Imitating Nature.

[Mark Nicholls]

Here's my take on running a successful low maintenance low tech low budget tank. I have adopted these rules over many years of aquatic experience and have learnt by my mistakes

1. Pick a theme. My particular themed tank simulates a medium flow river bed.
2. Do your research. Learn the water parameters, substrate type, plants and fish. Nature documentaries are are a perfect source of info. All of my reference books are old like me. I find that the old books dealt with facts whereas new books are glorified adverts for the latest fads!
3. With these guidelines you can't go wrong if you stick to them.

My lighting is average therefore it would be stupid of me to buy plants that require high intensity lighting. I have set the water to slightly acidic so alkal living plants are a mini for me.
If it's a tropical tank, the lighting should be on for 12 hours. This is the length of daylight in the tropics. If you get algae growing with 12 hrs, your lamps are too powerful! In my opinion, duration is more important than intensity. If you try to simulate mother nature, you can't go wrong as she has millions of years experience.This goes for water changes too; little and often is better than big changes less frequently. Small regular changes reproduce the slow steady flow of oxygenated water in a river.

The only time when a big water change should be done (apart from emegencies) is if you want to simulate rain in order to induce spawning. I do this by doing a 50% water change weekly. I do this because I do ei dosing so it fits my routine perfectly. When I add the water, I ensure its a few degrees cooler that the tank (once again, to simulate rain) and I also turn up the venture in my filter to provide more oxygen.
When I do this, the cherry barbs spawn every time!
What are your opinions on low maintenance tanks?

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Sounds like you’re talking about Biotope style tanks here rather than simply any low tech style.

The only thing that really jumps out to me as perhaps not being normally recommended is the 12 hour lighting schedule. If you are not getting algae with the lighting strength this is not a problem clearly, just wondering if you are using a ramp timer to simulate sunrise and sunset in the tank too?

 

[Mark Nicholls]

Hi there Matt. Here is the logic behind my use of 12 hour lighting. All of our tanks are tropical. By definition, in the tropics, there are equal hours of day and night all year round. Therefore, we have a TOTAL of 12 hours light. This equates to 10 hours of full spectrum lighting with an hour of lighting at half power tagged on at both ends to simulate dawn and dusk. We have no issues with algae and all plants are thriving, indeed, I've recently had to prune my Amazon Swords and the results were unbelievable! New leaves appeared as if by magic and the Angels are happy too as they have shiny new leaves to lay eggs on.

Therefore the daily lighting is:

• 9-10 morning mode
• 10-8 daytime mode
• 8-9 evening mode
• 9-9 off (night time mode)

This is extremely low tech lighting, being a simple warm white led strip to simulate sunlight and another led strip set to "pink" to give an approximation of a plant enhancing spectrum. The led lights are controlled by "Alexa" and this is the most high tech thing we have in our tanks!
The use of 12 hours also makes the fish happier as it's the same as in nature.
The large tank is Amazon themed but can't be considered a Biotope as it contains crypts, java fern and anubias which hail from Asia and Africa respectively. And compared to some of the guys out there, I would consider it extremely low tech, low cost etc. In fact, the big tank belongs to my partner who is a novice. Therefore I wanted it to be as easy to maintain as possible! All she has to do is feed the fish daily, add the ei salts daily and do a 50% water change weekly. The substrate is gravel over soil and is fertilised by clay balls (homemade) the deco is oak sourced from local woodland. The stand is breezeblocks, the lid is homemade, as is the lighting rig and the filter is a very basic internal with spraybar attached.

 

[zozo]

can't be considered a Biotope as it contains crypts, java fern and anubias which hail from Asia and Africa respectively.

There are pictures to find on the net with Anubias sp. growing in the wild in Asia. I've seen a few from Indonesia. Most likely introduced into nature by hobbyists or maybe even much longer ago with the colonial expansion during VOC times. Same as happened in Europe with for example among others the Myriophyllum sp. and Crassula sp. that are actually tropical but pretty common in Europe by now.

When it comes to a biotope, i guess if we have never been there scuba diving with what we try to recreate, then what do we actually know? Other from some pictures or videos we see on the net and the rest is imaginative assumptions. Then if you look at the actual footprint of an average aquarium that will be <1m² and you have 5 different plant sp. in it. And take a look around you in nature try to find a spot that has 5 different plant sp. in 90x40 cm footprint for example. 🙂

Then try to find a natural water body that has a similar population density as the average aquarium. Take a 100-litre aquarium housing 30 fish and 4 or 5 different sp.. By true natural standards would be an extreme rarity to find in the wild.

Hobby wise and trying to be as true as possible to nature would be rather very boring. All though, if done correctly simply 1 fish sp. and 1 or 2 plant sp. can still look very intriguing. I have seen very beautiful biotope setups like that.

Personally i like to play with the idea to stay as close to nature as possible. But to be truly honest to myself I'm not sure if i really know what i'm doing. I also do a 12 hour light cycle the least. That means during the winter season, my 2 aquariums both receive a load of natural daylight. Thus during the summer up to 18 hours. And it works like a charm so far.

With 1 aquarium i went so far with installing 5 separate spotlights above it in an arch and i sequenced them to switch on and off from east to west to recreate a sunrise and sunset as close as possible. The light play it creates in the tank is actually stunning with light coming from different angles according to the time of the day. I even see the fish react to it and the follow the light.

It's definitely fun and a sort of nature imitation. Regarding light, this was the closest i could get.

 

[Mark Nicholls]

I think that with the theme in the big tank, it wasn't so much trying to exactly recreate a slice of the Amazon as trying to recreate the ambiance of the area and adapt it so that it also looks visually appealing in a lounge. For example, I wanted Blackwater and used oak leaves. Obviously, oaks don't grow on the banks of the Amazon but the processes involved are still the same. In the end I gave up on the leaves as the missus, whose tank it is, didn't like tainted water. As the corys don't have the leaves to play around in, as an alternative, I've carpeted the front with crypt so that they have to work for their food! The anubias is another example, hailing from Africa but the Angels don't mind and use it for spawning quite often.
To be honest, I only chose this theme as my partner acquired a pretty deep tank and I knew that having aerial plants on wood was the only way to fill out the back of the tank easily, effectively and cheaply. All the plants are undemanding and are flourishing. The tank is low maintenance which is perfect for my partner as I want her to service it herself as much as possible. She's good with filter and water changes but is a little anxious about dosing with ferts. Our angels spawn regularly so we can't disturb them regularly. Therefore, the ei dosing method is ideal as it involves just one major service a week and I've diluted a daily dose of ferts so it's easy for her to do. Here's our pair spawning on an Amazon Sword.
.

 

[Mark Nicholls]

Agreed. All we can do is a pale imitation of and tribute to Mother Nature. I've been down many roads in my history of Fishkeeping and by searching out diy solutions and operating a low(ish) tech system, I'm learning more now than I ever did whilst I was running a shop!