Diversity in one sample from aquarium

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mintakax
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Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#1 Post by mintakax » Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:04 pm

I've had my pond aquarium for 7 months now and have not "charged " it up with real pond water in many months. I put together this video from just one sample from the bottom of my aquarium form last week. I'm really amazed at the diversity that exists in just a few drops of water in the bottom of a Petri dish. It isn't really an indication of the total diversity because there are many organisms that I regularly see that are not present in this sample. The quality of my videos has suffered greatly since I switched from a regular to an inverted scope, partly because I don't think the TMD DIC is quite as good as that from my previous BHS/BH2 and partly because there is a lot more water to penetrate in the dishes vs a slide with cover. I'm just posting this as a tribute to all those little beasties :). I can coarsely ID only about 1/2 of these.

https://vimeo.com/395229487

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KD Arvidsson
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#2 Post by KD Arvidsson » Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:23 pm

Very very beatiful to see! Thanks for sharing! //KD
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MichaelG.
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#3 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:10 pm

A rich community there, Dan
... obviously thriving in your care.

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#4 Post by WhyMe » Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:57 am

Wow, very nice! Loved the video!

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75RR
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#5 Post by 75RR » Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:36 am

Veritable cornucopia you have there. Very handy!

Did a quick search but couldn't find a photograph of your aquarium - could you post one?
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mintakax
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#6 Post by mintakax » Wed Mar 04, 2020 7:23 pm

Thank you KD,MichaelG,WhyMe and Glen !

I will post a pic Glen, but be prepared to be underwhelmed :)

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KurtM
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#7 Post by KurtM » Thu Mar 05, 2020 3:33 am

I second the motion for pix of the aquarium! I find your assortment of wee beasties impressive, and can only assume you're keeping a splendidly healthy little ecosystem there, whether through a specific set of skills or just plain good luck. I do know perfectly well that some samples seem to stay clear for ages while others quickly go bad for reasons that are mysterious ... to me, anyway.
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#8 Post by Bruce Taylor » Thu Mar 05, 2020 12:50 pm

Beautiful! :)

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#9 Post by mintakax » Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:00 pm

OK-- Here it is. I warned you it would be underwhelming :D

It is in my garage and has one 24/7 air hose and one heater set to 63 F. I top off the water with pond water when possible or spring water from Whole Foods when not.
I feed it several kernels of boiled corn every couple of weeks. The algae at the bottom has been alive for some time. The tank is illuminated by a small amount of indirect light from a window.

The Petri dishes on the bottom are some cultures that I decided would be better off in the tank. I leave the forceps in the tank and use them to retrieve bits of algae or detritus to drip into a Petri dish for observation. Anything I observe gets rinsed (spring water) back into the tank.
IMG_3536.jpg
IMG_3536.jpg (263.37 KiB) Viewed 12454 times

mintakax
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#10 Post by mintakax » Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:02 pm

Thank you Kurt and Bruce !

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#11 Post by KurtM » Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:56 am

Oh I don't know, I find it perfectly whelming, myself ... how 'bout you, Glen?

Seriously, and as I said, the variety of life forms you present makes the whole thing impressive, which makes it a grand little pond aquarium.
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#12 Post by einman » Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:18 am

Very nice! Very good resolution.

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75RR
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#13 Post by 75RR » Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:09 am

Thanks for posting a photo of your little gold mine!

Secret formula = 17˚C + air bubbles + pond water + spring water

I see that you have kept the brand of spring water to yourself ... ;)

It looks just like it should i.e. a small section of a shallow pond.

I think perhaps a common error microscopists make is to create something closer to a fish aquarium rather than a ditch.
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#14 Post by daruosha » Fri Mar 06, 2020 2:48 pm

75RR wrote:
Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:09 am
Secret formula = 17˚C + air bubbles + pond water + spring water
Interestingly the aquarium shop man offered the same recipe. I think I'll follow this route and make my pond aquarium.

You guys are awesome. Thank you mintakax and all the participants.
Daruosh.

