I've got bowl fever!!

[Disher]

Originally Posted by Wicket_lfe

LOL, sorry, i think i confused this thread with another.

I love the shape of the bowl though. Is it difficult getting stuff into the opening?

Haha it's ok, I like to see other bowls/vases!

It's not too bad actually. The one thing I don't like is the extreme distortion of the bowl. The glass is super thick so when I try to move things around and rearrange it's difficult to see where I'm actually placing things if that makes sense. I will get use it, though.

[Disher]

Finally something green! Hornwort, moss, and a fern I think? I lowered the water level to increase gas exchange and to allow for free-floating plants.

The water is still pretty cloudy from the soil and DW. I've been doing a 1 gallon water change everyday to help out with that.

[Disher]

A few of my bulbs are starting to grow(Aponogeton and Crinum thaianum). I wish the lily bulb would sprout already!! The hornwort is growing crazy fast. I added some micro sword hopefully I can get that to take off also.

The double tail betta was a complete impulse buy but he was calling my name at the store saying, pick me pick me! I've been told they aren't compatible with RCS? Can anyone confirm this? Otherwise he will get a new home. The store was selling RCS for 5 bucks a pop, yikes!! I'll pick some up from another member on here for a better price.

[~Volatile~]

I've got a tank with a betta and some RCS, but they have ample space to hide, otherwise I wouldn't trust him.

[Disher]

Yeah I'm not going to trust him. I'll take him back to the store tomorrow... He's so awesome but I'd rather have shrimp than a betta. I might look into a few fancy guppies instead!

[Disher]

I bought some RCS from the store a few weeks ago. Everything was going great until I started replanting the micro sword...

I poked too far into the substrate several times over not thinking anything of it. The next two days the water was milky and the plants were covered in a white slime and all shrimp were lost! I'm still not quite sure of the exact cause. I didn't take pictures because I was so frustrated. I did a complete water change two days in a row. Everything seems to be ok now.

[Newman]

why are you keeping fish in this? at any rate, yes you shoulnt really touch the substrate at all to avoid issues. you'll want to choose plants that do not need replanting and uprooting. microsword was a good choice, but you dont need to really touch it if its doing well.

if you need some hardy cherries down the line, i can provide you with quite a few, or as few as you want. I have been breeding PFRs for a while now, and need to cull some of the regular grade cherries
they're really hardy. earlier this spring i had to keep them outside in cold weather and they managed fine until i got them back indoors.

[Disher]

Originally Posted by Newman

why are you keeping fish in this? at any rate, yes you shoulnt really touch the substrate at all to avoid issues. you'll want to choose plants that do not need replanting and uprooting. microsword was a good choice, but you dont need to really touch it if its doing well.

if you need some hardy cherries down the line, i can provide you with quite a few, or as few as you want. I have been breeding PFRs for a while now, and need to cull some of the regular grade cherries
they're really hardy. earlier this spring i had to keep them outside in cold weather and they managed fine until i got them back indoors.

They are in there temporarily! I failed to mention I had an outbreak of some type of platyhelminthes and the fish are eating them all up! Taking them out this weekend. Thanks for letting me know about the cherry shrimp, I'll be taking you up on that once this bowl has stabilized.

The micro sword never really got a solid planting to begin with so I decided to make sure the roots were in the rocks really well.

[Chlorophile]

Holy moly get those fish out of there, even the betta, =[

[Disher]

Originally Posted by Chlorophile

Holy moly get those fish out of there, even the betta, =[

Take a deep breath, now relax lol the fish were in there for a short few days. The bowl holds about 2.5 gallons of water. I've seen smaller systems on here with much more of a stock list :-p Now go hunt them down ;-)

Anywho, I bought a new bowl and set it up. I made some mistakes with my first bowl and learned a lot in a short amount of time. One of which was to never ever mess with the substrate and to plant more heavily on first start up.

Here's my new bowl


I'm really digging this substrate. Much better than the gravel.

[Disher]

The new bowl is progressing very well! A added three small snails to munch on the algae. This bowl doesn't have near as much algae as the first one.

A few things I did differently:

I strained the dirt to filter out sticks, twigs and larger debris. There's less risk of air pockets in the soil which are a bad thing! The finer dirt particles allow for more settling and no air pockets.

Capped the dirt with a deeper top layer substrate. In case I need to replant anything I won't risk poking into the soil... Never poke the soil!!!!

I planted a bit heavier with fast growing plants. I'm using several bulbs, so I made sure the bulbs were sprouting and growing before planting them. Once the bulbs show first signs of life, they grow insanely quick. Great for nutrient uptake!

I would like to add a few more plants to this. Maybe a few red root floaters and some blyxa? Still deciding! Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for everyone's feedback and concerns, y'alls expertise is greatly appreciated.

[Disher]

I've had to do some major trimmings with this thing but overall very little maintenance. I have some hair algae but very unnoticeable and under control.

The bulb plants naturally grow too tall for this "bowl" but I've made it work. The lily was a great addition, I really like the color contrast it gives.

I will add some RCS in August, I can't wait! The bowl seems very stable and sustainable for plant growth. I'd love to find some shorter growing plants, any suggestions?

[Shanster]

I love the "shrimp bowl!" It's super cute... Hopefully your fiance is happy.

I don't know if there is enough light or CO2 for this plant, but it's small and dainty.
Hemianthus callitrichoides - Dwarf Baby Tears

[Disher]

Thank you! We both really enjoy the beauty it brings to our living room. I might just leave it as is. I'm already wanting to start up another one anyways lol

There has been one cherry shrimp in the tank for at least a month. Recently I picked up one more, but this one was berried. Super excited to see if the hatchlings survive. Keep your fingers crossed!! Here's a few pictures of the two shrimp, sorry for the bad quality. I really could use a fancy pants camera!

The first shrimp I added


And the second one

[SpecGrrl]

Yay shrimp bowl!

It looks gorgeous!