Journal - 1 Gallon "Tiny Mighty" Rebuild

[CJhilljack]

I'm really new to this, but I've been taking lots of notes in my bullet journal for 2 jarariums I set up in September 2022. This journal will be documenting my journey with my 1 gallon jar, which I affectionately dubbed "Tiny Mighty" when it seemed to be really taking off initially. 

The initial setup included 7 Lucky Bamboo Stalks, some Dwarf Hair Grass, Christmas Moss, and Pearlweed. They got off to a good start and things seemed well, but the only plants that seemed to be doing well at all were the Lucky Bamboo, the other plants died. I realized the 7 stalks of LB, were probably taking up all the nutrients and leaving nothing for the other plants. I had also tried to keep a few shrimp, but my parameters were all over the place & they didn't survive. I decided earlier in December I was going to need to rebuild this jar, but I was headed on vacation, so I held off until my return. On the 29th, I headed to Aquarium Coop and picked up new plants including: Moneywort, Crypttocoryne Wendtii (I think) and another plant recommended by the staff for ground cover - but which I've forgotten the name of. 

Yesterday, the 30th, I got to work and re-built the tank. I used substrate recommended by & purchased at Aquarium Coop & capped it with white sand, then returned 3 of the Lucky Bamboo stalks to the tank, plus all of the other plants I purchased, breaking most up into individual stems & spreading them out, Moneywort at the back. Then replaced the snails - a Blue Ramshorn & pond snails & added frogbit to the top (with a little Duckweed that hitched a ride - as it does) & a little bit of the water from the former setup - hoping that will help with the beneficial bacteria.  

This morning, I tested the re-built tank for the first time, here's the results:
High PH: 8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

I also realized this morning that a large and unusually colored "pond" snail may, in fact, be a baby Blue Ramshorn after reading just yesterday they can reproduce individually. 

I blanched some seaweed & eggshell this morning to feed the snails. 

Attaching a before & 3 after photos from this morning.

[The endler guy]

You should stock it with fairy shrimp and/ or water fleas!

It would be cool to keep live foods to observe their behavior, and who knows maybe you will have to cull from time to time, I’m sure your fish would HATE you for that ; )

[Patrick_G]

Little tanks stocked with nothing or just inverts are so fun. @Streetwiseonce dubbed them “wet houseplants”. I even use a watering can to top mine off. 😁

 

[CJhilljack]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:12 PM, Aiden Carter said:

You should stock it with fairy shrimp and/ or water fleas!

It would be cool to keep live foods to observe their behavior, and who knows maybe you will have to cull from time to time, I’m sure your fish would HATE you for that ; )

I'll have to research those, I've never heard of either. Thank you for the suggestion. I purchased a 14 gallon tank this week too, which I'm nowhere near ready to set up yet, but Medaka are at the top of my stocking list & I know they like some live food, so that might work out well. 😄

On 12/31/2022 at 1:20 PM, Patrick_G said:

Little tanks stocked with nothing or just inverts are so fun. @Streetwiseonce dubbed them “wet houseplants”. I even use a watering can to top mine off. 😁

 

I'm amazed at how interesting it is to watch the snails. I had no idea they could move so quickly. They've really been busy exploring this morning. 

 

[The endler guy]

 

On 12/31/2022 at 4:22 PM, CJhilljack said:

I'll have to research those, I've never heard of either. Thank you for the suggestion. I purchased a 14 gallon tank this week too, which I'm nowhere near ready to set up yet, but Medaka are at the top of my stocking list & I know they like some live food, so that might work out well. 😄

I'm amazed at how interesting it is to watch the snails. I had no idea they could move so quickly. They've really been busy exploring this morning. 

 

Fairy shrimp almost look like large brine shrimp, and water fleas are daphnia and other micro crustaceans 

[CJhilljack]

I didn't test the water as often as I should have this week, here are the results of this week's tests:
1/1/23 - Ammonia - .25, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 5.0, high ph 8.4
1/4/23 - Ammonia - .50, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0
1/7/23 - Ammonia - 1.0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0
I did a 50% water change today and cleaned. 

