water changes aren't done on a regular schedule.
Well only do it when your ready. There's never a rush...and monitor that nitrate test level closely once you do ...until you see it stable for 40 or 50 days
Your plants look amazing.
Thank you so much! It's all the love I put into them being healthy and happy hehehe
very cool video ! filterless aquariums are the best !!!!!
Have an awesome week
That empty tank on the top shelf looks lonely! Great content, well explained!
Yeah QT tank in theory haha.
Bob’s your uncle? Lol, that’s a new one for me! Thanks for the great info.
Oh lookie, my jam!
But yeah, I barely stock my tanks, they're primarily water gardens instead of fish keeping spaces and I WANT the plants to grow slowly or they outgrow the space 😂
Glad to hear it! Thanks for coming by!
No filter but you can add an air stone. That will actually stabilize your ecosystem to an exponential extent.
True
The main difference is this: the extra tech beyond just a light and heater (when needed) is literally just to simulate a body of water larger than your tank. If your tank isn't reaching the conditions of your target habitat on its own, no number of additional hardware will change that. All that hardware can do is simulate the presence of constant new water, of larger life adding more CO2, of more plant life, beyond the borders of the "slice" of nature that your tank represents. The limit of a low tech tank is exclusively that it is the entire ecosystem. Everything an ecosystem needs must be done in that space, and that space alone.
100%
They are necessary mostly if you wanna keep medium/large size fish. You either need a giant aquarium, or a really good mechanical system.
@@Rorther Well yeah, cause the size of a creature isn't linear with the size of ecosystem it needs. Theres a reason you only get whales in the worlds largest body of water.
I'm planning to start a large tank sometime soon. I'm hoping for about 300 gallons. It's going to be taller rather than wide, but that leaves room for deeper substrate, about a foot of it. I think my "build order" will be plants, snails, and some pond water and pond mud to start out with, gotta make sure to get all the tiny wormies and buggy things that live in the water and give them their chance to populate. Then once that stabilizes add some shrimp and give it another go. Wait for that a good deal longer - I want anything I got from the pond that might parasitize or infect a fish to die out first from lack of fish, and let the shrimp breed and populate. Then start in with some tetras and such. Hopefully the tank can grow its own food.
Yeah so I've played with that also, and it works pretty well, specifically because my ecosystem is cold water and the fish are sub-tropic or tropical usually...so I think less parasites cross over also. (Just a hunch). But most parasites have a life cycle requiring time or multiple organisms and I think you're on the right track. I'd love to hear how it goes!
@@Fishtory
*"specifically because my ecosystem is cold water and the fish are sub-tropic or tropical usually...so I think less parasites cross over also."*
That's not something I would trust. Parasites might have overlapping temperature ranges with my fish, and being from a different biome is something that cuts both ways -- the parasites won't be adapted to the fish, but also the fish will have no resistance to the parasites. So the best way seems to me to be to starve them out. Put no fish in until your pond water and all its microfauna have had the chance to prove they eat only dead plants, algae, ammonia, shrimp and snail waste... and everything else that might want to ickh out your fish has already starved to death for lack of fish. I want all those good buggies in the water being planaria in the substrate and poking their heads up to get nibbled, I want baby copepod swarms for my fish to hunt...
The theme for my tank I'm planning is a (still water?) Amazon biotope with heavy planting, red and blue shrimps, cardinal tetras, neon blue dwarf gouramis, and at the top end some discus. So it'll be all vivid red and blue shrimp and fish against the green jungle, making them much easier to see despite the heavy planting. And any plants that reach the top of the tank get those tops snipped off, replanted, scoop out anything floating along with some tank water, boil the plants in that tank water, and then return it to the tank to sink to the bottom and feed the lower layers again.
Still trying to figure out what I want to do for snails. Obviously I want them to be red and blue too, but ramshorns just breed back to brown if you let red and blue be in the same tank. So maybe blue ramshorns and red nerites.
Gotta have a _variety_ of things at the bottom, you know? Make sure everything gets eaten when one species slacks off.
But I've gotta wait for house repairs before I can start my tank. The construction company gave us chipwood floors instead of the real thing! My 3' x 3' x 5' high tank idea would just punch straight through the floor if I tried to build it! 300 gallons is over a ton!
But if it really takes off, I might try sealing a lid over it bit by bit... if all those plants can handle the oxygenation of the water, and get their carbon from the fish exhalations and the decomposition cycle enriching the soil... then putting the lid on tight to stop water loss makes it a self-sustaining biosphere where the hardness of the water never changes and it never needs topped off, and every species just breeds to its proper bioload and feeds themselves off the other layers. And wouldn't that be something? And if I seal it a little at a time I'll have time to react if things go south and open it back up.
