# My Walstad bowl



## Subha92 (Nov 25, 2016)

wakka987 said:


> I really wanted to try out a Walstad style tank, so here's my attempt!
> 
> -Fish bowl, I'm guessing it's about ~10 gallons, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DNHBB8G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> -Tetra 50W preset heater
> ...


Oh my god [emoji15] Why did you put a heater in such a small bowl. The heaters are not meant for the bowl. A preseted 50W heater is for above minimum 10 gallon to maximum 40 gallon. So please remove the heater as early as possible. 

I know that keeping a fish in such a small bowl is just an expression of cruelty but still I believe that some time it is not possible to arrange a bigger Aquarium. So it is better for a start but please make sure that you can take care of your fish if you continue as same.

Always keep atleast 3 gallon of pretreated water at room temperature. Try to clean the bottom every alternative day so that the ammonia could not reach so far. Also change the water in every 3 days. But make sure all the water condition parameters are same as before. Otherwise the fish will be in a great shock. Best of Luck. 

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## pauliewoz (Sep 22, 2015)

Actually I think your heater is fine. It's rated for a 10 gallon and it has a thermostat preset for 78 degrees if I'm not mistaken.

And if the bowl is indeed 10 gallons I think you can definitely keep some type of nano fish like the galaxy Rasbora or a chili Rasbora. And I would add some shrimp in there. 

But make sure that you are heavily planted. I think the walstad bowl works on the principle that the plants do the filtering. And if I'm not mistaken you wont need to do frequent water changes, you'll just need to top up. At least thats what I got out of reading up on it. 

Here is my bowl, but it's not exactly walstad style because I didn't use dirt. And there are no inhabitants, only some pest snail hitchhikers.










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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

pauliewoz said:


> Actually I think your heater is fine. It's rated for a 10 gallon and it has a thermostat preset for 78 degrees if I'm not mistaken.
> 
> And if the bowl is indeed 10 gallons I think you can definitely keep some type of nano fish like the galaxy Rasbora or a chili Rasbora. And I would add some shrimp in there.
> 
> ...




Have you guys look edat the subreddit r/jarrariums? They have some pretty cool bowls/jars on there as well. Both of your bowls are awesome and I agree with 10 gallons of planted heavily you could definitely have some small fish in there. Or a betta! 


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## pauliewoz (Sep 22, 2015)

bbroush said:


> Have you guys look edat the subreddit r/jarrariums? They have some pretty cool bowls/jars on there as well. Both of your bowls are awesome and I agree with 10 gallons of planted heavily you could definitely have some small fish in there. Or a betta!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Thanks, I think I came across it while doing research on the walstad bowl.

There are some amazing bowls out there. I'll probably redo mine with some more plants and drift wood and probably cap some dirt. I was mostly doing an experiment to see if my plant trimmings would grow in it using the desk lamp I already had.

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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Yeah totally. I'm doing the same thing with a small flower vase and some plants with some dirt capped by substrate from my 20 gallon. (thus full of MTS babies). I actually posted it over on that subreddit. It's not much but for an experiment it's great I think


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

Subha92 said:


> Oh my god [emoji15] Why did you put a heater in such a small bowl. The heaters are not meant for the bowl. A preseted 50W heater is for above minimum 10 gallon to maximum 40 gallon. So please remove the heater as early as possible.
> 
> I know that keeping a fish in such a small bowl is just an expression of cruelty but still I believe that some time it is not possible to arrange a bigger Aquarium. So it is better for a start but please make sure that you can take care of your fish if you continue as same.
> 
> ...


The total volume of the bowl is over 13 gallons, I think the way the light is refracting is making the heater look a lot bigger relative to the bowl :smile2:. No real plans for livestock yet. I'll probably start off with some shrimp when the ammonia settles down. It's only 0.25ppm atm, but I read that soils can leech out stuff for a little while. At some point, only topping off is supposed to be necessary with this sort of tank.



pauliewoz said:


> Thanks, I think I came across it while doing research on the walstad bowl.
> 
> There are some amazing bowls out there. I'll probably redo mine with some more plants and drift wood and probably cap some dirt. I was mostly doing an experiment to see if my plant trimmings would grow in it using the desk lamp I already had.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


Here's an awesome bowl that really made me want to start one of my own: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWQOjGBReHE

The jarrarium stuff sounds interesting!



pauliewoz said:


> Actually I think your heater is fine. It's rated for a 10 gallon and it has a thermostat preset for 78 degrees if I'm not mistaken.
> 
> And if the bowl is indeed 10 gallons I think you can definitely keep some type of nano fish like the galaxy Rasbora or a chili Rasbora. And I would add some shrimp in there.
> 
> ...


