Please do keep rambling! Very much enjoyed this explanation of your substrate and all the life it provides to your wondrous tank and inhabitants. I always add and or allow diff snails to enter my tanks. They have a purpose and are workhorses. All my tanks were started with plants and snails. Then came the shrimp. Few weeks later came the fish. I don’t mind watching the plants grow and the other critters going about their day till I feel it’s time to add the fish. If one watches and observes nature will tell, show and teach us many wondrous things. Lovely informative vid! Thank you!😊☮️❤️🐠🦐🪴
Thank you so much, I’m very glad you liked it. :) Rambling comes naturally to me, so it’s very likely to become a theme on this channel lol. It’s easy when you’re fascinated and enthusiastic about something :) Nature is just a fascinating thing to observe, and to be able to do it in the comfort of your own home is just wonderful. Have a great day.
Oh how I wish more people who kept animals , fish, birds etc thought like you. As a youngster ( im now 70) i was an avid reader of Gerald Durrel and did everything I could to give my many pets both land and water varieties the most natural habitat I could. My fish pond is filtered by many plants in the pond and through a huge plastic container full of gravel with reeds, irises ,grasses etc with a mass of roots. I built the pond 30ft by 10ft with graduating bottom from 2ft to 5ft nearly 6 years ago and deliberately have not touched it, I wanted to create a river type environment so have 2 bridges across as the pond is entire width of the garden. It has Koi , shubunkins and gold fish all living happily and over the 6 years I've probably only lost 4 or 5 fish mostly young shubunkins from the 40 or so that I have. I'm about to set up 2 aquariums one 3ft and one 2ft and was intending to do the same filter system and substrate ie gravel plants etc. Watching your video has definitely given me the confidence to bring my pond style into my aquariums ( fresh water of course) thankyou and keep on rambling.
Thank you so much Gary. :) I really appreciate you taking the time to comment on my video. Your pond sounds equally wonderful. I wish you well with your new aquarium adventure :) There’s something really special about being able to observe things up close and personal in the comfort of your own front room.
Here in Argentina we keep usig laterite with excelent results. Is currently available because is the natural soil of one of our provinces in the north east. I use it un all my planted tanks
A lot of valuable information can be gleaned from this presentation. For both new and seasoned hobbyists. I look forward to the video on adding worms as the weather warms. As far as the “rambling” I could listen for hours. Thanks again for your insight.
Thanks as always Ken. I know the algorithm probably hates rambling, but it comes naturally to me, so I’m afraid it’s likely to remain a theme to my videos lol. When your passionate about something it’s so easy to just go on and on :) I’ve tried making fancier slicker videos, but they just come out all fake. So I’m just sticking to this very simple format. This way it’s fun, and hopefully you get to hear the real me. Have a great day!
I'm binging your videos and having a ball. I've come to see the aquarium as a whole to be the organism I'm taking care of, and while part of me wants to set up and see instant, fast, lush results, I'm more interested in the long game. Watching to see the overall health of the aquarium is making me happy, and it's much more stable than setups I've had in the past.
Thank you so much, I'm very glad you're finding my approach interesting. There's so much more to keeping aquaria than just looking after fish. Makes the whole thing so much more interesting, and engaging. Thanks again. :)
Love this so so much. I'm so relieved to have found your channel and Father Fish's and to know that I can actually keep fish alive and thriving, and that I wasn't just neglectful or terrible at keeping fish in the past. I was naive and ill-informed and was trying to keep up with something unsustainable and bound to fail (typical aquarium advice). I can't wait to start again after over a decade, knowing that I don't have to do constant water changes and spend my time paranoid about testing water and cleaning my tank. Nevertheless, it does make me sad to think back on all of those childhood fish tanks and watching fish after fish get sick and die. I'm determined to finally do this correctly and enjoy a thriving aquarium for years to come. (And to not immediately traumatize my children by buying fish , just for them to die in a month. :D
Thank you so much once again :) Sharing observations and experiences is so much fun :) I know the channel is super basic, but it’s a simple fun format for me to share my thoughts and ideas. Flashy stuff is just too much hassle and would spoil the fun of simply sharing stuff.
Love the rambling. New to the hobby and second guessing myself at every turn, especially with so much conflicting information about how to maintain a tank. Your videos and your beautiful aquarium are so inspiring and remind me what is possible with patience and experience. Thank you so much for sharing.
in my experience, a lot of articles online just verbatim copy other wrong information written online, and creates a runaway reaction of people spreading false information, guys like this prove them wrong 😁
I like seeing the various substrate layers in tanks. They remind me of those colored sand, bottle kits that were popular back in the 90s. My natural tank's got a 1cm layer of native red clay at the bottom, then black compost from the garden, then a paver base/construction sand combo & then some decorative sand & pebbles. My plants are mostly mid & top level plants with some floaters & it's mostly hardscape & sand at the bottom.
Thanks so much for sharing all your experience. I love the easy way you speak, and the way of explaining your knowledge , and how much success you have had with this tank. This is truly amazing.
Great video. Absolutely love this aquarium. Subscribed a few months ago when I first saw this tank . I'm a big fan of planted deep substrate and found it very interesting you have 5 different types of snails.
Thank you so much. It’s a real pity snails get such a bad reputation, they’re invaluable for aquaria. Every species does a slightly different job, so the more different ones you accommodate the better a system works. :)
@@aquaticsbynature must say I like snails in my aquariums but only got pond snails so far. Cheap skate I know. I will look into a a bit more diversity. . Great tank mate. 😁
this is amazing! Im so glad i found your channel. Ive just recently found natural aquariums. Cant for the life of me figure out why people wanna make tanks that are difficult to care for. For instance my house gets power outages and i needed to have tanks that could go several days on ''minimal life support" and doing a mineralized soil in a dirted aquarium with lots of plants, lots of sand and shells and having all the life in the substrate really seemed like the most logical thing to do. Its been fantastic to know that what im doing can last 30 years.
Thank you so much for your comments :) I’m definitely with you on keeping the necessary care to a minimum, I think it’s very important to enjoy this wonderful hobby and not to feel everything is a chore. And by working with nature rather than fighting it we have the perfect opportunity to do so :) Have a great day !
This is why it's the most amazing thing to bring in a piece of nature inside and observing while its cold in winter season. this is why I love keeping tanks but I do not have a permanent home so I am lucky enough to keep a tank for such a long time. I wish I could but.... And in 1995 I was a kid in 2nd standard studying. My family migrated to UAE from India and when i graduated from school finished my GCSE's I bought myself a small tank and some guppies. I kept that tank for 4 years never changed any water just adding a top up to replenish the evaporated water.
I still use laterite, I usually have to wait 5yrs before enough detritus and humus builds up. I’m looking to fast track this by using aqua soils in a new tank soon. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for your comments. :) Yes that’s definitely one of downsides to laterite. Aqua soil or a dirted tank are way faster ti establish :) Good luck with the new tank!
New aquarist here🙋♂-This was very motivating and reassuring that the dirted tanks I just set up are on the right path. Thank you for sharing your years of knowledge! Subscribed!
Plant heavy and once the nitrogen cycle has leveled out you can just feed your inhabitants and top off water and you're good to go! I've got two planted tanks I started during covid and I havent had to do a water change in years.
I found your channel today and subscribed to it today 👍 this is the 1st video I watched and learned quite a bit from listening to what you are saying. Very informative 👍
Hi James, I always enjoy watching and listening to your videos. They are relaxing and informative. I own my Juwel Rio 125 for a few years now and I also always add some laterite to the soil base as an additive. Very relaxing to watch the behaviour of the fish. I have some more fish in the tank now, 4 shoaling species in total if you don't count in the pygmaeus and albino cory's. I am now more frequently sitting in front of the tank, enjoying the activity ❤ But it also seems that my plants grow better with the increased bioload. I'm sure that my very lean dosage of all-in-one fertilizer and added potassium for the epiphytes and mosses will help to👍🏻
Lovely to hear from you Titia :) Thank you for your kind comments. Please be careful when adding laterite to soil tanks, as Diana Walstad states in her wonderful book, this can lead to metal toxicity issues. I find exactly the same with my tanks, when I have a good stock of fish the plants grow much better. :)
@@aquaticsbynature don't worry about metal toxicity, I always add a small amount of laterite in relation to the dirt. I'm sure it won't be enough to cause any problems.
Thank you, I’m slowly working towards it. 🤔 I always set up tanks with the goal of keeping them forever and without water changes :) It’s a slow methodical process, but I love it because it basically last forever :)
I've got a water butt outside. I use the water to seed my new tanks. There's daphnia in there breeding really well in the green water. I harvest them for my fish tanks. Last year I had some endlers breeding in the water butt, in UK temperatures. The colours were stunning.
Thanks for your comments. :) Water butts are invaluable in so many ways :) And yes you simply can’t beat the colours on fish exposed to actual daylight. I had exactly the same with my white clouds.
Amazing! When younger, i had made two tanks with laterite, same way as yours, unfornatelly i had to dismantle them due to life changes...first was around 1988, ...second was same year as yours, 1995. Both around 360Liters , second one was 6 year old when dismantled. No additional filtering, i had just a small hang on to creat some water movement, without media. Used a homade DIY CO2 injection for the first year only. 1 inch laterite 2 to 3 inches gravel, capped with to 3 to 4 inches of fine river sand, very well planted, driftwood, amazonian style plants. I inoculated both with "live" water from a lake near my home. 2 common fluorescent tubes, plus two growlux. Both were pretty healthy, used only to water change 10 to 15% when the Angel Fish are young, because i feed them a lot. After the angels were mature, i only cap the water. . The look of the substrate was pretty like yours, full of life, mulm, cianno, some bubble caves full of life underneath the sand, etc... Watching your video now reminds me so many happy hours searchibg those details with my magnifyibg glasses... Wondering that they would be quite same age as yours today, could i keept them... :( . Just subscribed to your channel,
I once bought a box of laterite pellets, back in the 1980s, pushed in against the base of Amazon swords under warm fluorescent tubes, no growlux tubes, in hard London tap water without CO2 injection, they grew too large for the aquarium over a year or so.
