Filterless aquariums...again

[corbypete]

http/www.marksfish.f9.co.uk/fish_plants/plants3.htm

another chap who insists all the filtration is a waste of money, and media hype...

funny, i get people like this in the bodybuilding scene, who dont believe any hype thats in the US and UK mags, instead insist on decent balanced meals, not high protein shake intake....

 

[freddyk]

Speaking of nitrite and ammonia, it's true - done right a filter isn't necessarily needed. But what about the build up of physical waste? Are you sure you want to do water changes twice per week as the writer of that artical did?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i actually find the whole thing suspicious. he only talks about testing his "nitrates" but never mentions the ammonia and nitrite readings for any of these tanks. i'd like to see those plotted out before banking my fish.

aside from the angels, he also mentions only a series of small fish in these tanks. these are fish which produce relatively low levels of waste and are excellent for the inches-to-gallons rule. speaking of which, i also noticed that all of these tanks seemed slightly understocked and heavily planted. this is a pattern of fish-keeping completely OPPOSITE of what most hobbyists do. this bothers me about the article, not because i think it can't or shouldn't be done, but because he doesn't bother to point it out. all he says is "don't use filters, use plants!", implying by ommission that this is a viable option for everyone to use with their current fish-keeping habits.

this part also feels a bit suspicious:

Now I know we are always told we have to have filters. We are deluged by new ads for new filtration methods and equipment. Almost without exception, all of this equipment comes from the waste water treatment industry and has been adapted for aquarium use. Think about that for a moment if you will. Can your fish live in tap water? No, at least not as it comes from the tap. Why? Simply because chlorine is added to the water to kill bacteria. Often nitrates and phosphates are present in tap water in pretty high levels. This is not at all toxic to people, but translates to instant algae in the planted tank. So do we really want, or need, to use wastewater treatment for our planted tanks?

is it just me or does A + B not quite equal C? what does the way drinking water is pretreated have to do with using filtration devices? do filters add chlorine or phosphates? do they create additional nitrate beyond what would become present in your tank otherwise? "Poisoning the Well" is best name i could find for this type of logical fallacy, which i believe was intentional.

i don't know why the author would choose to be misleading and there does appear to be no manner in which he could profit from this, but the writing still seems suspicious to me all the same. i understand this is a reprint from a magazine and so some content may have been excised for length, but i would like to see that missing content before i personally would undertake the project. but that may just be me...