The Ecosystem Bowl: NO WATER CHANGE 1 Month Update 

👉👉MD MERCH CLICK HERE: THICC CORY: md-fish-tanks.creator-spring.com/listing/md-thicc-cory FULL SHOP: md-fish-tanks.creator-spring.com It's been a month since I made the ecosystem bowl aquarium and it's done so well. The build video has been very popular so I wanted to give an update addressing some of the concerns with the tank and just how it's getting on. Equipment (all links affiliate): LED FLOODLIGHTS: US amzn.to/3m3cEz9 UK amzn.to/3orIdRv GOOD BUDGET LIGHT:: US amzn.to/2MDfjk1 UK amzn.to/3iYlfQQ SMALL HANG ON BACK FILTER: US amzn.to/2Mw63OO UK amzn.to/39rx3b5 NANO INTERNAL FILTER: US amzn.to/3oxGBWm UK CANISTER FILTER: US amzn.to/3iNeVtW UK amzn.to/2Fo774a GOOSENECK CLIP ON LAMP: (similar as product is now discontinued) US amzn.to/2IlwLVA UK amzn.to/2LNat13 MINI WATER PUMP: US amzn.to/2oAmf5y UK amzn.to/2mjHDez TANKS: US amzn.to/2SOocHG UK amzn.to/2SPA24i STRIP LED LIGHT: US (similar) amzn.to/2SNgbm7 UK amzn.to/2Fn9aW1 ASTA LED LIGHT: US amzn.to/3k9EmpY UK amzn.to/3p5XUPY AQUARIUM RACKING: Shelving: US amzn.to/2SrYZ5k UK amzn.to/2GFWKJ2 AIRPUMP (FILTER SYSTEM): US amzn.to/31z8FA9 UK amzn.to/37GIoUa FILTER SPONGES: US amzn.to/3dQLUfM UK amzn.to/3dS2k7K MEDIA BAGS: US amzn.to/34Kaf2N UK amzn.to/3lAj3z1 STAINLESS LILY PIPES: US amzn.to/2FqHpvR UK amzn.to/2RlfrnC BOWL AQUARIUMS: US amzn.to/2M4FwFO UK: amzn.to/2Vx73CL API® products Subscribe to API on RU-vid: ru-vid.com USA consumers purchase API products on Amazon: www.amazon.com/stores/page/2193F555-CE5F-4A6B-BDC4-F315CB7F175D?channel=MDTanks UK consumers purchase API products on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/25663644-6C8C-432C-9E6A-0A85082C3E3C AQUARIAN® products Follow AQUARIAN on RU-vid: ru-vid.com/show-UCNxaNWKoWr_ztSgXgPj9r8A Purchase AQUARIAN products here: aquarian.co.uk/where-to-buy/

What I love about this channel is the humble and “this is fine”- attitude from the author. Feel less anxious about embracing this hobby now.

MD back peddling hard when he said he was gonna keep a tank for a year lol I love your low tech style. I want to do something similar for my living room.

I love this bowl. But I wanted to sit and watch it for five minutes after the vid. Ecosystem Bowl live feed! :)

Bro, I started watching your videos like 6months ago and now I have a 10gal Cherry shrimp/fancy guppy tank. A 30gal preacox rainbow fish/neon tetra tank and a 20gal pangio kuhli/serpea tetra tank🤣🤣 Still trying to get my scaping skills fine tuned, but you've been a serious inspiration and a large amount help. Keep up the great work and much love from the States!💯👍

I love this bowl, it's a stand out piece in your collection, I made an eco one myself after watching your build video around a month ago, I test everyday and have good parameters however the adult shrimp don't seem to be doing well as the young ones, I often find a few dead adults in the morning with the babies doing just fine.. Baffles me! Keep the videos coming, I never cease to get inspiration from them!

