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Upgraded my bowl

5K views 30 replies 9 participants last post by  tattooedfool83 
#1 ·
So i have a tiny little bowl i threw some stuff in. It started to stink so i got this bowl at michaels for like $12, not sure how many gallons, maybe 2? BUt i used a dirt substrate with black diamond on top. I won a RAOK and the guy sent me so much stuff that i threw some extra stuff in this. Java fern, bacopa maybe, vals a tiny anubias is in there. Theres a bunch of floaters and they have doubled in a week. I have 3 ramshorn snails in there that seem happy there all over the place and i threw in 2 molly fry i have from one of my tanks since i have so many. Everyone seems happy, i check the water every other day and am doing 50% water changes on it as well. Excuse the big piece of glass on the top of it but my cats use it as there water dish. They are [censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored][censored]s but thats a whole different thread. I use a 13 or 14w spiral bulb in some desk light i had laying around. No heater as well. Im buying some cherry shrimp from a kid locally so im gonna toss them in there as well and see how it goes.
 

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#5 · (Edited)
so update on my bowl. Its registering no ammonia, .25ppm nitrites and no read out on nitrates. I bought like 12 shrimp from a local guy, cherry shrimp some tiger and he threw in a couple tangerine shrimp. Cool looking shrimps, i have no clue about shrimp but i put them in 2 days ago and they are already malting. So thats gotta be good. The snails in there are breeding like mad. I will have a snail epidemic shortly, most broad leaves in the bowl have globs of eggs...... ill transfer them, i stopped into this local fish store and they had 2 different deep blue tanks. im thinking a 5 gallon and a 2.5 gallon. They will be mine by this weekend....thats a different thread down the road.
The kid i got the shrimp from gave me more plants then i know what to do with, hydrocotyle, blyxa, hair grass maybe, some type of moss, plus i think i have vals in there, an load of frog bite and salvinia. Theres also the 2 molly fry that just chase each other all day. Pretty cool little bowl all in all oh and i threw in the thermometer for the day to see about temp. Seems to hover around 68-72
 

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#6 · (Edited)
Update. Added a new light, more substrate and root tabs. Removed The adult snails as there are gonna be hundreds of baby snails soon. I'm soaking some drift wood to add to this once its water logged. I've been dosing excel everyday, just a couple drops and have started adding flourish. Just haven't determined if I should once or twice a week. I'm doing water changes every other day as well

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#7 ·
it's looking pretty darn good now! i'm guessing your nitrite spike is about done, and you're seeing nitrates?

btw word is you should keep the big snails in there, which actually help with snail population control - the big ones will eat the eggs so they can keep the tank to themselves, but if you remove them there's nothing to stop the incoming onslaught of the next generation of baby snails! so yeah, keep a few big mature ones, pluck out the juvies.
 
#8 ·
I am seeing nitrates, with adding more black diamond blasting im thinking the soil substrate is settling some as it burps and air bubbles float up. thats why im maintaining the water changes. I check the water every other day as well. The snails all started hatching while the adults were in there. I figured by removing the adults i would limit the reproduction for awhile until the snails matured some. and i want some assasin snails anyways. So ill throw in one or two in a month and let them go to town. But im super happy so far and have had no deaths. I did remove the 2 molly fry that were in there when i added more cap. So just shrimp and snails now
 
#11 ·
much more of a narrow beam of light for sure, i found that switching over from the cfl spiral in the desk lamp too

i will say its a bit too early to rate it on plant growth but all my crypts are shirting towards the light so it cant be too bad, right?

time will tell, cant wait to watch your bowl, i hit 6 months on mine and opted for a complete rescape...
 
#14 ·
Deep blue solar flare. 3w led. Its nice for the bowl, but being such a small led it doesn't have much spread. Kens fish it was $12.95 plus shipping. On any other site its twice that amount before shipping. Awesome value for what I got. Wish I would have ordered a couple to have them laying around. Only downside is it doesn't have an on/off switch

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#18 ·
Pleased to see the bowl is going well with the new LED. I really enjoy the ones I've got. They're perfect for bowls and small tanks.

Would be ideal for tiny cubes like I've got (see signature). And if one really wanted to make red and brown Crypts pop, they could use a red unit in conjunction with the daylight.
 
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