# Wine Bottle Nano?



## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

I've recently started making some lovely desk top nanos (maybe there is another name for what I'm creating - very small indeed). I have a couple pictures of one of them.

So far, they've been doing great. They seem to do well in the window with some direct sun for part of the day, or under a desk lamp with 6500k CFL bulb. The red cherry shrimp keep it clean and seem quite happy. I do regular small water changes, but otherwise no filtration or fertilizers. Substrate is ADA Amazonia. The photos here are of one of the smaller ones I've done so far - maybe 4"x3.5"x6". I really like them as little desk top reminders that nature exists outside the office 

This leads into the thread title. I'd like to try a sealed wine bottle nano system, but haven't tried closing any of mine up yet. I've always liked the look of the "Eco Spheres" out there and would love to give it a shot without truly hermetically sealing it. I'm just thinking of providing a good substrate, several thriving plants and a couple RCS, popping the cork back in and seeing how it goes. 

Has anyone tried something like this? Any advice? 

Thanks in advance!


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## thebuddha (Jul 16, 2012)

No idea,


but this would be a great gift for my parents!
subscribed to see how this plays out.


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## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

Thanks thebuddha. I'll get one started today to see how it goes. First, need to clean the bottle and remove the label. I'll be back later with prep photos. Fingers crossed!


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## Unkillable Cat (Sep 4, 2012)

I can imagine it being a pain in the backside to plant, but amazing if you can get it to work!


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

Unkillable Cat said:


> I can imagine it being a pain in the backside to plant, but amazing if you can get it to work!


This was my initial thought as well. I think you'll have to settle for a just being able to slide stems into the bottle. Should work fundamentally though. Then I started to run images of wine bottles in my head, and had trouble remembering seeing a clear bottle anywhere. Most are tinted to some extent, but I'm sure a bottle can be had. Should be a neat little project.


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## Unkillable Cat (Sep 4, 2012)

White wine bottle, or at a push vodka would be clear. I know most supermarket white wines over here atleast tend to be in clear glass bottles.
Have you thought about using one of the lidded squat jars, no idea what they are called lol, but you can sit them at 3 angles, usually used for pasta.


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## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

I happen to have a (nearly) clear wine bottle that I'm going to try. Just a subtle light blue tint, but hopefully not too bad. I'm also going to give a whiskey bottle a try - love both the whiskey and the bottle it came in.

Here are some prep images, removing the labels. I'm pretty excited about the project.








The whiskey label came off just fine with the razor blade. 








The wine bottle required 10 minutes in the oven at 350 F to loosen the adhesive enough, then took it off with razor as well. Do be careful when that glass first comes out, and set it on something heat-resistant!








I like the idea of a large squat jar also, but will try my hand at these first. I'm thinking some skinny, tall plant alone might work well. Suggestions on what to try??? It will need to be efficient enough at creating oxygen for a couple small RCS, and somewhat efficient at absorbing their "nutrients" without really needing to be cut back very often (that would defeat the corking purpose). Any good ideas?


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## deleted_user_17 (Jun 14, 2012)

Loving the nanos. Great photos too. 

Subscribed


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## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

Thank you sir. I am a photographer by trade 

Now accepting suggestions for flora for bottles!


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## MaStErFiShKeEps (Dec 6, 2010)

Someone had mentioned that it would be a pain to plant, but I've found that tying the plant to a piece of gravel and then dropping it in would be perfect! I do that now in my big tanks and it would also work for smaller, more narrow tanks. Over time, the roots will attach but then again, how would you trim plants?


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## KFryman (Sep 4, 2012)

I think I am going to steal your idea, though I will give you credit. It is really amazing!

Where did you get your little glass containers?


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## Exceliber (Feb 1, 2012)

SMPlanted said:


> Thank you sir. I am a photographer by trade
> 
> Now accepting suggestions for flora for bottles!


Something tall and skinny? I'm going to say bacopa monieri offhand, or maybe some myrio filigree. They'll both grow slow without co2 and can survive in medium-low light. I like the filigree since it can host lots of microfauna for the shrimp to nom on. Or you can always get a good chunk of flame moss that'll eventually take over the bottle.


