# low tech bowl?



## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

I've got an awsome shallow but wide glass bowl sitting around and I was thinking of turning it into a fishless bowl with a desk lamp over it and a cfl replacement in it.

My question is, what substrate should I use? I can take some fluval flora stratum out of my flora (I've got 14lb's and it's very deep) or i've got two different types of silica sand, very fine and something thats similar to play sand. I could order something else but would like to keep cost down.

Any plant suggestions? they have to be very short plants, I don't want the surface of the water to be covered by a carpet of plants.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Petrie said:


> I've got an awsome shallow but wide glass bowl sitting around and I was thinking of turning it into a fishless bowl with a desk lamp over it and a cfl replacement in it.
> 
> My question is, what substrate should I use? I can take some fluval flora stratum out of my flora (I've got 14lb's and it's very deep) or i've got two different types of silica sand, very fine and something thats similar to play sand. I could order something else but would like to keep cost down.
> 
> Any plant suggestions? they have to be very short plants, I don't want the surface of the water to be covered by a carpet of plants.


Funny, I was just thinking about doing something like this tonight. I think your Fluval stuff would probably work for substrate. As far as plants go, I was thinking about some crypts of some sort. Maybe a few stems of dwarf sag since I have a ton of it. 

How big is this thing? You might actually have an easier time if it was large enough to support some manner of fish, schrimp, or maybe a snail. Have you ever looked into the Walstad method? Very intriguing stuff. Check this thread out, and check out the link cited in the first post of the thread. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/141278-walstad-shrimp-bowls-56k-update-post.html


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## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

awsome, i'll check it out

and the bowl is very very shallow, maybe 3-4 inches


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Petrie said:


> awsome, i'll check it out
> 
> and the bowl is very very shallow, maybe 3-4 inches


Pretty shallow, but nothing stopping you from making a little vivarium either!


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## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

hmmmmm smart thinking

I was looking at it again and my memory played a trick on me, it's a little bit deeper but still rather shallow

I guess it's time to look up plants for a vivarium


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Petrie said:


> hmmmmm smart thinking
> 
> I was looking at it again and my memory played a trick on me, it's a little bit deeper but still rather shallow
> 
> I guess it's time to look up plants for a vivarium


It's a bowl. I'd toss in a Betta, some plants, and let it go all jungle on ya! What's the worse that could happen...you grow an extra plant?! :biggrin:

Think of it like a science experiment!


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## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

lol, yeah your right. I've just always had an issue with open top betta enclosures, I've got a horrible habbit of killing betta's (don't know why) and one of them that died on me was one I found half dried up on my desk with a *tiny* opening in the cover I put on his tank.

Will those "semi-aquatic" plants for sale at petsmart work sticking out of a bowl?


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Petrie said:


> lol, yeah your right. I've just always had an issue with open top betta enclosures, I've got a horrible habbit of killing betta's (don't know why) and one of them that died on me was one I found half dried up on my desk with a *tiny* opening in the cover I put on his tank.
> 
> Will those "semi-aquatic" plants for sale at petsmart work sticking out of a bowl?


Ok, lol, scratch the betta. My point is you have an opportunity to make an almost self sustaining little system if you put some kind of critter in with the plants. 

I think those "semi-aquatic" plants for sale at petsmart will work. I don't know much about plants though. You might start a thread in the plant section of the forum pitching this idea...not as many people "hang out" in the low tech forum. Those folks who can rattle off the scientific names of plants will know what you need.


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## Wetman (Feb 14, 2012)

I have a glass drum I frequently use as a supplementary plant nursery, with a glass plate clapped over it upside down for a lid. Filled it last fall with tiny rosettes of a mystery Cryptocoryne bought at a local cub auction and teased apart. I used a mix of 2 parts "live" aquarium gravel/Flourite laterite to 1 part organic compost (no fertilizer add). Set it right up next to a bright but sunless (in winter) window. No added lights. Last week I had enough little Cryptocorynes to carpet more than half a new 10-gallon tank. What could have been simpler?


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## synthorange (Feb 1, 2012)

Check out the bowl setups in the nano-tank section, they've got a ton of those. They'd all be low tech, growing out of a capped dirt substrate.










http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/121025-newmans-shrimp-bowl.html









http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/162988-picture-my-new-nano-shrimp-bowl.html

and so on!


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## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

Nice, thats exactly what I want to do.

I live in the basement so no sun light here, all artificial. I might use that glass plate idea if I don't do a vivarium and keep a betta.

My bowl is about that size but half as tall.

Time to start a thread in the plant section ^-^


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