Thank so so much for your comments. It sounds as though you would have had a system very similar to mine :) It seems like a very long time ago now, but I still look at those as the good old days of simple pleasurable aquaria. Thanks for the sub, much appreciated :)
@@aquaticsbynature Yes...just before internet becomes a must...i used to live in Brazil, and had to hunt for imported books and magazines for a good source of information...went travel other cities on weekends, just to chat with someone at a small aquarium shop, that i "heard from someone else" about a nice planted aquarium "nature style"...
You mentioned laterite…I’ve enjoyed it in the tanks for sure. As well as fluorite red or black, mixed with different inert materials. I have found success using the same substrates for growing houseplants or tropicals in LECA or in a semi-/passive-hydroponic setup… laterite is a great medium. So is Fluval Stratum as evidenced by all the videos on YT. Makes me wonder if Eco Complete won’t do well also…
Thank you for your comments. There are a huge range of things which work perfectly well in my experience. Even plain gravel will become fertile over time. But for sure some give you the jump over others. So much comes down to personally preference and how you maintain things. :)
The vast numbers of empty snail shells on the bottom will serve to stabilise the pH. Surface bacterial secretions containing dilute acids slowly dissolve out calcium carbonate from the aragonite, which will break down when brought into contact with the dilute acids in rain water. Carbon dioxide is a product of these reactions and is assimilated by the plants during photosynthesis. As you correctly observed, the algae growing on the glass absorb calcium during their lifetime, and this, together with any available magnesium, is deposited on the glass as a concretion after the death of the cells. This can be quite difficult to remove. Your low stocking density, as well as your choice of species, has been a crucial part of the overall stability of the system.
Hi again :) Yes I will make some videos outdoors. But I should say that my ponds probably aren’t what you’re expecting. They’re basically stock ponds from when I had my water garden nursery. So not very pretty, just functional beds of plants. I’m gradually clearing these to create a garden now, so several hundred ponds have been broken down to make space now. But still a hundred or so to go lol.
Oooh, could you please "ramble" a little about your water garden nursery? Maybe in a video of it's own? Last year, - in an effort to support my racing pigeon addiction- I opened a little roadside farm stand, selling fresh eggs and pickles etc. It did so well that this year I'm planning to expand. I was thinking of adding "patio pond" kits. The guppies my husband gave me for Christmas are reproducing exponentially :) I can't possibly keep them all. We have a large, stocked, farm pond with lots of wild, native plants and reeds. I found they do very well in tubs and my Japanese, Medaka rice fish were very happy in them. So I'd like to offer complete kits with guppies and plants. I would love to hear about your experience in this area. Did you sell directly to the public? Thank you in advance. I love your channel. @@aquaticsbynature
Sounds like a fun project. My shop sold both tropical and pond fish, together with the pond plants we grew. Always direct to the public, but most of the plants were sold online. Although I’ve retired my colleague still runs the online nursery, but has moved it to another site.
This was a wonderful video about a fantastic tank! As a biologisk, I was nodding my head throughout the whole thing. I think you're onto all the right things in terms of what makes an actually healthy tank. The look and feel of an aquarium is obviously a matter of personal taste, but establishing a healthy and stable mini ecosystem is not. Great job! On a more personal note, I love your enthusiasm regarding all the kinds of life in there, not just the fish. IMO, this is the best philosophy to follow in the aquarium hobby. Final note: the dark layer of the substrate with cyanobacteria is very likely anoxic. The reason why they're not growing into the rest of the substrate and water column is that oxygen is toxic to them, I believe. I'm very rusty in that area of my education, so take this with a grain of salt. 😊
Wow, thank you so much for your lovely comments. It’s really gratifying to hear from an actual biologist. I don’t have a science background whatsoever unfortunately. Everything I’ve learned has simply come from experience, observation, replication, trial and lots of error. I came to the conclusion many years ago that the science of substrates, both aquatic and terrestrial is crazy complex. Way above my pay grade! Which is basically how I evolved into observing and then trying to replicate what I see. I figured that if I can replicate what I see, then given time and stability, nature will take it’s coarse. It’s been a wonderful journey, and it now gives me even more pleasure to be able to share this on CZcams today :) Thanks for the info regarding Cyanobacteria. I’ve often wondered if oxygen plays a part. I’ve often noted that when you do see Cyanobacteria above the substrate it’s very often in new tanks. And I think the immaturity, combined with massive amounts of decay from soil and plants that are adapting depletes the oxygen too much.
Thanks for your comments :) Of the top of my head I have, bladder, American ramshorns, 3-4 species of nerites, lake limpets, Native British trapdoors, Bythinia and trumpet snails :)
Great thanks for the information! I've heard you need brine water for the nerite larvae in order to breed? Can you manage to breed all the species of snails?
Thanks for your comments. :) The tank is approx 40 gallons. I have videos in my equipment playlist that cover my filtration and lighting if you’re interested. :)
Yes, as you’ve probably guessed by now I’m a big fan of critters for lots of reasons. Always room for more though :) Happy hunting! Remind me in spring and I’ll make that video on how to collect them easily :)
Great video and great aquarium. How do you keep the plants from becomming a jungle? I understand how to make natural aquariub, but I need some tips on how to keep it as beautiful as your’s 😊
Thank you :). The white dots are just the egg capsules of my nerite snails. Each one contains many individuals, but they can’t survive in aquaria as their life cycle needs a planktonic brackish stage.
This is absolutely fascinating. What is your opinion about current day tanks? And how aquascapers use these branded aqua soils and fertilisers in attempt to keep tanks in check.
Thank you for your comments, glad you found it interesting :) I think each method has its place in todays incredibly diverse hobby. While it may not necessarily be my cup of tea, I can see the attraction of trying to keep everything under control and perfect. But personally I find working at natures pace more rewarding and engaging. To me there’s something really wonderful about attaining a truly balanced system with as little interference as possible. :)
even on my hitech tanks, i maintain them like lowtech. my ph is always kinda lolw, and goes quite low after a full day of co2 injection, but it reliably swings the same amount each day. i do very infrequent water changes, and only ever move a bit of the mulm from the most visible areas. i fertilize infrequently, things still grow like crazy. i remove pounds of plant material a month.
Thanks a lot, this is so informative! A question regarding my tank with corydoras: I've read they like open spaces, so I'm removing spreading crypts and helanthium from the foreground from time to time. Just cutting makes the crypts spread back very quickly but pulling out obviously disturbs the substrate. Or maybe the corydoras can deal with the crypt forest after all? What's your experience?
Thank you for your comments and questions :) I did keep a pair of Corydoras sterbae in this tank for many years. They seemed extremely happy and were more than capable of negotiating the Cryptocoryne forest. They only thing I would say is I didn’t see much of them though. I don’t think it really matters if you disturb areas of substrate that you’re not intending on keeping planted. So equally I don’t see a problem if you wanted to keep an area clear.
Hello Mr. James thanks for sharing this information with everyone, I think that the only way to keep terraces over a long period of time is by using rocks or another type of material, I sloped my substrate when I first set up my tank, and as you said it kind of level out by itself in just a few months, substrate definitely has a life of its own, I am also glad that I added two layers of laterite powder from Brightwell aquatics when I set up my substrate, do you ever add potassium into your tank? My plants really seem to like it, that and iron are the only two things that I add to my tank, I use less than half of what is recommended by the manufacturer and everything is still alive, also for some reason even though I don’t vacuum my substrate I never see a lot of mulm build up maybe because I don’t have too many fish who knows? 🤷 what is that fish at 9:42 at the top right corner, it looks like a fry of some sort can you confirm please?🤔 My PH only goes down when my CO2 system is working, once it goes off it comes back from 6.6 to 7.5 rather quick, the fish really seems unaffected and that’s something going on a daily basis, anyways I’ve been experimenting with not changing my aquarium water every week and the parameters so far seems to be unaffected all of them are the same, so not having to change the water every week is a plus, ok that’s all for now, thanks again for sharing with all of the youtube fish community take care James. 😁
Potassium and Iron, the latter seems especially useful if your water is hard, I use very diluted sequestered iron sold for acid loving garden plants growing in alkaline soils. These seem to me the only elements of standard plant fertilisers that need to be added even when injecting CO2. Fish faeces must be full of nutrients and if the snails eat it, their faecal material must be close to horse manure on the garden.
@Sinserg Thank you for your comments once again :) I think the fish you’ve spotted is one of my Pitch lake guppies that I’ve introduced recently from one of my other tanks. You may recall me saying that my long term plan for this tank is just ti have these and emperor tetras. Because I simply let survival of the fittest take place in my tanks, I never add things like potassium or iron. Not to say that it might improve growth on some things or enable me to grow a wider range of things. But it’s just not the way I choose to do things. I like to keep everything as simple as possible :) And I’ve never yet had a tank I can’t grow plants in. pH swings are natural, and even my tank does this, so it’s important to always test at the same time of day. Beware of very still water though, I’ve seen swings from pH5 in the morning to over pH9 by mid afternoon!
Hi William :) Yes absolutely. I choose not to add anything because of the way I let plants select themselves to my conditions, but I could probably grow more different things with a couple of minor additions. But to be honest I’m spoilt for choice as I am, so I’m not planning on going down that route :) But never say never lol
All of this works only when your tank temoerature is below 25 or 26 deg C. Scapers from tropical areas where tank temperature averages 30+ have it in hard mode due to the low CO2 present in water
Thank you for your comment. That’s interesting because that goes a bit against what I’ve experienced. However I’ve never run this tank that warm for extended periods of time. Really just during heat waves. It’s something I’d definitely like to run an experiment with in the future though. :) Always up for testing stuff :)
Thank you :) The small fish you can see are wild Pitch lake guppies from a Trinidad :) If you’d like to know more about them check out this old video of mine :) czcams.com/video/SYVImwn-S1k/video.html
Beautiful aquarium! 😍 I have a question about managing tannins. My aquarium has been running for a year and a half without water changes, and I'm not sure how to reduce the tannin levels. Is there a natural approach to this without using chemical products?