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#15 Post by daruosha » Fri Mar 06, 2020 2:51 pm

mintakax wrote:
Thu Mar 05, 2020 8:00 pm
OK-- Here it is. I warned you it would be underwhelming :D

It is in my garage and has one 24/7 air hose and one heater set to 63 F. I top off the water with pond water when possible or spring water from Whole Foods when not.
I feed it several kernels of boiled corn every couple of weeks. The algae at the bottom has been alive for some time. The tank is illuminated by a small amount of indirect light from a window.

The Petri dishes on the bottom are some cultures that I decided would be better off in the tank. I leave the forceps in the tank and use them to retrieve bits of algae or detritus to drip into a Petri dish for observation. Anything I observe gets rinsed (spring water) back into the tank.

IMG_3536.jpg
Do you benefit from any sort of artificial lighting (e.g. LED strip)?
Daruosh.

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#16 Post by MicroBob » Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:14 pm

Most of my little aquariums are in my lab/office which is kept at min. 20 °C all year round but can go up to 30°C in summer. They sit in a bay window facing west and get a lot of light. In summer I put up a piece of cardboard to give some shade. One other aquarium is in an entrance area that is lightly heated and has between 10 and 26 °C over the year. It sits in a big N-N-W window and gets a little direct sunlight in the evening. All are running with minimum attention and without enery consumtion. One exception was a 30l aquarium that needed an air pump in the summer for a couple of hours per day. In my eyes a good nutrition of the plants is valuable as they can then produce the oxgen without the need for electricity.

When refilling with pond water only I would expect that the water will become increasingly calcreous.

It is probably possible to actively steer the development of the aquarium by adding and removing substances. Like to increase the diatom population.

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#17 Post by daruosha » Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:47 pm

MicroBob wrote:
Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:14 pm
Most of my little aquariums are in my lab/office which is kept at min. 20 °C all year round but can go up to 30°C in summer. They sit in a bay window facing west and get a lot of light. In summer I put up a piece of cardboard to give some shade. One other aquarium is in an entrance area that is lightly heated and has between 10 and 26 °C over the year. It sits in a big N-N-W window and gets a little direct sunlight in the evening. All are running with minimum attention and without enery consumtion. One exception was a 30l aquarium that needed an air pump in the summer for a couple of hours per day. In my eyes a good nutrition of the plants is valuable as they can then produce the oxgen without the need for electricity.

When refilling with pond water only I would expect that the water will become increasingly calcreous.

It is probably possible to actively steer the development of the aquarium by adding and removing substances. Like to increase the diatom population.
Bob, thanks for the tips, what do you use as nutrition for a pond water culture?
Daruosh.

mintakax
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#18 Post by mintakax » Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:41 pm

Thanks everyone for your comments !
Daruosha asked if I used any additional lighting and the answer is no, just the indirect lighting from an adjacent window that has leaky blinds !

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#19 Post by MicroBob » Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:44 pm

daruosha wrote:
Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:47 pm
what do you use as nutrition for a pond water culture?
Very little actually. Mostly it should run a a more or less closed system. Apart from evaporation and gas exchange everything stays in there and should be recycled.
From time to time I have put in a tiny amount of ground rice. I also have put in a little sieve full of hay, but this comes with the risk that it starts to smell. But usually it runs for months without attention. The aquarium in the entrance area needs to be topped of more frequently as our tomcat drinks from it. For topping of I use rain water.

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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#20 Post by Wes » Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:51 pm

Cool video mintakax, and an even nicer aquairum! My wife freaks out over the sight of a couple of baby jars filled with about 100 ml of dirty water, I'll have a hard time convincing her to get one of these bad boys :lol:
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Re: Diversity in one sample from aquarium

#21 Post by MicroBob » Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:05 pm

My former 30l aquarium including snails was in our bedroom for at least half a year because my lab/office was built+furnished at the time. These aquariums can look quite nice when they are planted and may be even decorated with nice stones etc. They also don't smell when everything is running well. Here the soil + paper tissue + gravel method is valuable. In big tanks this even works with a couple of fish. I can really recommend to take the planting serious - it reduces maintenance a lot. Some plants even move above the water level and come into blossom.

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