# What do you love most about NPT's?



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Just like the subject title says, what do you love most about NPT's?

I know everyone probably has a lot that they love about these set ups but if you had to choose just one, what would it be? For me, it would be the water changes or lack thereof. It's nice to know that you can enjoy a freshwater aquarium while conserving water! Of course, there are many other things that I love about this set up but I think that little to no water changes would be at the top of my list.

How about all of you?


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## 01krisp10 (Feb 18, 2007)

Water changes go right onto my vegetable garden! (it loves it)

More enjoying less fuss, and less messing with the poor fish.

and finally, SUN POWER, and its FREE!


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## fishyfingers (Apr 26, 2008)

low maintenance, and cheap.

As long as I feed my fish, I only have to do maintenance once a month. 

It cost me very little to get started. I had a spare tank with a hood and a spare filter. All I needed was soil, gravel, rocks, wood, fish and plants.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

What I love most about NPT is just seeing a small ecosystem and marveling at the balance that was achieved. It brings a sense of peace. I love looking at the greenery and knowing that they are living, breathing dynamic system. I enjoy seeing the natural sunlight on the aquarium with sparkling water and bubbles forming on the plant leaves and bubbling to the surface. Each plant from the planted ones to the submerge ones to the floating ones each do its part to maintain a mutual balanced aquarium. With fish swimming through the upper regions of the tank while others clusters at the bottom regions and still other on the substrates and side walls doing their daily routines are very calming. To balance out the day, at night the trumpet snails emerge from substrate to take on the activities while other day creatures are fast asleep. It's really hard to believe how easily life can generate, grow and prosper given right conditions. I must say the side benefit of not having frequent maintenance such as water change a very nice perk. But that really is a testament to a balanced ecosystem as close as we can simulate under the confine of our small space.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Alex, your prose is lovely, indeed. It captures the essence of NPTs.

Most people keep aquariums to see a "slice of nature". If not, they would be playing videogames.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

dwalstad said:


> Most people keep aquariums to see a "slice of nature". If not, they would be playing videogames.


I would have expected a remark like that from people my age group or from teenagers, not from those who are more antiquated.

To each his own.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Two words: No dosing.


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## Morbida (Aug 15, 2005)

I can do it on the cheap. I love that , and it fits about any size tank.


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## plantblr (Feb 27, 2007)

Its the best coz its very straight.....
>Use cheapo potting soil instead of those expensive stuff
>Natural growing plants instead of CO2 & dosing(its like using steroids to grow plants)
>Natural light & less water changes(save money & time)
> & lot many things that sgood about El Natural ...........

Ravi


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## 01krisp10 (Feb 18, 2007)

Red_Rose said:


> I would have expected a remark like that from people my age group or from teenagers, not from those who are more antiquated.
> 
> To each his own.


I'm confused by your post, maybe you are misusing the term antiquated (old, obsolete)? As a certified avid gamer, turned occasional gamer, I find her statement to be right on. I use NPT's as a way to relax, educate my children, and avoid unsustainable hobbies, such as as over gaming, watching TV, and high tech aquarium keeping. I think you may be biased as you consider yourself to be a gaming fan, possible avid gamer (via your profile). From the outside (and in) gaming can appear very sedentary and unnatural.

Maybe I'm wrong...


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## danp (May 9, 2008)

I would assume Red_Rose is surprised to read such a funny comment coming from dwalstad's fingers. 

It seems Red_Rose has yet to replace her televisions with natural planted aquariums.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

I'm sure that many people keep NPT's, play video games, and watch TV, and get pleasure from all of them.

Some even catch fish and eat them!

There is plenty of room in the NPT hobby for people with all kinds of interests.

To address the point of the post, I like NPT's because they have shown me, with Diana's help, how to grow aquatic plants consistently and, yes, because they do open a little window on nature in my living room. Through this hobby I've also met some very nice people. 

