# El Natural Tank Pics anyone?



## OrangeCones

I'd like to start a 20 gallon aquarium with my limited (still learning) knowledge about this method. After I get the hang of things, I'll try a larger (55 or 75 gallon) tank. 

I'd love to see what is possible with medium to large aquariums, using the El Natural method. 

Anyone have any pics to share?


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## mudboots

Humbletex has some pics in the journals forum, I think called 32 bowfront or something like that. I've got a 125 npt el natural, but it hit a bit of a disaster during a 9 day abscence (auto-feeder fed WAY too much, so it turned green) and while it's "healing" I'm out of town for another couple of weeks, so no pics available. I think davemonkey has some pics of an el natural hex-tank, but I'm not sure where..


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## Avi

This is how mine looked in July...I have some new stuff since then....It's a 58-gallon tank. EI-dosing.


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## f1ea

Avi said:


> This is how mine looked in July...I have some new stuff since then....It's a 58-gallon tank. EI-dosing.


Wow. Beautiful tank. Is this tank is El Natural??

Apart from EI dosing, what other El Natural 'rules' are you bending? because this certainly looks techy.


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## Avi

Hehe...maybe you meant "el Natural," mio amigo, not "EI Natural." I thought there was a bit of a conflict between EI-dosing and "natural." Yeah, I guess mine's "techy" although I think of myself as technically challenged. Mine's got pressurized CO2 and rather high lighting. Sorry for the misunderstanding.


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## f1ea

Avi said:


> Hehe...maybe you meant "el Natural," mio amigo, not "EI Natural." I thought there was a bit of a conflict between EI-dosing and "natural." Yeah, I guess mine's "techy" although I think of myself as technically challenged. Mine's got pressurized CO2 and rather high lighting. Sorry for the misunderstanding.


 I didn't write "EI Natural"... its that the l looks like an I 
But yeah... high light, CO2 and EI. Now your tank makes sense


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## OrangeCones

I currently have 'low tech' I guess you would call it planted tanks. 2-3 WPG, dry ferts, and DIY CO2. I'm trying to see what is possible with the El Nautral method, no cheating!


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## davemonkey

Here's a 12gal hex El Natural. 30 watts normal flourescent + window light. Growth is slow, but healthy and colorful. After 6 months of on/off green water and GSA, it is algae-free and crystal clear. This pic is about TWO months ago, so picture the rotala about twice as tall and bushy as in the picture.










Updated pic from this past week:









-Dave


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## davemonkey

Here's humbletex's bowfront journal. 32 gal, 78 watts t-5 HO, sand/composted topsoil. I"m not sure how old his most recent pics are, but I saw this last week and his plants are growing relatively fast, crystal clear water, very lush growth.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/62725-bow-front-journal.html


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## snooze

Pardon the bad photo - D1 with dying batteries and a backfocus issue. 
20G Tall with DIY CO2 being the only deviation from 'el naturale' - and it is only a recent addition (1 mo.). I'm waiting for all the crypts to fill out.


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## OrangeCones

Nice pics! I am waiting for the light fixture to come in (hopefully Saturday, if not Monday) and will transplant clippings from my existing tanks. I can't wait. 

Any more pics? I didn't expect the growth to be so lush, which is what I like !!!


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## Nexed

How often do you guys do a water change for your natural tanks?

Do you use regular soil or mineralized soil?


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## davemonkey

Nexed said:


> How often do you guys do a water change for your natural tanks?
> 
> Do you use regular soil or mineralized soil?


I used soil from the yard on my daughter's tank (1.5 inches topped with 1.5 inches gravel). Water changes were done weekly or monthly at 50-80% depending on how bad the green water was. Since it has cleared up, no water changes, just top off with filtered water.

-Dave


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## oldpunk78

OrangeCones said:


> I'd like to start a 20 gallon aquarium with my limited (still learning) knowledge about this method. After I get the hang of things, I'll try a larger (55 or 75 gallon) tank.
> 
> I'd love to see what is possible with medium to large aquariums, using the El Natural method.
> 
> Anyone have any pics to share?


i just started my first low light mineralized topsoil tank a couple weeks ago. it's a 50g, here's a picture:


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## dwalstad

OrangeCones said:


> I'd like to start a 20 gallon aquarium with my limited (still learning) knowledge about this method. After I get the hang of things, I'll try a larger (55 or 75 gallon) tank.
> 
> I'd love to see what is possible with medium to large aquariums, using the El Natural method.
> 
> Anyone have any pics to share?