Thank you for your comments and question. I've found that tannins will deplete over time naturally, providing you're not constantly adding to their source that is. As to how long this will take, as with most things nature has a different time scale to us. So it may actually take a few years. It's also worth bearing in mind that it will deplete faster under higher light levels. If there's one thing I've learnt over the 29 years of this tank, that's simple patience and basic stability will sort out most things.
Many thanks. I’m not quite sure which one you refer to, but if it’s the one that’s goes right to the top it’s probably the Nymphaea lotus lily. You can find more info on this in this video czcams.com/video/cZn2diEdeLI/video.html
How do the critters from a very cold pond in England adapt to the temperature of your tropical plant? And I presume you have to warm up the rain water before adding it to the tank?
Thanks for an excellent question :) Not all critters have proven to be successful indoors, and I’ve definitely put the constant temperature down as a possibility reason. It’s very much trial and error. With my rain water I simply bring in indoors in a bucket and let it stand for a day until it’s room temperature.
James, I am trying to set up a new tank. I have 1" of dirt on the bottom, but then I have plenty of small grain sand, crushed volcanic rock and small gravel. How should i arrange these layes to have the best results? John from harlow
Hi John. Nice to hear from someone local :) The most important thing I find is to have a good depth of cap, and not to overdo the soil depth. I generally like to use only half an inch of soil and then have 3-4 inch cap. If you have a mix of substrates I'd always put the biggest and heaviest on the top. This is because over time they will end up structured in this way naturally anyway, so there's little point in doing it differently. That said, id avoid substates that are more than 3-4mm in diameter. Good luck :)
If you were starting an aquarium today, what would you use to start your substrate? I'm debating on using one inch of baked clay (Kitty litter or Safe T Sorb) with laterite powder for the bottom layer, topped with 2 inches of aquasoil. Then introducing the micro fauna from a pond like you did.
Thank you for your questions :) My preferred method today is simply to use half an inch of sieved garden soil and cap it with three inches or so of fine gravel or sand. I've tried many many different combinations over the years, but I've always found this to be the simplest and most reliable. Once I start setting up my new tanks, I'll make a series of videos on this. :) Good luck with yours :)
You mentioned that some of the stirred up dirt your filter takes care of. Do you have a big filter on this tank or a small gentle one. I have similar tank about three months in and its lush. I have a small filter internally and a hidden sponge filter, mainly to move the water a little.
Thanks for your question. I’d say the filter is average in size, but I’ve deliberately undersized the pump that runs it. The turnover is only around two to three times the tank volume per hour. So just a gentle all round laminar flow, just like a slow moving river :)
Thanks for the reply. I realised afterwards that you have a video on your filter and filtration, so I watched that. Only just found your channel and I love it. You talk about it so naturally too, so please don’t hype it up as some have suggested. Mine, which is like yours all natural and low tech, is the best that I have ever had in 46 years of Fish Keeping. I was just about to buy some more clean up crew but have seen loads of baby catfish in there now. Never been able to breed any fish apart from guppies and they never lasted. Please keep the videos coming. Brilliant. Thank you.@@aquaticsbynature
Thank you. Don’t worry I’m not about to change the way I make my videos, it’s the only way I know how lol. Good luck with the babies, and welcome to the wonderful world of the balanced aquarium :)
Hi again :) Thanks for the question. I did actually have a pair of Corydoras sterbae in this tank for many years. The only real difference they made was less mulm accumulation because of their behaviour. And subsequently a bit more filter maintenance. The tubifex even survived that period, but wasn’t really Visible like today.
Hi, thanks for your question. From memory I have bladder snails, trumpets, American ramshorns, three species of nerites, Bythinia, lake limpets, and Viviparus Viviparus. :)
Yes absolutely time and stability will create a fertile substrate. Father Fish and I have lots of similarities between the methods we’ve evolved, but there are things we choose to do differently :) Hopefully once I get the chance to set up some new tanks, you’ll get a better idea of how I choose to do things.
@@aquaticsbynature I would like to see how you set up an aquarium. I like how more natural aquarists are showing their methods for a natural aquarium and it is becoming more apparent that there is no definite right or definite wrong way of setting the stage with these substrates for nature to take over. The only wrong way is to make a sterile environment and rely on chemicals and the filter to do all of the work. My technical mind calls it trying to digitalize an analog world. You cannot have full control over everything.
Thanks, my methods are similar, but needless to say I keep things really simple, and take it slowly. When I set up a tank I’m thinking long term, so there’s no rush lol. Your definitely right, sterile tanks are really not the way to go if you want an easy life :)
Hi, thanks for your question. I think the plant you’re referring to is Crinum natans, or crinkled onion. You can find more info about it in my tank here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html
Thank you. :) I love Cryptocorynes too, they’re probably my favourite aquarium plants, so adaptable and easy to grow. This one is a form of Cryptocoryne wendtii. You can find more info about it here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html
I'm interested in starting a Walstad style aquarium soon. I do have a pond in my garden but its a raised koi pond rather than a natural style one. Do you think there would be anything in there to seed my tank with micro creatures?
Thanks for the question. It always surprises me how life finds a way in these situations. You may have to look a bit harder but there will almost certainly be all kinds of critter in there. Especially hiding under things and in filters etc. Good luck. :)
Thanks for the questions. They’re Cryptocoryne wendtii. There’s lots of info about this and my other plants in my three part plant series here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html Tank is 180 litres and yes it’s filtered. There’s also a filtration video here czcams.com/video/TeUGI4ARN2M/video.html Enjoy :)
How much gallon is the tank? I have a 10 gal set up and I am looking forward to my journey with this hobby I saw you at father fish live and I was really amazed with your tank being set up in the 1995!
Thank you :) Sorry for the terrible filming on Father fish, my phone wouldn’t let me use the forward camera for some reason 🤔 The tank is about 40 gallons. :)
@@aquaticsbynature Im getting a 40 gallon breeder inspired with your tank im not going to use stem plants too I agree they need a lot of maintenance continue your content and inspire other people about this beautiful hobby! Really great content
I should clarify that my tank is extremely mature, but when setting up new tanks I’d definitely still recommend keeping very fast growing plants during the settling down period. Nothing fancy, floating plants, hornwort etc :) Good luck
My Amanos produce babies all the time, but sadly they can’t survive in fresh water. The babies need to be transferred to salt water for their early lives. My Neocaridina breed and survive though :)
I remember telling the guy in my local aquatics shop that I don't do water changes unless I have younger fish growing out, (most fish species release a species specific anti growth hormone into the water, this can cause stunted growth and deformities if it's not removed) he told me that I have no mineral content in my water because I dont change it, my response was that my hardscape is made of vitamins and minerals, plus I still top up with unconditioned tap water so I think I'm good... "unconditioned tap water?" yup, I use a hose pipe with a mister hose attached, the chlorine and flouride evaporate before it hits my tanks, i dont buy any chemicals, and I'm not about to start wasting my money on any of that nonsense! Anybody struggling with cyanobacteria (blue green algae) dont treat it and dont do water changes. Find the fish a temporary home in a plastic tub and leave the tank with cyanobacteria, it will clear itself, if you do a big water change once it's clear, it might come back, so just leave it, and top up the evaporated water as needed.
I should add that with my unconditioned tap water, I do always start a very heavily planted dirted tank, so if I was going unplanted I'd still be tempted to condition the water in case of other elements that the plants are utilising.
Thanks for your comments, I’m definitely with you on the Cyanobacteria, given time and stability it will clear by itself. I’m a little more cautious adding unconditioned water, but like you I don’t add chemicals I just let mine stand. But then again they don’t add chloramine here.
Can you transfer old substate to a new fresh glass tank then add some sand on top and fill the tank with plants and water and put the fish back in from the old tank . I only have the existing tank and the new one. The existing one has been running for 3 years as of Jan 2024. ? I want to switch from the 21 “ tall to a 12 1/2 “ . Same 30 1/2 “ length.
Thanks for the questions :) Yes you can certainly move old substrate, water etc to a new tank. The only thing I’d be a bit careful with is suddenly covering the old substrate with sand. Personally I’d move all of the old, let the tank settle down for a few weeks, then if you need to you could gradually add some sand. Suddenly adding lots of sand may suffocate the life in the old substrate and cause you ammonia issues from the resulting die off.
@@aquaticsbynature well I thank you for replying so quickly. But I only have room for one tank. I will be keeping the fish in a temporary plastic 3 gallon tub, with air stone and small heater, in the bedroom while I set up the different tank. I have a very curious Devon Rex Cat. 🐈. I’ll be using the same stand. So I can not let it sit for weeks. I’ll just have to start over with new aquarium dirt and reuse my sand from the old tank I’m moving everything and every fish in one day. The substrate I’m talking about has been capped with aquarium tiny gravel that’s a bit bigger granule than sand since I first set it up. I’m going to use Stability, and Stress coat. And use all the plants and filter with its used filter media in the new set up. Also A lot of water from the existing tank. and clean RO water . Well that’s my plan ……. I hope my fish survive . So. Do you mean save the top layer of gravel in a bucket and add it to the tank after a few weeks?
Sorry we seem to have slightly crossed wires 🤔 You can use any of your old substrate and just transfer it and all the old water to the new tank. I simply wound recommend suddenly burying old substrate with new sand and this may suffocate the microorganisms you’ve developed in the old substrate. Anything you wish to keep from the old tank will be best used immediately. I hope this is bit clearer
Hi, recently I’ve been having problems with my sand substrate because it’s keeps getting covered in a greyish brown layer of waste and I’m having to hoover it every other week, and I don’t mean like dirty like yours, I mean like a thick layer of molm, like 2 inches deep. Any way to fix this
Hi again :) Thanks for the question. To be honest there are lots of possible reasons for what you’re experiencing. I’ll list the most common ones for you. 1. Overfeeding and stocking 2. Poor gas exchange ( low oxygen) 3. Poor circulation 4. Low temperature 5. Water low in carbonates 6. Water with a low pH. 7. Insufficient shrimps, snails etc 8. Poor filtration 9. Too many decaying / unhealthy plants 10. Immature aquarium 11. etc etc I hope this gives you some ideas. But please get back to me and I will elaborate on anything you’re not sure about.