I love those small details. When I was a child I liked to take (without mother permission of course xD) tadpoles to raise them up. I guess I was already interested in aquariums back then and I was reading about bio balance of the water so I knew that only tap water was not enough so I always took a 1,5 bottle of water from the same lake they came from and dirt, plant matter from the bottom and I loooved to observe those little creatures inside. I liked it so much that sometimes I was just taking this dirt from water just to observe what I got this time xD

We have 4 of these ecosystem bowls in the office. Once a month we give them a little trim and top of the bowl. About 3 months ago, one of the bows was out of harmony and we got an excess of nitrate, so we started to do some water changes. One night I came back in the office and saw a whole bunch of neon tetra's swimming around. I was told that breeders have a kind of difficulties breeding tetra's. I have the solution! Breed them in a bowl instead of a tank. Because we only put 10 in, but we removed 12. I guess most of them were hiding during the day in the greenery or should I say nursery. After we removed about half of the fish and put those in a normal tank near the reception, the bowl started get into it's old groove again and parameters started to stabilize again... I love these ecosystem bowls and tanks. They are very low maintenance once they are really up & running and they provide green & life into the office... We have in our living room two large L-shaped couches back to back and between we've placed some side tables and they 'separate' the sitting area from the TV watching area. Now I've created a 10 by 2 ft tank (30" total height, water level should be around 27-28") ecosystem tank. But once I build the tank from 1/2" glass I started to realize how massive this tank was. Total volume should be around 330 gallons. Under estimated that a lot and it's very heavy. When we placed the tank on the current side tables, it started to make some weird noises. So now I've created a cabinet that should act as a base for the tank. The front (which is the 2 (w) x 2.5 (h) ft part) has some storage area's for tools and food. Growing the plants in tubs is great. Basically these tubs are also mini ecosystems, they have substrate, aqua soil, plants (no real hardscape or sand) and they got a handful neon's swimming around. So about month I can now create a new tub and probably near the end of the year, we have enough gravel, aqua soil and plants for the main tank. I just hope my gf doesn't change her mind about the tank between now and then... Thanks for your video's, I learned a lot from them!

Absolutely adore the bowl. It's so beautiful to the eye. Could sit and look at that all day.

My mother and I knew a man who made these in lamps. Entirely closed, no need to feed or anything. His name was Shepard.

I love this bowl so much! Love to see its progress and random shrimp.

Hi it's been a few months. Could we get another update? I just love this and i absolutely can't wait to try this myself! I'm learning as much as i can so that I can do it right from the start and not kill anything! thanks for all your videos, we're all learning so much!

C'mon MD, keep the bowl going for six months then see how things are working out. Keep us up to date with this project.

You have become my favorite aquarium hobby channel.. i literally get so excited when i see a new upload, then slowly fall into a md fish tanks rabbit hole lool..

I'm really getting into these kind of set ups and filterless, no heater nano tanks lately. So much you can do with them and they look so good. Thanks for the inspiration. 👍❤👍

No4. Just ask md he is the man 👨 your tanks and bang on mate

I miss getting these type of vids on my recommendation it's so relaxing ( now I just need vids from drawing and sculpting, very relaxing/amazing to watch the process )

I've found a shop that sells an 88L fish bowl and it's taking all my restraint to not buy the damn thing...MD you are NOT helping!!! 😂

I love this. I have a Walstad 10 gallon for my cherry shrimp that has been going for about 5 years now. Depending on how much the water gets tinted by the tannins, I may do a water change once a year. Otherwise, I just top off.

I've nearly got all my stuff ready, bowl, stand, stones, wood. Need light, plants, and most importantly fish! Neons.

I see a massive trend with your tanks, they are incredibly green. Amazing to see how good the tanks run in your care, BUT I do have a question. Have you ever made a salt water tank or tanks themed off of a place you'd see in the wild???

Thanks for the update, still looking fantastisk. I have just made a 19L bowle last weekend. 🤩

Love the tanks as always. And those subscribers are growing! Congrats

Thank you for following up on this tank! I would love to do one of my own with your beautiful blue shrimp!

You are delightful. You bring so much passion and humility to your work

The bowl has immense beauty in its simplicity!! Love it MD!!

The first video showed up in my recommend, was so invested sat through the entire video and this one. I really hope you keep this one for a year.

What a nice fish bowl. 🦚🦄💖💗💓🍀💥🦚🦄💖💗💓🍀💥

When my water lettuce gets out of control, I just trim up those roots to like 2-3 inches long. They seem to handle it fine, but they don't take over the whole tank.

I loved this video! I actually have a big bowl and I am about ready to rescape it. Thank you for the tips!

