Seashell Aquarium Jar

Walking along by the river I often pick some treasures for my aquariums. 

Pretty rocks, driftwood and all kinds of seashells.

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https://newyork.craigslist.org/search/sss?userpostingid=7391919122

 or buy Scuds on Amazon (paid link): 

https://amzn.to/3IeZgmG

Here is a pretty shell.

And this seashell is...probably still alive - let's drop it back in water.

This mollusk would not survive in my freshwater aquariums - drop it back in the East river.

I take only shells of dead mollusks.

Ah! Sea glass - it may serve as a nice decoration in any aquarium.

Letting kids dig on the beach is a sure way to get a lot of treasures :)

Shells come in all kinds of sizes, shapes and colors.

Broken shells with holes like this one are perfect for anchoring plants.

And you can easily make holes in shells as I showed in previous videos.

I use a knife to separate and remove broken halves of shells.

Clean all large shells with a brush and wash them clean.

The small shells I put in a jar filled with water and shake it.

Drain the dirty water and repeat as many times as it takes to remove dirt until the water gets clean.

Let the clean shells stay in the jar filled with tap water for a couple days or weeks.

That should be enough to ensure that there are no surprise critters lurking in the shells.

In this example I am going to use a 1.5 liter glass jar to set up a sustainable aquarium with snails.

Make holes in the lid of the jar for air circulation and to hold land plants.

Check my previous videos if you need help with that.

Fill up the jar with dechlorinated, preferably aged algae rich water.

I like to put a tilted background behind all my aquariums.

Normally I add just a couple seashells in all my aquariums.

This time I want to add a lot more small seashells instead of gravel.

The PH of the water slowly increases as seashells get dissolved in water.

It takes years for shells to get thin in water at normal room temperature.

Let's check how it goes with that many seashells in the tank.

A couple weeks ago I picked some land moss in the park and soak it.

It's already started growing new greens indicating that this land moss grows underwater.

Here you can see it closer.

The moss looks great.

Let's put this land moss in the jar.

We can anchor the moss with sea glass or some rock just to keep it in a place.

We can anchor moss (or any plants for that matter) with seashells. 

Here I put moss in the holes of a broken seashell.

Let's add a couple rocks for décor.

I always add two or more different types of plants in aquariums.

Here I put a cutting of fast growing Guppy grass.

And finally, let's add young Ramshorn snails.

Any small size freshwater snail would do - bladder snails are great.

I have already prepared the cover for the jar.

I made three holes in this cover/ plant holder.

All set and ready on May 27th, 2020.

A week later I added some scuds.

I like to have snails and scuds in all my aquariums.

Snails and scuds feed on algae and detritus.

Algae and detritus are naturally available in aquariums.

So, I do not have to feed snails and scuds.

Here you can see the aquarium about 10 months later on March 31st, 2021.

I've been growing different land plants on the top through the Winter.

I see scuds dashing here and there.

And there are some baby snails.

That is an example of a simple self feeding sustainable aquarium.

I just have to add water once a month or so.

Alright, let's reset this almost a year old aquarium to make it even prettier one.

Let's move the snails and scuds into a temporary tank for now.

I use a turkey baster to catch scuds and baby snails.

This time I am going to add some pretty Imagitarium gravel from Petco instead of many small shells.

And this rock will look like a jewel in the water!

This aquarium is for my granddaughter - I have to make it special :)

And let's put one large seashell.

The same two rocks from the old setup.

And now let's add some of the old water with critters.

I also added the same old plants for now.

Add dechlorinated aged water to the level.

It's a perfect no maintenance aquarium suitable even for 3 years old :)

All is set and ready on March 31st, 2021.

It is a simple and nice looking worry-free aquarium.

The small size makes it fit virtually anywhere in the apartment.

And the small size of the jar makes it suitable for growing even some succulence on the top.

Oh yes! You want to check my videos about all the different land plants growing in water too!

Here you can see the aquarium about one year later on February 8th, 2022.

I want to say my gratitude to Beryl from New York for sharing with me her snails and more.

Thank you Beryl!

Here you can see mini Ramshorn adult snails I put in this tank instead of regular Ramshorn snails.

This type of Ramshorn snails grow to about 5 mm the most - very tiny they are.

The whole care for this aquarium comes to adding water once in a month or two.

Well, I also like to add different plants, flowers by season.

It is an aquarium garden on my desk.

Here you can see this aquarium about one year later on January 11th, 2023.

All the critters (scuds and snails) seem to do fine through the year.

But they are really tiny, and one has to look close to see them.

The aquarium looks very good without me doing much at all.

And the large seashell already covered with green algae makes a nice background.

Mobility is one of the best parts about small aquariums like this one.

I bring the jar on my desk to look at to give my eyes some rest from the screen.

Time-lapse recording shows a lot of actions in an otherwise motionless aquarium.

Here is a full jar size time-lapse recording.

Most of the time I keep this jar aquarium on the shell with all my other aquariums.

Close by the window and away from direct sunlight.

It's beautiful!

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)