Bill


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## guppyramkrib (Sep 5, 2007)

#1 COST! 
#2 No need for the constant maintenance required by hi tec


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

01krisp10 and danp,

The reason I commented on her post is because many people tend to view video games of any kind as something only children use which is far from the true. Not only that but those close minded to them are often quick to put down both video games as well as the people who play them, especially when the gamers are adults. If Diana were to actually play a game like Final Fantasy VII, she would think differently about them.  As for gaming being "sedentary and unnatural", what in everyday life isn't? In order to get away from anything unnatural and remotely sedentary, you would have to live the way our ancient ancestors did and leave all modern life behind you to live off of the land by hunting and foraging for your own food and well as becoming nomadic.

Also, an avid gamer, I am not. Back when I was a kid I might have been but not now. Why would you possibly think that I was an avid gamer by my profile? Just because I said that I like video games? :? Going by that I guess I'm also a Photoshop junkie who sits around all day eating chocolate.[smilie=l: If that were the case, I'd have no NPT's or a life for that matter. My APC profile just tells people a very small bit about myself. I never go into deep detail about myself on the internet.

Now on the subject of NPT's. While yes, NPT's can be relaxing to watch, I prefer other ways of relaxing myself like spending time with my pets. Admiring aquariums is nice but I personally would rather interact with the fish then to just sit back and look at them. Try it sometime. You'd be surprised at the personalities that fish have and you'll be more interested by that then from looking at the tank in general. 

What I find the most relaxing is that instead of just looking at "nature" that's confined in a glass or acrylic box, I prefer to actually [U]be in it[/U] by leaving the house so I'm surrounded by it. Whether it be the woods, a park or just my backyard, I find being surrounded by nature far more relaxing then any aquarium. I think aquabillpers understands where I'm coming from.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

I love video games myself especially massive online fps but knowing my addictive personality and my abnormal competitive nature I stay away from it and haven't played for a while now. 
But back to Rose's comment on NPT's can be relaxing to watch, I will agree in part to your comment. However, having a slice of nature in your house is a whole lot easier than spending the effort to drive to a remote local and deal with the external environment of heat, bugs, poisonous plants/animals etc every time you are in the mood to enjoy nature. Plus to see fish in a natural setting would be even more prohibitive. Here I could stroll into my bedroom in my case and there in the comfort of my air conditioned house enjoy my little eco. Also, to be more clear, it's really the journey that I enjoy. Having the foresight to research and put a plan in place...a vision of how my aquarium is going to be like and than seeing them come to life and watching it grow to what you envision it to be. That's the enjoyment part. Each day, you monitor the progress and see what has gone right what actions needed to taken to make an ideal home for both the fish and plant. Also to learn and adapt your vision to reality. In some sense, being the creator of this slice of nature is the enjoyment and every day you spend a few minutes of your life just marveling at what was created and anticipating what it will become. That's the relaxing part.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Alex123 said:


> I love video games myself especially massive online fps but knowing my addictive personality and my abnormal competitive nature I stay away from it and haven't played for a while now.
> But back to Rose's comment on NPT's can be relaxing to watch, I will agree in part to your comment. However, having a slice of nature in your house is a whole lot easier than spending the effort to drive to a remote local and deal with the external environment of heat, bugs, poisonous plants/animals etc every time you are in the mood to enjoy nature. Plus to see fish in a natural setting would be even more prohibitive. Here I could stroll into my bedroom in my case and there in the comfort of my air conditioned house enjoy my little eco. Also, to be more clear, it's really the journey that I enjoy. Having the foresight to research and put a plan in place...a vision of how my aquarium is going to be like and than seeing them come to life and watching it grow to what you envision it to be. That's the enjoyment part. Each day, you monitor the progress and see what has gone right what actions needed to taken to make an ideal home for both the fish and plant. Also to learn and adapt your vision to reality. In some sense, being the creator of this slice of nature is the enjoyment and every day you spend a few minutes of your life just marveling at what was created and anticipating what it will become. That's the relaxing part.