One of my favorite things you've done on this channel!

Lovely photography! :D Not only was this interesting to watch for the subject matter, but visually the video is very pleasing to look at.

I always follow your videos. I personally feel your aquascapes are the best in the world to be honest. I like simple but neat n beautiful scapes, which you do actually. Thank you very much! Love from India.

For those of us with less than balanced bowls... surface agitation gets rid of the slick on the surface. I put an airstone on a low stream in mine and it disappeared within a day or two.

You have awesome energy and and talent!🙂

this bowl is really nice. so many beautiful plants and a very nice hardscape. not to mention the fuzzy water lettuce

I'm new to your channel. I watched your reef tank videos from 3 years ago then this, and I gotta say you've gone a long way on the Aquarium journey and getting so good at it.

this is unrelated but i am so glad that your channel comments section isnt filled with people saying its not a mistake its a masterpiece

Looking good, the submerged growth will be an extra awesome feature. Can't wait to see it in a couple of months.

This is a great vid of yours and I've watched a lot of what you've done but this is great the way you explain. Cheers Mate!

Fertilizer really is the main problem when growing plants for me. It's when I learn that I only needed water and light that my plants started growing well.

MD you should do a new project with the plan to keep it long term. I know that's not your thing but it would be cool to plan it in a way you could enjoy watching it mature overtime. I saw a 21 year old tank the other day, so cool!

Hello from austrlia

This is great stuff, thanks! I'm trying to plan out making one of these myself (first timer). This is very helpful.

This just popped up in my recommended and I have to say I really enjoyed it! Glad I stumbled upon your channel. Great videos!

I'm all about building eco/bioactive systems, and I am learning so much from your channel. Tips and tricks that I've never heard of before. Gorilla glue sticks to moss? Who knew!

That's incredible and a lovely bowl! I'll be bragging about it if I successfully build something like that

Watched a few of your videos, and I am amazed... and ashamed of my own tank. I started a year ago, having nonidea what I am doing, listening to advice from the hardware store where I bought the equipment and the fish. It is horrible by comparison. The fish are doing Ok, I think, but there are way to many. I have algea all over the place and can't get rid of it, probably because to much nutrients? The ground is a mess, parts of the aqua soil is peeki g through because I have been water changing and trying to clean the fish dirt (as I was adviced to do).... there is just so much wrong that I really really want to start over. I wish you would write a book or something where you explain all those little details.... I would buy it in a heart beat!

Awesome video, I love your tanks so much

You’ve convinced me not only to get / make a fishtank, I’m appearently also gonna fill it with shrimp instead of goldfish !

cool video, good decoration, simple look, good mastery

I love this one! I want to make one. I had to tear down my 90cm rainbowfish tank last year because of a big move. This is way more upkeep friendly

I don't know how this ended up in my recommended. But I'm so glad it did. I don't keep fish, I don't have any plants. I've never had an aquarium. But I was mesmerised. I kind of wanted to have a loop at the end where I could just sit and watch them all moving around in there. {I'm the same when I go to big aquariums. I don't know if there is anything in the world more relaxing than just sitting somewhere and watching life happen in there}. Thanks for this. I want one of my own.

I really like these update videos - I am still planning for the 1 tank that will be in my living room. No back up tanks, no other space - I want something interesting and beutiful with happy little creatures. These videos let me know if/how I can have a planted tank at home

Very pretty! I like the tiny fish etc!

Years ago - 26 - I started up an ''aquarium'' in my living room using an old plastic babies bath (really old when they made them a decent size and shape) and started with lots of gravel in the base and plants. Papyrus and a couple of others that all like to grow in water as well as floating plants - oxygenating plants from the pet shop - and then I added a couple of snails and two goldfish. This tank ran, with only a tiny little filter, for years and I never had any problems, presumably the waste was taken up by the plants but I didn't know that at the time. It was mainly for the plants originally then my daughter was given a couple of goldfish and that's how they arrived. I didn't do water changes just top ups and it was great. Then we moved and there was no room for the large indoor pond and the fish died. Now I have a fairly good idea why, and intend starting again only with a proper aquarium this time and hopefully the same plants again though Rice fish if I can find any - apparently I can't get them in Ireland because there just aren't any here. Any suggestions for a substitute would appreciated, must be cold water and must be small, rice fish size, and look similar. Fancy ones like Beta are OK but not ones I like the appearance of. Small, simple, traditionally fishy looking.