So far, the water is clear & the snails seem happy. I'm going to make an effort to test daily this week & see what results I get. Prior to rebuilding the tank, I was having issues with the ammonia being high and everything else being zero. I'm hoping to turn that around with this new build.
 

[CJhilljack]

Test results for 1/11/23:
Ammonia - .50, Nitrite - 0.0, Nitrate 5.0 
I did a 20% water change. The lower 1/4 of the tank water looks cloudy to me, if I understand correctly, this may be bacterial bloom. I also trimmed a couple of the moneywort stems, and replanted them. 

Test results for 1/12/23:
Ammonia - 1.0, Nitrite - 0.0, Nitrate 0.0 

Hmmm, time to ask questions....

[CJhilljack]

I did some cleaning of the tank over the weekend, topped it off, but have not done any water changes. Today, the water is clearer & the snails still seem to be doing fine. Catching up test results:
1/15 - ammonia 1.0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5.0
1/17 (today) - ammonia .50, nitrite 0, nitrate 5.0
I'm happy to see the ammonia reducing and hoping that combined with the water clearing up some is a good sign. 

[CJhilljack]

1/28/23

Oops, I forgot to update my journal last week. I did some more cleaning last week, trimmed some melting stem plants, replanted the tops, added more frogbit from my 2 gallon water garden (where it is flourishing) and gave it some easy green. Test results all week saw ammonia consistently at .25, nitrite consistently at zero with nitrate at 0 on 1/21, and 5.0 on 1/24. That ammonia is being stubborn. This was the problem with the first iteration of this tank too. I haven't used any water conditioner since my well water has no chlorine and tests 0 out of the tap for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. One theory a staff person at one FLS had was that I was possibly binding the ammonia potentially over-conditioning the water. I didn't have any luck with their recommended solution of liquid fertilizer and that led to the rebuilding of this tank. 

Test results today:
ammonia - .25, nitrite - 0, nitrate 5.0

Still no budge on the ammonia, I'm not overly concerned about the nitrate since I did feed easy green this week. More cleaning this morning & had to trim a melting leaf from my crypt, but otherwise, things look pretty good. I needed to top off the tank, but ended up taking a little water out too, resulting in a 10 or 15% water change. Nothing else to report on this front today. 

You can see from this photo, taken this morning, the water has cleared up completely from the prior bacterial bloom. 🙂

[CalmedByFish]

I love the idea of a little jar like this. When I've tried, it soon gets a very thin oily residue floating on the surface. It looks like you don't have surface agitation. Is the surface of your jar staying clear?

 

[CJhilljack]

On 1/28/2023 at 12:14 PM, CalmedByFish said:

I love the idea of a little jar like this. When I've tried, it soon gets a very thin oily residue floating on the surface. It looks like you don't have surface agitation. Is the surface of your jar staying clear?

 

I've had a little bit of that film from time to time, I just use a tiny shotglass or a pipette to siphon it off. Chris, from Fish for Thought on YouTube has done a video on this that I found it really helpful. 

 

[Matt Armstrong]

On 1/28/2023 at 11:30 AM, CJhilljack said:

had to trim a melting leaf from my crypt

I was surprised to learn how much melting crypt leaves can contribute to the nitrogen cycle. Half to just see what would happen, I put 4 newly purchased crypts (from ACO, online) in a new 10G, put a light on a timer, added a sponge filter, and didn't touch it for a month. Some leaves melted and I measured high spikes of Ammonia and Nitrites through the month as the filter cycled. It has been about a month, the crypts are no longer melting and are growing, but the cycle isn't completely done yet, but I have >80ppm nitrates in that tank.

 

[CJhilljack]

I seem to be in the same situation as I was prior to re-building this setup. I think I may need more fast-growing plants? 
So all week, we have had Nitrates at 5.0, ammonia was .25 on 2/10 & today - Nitrite has consistently been 0 when testing. It's been 6 weeks since setup. Meanwhile, my 2 gallon is super stable, I change the water in it weekly, just because the tannins get so dark in it, but it's cruising along well. I guess I couldn't have picked a bigger challenge as a noob than starting with these tiny environments.