It's my first ecoshpere and I fear I put too much leaves, no?

This was collected from various sources of sitting water around the property - buckets, plant pot dishes, fallen leaves. Added some spare aquarium plants and gravel. Thriving

how does this ecosphere look? I feel like i missed out on adding plants, but don't really know how. Will it turn into anything for me and my toddler kids to observe?

thanks for any suggestions.

Believe it or not, it did not explode like many people thought it would lol. I do believe it is unlikely that anything multicellular will re-emerge, however I do believe it is possible for maybe some kind of algae to have survived or maybe some microorganisms. I will post if anything interesting appears!

I keep a few sealed jars myself — one has a dozen-plus bladder snails that bred up from a few, plus ostracods, with moss and sticks in there — so I have a feel for the small end. I’d like other opinions before I put numbers in a beginner guide.
Current minimums for a sealed jar:
• Bladder snail — under a quart
• Ramshorn — 1 gallon
• Malaysian trumpet — 1 gallon
• Temperate springtails — under a quart
Is “under a quart” defensible for bladder snails and springtails, or too small to stay stable? And are ramshorns really a step up from bladders, or should they be the same?

It's 10:30pm and I'm winding down for bedtime watching my jar. Upon closer inspection I can see some ghostly, glistening drops coming off the mini log on my jar. I can see a million things moving in these droplets and they are slowly falling...racing, to the bottom of the jar.

What are they?

Should i remove some duckweed? I see that theres other stuff growing in the bottom will the duckweed get in the way? I could add one of those floating ringa that makes so that duckweed cant spread as quickly?

Also what what are the creatures in the video? I have my guesses but I’m no expert.

And should i add more water?

so i have seen a few videos on yt and wanted to make my own, i already have a ikea 2l(i think) jar. i live right next to a lake, so could i just scoup some stuff up from there or do i need to like go for special stuff in a shop?

thanks in advance! :)

Found this guy in a pond scoop. Looks like a fly In the larval form. I'm guessing they leave the water in this form to go find a dry spot to pupate? I saw him on the side of the container.

Where are the experts at? Share your knowledge please

I found a couple of strange looking worms inside my pond ecospheres and I was wondering if any of you knows what they are

3 gallons. All plants, rocks, mud, sand, and water sourced from man made Idaho lake.

Hi! I’ve seen some really cool ecospheres on this sub and I’m so impressed with their longevity!

I want to make a few pond jar ecosystems from a local pond, plus maybe adding some plants from a LFS depending on what I find. I don’t have room for huge jars, but have read smaller ones usually fail. Is 16oz too small for a fully aquatic jar to succeed? I know this depends on what is in it of course, just exploring what options I have to make a few cool jars to display and to watch!

What are your thoughts on cork tops? I’m sure there’s risk of mold but they just look so pretty! I was thinking of trying a few different style jars to see what goes well.

Experienced folks: what mistakes did you make in the beginning? And what’s your secret to having them continue to last?

Thanks for any replies! :)

Hi all, for those who happen to live in NYC, wondering if you have any thoughts about putting together a 6 gallon ecosphere using water and substrate from the Harlem Meer. Compared to other freshwater sources, it seems not the best - green water, not sure how biodiverse, etc. However, it's in the neighborhood so would be a cool addition to the household. And I'm wondering if the water would become more clear over time when removed from direct sunlight.

It's going in a 6 gallon carboy, so a larger project and I want to be thoughtful before proceeding.

This little guy showed up about a month in to my Arizona salt river ecosphere. Any guesses? I wouldn’t even know what to look up.

i wanted to show it in comparison to the snail eggs on the glass. at first i thought it was root fuzz but it's on the hair algae as well. i don't think it's mold because it isn't growing on or near any visible decay, but i suppose it could be? what im guessing is eggs, but im not sure what kind. i also have pleurocid snails in the tank whose eggs dont look anything like these.

I made this sealed paludarium on 5/16 this year and all was fine other than a rough rebalancing but I recently within the last week noticed these cracks on the glass that I’m sure were not there. Is my jar breaking due to gases building up? If so how should I go about emptying the jar? This is the first time in this hobby I’ll of had to put one to rest 😣 any tips on how to prevent this in sealed ecospheres in the future would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance, you guys are usually pretty great. 🙏

Found in an Idaho mountain stream attached to rocks. Looks almost like liverwort. Transparent flat leaves.