Setting up An Alternative Aquarium.

Inspired from the book of the same title
"An Alternative Aquarium: A Robust Habitat" that I just finished reading.

I will use my 20 gal long that I bought recently.  It was not really intended for this but for some dirt setup anyway.  I did not have a stand, so had to make one.  Good old 2X4 held together with home made ash dowels and 12 1/2in carriage bolts.  A coat of iron buff to throw in some color and a coat of Dasish oil still drying.  And I need to decide where to set it up. It might be my bedroom tank.

I dug out 2 full buckets of clay from the backyard.  Dug almost 2 feet down.  I don't fertilize the lawn.  So that should be ok.  There were some pretty big earthworms.  Then I need to decide if I go wild hunting for soil or if I use the pond soil I bought as this is what I was supposed to use before I read the book...

Haven't decided yet on the plants and fauna.  There will be a heater as it gets cold here in the winter.  No filter, just a pump.

Here is the pump setup.

Layering the substrate.  Clay from my backyard, pond soil and play sand.  Then time to fill up.  It's a myth that setting up a dirt tank is messy.

Adding some supports for land plants that get their water from the tank through a wick.  One of my dog, Pasha, helped with the watering mat I used to make the wicks.

The tanks as of 3 Oct 2015.  Fauna includes 9 White cloud mountain minnows and 1 hillstream loach.  As usual, pond and trumpet snails are part of the game.