# El Natural - Past & Present



## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

All thanks to Dwalstad for the tips long time back... as my Tanks are doing well with no High tech equipments & maintenance free too..pl check my Tanks

Tank on November '06









Tank on April '07


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## Drunk miau (Apr 29, 2007)

you hav an amazing growing in there, and amazing colours too. but may i ask, why dont u have any gravel and everything is in boxes?


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## David Hui (Dec 10, 2004)

Arul,

Please share your light/maintenance schedule for this tank. I am interested in setting up a similar set up. Thanks

David


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## p3purr (Nov 6, 2006)

Yeah, ditto to both the responses. I'd love t know more details about the tank!

Patricia


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Hello Arul,

A true pleasure looking at the genesis of your beautiful tank with plants in containers. Very practical method-- and not bad to look at either!


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## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

The Tank is 56g and Gravel free.... just as "dwalstad" said for practical reasons ...as I prepared this tank to keep Discus, as its easy to clean the tank ...but got hooked on to "Golden Rasboras", "Minaows" and "Serpa's" as they dance around in the plants...so right now keeping this setup for them.

Well I maintain a low 1 wpg method for lighting, through Two 20" Daylight tubes and One Bio-tube...and 5 to 6 hours of lighting everyday ...

And 3 to 4 inches of water change every week... with no fertilizers.


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## plantblr (Feb 27, 2007)

Hey Arul

Thats a awesome looking tank,keep it up.Where do you live?I live in Bangalore.Will post my tank pics soon.

Thanks
Ravi


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## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

Thanks, I live in New Delhi, India.


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## capn_kirkl (Jul 4, 2006)

whats the plant in the center


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## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

These are Crypts...grows very well in low light conditions.


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## skincareaddicted (Mar 19, 2007)

your tank is very lovely. It's nice to see your plants healthy but the bare bottom tank is a bit strange to see i admit. Doesn't the fish poo just sit on the bottom then? I worry about my fish and frogs eating their own feces since i see that often in bare bottom tanks at the LFS.


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## essabee (Oct 11, 2006)

skincareaddicted said:


> your tank is very lovely. It's nice to see your plants healthy but the bare bottom tank is a bit strange to see i admit. Doesn't the fish poo just sit on the bottom then? I worry about my fish and frogs eating their own feces since i see that often in bare bottom tanks at the LFS.


Yes but you see it is so quick to clean that you can do it in a jiffy. Having the plants in those plastic boxes allows you quick changes, for breeding you can easily create spawning areas for egg scatterers. They also great for betta breeding. Again these type of tanks are great for quarantine and treatment. As you can remove the plants before netting; you can easily net the fish after they have become healthy again.

The only caution in using the box type plant-pots is that you should always have enough gap between them and other boxes and also the aquarium wall so that no fishes get caught between the walls of the plant-pots.


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## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

Thanks essabee that was well defined.

Well some of the job is taken care by my Golden Snails which keeps the tank clean... and during water change on weekends, I siphon off the debris.

Snail Pic


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## arulnathan (May 24, 2005)

Tank as on 3rd June '07


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