@@aquaticsbynatureI can rule out low oxygen, stocking, poor circulation, low temperature, and and over feeding, as my temperature is around 78 to 81 degrees, (I do this as it’s helps personally to prevent the fill become ill) the tank is stocked correctly for its size (20 gallons) I use a bubbler and sponge filter so I can Rule out oxygen, it has good circulation and they are only fed once every 2 days, so it’s probably a mix of low ph, (my water doesn’t really get higher the 6.8) I don’t have many shrimp as some passed after I ordered plants that weren’t labelled as containing pesticides harmful to crustaceans and also the fact I’ve been having issues with the fact that the only plants that I can grow at the minute are crypocoryne wendtii, hornwort, and water lettuce.
Do you know what your KH is? Carbonates are used in decomposition, so if they’re very low, decomposition will be very inefficient. Hence you can quickly get a build up. A pH of 6.8 is fine.
Thanks for the question. I see no reason why aqua soil wouldn't work long term, except that I think you'd need to cap it to prevent it breaking up over time and disappearing. It does tend to turn to dust and end up in the filter if not.
No crashes, but fluctuations, usually due to leaving things too long between pruning sessions when I’m busy. But it always bounces back quickly because of its underlying maturity. :) It’s pretty bullet proof to be honest :)
yeh i had a laterite tank about then brilliant for long term supply of micro elements red clay thats rich in iron and other minerals often found in areas where iron ore is also found is brilliant as well and cheaper as i can dig it from my field and yes ive got some fishkeeping books of my great grandfathers from the 1920s and they warn about over cleaning the tank your right also diagrams on heating slate bottomed tanks by gas pilot light under the tank (under gravel heating not a new thing) and how to build a run a fish house (heated with a coke burning stove) ostracods are really good the fish will ignore them unless they are starving so they make a great vacation food the life produces CO2 so the aquarist with an old established tank doesent have to use a CO2 system to get impressive plant growth HOBBY still sell laterite but its expensive as only in small boxes ive found some water lilly soils for ponds that have nutrient rich clay that work brilliantly and are far more economic if you dont want to make your own mix
Wonderful, thanks for your comments. :) I love reading old fish books and publications, they’re way more insightful than you might think. It’s just a shame so much of the old info is disregarded today.
@@aquaticsbynature yeh had a cure for dropsy in one of the books pin drip of mercurochrome in a gallon jar of water sit in top of tank to equalize heat then put the fish in for 1 hour it worked as well but i did have to explain why i needed it at the chemists and sign the poisons register
What's up with that red tailed fish? His body is all twisted and distorted? Also, do you have a filter in here? What kind? How often do you feed? How many fish have you lost and replaced? I'm very interested in the natural ecosystem
Thank you for your comments and questions. The glass blood fin you mentioned was born with a bent spine, he’s actually around 7 years old so has done pretty well really. But he will insist on photobombing my videos. lol. The filter is a Juwel Bioflow Filter model M. I have a video about it in my equipment playlist if you’re interested. I feed 2-3 times a day, just a very small amount. Impossible to say how many fish I’ve had over 28 years, but generally speaking they live much longer in this tank than in conventional tanks I’ve had.
Hi thanks for your comment. Personally rather than loose 7 years worth of hard earned maturity, I’d do a series of water changes to correct your PO4 issues. And then look at ways of preventing them coming back. Things like less food input and more plant export should sort this for you :)
@@aquaticsbynature Hi thanks for replying. Unfortunatelly I tried many things, doabled filtration, used PhosEx peat in filter. I feed once a day and have vey few fish, I change 50% every week. The tap water is clean. I cannot add more plants because it's full to the brim, I cannot even see the substrate, I have layes of plants below that get few light. I would leave it like this but I am a bucephalandra seller and types that worked well years ago are struggling now so I think I need a fresh start.
Pity, but I can see by growing lots of very slow things like Bucephalandra you’re definitely going to struggle to export sufficient nutrients over time. Good luck .
@@aquaticsbynature I guess I could try to stop fertilizing macro, or fertilize N+K+micro. But what you think is the main benefit of a 7 year substrate besides stability? Cause I started many aquariums and with used filters it's a breeze. If I put in used substrate it's even easier, no downsides that I can think of. And buces thrive from the get go, that means no amonia spike
To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think my methodology is well suited to growing things like Bucephalandra for profit. My tanks are more about attaining a long term balance and not maximising growth. Especially for a specific plant, as I simply allow survival of the fittest to dominate. It sounds like you have a system that works for what you want to achieve. so my advice would be to stick with it. I’d actually like to try some Bucephalandra in my tanks this year. Can you recommend any really easy, good reliable ones that are easy to grow?
Thanks for the question. You can use pretty much any inert substrate as a cap, but in my experience anything with a larger grade than about 4mm can be problematic. Also the coarser the substrate the deeper the cap needs to be, to prevent too much leaching.
It can be made to work, but it will be an incredibly slow process without soil or fertilisers. Non soil substrates can take years to become fertile depending on what fish you keep etc.
Depends how patient you are lol. Personally I’d use liquid ferts as they’re more controllable than root tabs. Root tabs can leach like crazy if you don’t have the right substrate conditions.
Hi, thanks for your question. In my experience you can use almost anything for a cap and have a successful aquarium. That said the coarser the substrate you use the deeper it needs to be to help prevent too much leaching initially. So I’d go for either 2-3 inches of sand or 4 inches of fine gravel. I wouldn’t recommend beach sand though as it will probably contain lots of shells which will increase the pH. hope this helps :)
Thank you so much. Which one is better for plants gravel or sand.? I have one inch of river sand right now and most of my plants like ludwiga repens and ambulia don’t grow in it. I have potting soil below the one inch sand. I love your tanks and want to have something like it please advise
Thank you :). When a particular plant doesn’t grow in your tank, it generally has little to do with what you’ve capped your soil with. Its far more do do with the suitability of that particular plant for the general conditions you’ve created. You may find this video helpful to explain this in more detail czcams.com/video/pbdJdO73q60/video.html :)
The age of the aquarium has created a soil layer by virtue of precipitation into the sand.
Hi Father Fish, Yes absolutely, time will do wonders if you’re patient enough :) Great to see you here again !)
Please do keep rambling! Very much enjoyed this explanation of your substrate and all the life it provides to your wondrous tank and inhabitants. I always add and or allow diff snails to enter my tanks. They have a purpose and are workhorses. All my tanks were started with plants and snails. Then came the shrimp. Few weeks later came the fish. I don’t mind watching the plants grow and the other critters going about their day till I feel it’s time to add the fish. If one watches and observes nature will tell, show and teach us many wondrous things. Lovely informative vid! Thank you!😊☮️❤️🐠🦐🪴
Thank you so much, I’m very glad you liked it. :)
Rambling comes naturally to me, so it’s very likely to become a theme on this channel lol. It’s easy when you’re fascinated and enthusiastic about something :) Nature is just a fascinating thing to observe, and to be able to do it in the comfort of your own home is just wonderful. Have a great day.
Please try to join us on Wed evenings for Show and Tell on Father Fish
I will try to, sounds fun :) What time does it start please ?
I’m guessing it will be the middle of the night here 🤔
Oh how I wish more people who kept animals , fish, birds etc thought like you. As a youngster ( im now 70) i was an avid reader of Gerald Durrel and did everything I could to give my many pets both land and water varieties the most natural habitat I could. My fish pond is filtered by many plants in the pond and through a huge plastic container full of gravel with reeds, irises ,grasses etc with a mass of roots. I built the pond 30ft by 10ft with graduating bottom from 2ft to 5ft nearly 6 years ago and deliberately have not touched it, I wanted to create a river type environment so have 2 bridges across as the pond is entire width of the garden. It has Koi , shubunkins and gold fish all living happily and over the 6 years I've probably only lost 4 or 5 fish mostly young shubunkins from the 40 or so that I have. I'm about to set up 2 aquariums one 3ft and one 2ft and was intending to do the same filter system and substrate ie gravel plants etc. Watching your video has definitely given me the confidence to bring my pond style into my aquariums ( fresh water of course) thankyou and keep on rambling.
Thank you so much Gary. :) I really appreciate you taking the time to comment on my video. Your pond sounds equally wonderful.
I wish you well with your new aquarium adventure :) There’s something really special about being able to observe things up close and personal in the comfort of your own front room.
Here in Argentina we keep usig laterite with excelent results. Is currently available because is the natural soil of one of our provinces in the north east.
I use it un all my planted tanks
Interesting, I’d always wondered where it occurred naturally :)
Congrats, the algorithm has found you. Deservedly so. Keep it up!
Thanks, it’s really weird, the less I try and please the algorithm the better things turn out 🤔 lol
A lot of valuable information can be gleaned from this presentation. For both new and seasoned hobbyists. I look forward to the video on adding worms as the weather warms. As far as the “rambling” I could listen for hours. Thanks again for your insight.
Thanks as always Ken. I know the algorithm probably hates rambling, but it comes naturally to me, so I’m afraid it’s likely to remain a theme to my videos lol. When your passionate about something it’s so easy to just go on and on :) I’ve tried making fancier slicker videos, but they just come out all fake. So I’m just sticking to this very simple format. This way it’s fun, and hopefully you get to hear the real me. Have a great day!
I wish there were more unpretentious people. 😊
I'm binging your videos and having a ball. I've come to see the aquarium as a whole to be the organism I'm taking care of, and while part of me wants to set up and see instant, fast, lush results, I'm more interested in the long game. Watching to see the overall health of the aquarium is making me happy, and it's much more stable than setups I've had in the past.
Thank you so much, I'm very glad you're finding my approach interesting. There's so much more to keeping aquaria than just looking after fish. Makes the whole thing so much more interesting, and engaging. Thanks again. :)
Love this so so much. I'm so relieved to have found your channel and Father Fish's and to know that I can actually keep fish alive and thriving, and that I wasn't just neglectful or terrible at keeping fish in the past. I was naive and ill-informed and was trying to keep up with something unsustainable and bound to fail (typical aquarium advice). I can't wait to start again after over a decade, knowing that I don't have to do constant water changes and spend my time paranoid about testing water and cleaning my tank. Nevertheless, it does make me sad to think back on all of those childhood fish tanks and watching fish after fish get sick and die. I'm determined to finally do this correctly and enjoy a thriving aquarium for years to come. (And to not immediately traumatize my children by buying fish , just for them to die in a month. :D
Thank you for your kind comments :) I hope you continue to enjoy this wonderful hobby.
