Jungle Bubble

Presenting "Jungle Bubble", my entry into the Aquatic Gardeners' Association 11th Annual Aquascaping Contest (2010). It's about 31 liters in total volume (I think I said 35 by mistake) and 40 cm in diameter. This bowl requires no filtration, as the plants provide it themselves. The water is still crystal clear after a week. Apart from light (11W fluorescent and 4W LED, both from IKEA, 13 hours/day), CO2 (about 0.7 bubbles/second for 10 hours/day), and Tetro Pro Colour food, I add only Seachem Potassium, Iron, and Trace, in doses of about 50-100% of advised levels, once or twice a week, depending on plant health and algae level. Algae does slowly accumulate as pinpricks on the glass, which I remove during my weekly maintenance cycle, along with any plant leaves that I choose to trim. I change about 80% of the water per week, not because it needs so much, but because it allows me access to the plants at the bottom of the bowl for trimming. Fish: 3 cardinal tetras, 2 ember tetras, 2 blue ram cichlids, 2 otocinclus catfish, and 2 Yamato (Amano) shrimp. I feed them once a day in an amount that can be eaten in about 10 minutes. I have no heater, as I live in the tropics. (Contrary to what I said in the video, I suppose my temperature is stable enough year-round, although I don't have a way to place the bowl in the sun and keep it cool enough.)

A word of warning: as you can see in my other video about silvertip tetras (which were sent back to the store for bad behavior), this bowl went through a lot of algae problems before finally stabilizing into the prosperous state you see here, after about 6 months. I also needed to replace my limestone rock with a granite one that was more chemically inert. But there you have it -- a nearly self-sufficient ecosystem with no moving parts needing maintenance, or wasteful and expensive filter cartridges that end up in landfills! A balanced bioload (plants vs. fish) is critical.


Photos:

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2010.cgi?&op=showcase&category=...

Aquatic Gardeners' Association:

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• fishbowl
• fish
• bowl
• aquarium
• plants
• co2
• ember
• tetra
• cardinal
• blue
• ram
• otocinclus
• yamato
• amano
• shrimp

[34SkiLLz14Luck]

@TheWallaceGrover actually YOUR WRONG. its not "WAY" overstocked. its a little tight but definitely nothing to gasp about... You have to understand something. For the people saying "NO FILTER?!?!" or "OVERSTOCKED" please understand something... The plant needs the fish, and the fish needs the plant... the plant will FLOURISH from nitrates produced from the fish... the plant IS the filter... so please. research before you open your chops... take care.

[fandeTotoro]

c'est nul et sa s’appelle de le maltraitance de poissons car leur vision se déforme et il n'ont même pas de chauffage! ce n'est pas une vie pour des poissons!

[eliden]

@Superdodat your no help

[Superdodat]

nice tank

[Superdodat]

@eliden lol, so pathetic :P

[schulterzucken]

the ecosphere dont must be a bubble, im right? dont see any point why it must be bubble ^^

[eliden]

where do i get a glass bowl like that?

[butterfly72949]

This is amazing and so beautiful ♥ love you bowl great job ☺

[eliden]

can you give me link to the glass bowl?

[End0987612]

do you still have the fish in there? just curious

[AmandaOakley79]

Nice bowl and nice home for those 2 little fish! Congrats, I hope you won!