Nature Aquarium (NA) is an art of artificially recreating nature's system in an aquarium. In the nature, those systems sustain the life of the organisms inside the water. Nature Aquarium tries to imitate the system and combining the systems to create a natural ecosystem in an aquarium.
There are 3 basic systems and 1 recommended system which have to be fulfilled when creating a nature aquarium: Filtration System, Lighting System, Substrate System, and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) system respectively.
FILTRATION SYSTEM
Filtration system has a crucial role in nature aquarium. This system is needed to 1) Distributing the nutrition to the whole aquarium; 2) Cleaning the water column from leaf decays, leftover foods, debris, etc; 3) Habitat for microorganisms to reproduce; 4) Help increasing the air exchange over the water surface. To live healthily, aquatic plants and other fauna need this system to work properly. And also without filtration system, the water column will have an unpleasant view for us to enjoy.
There are three types of filtration suitable for nature aquarium. External canister, hang on filter, and sump filter. The latter is the best filtration system for nature aquarium.
there also 3 types of filtration media, it is mechanical, chemical, and biological.
Ecosystem recommends the filtration system should be 5-10 times the aquarium volume for best results. Example: You will need a filter with 320-640 Liter/Hour capacity for a 60cmx30cmx35cm (64 Liter) aquarium.
ECO-CARBON have to be used during inital set-up, since ECO-CARBON has the ability to absorb excess nutrient significatly in a short period of time, whereever plant does not capable yet. right after plant able to kept the stability of the ecology of the planted tank,ECO-CARBON should be changed by biological filtration.
LIGHTING SYSTEM
Every living thing needs a lighting system to survive. That also works for nature aquarium. Aquatic plants need illumination to photosynthesize and fish needs illumination to help their internal metabolisms, and also other fauna inside the aquarium. In the nature, sun is used for illumination, however we can not control the intensity and the stability. Thus we use artificial lights for nature aquarium to control the intensity and stability.
Aquatic plant needs a different type of light compared to terrestrial plant. As rule of thumb, nature aquarium needs 8-12 hours of lighting period, 6500-8000 K color temperature, and 0.5-1.1 Watt/Liter aquarium volume to complete the basic requirements of the organisms.
There are four types of lighting system suitable for nature aquarium. Metal halide, Spring HO lamp, T8, and T5 lamps. Each lamp has its own positive and negative sides to consider.
SUBSTRATE SYSTEM
Substrate is used for rooting system, nutrition source, and microorganisms' habitat. A good selection of substrate is advisable. A good substrate has to be able to hold root, will not decompose easily, has a good aeration space, and able to store nutrition over time.
Recommended size for substrate is 3-5 mm. Please make sure that the substrate will not inhibit the aquatic plant growth. Ecosystem recommends using Agat Sand, or Aqua soil for best result. Agat sand is a plain river gravel, therefore base substrate is needed under the sand to mineralize the substrate. Aquasoil on the other hand is a pre-mineralized substrate, therefore base substrate is not necessary, however for long term use, Agat sand Large size can be used to better aerate the substrate.
ecosytem has several product that has the ability to increase substrate fertility.
basically, every substrate product has their own maximum age, it does should be changed after some period of time.
CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) SYSTEM
Aquatic plants use carbon dioxide to produce food for plants tissue and release oxygen back to the environment as by products. While other organisms on the other hand use oxygen to breathe and release carbon dioxide back to the system. Carbon dioxide is always available in the nature aquarium ecosystem, however, the carbon dioxide level is so limited for the plants.
In the nature carbon dioxide is continuously available via the water stream and air exchange from the water surface, thus aquatic plants can survive. However to achieve optimal result of the aquatic plants, we recommend additional carbon dioxide through pressurized cylinder into the nature aquarium for best result to support the growth of the aquatic plants.
Carbon dioxide installation begin from cylinder, regulator, check valva, bubble counter, and diffuser or reactor(only for large tank).
Beside those 4 systems, there are also supporting systems in the nature aquarium:
- Nutrition, all organisms in the nature aquarium need nutrition to survive. That includes aquatic plants. They require nutrition to survive, reproduce and to look pleasantly. Without proper nutrition, aquatic plants will deteriorate and die. Nutrition for aquatic plants are Carbon (Supplied through CO2), macro nutrients (NPK), and micro nutrients (Fe, B, Mg, Ca, etc). Aquatic plants take nutrients from the root system and from the water column. Their root systems take nutrients from the substrate, substrate supplements may be needed to supply their root intake. Water column is supplied through liquid fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer is currently the most convenient way to supply nutrients into the water column. Ecosystem recommends routine supply of liquid fertilizer to supply of nutrients and to limit the algae growth. Please use Eco Metamorph since the beginning of the tank, after 1-2 months please add Eco Chlorophyll b. Eco Chlorophyll a can be added after 4 months later.
- Microorganisms, Microorganisms is acting as a good organisms. They break the harmful chemical to harmless chemical. Ammonia/Ammonium (NH3/NH4) is the result from fish waste and leaf decays. Microorganisms oxidize NH3/NH4 (harmful) to Nitrite (NO2) (less harmful) and then oxidize it to Nitrate (NO3) as the final result, relatively harmless nutrition for nature aquarium. During the first setup, Ecosystem recommends using additives, such as bacteria starter and ECO pro carbon for their initial food. You can use additional microorganisms supply every water change to assure the continuous existence of those microorganisms.
- Algae Eater, during the first 1-3 months of nature aquarium setup, algae break is likely to occur. Thus the addition of algae eater, such as shrimps and algae eater fish is recommended on the first 7-10 days of setup (to assure that the water condition is stable and safe for the algae eater). Their existence is very crucial for nature aquarium to diminish the uncontrolled reproduction of algae inside the aquarium. Ecosystem recommends using combination of shrimps and algae eater fish for best result.
- Aeration, when the lights are out, aquatic plants stop using CO2 and continue using oxygen (O2). Thus aerator is advised to supply during the night. The continuous supply of O2 is essential for organisms during the night period.
- Water Tester, water quality is essential for nature aquarium. Bad water quality will result in bad performance of all organisms inside the tank. There are several water quality you have to ensure overtime:
- pH, level of hydrogen inside the aquarium. This results a water to be categorized acidic or alkaline or neutral. in nature with aquatic plant existence pH value are between 5-9
- Water Hardness, water hardness consists of General Hardness/Total Hardness (GH/TH), and Carbonate Hardness (KH). GH/TH means the total Calcium (Ca2+) and Magnesium (Mg2+) level in the water. KH means the total Carbonate (CO3-) level in the water.
- Water Temperature, well known in Celsius degree or Fahrenheit degree. Ecosystem recommends the water temperature to be 24-26 Celsius for best result, however, most plants can survive from 22-30 Celsius. You can use cooling system to lower the temperature unto the desired level and thermometer to monitor the water temperature.