RE: NANFA-- Petco Sucks

Adam N. (adam_at_xhaos.org)
Thu, 10 Jul 2003 12:00:45 -0400

On the indoor tank In have very bright lights and a lot of plants. Instead
of changing the filter I just pull out plants. It's stocked way below limit
levels you'd find in modern books but I feed the fish a lot. I overfeed by
many standards.

On the outdoor tank I just have a big tank (45 gallons) for some elders
livebearers perhaps two dozen now (a lot like a guppy) There's some plants
but not so many and it gets rainwater replenishment and sometimes I just
stick the garden hose in it and let it overflow some. It's not a lot like
perhaps 10% per week but I guess it's enough. Bt the time the fish get
bigger and breed more the plants should be hauling out a sizable percentage
of the waste if not all. The sun is a pretty powerful light and they are
fast growing plants (najas, salvia and others). The little bit of plant
material that's in that pearls, that is gives of gaseous O2 in the presence
of light. There's no algae but the water has a kind of green water haze
right now but I have always associated that with heat. If it bothers me
enough I'll just stick the garden hose in there more often. The fish are
fine. They grow fast, breed and look great.

I really believe that filtration and aeration has lead people into keeping
fish at levels way above what I consider OK. For a lot of people if the
power goes out even a few hours they are in trouble. Plus there's the
noise. I hate pump noise.

I built my whole methodology around minimum maintenance. Low stock levels,
live plants and snails.

Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanfa_at_aquaria.net On Behalf Of
Kevin
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 10:40 AM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Subject: Re: NANFA-- Petco Sucks

How do you keep the ammonia levels under control?

On 7/9/03 2:31 PM, "Adam N." <adam_at_xhaos.org> wrote:

> I sort of collect old aquarium books. It's really incredible then lengths
> that people went to in order to keep fish. Really old books, like turn of
> the century, don't even mention filtration and with gas lighting there
> wasn't the kind of super plant tank we've got now. I feel like there's an
> awful lot of surface area in the tank and with good water movement
> filtration isn't required. I haven't ever had a proper filter in my tanks
> in 5 years. If fish loads are kept low enough, and you change water and
or
> have a lot of plants you can have a very low maintenance system. With my
> heavily planted high tech plant tank I have gone months without detectable
> nitrate build up.
>
> You can learn a lot reading the old books. It's a very different way of
> looking at aquarium keeping and pretty valid I think.
>
> I currently have a lot of guppies on the porch in just a tank. No
> filtration pumps or anything, a few plants but that's it. These plants
> aren't contributing to the water quality IMHO. They've been there a couple
> weeks and getting on fine, I've done this before.
>
> Adam

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/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org