The main thing I want to have is some animals that are large enough to see.
Snails and shrimp seem to be the only candidates for a sealed jar. Fish
would be nice, but I doubt they would live more than a few days. I've
thought about aquatic insects, but none seem to be good candidates. If you
have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

As for having mud on the bottom, I revised the plan. Now I think I will use
only 1/2 inch or so of mud, with about one and a half inches of gravel over
it. The gravel will provide surface area for nitrogen cycle bacteria. The
mud is to provide an anoxic area for the bacteria which change nitrate to
nitrogen gas and oxygen. Anerobic areas usually cause problems when
something organic gets buried, and the decomposition produces sulfur
dioxide. If my jar goes according to plan, the gravel will prevent any large
pieces of organic matter from reaching the bottom. That's the plan anyway
....

I hope your whiskey bottles work out,
Limnophile

"Kris" wrote in message
news:qtTsc.16622$g71.12684@clgrps13...
Sounds like it would be interesting
I have a few old glass whiskey bottles that might work to try the same
My only concern is the gases released from the mud (I am not a chemist)
Would they reduce the amount of O2 required by the critters?
Also I think the ghost shrimp would be unnecessary as the mud should
have more than enough detrivores(?)

Kris


Limnophile wrote:

I'm going to try the ecosphere idea again, and I'd like some
suggestions, or
corrections if anything written here is a bad idea.

I plan to use an old gallon jar ( 3.8 liters) with a tight-fitting lid,
a
cup of pond mud, a cup of used aquarium gravel, about a dozen leaves of
duckweed ( Lemna minor) , a small Hygrophila plant, a small Anacharis
plant
, some small bits of algae, some copepods, 3 small snails, and 3 ghost
shrimp. I plan to leave about 1/2 a liter of air in the top when I seal
the
jar. The room temperature is a constant 72 to 77 F , and the jar will be
placed next to a west-facing window.

Any species I should add or leave out ?
Anything here sound like a problem ?
Any other ideas ?

Limnophile