Newman's Shrimp Bowl

[Newman]

Newman's Shrimp Bowl

I started this 1 gal bowl on November 5, 2010.
Equipment:
1 Gallon Glass Bowl
1" layer of Miracle Gro's Organic Choice Potting Mix
0.5" layer of white playsand.
Ikea LED Light

Plants:
Dwarf Sag
Pygmy Chain Sword
Dwarf Hairgrass
Java Fern
Duckweed
Water Lettuce
Taiwan moss

Inverts:
Yellow Shrimp

Current FTS:


Updated Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb47C5IJI9w

A Look Into The Past:
Pics from Nov 5. It was very cloudy from the soil and sand. The bowl sits next to my 10 gal reef. Once the bowl gets an actual light fixture and shrimp, it will be moved to a coffee table where it will look nicer.

The next day I did a few water changes to clear it all up. That next set of pics was on Nov 6.


On Nov 12 I did my weekly water change and added some hornwort and removed the bulky java fern. later I replaced it with a few smaller ones. The last picture is the update of Nov 12.

I moved one male cherry shrimp into this tank to test whether the bowl was yet habitable by animals (the plants were growing well). This happened on Nov 14. I originally planned adding the shrimp much later, after the tank was full with plants, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me. He's been in there for 4 days now. seems ok.

Tomorrow is water change day again, so I'll snap another weekly update pic after the water change.

My current goal is to find some sort of small but vertical DW piece that can accommodate the mosses and the java ferns in this bowl (I do not like having the moss clump loose like that and the java ferns planted in the sand.)

Any feed back is greatly appreciated!

[Newman]

Update shot from week #2. I tied the hornwort together in a bunch with a plant weight (careful not to crush the stems or needles). It looks much better this way.
I will be looking for a DW piece tomorrow for the moss and ferns to grow on.

[Cottagewitch]

Personally I think its pretty neat.

[v369]

great start!

[wendyjo]

The title of this sounds like a new type of Ramen Noodles!

[Newman]

Originally Posted by wendyjo

The title of this sounds like a new type of Ramen Noodles!

haha, nice.



Thank you for stopping by

[Newman]

Thinking about using just tap water to do water changes instead of the water from my bigger planted tank. I don't think i need all that extra nutrient floating in the bowl water cuz the soil substrate already has everything the plants in the bowl need.

Also I couldn't find a small enough DW piece in the LFS. going to search around my property for some DW then...

[Newman]

Found a decent DW piece in my yard, soaking it right now to get it to sink.
also added a female shrimp into the bowl, we will see how they do.
I ditched the hornwort and I started to use tap water for water changes.

[Newman]

An update on the shrimp bowl. DW finally got water logged after i boiled it so i tied some moss and java fern to it and put it into the tank. shrimp love it. you can see both shrimp in this photo.

[sarajean80]

It looks so neat! I bet it will look even better once the moss and everything gets established.

I kinda want one now.

[Newman]

Thanks! i have high hopes for this not getting taken over by algae and looking lush and green one day!

[Newman]

I added another pair of shrimp to his bowl today. I hope they do well!

[Newman]

update pictures. getting slammed by algae but I have been tring to keep it at bay. I can no longer do a good cleaning of the tank because recently one female shrimp gave birth so I will wait until the babies are grown to start syphoning off debris as part of my cleaning. going to get a lot worse before it can get better i guess :P Oh and that female shrimp arrived already berried into this tank. I got to see how the babies are born.

the substrate plants are growing nicely. shey should eventually cover the entire floor.

[crimsonbull57]

This thing is awesome!

[Newman]

you think so even with the algae? thanks!