You should be able to find plenty of photos in the archives.


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## Dustymac

This is the 55 gallon from about six months ago. It looks the same today except the plants are a lot bigger. This tank is about 1 1/2 years old, only has two circulating pumps, and it gets about 2 hours of direct sunlight each day. The soil is regular garden/topsoil from Lowes which sells for about $1.50 per bag, and is planted about 2" deep. I didn't normally change the water until the ph dropped below 6.5 and a couple fish were showing signs of stress.

Algae continues to be a non-issue and there is such a paucity of nutrients in the water, it's impossible to keep the frogbit and duckweed growing well. The only thing I dose for is Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium - our tap water is very, very soft and all growth stops without these essential nutrients. Evidently it's a pretty healthy environment; the Angels and Corys spawn regularly, and well... the Guppies breed like Guppies. 

Hope this is helpfull,
Jim


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## mudboots

Here's a few from my 125. The tank is cloudy due to a re-cycling spurred by a second round of antibiotic treatments. Long story short, I've had a lot of learning experiences in this tank that I'll never forget. Fortunately it's on the mend and should be back in good shape in a couple weeks. Most of the plants you see are regrowth after some agonizing perishings.

If I may suggest some easy no-maintenence plants that have shown to be just short of bullet proof I would suggest Echinodorus tenellus, Echinodorus ang."vesuvias", and Hygro.bold, along with the usuals like the java varieties, "sunset" hydro., and Clinopodium cf.brownii.


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## dwalstad

Here are two recent pictures of my 55 gals:

The tank with red rocks I set up in Sept 2008. I described setup in the latest issue of _Tropical Fish Hobbyist_. The right side of tank has no substrate, just lava rocks with ferns and a big potted Amazon Swordplant. It grows like crazy, so that I have to prune the outer, older leaves fairly frequently.

The other 55 gal is my native fish tank. I set this up in Feb 2009 with internal shelving for delicate plant species that I don't want to lose.


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## Phil Edwards

I'm loving those tanks Diana! You always grow the nicest R. macrandra.

Here's my current El Natural tank. It's a 20 long with 11 Emperor tetras, some Amazon swords, Myriophyllum sp., floating Riccia, and duckweed. Lighting is 3x 13 watt screw in PC bulbs for 10-14 hours/day.


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## dawntwister

f1ea said:


> Wow. Beautiful tank. Is this tank is El Natural??
> 
> Apart from EI dosing, what other El Natural 'rules' are you bending? because this certainly looks techy.


Perhaps Avi tank considers his tank El Natural because it has dirt in the substrate. I see he is injecting Co2 and high doses of ferts thus it is a high tech tank, in my opinion.


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## dawntwister

dwalstad said:


> Here are two recent pictures of my 55 gals:


Are you injecting Co2 in them?


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## dwalstad

dawntwister said:


> Are you injecting Co2 in them?


No. I have never injected CO2 in any of my tanks, nor do I add Excel.

I just did CO2 measurements on all my 8 tanks. All had measureable CO2 early in morning, and the levels continued to decrease throughout the day (I had assumed that plants would take it all up by noon.)

Interesting that the 3 small tanks without water movement had much more starting CO2 (measured at dawn). These tanks also had more CO2 consumption.


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## dawntwister

dwalstad said:


> No. I have never injected CO2 in any of my tanks, nor do I add Excel.


In the picture on the left I see an air stone behind the powerhead. Also seems like there is a tube from powerhead inlet in the substrate. What is this? I thought it diy Co2.


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## dwalstad

dawntwister said:


> In the picture on the left I see an air stone behind the powerhead. Also seems like there is a tube from powerhead inlet in the substrate. What is this? I thought it diy Co2.


Whatever you see in the picture, I don't have an airstone or any DIY CO2. I tried DIY CO2 15 years ago. For some reason, it flooded the tank with yeast and made a mess. I have never tried it since.

