Random Bits: Sealed Ecosphere vs Self Sustaining Aquarium Garden

In one of my previous videos, I promised to share my thoughts and ideas about self sustaining aquariums.

Let's make a simple ecosphere.

Fill 2/3 of a one liter jar with dechlorinated water.

Here I add a Marimo ball anchored with a seashell.

We can add different plants...here goes Elodea.

And let's add some duckweed.

A couple rocks or gravel.

And finally let's add pond snails.
Pond snails feed on green algae which is present in all aquariums.
Algae and plants feed on waste produced by snails.
And so it goes in cycles.

Now let's close the jar to prevent water evaporation.

We have made a sealed self-sustaining ecosphere.

I always add a tilted background to make it look better.

And I can even flip the jar upside-down to demonstrate that it is sealed.

The purpose of sealing the ecosphere is to prevent any input.

All sealed ecospheres, including this one, are supposed to be self-sustaining without any maintenance.
No input or output of any kind.

Well, that is where things get interesting.
Sealed ecosphere or or not, call it a biosphere, an aquarium, or call it anything you want and seal it as much as you can - it needs energy to keep it warm and energy for plants and algae to grow.
It needs light!

Without light we cannot even enjoy the view of anything :)

A continuous input of light is an input that even sealed ecospheres need.
And therefore technically speaking, there is no such thing as fully sealed ecospheres ;)

Okay, let's disregard the input of light and heat for a moment.
Then sealed ecospheres are self-sustainable without any maintenance.

All you can do is to enjoy the view of ecosphere for as long as it will last.
There is nothing else to do...but stare at it.
Well, maybe dust it once in a while :)

No maintenance is the beauty of ecospheres.
And it is their ultimate flow.
Just to watch is boring...
Basically all ecospheres are aquariums.
Maintenance and the ability to make creative changes to influence the development of aquariums is the most attractive part of an aquarium hobby.
To care for your aquarium is the most enjoyable part.
For many of us, it is the only purpose of keeping aquariums.
Also, too much of maintenance is frustrating and that is the main reason many people give up on the hobby.

What if aquariums need only seasonal maintenance or so...
That is where my self-sustaining aquarium gardens come into play.

Aquarium gardens are not sealed.

The tubes in the cover allow access to atmosphere air while reducing water evaporation from the aquarium.

So once in a while, water needs to be added into aquarium gardens.

I have examples of such aquariums going well for over an year without adding water.
Adding water even once in a month is not much maintenance in my opinion.

Plants growing with roots in water still need to be trimmed as necessary.
And again, it's done once in a while.

So, it's not much of a burden.

We can try new plants in aquarium gardens at any time for fun or research projects.

We can do much more on a whim taking full control of development in aquarium gardens and then leaving them for a prolonged time without any maintenance.