Excellent observation and information.
You give much to think about.
Thank you so much once again :)
Sharing observations and experiences is so much fun :) I know the channel is super basic, but it’s a simple fun format for me to share my thoughts and ideas. Flashy stuff is just too much hassle and would spoil the fun of simply sharing stuff.
Love the rambling. New to the hobby and second guessing myself at every turn, especially with so much conflicting information about how to maintain a tank. Your videos and your beautiful aquarium are so inspiring and remind me what is possible with patience and experience. Thank you so much for sharing.
in my experience, a lot of articles online just verbatim copy other wrong information written online, and creates a runaway reaction of people spreading false information, guys like this prove them wrong 😁
Thank you for your comments :) Much appreciated!
Loved every bit of it! Thanks for this! 😊
Wonderful, I’m very glad you enjoyed it :)
I can't wait to hear your learnings about soils in tanks. Thanks so much for this.
Thank you for your comments. Lots to come on soils etc in the coming weeks :)
I love it! Keep rambling !
Thank you :)
wonderfully informative video, thank you so much for sharing!
You are so welcome! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Really enjoyed this.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
I like seeing the various substrate layers in tanks. They remind me of those colored sand, bottle kits that were popular back in the 90s.
My natural tank's got a 1cm layer of native red clay at the bottom, then black compost from the garden, then a paver base/construction sand combo & then some decorative sand & pebbles. My plants are mostly mid & top level plants with some floaters & it's mostly hardscape & sand at the bottom.
Thank you for your comments. Welcome to the wonderful world of the Balanced aquarium. :)
Thanks so much for sharing all your experience. I love the easy way you speak, and the way of explaining your knowledge , and how much success you have had with this tank. This is truly amazing.
Thank you :) it’s a real pleasure to be able to share this stuff :)
Thanks for the good information James.
My aquarium works also with the same system as yours
I love your scape and cryptocoryne carpet❤
Thanks Pieter, I’m glad I’m not alone in keeping and enjoying tanks in this way. It’s just simple and rewarding:)
Great channel about natural setups, similar to Father Fish. Looking forward to next videos
Thank you so much. Still very much a work in progress :)
Loads of stuff still to cover !
Great video. Absolutely love this aquarium. Subscribed a few months ago when I first saw this tank . I'm a big fan of planted deep substrate and found it very interesting you have 5 different types of snails.
Thank you so much. It’s a real pity snails get such a bad reputation, they’re invaluable for aquaria. Every species does a slightly different job, so the more different ones you accommodate the better a system works. :)
@@aquaticsbynature must say I like snails in my aquariums but only got pond snails so far. Cheap skate I know. I will look into a a bit more diversity. . Great tank mate. 😁
You got yourself a new subscriber! I keep my tanks just like you. I let nature do her thing and the tanks just take care of themselves.
Thank you, appreciated :)
Definitely my favourite way of running a tank :)
Beautiful aquarium!!!
Thank you :)
this is amazing! Im so glad i found your channel. Ive just recently found natural aquariums. Cant for the life of me figure out why people wanna make tanks that are difficult to care for. For instance my house gets power outages and i needed to have tanks that could go several days on ''minimal life support" and doing a mineralized soil in a dirted aquarium with lots of plants, lots of sand and shells and having all the life in the substrate really seemed like the most logical thing to do. Its been fantastic to know that what im doing can last 30 years.
Thank you so much for your comments :) I’m definitely with you on keeping the necessary care to a minimum, I think it’s very important to enjoy this wonderful hobby and not to feel everything is a chore. And by working with nature rather than fighting it we have the perfect opportunity to do so :) Have a great day !
Incroyablement fascinant!!! Je va à m’inspirer pour mon prochain projet !!! Merci🤟
Thank you. I hope you enjoy your next project :)
This is why it's the most amazing thing to bring in a piece of nature inside and observing while its cold in winter season. this is why I love keeping tanks but I do not have a permanent home so I am lucky enough to keep a tank for such a long time. I wish I could but....
And in 1995 I was a kid in 2nd standard studying. My family migrated to UAE from India and when i graduated from school finished my GCSE's I bought myself a small tank and some guppies. I kept that tank for 4 years never changed any water just adding a top up to replenish the evaporated water.
Thanks, I couldn’t agree more :)
I still use laterite, I usually have to wait 5yrs before enough detritus and humus builds up. I’m looking to fast track this by using aqua soils in a new tank soon. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for your comments. :) Yes that’s definitely one of downsides to laterite. Aqua soil or a dirted tank are way faster ti establish :) Good luck with the new tank!
phenomenal
Thank you. :)
New aquarist here🙋♂-This was very motivating and reassuring that the dirted tanks I just set up are on the right path. Thank you for sharing your years of knowledge! Subscribed!
Thank you so much :) Very pleased to have helped :) And thanks for the sub!
Plant heavy and once the nitrogen cycle has leveled out you can just feed your inhabitants and top off water and you're good to go! I've got two planted tanks I started during covid and I havent had to do a water change in years.
I found your channel today and subscribed to it today 👍 this is the 1st video I watched and learned quite a bit from listening to what you are saying. Very informative 👍
I did the same
Thank you both, appreciated :)
Very important info
Thanks :)
lol the wonky fish in the back 😂 but he’s full of life and happy
Thanks, he’s about 7 years old, always been bent, but always insists on photobombing my videos lol
The one at 11:19 on the left yeah, was going to say the same thing.
Hi James, I always enjoy watching and listening to your videos.
They are relaxing and informative.
I own my Juwel Rio 125 for a few years now and I also always add some laterite to the soil base as an additive.
Very relaxing to watch the behaviour of the fish.
I have some more fish in the tank now, 4 shoaling species in total if you don't count in the pygmaeus and albino cory's.
I am now more frequently sitting in front of the tank, enjoying the activity ❤
But it also seems that my plants grow better with the increased bioload.
I'm sure that my very lean dosage of all-in-one fertilizer and added potassium for the epiphytes and mosses will help to👍🏻
Lovely to hear from you Titia :) Thank you for your kind comments.
Please be careful when adding laterite to soil tanks, as Diana Walstad states in her wonderful book, this can lead to metal toxicity issues.
I find exactly the same with my tanks, when I have a good stock of fish the plants grow much better. :)
@@aquaticsbynature don't worry about metal toxicity, I always add a small amount of laterite in relation to the dirt. I'm sure it won't be enough to cause any problems.
Amazing Video! True biologist 👏👏👏
Thank you :) very much appreciated:)
Really keen to see you set up a new tank from scratch with the goal of getting it to no water change
Thank you, I’m slowly working towards it. 🤔
I always set up tanks with the goal of keeping them forever and without water changes :) It’s a slow methodical process, but I love it because it basically last forever :)
I've got a water butt outside. I use the water to seed my new tanks. There's daphnia in there breeding really well in the green water. I harvest them for my fish tanks. Last year I had some endlers breeding in the water butt, in UK temperatures. The colours were stunning.
Thanks for your comments. :) Water butts are invaluable in so many ways :) And yes you simply can’t beat the colours on fish exposed to actual daylight. I had exactly the same with my white clouds.
Brownian motion is what causes the gravel to move above the sand. Fun stuff
Thanks, Yes all fun stuff to observe over time :)
Just wonderful. I'm going to get a magnifying glass now and look like Inspector Clouseau 😊
lol..i do the same and my wife looks at me as if i am crazy 😆
Wonderful, Inspector Clouseau take me back!
I’m glad I’m not the only crazy one round here :)
Amazing! When younger, i had made two tanks with laterite, same way as yours, unfornatelly i had to dismantle them due to life changes...first was around 1988, ...second was same year as yours, 1995.
Both around 360Liters , second one was 6 year old when dismantled.
No additional filtering, i had just a small hang on to creat some water movement, without media. Used a homade DIY CO2 injection for the first year only. 1 inch laterite 2 to 3 inches gravel, capped with to 3 to 4 inches of fine river sand, very well planted, driftwood, amazonian style plants. I inoculated both with "live" water from a lake near my home. 2 common fluorescent tubes, plus two growlux.
Both were pretty healthy, used only to water change 10 to 15% when the Angel Fish are young, because i feed them a lot. After the angels were mature, i only cap the water. . The look of the substrate was pretty like yours, full of life, mulm, cianno, some bubble caves full of life underneath the sand, etc... Watching your video now reminds me so many happy hours searchibg those details with my magnifyibg glasses... Wondering that they would be quite same age as yours today, could i keept them... :( . Just subscribed to your channel,
I once bought a box of laterite pellets, back in the 1980s, pushed in against the base of Amazon swords under warm fluorescent tubes, no growlux tubes, in hard London tap water without CO2 injection, they grew too large for the aquarium over a year or so.
Thank so so much for your comments. It sounds as though you would have had a system very similar to mine :) It seems like a very long time ago now, but I still look at those as the good old days of simple pleasurable aquaria. Thanks for the sub, much appreciated :)
@@aquaticsbynature Yes...just before internet becomes a must...i used to live in Brazil, and had to hunt for imported books and magazines for a good source of information...went travel other cities on weekends, just to chat with someone at a small aquarium shop, that i "heard from someone else" about a nice planted aquarium "nature style"...
You mentioned laterite…I’ve enjoyed it in the tanks for sure. As well as fluorite red or black, mixed with different inert materials. I have found success using the same substrates for growing houseplants or tropicals in LECA or in a semi-/passive-hydroponic setup… laterite is a great medium. So is Fluval Stratum as evidenced by all the videos on YT. Makes me wonder if Eco Complete won’t do well also…
Thank you for your comments. There are a huge range of things which work perfectly well in my experience. Even plain gravel will become fertile over time. But for sure some give you the jump over others. So much comes down to personally preference and how you maintain things. :)
Please keep rambling.
Thank you, rambling is my specialty lol
wow!!!
