# Jarrarium Journals



## jumpzakjump (Jun 15, 2015)

Cool! Love these type of setups. I'm using a 13W CFL 5000K on my nano bowl (~3-4gal) and have had to raise it up over a foot above the water line as it's very bright and giving me algae..just some food for thought! Excited to see this though!

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## jumpzakjump (Jun 15, 2015)

Oh also there is eleocharis sp. mini in there carpeting very well even with the light raised up so high

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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

So here it is! I have the BDBS with a potting soil underneath. It is about 2.5 inches total I think. Hopefully it.s not too much depth. It's only about an inch of potting soil.

I planted a couple small crypts, Monte Carlo in.the front and staurogyne repens in the middle back. A few branches with Java fern and moss tied to them, and just some stem plants I'm trying to grow out a little more. (ludwigia, telanthera, and cabomba) likely I'll move them all except the telanthera once everything that carpets starts filling in. 

I might have too many pieces of wood in there. I added a couple without any moss to see how they look. Also I added a few pieces of lava rock from my other aquarium as a bit of a hardscape and also to help with cycling. Also hopefully there are some baby MTS in here. If not there are definitely some in that vase I can transfer over. 
Lighting wise I have several options of higher and lower wattage LEDs that for now can be in that hood but I'm getting a cool desk lamp that will be here next week [emoji4]

Let me know what you guys think!

















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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

bbroush said:


> So here it is! I have the BDBS with a potting soil underneath. It is about 2.5 inches total I think. Hopefully it.s not too much depth. It's only about an inch of potting soil.
> 
> I planted a couple small crypts, Monte Carlo in.the front and staurogyne repens in the middle back. A few branches with Java fern and moss tied to them, and just some stem plants I'm trying to grow out a little more. (ludwigia, telanthera, and cabomba) likely I'll move them all except the telanthera once everything that carpets starts filling in.
> 
> ...


What's the wattage of the lamp on the right?


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

GrampsGrunge said:


> What's the wattage of the lamp on the right?




Probably 7W? It's a spotlight bulb. I'm planning on raising it higher when my new lamp gets here Tuesday. 


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Update! I've tried several carpeting plants and added some more moss and it has exploded in both growth and invertebrate life. I'm also adding my 2.5 gallon to this journal. I have some manzanita that I added that is clouding the water a lot.


December 6th jars















That blyxa melted a ton. You'll notice its progression over time though. 




12/10
2.5 gallon initial set up


















These are from December 15. I have all the jars still except the small vase on the far right. 



12/28 

at this point I think I first noticed shrimp babies. Also my frogbit had roots all the way through the dirt! Lol. Also when I got back from vacation the hornwort in the 1 gallon had grown in a full circle!


















2.5 gallon definitely had some serious growth. 









1/2

Growth was great at this point. I was getting frustrated with the Monte carlo at this point and was contemplating moving it to the narrow jars (I'm using those as grow outs for now until I get a bigger jar, or maybe a fluval spec??, someday.)

Also shortly after this point I added some red manzanita twigs to all but the one gallon and they've totally been clouding up the water 


































1/17 

you can see ludwigia really has turned red and starts to emerge at this point. I also decided to put the lid on the one gallon as well. It's glass so no modifications for light was necessary.

Also at this point i have removed at least 2-3 sandwich bags worth of floaters from all of these jars.


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

1/21
Don't mind that wire. I was playing with different ways to keep the jar slightly cracked. I decided on a piece of tubing.










About a week later I had a baby snail explosion! The issue with these ramshorn snails is they eat any new fine/newly introduced plants like tiny blyxa or even the micro swords I've added. It's super frustrating. I think I'll add either dwarf sag or glosso to this tank as well. 










2/11










The ludwigia had grown as high as it could in the lid plus some! I trimmed the top off and planted it in my 20 gallon. It's so incredibly red. 

A second stem is emerging as well. 



















The 2.5 gallon has been doing well. The cloudiness from the manzanita hasn't let up at all yet. I've done two big water changes to no avail so far. I'll just have to wait it out.
The glossi has been exploding in the front and the rotala stems on the right are really growing. The s. Repens has all been moved to this tank and they've done nothing really :/ i also made a cover for this jar using the lid and the light. Pics at some point.


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## Tukulu (Jan 22, 2017)

Beautiful

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## Chocochip03 (Mar 15, 2016)

These are awesome! I really love how bright red that ludwigia is.

Newcomer question, but how do you keep them going without a filter? Is it because of the stocking of fast growing plants and floating plants to help manage nitrates? I ask because I have a 5g jar, which used to be a terrarium, that I've contemplated gutting and turning into a jarrarium.


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Chocochip03 said:


> These are awesome! I really love how bright red that ludwigia is.
> 
> 
> 
> Newcomer question, but how do you keep them going without a filter? Is it because of the stocking of fast growing plants and floating plants to help manage nitrates? I ask because I have a 5g jar, which used to be a terrarium, that I've contemplated gutting and turning into a jarrarium.




Thanks! I'd recommend reading up on the "walstad" approach. You're on the right track. The high biomass of the plants helps. I watch the TDS and it stays very consistent, especially now with the ludwigia growing emergent.


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