[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
NFC: Filterless Aquariums.
Charles A. (dakota at mindspring_com) wrote:
>> ... and dont forget... Water changes, Water
>> changes and perhaps maybe ..... Water
>> changes.....
I know I can be funny about these things ... but what I think you're describing isn't a "filterless aquarium" in the conventional sense ... you have a bio-filter going on.
It's a man-powered mechanism, of course, but it is an externally powered system that removes toxic products by an active and ongoing process of dilution.
And I have a number of killie-tanks using exactly this process, so I know it's workable if the fish-keeper has the time and discipline to keep up with it ... but "filterless" in this sense is not synonymous with "low maintenance," it's really a high maintenance approach in terms of time expended.
In contrast, the more standard view of "filterless" means a heavy reliance on plants to purify the water, as perhaps best exemplified by some of Diane Walstad's examples in her book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium : A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist." My recollection is that she states that in many of her tanks (lots of plants and light to moderate fish loads) she does water changes as infrequently as once every six months.
It's kinda like computer systems, really.
Cheap. Effective. Easy.
Pick any two.
HTH
Doug Dame
Interlachen FL
Follow-Ups: