Newbie Wabi Kusa questions

Hello,

I'm a newcomer to planted tanks and am trying to plan my first planted tank, a nano of about 1 gallon. I just recently found out about Wabi Kusa, which sounds like an interesting and elegant style. I'm planning a weekend trip to the lake to gather some specimens from the wild.

However, I have some concerns about Wabi Kusa. My understanding is that you basically just take a ball of soil/mud, wrap it with moss and small-leafed plants, and pop it in the water. But how do you keep the ball from falling apart in the water? Wouldn't it get soft and crumble in the water?

Also if I want to keep one of these Wabi Kusa balls with fish or inverts, how often would a water change be needed with no other filtration? Can a Wabi Kusa provide sufficient filtration like a heavily planted tank (e.g. an "El Natural" style tank can apparently go months without water changes)?

I really like the tiny paludarium look that a Wabi Kusa an achieve in so little space, so I hope I can get one working without much difficulty. Thanks for any advice.