Au naturale tanks.

[esoxlucius]

A lot of hobbyists strive for the clean cut look regarding their aquariums, myself included, up to a point.

Regularly maintained and not the slightest hint of algae or crud anywhere.

But I have recently found out with my little hex tank that going in completely the opposite direction and just leaving things be, is giving me just as much pleasure as my big cleaner looking 360.

The tank pictured below was set up on April 1st, so a little over 3 months ago, and still very much in its infancy really.

I haven't touched this tank, other than to top up water due to evaporation, and to wipe the front three viewing panes. Parameters are always perfect, including 0ppm nitrate.

It looks like an alien landscape, I love it, and more importantly so do the fish, a dozen Serpaes.

Anyone else partial to the au naturale look?

 

[Deadeye]

I’ve got a 10 gallon running (no recent pictures) that has a dwarf frog, endlers/guppies, and a lot of ghost shrimp (as food for my waspfish). I rarely touch it other than to feed every few days and occasional top offs. The hornwort is doing all the work for pulling waste out of the water so I almost never have to do water changes.
The main issue comes when the frog decides that the resident snail population isn’t tasty enough and eyes a fish.

 

[jjohnwm]

First of all...what a relief to realize that this is not a thread about you doing water changes in the buff...

I much prefer the natural look as well. I like the look of algae, almost any type of algae, with the possible exception of the Black Beard stuff...although even that is not too bad as long as I can keep it in check. Hair algae, which many people detest, imparts a very natural look and I actually harvest it as a food source for my Goodeid livebearers; a tank with a few different species of algae is my favourite, and the way that it softens the harsh contours of rocks, wood, etc. is very appealing to me. Hair algae growing on rocks in a tank with a fairly strong unidirectional current is a lovely look.

I gotta be honest, Esox, and say that much of what you have in that tank looks like Cyanobacteria to me rather than true algae. Not my favourite, but still better than garish plastic ornaments, fluorescent gravel or...gasp!...plastic plants. And way nicer than a sterile, barren, scrubbed-clean look, IMHO.

I'm getting my 360 ready for fish again...it's been empty since I moved my stuff outdoors this spring...and I am actually considering using a bunch of plastic plants in it...but I suddenly feel so...so...tawdry!

But my tanks are not display tanks anyway, so no hard and fast rules.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Its looking great. I really like all the volunteer algae, usually only clean it off the viewing side of my tanks. I figure it thrives off of excess nutrients and minerals in the water that come with frequent water changes. Im very proud of my current black beard growth:



In my time on this planet Ive yet to see a natural waterway where the rocks and logs were not completely covered in algae so idk what people are going for when they remove it. They sure arent replicating a "natural" environment imo.

 

[jjohnwm]

That kind ^ of Black Beard is pretty cool, much like the similar green stuff, when you get it waving seductively in the current like that.

You have the Eva Longoria variety of BBA; mine has shorter, stiffer bristles, growing in round clumps that look sort of like dog-grooming brushes...the Rosie O'Donnell of BBA.

 

[Jexnell]

I tend to be like you, and strive to make it more natural by not messing with it.

Here my 6ft 125gal got in some BBA, instead of fighting/trying to remove it I just let it go.


And now in my 40b it's near impossible to really get thru all the plants to vac out the bottom.

 

[Hybridfish7]

33 long

 

[Joshuakahan]

A lot of hobbyists strive for the clean cut look regarding their aquariums, myself included, up to a point.

Regularly maintained and not the slightest hint of algae or crud anywhere.

But I have recently found out with my little hex tank that going in completely the opposite direction and just leaving things be, is giving me just as much pleasure as my big cleaner looking 360.

The tank pictured below was set up on April 1st, so a little over 3 months ago, and still very much in its infancy really.

I haven't touched this tank, other than to top up water due to evaporation, and to wipe the front three viewing panes. Parameters are always perfect, including 0ppm nitrate.

It looks like an alien landscape, I love it, and more importantly so do the fish, a dozen Serpaes.

Anyone else partial to the au naturale look?

View attachment 1521979

View attachment 1521980

View attachment 1521981

Looks great. I keep my Rift tank pristine, but my planted geo tank, I’m letting run wild aside from wiping algae off the glass

 

[Hybridfish7]

Looks great. I keep my Rift tank pristine, but my planted geo tank, I’m letting run wild aside from wiping algae off the glass

I agree with the sentiment of at least cleaning the algae off the front panel, so you can see the rest of the algae

 

[esoxlucius]

I agree with the sentiment of at least cleaning the algae off the front panel, so you can see the rest of the algae

Agreed, lol. When the front panel algae begins to hinder the view of the mid to rear algae, then that scraper's gotta come out.

However, given the "au naturale" theme of the thread maybe we should all just let it rip so you can't see diddly squat, just a thick green haze, lol.

Pointless getting fish if you can't see them, think of the money we'd all save, lol.