Filterless Shrimp Tank

[GotCrabs]

I'm thinking of turning off my Eheim 2213 in my Mr Aqua 45l tank, it's heavily planted, 8 hours of light period each day with a 2 hour break in there and Shrimp are fed every second day.

Just wondering if this would be OK to run without the filter going.

[fishmosy]

Possible if the shrimp are cherries and most (repeat most) of the tank is filled with fast growing stem plants (which will need to be constantly trimmed to keep them growing well) AND water changes are done regularly. Sounds like too much hard work to me. 

[GotCrabs]

Plants are: Broad Leaf Java Fern, Needle Leaf Java Fern, Trident Java Fern, Bolbitis Heudelotii, Bacopa Monnieri, Hygrophila Corymbosa 'Angustifolia', Hygrophila Coryambosa 'Compact',Cyperus Helferi, Water Wisteria, Corkscrew Vallisneria, Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Subwassertang,Green Tiger Lotus, Pink Baby Tears, Cardamine Lyrata, Elodea, Milfoil, Anubias Nana, Amazon Frogbit, Duckweed.

[GotCrabs]

Most of the tank is planted, as in you can hardly see any Shrimp unless you look closer, Shrimp are DAS, CRS, RCS, YCS, Chameleon.

[neo-2FX]

GC, what makes you want to turn off your filter?

If you turn it off, you could end up with lots of dead spots because of poor water flow. Plants will most likely rot because of it? Not sure on that, maybe someone else can chime in.

Edited June 17, 2015 by neo-2FX

[jayc]

Plants won't melt.

In fact the plants will act as a filter of sorts. But the plants need that water flow to do their thing. So a small power head is still a must have.

You will also need to cut down on the bio load. And feeding.

In effect, you are replicating a Walstad tank. Look up Walstad method.

if you still need a powerhead for water movement, you might as well have a filter.

Hardly anyone goes down this path, so you won't find many supporters, or advice.

 

<GO THE BLUES!!>

[Callan]

Pumps move water and filters remove solids, so I believe you are saying you intend to turn the pump off and attempt to run the tank using biological filtration ie. the plants. 

Biological filtration is very slow working and the best example I can give you is to look at any man made lake. There is always a large wetland are preceeding the lake. Normally when constructing there are a number of plants, rocks, vegetation used. This is the area where the biological filtration takes place. As a minimum it is recommended a minimum of 40% coverage is required however to work more effectively it is more like 70% coverage. That is why in most circumstances it is recommended to run a combination of both biological and mechanical filtration.

The other thing to keep in mind is the time factor because biological filtration can take quite a while to start working effectively. In my own pond it took a 90% coverage and nearly 2 + years to start working properly. There must also be areas where aerobic bacteria can colonise and multiply to help consume the various organic matters such as sludge. These areas build up and become oxygen depleted which results in anaerobic bacteria building up. This is in turn allows the metabolisms to produce hydrogen sulfide which is quite often what gives the rotten egg smell when stirred up . The more they build up the more they kill of the beneficial aerobic bacteria and algaes, which could result in killing off your plants and shrimp. It can also cause an oxygen sealing layer across the bottom of the pond (tank in your situation) which can smother and kill the slimy layer of healthy algea across the bottom. The smaller the water parameter the quicker it occurs. The amount of power that the pumps use is minimal as they have very low wattage usage, so IMO why not run it. Even though in a shrimp tank the bioload on the ecosystem would not be as big as say in a fish tank, organic materials would still build up quicker and could cause issues. 

So I would be running both biological and mechanical filtration.

[OzShrimp]

I tried a walstad tank once geese what a failure that was lol never again