The decomposition of organic matter (by bacteria) naturally generates a great deal of CO2. Unfortunately, many hobbyists don't understand this concept. Or they understand but then use excessive filtration or airstones that quickly remove the CO2 (via degassing).

The trick is to start with an organic substrate (generates lots of CO2) and then try to avoid measures that remove the CO2.


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## dawntwister

This is the picture I am talking about. Could this be the old tank with Diy Co2. For the green item on the behind the powerhead looks like an air stone.


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## Phil Edwards

Dawntwister, 

That's a heater behind the powerhead.


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## dwalstad

Thank you, Phil. You're absolutely right. It is a heater.

BTW, Phil, I am now retired and have the time to travel and give talks. The one on "Why Planted Tanks are Better" went over pretty well in Australia. I have a nice Power Point presentation (I have tried to keep up with the new century!) If the Atlanta club is interested, I hear they take good care of their speakers....


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## luckydud13

I really like urs AVI


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## OrangeCones

Thanks to all that have posted pics of their El Natural tanks. Inspirational, indeed.


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## LVKSPlantlady

Here's a few, The 1st one is my new snail, plant and in the spring drogonfly nymph tank plants are small now, it needs a filter and I have to re-plant the subulata in a diff. pot, no hole in the pot it's in... And a few of my 20 L and one of the Ozelot Swords that are in there. Mine are nothing like most or your's but I love them!


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## dwalstad

LVKSPlantlady said:


> Mine are nothing like most or your's but I love them!


Enjoying your tanks is all that counts. 
Looks good to me!


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## davemonkey

dwalstad said:


> The decomposition of organic matter (by bacteria) naturally generates a great deal of CO2. Unfortunately, many hobbyists don't understand this concept. Or they understand but then use excessive filtration or airstones that quickly remove the CO2 (via degassing).


Yep, after almost 2 years (in January) I have finally come to realize this. I'm proud to say (and now have less aquarium work due to the fact) that I have fully converted to El Natural. 3 tanks, none with any type of filtration/ferts/etc..., and wonderfully healthy plants. 

-Dave


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## OrangeCones

For my two El Natural tanks being set up when my plants arrive (a fellow hobbyist is sending trimmings), I do NOT need any filter? I thought I read (maybe I'm wrong?) that a powerhead to move water around would be a good idea. I had plans of putting in a small sponge filter powered by a submerged powerhead. 

These two tanks are 10gallons.


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## LVKSPlantlady

I use filter's on all 3 of mine, Used to use carbon, but recently found out that's a no no in El Natural.

The filters help keep the water and plant nutrients moving around and they remove any dirt and what not that might be floating around making your tank look like a muddy mess.

Also my thinking is that they help the fish breath at night, after the plants stop using Co2 and start using oxegen, the water can become low in oxegen and the fish struggle to breath. I had to put a second filter on my 29 gal NPT cuz I would get up early around 5 to take care of the baby and all the fish would be at the top gasping for oxegen. I even lost a few white clouds from this...


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## dwalstad

OrangeCones said:


> For my two El Natural tanks being set up when my plants arrive (a fellow hobbyist is sending trimmings), I do NOT need any filter? I thought I read (maybe I'm wrong?) that a powerhead to move water around would be a good idea. I had plans of putting in a small sponge filter powered by a submerged powerhead.
> 
> These two tanks are 10gallons.


You don't need a biofilter in an NPT, but you may need water movement.

My large tanks (50 and 55 gal) all have water movement, which helps with heat distribution and nutrient uptake by plants. I can think of more arguments for some water movement in a deep tank (>15 inchs).

My smaller tanks (1 and 5 gal sizes) don't have any filters or water movement. They are doing fine.

I think its up to you and your situation. If plants start growing well and pumping out oxygen, there's no need for water movement. If your fish are gasping at the surface, then I'd temporarily add submerged powerhead to increase aeration in a new tank.

You could always set one tank up with a filter and one without. You may have to play around with this a little until you find _what works for you_.


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## OrangeCones

dwalstad said:


> You could always set one tank up with a filter and one without. You may have to play around with this a little until you find _what works for you_.


That is a great idea! I have two identical set-ups so I can easily tell what works for me.


