# Set up a minimal nature aquarium



## castle (29 May 2022)

Set up a minimal nature aquarium at my partners parents house, thinking we’re going to add some permanent fish in a few months.

Running an aged filter as I stuck in the female puffs while I rehome them all!






Floating sticks detached from hard scape, stone bottom left is there to keep wood in place while it’s not quite sunk 😩

Plant list:
p. gayi
c. balansae
h. verticillata

Might update this in a few month when all is settled 👍


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## The Miniaturist (29 May 2022)

I really like that tank. It does look natural, even with the boulder on the left! I hope you don't have too many fungal & leaching issues with the huge lump of wood. It will be interesting to see it in a few months time when it's matured.


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## castle (29 May 2022)

The Miniaturist said:


> I really like that tank. It does look natural, even with the boulder on the left! I hope you don't have too many fungal & leaching issues with the huge lump of wood. It will be interesting to see it in a few months time when it's matured.


Thanks! I quite like this layout too,  I’ve got a couple of stumps in the garden waiting to be used ☺️

This wood all came from rivers, just I dried it out over winter 😅 I don’t mind a bit of algae, and the cleanup crew (snails) should be added tomorrow. Stained water is my kind of thing.


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## Karmicnull (29 May 2022)

That wood works really well; lovely scape!


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## NatalieHurrell (5 Jun 2022)

This is great.  Will be interesting to see how it beds in.  The wood is a perfect shape for your scape.


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## Dave Y (10 Jul 2022)

Nice tank  like the look of it. What sand is that?


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## castle (11 Jul 2022)

Dave Y said:


> Nice tank  like the look of it. What sand is that?



Primarily ADA la plata sand. 

it’s my favourite sand 👍


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## Dave Y (11 Jul 2022)

Ah, thanks.  Hah trust me to like the look of the most expensive sand.


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## castle (31 Aug 2022)

Around 3 months old. Not much to report. Floaters do really well in this tank, so I have to remove them regularly. They’ve been key to keeping balance in the aquarium, so I have to keep about 20% of the surface covered, else algae. (Bba, and green thread). Algae comes and goes, but really it never truly got ahold.

There are two filters running, one for the surface, and another all in one jobby. I clean them out here and there. Tank has had a few 50% water changes, and then water is just topped off from tap. I am going to replace out these filters with a spare 2203, once I’ve found the time to.

p.gayi is doing very well, I trim it once every couple of weeks or so. Bolbitis was meant to be temporary, and it is, until I have the space for it in another tank- however now it comes with ramshorns . h. verticillata is doing really well, but slow. All crypts melted, all grew back.

Snails came in, from somewhere and they’re everywhere. And they get fed 😅 I think, that  they came in because I added two. There are hundreds now. Also, lots of little bugs in the aquarium too.

I’m hoping at the back p.gayi grows right in, and up, but it’s shaded from the wood. A hanging light isn’t an option right now.

I’m writing what feels like loads here, the only other thing to add was that the wood did rot a bit, and I had to deal with that. Toothbrush every day-ish, until I got to some solids. Lots of fuzzy growths. 🤷‍♂️ Bark was a problem.

Still, no fish. Open to suggestions 👍 (must be easy for non-fishy people to care for)


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## The Miniaturist (31 Aug 2022)

It's coming along nicely!
I wouldn't worry about a dusting of algae & a few snails, it is a slow-tech nature aquarium after all & both of those are quite natural.
How big is the tank? It would help with fish suggestions, though just on looks it seems perfect for a group of pygmy corys!


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## castle (31 Aug 2022)

Hey @The Miniaturist the tank is a 60H, so 60x45x30 

Perfect nano 👍


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## _Maq_ (1 Sep 2022)

All those using fanciful sharp-edged rocks should see *this*! How natural!


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## Hufsa (1 Sep 2022)

_Maq_ said:


> All those using fanciful sharp-edged rocks should see *this*! How natural!


Why not let people like things they like, and let them get on with it?
People have differing tastes, and I think its uncalled for to try to police what other people can like or not.
Its possible to not like something and just keep it to yourself


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## Yugang (1 Sep 2022)

_Maq_ said:


> All those using fanciful sharp-edged rocks should see *this*! How natural!


I agree, if your reference is river Rhine or Donau, the rocks will be rounded. I can tell you that streams in Hong Kong, volcanic origin, have very sharp rocks. So as @Hufsa says it comes down to taste.


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## _Maq_ (1 Sep 2022)

Yugang said:


> streams in Hong Kong, volcanic origin, have very sharp rocks.


Interesting, indeed...


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## castle (1 Sep 2022)

I had to return to get the TDS. Looks like something South American will work for this tank 👍 (but I think they want a betta!)


I appreciate the comments about how natural this looks; that is exactly what I am going for but it’s not perfect yet. I suspect it never will be 😅🤷‍♂️


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## _Maq_ (1 Sep 2022)

Why don't you measure conductivity? Obviously, you can.


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## castle (2 Sep 2022)

_Maq_ said:


> Why don't you measure conductivity? Obviously, you can.



I don’t find that super useful as a metric to select fish; I don’t think EC is used as a parameter for any fish in any book/ref I have. 

However EC is used when I want to check water stability, I like to keep this tank in the 10-150 range. To be honest, I’m no expert on this other than 10-150 is ‘soft’, less conductive. If it goes above this I can say that there is a build up of _something  _and do a water change.

I am not an expert on water parameters but this tool gives me a direction 👍


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## _Maq_ (3 Sep 2022)

castle said:


> I don’t find that super useful


The point is that all TDS meters actually measure electric conductivity and multiply it by a deliberately chosen factor. So, you can measure EC, while TDS value derived from that is just... how to explain? A comparison: Fancy you can measure man's height, and from that measurement you estimate his weight by multiplying his height by a factor 0.5. So, you have a 180 cm tall man (exactly measured), but instead you choose to say that this man's weight is 90 kg. Such information may or may not be true. Probably not. There's no fixed multiplicator between human's height & weight, and just the same pays for EC & TDS.


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## castle (7 Sep 2022)

Hey @_Maq_ great post, I went away and read about this in a good bit more detail. 

While I’m still using TDS,  EC is also now my baseline 👍


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