A natural no filter or skimmer tank

[serafino]

Ok I have a plan I'm abandoning the whole buying a tank thing. I have a 150 gallon FW tank and I'm going to be moving all of those guys into a 1100 gallon tropical freshwater pond in my garage. I will then have an empty tank! So I'll use that tank buy 20 pounds of LR and 150 pounds of lava rock and just keep the tank going like that for a long while so the lava turns into live rock. Same thing with sand. Then I will buy a little bit of some type of plant whatever it is and let it grow for a month and let it grow. I'll put the tank right next to a window indoors to get natural sunlight or if needed supplemental lighting. Then put in inverts so an @$$ load of snails, shrimp, hermits and corals. Probably 500 bucks anyone want to donate frags? lol anyway then after it runs a bit add some fish that are native to the great barrier reef or hawaii as I will also try to biotope this project so that makes it even more fun. We will see first I need a job to pay for all of this.

 

[sweeTang21]

sounds like an ambitious plan. i would keep it away form direct sunlight because this will cause a ton of algae growth. Tank lighting would be something good to invest in for the coral. I feel as this is going to be more money then 500 though.

 

[serafino]

Ok probably right. Maybe I should start a little smaller like a 75 gallon. Who knows it all depends on if I get a job. Anyone hiring? I was think a crap load of snails say around 50 hahah lol to take care of the algae. No seriously just a bunch of snails. I really don't think it would go over 500 since I already have a tank and all I have to do is stock it. The 500 dollars is the stocking and lava rock to become live rock.

 

[sweeTang21]

as we all say on this site and others is, pics, pics, pics

 

[serafino]

Ha lol I will if and when I get started. This is the tank I want to use that has my fw fish in it currently
they were all huddling on the right side of the tank which I keep darker for my nocturnal clown knife and peacock eel an where my home made filter sits on top
I think it will be too big but you use what you have either that or I sell it to buy a new smaller tank

 

[sweeTang21]

If you built very slowly you could do it. Get the Filter you want, skimmer and lights. That would be one of the biggest purchases. Then get the rock and sand sorted out. Then focus on live stock. This would be about 2 months into the process depending on how fast you purchased everthing. saving money in between and working very slowly and have the system 1/2 way completed in about 6-12 months. It will look boring for a while, but things will shape up.

 

[serafino]

Wait do I need a filter and skimmer to start of a completely natural tank? Or can I just get the live rock growing by itself at the start and then add plants and corals then the fish and more inverts? I will probably have to buy lights.

 

[Nic]

My 90 gallon reef is currently filterless and skimmer-less..I just use flow and live rock as the filtration.

ive seen this done alot.... works great if there is low bio load and alot of rock

 

[sweeTang21]

Wait do I need a filter and skimmer to start of a completely natural tank? Or can I just get the live rock growing by itself at the start and then add plants and corals then the fish and more inverts? I will probably have to buy lights.

Thats right, I forgot lol. No filter and skimmer then lol. Just get the sand rock mixed with some LR and LS to start the seeding process and cycle process. Depending on the amount of LR and LS you get you may need to drop a shrimp in the tank to rot away and cause an ammonia spike. So far the only equiptment your looking at is the lights for the corals. Lights dont have to cost a ton, but if you want a nice system so you have a large range of corals then i would get the system i mentioned above. It will cost a bit upfront but will grow a wide range of corals and will not cause heating issues on the tank, or cost a lot to power.

 

[serafino]

Awesome thanks