# biospheres?



## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

so i have this giant mason jar that im really dying to do something with. and ive been looking into the idea of a terrarium or an aquatic biosphere type-thing. but i wanted to know if it is safe and healthy for organisms to be in the biosphere, if given the right plants, one diy tutorial that i want to do says that they included a ghost shrimp or 2, small snails or one large snail, and elodia. is this safe for all the animals or should i just scrap it and put a whole bunch of plants in there?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Put a bunch of plants AND 2 shrimp! lol they should be fine in there with enough plants for food and stuff. You may have to supplement with some flakes every now and then but they should be good :-D


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

yay! what kinds of plants would be best? this jar is about a gallon but i just realized im probably never going to be able to find the top for it :/ i guess im going jar shopping too!


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

and i was confused by the fact that they added snails, one being a mystery snail. dont those get pretty big and have a pretty large bioload?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah I wouldn't add a snail, those ones will get big and yes lots of poop from that guy. I'd get a trio of shrimp or something, Ghost shrimp would probably be the best bet but you can look into some of the more expensive ones. Red Cherry Shrimp reproduce a lot so I wouldn't get those.

And as far as plants, what kind of light situation are you looking at? I don't recommend putting it in the sun if you've got shrimp in there (it can fry them when it gets too hot) A desk lamp would be great for a 1 gallon. Also you can rubber band Saran wrap to the top for a lid, it keeps moisture in and you can poke some holes for fresh air exchange.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

yeah it'll probably be a desk lamp situation, im making this for a cool dorm room diy project, because bringing 3 fish tanks isnt troublesome enough!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol yeah I hear ya.

So is this usage of cool as in temp or the other cool? haha

So for plants, I would get at least one Anubias, they're slow growers but great under low lighting situations. You'll probably have around a medium light if yo have a desk lamp.

Java Fern, Water sprite would be great either as floating or rooted, water wisteria will grow fast but it is a great plant. And if they grow too much you can put them in your other tanks! :-D

Any Cryptocoryne would be fine as well and Java moss. So get plants to your heart's desire, the more the better and you can trim later.

As far as substrates go, if you want to go as a natural planted tank, NPT. then you can get some dirt for the bottom layer, this will provide your plants with needed nutrients so you don't have to dose it with liquid ferts. And then a sand layer on top would be best. You won't really be able to tip it much but you can just siphon out some water occasionally. I think every two weeks would be fine on that and shrimp have such a tiny bio-load.

However, you can do gravel if you wanted. You'd just need to either supplement with root tabs or liquid ferts, or both if you wanted. But root tabs generally suffice.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

hahaha i meant the other cool, but i havent really thought about heating. yay plants im familiar with! i have anubias and java fern in one of my tanks. but ill probably do dirt because then if all my plants die then ill know its something i did and not a lack of nutrients.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yep, so you can either dig up some dirt in your yard that you know has NEVER seen insecticides or pesticides and you're going to have to wash it out very well. dirt is...well dirty lol so putting it in a bucket and rinsing it out with a garden hose would be your best bet. You only have to do this once before you put it in the tank, after that you just leave it there :-D

There are some videos on youtube if you have no idea what I'm talking about haha

And if you decided to do just dirt, it can get very cloudy in there so I do suggest a sand top, any sand will do. You can get regular aquarium sand for it which would be cheap enough or you can go and get play sand or pool sand. they require more washing but are cheaper, however for a 1 gallon, I'd just go with the regular aquarium sand. It will be less hassle 

And color of dirt or sand doesn't matter, I know there are different kinds of dirt you can and cannot use however I don't know off the top of my head so you might have to google that or ask on the forum here.

And of course with any Anubias or Java Fern, just don't bury the rhizome 

You can get a small heater, ones sold for Betta's will be fine. Any 7.5 or 10 watt heater for the shrimp. Otherwise the plants will pretty much be fine with just the light. I would try to see how much your lamp will heat the jar, sometimes brighter and higher wattage of lights will heat them enough. So I'd just get a thermometer inside the tank and see how it does.

Oh, some dwarf sag or microsword would be nice for a foreground plant too. and some Valisneria in the back :-D


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

I'm hoping to be able to pick up some kind of glass jar myself this weekend and make a home for ghost shrimp. That glass jar I saw in a thread that someone picked up and is using for quarantine jars and someone else is using 3 as work betta jars - I like the looks of it.

I really want to make a brackish habitat for the Red hawaii shrimp but that will have to wait awhile. http://www.aquabotanic.com/?p=723 They are AMAZING little shrimp and can live up to 15-20 years so are a very, very big committment, they can keep my cories company when they all get old.


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## Gallium (May 14, 2013)

I would not get ghost shrimp, the majority of species under "ghost/glass" are not biofilm eaters (which is the basis of the ecosphere) and will eventually starve to death if you don't feed them. They may occasionally hunt smaller organisms like copepods though. They also get fairly large, usually. 1.5-2", and will breed quickly given they are a freshwater species and not a brackish breeder. 

RCS have a smaller bioload and are biofilm and algae/diatom eaters, but as mentioned they are very prolific breeders. 

You can get 1-2 amano shrimps provided the jar gets enough light to grow algae to feed them. They're very hard to breed so overpopulation would not be a problem. 

Normally for this type of project to work the jar needs to be an absolute minimum of a gallon to work. 

You can keep a single mystery snail if the jar is of the minimum size. You can also keep a few ramshorn in the jar. They will multiply, but will stop as soon as the population limit of the jar is reached.


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

Malaysian trumpet snails would also work, but you wouldn't see them much. They are pretty much a staple in any tank I put together at this point though. Fairy shrimp could be a fun option. You grow them from eggs, and they could then be fed to any betta fish you have.


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