water going stagnent..

R

RockysDad

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Dec 27, 2002
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I pretty much have a planted goldfish bowl with no heater and filter and would like to keep it this way as much as possible. The problem I am seeing now is that my water is somewhat going stagnent and starts to smell bad after awhile. I try to do weekly water changes but would like to see if this can be avoided due to trying to have a balanced ecosystem where the flora and fauna will help each other out. Is this possible?

What causes water to stagnate? Is this due to lack of oxygen? But doesn't the plants give off O2? Are fish byproducts are NO3 rich?

Also, I have this cobweb type algae starting to grow on my Java moss and ferns. What kind of algae is this?

Tips and comments are welcome. Remember, I am trying for a balanced ecosystem type tank.
 
There are several resources out there for very low tech/ecosystem tanks which people will chime in with. A goldfish bowl most likely will not work at all for these. The water is stagnating because there is no movement. Bowls were not meant to be tanks, generally. What fish do you have in there?
 
The tank is about 2G and the only fish I have are two cherry barbs. I might take them out and put in some cherry shrimp but not have done so yet.

Hummm, so some kind of circulation is require huh? I saw those nano type HOB filters that might work...

I'll continue to do a bit more research on these types of tanks...
 
RD:

What you are attempting to set up is a variation of a Walstad Natural Planted Tank with the variation being the WCs. Please refer to
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html

If it were my tank the first thing which I would try would be a very small, quite air pump with an airstone.

This will reduce stagnation and help remove the odor by increasing the oxygenation of the water due to turbulence of the water's surface.

TR
 
wow..that's what i was gonna say. it sounds alot smarter coming from you..lol
 
jones57742 said:
RD:

What you are attempting to set up is a variation of a Walstad Natural Planted Tank with the variation being the WCs. Please refer to
http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html

If it were my tank the first thing which I would try would be a very small, quite air pump with an airstone.

This will reduce stagnation and help remove the odor by increasing the oxygenation of the water due to turbulence of the water's surface.

TR
Click to expand...

WOW! To me, it is just a recipe for disaster.
 
I would recommend some kind of small filter. I find that even in a fish bowl it is best to keep a filter running. A heater is not needed if the ambient room temp stays warm enough and is consistent.

Marinemom
 
RockysDad said:
I pretty much have a planted goldfish bowl with no heater and filter and would like to keep it this way as much as possible. The problem I am seeing now is that my water is somewhat going stagnent and starts to smell bad after awhile. I try to do weekly water changes but would like to see if this can be avoided due to trying to have a balanced ecosystem where the flora and fauna will help each other out. Is this possible?

What causes water to stagnate? Is this due to lack of oxygen? But doesn't the plants give off O2? Are fish byproducts are NO3 rich?

Also, I have this cobweb type algae starting to grow on my Java moss and ferns. What kind of algae is this?

Tips and comments are welcome. Remember, I am trying for a balanced ecosystem type tank.
Click to expand...

It needs circulation and mechanical filtration!!
 
I think 2g is way too small to try and achive a stable eco-balance especially with two barbs in there.
Imagine two gallons of free-standing water in the wild, the only things I can think of that would live in it would be mozzy larva and water fleas.

So to add to what others have said above- Do water changes at least once a week.
 
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