@@williambarnes5023what an idea wow! How is this coming along?
@@philip4419 Due to various budget issues it's been on pause. We found out they installed chipwood under our floor instead of plywood, so if I tried to make a 300 gallon tank it would just crash through the floor of my house. We've gotta get that fixed before I can make the BIG tank. I've had to scale down and I'm working on a 50 gallon cube instead, but I keep fucking up the seal between panes and having to cut them apart and clean them. I've ended up busy at work and too tired to mess with it for a while but only last week I cut it apart again and maybe this week I'll clean and repolish the glass and try for another attempt at sticking this damned thing together. The glass shop gave me chamfered edges instead of seamed edges, and the chamfer is making it ridiculously hard to hold the panes in proper alignment even with clamps. I don't wanna give up on it because glass is expensive, but if it won't go this time I'm gonna give up and just buy a 75 long or something.
@@williambarnes5023 thats unfortunate, i wish you the best of luck with your other project!
Gave up the hobby 30 years ago ( we all had under gravel fillers back then? ) 😆 🤣 😂
You have helped me restart my hobby? Substrat, plants & mother nature 👍.
Love to hear it! Best of luck
Are undergravel not viable anymore? I found out about them about a year ago and ran it in a few of my tanks because I thought of using the substrate like sponge layer for water to pass through. Plus it brings smaller waste deeper into the substrate for roots to utilize. Didn’t know it was 30 yr old tech.
I sketched an idea that mimics the downward water-drawing effect (in nature water continues to seep deeper into the ground, filtering clean water for wells/freshwater reservoirs?) to be filtered back out of larger substrate with the aid of a buried airstone.
The “magic” is in the substrate layering and planning. The sand cap will force water to move into planned-intake pebble zones, under the substrate, and ride the bubble current up the out rocks.
Layers:
[Sand 0.5” ]
[Aquasoil 0.5” ]
[Sand + Garden soil swirl 2”]
[Gravel/Pebble 2-3” w/ A.S. ]
*presoaking the gravel and aquasoil in goop juice from my canister filter (another tank) for a few days.
Smaller mounds of pebble penetrating layers will act as a water tunnel into the bottom pebble substrate.
-Why? I recently started a filterless tank with 1 Betta but with the sand cap, the organic were not sticking and gets brushed up often. Put my largest Amano in there to see if he can champ the betta with his whiskers and help micro bury waste into the sand, but nope, this betta is feisty.
Anyways, going science experiment here: before the sand-soil layer (dense), sprinkle a cap of moina eggs + spirulinaover the pebbles. Idea is to let them hatch, find mates in spaces between the pebbles, eat spirulina and grow+breed, occasionally the bubbles will draw out moina into the surface. This tank is mainly for shrimp breeding, plants, and moina culture to feed other tanks.
Will it be consistent? When the spirulina runs out (perhaps a LED strip directly on the side of the vase on the gravel to spark some algae? Window placement?) Or have such a culture bloom and dieoff underground. Giving it a shot. Scaping it too. When everything is grown in and stable (or if moina culture stopped), pull tube and ditch airstone buried and have a complete filterless tank.
Cheers Alex!
@Kodojak theyre totally viable. Its some of the nitty gritty details of how small of a tank and what bioload it will maintain...specifically his bsb basket method (as in, does it just turn into a surface area bog filter, or is real chemistry with ammonia sequestration happening in small scales. There just isnt peer reviewed science or papers on the subject... that and mr Novak wont ever provide credentials, nor has any limnology program in the usa and eu heard of him even as a masters student...nor has he peer review published a single thing ever...which is the definition of getting your phd in a liberal arts or scientific feild basically
Morning Alex.
Good morning my friend!
Your tanks are outrageously delicious !! Amazing shots 📸📸📸
Haha thanks! Are they ..."magically delicious?" Though?
I am aiming for a halfway house style. Using a sponge filter with low air.
Great video! I am very interested in your 2.5 and 5 gallon aquariums. Could you possibly make a video on them and what you breed in them?
Sure can!
@@Fishtory Thanks! I look forward to that video :). I am super inspired by your 2.5 and 5 gallon tanks.
On an aquarium that had for example a peak of snails, do i remove the shells or they will eventually break down in soil?
It would be helpful if a video was made with each kind of system with how often water is changed and how much is changed and show test results with from a test kit on each system
That's a great idea! Maybe I'll get to that this winter. I appreciate your input
2:46 Is it better to get one wide light (don't see them too often), or two spread apart, of the same coverage?
