Freshwater EcoSphere

Shots of homemade freshwater ecosphere. This is a biosphere project based on the article in make magazine, yet scaled down to fit into the expired Beachworld Eco-Sphere globes we got years ago from Brookstone.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• pond
• amphipod
• copapod
• snail
• fresh
• water
• sphere
• biosphere
• ecosphere

[circuitweed]

Wow, those are some amazing creatures you have in there. What is that little amphipod, and where did you get him? I've been doing freshwater biospheres for about a year now. My main econaut has been an amano shrimp in each of them, but I would love to find some of these amazing creatures that you have in yours. Were they collected from ponds?

[studiohanson]

@circuitweed I collected plants and "muck" samples in Eagan, Minnesota at an office park pond. I was really surprised at all of the active life that existed in just a couple scoops. I used a small gardening hand shovel and just put a few scoops into a mason jar with pond water for transport. When I got home, I dumped some of that into dechlorinated water so I could see what I was putting into the spheres. I used a straw like a pipette to suck up the creatures and deposit them into the sphere.

[studiohanson]

@circuitweed Since last September when I did this, I saw stuff I never even knew I had! The hydra were a bonus, but they have now passed. At one point I had a massive daphnia hatch and there were so many I could not count them. I think over winter, the fluctuating temps along with cleaners picking up the spheres and mistreating them have proved disruptive. I have seen multiple dragonfly nymphs rise from the muck as well.

[studiohanson]

@studiohanson This spring, I hope to build a much larger sphere of about 8-10 inches, and that one should have a lot more hornwort and perhaps some shrimp. Really, a great experiment. So much visible diversity I am still blown away by these, even though they have had their ups and downs.

[studiohanson]

That is a hydra. It's a tiny creature that eats other swimmers-by, catching them it its stinging tentacles. I happen to have two of them in that sphere. The little water mite that it catches in the video survived. He gets stunned for a few moments, but the hydra lets him go every time. I assume the mite is just too big to be eaten by the hydra, but I think both hydras have survived by eating little cyclops copapods and daphnia.

[studiohanson]

Hey, thanks. I would say i got lucky, but I made two of these and they both are working out well. I credit the formula from the magazine article.

[guineapigdude1]

How did you get the water quality like that? Also did you' put any pond water in there or just plain declhlorinated tap water?

[guineapigdude1]

Wish I could have one like that!

[odyoderus]

@DiamondAsheaka thanks that actually helped alot

[DiamondAsheaka]

@odyoderus You can remove chlorine from water simply by leaving it out for 48 hours, filtering it for 24 hours, or using a chlorine eliminating product from a pet store. I hope that is what you were asking, otherwise you'll have to ask the guy who made this video.

[odyoderus]

the dechlorinated water, how does this work and how do you make it?

[fishoexplotion1]

PLS ANSWER ME what are those little white dots moving in the water its been bugging me for a while now pls someone

[cuties32]

how did you get them in there? and where did you get the round glass ball to put them in?

[circuitweed]

@studiohanson Nice! With the most recent biosphere I created, I was concerned that the pond muck didn't contain too many living creatures. A little perplexing since it's the same pond I used to build my previous biosphere which was packed with amphipods and ostracods. I'm assuming it's because I collected it last month while the weather was still in the mid 40's (Portland, OR). Strangely enough, there are a ton of ostracods in there after two weeks No amphipods yet, but maybe they're growing.