Planted Shrimp Cylinder

[acitydweller]

This little project was created from left over materials from the other two nano tanks. about 1.5 pounds of EcoComplete substrate in a Glass vase from TJ Maxx. Plants mainly started with Rotala, some snippets of HC and DHG. No heater or filtration used.

At some point, shrimp were added because the juvies and peewees were getting lost in the larger tanks which made monitoring their development impossible. All of the baby shrimp which have come by way of SnS or online sales is first introduced to this bowl. The tank has been supplemented with Moss as a food source and jungle gym for the active kids.

December 2011

The lone occupant was a Natural Bee Shrimp from Fishtown USA (2 others had passed within a week of purchase)

January 2012
Cherry shrimp were added
February 2012

Rillis + MTS were added
Green soy sauce bowl was introduced to keep food out of the substrate

March 2012 - New inhabitants







CRS and Golden Bee Shrimp were added.

I monitor the tank in the mornings and at night while sitting behind my computer. There are two Rilli's and a cherry showing a saddle so they will be moved to another tank shortly.

[Wicket_lfe]

nice, is that duckweed in those containers?

[acitydweller]

yep, growing them out to feed my friend's goldfish. Ricca in the other.

[Geniusdudekiran]

Wow, daring to keep SS+ CRS in a bowl like that. Great job! How long have they been in there? WC schedule? Feeding? haha sorry I ask so many questions lol

[GMYukonon24s]

Nice bowl and beautiful shrimp.

[Wicket_lfe]

Do you dose with anything? I am about to start a vase with a tiger lotus.

[acitydweller]

Thanks for the interest. WC's are weekly. Maybe a small take-out container worth (half quart).. sorry for the less than exact measurements. My kitchen is overrun by chinese takeout containers so i sort of go by it.

No dosing done. The plant growth is fairly profound without my intervention. The Mosses have new light green buds sprouting every few days and my rotala replants from trimming have also established easily on their own. Having a full spectrum lamp hovering above probably helps a bit...

Even though its not scaped beautifully, its my favorite tank to watch at home...

i also find that moss with shrimp tending to it grows a tad faster. Not sure if this is true or just my imagination.

[CatB]

what lighting do you use on this?
bulb type, wattage... i'm looking to start a planted bowl as a sort of dump spot for some extra water sprite (grows like weeds O_O) and maybe baby java fern, i'm wondering what's best for a healthy fert-less setup.

[doncityz]

From this pic, looks like you're having frogbit for lunch.

[acitydweller]

Two new developments...

added an azoo Mignon 60 filter which fits perfectly around the rim of the cylinder

my first berried shrimp appeared today. Its my Crystal snow white shrimp, though i have no idea who the papa could be. there are CRS, CBS in there so its a wild card at this point.

I may have to move her but fear she may either drop her eggs or be forced to molt which may compromise her. the other alternative is to move the other inhabitants into my new 12gallon that i setup. Tank came by way of a generous forum member and is already established. Looks like ill have a new journal starting in the near future.

[Newman]

dont move her. do lesser water changes too, and they'll have babies in the bowl. i think they drop eggs if you stress them too much. at least that was the issue with mine back when i had them.

[acitydweller]

Thanks Newman.

Update: Ive added a wonderful AZoo Mignon 60 HOB filter which has created some water flow in the cylinder. This filter was specifically chosen as it perfectly mounts on the round rim of the cylinder and the flow is adjustable down to a trickle if needed.

A fluval mesh bag was attached to the intake and ziptied to prevent accidental deaths. the shrimp stop by hourly to pick off the hair algae that has collected on there.

I have decided to take out about 50% of the plants to provide more volume for swimming (mainly for my 1 endler fry) and also to cut back on the massive growth which has pretty much taken over the tank. It has also given me a clearer view of my berried snow white crystal whom seemed to have dropped a few of her eggs but still carrying most of her clutch.

I have acquired some Red ramshorn snails that will be replacing the pond snails shortly.

my first spinach feeding has been pretty successful. the larger leaf was held down my moss in the lower part of the tank where the shrimp feasted, and a smaller leave floated where some how 2 pond snails managed to jump on. due to the water flow of the azoo, the leaf has been spinning for several hours with the snails still feeding. kinda funny to watch actually...

I sit back and watch how simple and beautiful this tank has been over the past few months not to mention being able to keep an eye on peewee shrimp that has grown to be juvies since that would have been lost otherwise in the larger tanks... very pleased with this cylinder and would highly recommend it to anyone considering setting up a planted bowl.

I started dosing Calcium in the bowl and it seems to work... or rather, there werent any negative side affects. no deaths... Water changes have been nonexistent. i typically suck out the crumbs in the feeding dish and top off as much though my brita water pitcher. no fancy RO here.

three RED Ramshorn snails were added today. they are beautiful. shrimp seem to like cleaning them and they are much prettier than the pond snails which will soon be rehomed to another tank.

[acitydweller]

Originally Posted by CatB

what lighting do you use on this?
bulb type, wattage... i'm looking to start a planted bowl as a sort of dump spot for some extra water sprite (grows like weeds O_O) and maybe baby java fern, i'm wondering what's best for a healthy fert-less setup.

i'm using a daylight CFL lamp off amazon. linky.
desc: Sunlight Desk Lamp - 150 watt of light output consumes 27 watts. Natural Sunlight Emulation

I wanted a daylight lamp that looked like a desk lamp that could also support plant growth. after having this a few months, i'd say its a winner. Mosses and Rotala have taken off quite nicely.

[CatB]

cool, thanks. do you use CO2?
one more question, how did you cycle this before you got the filter?

[gnod]

nice tank man! i really like it

how's the spinach feednig giong? are you just throwing it in there after a brief wash or are you boiling it first?