Ehh i kinda like 2... since you can save some money by doing low light plant rows vs higher light in back etc.
You ever think about buying a linear piston pump so you can run all your tanks off air filtration ? Or you like the way you’ve got everything running now was just wondering how you run all your tanks
Hi ale from Tomas canada
Hello! Thanks for coming by!
@@Fishtory love what you do keep on✌🏻
Running an aquarium is a combination of what you want and what you have, and based on the knowledge of how nature works. For that, it needs patience and adaptation.
I appreciate your channel for all of that.
Thank you so very kindly
Just planted a 40 long walstad paludarium in a window... Lol. I plan on adding floaters but probably not for about 2 months from now near the very end of the 'settling' period. My plan is to really let my emersed and submerged plants get a strong foothold first. Basically I'm aiming to have the floaters coexist rather than dominate if that makes sense. Does this seem reasonable?
Nice and yes very
I keep aquariums in my room so i don't want to hear the hum of a filter motor. I run 3 filterless aquariums and they are awesome! Very little water changes needed, the plants do all the work ! :)
Right on! So glad to hear it has been working for you also!
My main purpose for filterless tanks is mostly because they go hand in hand with low/no-water-change systems. If you have soil to absorb waste and plants to assimilate the broken down nutrients, it massively cuts down on maintenance.
That said, high tech tanks are more often filterless, and they do frequent water changes to remove nutrients that were added in excess to the tank; So basically, I prefer what we could call low-tech heavily planted tanks. In fact, I sometimes find nitrifying fitlers useful on heavily planted tanks because the sessile bacteria in the filter can help remove nutrients the plants may not be using as much of so that you can avoid excess algae (especially if your filters are course enough that you can leave them in place long enough that they develop that thick mature brown bacterial culture).
One of my bigger tanks doesn't even have a soil layer, but is just an undergravel filter with a heavy amount of water column feeding plants and marginal syngonium arrowhead plants that can water column feed as well as digging their roots into the mulm at the bottom of the tank. The UG filter is reverse flow and connected to a pump in a sump which also contains large nitrifying filters. I do have to regularly feed the marginals with n-p-k though, but I do no water changes, and algae is minimal, and stocking is moderate to low (lightly fed with high protein fluval bug bites flakes).
The whole idea with the UG filter+ heavy plant growth was to break down waste as rapidly as possible while creating a self sustaining tank that can be heavily stocked and heavily fed, even for breeding purposes, though I haven't been able to experiment with heavy stocking (I had guppies in it that were breeding, but I've always had difficulty getting the young to survive. Perhaps I've been too light on the feeding).
Well i keep several tanks those same ways you spelled out. I dont like wasting fertz with ei... its pretty to try once in a while with co2 and stuff...but its not anything the fish are going to care about lol
@@Fishtory Sure; these days it's becoming more important to distinguish between fish tanks, plant tanks, and ecosystem tanks. That, and whatever hybrid tanks exist in between.
How much of a difference do pothos or other riparian plants make?
Vines just grow with low light and this remove more nutrients than other plants in most home settings. However there are far more nutrient hungry plants and beautiful options with some excess lighting added
My water is too brown from the wood. I have changed the water a few times. Should I take the wood out and boil it??? I don't mind alittle brown.
I wouldn't sweat it personally. As that coloration also has some medicinal benefits for the fish, shrimp or snails via lignin, cellulose and tannins. So I'd just keep up the water changes, and let the wood be a nice habitat for your critters, for pro-biotucs and more!
How do you keep a tank with scuds, daphnia… with a filter on it? I want to do something like this without sucking all of them up.
I dont have a filter in it lol
New subscriber here. Im raising Daphne culture like this plus 5 aquariums with 75% jave moss just top offs❤
Welcome 🙏
No water changes, as I noticed! How do U deal with PO4s?
Phosphates? Or did you mean NH4?
well either way the answer is my tap water is a Tds 30 at most and sometimes as low as tds 10 (chlorinated). So it only really leaches from aquasoils and fish waste, but by having a wide array of plants, and generally algae types also, they seem to utilize the excess amounts of waste products as long ad the light is 1800 lumens & 6000k-6500k per 20gallons of water.
Also all these tanks over 20 gallons have a pipe that runs through the substrate like a plenum. The substrate deepest under the tunes of slow moving basically static water was also enriched with potassium, iron, activated carbon, manganese, zinc and and some crushed coral ....which I cannot be sure of- but it seems to encourage anoxic denitfrification as well as perhaps ammonification and then is fed to plant roots directly
A filter less tank for me would be ideal but is it achievable for a newbie Fishkeeper? I think I'd lack the confidence to even try. I'd be scared of losing all my fish.
