# 10 Gallon Walstad Bowl



## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

This is my first Walstad Bowl. Substrate is mineralized Top Soil capped with black sand. Plants are various crypts and corkscrew vals. So far so good. The bowl is already cycled. 

Only getting sunlight form the window, and that is never direct sunlight. I am a little concerned that it may be not enough light, but I bought a clip on LED to supplement if needed. 

The rock will soon have a reclining Buddha contemplating the cycle death and rebirth. 

The only thing i dont like about the bowl is the large curvature tends to distort viewing. Things are bigger than they seem...which may actually be interesting if I stock this with shrimp. 

Here is the bowl with my cat for scale reference. 








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I'm hoping this will be an easy to maintain low tech bowl. Feedback welome and appreciated!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

What are the bowl dimensions (height and diameter)? That does not look like a 10g bowl, feels too small.


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

I just measured...its just over 8 inches radius. Did the math and its about 9ish gallons. I assumed it was 10 gallons as its as big as my 10 gallon cube nano.


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## keymastr (May 25, 2015)

Weird optical illusion. Does not look big enough to contain 2 5 gallon buckets worth of water. I would have guessed 2 gallons. Looks nice though. I have thought of doing the same thing. Will be curious to see how it works out.


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

Yes - it is an illusion. The plants you see are way smaller than they actually are seen because of the distortion. It did indeed take 2 5 gallon buckets for me to fill. Well a little less than 2. I"m actually hesitant to put fish in there because it will blow them up and make me dizzy.


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

*Good math!*

Wow, I just did the math too, and I got 9.3 gallons of volume from an 8 inch radius (sphere). Crazy, from just looking at it, it doesn't seem big enough to hold that much, but there you go!

I agree with possibly feeling dizzy from the distortion, esp with moving fish! Cool effect with the plants, though.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Where did you get the bowl? Only nearly 10g bubble bowl I can find is online is about $60-70 (shipping in price) ouch x.x


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

36 bucks plus free shipping with Prime. What curious is the medium size bowl of this brand is more money... $57. I suppose less demand for such a large bowl. But i think the large is a great value for a bubble vase.


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

Update: Vals and Crypts melting, melting <oh what a world>. I expected this b/c...well theyre vals and crypts. Noticed a slight whitish cloud to the water which i assume may have been a bacterial bloom yesterday. Buts its gone now, but did a 50% water change anyway. I'm always nervous when plants melt, but i hope they bounce back soon. Wont feel happy about it till i see evidence of new growth. 








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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Oh holy [cnesor] I didn't realize that had a built in small base, thought it was a regular bubble bowl (no platform). I'd be so paranoid about it breaking but the nearly 1/2 price of it compared to the other one temps me so... though I'd probably spend the nearly $30 saved making a padded box around the underside of the bow to support it... How thick is the glass? Notice any imperfections (bubbles uneven thickness)?


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

The glass is super thick and the stem is quite big. I'm not worried at all. No imperfections that i can see. The base glass is extremely thick and the stem itself is not that tall but quite wide. No bubbles, no irregularities. At least on mine.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So hows the bowl doing? Regrowth from the melt yet?


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## lkinstad (Apr 26, 2015)

I'm curious too! Post pics when you get the chance, si vous plait!


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

Sorry for the late reply! Here is an update. After a complete melt of all the plants, the tank has stabilized and come back with decent growth...especially with the crypts. Not all the vals came back but thyre doing okay too. I dont have any fauna yet, except there seems to be a good number of Daphnia swimming about, which are kind of cute. They look big because of the tank curvature. Also I was dreading putting a heater in the the bowl, afraid that it would look huge. There is a heater in the bowl, but the curvature of the bowl hides it from the viewing angle. You have to go around to the side to actually see the heater which is awesome. 








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## lkinstad (Apr 26, 2015)

That looks great! I'm actually surprised how quick the plants have grown back. Should be interesting to see how much growth happens in the next month or so.Thanks for sharing.


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## Goldie (Aug 27, 2015)

Had a bowl like this explode on me  hope yours goes better


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

I like the Buddha and crypts. What are you putting in it for animals?


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## jasa73 (Jun 3, 2007)

@Goldie - I hope so too! Been up now for a couple months so fingers crossed! 

Just got some shrimps yesterday. That's all im putting in there. Keeping it simple.








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## xjasminex (Jul 26, 2011)

Any updates on this tank?


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