jeez I just wanted a planted tank

[Sarlindescent]

IMy longest running tank using this method was 14 month due to needing to repurpose the tank, but with LOTS of heavy root feeders, I believe it's possible. The detritus buildup in the sand was pretty minimal considering over a year of overfeeding and not vacuuming. HOWEVER, the tank would need to be "lighly" stocked. You will need a huge tank. My maintenance for the tank was 50% weekly water changes and I would use a turkey baster to stur up any detritus buildup to remove it from the water column. This step is crucial and may be more than you are looking for. You also need a jungle of plants.

To do a tank like this with big fish, I would recommend a sump where you grow a weed in the sump to remove any excess nutrients. You would need to setup the tank and plant it for a month or 2 before adding fish though. Stem plants are unlikely to stay put. Swords, bulbs, and crypts are going to need to be the bulk of the plant mass due to heavy root structures that are difficult to uproot once secure.

Floating plants can also work great for this depending on if you can keep the tops dry. Floating plants largely die off if their leaves get wet regularly. This means that glass and acrylic tops are difficult. Mesh is the alternative for a lid, but for a tank that size, humidity may be an issue.

One other note, if you have enough and the proper flow, much of the waste can be suspended in the water column and goes in your filter. This would help substantially with large fish.

Here is the tank I had up like this. Granted it was much smaller, a 20 gallon, but the principles are the same. The top down of the Crypts was just before I pulled the tank down.

 

[duanes]

I don't use CO2, I do use pool filter sand, and use shop hardware store light, but a little indirect sun.

some of my favorite low light plants have been cryptocorne
same tank as above, during a water change

 

[geoffish]

My setup is going to be planted, detailed, lots of hiding places and wooded decor. It will basically be impossible to get the vacuum down to the gravel without destroying the whole set up. I'm trying this on a small scale before I setup my large tank and I'm already sick of having to re-setup everything just because I want to clean the gravel. I'm thinking forget the gravel, get good plant substrate, and the fish waste can just keep feeding my plants. I hate sticking the vacuum down there and disturbing my roots and decorations. So frustrating. Maybe I'll get a mini powered vaccum to get in all the tight places? I can't be the only one that has this problem....

 

[J. H.]

OK. My confession. I HAVE A DREAM. A dream that I can have a large tank with dirty dirty fish, and yet not have to vacuum constantly. I'm talking Wisconsin natives. Bluegill pumpkinseed crappie perch pickerel rockbass (all DIRTY) I'm OK with frequent water changes. But can I have enough plants or dirt that ALL the waste is consumed by plant or bacteria? Won't waste turn to dirt eventually anyway? Has ANYBODY OUT THERE pulled this off? (Not vacuuming with dirty fish) when these things take a dump it's no guppy turd lol. Thanks for all the responses so far you guys/gals are helpful.

I know its an old thread, but have you ever heard of UGJ?
Undergravel Jets. People use them in Malawi and goldfish tanks to blast the substrate clean. There is also RUGF, reverse undergravel filter, that I use in my 55. Just like a UGF, except that it pumps the water up, not down, and never allows any crud to settle. I am not sure anyone else has ever had a RUGF, as I am not sure if I came up with the idea or saw it somewhere, but I built my own out of PVC.

 

[Gutter]

I've never heard of it. Sounds interesting.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

I change my 40 gallon once a month sometimes less, i'm not understocked or have bad test strips, I guess I just don't get dirty water for some reason. Water changes are pretty unheard of in my heavily planted tank. It doesn't have high nitrates at all even though the creek chubs are all a bunch of fat pooping gluttons, lol.

 

[skjl47]

i'm not understocked or have bad test strips, I guess I just don't get dirty water for some reason. Water changes are pretty unheard of in my heavily planted tank. It doesn't have high nitrates at all

Hello; First thing is there are other reasons for regular WC than nitrates. As water evaporates it leaves behind minerals and anything else dissolved in the water. Over time the concentration of these things will build up. The mineral concentrations will vary with the local tap water but should be present at some level. My thinking in there are other compounds that will build up, organic perhaps, that are diluted by WC. We have tests for a few things but not all.
I also run heavily planted tanks but with light stocking of fish. I figure the plants do take up nitrates. A key for this to be of benefit is harvesting some of the plants at times. The removed plants also remove the nitrates locked up in their parts. Pretty much new growth needs to be going on all the time.

One other thing may be the test strips. Most, well many, fish keepers do not trust the strips and prefer the liquid test kits. I ramble so will stop.

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Your rambling is ok, it might be I have a bad brand of test strips, although the store said they just got them in and I haven't had them for long. I test for more than just nitrates, like the pH, ammonia, nitrites, gh, and kh.

 

[Hendre]

Strips are useless. I just went with liquid tests...

Plants really eat nitrate, expecially fadt growing floating plants like water sprite which is growing super well for me

 

[Thyroyalgeek]

Although Floating plants take up nitrates, remember what they give off. I might start using liquid tests, seems like they may be more accurate. What kind do you use?