Jungle Bubble
Channel: dangerousfishbowl
Date: 2010-09-06

UPDATE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoorMQAA2k8

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/show57.html

More photos:

https://arweave.net/vKDeJoNdk3OvplwnjpJHR8nLcPy_vLU9_vswe1YcgGg/index.html

UPDATE September 3, 2012:

Where to buy the bowl:

Many people have asked me this. It's made by a glass manufacturer in China, and is also available for sale in glassware shops in Singapore and Vietnam. Because the bowl was given away long ago, that's all the info I have.

Personal note:

I'm very pleased to see that so many of you have enjoyed Jungle Bubble! I do hope that you have learned something useful about creating natural beauty with a minimum of resources. If you try something similar, then go ahead and post a video response. I studied the work and environmental philosophy of Takashi Amano of Aqua Design Amano, who has been my great inspiration in this field.

I never log in here, so if you have questions, please direct them to others in the comments. Happy aquascaping!