That looks quite nice. Since you don't have dirt, are you adding any fertilizers?


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## pauliewoz (Sep 22, 2015)

wakka987 said:


> That looks quite nice. Since you don't have dirt, are you adding any fertilizers?


Thanks, I just put a few root tabs in the substrate which is actually safe-t-sorb that I precharged with fertilized water.

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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

If you don't have livestock plans, why bother with the heater at all? All of those plants will do just fine in room temperature water.


Point of caution: trickiest part of a dirted bowl is water changes. Go REAL slow. That cap will get disturbed for like, no reason. That said, you probably won't have to do too many water changes.


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

Bananableps said:


> If you don't have livestock plans, why bother with the heater at all? All of those plants will do just fine in room temperature water.
> 
> 
> Point of caution: trickiest part of a dirted bowl is water changes. Go REAL slow. That cap will get disturbed for like, no reason. That said, you probably won't have to do too many water changes.


I'd like some livestock eventually, just no plan on which specific ones. Also, its been getting kinda cold here in Illinois and the heater in my place is somewhat unstable, so room temperature can vary quite a bit. Don't most plants do better within a specific temperature range also?


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

wakka987 said:


> Don't most plants do better within a specific temperature range also?


Well sure, but it's definitely not a must. I switched over to temperate water fish and removed the heaters from most of my tanks - no problemo! I only use a heater for my mangrove tank in the winter time.


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

Bananableps said:


> Well sure, but it's definitely not a must. I switched over to temperate water fish and removed the heaters from most of my tanks - no problemo! I only use a heater for my mangrove tank in the winter time.




Wait wait wait, like a biotope or an actual mangrove plant? I had one I.got from hudrophyte in my riparium set up and it was beautiful but I had to get rid of it because its roots were eventually going to break my tank. I miss it all the time


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

bbroush said:


> Wait wait wait, like a biotope or an actual mangrove plant? I had one I.got from hudrophyte in my riparium set up and it was beautiful but I had to get rid of it because its roots were eventually going to break my tank. I miss it all the time
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Like a tank with a whole bunch of mangroves in it. I've only had for 2 years so I'm not worrying about roots breaking the glass quite yet. 

It's not a very attractive tank, just a 20 gallon I have been using to grow out some propagules for eventual use in a future tank.


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

That's awesome. I was always really wary with my mangrove and would trim the roots a lot. It just became too much for me to deal with. My black mangrove was at least 3ish feet tall. Someday I'll have mangroves again


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

I'm super jealous! I trim the branches back brutally. Trying to make a nice bush. It has really stunted their growth, but I just don't have room for something super tall.


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

So it seems like a lot of the plants are getting yellow/translucent leaves, but they're also sending off runners. The java ferns and some crypts are yellowing on the edges. I read that this could be a magnesium deficiency. I'm a little surprised that this is happening to the crypt, shouldn't it be getting plenty of stuff from the dirt? My 5 gallon tank has some vals and blyxa japonica that came from the same batch, but they seem to be doing alright. 

Afraid of hydrogen sulfide in the dirt, I poked around with some tweezers. There were bubbles, but no smell at all. 

I was planning on playing around with the light a bit. Currently, there's a 15W LED bulb with a 5000K spectrum. I'm thinking something closer to 6000K wouldn't hurt. Also something that has a more focused beam, like a PAR LED.

Feedback would be really appreciated!


