Planted Jar Aquariums

[wilkyb]

This thread is dedicated to my jar aquariums. I plan to gift many of these to friends & family. I may continue to do these in the future if people enjoy them enough to be willing to pay for them. It's not something I've done before; if you have suggestions, questions, explanations for things, or constructive criticisms then you can leave a comment and I will promptly reply!

Attached to this post is a photo of two jar aquariums I've established, as well as the devices that help them work.

At the bottom of the glass near the gravel is a 1/4" hole I've drilled. I've received 1/4" PVC elbows which fit your typical 3/16" flexible airline tubing. As shown in the pictures below, you will see how the elbow is tight up against the glass with a small piece of tubing poking through to the depths of the aquarium. I used gorilla glue epoxy with a 24hr set time to seal this joint at the hole. Attached to the other end of the elbow is a pipe that rests above water level with an elastic band holding it in place. From the elastic band I can release the pipe and hold it below the water's surface level to siphon debris & dirt that may accumulate at the bottom. Nifty, huh?

Inside the larger aquarium are Anubias Conogensis and Egeria Densia, as well as three baby red shrimp. Inside the smaller aquarium is just Egeria Densia. Beneath a shallow top layer of clear-crushed construction gravel is grass seed I've received off Amazon (fingers crossed). The seeds were planted on top of a mixture of soil from the garden and clear crush gravel. The mixture of soil is the most dense at the bottom at about 50G/50S, and the least dense at the top 70G/30S.

I've taken water from my established guppy tank with a pH of around 7.8; it has very low ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels.

It's worth mentioning again that I appreciate any feedback/suggestions you may have. I'm watching my jar aquariums adamantly while I wait for the carpet seeds to poke through. On a side note, I've decided to wet start these seeds by my own curiosity, and because I grew a bit impatient growing them in a small container =P

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by wilkyb

[Fish Folk]

 Might prefer drilling with some sort of plastic. (See idea below)

The surface area needs to be sufficient for good gas exchange. 
 

Small quantities of water tend to go unstable really, really fast. If one fish dies, the ammonia / to / water ratio is waaaay higher than in a 5.5 or 10 gal tank. 

[wilkyb]

2 hours ago, Fish Folk said:

The surface area needs to be sufficient for good gas exchange. 

Small quantities of water tend to go unstable really, really fast. If one fish dies, the ammonia / to / water ratio is waaaay higher than in a 5.5 or 10 gal tank. 

I think you're right that the smaller jar aquariums can become unstable much easier than a larger container. I'll not be adding livestock to the smaller jars. In the larger vases, for example, I do include 3-5 red shrimp.

I think hydroponics will also help reduce fish loss.

[wilkyb]

On 1/28/2021 at 10:50 AM, Fish Folk said:

Small quantities of water tend to go unstable really, really fast.

you're right about that, and I wish I paid more attention to this earlier;

I gave a small planted jar aquarium to a family friend down the road who used to keep fish. It wasn't looking like it was improving/growing much when I last went to visit. The next planted jar aquariums I gift will be atleast ~1.5 gallons

Edited February 25, 2021 by wilkyb

[wilkyb]

Lot's of growth with the Brazilian waterweed, but no so much with the anubias. I've added some floater carpet seeds to the top. The shrimp seem to enjoy this place a lot now!

The two shrimp are appropriately named Bubba, and Gump.

Edited February 25, 2021 by wilkyb

[Daedalus]

I use the food storage containers from Target. The brand is Made by Design. Containers are 4*4*8 an 8*4*8. They're really minimalist and look  nice. They come with a white lid but I made clear ones from polycarbonate sheets and used usb powered LEDs to light them up. If you use the lid it comes with you can take off the rubber seal so it's not airtight, you can inlay the clear polycarbonate into the existing lid and have a very clean looking mini tank I plant pothos and subwassertang and then add Scuds and dried leaves(scud food), it's fun for kids. Plants grow slow but they don't die off. Picture included is one that's been going for a few months it's a 8*4*8 and using a photography light, usb leds are smaller and cleaner looking

Edited February 25, 2021 by Daedalus

[Eric R]

I've been keeping plants and cherry shrimp (and some hitchhiker bladder snails) in the 1 gallon pickle jars you can get from Costco for a while now. I throw in a pellet every other day, quick water change every time I change the water on the other tanks. Each has some anubias nana petite glued to a single rock. I'm growing pothos, spider plants, and inch plant out of them, as well as some other cuttings I'm trying out, like an arrowhead plant and african violet.

I like your simple water change and siphon system, though it does add a possible spot for a leak or the glass to fail. Instead of super glue, you could try GE silicone I, which if it's 100% silicone with no mildewcides or fungicides is supposed to be aquarium safe.

Edited February 25, 2021 by ererer

[wilkyb]

On 2/25/2021 at 8:34 AM, ererer said:

I've been keeping plants and cherry shrimp (and some hitchhiker bladder snails) in the 1 gallon pickle jars you can get from Costco for a while now. I throw in a pellet every other day, quick water change every time I change the water on the other tanks. Each has some anubias nana petite glued to a single rock. I'm growing pothos, spider plants, and inch plant out of them, as well as some other cuttings I'm trying out, like an arrowhead plant and african violet.

I like your simple water change and siphon system, though it does add a possible spot for a leak or the glass to fail. Instead of super glue, you could try GE silicone I, which if it's 100% silicone with no mildewcides or fungicides is supposed to be aquarium safe.

I have some dwarf water lotus coming in the mail soon. If they don’t work out as planned then I will probably use devil’s ivy hydroponically on the top.

 

I used the gorilla glue epoxy. I also used sandpaper around the hole so that the epoxy takes better to the glass. The epoxy slips around the pipe through the hole in the glass and on the interior. If somebody were to bump it with their elbow then think it might just destroy the glass before the epoxy! Lol

 

The chance of leaking could be a thing. I’ll be trying some different products in the future & see for myself which works best!

[wilkyb]

follow my Instagram: @wilkponds905

Edited April 29, 2021 by wilkyb

[wilkyb]