# what about no filter on 125 heavily planted?



## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

ok question.
I have my 125 up and running and stocked. tank is heavily planted from combining my 2 40 gallon tanks. I have it stocked heavy too though. I ordered 2 hydro 5's sponge filters for the tank and installed them,... but there seems to be more particles floating in the water column when I run them. when I remove them water is clear. here's my problem, the plants look great and the fish are coloring out with more vibrant colors than I have ever seen in them. I have a power head circulating the water right now. Do I need a filter at all? shouldn't the fish waste break down in the substrate and fertilize the plants, and the plants bio-filter the water? as I stated in another post.... the more filtration I strip away., the better things seem to run. 

please help tank guru's


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

I only had the sponges in for a day. got mad and removed them because they seemed to be stirring up more of a mess than helping. I have a canister I could install for mechanical filtration.. but do I need it. doesn't fish poop make dirt? lol. just wondering


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you need to learn to be patient..do you tell your boss that you want your paycheck before you earn it ?
you need to give the sponges at least 2 weeks to run and clear the tank..


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

I know lol. I was just asking a question about what you guys thought. there is so much either way on the subject out here in internet land that I figured I would bring it up here for discussion. that's part of the fun of keeping aquariums for me. don't wanna hurt the fish or plants though, so before I tried it I thought I would get some input as to if it's plausible. I can always add the sponges at anytime if something goes haywire. just wanted to know if anyone has a setup like that on here.


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2013)

Yeah patience is key with everything about fish and tanks. I just got some java moss and put it in my tank. Tomorrow I am going to check my water parameters and see if my nitrates are going down any. Patience isn't my strong point but it is good to learn because you will be happy with the results.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

To go filterless successfully (no ammonia poisoning of the fish), you'd need an extremely low bioload (think a few neons in a 125) and/or massive frequent water changes (think 3X daily). No natural system has powerfilters, but most of us like a lot more fish density than you'd find in the wild. You could try it. Put in a massive amount of plants, lights, ferts and CO2, and add fish one by one as you test and test. IMO, far more trouble than a couple of sponges. Or you could set up a continuous or periodic water change system. This works best if water is cheap or free for you (you own your own well or your home is adjacent to a body of clean, fresh water). Some Asian fish distributors just change 80% of water 3x times daily. It works because they have tropical temp river water right there.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

thanks for the reply! yeah I was just posing a question more or less, exploring the idea. I went to home depot and bought some pvc and made a spray bar for the canister filter and fired it up. it did look pretty good in there for the few days while waiting on the sponges to arrive. I put the sponges in my 40 gallon tanks. I plan on using them for shrimp anyway. i feel stupid asking questions on here sometimes, but i figure it's why the site is here... so i don't have an idea someone else has already tried and they can stop me before i mess something up. lol but you never know.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Without a filter, any uneaten food, poop, and plant debris will sit in the plants slowly decaying into nitrate which the plants will eventually eat. Its a balancing act. The "natural" or "balanced" aquarium that isn't filtered and is intended to be a self-contained eco-system is a niche interest, mostly in Europe and educational circles. There are books on the subject. I'm sure you could pull one off if you took enough time to research and were willing to live with the low bio-load and some of the other drawbacks (i.e. looking at decaying poop). Its probably something all of us should try once. I suspect it is fairly simple in the short-term and really difficult in the long-term and that when the system crashes, it'd be a real mess.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

As others have already said, possible if you have an understocked tank. My ecosphere has been running for almost four years. The shrimp are still alive and I see no sign of it stopping anytime soon. No food, air, or filtration enters that and it's ok. I think it all depends on circumstances.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Ah I had two ecospheres set up one and a half years ago. Worked like a charm for two months, then I moved the shrimp into a 5g.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

If the particulates bother you, then yeah, mechanically filter them. Water movement is a very good thing, anyway.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

And that's the beauty of it, because that water movement even over mechanical filtration will help in the biological filtration upping your stock availability.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

well here's what I got so far. sorry for the bad pics. camera phone.


10 giant danio
14 red serpta 
15 neons
2 blue gourami (male/female)
7 inca snails.. which I raised from babies
2 bristle nose plecto
20 tiger endlers
3 cory

everything seems happy as can be. just planted the micro sword and red rubin yesterday. small scarlet temple 2 days ago. 

all the fish are doing great


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

I don't know if those pics came through or not. one second they are visible the next they say they cant be found


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

They came through, and it looks great.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I can't see them. But it could be me.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Didn't come through for me =(


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

they are showing up sometimes on mine. maybe im doing something wrong. I uploaded to the site and them attached them. who knows. im gonna repost in the fish and tank pic forum.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I have best luck with hosting the pics elsewhere and linking to them.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

oh ok. i don't have anywhere else to host them. i don't do facebook or anything. lol


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)




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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

http://www.pinterest.com/marcmosley661/marcs-125-gallon-planted-aquarium/

i think this works. i just put them on pintrest. i hope it works anyway. i couldn't think of anywhere else to host them and i joined lol


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

ye,s that works. I usually recommend imagebucket or something like that. That's a really nice looking tank.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

tinypic is another one but it's a tad annoying with it's security nonsense.

Regardless, tank looks great. I'd love to do a heavy planted like that to try and breed some of my fish.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

thank you! it's been fun for the 2 weeks setting it up. everything in there seems to be breeding. of course the eggs and fry are getting eaten, but there are little prego fish everywhere.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

why do people not like uploading to their fishforums albums and then using that url to post pictures? That way you don't have to create another acount of sorts.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

i tried 4 or 5 times to upload. it would say they uploaded, show them in the thread, then they would be gone and say "website can't be found". then i tried attachments. maybe i just did it wrong


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i use photobucket..all i have to do is click on the "IMG" link and come back here and press "ctrl v" and it is done...
you i get this.....


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

ok there you go


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

If you have the app for iPhone you can just upload directly from you pictures gallery. Good pics, by the way.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Nice tank, but definitely too many fish for filterless.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I think this site has a really tight limit on pic size.


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

lol well thanks for the help with posting to the site. and yeah!, way to many fish now. lol i more or less posted the question while brainstorming and staring at the aquarium. i wanna try a filterless soon. might use a 40 i broke down. i can always stock it with plant trimmings and just see what happens


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

good idea, i would just always buy more fish until it is too many


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## marcshrimp (Jun 16, 2013)

lol. that's what im afraid of too.


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