How This Started

During the early stages of my experience, I maintained several aquariums that followed the conventional model: a 20-gallon long tank for Apistogramma and green fire tetras, and a 10-gallon tall aquarium that housed larger rooted plants alongside burrowing species like zigzag eels and dojo loaches. These systems were biologically rich and productive — Apistogramma bred regularly, plants grew vigorously — but only under strict, sustained management. Despite using commercial "nutrient-rich" substrates, I found myself continuously supplementing with fertilizers, feeding schedules, hardware cleaning, and pest control routines to preserve stability.

This dependency revealed a systemic flaw: the ecological balance in these aquariums was externally sustained rather than internally generated. I began seeking a method that could reduce or eliminate such dependencies by fostering an ecosystem capable of self-regulation. This transition began with the creation of a nano cube — a small-scale aquarium housing shrimp — during a period when financial constraints limited access to commercial aquarium products. Materials such as volcanic ash, laterite clay, and lava rock presented an opportunity to rethink substrate architecture from a biological and mineralogical standpoint.

What emerged was not a conventional planted tank, but a self-sustaining, open-loop microbial-symbiotic nutrient cycle contained within a compact glass enclosure. I later termed this system the Symbiotic Litho-Ecological Substrate System (SLESS). Unlike my previous setups, the nano cube required no feeding, no fertilization, no regular water changes, and no hardware maintenance. Its only upkeep was the periodic topping off of evaporated water using distilled water — typically once per month. I was fascinated.

Most notably, the system evolved organically over time. Rather than reactively adjusting variables to control biological outcomes, I observed the aquarium mature and adapt under its own ecological momentum. The distinction was profound: in my earlier systems, change was imposed by human intervention; in SLESS, change occurred through ecological succession. This marked the beginning of a methodology grounded not in technological optimization, but in the harnessing of microbial networks, mineral substrates, and biological synergy to sustain life indefinitely.