Water circulation in no-filter tank

[bttay]

I understand that water circulation in the tank is important in order that nutrient can reach the plants evenly. In setting up a low tech tank without a filter, how can we make sure that it happens?

Do movements of critters in the tank helps to circulate the water?

[RonWill]

Hi 'bttay',
By 'low tech', I would have define it as no CO2 fertilization, no filtration, no aeration and no dosing of nutrient (that's my opinion anyway).

Diana Walstad, in her book 'Ecology of the Planted Aquarium', has some interesting theories you'd be wanting to try out (I know I'm waiting for my copy to arrive!).

In some of the 'no-tech' tanks I'm trying out, nutrient comes from the decomposition of plant material, snail/fish poo and maybe some decaying food since I still feed generously. If I feel like it, the tank gets a short squirt of TMG and the foraging corys will stir the water around while search for food.

If your fish load is low, an equilibrium can be achieved.

There was a brief discussion of low-tech/low-maintenance tanks in this threads; 'Using soil as gravel' and 'What’s one habit of Mr Low-maintenance??'.

I'm having some hiccups with the free hosting service but if the pics don't show, right-click on the image, select 'Copy shortcut' and paste that link in a new browser window.

BTW, please don't ask me about the tanks' parameters... I'm an idiot with Chemistry and go with observation and instincts, rather than numbers . Good luck and have fun with yours.