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## mudboots

I know t he questions in this thread had already been answered, but was so excited I just had to make this post. I have not had green water problems in a while and figure I am beyond the jinx-point. I am only including a shot of the left side of my tank because I did an extensive trim job just before taking the pics and it's the only side that I didn't trim to below the half-way mark. Even still, you can just pretend I'm posting a picture of a 45 gallon tall. If you really want to see the rest of the tank, there are pics in my jounal (Mudboots' 125 NPT), but they are mostly of the opportunity for plant growth since I trimmed it up so much.


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## dawntwister

davemonkey said:


> I have fully converted to El Natural. 3 tanks, none with any type of filtration/ferts/etc..., and wonderfully healthy plants.


Do you have a link where I can see pictures of the tanks?


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## mudboots

dawntwister said:


> Do you have a link where I can see pictures of the tanks?


In case the evil twin, Dave, doesn't check this thread anytime soon, his tanks pics can be found in the journals forum under "davemonkey's 50 gal journal" and "Rita's Princess Tank". The fact that his scapes are El Natural is pretty impressive. It was Rita's tank that inspired me to go El Natural when I first started my 125.


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## LVKSPlantlady

I think you pic is messed up, It's really small and will not get any bigger...


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## mudboots

> I think your pic is messed up, It's really small and will not get any bigger...


Hmmmmmmm. It seems you're right. Not real sure what I did to mess that up, but in the Journals forum just click on Mudboots' 125 NPT and go to the last page. The pic is there and is correctly posted, so it should enlarge to where you can see it. Sorry about not making a direct link; I'm not exactly sure how to do that.


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## insectocean

This tank has been running for one month, so far everything has been trimmed once. Everything is getting covered in brown algae so the plants get a daily massage to break it off. The substrate has been releasing a lot of gas lately so I am hoping the tank will stabilize in the next few weeks.


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## mudboots

> This tank has been running for one month, so far everything has been trimmed once. Everything is getting covered in brown algae so the plants get a daily massage to break it off. The substrate has been releasing a lot of gas lately so I am hoping the tank will stabilize in the next few weeks.


So far so good insectocean. Watch your stems at the substrate very closely as the bubbles start rumbling. You'll know it's the iffy stuff if the stems start to blacken and they keep breaking off. But your substrate depth looks fine, so this shouldn't be an issue. With that much organics to where there's a lot of brown slime growing don't be afraid of a water change. Otocinclus will eat this as well IME.

Just an opinion - it sure would be nice to see a beautiful ground cover between your plants. Two of my favorites for NPT are marsilea minuta (likes a LOT of phosphates) and staurogyne 'porto vehlo', both of which are commonly available in the for-sale-or-trade forum (you sometimes can get way more for what you pay than at the store). But then again, a dwarf-sized Cryptocoryne would be simply awesome as well, they just grow a lot slower and are therefore not as readily available.


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## dwalstad

insectocean said:


> This tank has been running for one month, so far everything has been trimmed once. Everything is getting covered in brown algae so the plants get a daily massage to break it off. The substrate has been releasing a lot of gas lately so I am hoping the tank will stabilize in the next few weeks.


What is that thing on the left side of the tank? Is this a pump shooting out aerated water?
If so, you could be degassing out all CO2 making it difficult for your plants. Remember, if you make it difficult for plants, you make it easy for algae.

Also, your tank is just getting started and your plants are trying to adapt. Trimming is not called for right now. I wouldn't do any trimming until I saw about 5 times the amount of plant growth that I see in this tank.


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## insectocean

Its a powerhead with a homemade spraybar attached to it. It does not add air to the water, i put the spray bar on because it pumped way too fast and the spray bar disperses the current out less violently. And now I've lowered it down so it doesn't create any surface disturbance.


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## brenmuk

This was my tank just after changing over to el natural










This was my tank about 3 months later










I ought to take a more recent picture especially now that I have a new camera and figured out how to take pictures in focus!


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## LVKSPlantlady

Well these aren't the best pics but here are some before and after trimming pics of my 5.5 gal snail and betta tank...El Natural of course...This is the 2nd time Ive trimmed this tank since it was set up about 2 months ago...


