I set it up this way on Remembrance Day 2010, so that makes it 16 months now. Ioriginally had a large wood stump as part of the aquascaping but removed it some time back as it was releasing so much tannin into the water that it was getting too dark for the plants to get enough light. I have replaced it with some driftwood sticks that I prefer now.
I am enjoying this approach to planted tanks very much. Its so much simpler than and more effective for me than any other approach that I've used.
I have only had to scrape the front glass clean about 4 times, and never the back.
Occupants are 7 Angelfish (5 Peruvians and 2 domestic wild type). A bunch of green swordtails tor dither fish and the young provide prey for the Angels. 4 corys hang out as well.
Plants are 5 Amazon Swordplants, a thicket of Giant Vallisneria along the back, and I've recently added some Sagittaria Sublata.
hey again dawntwister , sorry for not answering so long, i got busy last couple months many things need to get done. as i mentioned in the quote before, i was trying to grow rotala macrandra in NPT and faces difficulties. anyway for the update, my r. macrandra all had die . but thats ok, it's not the only fun of keeping an NPT. Good news is my black beard algae problem is diminishing , i replaced my r. mac with some ludwigia an red rubin sword . i'm gona post the pics soon
lovely tank douglas , and absolutely gorgeus peruvian angels . anyway i love that u keep swordtails in ur NPT, because to create a mini ecosystem with lots of plants and watch the swordtail frys would survive on its own was my goal when i was a kid, but after i started keeping aquatic plants i gave up swordtails, swordtail around hee usually a plant nibbler .
this is my NPT tank
almost lose this tank to algae but as i remembered what d.walstad said in her book, sometimes it's just better to leave it alone and let the tank settle on its own. now, it's a balance tank with breeding shrimps and assassin snails. all the fish look healthy and happy
@Jeffersuan
hm.. i left the tank alone for about 3-4 months. got tired of pulling out the algae (i think it was hair algae). i just feed the fish regularly
when i decided to trim the plants after said time, the dwarf sag. already carpeted and the algae was gone. there are also a lot of small shrimp in this tank, maybe they helped clean/maintain the algae problem. also lights are on 5hrs - 4hrs ciesta -5hrs.
no filter and no co2
great tank extrame !!!, i'm interested in the way ur tank cleans itself from algae because u dont apply any water movement there. i had algae problem with my tank before, it was bba and hell it was the toughest algae to fight. after awhile i realized that the problem was that i had my waterflow blocked by the big bogwood u can see in my tank (as many sources sayings that bba problem usually cause by inadequate water movement and light-CO2 mismatch). so i extent the outflow pipe and practising sierra light method with 6-2-6 regimen. now my tank is free from that bba for 2 months already
Thanks TantaMD,
i guess the shrimps are doing a great job. i also have 2 oto in my tank, i think they help clean the tank from algae but most of all i guess when you have a balanced tank, there will be no algae problem
i don't do very much with that tank. just feed the fishes and trim some of the valis if they grow too long and curl up against the glass.
best tank i'am keeping as of now. just add water and feed the fish hahaha
Re: El Natural Tank Pics anyone? 
, sorry for not answering so long, i got busy last couple months many things need to get done. as i mentioned in the quote before, i was trying to grow rotala macrandra in NPT and faces difficulties. anyway for the update, my r. macrandra all had die 
. but thats ok, it's not the only fun of keeping an NPT. Good news is my black beard algae problem is diminishing 
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, and absolutely gorgeus peruvian angels 
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