Filterless 10

thebrandon

thebrandon

I like fish
Jan 29, 2009
1,846
0
36
Tucson, AZ
Hello everyone!

I've heard of filterless tanks and I wanted to attempt to do one of my own. I have a spare 10 gallon tank and would like to do something like this. My plans are low-med light plants, heavily planted of course. Routine water changes and vacs will still occur. I don't know which plants I would use yet, hopefully you can help me pick:)

Thoughts, suggestions?
 
It's all going to depend on they fish you stock. Once you decide on the species, you then need to acquire plants appropriate for them. You will need to research most of it on your own.
 
Just make sure you stock the tank fairly lightly.

Both of my tens are filterless and heavily plants and lightly stocked. Been working for about two years so far. My tanks are stocked with dwarf/micro fish, but you could get away with just small tetras and such too. There should be a thread somewhere around here about small fish.

As for plants, I've had good luck with:

java ferns
java moss
flame moss
dwarf sags
anubias
water wisteria
crypts
duckweed
water lettuce
 
It will be very lightly stocked, I was thinking a few neons, and maybe a few kulies if I could get away with it, nothing more.

There is a very good chance that my 20 will turn into the filterless tank though because the guppies will be moving out into other tanks as soon as they squirt some more babies out. I sort of want a "green" tank. Low energy cost, I might be able to hook the lights up to a small solar panel I have, so the only thing being plugged into the wall would be the heater.
 
I like the look of neons in heavily planted tanks so I think I will be sticking with them and kulies, I think if I use my 20 I should be ok.

I still don't know what substrate to use. Any ideas? I'm guessing a nutrient rich substrate. My plants are going to be including java ferns, Hygro sunset, wysteria, probably some java moss and/or taiwan moss, some varieties of anubias, some corck screw vals, also some floaters like duckweed.
 
If you go with the 20 you still need to keep the stocking light. In all honesty I would stick to one schooling species and do only around 6 at first. No need to go all out.

None of those plants require any special substrate. I would go simple unless you are really set on a soil type of substrate.
 
I really want to ditch the gravel in the tank with a cool looking substrate, possibly some moon sand, I figured a 20 pound bag would be enough for a regular 20 right? I've also been considering something to use as ground cover, but I have no idea what to use for this. Is dwarf hairgrass pretty simple to maintain? I might be throwing in some moneywort too. There really should be plants everywhere in this tank.
 
If there's no filter, would it be beneficial to run a small powerhead for gas exchange?
 
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