Nature's Balance: How And Why Aquarium Filters Aren't Always Necessary

No filter aquariums don't have to be un-safe or scary. Having a better understanding of nitrogen and the ecosystem you're creating will definitely help the process. Natural always finds a way ;)

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[whatever]

Someone on the coop forums did a little experiment and found that lucky bamboo pulls more nitrate than pothos. It was very interesting. I myself played around with this and ended up needing to remove some of the lucky bamboo because my other plants were suffering and I just couldn't keep decent nitrate levels so I think they do indeed soak up nitrates.

[alexxaowen]

I love that you teach how to use the test strips to determine how to slove issues that are actively happening! Thank you for

[katrinabond]

I am new to the hobby and started right off with planted, low-no filter tanks and I had to move them two weeks ago. I was so worried but to me everyone/thing is recovering. I am doing pretty much what you are saying here and this video just kinda gave me a pat on the back so thank you!! I am really enjoying trying to use less/no synthetic products in my tanks. Thank you for this it was fun to watch and I learned a lot!

[bellecraig]

That's a funny looking dog (9:44).

[insanebmxthomas]

thanks to channels like yours i managed to somehow get a large vase to work for guppy fry with basically no water changes. Only added a small piece of Mopani wood (wood lowers the ph is all i know) and having a huge thick carpet of duckweed on the surface appears to help with all the other factors. So the fish have nice, stable, and a bit tan water. A tank doesn't need much to be self-sustained but fishkeeping itself is a very complex thing where lots can go wrong.

[MDFishTanks]

Really nice presentation style mike. 👍

[NUXLOO]

I just saw a rabbit running around on the floor. Ahhh. great video

[shesellsfish]

Aquariums throw surprises at ya no matter how experienced ya are or how long ya been keeping fish. It's always interesting to see something you've never experienced before. Test strips are the one staple supply nobody should be without.
👍❤️👍

[SoberBangBangVeteran]

I’m a no filter guy. Life’s better and easier for the most part. 1st reason is what did it for me.

[sharleanebailey]

Love it! It made me go do test strips on my tanks! No nitrates, just needed a water top off, and I cleaned sponge filters.

[ohmy]

I got into undergravel filters and I really enjoy it. I have it on my 75

[ZaneofAustin]

30:12
that's basically what a pothos does
if it's a baby pothos then no it's gonna take some time.
but i have GIANT pothos at my house, like they send off tons of leaves
and those leaves need nitrates, tbh the other minerals in my tank become a bottleneck before the pothos can use all the nitrates.
however
they still reduce the nitrates by a substantial amount.
however
they can also rot, leading to an increase in nitrates.

so i've found the best practice is to have a smaller pothos in multiple containers, letting them get large is fine but they become a bit of a pain to move around and they'll probably break once they get really long, also they drop leaves sometimes so you gotta clean those up too (or they fall into the tank and increase nitrates)

just do what makes sense, i love pothos, i noticed the fish love to hide in the root systems, and if you can get the pothos to root (into the substrate of the tank, not just the filter) then that also has an exponential boost to production.

I put pothos in all of my tanks, let it root down and give it tons of light (or use it to block out light if you have an algae problem)

use the brain cells
i believe in yall, I'm making a filterless aquarium in my grow tent (lit 24/7 with hp grow light)
im going to fill the container with pothos and throw an endler in there to see if i can filter a tank entirely with pothos (and not let the nitrates get out of hand, although tbf fish can tolerate really high nitrates and the higher the nitrates the better the pothos will grow)

[BTQ]

When I do water change on my shrimp or guppy tank and it is just a straight water change, I put a prefilter sponge on the end. That way I don’t have anyone riding the roller coaster. I also use a sponge when adding water and it diffuses the water wonderfully.

[steve]

I let the fish store test my water, if my wife ever found out how easy and cheap it is to test your own water my supply of new fish would be pretty much cut off....

[kurtbrutting]

I am loving your videos! Awesome content, keep up the amazing work!

[usmc]

Great video and glad to see you posting! You have great knowledge!

[guppyshack]

Hey Mike, watched this video and I noticed your test strip was a light violet for GH which isn't on the chart. I get the same on my water. Do you notice any issues with neocaridina and java moss? I can't grow moss well and have a low survival rate on shrimplets. My strip readings are near identical with yours.

[Betongbols]

Mike: What is that like 8 inches? Actually it's only 3. Weird.

Me: *suspicious*


😂😂😂

[lakeshiamills]

I had a filter on my 75 clog up and stop flowing for probably a week or two before I even noticed it. The tank isn't necessarily heavily planted but most of the fish are still small so the bioload relative to the plants makes it work I guess. I'm considering taking the filter off completely. Only thing in that tank currently is an air stone on full blast for circulation.

[kellygordon]

Liquid test are undoubtedly better and more accurate that test strips. For you next video maybe you should do some back to back testing with multiple brands.