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## dunehole (Sep 13, 2011)

Any updates?


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I can't imagine scaping with a wine bottle!


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I don't have any pictures but I have done similar. I used a cylinder vase that my hand was too big to plant. I just did a dry start (DSM) with my stems and some hair grass. Almost everything I put in worked and transitioned well. I did not put any livestock in as it was only about .5 gallons and I put it outside for awhile. 

Anyway, I think it's a great idea and shouldn't be hard if you do dry start. It's going to be hard if you actually want to scape and trim it lower than the top. I let my stems grow out the top and I love the look.


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## Adri. (Sep 6, 2012)

Any updates on this? I was really hoping to see a finished product!


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## rodcuda (Jul 25, 2012)

Yes, updates!!


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## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

Sorry for the radio silence. I ended up placing a stick in each bottle; one has HC (dwarf baby tears) and myrio filigree (Rye bottle), and HC (dwarf baby tears), dwarf hair grass, and a little java moss (wine bottle). I gave both bottles a few days in the window to make sure the plants got a blast of light to help them settle in and start spreading roots, then added three cherry red shrimp in each. Truthfully, I wish I would have added the shrimp a few days earlier because a little more algae took hold than I would have liked. Now I'm reducing the light and hoping the shrimp will take care of the rest.

Here's an example of the wine bottle - sorry for the terrible cell phone picture.








As you can see, I haven't sealed them yet. I may give the shrimp and lower light a little time to see if it clears out some of the algae before throwing on the caps/corks.

As for how I planted, I tried for way longer than I'd like to admit to use tweezers to plant in the traditional sense. What I ended up doing is tieing the main plants to the end of the sticks, forcing those down into a shallow bit of ADA substrate, then literally dropped in the other plants, then poured more ADA on top and just hoped that it would be enough to keep the plants down, yet exposed enough to survive. So far, so good!

I'll try to post more in the near future. The Rye bottle has a bit more muck than I want to show at the moment, but I'm excited to show you guys once I clean it up a touch.

Thanks for the comments!


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

things will change quite drastically when you seal them. leave them under 24/7 lighting. trust me, there will NOT be enough oxygen in those bottles if you turn the lights off.

food for thought:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/living-pickle-jar-31997.html


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## Acro (Jul 7, 2012)

If you like those sealed "ecospheres" that they sell, read this:
http://www.petshrimp.com/opaeinfo.php
I opened mine.


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## SMPlanted (Aug 22, 2012)

That thread about the experiments with sealed ecosystems was very interesting and gave me a lot to think about. I wish he would have discussed invertebrates like shrimp, but he still covered some great ground.

That is interesting about the Opae Ula shrimp. I didn't realize that those were the shrimp inside the biospheres and now I see that it really isn't a healthy ecosystem inside of there. I think it could be done (copepods and stuff seem to love the bottles without the caps on) to some degree... My brother took pond water in Cambodia and sealed it about a year ago in something slightly smaller than a baby food jar, and the population of tiny organisms is still alive today. I just wonder if the shrimp might be more than a small system like this could handle... 

At the moment I'm thinking I will still seal one of the bottles to see. I may leave the other open. Thanks for all of the feedback!


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

if you have any questions, feel free to ask. i wrote the thread, and there was a lot of info i didnt include. 

to be honest, i believe opae ula are an excellent candidate for a sealed system, maybe the best candidate. i just think that those biosphere things are horribly set up.

if you want to make a sealed system that sustains itself, you will need a LOT of knowledge concerning everything that goes on in an ecosystem.

if you ever get to the point where you want to dive that deep, i suggest Wetzels book: "Limnology; lake and river ecosystems, third edition"

it covers almost everything. its a bit advanced, so you may have to google a lot of words for the first chapter or so.


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## steven p (Jun 22, 2012)

Dsm some dhg in one of them?

Oh, i shouldve read further in the thread... Nevermind me...


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

I can't wait to see how this turns out. As mentioned before shrimp bottles would be a great gift 


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