# Office Nano



## merkexpress (Sep 1, 2011)

tank wise you can always do the fluval spec... it may not be the cheapest tank you can find but IMO its worth the extra money. I have been running mine with the stock lighting for about 4 months and I have had no issues. plus it would be a clean look for your office.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Well now I'm looking to do something similar to this Walstead bowl.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/150716-my-small-walstad-bowl-office.html

Sounds like the perfect way to get a little life at the desk without bothering anyone.

Still looking for advice on what to make the substrate out of and what to do for lighting. I guess I'll just have to go to Home Depot and buy the smallest bags of top soil and play sand I can find. Does anyone have alternate suggestions that don't involve me buying 20x more sand than I need?

As for lighting, would an LED desk lamp work? I don't know how well LEDs work for plant growth. If not, what kind of wattage on a CFL desk lamp should I be looking for?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Hmm thanks that is an option for sure. Is it noisy at all? My office is really quiet, trying to keep the buzzing to a low, hence my new interest in a Walstad bowl with no filter.


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## merkexpress (Sep 1, 2011)

buffheman said:


> Hmm thanks that is an option for sure. Is it noisy at all? My office is really quiet, trying to keep the buzzing to a low, hence my new interest in a Walstad bowl with no filter.


The tank is actually very quite. There is basically no buzzing. It truly is a great tank. Everything you need is basically right behind the false wall. The only thing I wish was that it came with a heater.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

My office is pretty regulated in the mid 70s all the time, so I'm not worried about temperature. I don't know how they'd feel about me having an aquarium plugged in vs just another desk light to go with the bowl idea.


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## merkexpress (Sep 1, 2011)

well if you dont need a heater then its basically 2 plugs... One for the light and one for the return pump.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Cool... well maybe I'll just do both! Then decide which one is more office appropriate, and keep the other at home on an end table or something. It definitely looks nice.

What do you use for your substrate in there?


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## merkexpress (Sep 1, 2011)

no such thing as too many tanks


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Regardless of what setup I decide to go with, can someone help me with a practical way to get a substrate for this? I don't have anything sitting around, used all my eco-complete on my 29gal.

Is there anyway to get sand/potting mix without buying a 50lb bag? Or anything other good substrate ideas for a nano tank? I've considered just buying another bag of EC, but I'd kind of like to try something different.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

the organic soil costs $4 or so for a standard sized bag (i'm guessing its below 5lbs). the sand you could get from a playground or shore or something easy like that. you wont need much at all for a bowl.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Ah that's a good idea. I'm sure I can find a sandy playground somewhere... they won't miss a couple handfuls.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

just remember to rinse it real well and maybe boil the sand before using.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Ok... so it begins. Thanks to inspiration from Ozydego, I went the bowl route... the same bowl, to be precise. Right now, I have some java fern and anubias planted, with some anacharis and miscellaneous other plants floating around... the anacharis isn't floating as well as I thought it would. So it looks kind of messy right now... but it's up and going. Don't really know what to do next... just give it some time I suppose. Oh, and I got the light from Home Depot with a 14W CFL. Seems kind of bright, honestly...

Not sure what kind of life I'm going to put in it... I'd like to have a beta and maybe something else it won't kill. I hear betas are hit and miss with shrimp. We'll see... that'll be a while. I'll move it to my office once things are established and I deem it office worthy.

Thoughts?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

no betta in a 1 gallon...but shrimp should be good.

also you seemed to have missed the organic soil part that makes these bowls so practical/easy as planted tanks, but i suppose you could remedy with root tabs or something like that...

looks like a good start. i recommend salvinia or frogbit for floaters though. they multiply fast and will block out the bright light to create the perfect environment for lower light plants.

also a DW piece with some moss on it would look great


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## TheJadeShrimp (Oct 13, 2011)

Looks good. 

I recommend a betta in a 2.5 gallon minimum. Is the Java Fern planted in the sand?


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

I've got the MGOPS in there, I just spent an inordinate amount of time lining the edges with a layer of sand so you can't see the potting soil. For future reference, much easier to do with wet sand. But there's an 1" layer in the middle, shallower as you move to towards the bowl. I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but I didn't want to see the soil. The sand on top of the potting soil is probably only 1/2"... which may prove problematic in the future. We'll see.

I tried my best to not fully plant the java fern in the sand, but I didn't have anything else in there at the moment to keep them down. So we'll see how they do.