The vast numbers of empty snail shells on the bottom will serve to stabilise the pH. Surface bacterial secretions containing dilute acids slowly dissolve out calcium carbonate from the aragonite, which will break down when brought into contact with the dilute acids in rain water. Carbon dioxide is a product of these reactions and is assimilated by the plants during photosynthesis. As you correctly observed, the algae growing on the glass absorb calcium during their lifetime, and this, together with any available magnesium, is deposited on the glass as a concretion after the death of the cells. This can be quite difficult to remove. Your low stocking density, as well as your choice of species, has been a crucial part of the overall stability of the system.
Thank you for your comments and clarification, most appreciated :)
Pretty please make a video or two about your ponds! I have a few small ponds and love them.
Hi again :) Yes I will make some videos outdoors. But I should say that my ponds probably aren’t what you’re expecting. They’re basically stock ponds from when I had my water garden nursery. So not very pretty, just functional beds of plants. I’m gradually clearing these to create a garden now, so several hundred ponds have been broken down to make space now. But still a hundred or so to go lol.
Wow, hundreds of stock ponds! I want to get more stock ponds. I have three right now and some small diy ponds. @@aquaticsbynature
Oooh, could you please "ramble" a little about your water garden nursery? Maybe in a video of it's own? Last year, - in an effort to support my racing pigeon addiction- I opened a little roadside farm stand, selling fresh eggs and pickles etc. It did so well that this year I'm planning to expand. I was thinking of adding "patio pond" kits. The guppies my husband gave me for Christmas are reproducing exponentially :) I can't possibly keep them all. We have a large, stocked, farm pond with lots of wild, native plants and reeds. I found they do very well in tubs and my Japanese, Medaka rice fish were very happy in them. So I'd like to offer complete kits with guppies and plants. I would love to hear about your experience in this area. Did you sell directly to the public? Thank you in advance. I love your channel. @@aquaticsbynature
Sounds like a fun project. My shop sold both tropical and pond fish, together with the pond plants we grew. Always direct to the public, but most of the plants were sold online. Although I’ve retired my colleague still runs the online nursery, but has moved it to another site.
This was a wonderful video about a fantastic tank! As a biologisk, I was nodding my head throughout the whole thing. I think you're onto all the right things in terms of what makes an actually healthy tank. The look and feel of an aquarium is obviously a matter of personal taste, but establishing a healthy and stable mini ecosystem is not. Great job!
On a more personal note, I love your enthusiasm regarding all the kinds of life in there, not just the fish. IMO, this is the best philosophy to follow in the aquarium hobby.
Final note: the dark layer of the substrate with cyanobacteria is very likely anoxic. The reason why they're not growing into the rest of the substrate and water column is that oxygen is toxic to them, I believe. I'm very rusty in that area of my education, so take this with a grain of salt. 😊
Wow, thank you so much for your lovely comments. It’s really gratifying to hear from an actual biologist. I don’t have a science background whatsoever unfortunately. Everything I’ve learned has simply come from experience, observation, replication, trial and lots of error.
I came to the conclusion many years ago that the science of substrates, both aquatic and terrestrial is crazy complex. Way above my pay grade! Which is basically how I evolved into observing and then trying to replicate what I see. I figured that if I can replicate what I see, then given time and stability, nature will take it’s coarse. It’s been a wonderful journey, and it now gives me even more pleasure to be able to share this on CZcams today :)
Thanks for the info regarding Cyanobacteria. I’ve often wondered if oxygen plays a part. I’ve often noted that when you do see Cyanobacteria above the substrate it’s very often in new tanks. And I think the immaturity, combined with massive amounts of decay from soil and plants that are adapting depletes the oxygen too much.
Amazing video, I love the narration of the video.
By the way what kind of snails do you keep/breed in your tank?
Thanks for your comments :) Of the top of my head I have, bladder, American ramshorns, 3-4 species of nerites, lake limpets, Native British trapdoors, Bythinia and trumpet snails :)
Great thanks for the information!
I've heard you need brine water for the nerite larvae in order to breed? Can you manage to breed all the species of snails?
Yes nearly all nerites have a planktonic life cycle so can’t complete this in aquaria, but everything else breeds sustainably in my tanks. :)
I have a 20 year old tank that is just play sand and everything you said about slow and steady is true.
Wonderful to hear about another old tank :) And absolutely, even just sand will become fertile given time and stability :) Nature is simply amazing!
I love it
Thank you, very glad you liked it :)
You have a very relaxing voice. You could do audiobooks.
Thank you so much :)
Thanks, this was great information! I would love to know tank size, filtration and lighting information.
Thanks for your comments. :) The tank is approx 40 gallons. I have videos in my equipment playlist that cover my filtration and lighting if you’re interested. :)
I really like the little bugs that find their way in the aquariums. I need to find and add more.
Yes, as you’ve probably guessed by now I’m a big fan of critters for lots of reasons. Always room for more though :) Happy hunting! Remind me in spring and I’ll make that video on how to collect them easily :)
True piece of nature . My 8 yrs old tank is kept the same way .
Thank you. Glad to hear you have a similar set up. I hope it keeps going as long as this one. :)
Great video and great aquarium.
How do you keep the plants from becomming a jungle? I understand how to make natural aquariub, but I need some tips on how to keep it as beautiful as your’s 😊
Thanks :) There are some pruning videos in my maintenance playlist here if you’re interested czcams.com/play/PLhTW5Oy56aXVUCBCEgXbsa4cd5zNAtrB0.html
Amazing, and fascinating! What are the small whitish oval spots?
Thank you :). The white dots are just the egg capsules of my nerite snails. Each one contains many individuals, but they can’t survive in aquaria as their life cycle needs a planktonic brackish stage.
This is absolutely fascinating. What is your opinion about current day tanks? And how aquascapers use these branded aqua soils and fertilisers in attempt to keep tanks in check.
Thank you for your comments, glad you found it interesting :)
I think each method has its place in todays incredibly diverse hobby. While it may not necessarily be my cup of tea, I can see the attraction of trying to keep everything under control and perfect. But personally I find working at natures pace more rewarding and engaging. To me there’s something really wonderful about attaining a truly balanced system with as little interference as possible. :)
even on my hitech tanks, i maintain them like lowtech. my ph is always kinda lolw, and goes quite low after a full day of co2 injection, but it reliably swings the same amount each day. i do very infrequent water changes, and only ever move a bit of the mulm from the most visible areas. i fertilize infrequently, things still grow like crazy. i remove pounds of plant material a month.
Sounds great :)
Thank you for this wealth of information. Do you ever feed your fish, or is it just what they find in the tank? If so, how often?
You're very welcome :)
I still feed my fish 2-3 times a day, as I've found this to be necessary to attain long term healthy plant growth in this tank.
Thanks a lot, this is so informative! A question regarding my tank with corydoras: I've read they like open spaces, so I'm removing spreading crypts and helanthium from the foreground from time to time. Just cutting makes the crypts spread back very quickly but pulling out obviously disturbs the substrate. Or maybe the corydoras can deal with the crypt forest after all? What's your experience?
Thank you for your comments and questions :)
I did keep a pair of Corydoras sterbae in this tank for many years. They seemed extremely happy and were more than capable of negotiating the Cryptocoryne forest. They only thing I would say is I didn’t see much of them though.
I don’t think it really matters if you disturb areas of substrate that you’re not intending on keeping planted. So equally I don’t see a problem if you wanted to keep an area clear.
Hello Mr. James thanks for sharing this information with everyone, I think that the only way to keep terraces over a long period of time is by using rocks or another type of material, I sloped my substrate when I first set up my tank, and as you said it kind of level out by itself in just a few months, substrate definitely has a life of its own, I am also glad that I added two layers of laterite powder from Brightwell aquatics when I set up my substrate, do you ever add potassium into your tank? My plants really seem to like it, that and iron are the only two things that I add to my tank, I use less than half of what is recommended by the manufacturer and everything is still alive, also for some reason even though I don’t vacuum my substrate I never see a lot of mulm build up maybe because I don’t have too many fish who knows? 🤷 what is that fish at 9:42 at the top right corner, it looks like a fry of some sort can you confirm please?🤔 My PH only goes down when my CO2 system is working, once it goes off it comes back from 6.6 to 7.5 rather quick, the fish really seems unaffected and that’s something going on a daily basis, anyways I’ve been experimenting with not changing my aquarium water every week and the parameters so far seems to be unaffected all of them are the same, so not having to change the water every week is a plus, ok that’s all for now, thanks again for sharing with all of the youtube fish community take care James. 😁
Potassium and Iron, the latter seems especially useful if your water is hard, I use very diluted sequestered iron sold for acid loving garden plants growing in alkaline soils. These seem to me the only elements of standard plant fertilisers that need to be added even when injecting CO2. Fish faeces must be full of nutrients and if the snails eat it, their faecal material must be close to horse manure on the garden.
@Sinserg Thank you for your comments once again :) I think the fish you’ve spotted is one of my Pitch lake guppies that I’ve introduced recently from one of my other tanks. You may recall me saying that my long term plan for this tank is just ti have these and emperor tetras. Because I simply let survival of the fittest take place in my tanks, I never add things like potassium or iron. Not to say that it might improve growth on some things or enable me to grow a wider range of things. But it’s just not the way I choose to do things. I like to keep everything as simple as possible :) And I’ve never yet had a tank I can’t grow plants in. pH swings are natural, and even my tank does this, so it’s important to always test at the same time of day. Beware of very still water though, I’ve seen swings from pH5 in the morning to over pH9 by mid afternoon!
Hi William :) Yes absolutely. I choose not to add anything because of the way I let plants select themselves to my conditions, but I could probably grow more different things with a couple of minor additions. But to be honest I’m spoilt for choice as I am, so I’m not planning on going down that route :) But never say never lol
@@aquaticsbynature I understand, thank you for the response, keep up the good job, I am now enjoying my tank a bit more. 🙂
Thanks, glad to hear you’re enjoying things more :)
All of this works only when your tank temoerature is below 25 or 26 deg C.
Scapers from tropical areas where tank temperature averages 30+ have it in hard mode due to the low CO2 present in water
Thank you for your comment. That’s interesting because that goes a bit against what I’ve experienced. However I’ve never run this tank that warm for extended periods of time. Really just during heat waves. It’s something I’d definitely like to run an experiment with in the future though. :) Always up for testing stuff :)
nice tank . what are the fry in it ?