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## dawntwister

I think moss covering the pots would like nice. Also I envision Wisteria in the right corner. What is the area on the left with rocks?


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## Garon

Cool rock background in the betta / snail tank. How did you get that look?


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## LVKSPlantlady

Garon said:


> Cool rock background in the betta / snail tank. How did you get that look?


Thanks, It's more of a sideground than background... I used a half a tube of aquarium sealer to glue the rocks on, they were from a bag of landscaping rock from home depot that I sorted though, there was some light coming though still so I put a piece of black paper behind it to prevent that, I want the moss to grow up it, it is but very slowly... I'm still planing on removing the betta and adding water beetles in the spring...


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## mudboots

LVKSPlantlady said:


> Thanks... I'm still planing on removing the betta and adding water beetles in the spring...


I always get a kick out of your posts because your systems are so functional, ie over-abundance of apple snails = an appetizer, and the snapping turtle...that's cool, though I probably will simply read about it via your posts rather than try it out myself.

But water beetles? Dare I ask what they are for...I guess they are high in protein!!

Thanks for the pics btw, looking great!


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## LVKSPlantlady

mudboots said:


> But water beetles? Dare I ask what they are for...I guess they are high in protein!!


I love insects too so I thought I would put some insects in my plant tank so I can enjoy two things I love at the same time!

BTW the big mystery snails became turtle food I only had 3 big ones, I was going to keep them but they would up root newly planted plants with their massive sized feet but now worries I have about 50 BB sized babies right now in that 5 gal tank...but they too will be turtle food when they are big enough....


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## Garon

As _everyone_ says, you can never have too many water beetles.


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## LVKSPlantlady

Garon, 

I think the saying goes "you can never have too many fish tanks"!
lol


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## bratyboy2

this was the tank after i switched it from a 20 long









then after i rescaped it









then now but its cloudy i took out stuff and added more lol


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## davemonkey

Here's an updated pic of my 55 El Natural:


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## bosmahe1

davemonkey said:


> Here's an updated pic of my 55 El Natural:


Very nice! Looking at it, I would has assumed you were adding CO2.


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## davemonkey

bosmahe1 said:


> Very nice! Looking at it, I would has assumed you were adding CO2.


Thanks.  No CO2, just lots of patience and ALOT of fighting the urge to increase the lights (which led to major algae problems when I tried it the first time). The nymphoides (behind the red lotus) actually works really well in this scape because it grows fast naturally. When I did have a CO2 tank, the nymphoides was out of control. Now it grows just right...and when it gets too big, I cut it to the ground and it bounces back in a week or two.


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## tantaMD

hi miss walstad , i'm ur fans from indonesia :wave:. ever since i knew el natural i 'm totally captivated by this concept. most people think the power of el natural is their low maintanance, while that's true for most cases, i think el natural are more from that. In el natural we learn to understand and appreciate the tank as an ecosystem entity. Planning and creating tanks base on these concepts is an art of itself i think. Like a marriage between art and science . I bought ur book, few months ago. i found it consistently helpfull along times i keep my tank. 3 months ago i set up a new npt. the main reason i set this tank is that i want to challenge myself to break the sitgma that NPT is just for easy plants. i've seen some people succeeded. the latest was in the AGA competition we can see how roberto pasminio cuevas succesfully grows a dense of healthy glosso in his npt. And u succesfully grew beautiful and healthy r. macrandra. So in this 2nd tank i try to follow ur path to grow r. macrandra . u can check it on my thread "indonesian el natural" but it seems lately my r. macrandra are dying, can u give me suggestion of how keeping r. macrandra in npt? thanks before


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## singolz

I am in the process of planting my tank right now, but this is a NPT.
used MGOCPS with a sand cap.
don't mind the random rocks to hold down the DW and anacharis used to soak up nutrients. they'll be taken out shortly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## dawntwister

tantaMD said:


> hi miss walstad ,
> 3 months ago i set up a new npt. the main reason i set this tank is that i want to challenge myself to break the sitgma that NPT is just for easy plants.


I have my 29 g set up as low tech. I was told that star grass won't grow without injecting Co2 but I got it to grow. I found it was a nitrogen hog. Ludwiga I had a problem with until I put organic charcoal under it.