I have small children at home, so I am planning to get a bowl like this in about 15 years :)

Awesome results my man 👍🏼

I was recommended your first video of this bowl and I enjoyed it. Then this update popped up. I love the way your shoot your content and you Sir, can have my like and sub. ✨💕 Love your content, love how you shoot your content.

One tip... The fishbowls are super delicate. One hit with the scissors and it will crack...be careful

A deep sand substrate; I have four such tanks based on the Father Fish method. The most stable water parameters with minimal upkeep and no vacuum siphoning.

Enjoy your work very much

these update videos are really good

Thanks for sharing all these tips 😉

ah yes daily uploads my favorite binge

Beautiful! I know it's not you to keep anything for a long g time...but I would love to see this bowl progress over time. Maybe you could stick it in a corner somewhere and ignore it? Give updates every 3-4 months? Thanks MD, love your content.

Never even knew things like this existed… just wow

Awesome concept!

my school has something like that. not a bowl full of water but a big closed bottle, its been untouched for 43 years. and there is still life in it.

Great video. Learnt a lot here. Thanks

Okay, this is my new 2022 project as an addition to my living room.

just recently found your channel and i'm super excited to try out a bowl of my own! i haven't had a fish tank of any kind since i was a kid, but this seems like a decent starting point for a beginner. hoping it works out for me, too, but if it doesn't go well the first time around i'll keep at it. it's an experiment, right? anyway, thanks for making such great videos with really excellent tips. i never thought this would be something i'd want to do but the idea of a self-sustaining system really interests me, and the design process looks like loads of fun! wish me luck!

Brilliant mate!

NPT- Natural Planted Tank method, done that few years ago, worked fine, kept few fishes in, no issues

Simply stunning 🤩

Looks amazing. Have you ever tried making an undergravel plenum tank or a BCB bio basket? The plenum let's the oxygen get all the way through the substrate and grow all your microbes for biological filtration by creating anoxic zones that break down nitrates and phosphates which are what cause algae problems. It would be cool to see a setup with one set up long term to see how it progresses. 😊

Great vid! Cool content and good editing. Can’t wait to make a tank for myself.

I have to try this bowl looks awesome 😊

Hi from 🇦🇺

just found your channel... you're doing a great job my friend ...

That's incredible! If you don't need to change the water in a year and it's still crystal clear like that. I'm gonna make one for sure!

Thanks for the update and the maintenance tips! About 1.5 years ago one of your earlier bowl videos inspired me to make my own. I've had huge success, and my shrimp colony is thriving. However, moss is definitely the bane of my existence! It keeps growing long, not carpeting and will eventually strangle all other growth if I don't trim it back. When I trim it back though, it sinks and starts creating a new mess of long moss a month later. Maybe a moss planting and maintenance focused vid one day?

Your tank very beutiful and relax to see😃

Looks great! I also feed my neocaridina corydoras pellets because I have so much 😅

Love that bowl!

FABULOUS!

Interesting Video! That tank looks really nice. I set up a nano shrimp tanks (Minus the shrimp) last year and it went horribly wrong. I'm used to my "minimal maintenance" 75gal tank.

So cool. Love it.

Love the platy aquarium

Bug Bites for bottom feeders. All my fish and shrimp love it.

Nice mate

I would love to have a tank like this in my home!

I made a comment before that the pretty thing moving its legs there was a shrimp but since its in the same position 1 month later ....lol The bowl looks great - super clean (what oily film?) The growth rate of those plants being indicative of the ecosystem is so impressive. Great job and cant wait for 1 year update. Cheers!

Unfortunately, I prepared my nano shrimp aquarium a few days ago. Thanks to this informative video, I can still make a few changes.

Love it! 👍🏻😍

This is amazing

Beautiful

I have a 40 gallon for guppy breeding and it's going on 2 years no water changes and it's doing great

I've got a very similar set up to this for my betta. It works incredible. Few rcs plenty of plants and let mother nature do its work :) constant fry for him when he needs a snack

Need a tiny scoop net in my life. Mostly for the bath 😄