# Cryptocoryne Walstad Bowl



## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

Here is my 1.5ish gallon bowl for cryptocorynes. It is pretty low tech, lit by a 13 watt CFL and containing a substrate of dirt with red clay topped with a ceramic coated sand. It has a few snails but that's the only livestock.


Plants:


Wendetti 'Green'
Wendetti 'Bronze'
Amazon Frogbit
Duckweed
























































It's only about 2 months old, so it definitely still has some growing out to do. I change the water by around 50% every week or two, and recently started adding two or so drops of liquid iron and potassium. It experienced a BIG green water outbreak within 2 weeks of being established, however I left it alone for a month with no water changes and either micro fauna ate it all or it depleted itself of all the nutrients in the water column. I might add some Parva to part of the empty area, but I'm not sure yet.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Wow! How do you change the water with all that duckweed/frogbit?


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

Stick a hose in and siphon.. avoid the surface. Not too hard I think?


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

Why change water in a Walstad style bowl that only has plants? 

Even if the plants don't suck up whatever mineral content is in the tap water it shouldn't matter much since there aren't animals yet.

I am not saying that you shouldn't EVER do a water change in a Walstad bowl but just pointing out that if you don't have animals in there (or only have something small and hardy like neocaridina shrimp) then you can pretty much do top-offs only for quite a while.


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

madness said:


> Why change water in a Walstad style bowl that only has plants?
> 
> Even if the plants don't suck up whatever mineral content is in the tap water it shouldn't matter much since there aren't animals yet.
> 
> I am not saying that you shouldn't EVER do a water change in a Walstad bowl but just pointing out that if you don't have animals in there (or only have something small and hardy like neocaridina shrimp) then you can pretty much do top-offs only for quite a while.


Maybe I shouldn't? I was afraid the water would get stagnant...


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

i think youll be ok not changing the water, but its good practice to get the system used to water changes if you ever plan on adding animals into it like shrimp or more valuable snails.

this looks good already and its going to look great once it grows in more


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

Newman said:


> i think youll be ok not changing the water, but its good practice to get the system used to water changes if you ever plan on adding animals into it like shrimp or more valuable snails.
> 
> this looks good already and its going to look great once it grows in more


Thanks!

I doubt I will add any livestock, for some reason I don't feel like shrimp would look good in this tank...


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

once it grows into the crypt forest that you want, a couple of fire red cherries would look terrific in here


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

WallaceGrover said:


> Maybe I shouldn't? I was afraid the water would get stagnant...


There is nothing wrong with doing the water changes.

I just wanted to make it clear that frequent water changes are not mandatory since the 'ecosystem' that develops in a well set-up Walstad bowl provides sufficient filtration for a plant only bowl and even for shrimp bowls.

I am sort of using my laziness to my benefit and using some low grade RCS to test out just how long it takes the water in a Walstad bowl (doing tap water top-offs, no water changes) to become problematic in terms of water quality.

So far I have had the bowl up and running since August and have changed no water at all (just replaced evap water with tap water top-offs which probably will bite me in the rear end eventually as the minerals become more concentrated). The shrimp have been in there maybe 6 weeks so far.

Having a heavily planted bowl and having a nutrient rich substrate (in many cases around here that means using Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix but other options are valid) are two very important aspects of a 'Walstad style bowl' compared to just a normal betta bowl or fish bowl.


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

Update, added dwarf hairgrass and rotala...


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

dwarf hairgrass always looks great


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

I'm a little nervous about it in such a low-tech environment, I don't expect it to carpet or anything but I do want a healthy plant. Do you think it should be fine?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

well my dwarf hairgrass in my shrimp bowl is doing fine despite being completely shadowed by the bigger pygmy chain swords. still alive after 1 year and green w/o algae. yours should be fine. you cant notice my hairgrass though because its hidden by all the other plants.

and with organic soil substrate, i'm sure your hairgrass will carpet with time.


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## MaStErFiShKeEps (Dec 6, 2010)

What type of light bulb are you running over the tank? I know you said 13 watts but is it a 6500K?


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## WallaceGrover (Jan 15, 2011)

MaStErFiShKeEps said:


> What type of light bulb are you running over the tank? I know you said 13 watts but is it a 6500K?


Yes, 6500k...


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## Coastlife247 (Dec 6, 2013)

Don't know if this thread is still active but it have a similar set up as described here. 
3 gallon vase with a 65 w clamp light on 8 hrs a day. It's only been set up 5 days but I'm trying to figure out how often I should do a water change and how a WC until tank is established?

betta
nerite snail. 

Plants:
Java fern
Java moss
Anacharis
Brazilian sword
Horn wort


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