Plant jar

[Beastije]

Hi guys, extra stupid question. Can someone recommend me an article on how to care for a mason jar style of "tank"?
I have two 3l jars, one has black "sand" substrate, ludwigia sp. mexico, some are rooted, some are just floating. Other jar has no substrate but a bunch of egeria densa. These are all leftover plants I have from my and other peoples tanks.
I am not sure if snails are there, they might be with plants, if not I can add them from my tanks. No heating, no light, just stands next to the window/other tank. Temp is 18°C.
I simply want the plants not to die or be covered in algae. I am not expecting them to thrive or anything, would just be nice if they were not dying off and could be perhaps used later on. Do I do a water change, try to remove plant material that is getting bad, do I just pour water that evaporates, do I put in more snails or wait for some snails to appear,...?
I have NO PLANS to put anything live in there (except perhaps the snails)

 

[vanalisa]

i'm no plant expert
but i think the ludwigia might melt without circulation...? maybe?

i am more familiar with the one you have in the picture. it will probably be fine if you change the water every few weeks, keep it in a sunny spot but not where the water gets hot. and a bigger jar would be great because it will probably fill that one up in no time.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I'm sure someone will be able to give you some better info as I haven't done a small jar build myself yet. However just to reassure you, a month or so ago I cut the top off a 2litre drink bottle stuck a bit of aquasoil in the bottom, sat it outside and dumped a bunch of plant cuttings in it. Literally just chucked them in the top.

Have left it alone since then and the plants are actually growing pretty well. The water has turned green but I don't see massive amounts of algae in there. Most of the plants we have are basically just weeds and will grow fine given even the most basic of conditions.

If it was me doing this I would:

Add some kind of active substrate. This takes care of getting nutrients for the plants. Look up "The Walstad Method" as you can literally just use compost/dirt, especially in a tank with no fish.

Cap this active substrate with a small bit of sand or fine gravel (or mix of both) to keep the soil floating around and hold plants in place. Plant the plants into the soil through this.

Do a water change every so often. In a small volume of water even if you have an active substrate you may run out of certain trace nutrients that the plant needs. These will generally be available in your tap water so doing a water change will be an easy way to replenish these. How often will depend on the plants. You could maybe get away with doing it once a month and just top up water lost to evaporation in between.

I would get some snails and maybe some freshwater isopods. They will take care of the debris and bits of algae, etc and are cool to watch.

I would also think about getting a small clip on light. It doesn't have to be anything major but sunlight is a little inconsistent so having a solid light source can help solve issues that might come up with algae due to lack of light for the plants. This might not be necessary so maybe run without for a bit and see how it goes?

Definitely post up a journal or something for it though. I don't have a lot of space in my house for tanks and I'm rubbish with houseplants so have been thinking about doing these little jar builds for awhile to brighten the house up. Would be great to see what you are doing an how it develops.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

What you're doing is just one way of propagating some plant species and the Egeria densa should do fine, provided you appreciate that it isn't get fed by fish waste, so an occasional squirt of a liquid fertiliser* should help.
Room temp. should be adequate.
Algae shouldn't really be a problem, as the pondweed is such a fast grower.

Whilst the Ludwegia would prefer a substrate for its roots, it can do well enough without.
This really would do better in at least 20℃.
As with the Egeria, if there's enough in the jar, it should out-compete any algae and, again, an occasional squirt of liquid fertiliser* should help.

*Be very careful not to over-fertilise and consider the very small volumes of water you're working with.

 

[NannaLou]

@Mick85 makes these to sell….he’ll have all the info

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yep. Plants really only need light and nutrients. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but not much. For these? Natural sunlight and an occasional bit of nutrient (liquid fert or even a pinch of fish food) should keep them happy.

 

[Beastije]

Will resurrect this theme. I have the plant jar, it is more of a "hey I have a leftover I will stick it in here" thing.
This particular anubias is here since middle of august, there are two more nana anubias in there. The hornwort in the next vase is there since june, at least it is not wilting, though I have to replace water here more frequently than in the jar.

The thing is, I was considering, that maybe some protozoans or daphnia might develop here at some point, to be a safe culture for potential small fish feeding.

What would need to happen for that? Would I need to add an airstone, a lamp, make green water to feed,...
Will it even work? There are only few snails in there. I can buy life daphnia in here as a feed, should I move few in there?

 

[itiwhetu]

Crypts in jars always Crypts, they love jars.

 

[Beastije]

Crypts in jars always Crypts, they love jars.

I would have to buy a new plant, I only have Cryptocoryne affinis, one very small one I replanted in my shrimp tank, and I doubt it will grow without light.
But will it help with the critters?

 

[itiwhetu]

I would have to buy a new plant, I only have Cryptocoryne affinis, one very small one I replanted in my shrimp tank, and I doubt it will grow without light.
But will it help with the critters?

The first plant I ever grew in a jar was affinis, I lowered the water level and it flowered. No extra light needed.

 

[Beastije]

MIght not be a bad idea, but I should have done this in the summer, not when winter is beginning and outside light is almost non existent

I can throw the anubias away (or at someone), because I have 5 more like this

 

[itiwhetu]

MIght not be a bad idea, but I should have done this in the summer, not when winter is beginning and outside light is almost non existent

I can throw the anubias away (or at someone), because I have 5 more like this

I would set it up now, and wait for spring