Self Sustaining Aquarium

senyk

SSA-Self Sustaining Aquarium

Hi guys,
so i have been trying to start a self sustaining aquarium for some time now and i keep failing so i would like anyone with any professional advice or experience on this to help me out please. I started out my aprox 1/2 gallon tank(picture attached) with 1 plant(not sure what it is but i know its from petco), some gravel, two ghost shrimp, and 1 snail. After countless hours of research i thought i knew everything i needed to begin my SSA, but as soon as i had put my invertebrates into the tank, i knew i had rushed the cycling system. Not realizing the important role of bacteria in the water, i figured i would just put some algae wafers into the water to feed the invertebrates and everything would be fine till the algae started to grow. about half a day after they were placed into the tank, they all started to stay at the surface and its where they stayed a few days after that as well. This made me think there was a lack of oxygen in the tank, but i figured they are getting their air from the top, and soon the tank will balance it self out- Boy was i wrong.

so in the end they all died and baffled as to how to even approach this matter i went to a local petsmart, and the lady told me there were no nitrates in the water, and the ammonia was high(we figured from the dead fish) so she suggested i buy two additional plants(Amazon Sword plant) and place them in the tank because they require low light and will provide more oxygen for the fish. She also said to buy a bacterial supplement. So i came home and replaced all the water, de-chlorinated it, put in the 3 plants, put in some bacterial supplement, and now im at the point of what do i do to start again.(picture of new plants in tank attached)

I know now to wait until bacteria and algae begin to grow in the tank before adding any invertebrates(going to wait a week and a half) but doesn't the bacteria need ammonia from the waste products of the live organisms to grow/sustain the load when the new invertebrates are placed in the tank?, and also how would i balance out the oxygen levels? Anything else i should know about that i didn't mention?

My goal for this new tank with more plants in it to sustain 2-3 ghost shrimp and 1 snail

i find it amazing how much work is put into this but i really became inspired to do this after i saw how amazing the eco-sphere(Ecosphere Associates, Inc.: Closed Ecosystem, Self Contained Aquarium) looked. Im very sure this is all possible because of how many guides there are online with successful stories of making SSA's, So PLEASE HELP!

*The attached picture with the snail in it is the before tank, the tank with only plants is the new tank*

Attached Images

	before pic.jpg (30.6 KB, 51 views)
	after pic.jpg (21.9 KB, 53 views)

1077

You mention fish in your original post a couple of times.
1/2 gallon would maybe support a few tiny shrimp, but it will NOT support any fishes for very long at all.
In such a small volume of water,temps and water parameter's will be unstable, and depending on light source for plant's,,this too could heat the water.
Were it me,, I would have a read of Diana Walstad's book regarding natural planted aquarium's.
This is as close to self sustaining aquarium as you are going to get in my view. (easy to care for, few water changes.)

Olympia

It's pretty much impossible.....
Those "ecospheres" are shrimp torture chambers, they don't last very long.. It's been observed after each moult the shrimp get smaller and smaller due to not enough food.
The best self sustaining environments involve going to a shallow creek and taking some mud and water from there-smells horrible yea. But you get all the life forms needed.
I would not put a snail in a half gallon of water, it'd either grow huge or reproduce too much depending on species...
Shrimp, the thing about them is that they are omnivores, and they NEED some sort of animal product, ie a sinking pellet must be supplemented to keep them healthy. (and if you are adding something you will have to be removing water).
You are attempting to create the bottom of the ecosystem, but shrimp are also dependent of animals above them, they are like aquatic decomposers.
Snails would be easier in a slightly larger tank.
In a well planted tank and with such small animals there shouldn't be any worries over bacteria needing to grow, I suspect something else did them in.
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3ndler3nvy

This is generally a bad idea. More of a marketing ploy than anything else. Plants are not always giving off oxygen. At night they actually use it. Also, water changes do more than just take bad substances out, they add good stuff too. Without fresh minerals the plants will die off soon as well.

kitten_penang

look for oxygenation type plants like water milfoil or Hornwort they produce higher levels of o2. personally i wouldn't go tall with a small surface area.i would go short with maximum surface area but any how 1/2 gallons shouldn't exists in the trade.