This is a subject dear to me as well. I ultimately hope to have my fish and
plants in an outside greenhouse/glasshouse that can be closed up for the
winter to conserve heat. I used to keep fish as a youngster with virtually
no air or filters and the plants were the biological water conditioners.
They were the good old days when we allowed an inch of fish per gallon of
water. They were also the days when a healthy tank was one with a layer of
mulm on the bottom. In those days the Crypts were continuously multiplying
and you only broke down a tank because it needed reputtying and was
leaking.
Oh for the good old days! Like hell! Now we can be lazy, sloppy, careless
with the food and water changes etc and the filtration gives us a
considerable margin of error. Things are so much easier now and still we
push our techniques and stocking levels to the limits.
Good on you Rhonda for reminding us that there is still a "natural" way to
keep aquatic creatures without ever-increasing reliance on technology.
Bruce Hansen
ANGFA