1 Gallon Planted Bowl

[JMex]

I started this 1 gallon bowl last week and just thought of making a thread of it! It's intended as a gift for my girlfriend for when she moves out and can't take her current tank with her but I'm keeping it until everything is stable. Will eventually be adding cherry shrimp if all works out.

1 Gallon
no heat or filtration
Miracle Grow cactus and citrus soil capped with aquarium sand
14 watt 5000k

Flora:
Brazilian microsword
wisteria
christmas moss
salvinia minima
glossostigma

[CatB]

i'd make sure the miracle grow won't leach any harmful chemicals. i've heard of people using MGOPS, but not that variant.

[JMex]

Originally Posted by CatB

i'd make sure the miracle grow won't leach any harmful chemicals. i've heard of people using MGOPS, but not that variant.

Thanks for the heads up! I remember reading somewhere that it should be fine because it's mainly peat but I will do a bit more research before I add any fauna.

[Newman]

yes make sure its safe for aquarium use. bowl looks cool though, lets see how it grows. i would give it until its lush and established

[JMex]

Originally Posted by Newman

yes make sure its safe for aquarium use. bowl looks cool though, lets see how it grows. i would give it until its lush and established

Thank you! Watching your bowl thread is what inspired me to try one of my own. And definitely, I'm hoping that the microsword works out in the bowl as I've heard it can grow pretty slow with no co2.

[Newman]

it should be ok! grassy plants like that can take a little while to get used to the bowl environment but once it does, and as long as it doesnt get beat by algae, it will start to spread nicely. the soil should guarantee a good carpeting behavior from the microsword.

[JMex]

Quick little photo update.



Everything is growing quite nicely so far. Wisteria in the back is at the water surface, microsword is sending out runners, glosso is starting to take off, and salvinia is almost needing to be thinned out. The moss has also started to climb up the emergent wood which looks pretty neat. Have a bit of detritus and hair algae but not enough to be problematic. The bi-weekly water changes take care of it pretty good. I have seen little black things jumping around on the sand though. Too small to tell what they are, or get a picture of them, but look like little water gnats almost.

[acejohn]

How did you manage to have a clear water from the start? I'm also starting a planted bowl but the water got cloudy.

[JMex]

Originally Posted by acejohn

How did you manage to have a clear water from the start? I'm also starting a planted bowl but the water got cloudy.

It was a bit cloudy for the first 2 days. The first pictures I took were a week after it was set up. But it was just starting it off with the light on for only a couple hours a day, slowly increasing it after 1 week. I also did 90% water changes every day for the first week, 3 days a the second week, and now I do about 70% once a week. It's going to be a bit messy for the first while cause there is no filter to get rid of all the waste and the plants have to settle in to really be able to absorb anything but it will clear up.

[bacon5]

Looks great, I am probably going to start one soon but might just use only sunlight. Do you think that that will work?

[compnerd7]

What a dope present! 1g would drive me crazy to maintenance, but you kept it simple, and that would make an awesome addition to desk, night stand ect. I would not want to give it away, being afraid they would kill it, but since you said she had a tank it should be alright. Nano tanks are very cool, and yours is pretty fresh. Nice job.

If you put a few (1-2) small shrimp in there, ( Caridina breviata. Cambarellus patzcuarensis, or Sulawesi Starry Night Shrimp; I don't know the Genus / species ) you could maintain a some what of small ecosystem that would allow you to not have to add many neuts, or any at all. A snail or so would help too... Just a thought.

[JMex]

Originally Posted by compnerd7

What a dope present! 1g would drive me crazy to maintenance, but you kept it simple, and that would make an awesome addition to desk, night stand ect. I would not want to give it away, being afraid they would kill it, but since you said she had a tank it should be alright. Nano tanks are very cool, and yours is pretty fresh. Nice job.

If you put a few (1-2) small shrimp in there, ( Caridina breviata. Cambarellus patzcuarensis, or Sulawesi Starry Night Shrimp; I don't know the Genus / species ) you could maintain a some what of small ecosystem that would allow you to not have to add many neuts, or any at all. A snail or so would help too... Just a thought.

Thank you for the kind words. I've designed it with low maintenance in mind so all it needs is a water change once a week and it holds it's own pretty good. Snails tend to be a bit messy so I put 3 cherry shrimp in a bit ago. Haven't done a real update yet though cause I can't seem to get any good pictures of them. It's been a week and they seem quite happy though so I must be doing something right

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[JMex]

Originally Posted by bacon5

Looks great, I am probably going to start one soon but might just use only sunlight. Do you think that that will work?

I'm sure that sunlight would work for growing things, the only thing I would be worried about with that is temperature fluctuations and algae blooms since you can't really control the sun. What I do with mine is sit it across the room from my window so it gets a bit of sun in the morning and the rest of the day is just room ambience with the controlled light (my window faces directly east). It works well so far, temperature is stable and only minor algae which makes it so I dont have to feed the shrimp.

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[JMex]

Quick little photo update I took while visiting. Bowl is doing quite well. No algae, plants are growing like crazy, microsword and moss growing so much some of it is growing emersed, and shrimps are happy.

[plebe86]

that looks real nice. i was thinking bout making one too but i wasnt sure, till i saw youres and now im gonna get one for sure. thanks for the motivation.