Thank you :) The small fish you can see are wild Pitch lake guppies from a Trinidad :) If you’d like to know more about them check out this old video of mine :) czcams.com/video/SYVImwn-S1k/video.html
Beautiful aquarium! 😍 I have a question about managing tannins. My aquarium has been running for a year and a half without water changes, and I'm not sure how to reduce the tannin levels. Is there a natural approach to this without using chemical products?
Thank you for your comments and question.
I've found that tannins will deplete over time naturally, providing you're not constantly adding to their source that is. As to how long this will take, as with most things nature has a different time scale to us. So it may actually take a few years. It's also worth bearing in mind that it will deplete faster under higher light levels. If there's one thing I've learnt over the 29 years of this tank, that's simple patience and basic stability will sort out most things.
Hi there. Great video. Quick question. What plant is the one in the right apper corner? It looks amazing
Many thanks. I’m not quite sure which one you refer to, but if it’s the one that’s goes right to the top it’s probably the Nymphaea lotus lily. You can find more info on this in this video czcams.com/video/cZn2diEdeLI/video.html
@aquaticsbynature hi! Sorry, it is the floating one, the one with white roots. Can you please tell me what plant is that one? It looks amazing. 👌🏻
Oops sorry it’s water lettuce. :) it’s the first plant in this video czcams.com/video/cZn2diEdeLI/video.html
MD fish tanks would be gobsmacked at how long you’ve kept this tank! (I think his average is 6 months!!) 😁
lol, that made me chuckle:)
How do the critters from a very cold pond in England adapt to the temperature of your tropical plant? And I presume you have to warm up the rain water before adding it to the tank?
Thanks for an excellent question :)
Not all critters have proven to be successful indoors, and I’ve definitely put the constant temperature down as a possibility reason. It’s very much trial and error. With my rain water I simply bring in indoors in a bucket and let it stand for a day until it’s room temperature.
Wow! This is the oldest tank I’ve ever seen on CZcams!! 👏
Thanks, that’s kind of cool to know :)
James,
I am trying to set up a new tank. I have 1" of dirt on the bottom, but then I have plenty of small grain sand, crushed volcanic rock and small gravel. How should i arrange these layes to have the best results?
John from harlow
Hi John. Nice to hear from someone local :)
The most important thing I find is to have a good depth of cap, and not to overdo the soil depth. I generally like to use only half an inch of soil and then have 3-4 inch cap. If you have a mix of substrates I'd always put the biggest and heaviest on the top. This is because over time they will end up structured in this way naturally anyway, so there's little point in doing it differently. That said, id avoid substates that are more than 3-4mm in diameter. Good luck :)
If you were starting an aquarium today, what would you use to start your substrate? I'm debating on using one inch of baked clay (Kitty litter or Safe T Sorb) with laterite powder for the bottom layer, topped with 2 inches of aquasoil. Then introducing the micro fauna from a pond like you did.
Thank you for your questions :)
My preferred method today is simply to use half an inch of sieved garden soil and cap it with three inches or so of fine gravel or sand. I've tried many many different combinations over the years, but I've always found this to be the simplest and most reliable. Once I start setting up my new tanks, I'll make a series of videos on this. :) Good luck with yours :)
You mentioned that some of the stirred up dirt your filter takes care of. Do you have a big filter on this tank or a small gentle one. I have similar tank about three months in and its lush. I have a small filter internally and a hidden sponge filter, mainly to move the water a little.
Thanks for your question. I’d say the filter is average in size, but I’ve deliberately undersized the pump that runs it. The turnover is only around two to three times the tank volume per hour. So just a gentle all round laminar flow, just like a slow moving river :)
Thanks for the reply. I realised afterwards that you have a video on your filter and filtration, so I watched that. Only just found your channel and I love it. You talk about it so naturally too, so please don’t hype it up as some have suggested. Mine, which is like yours all natural and low tech, is the best that I have ever had in 46 years of Fish Keeping. I was just about to buy some more clean up crew but have seen loads of baby catfish in there now. Never been able to breed any fish apart from guppies and they never lasted. Please keep the videos coming. Brilliant. Thank you.@@aquaticsbynature
Thank you. Don’t worry I’m not about to change the way I make my videos, it’s the only way I know how lol.
Good luck with the babies, and welcome to the wonderful world of the balanced aquarium :)
Hypothetical but what if you had corydoras all along or if one was even introduced now how would it have affected the operation
Hi again :) Thanks for the question. I did actually have a pair of Corydoras sterbae in this tank for many years. The only real difference they made was less mulm accumulation because of their behaviour. And subsequently a bit more filter maintenance. The tubifex even survived that period, but wasn’t really Visible like today.
What are the snail species that you are keeping inside your tank?
Hi, thanks for your question. From memory I have bladder snails, trumpets, American ramshorns, three species of nerites, Bythinia, lake limpets, and Viviparus Viviparus. :)
Wow, what are those floaters?
Thanks :) Water lettuce :)
If you give it time, you're basically creating your own soil.
Also, curious about the recent popularity of father fish and what you think about it
Yes absolutely time and stability will create a fertile substrate.
Father Fish and I have lots of similarities between the methods we’ve evolved, but there are things we choose to do differently :)
Hopefully once I get the chance to set up some new tanks, you’ll get a better idea of how I choose to do things.
@@aquaticsbynature I would like to see how you set up an aquarium. I like how more natural aquarists are showing their methods for a natural aquarium and it is becoming more apparent that there is no definite right or definite wrong way of setting the stage with these substrates for nature to take over. The only wrong way is to make a sterile environment and rely on chemicals and the filter to do all of the work. My technical mind calls it trying to digitalize an analog world. You cannot have full control over everything.
Thanks, my methods are similar, but needless to say I keep things really simple, and take it slowly. When I set up a tank I’m thinking long term, so there’s no rush lol. Your definitely right, sterile tanks are really not the way to go if you want an easy life :)
Hi ,what is long spiral plant called at 4:17
Hi, thanks for your question. I think the plant you’re referring to is Crinum natans, or crinkled onion. You can find more info about it in my tank here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html
Hi just love your cryptocrynes...is they take more time to make carpet..what kind of crypts are those ?
Thank you. :) I love Cryptocorynes too, they’re probably my favourite aquarium plants, so adaptable and easy to grow. This one is a form of Cryptocoryne wendtii. You can find more info about it here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html
I'm interested in starting a Walstad style aquarium soon. I do have a pond in my garden but its a raised koi pond rather than a natural style one. Do you think there would be anything in there to seed my tank with micro creatures?
Thanks for the question. It always surprises me how life finds a way in these situations. You may have to look a bit harder but there will almost certainly be all kinds of critter in there. Especially hiding under things and in filters etc. Good luck. :)
@@aquaticsbynature I’ll see what I can find! Thanks for the reply
Good luck :)
What are those plant infront of the tank? How big is this tank? No filter?
Thanks for the questions. They’re Cryptocoryne wendtii. There’s lots of info about this and my other plants in my three part plant series here czcams.com/video/YgetAVv9JYk/video.html Tank is 180 litres and yes it’s filtered. There’s also a filtration video here czcams.com/video/TeUGI4ARN2M/video.html Enjoy :)
Did you add different types of microfuana in this tank?
Got my anwser noe
How much gallon is the tank? I have a 10 gal set up and I am looking forward to my journey with this hobby I saw you at father fish live and I was really amazed with your tank being set up in the 1995!
Thank you :) Sorry for the terrible filming on Father fish, my phone wouldn’t let me use the forward camera for some reason 🤔
The tank is about 40 gallons. :)
@@aquaticsbynature Im getting a 40 gallon breeder inspired with your tank im not going to use stem plants too I agree they need a lot of maintenance continue your content and inspire other people about this beautiful hobby! Really great content
I should clarify that my tank is extremely mature, but when setting up new tanks I’d definitely still recommend keeping very fast growing plants during the settling down period. Nothing fancy, floating plants, hornwort etc :) Good luck
Do you have any filtration in this tank?
Thanks for your question :) Yes it has simple internal filtration. There’s much more about it here czcams.com/video/TeUGI4ARN2M/video.html
How do you get amano babies do you breed them?
My Amanos produce babies all the time, but sadly they can’t survive in fresh water. The babies need to be transferred to salt water for their early lives. My Neocaridina breed and survive though :)
I remember telling the guy in my local aquatics shop that I don't do water changes unless I have younger fish growing out, (most fish species release a species specific anti growth hormone into the water, this can cause stunted growth and deformities if it's not removed) he told me that I have no mineral content in my water because I dont change it, my response was that my hardscape is made of vitamins and minerals, plus I still top up with unconditioned tap water so I think I'm good... "unconditioned tap water?" yup, I use a hose pipe with a mister hose attached, the chlorine and flouride evaporate before it hits my tanks, i dont buy any chemicals, and I'm not about to start wasting my money on any of that nonsense!
Anybody struggling with cyanobacteria (blue green algae) dont treat it and dont do water changes. Find the fish a temporary home in a plastic tub and leave the tank with cyanobacteria, it will clear itself, if you do a big water change once it's clear, it might come back, so just leave it, and top up the evaporated water as needed.
I should add that with my unconditioned tap water, I do always start a very heavily planted dirted tank, so if I was going unplanted I'd still be tempted to condition the water in case of other elements that the plants are utilising.
Thanks for your comments, I’m definitely with you on the Cyanobacteria, given time and stability it will clear by itself. I’m a little more cautious adding unconditioned water, but like you I don’t add chemicals I just let mine stand. But then again they don’t add chloramine here.
Do you ever trim the plants?
Yes, there are some pruning videos in my playlists if you’re interested 😎
What are those plants called at the bottem there?
Hi , the plants are mostly Cryptocoryne wendtii and Taxiphyllum ‘spiky’
In my honest opinion...use sand, but it will take longer to become truly balanced and aged
Thanks for your comment. Sand wasn’t really a thing back in 1995, but I do run some tanks with sand today :)
Did you buy them or collect them from outside?