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## bbroush (Sep 13, 2012)

wakka987 said:


> So it seems like a lot of the plants are getting yellow/translucent leaves, but they're also sending off runners. The java ferns and some crypts are yellowing on the edges. I read that this could be a magnesium deficiency. I'm a little surprised that this is happening to the crypt, shouldn't it be getting plenty of stuff from the dirt? My 5 gallon tank has some vals and blyxa japonica that came from the same batch, but they seem to be doing alright.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




How big is the opening at the top? I have an idea for you, but I don't know if it would work. There are a lot of clamp light solutions buy if you like your lamp I would just replace the bulb with a PAR LED bulb that is a higher wattage but on an adjustable lamp so you can find the right height


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

So I think the issue is actually that the plants aren't receiving enough CO2. There are a lot of new runners, but new growth is stunted and pale. To see if this is actually the case, I drained out half the tank. The lower water column height and increased surface area (because this is a bowl) should allow for better gas exchange. As for the java fern, I think they're not doing well because there aren't any nitrates in the water column and they're rhizome plants (duh).



bbroush said:


> How big is the opening at the top? I have an idea for you, but I don't know if it would work. There are a lot of clamp light solutions buy if you like your lamp I would just replace the bulb with a PAR LED bulb that is a higher wattage but on an adjustable lamp so you can find the right height


I also replaced the 15W 5000K LED bulb with a 15W 6000K PAR LED.


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

If you are not injecting CO2, it is not advisable to increase surface exchange or agitation. This will actually cause the CO2 to leave the tank and not enter it.

The kelvin rating of your bulb is irrelevant to the plants, either will work fine.
The 6500 may be more pleasant to look at....


DougN


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

Found a clump of hair algae, further support that CO2 has been lacking.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

wakka987 said:


> Found a clump of hair algae, further support that CO2 has been lacking.


How long are your lights on for Wakka? Try 4-5 hours on then 4-5 hours off intervals. Supposedly the black out periods will help c02 build up and also should help with the algae growth. If you're already doing this then nevermind :laugh2: .

This makes me want to try a walstad bowl as well. And I didn't realize that your bowl is pretty big.


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

doug105! said:


> If you are not injecting CO2, it is not advisable to increase surface exchange or agitation. This will actually cause the CO2 to leave the tank and not enter it.
> 
> The kelvin rating of your bulb is irrelevant to the plants, either will work fine.
> The 6500 may be more pleasant to look at....
> ...


What you are saying makes sense. With no surface agitation, there should be a good buildup of CO2 as the organic matter in the dirt breaks down. I'm confused since my plants have been showing signs of CO2 deficiency. Maybe it takes some time for the breakdown to occur?

I was thinking that increasing the water surface area should increase the amount of dissolved CO2, but this is not quite correct. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is already quite low and there would be very little CO2 that gets dissolved into the water (Henry's law). My understanding is that dissolved CO2 (without a pressurized CO2 system) comes from the atmosphere (very little), fish (very little), and breakdown of organic matter (most).

I swapped the light to 6000K and it certainly does look better. It's a PAR20 LED, so it also has a nice spotlight effect.


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

Well, I think it is mostly the same with all planted tanks, big or small. There needs to be balance between three things...light, CO2 and fertilization. In your case, since you are not injecting co2, it might be that your lights are too intense. Try raising them or put a couple of layers of screening between light and bowl.

If there is not a 'balance' between the 3 main factors influencing growth, then one of them will be the limiting factor.

So if you raise your lights and after a couple of weeks still have the problem, then I would try light fertilization. 

Keep tinkering around and you'll eventually find the balance! But do things slowly because a liberal dose of patience is also required, especially in non-co2 supplemented tanks.

DougN


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## wakka987 (Nov 3, 2016)

Well, it's been a long time since I've been on this site, but now might be as good a time as any for an update. 

This tank ended up doing really well several months in and I was super happy with the results. Things were kinda slow in the beginning, but at a certain point the plants just started exploding. Here are some progress pics I took within the first year. Unfortunately, I don't have the exact dates. Livestock included a trio of amanos and a handful of male cherry shrimp. 



































This is probably the tank's peak. Was really happy when the tank got to this point. This bowl was kept next to my bed, and it was really great waking up to see this every morning. 









During the entirety of 2018, I neglected this tank. I literally only did water top offs now and then when the water level got too low every 2-3 weeks and occasionally fed the shrimp. The light schedule was kinda sporadic during this time. A lot of plant matter melted away. The shrimp passed away one by one during the past year, I like to think, from living the course of their natural life span. Here are some pics from today after doing a water change, Jan. 19, 2019.

















The soil is probably depleted at this point, which probably led to the decline, but I'm going to see if I can get some new growth going by dosing the water column. After a water change, I dosed macros and micros based on EI dosing for a 5 gallon tank: 231mg KNO3, 35mg KH2PO4, 145mg plantex CSM + B. The plan is to do another water change and dose in 2-4 weeks. We'll see what happens!


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