1st off, this to be my first native tank, The current plan is a 37g. I wanted to go out to my local lakes and collect everything for the tank, rocks, wood, plants, this i've done for tanks before so i shouldnt have any issues. My real question is would i have any problems placing mud/sand from the lake as an all natural substrate? The only problem i could think of would be too many nutrients in the soil that would cause a perminent algae problem, is this a possibility? and has anyone tryed this before?
new native tank questions
- Thread starter Timthedrifter
- Start date
Sand can work; if you transfer it quickly and don't rinse it, your tank will be instantly cycled and have a nice invert fauna right away. Be sure to get substrate from a clean water body (EPA provides water quality data for most lakes and streams). I would avoid using mud from a water body, as it is likely to harbor anaerobic bacteria which may release hydrogen sulfide, methane, and other nasty gases.
good point on the mud hadnt thought of that. this whole thing is just a fun experiment to see what kind of tank i can come up with by collecting everything. I may just get the substrate from a stream going into the lake and use only sand and rock.
I agree. I wouldn't do mud, I'd do some sand and gravel that appears fairly clean from a clean water source.
I tried to do mud in a tank when I was a kid and the fish stir it up constantly and your water will never be clean anyway.
I tried to do mud in a tank when I was a kid and the fish stir it up constantly and your water will never be clean anyway.
One thing I have done is add a layer of woodland topsoil and leaf litter beneath my gravel; it provides nutrients for plant growth and makes a good habitat for small inverts who will help eat uneaten food and provide occasional meals for your fish.
I like it, I was planning on netting up as many little inverts as i possibly could to sort of seed the tank like in a reef and then just leave it a month before going out and catching fish for it. thank you guys, this was my first post on this forum, i'm hooked now.
If you want plants I'd stay away from crayfish. I had ONE in my big tank and he was destroying all my plants by chewing at the base of them so everyday I had leaves floating at the surface. And it was not fun removing him from the tank.
i had a monster red cray in one of my tanks a long time ago..i had to get rid of him because he was starting to kill the fish,destroy the plants,and dig large holes in the gravel at the corners ya know cray stuff? well i gave him to my school because they had a large aquarium with larger tropical fish and guesss what happened? it sprung a leak SO THE SCHOOL RELEASED ALL OF THE TROPCIAL FISH INTO THE CREEK BY THE SCHOOL!!! i couldnt believe how stupid the staff of our school is...
yeah thats pretty bad especially for a school, people who should know better. Yeah crays for all thier destructivness sure are entertaining though.