Loaches Online Forum

As the titles says, how can i make a natural tank or close to natural as possible. I have bogwood and plants at the mo but i want to go with the natural theme and not as much wood as it turns my water yellow.

Any ideas or pics you guys have would be gretaful.

this is my tank now

Which Rio model is that? Throw as much wood in as you like, carbon filters out the tannins. Tank looks great already though!

Its the Rio 180 but i've took the box filter out and added a External fluval 205 and internal fluval 2 until i can afford another external filter.

Thanks, thats an old pic the plants have grown wild and really bushy now.

I'd suggest adding pebbles or other rocks, you can get what they call "river pebbles" or something like that in small bags.

I did this and it made the tank seem less...tank-ey

They make fake driftwood decorations. I also use natural background on my tanks and never clean the back glass .

I think your tank is already way more natural looking than the usuall clown-puke gravel tank! Looks great. Maybe some moss? IMO a heavily planted tank goes far towards making a stunning natural looking tank, but that does requires more equipment and bit more work, as well as some skil balancing out ferts, light, and co2.

ive found (and am still finding) that the best way to look natural is to go natural. ive always used fake decor but lately ive been experimenting with real decor. i picked up a few plants a week ago and planted'm in my 10 gallon. i figure ill practice there instead of my 30 main tank. i did some research on plantgeek.net and the forums there and ended up getting low maintenance java ferns and anubias. i wanted java moss too but they didnt hav any. its not hard at all, java'a are very easy no maintenance - i already got my tanks lights on timers. it may be the substrate, but your tank looks very bright, you could easily keep low maintenance plants i like your setup thus far

edit: ahh i missed where you said you already had plants, oh well, ill leave it up there for anyone else maybe itll inspire someone . any pics of it now that its filled out? i love before and after shots i agree river pebbles would look great

Well this is the verdict from loachmom's home--not that we're experts or anything....

My kids and I have been looking at your tank, and we think it's....well....
perfect.

I bet it really looks nice now that your plants have filled in.

I practice in my smaller tank as well and I've found that some plants grow better there than in my 75 gallon tank. I usually just keep them in the 10 gallon long enough to grow roots, since the loaches will dig up my stems.

It's possible to do it without a CO2 but it's VERY hard and not worth it if you're impatient, otherwise you're constantly fiddling and sinking money into alternative ways to get them to grow.

I think it looks great the way it is, it's open, but not crowded, and is nicely balanced.

Hi and thank you all for your comments, i'm thinking of adding some java moss to some dirftwood and changing a couple of pieces of wood for large pebble to see how that looks. I'll update the pics when i've done it. i was also thinking of adding some lilly pads to the tank for a bit of a shaded area, but dont know yet.

Heres the before and after shot of the plants.



Now the plants have filled out.



Thanks.

looks nice. my clowns shred anything other than anubias fern and java fern. all other plants perish....lol

Cheers, Yeah mine normally do but these have seemed to have survived (so far).

I like the natural look of bogwood covered in thick carpets of algae. Algae is natures #1 producer of oxygen.