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## tantaMD

thanks dawntwister , if the likely problem is nitrogen hog, could it be because i fed my fish too much? i fed my fish plently because i want to build up organic matter as CO2 source


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## dawntwister

tantaMD said:


> thanks dawntwister , if the likely problem is nitrogen hog, could it be because i fed my fish too much? i fed my fish plenty because i want to build up organic matter as CO2 source


What problem are you having?

When I overfed my fish my nitrates went up to 40. The result was string algae.


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## Extrame

This is my EL Natural tank 
Photos taken on Aug. 23, 2011









now, the valis has taken over the tank haha
some of the stem plants leaves have fallen out except for the top parts,
what should i do to remedy this?

my NPT tank also have algae problem. do i have to decrease the light on it?
the tank is 50 gal, 24 inches high and has an odyssea 2x 54w t5ho on it.
do i have too much light on it?


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## PaulG

Extrame said:


> This is my EL Natural tank
> Photos taken on Aug. 23, 2011
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> now, the valis has taken over the tank haha
> some of the stem plants leaves have fallen out except for the top parts,
> what should i do to remedy this?
> 
> my NPT tank also have algae problem. do i have to decrease the light on it?
> the tank is 50 gal, 24 inches high and has an odyssea 2x 54w t5ho on it.
> do i have too much light on it?


That's a lot of light! I have two x 24w T5 at 6 inches higher than that.


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## growfastplants

55G with High Light Co2...









33G Long with High Light co2

Still working out details..


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## singolz

growfastplants said:


> 55G with High Light Co2...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 33G Long with High Light co2
> 
> Still working out details..


dont think this would qualify as el natural

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Michael

What is "El Natural"? Imposing strict rules and categories limits experimentation, and may discourage people from finding the method that works best for their situation. I have no problem with people combining low tech and high tech elements in their tanks.

But for our discussion, most people would agree that CO2 supplementation and water column fertilization are outside the El Natural category. They are certainly not part of the method developed by Diana Walstad. So tanks that use those techniques don't really qualify.

So let's see some more photos of non-CO2, non-dosed tanks. There is a parallel thread in Aquascaping at http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/78536-aquascaping-low-tech.html which you might enjoy.


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## mauve

I do not use any ferts or CO2. No heater, no filter.
One tank is 20 gal and the other is 5 gal.


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## Bardus71

Some nice looking tanks in here, congratulations to the scapers.

I started off with a super low tech ideal, but wanted to stock more fish so added an Eheim 2215 canister filter & now have 50 fish.

Here are a few pics of my 55G along the way till now:


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## Douglas Ingram

Hey Everyone,

I set it up this way on Remembrance Day 2010, so that makes it 16 months now. Ioriginally had a large wood stump as part of the aquascaping but removed it some time back as it was releasing so much tannin into the water that it was getting too dark for the plants to get enough light. I have replaced it with some driftwood sticks that I prefer now.

I am enjoying this approach to planted tanks very much. Its so much simpler than and more effective for me than any other approach that I've used.

I have only had to scrape the front glass clean about 4 times, and never the back.

Occupants are 7 Angelfish (5 Peruvians and 2 domestic wild type). A bunch of green swordtails tor dither fish and the young provide prey for the Angels. 4 corys hang out as well.

Plants are 5 Amazon Swordplants, a thicket of Giant Vallisneria along the back, and I've recently added some Sagittaria Sublata.


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## tantaMD

hey again dawntwister , sorry for not answering so long, i got busy last couple months many things need to get done. as i mentioned in the quote before, i was trying to grow rotala macrandra in NPT and faces difficulties. anyway for the update, my r. macrandra all had die :wacko:. but thats ok, it's not the only fun of keeping an NPT. Good news is my black beard algae problem is diminishing , i replaced my r. mac with some ludwigia an red rubin sword . i'm gona post the pics soon


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## tantaMD

this is my NPT new look, the twister vals takes over


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## tantaMD

URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/600/cimg3360.jpg/]







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my new red rubin sword , my red tiger lotus gets massive growth (loving it ), ang my wisteria somehow ressurected from death


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## tantaMD

lovely tank douglas , and absolutely gorgeus peruvian angels . anyway i love that u keep swordtails in ur NPT, because to create a mini ecosystem with lots of plants and watch the swordtail frys would survive on its own was my goal when i was a kid, but after i started keeping aquatic plants i gave up swordtails, swordtail around hee usually a plant nibbler .