The worms and critters were collected from my ponds, most of the plants I’ve had for over 20 years. :)
sorry never heard how many gallons are, and how many fishes you have in there
180 litres, roughly 40 gallons, and approximately 60 fish.
Can you transfer old substate to a new fresh glass tank then add some sand on top and fill the tank with plants and water and put the fish back in from the old tank . I only have the existing tank and the new one. The existing one has been running for 3 years as of Jan 2024. ? I want to switch from the 21 “ tall to a 12 1/2 “ . Same 30 1/2 “ length.
Thanks for the questions :) Yes you can certainly move old substrate, water etc to a new tank. The only thing I’d be a bit careful with is suddenly covering the old substrate with sand. Personally I’d move all of the old, let the tank settle down for a few weeks, then if you need to you could gradually add some sand. Suddenly adding lots of sand may suffocate the life in the old substrate and cause you ammonia issues from the resulting die off.
@@aquaticsbynature well I thank you for replying so quickly. But I only have room for one tank. I will be keeping the fish in a temporary plastic 3 gallon tub, with air stone and small heater, in the bedroom while I set up the different tank. I have a very curious Devon Rex Cat. 🐈. I’ll be using the same stand. So I can not let it sit for weeks. I’ll just have to start over with new aquarium dirt and reuse my sand from the old tank I’m moving everything and every fish in one day. The substrate I’m talking about has been capped with aquarium tiny gravel that’s a bit bigger granule than sand since I first set it up. I’m going to use Stability, and Stress coat. And use all the plants and filter with its used filter media in the new set up. Also A lot of water from the existing tank. and clean RO water . Well that’s my plan ……. I hope my fish survive . So. Do you mean save the top layer of gravel in a bucket and add it to the tank after a few weeks?
Sorry we seem to have slightly crossed wires 🤔
You can use any of your old substrate and just transfer it and all the old water to the new tank.
I simply wound recommend suddenly burying old substrate with new sand and this may suffocate the microorganisms you’ve developed in the old substrate.
Anything you wish to keep from the old tank will be best used immediately.
I hope this is bit clearer
Hi, recently I’ve been having problems with my sand substrate because it’s keeps getting covered in a greyish brown layer of waste and I’m having to hoover it every other week, and I don’t mean like dirty like yours, I mean like a thick layer of molm, like 2 inches deep. Any way to fix this
Hi again :) Thanks for the question. To be honest there are lots of possible reasons for what you’re experiencing. I’ll list the most common ones for you.
1. Overfeeding and stocking
2. Poor gas exchange ( low oxygen)
3. Poor circulation
4. Low temperature
5. Water low in carbonates
6. Water with a low pH.
7. Insufficient shrimps, snails etc
8. Poor filtration
9. Too many decaying / unhealthy plants
10. Immature aquarium
11. etc etc
I hope this gives you some ideas. But please get back to me and I will elaborate on anything you’re not sure about.
@@aquaticsbynatureI can rule out low oxygen, stocking, poor circulation, low temperature, and and over feeding, as my temperature is around 78 to 81 degrees, (I do this as it’s helps personally to prevent the fill become ill) the tank is stocked correctly for its size (20 gallons) I use a bubbler and sponge filter so I can Rule out oxygen, it has good circulation and they are only fed once every 2 days, so it’s probably a mix of low ph, (my water doesn’t really get higher the 6.8) I don’t have many shrimp as some passed after I ordered plants that weren’t labelled as containing pesticides harmful to crustaceans and also the fact I’ve been having issues with the fact that the only plants that I can grow at the minute are crypocoryne wendtii, hornwort, and water lettuce.
Do you know what your KH is? Carbonates are used in decomposition, so if they’re very low, decomposition will be very inefficient. Hence you can quickly get a build up. A pH of 6.8 is fine.
No sadly I don’t have the ability to test it so I couldn’t really say
Nowhere near me sells the equipment to measure my KH
Do you think the same longevity could be achieved with aqua soil??
Thanks for the question. I see no reason why aqua soil wouldn't work long term, except that I think you'd need to cap it to prevent it breaking up over time and disappearing. It does tend to turn to dust and end up in the filter if not.
I like your style.
Super sterile environments are overrated. They have their place though.
Yes absolutely, but you’re quite right, no single philosophy is right for everything and everyone.
Have you ever had “crashes” (with this tank)?
No crashes, but fluctuations, usually due to leaving things too long between pruning sessions when I’m busy. But it always bounces back quickly because of its underlying maturity. :) It’s pretty bullet proof to be honest :)
Have you looked at the microfauna that has developed over the years? 12:17 ah! You have!
Yes checking out all the tiny stuff is a passion of mine :)
yeh i had a laterite tank about then brilliant for long term supply of micro elements
red clay thats rich in iron and other minerals often found in areas where iron ore is also found is brilliant as well and cheaper as i can dig it from my field
and yes ive got some fishkeeping books of my great grandfathers from the 1920s and they warn about over cleaning the tank your right
also diagrams on heating slate bottomed tanks by gas pilot light under the tank (under gravel heating not a new thing) and how to build a run a fish house (heated with a coke burning stove)
ostracods are really good the fish will ignore them unless they are starving so they make a great vacation food
the life produces CO2 so the aquarist with an old established tank doesent have to use a CO2 system to get impressive plant growth
HOBBY still sell laterite but its expensive as only in small boxes ive found some water lilly soils for ponds that have nutrient rich clay that work brilliantly and are far more economic if you dont want to make your own mix
Wonderful, thanks for your comments. :)
I love reading old fish books and publications, they’re way more insightful than you might think. It’s just a shame so much of the old info is disregarded today.
@@aquaticsbynature yeh had a cure for dropsy in one of the books pin drip of mercurochrome in a gallon jar of water sit in top of tank to equalize heat then put the fish in for 1 hour it worked as well but i did have to explain why i needed it at the chemists and sign the poisons register
Yeah, some of the old stuff is a bit scary too. Handle with extreme care. !
Graham Hancock is in aquarium hobby !!?? 😮
Lol :)
My plants won't grow because my red-eyed tetras keeps eating the leaves!
Sadly they’re tough on plants, but normally with a bit of trial and error you will find some which will be ok. :)
What's up with that red tailed fish? His body is all twisted and distorted? Also, do you have a filter in here? What kind? How often do you feed? How many fish have you lost and replaced? I'm very interested in the natural ecosystem
Thank you for your comments and questions. The glass blood fin you mentioned was born with a bent spine, he’s actually around 7 years old so has done pretty well really. But he will insist on photobombing my videos. lol. The filter is a Juwel Bioflow Filter model M. I have a video about it in my equipment playlist if you’re interested. I feed 2-3 times a day, just a very small amount. Impossible to say how many fish I’ve had over 28 years, but generally speaking they live much longer in this tank than in conventional tanks I’ve had.
I have a 7 year old one but I have to redo it, the PO4 is always very high.
Hi thanks for your comment. Personally rather than loose 7 years worth of hard earned maturity, I’d do a series of water changes to correct your PO4 issues. And then look at ways of preventing them coming back. Things like less food input and more plant export should sort this for you :)
@@aquaticsbynature Hi thanks for replying. Unfortunatelly I tried many things, doabled filtration, used PhosEx peat in filter. I feed once a day and have vey few fish, I change 50% every week. The tap water is clean. I cannot add more plants because it's full to the brim, I cannot even see the substrate, I have layes of plants below that get few light. I would leave it like this but I am a bucephalandra seller and types that worked well years ago are struggling now so I think I need a fresh start.
Pity, but I can see by growing lots of very slow things like Bucephalandra you’re definitely going to struggle to export sufficient nutrients over time. Good luck .
@@aquaticsbynature I guess I could try to stop fertilizing macro, or fertilize N+K+micro. But what you think is the main benefit of a 7 year substrate besides stability? Cause I started many aquariums and with used filters it's a breeze. If I put in used substrate it's even easier, no downsides that I can think of. And buces thrive from the get go, that means no amonia spike
To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think my methodology is well suited to growing things like Bucephalandra for profit. My tanks are more about attaining a long term balance and not maximising growth. Especially for a specific plant, as I simply allow survival of the fittest to dominate. It sounds like you have a system that works for what you want to achieve. so my advice would be to stick with it.
I’d actually like to try some Bucephalandra in my tanks this year. Can you recommend any really easy, good reliable ones that are easy to grow?
What do you think about lava scrap as substrate, please?
Thanks for the question. You can use pretty much any inert substrate as a cap, but in my experience anything with a larger grade than about 4mm can be problematic. Also the coarser the substrate the deeper the cap needs to be, to prevent too much leaching.
@@aquaticsbynature thank you abn, but what does this lava scrap substrate without dirt mean to plant growth, please?
It can be made to work, but it will be an incredibly slow process without soil or fertilisers. Non soil substrates can take years to become fertile depending on what fish you keep etc.
@@aquaticsbynature thx, would you put in root tabs and liquid fertilizers or is it better to do this very slow process, please?
Depends how patient you are lol. Personally I’d use liquid ferts as they’re more controllable than root tabs. Root tabs can leach like crazy if you don’t have the right substrate conditions.
Is sand better than gravel? What sand is good? would
Beach sand be good for a planted tank
Hi, thanks for your question. In my experience you can use almost anything for a cap and have a successful aquarium.
That said the coarser the substrate you use the deeper it needs to be to help prevent too much leaching initially. So I’d go for either 2-3 inches of sand or 4 inches of fine gravel. I wouldn’t recommend beach sand though as it will probably contain lots of shells which will increase the pH. hope this helps :)
Thank you so much. Which one is better for plants gravel or sand.? I have one inch of river sand right now and most of my plants like ludwiga repens and ambulia don’t grow in it. I have potting soil below the one inch sand. I love your tanks and want to have something like it please advise
Please upload a video on how to set up a natural tank would be really helpful
Thank you :). When a particular plant doesn’t grow in your tank, it generally has little to do with what you’ve capped your soil with. Its far more do do with the suitability of that particular plant for the general conditions you’ve created. You may find this video helpful to explain this in more detail czcams.com/video/pbdJdO73q60/video.html :)
Thanks, that’s definitely on my list of things to do over the coming months. :)