I guess no beta... :icon_cry:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

that is a good idea on piling the soil in the middle. i have though about doing that before, tell us how it works out.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Well, being that the bottom of the bowl is of course flat, I just put in like a 1/4" of soil, so that it wasn't really creeping up the rounded part of the bowl. Then you can start putting sand (wet was easier) along the rounded part of the bowl, such that it slides down and bumps up against the wall of soil. I rolled it out with my thumb so it wasn't too thick... just thick enough that you couldn't see soil through it. Build it up along the edges as high as you want the soil to go (this is where the sand being wet comes in handy), fill in the soil, then top with more sand.

I would have taken a picture if I had known there was interest. I hope that was descriptive enough.


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## sockfish (Jul 11, 2007)

I always start out with a batch of hornwort, frog bit, and 'guppy grass' to get my bowls going....

sox


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

I did my bowl similar where after putting the soil in, I moved it away from the edges so you would only be able to see the soil looking from underneath, the soil does not go out to the edge of the glass at the bottom and the only thing I noticed was I had to cram the plants closer to the middle to get the roots into the soil itself... interesting thing is the Jungle Val runners are completely in the sand filled area now and seem to be doing great, the sand did turn slightly green below the surface, except where the roots are sucking the nutrients, makes an interesting pattern below the soil line


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

Mine looked similar at first as well, it will only get better from here, rocks or DW will definitely help get away from the dutch style, but honestly after a few months, the hardscape will be lost in the growth anyway


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Two questions.

Do I need to be doing water changes on a small planted bowl like this?

How much are plants affected by low temperatures or fluctuations? My apt stays in the low 70s, but the bowl is near a door where I think it gets a little colder. I don't have a heater in the bowl.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

Water changes, yes if the levels get elevated, mostly from the potting soil leeching if not fauna themselves, eventually, the levels (ammo, trites, trates) will show 0,0,0 and then its just topoffs.... that took me several months though... I am there now. Temp, not a huge issue for plants, more for shrimp or other inhabitants... fluctuations within +-5 degrees should not be an issue for plants themselves..


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

My thoughts would be if you are going to go the bowl route, put organic soil in there with some sort of topper. A nice piece of tall, not wide, driftwood in the center would be nice, and some floaters to eat up the light is a good idea as previously mentioned.

edit -- Did not see page two. Looks like you have the soil covered.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Couple questions as things are moving along...

I'm getting kind of a slimy film that forms on top of the water if I let it sit undisturbed for a few days. What would that be, and is it bad?

Also, should I be dosing anything to help these guys move along? I'm thinking maybe java fern and anubias were not the best choices. I may take them out and just throw a bunch of stem plants clippings from my main tank.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

The suggested floaters are to give the anubias and fern time to establish better.... java or other moss would be good to soak up nutrients as well.... The oily film is normal when there is no surface agitation to break it up, you can "skim" it off with a paper towel, Mine comes and goes, right now its not there, but I fully expect to see it again...


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## MitchellLawson (Nov 8, 2011)

You can sort out that slime on the top by adding a little air pump, i added a 4" long one for my 65G and the slime was gone in an hour.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

the issue is that these "office" bowls have to use little to no electricity when we are not there, so that is the reason for the bowl in the first place, self sustainable w/o the need for pumps or heaters... good advice though for those that can have the air stone option!


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Coming along... I changed out some of the plants. So I currently have a healthy looking anubias that hasn't grown at all but I like... some jungle val in the middle, and some blyxa japonica just added behind it. I left some anacharis in there, just because the bowl still has some filling in to do. Also some frogbit floating around on top. 

I should have 10 blueberry shrimp arriving tomorrow that will be calling this bowl home. I hope they are happy there. They will have a bunch of snail buddies as well.

I opted to not do any hardscape... I kind of just like the sandy plant look. But I'm obsessive and will probably want to change it at some point.


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## buffheman (Feb 23, 2011)

Got some shrimp today. Swimming around, hopefully in a happy manner. Unfortunately, my phone camera sucks, but I attempted to capture what appears to be a berried female. So that's exciting.

I've also changed my mind already, and I think you can see from the second picture that I need some hardscape to fill in that left side. Weekend task. I've never been a good aquascaper... so any other advice is appreciated.


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

How have your shrimp been doing in your bowl?


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