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## Extrame

this is my NPT tank








almost lose this tank to algae but as i remembered what d.walstad said in her book, sometimes it's just better to leave it alone and let the tank settle on its own. now, it's a balance tank with breeding shrimps and assassin snails. all the fish look healthy and happy


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## Jeffersuan

Some great looking tanks, everyone! I hope one day to be able to achieve this kind of beauty.

@Extrame: how long did it take your algae problem to resolve?


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## Extrame

@Jeffersuan
hm.. i left the tank alone for about 3-4 months. got tired of pulling out the algae (i think it was hair algae). i just feed the fish regularly 
when i decided to trim the plants after said time, the dwarf sag. already carpeted and the algae was gone. there are also a lot of small shrimp in this tank, maybe they helped clean/maintain the algae problem. also lights are on 5hrs - 4hrs ciesta -5hrs.
no filter and no co2


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## tantaMD

great tank extrame !!!, i'm interested in the way ur tank cleans itself from algae because u dont apply any water movement there. i had algae problem with my tank before, it was bba and hell it was the toughest algae to fight. after awhile i realized that the problem was that i had my waterflow blocked by the big bogwood u can see in my tank (as many sources sayings that bba problem usually cause by inadequate water movement and light-CO2 mismatch). so i extent the outflow pipe and practising sierra light method with 6-2-6 regimen. now my tank is free from that bba for 2 months already


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## Extrame

Thanks TantaMD,
i guess the shrimps are doing a great job. i also have 2 oto in my tank, i think they help clean the tank from algae but most of all i guess when you have a balanced tank, there will be no algae problem  

i don't do very much with that tank. just feed the fishes and trim some of the valis if they grow too long and curl up against the glass. 

best tank i'am keeping as of now. just add water and feed the fish hahaha


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## dawntwister

Here is thread with low tech tanks without Co2 injected.


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## totziens

This is an ugly messy old NPT of mine that Sagittaria subulata went out of control in 2010. The tank had been torn down and rescaped twice after that. Wanted to convert it to iwagumi but all the glosso died. It turned into another jungle after that with Ludwigia repens. No latest photo is available unfortunately. 

Details:
55 watt PLL (8 hours per day with 2 hours siesta period in between)
No Co2
No filter
Top soil and Holland sand
Fauna: Kribensis and platies (hidden by plants). It's a big mistake to have kribensis as they digged soil and destroyed plants.
Flora: Started with many type of plants but all died off or destroyed by kribensis except Sagittaria subulata. Sag subulata flowered so often until I felt annoyed.


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## totziens

Ok..here's the latest photo of my NPT. It's no longer a real NPT as it's quite high tech now.

Details:
55 watt PLL (8 hours per day with 2 hours siesta period in between)
Supplied with Co2
Eheim 2215 canister filter
Top soil and Holland sand
Fauna: Beckford's Pencilfish
Flora: Helanthium tenellum and Ludwigia repens


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## aquatic tuna

totziens 

Details ?


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## totziens

Updated...


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## Extrame

i have a question for stem plants in npt tank.
why does the leave of my stem plants fall off?
thanks


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## Bl00dworm

Here's a pic of my 90 gallon NPT with soil substrate. Been running for just on 3 months. No co2 or ferts.


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## Michael

Nice tank, and welcome to APC!


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## bratyboy2

This the same tank...40breeder 
This









To this


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## Bl00dworm

Sorry, I just realised how pathetic the pic in my previous post was (from my iPhone). Here's a better quality week 12 pic of my 90 gallon low tech.


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## pjb9166

bratyboy2 said:


> This the same tank...40breeder
> This
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To this


 what is that big red plant to the right of your tank

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
I want 1


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## Skizhx

Contributating.


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## bratyboy2

pjb9166 said:


> what is that big red plant to the right of your tank
> 
> Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
> I want 1


Its a red dwarf lily...i have a few available pm if interested


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