self sustaining ecosystem log

fish guru

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Nov 12, 2007
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Hi everyone, i recently saw one of those totally self sufficient ecosystem with those tiny shrimps in them. This really gave me an idea. I was wondering if i should try and make one using plants, and goldfish. i did some research, and I think that it is possible if I have a large container with a lot of plants. Of course, I will keep the top of the cojntainer open for gas exchange. I know that this may be cruel, so i even set up an emergency moving tank if the water quality does become too harsh for the fish. I have already started it up and I have added concentrated nitrifying bacteria into the water to give it a boost. I then added some straight ammonia to get things going. wqhen all of the water parameters were good, I added the most tiniest goldfish that I could find along with some water hyacinths. It has been about a week now, and i am getting confident in adding another fish. the goldfish seems fine and is moving about. Ofcourse, this isnt totally self sufficeint b cuz im going to change the water once in a while and I will add some food to compliment its diet of insect larvae and other "bugs" that likes to live in the water. I feed him only once every 2 days, so im pretty sure that the bioload will be fine. The water hyacinth's thick roots should suck up alot of the nitrogen waste and I am hoping that things will go smoothly. please add any suggestions if I am doing anything wrong. :)
 
What size is this "tank"?
 
Agreed. The term "tiniest goldfish" makes me concerned that this might be a small tank.
 
well even reg goldfish tank should be 30 gal. to have something that will keep going with out water changes or anything i would be doing 60-100 gal for one goldfish. there are some plant people who do little or no water changes but they are full planted tanks with co2 high lights and they do feed the fish.

also what temp is it out side in the summer and winter?
 
I still wouldn't do it. The electrolytes and minerals in the water are depleted.
 
Dont worry the pond or Tub size is about 70 gallons. I special ordered it. The reason why I used goldfish is because this is going to be outside, and the platies and other tropical fish can not survive out there. The reason why I bought the tiniest goldfish was because I was afraid of the bioload going on in the system. since I did not want to corrupt the nitrogen cycle by adding a big goldfish.
 
and about the whole electrolytes thingy, I was wondering..... Doesnt reverse osmosis filters get rid of these things? i mean, electrolytes, I don't know, but i definetly know that ro units get rid of minerals, and I use ro units for my tropical foltered tank and all of the fish seems fine. Is it really necessary? if so, then how can i add electrolytes? pour gatorade in there? lol
 
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