You've made some very good points, Alex but as for having to drive to see nature, that's something you don't always have to do. All I did was give examples and most of the time, I just go into my backyard and I definitely don't have to drive anywhere for that. If it's hot, I sit in the shade and the only time I get bothered by insects is when the sun is setting and the mosquitoes come out. Now if you have a lot of poisonous plants and animals lingering around in your backyard then that's an area I definitely would not want to live in!

I will admit that I find the part where you said "watching it grow to what you envision it to be" a tad odd but not in a bad way. My betta's 10g never turned out to what I had envisioned it to be because no matter how much you plan something out, Murphy's Law sometimes steps in and changes things on you. Like my first tank, for example. I never envisioned my plants suffering from two deficiencies or me having to remove almost all of my Wisteria because of it. I had expected some algae but definitely not the deficiencies which if I had left it be, I most likely would've had to tear the tank down and start from scratch again because of the damage it had already taken on my plants. It was even starting to affect by betta but I had done something about it before it did him any harm. What I had envisioned for it never happened but everything turned out for the better, fortunately.

For me, I think just seeing the plants and fish depend on each other and flourish because of it is what is relaxing, not being the creator of it. That kind of sounds like you're playing God and that's something I'd rather stay away from. The way I see it, I didn't create this environment but rather brought various species of fish, plants and microscopic organisms together which even though they can live on their own(plants only tanks, fish with no live plants, etc.) they are even better when brought together.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

Rose you make a good point, if you have a nice backyard by all means enjoy that. If plants and flowers and being out in nature is your thing and find relaxing than that's good too. I too find soaking in fresh air while idling in the back yard relaxing. Of course it has to be the right season, time of day, insect patterns, weather etc. Have western facing porch . I find aquarium to be similarly relaxing in a more controlled way. So they are mutually beneficial not exclusive of each other as both achieve the same goal in a different way. As far as I envision it to be, I also stated, "Also to learn and adapt your vision to reality". That's the part where your vision of what you want have to meet the reality of the situation as you have pointed out. My vision is not a concrete this plant here that plant there or this fish and that type of fish. It's really the essence of how I want it to look and any variety of plants the meet this essence or fish will do. As for your implied creator to god, I am not a believer so I didn't mean it that way. I'm a realist. 

Looking at thefreedictionary.com It defines creator:
1. One that creates: the creator of a new television series; a born creator of trouble.
2. Creator God. Used with the.
The 2nd meaning is actually in Cap as in the Creator versus creator one who creates - "a person who grows or makes or invents things"

In any case, I will reword it to be the architect of the aquarium. That sounds better right?


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Alex123 said:


> Rose you make a good point, if you have a nice backyard by all means enjoy that. If plants and flowers and being out in nature is your thing and find relaxing than that's good too. I too find soaking in fresh air while idling in the back yard relaxing. Of course it has to be the right season, time of day, insect patterns, weather etc. Have western facing porch . I find aquarium to be similarly relaxing in a more controlled way. So they are mutually beneficial not exclusive of each other as both achieve the same goal in a different way. As far as I envision it to be, I also stated, "Also to learn and adapt your vision to reality". That's the part where your vision of what you want have to meet the reality of the situation as you have pointed out. My vision is not a concrete this plant here that plant there or this fish and that type of fish. It's really the essence of how I want it to look and any variety of plants the meet this essence or fish will do. As for your implied creator to god, I am not a believer so I didn't mean it that way. I'm a realist.
> 
> Looking at thefreedictionary.com It defines creator:
> 1. One that creates: the creator of a new television series; a born creator of trouble.
> ...


My backyard is facing the north east. What is wrong with your porch facing the west?

As for what I said about using the term "creator", I wasn't implying that you were considering yourself as a God.  Many people use that term and the only time I use it is when I'm in Photoshop and I create something from nothing. What I was trying to say is that I personally don't like using that term when it comes to living things but I have no problems when others use it. I should have made that more clearer. Sorry about that!


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