So it is... but you need to do it slowly... setup with a heavily planted and aqua-soiled setup with an HOB on the back....then just never clean it, and make sure not to overstock or overfeed...as the filter clogs and slows, it should create a fjmtermess aquarium for you.
Look up the video a year ago caller "setting up a low tech tank for cpd colony breeding". I think that may work best for you. But I hope you have an awesome day!
@@Fishtory yea I saw that video pop up I'll check it out. Thanks Alex really appreciate your advice👍
Hey Man, do you have a platform other than RUclips to interact with folks and others can share pictures of their setups, Q&A and discuss personal experiences? Just curious.
We have a pretty active Facebook group by the same exact name. Please feel free to come join everyone chatting and sharing their tanks over there!
@@Fishtory ok. I'll look. Just fyi, I have a different name on there. But the picture is the same.
Hey Alex. I have a 20g heavily planted tank. My platies are giving birth. How the heck are you able to get some out!! Lol. I hate asking stuipd questions. But really. I don't want to tear all my plants up trying to catch them. Sorry for the dumb question.
What are the half orange falf purple fish in minute 9:51 ??
Purple rasbora espi morphs
@@Fishtory thanks
Have u had any downfall on fishes health using a plenum
Not to anything other than stuff that wants really high O2 and flow...like rainbow fish fry or Stiphodon gobies...but they don't die, they just grow slower and seem less happy...aka active
Hey Alex you my FRAIND from the other side of the earth
Hah yes!
I can't even imagine how you moved all these tanks when you got the new house
One by one and it was a nightmare lol
Did you make a video about it? I'm moving soon and the thought of moving my tanks is very daunting
Those glowlight danios look really aggressive in there.
They're really peaceful unlike zebra, kythit or pearl danios, but they are sort of my "powerhead" and what stirs the tank water for me
If you go to a truck stop thay have showers and soap.
9:50 You need to put trypophobia alert!!!
Haha I suppose so huh?
Nice Betta, would you like to tell me the species name ? Thanks in advance 😀
Um I showed my betta splendens.. the red yellow and blue one was called "a Nemo galaxy plakat" variety of B. Splendens...I also showed betta macrostoma (long striped ones that look like bulldog mouths haha...they're the largest species and probably meanest when fully grown at 4 to 7 inches!) and then the smallest species betta I showed...the B. minopina...also there was betta machaiensis but only for a brief moment :) hope that helps!
Thank you 😀
This is off topic, but i have a question. I have roughly 40 cardinal tetras and one of them has their mouth stuck open. any ideas on what would have caused this or how to prevent it?
Broken Jaw ...if there is white sores or fluff on their mouth...remove them immediately it's collumnaris and they sadly won't survive, but it can spread
🥂!
I need help!! Can you come to my house? I'll send u a plane ticket? My kribs brought out babies a week early. My cichlid tank has 3 pair trying to mate in I spot in a 75. And my 10 gal is laying eggs all over. I set up a 40 tall day before yesterday and am gonna start moving the live bearers in tonight. Please respond. Rule #1. You will never be prepared. I'm an old school 50 year water box keeper. No chemicals. Natural as possible.
Haha. What did you need help with? I'm always happy to see what I can assist with! I love kribs...once I had 2 pairs mate in a 20 long all of the sudden...and I added a big stick in the middle, some rocks and then floated pearl weed and hornwart mid tank, to break up lines of sight.
As long as they have about 9x9ninches of a territory it can work out in most cases. The generally will only get violent within 3 body lengths of the fry...they will posture and dart forward as a threat, but as long as they have a cave and or some coverage with plants and sticks, plus some sand to dig in, they should be okay all in a 40 breeder or larger. I'd consider taking the fry from mom within 2 weeks, since they can get nervous with other kribs around, and then accidently eat babies when trying to move them in their mouths...and while all the groups of fry may not survive. Usually by the 2nd to 4th attempt, they learn to be caring parents who protect their try.
Best of luck! Let me know more specifically what needs assistance and I will check back on messages here, in an hour or so
@The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium I am serious, kinda. I've got the MTS but have been keeping water boxes for 50 years. But seriously was clocked when I woke up 2 days ago with every fish in my 50 long plastered to the far side glass. Panicked for a day. Set up another tank(#4) it's all cycled I'm sure but it's almost 1am here and I'm gonna move all my plattys from my 10gal into the 40. They're overcrowded anyway. Also 4 albino coreys(do they ever stop with the egg laying?). 2 mystery(apple snails). Best idea?
Feed less, clean more.
Erus