# Narhay's Jungle Shrimp Bowl



## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

After much deliberation, I took the plunge and have started my shrimp bowl.

Here is one of my earlier projects, a 2 gallon Fluval Spec:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...3296-narhays-office-2-gallon-fluval-spec.html

The bowl:

$16 at Wal-mart. It was in the home decor section, but had a sticker on it: "Do not move while filled with water, gravel or decorations". I'm assuming it was meant to be a fish bowl. I snatched it up and walked around with it protectively for the next 20 minutes.










11" laptop for reference.

The light:










$10 at Ikea. I must have owned at least 6 or 7 of these by now. I am debating between a 4100K 15W bulb (I have a few), a 6500K 15W CFL (my preference) or a 23W 6500K (maybe too much light?).

The soil:










Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix. I capped with brown play sand from Home Depot. There is about 1" of soil, and about 1.5" of play sand.

Progress:










Filled with soil. I soaked the soil to the point where it was just saturated. I originally put in too much water with the soil and the sand just fell through to the bottom of the bowl. This way the soil isn't dry, didn't have too many bubbles in it but it still held the sand up when placed on it.

Filled with sand, soil and water:











Flora and fauna:

I am leaning towards all cryptocorynes. I don't think I will have any hardscape, just straight dutch. I still haven't decided but I would like your opinions.

I will also be putting in some CRS or RCS in the next few weeks once the plants have been stuffed in there and everything has settled. Any recommendations for either? I've had RCS for a long time but I want to try CRS just because I believe they are more beautiful.

There is no filter or heater. My room temperature is about 22C all day.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

Neocaridinas are going to be a LOT easier to keep in this bowl.

The way that I judge the situation is that these bowls easily meet the requirements of neos (red cherry shrimp, etc.) and even allow for a decent safety net when it comes to keeping them in good health but Crystal Red Shrimp are pushing the limits of what the bowls can handle.

Newman has been experimenting with keeping crystals in his bowl and I am sure that a few others have tried it and been able to keep them alive.

Basically it boils down to one option(cherrys) being really easy and one option being pretty challenging (crystals).


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

If you are heavily planting the tank from the start (which it sounds like you will do in going with a Dutch scape) and especially if you are willing to use floating plants like frogbit, duckweed, etc. then the higher wattage CF 6500K bulb should not be a problem.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks for the input. I think I will go with the Neocaridinas. I have another aquarium at work I can put the Caridinas.

I do plan on planting this aquarium very heavily from the get-go. Based on my light choices, what are your suggestions for plants that would do well and maybe not grow so tall or wide (but can grow out)?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

imo you should just use the 15W lights, 6500K because crypts really don't need much and the floating plants will help shade the intensity down to what crypts like.

Also i think you should have planted this as you were setting up - now you may have a tough time planting without bringing up the soil...but it might still work out, its just my guess. I planted mine right after i added the moist soil layer and then i capped with sand.

As long as you wait a good while before adding shrimp, you should be fine. wait until you see your plants really flourishing and growing a lot (here is where floating plants become important too as they grow the fastest and soak up impurities).

Neocaridina shrimp are perfect. if you want to switch to crystals later down the line, definitely go with very low grades such as A grade and maybe S grades. my A-S grades are doing terrific in my bowl right now whereas my SS grades were way more fragile. imo A grades are the best choice and if kept under perfect caridina water requirements, they can really show nice color and look almost as good as S grades. Right now I cant tell the difference between my crystals that were supposed to be A grade and my S grade.

my plant suggestions would be:
Crypts(including parva)
Dwarf Sag
Pygmy Chain Sword
Microsword
Staurogyne
Bucephalandra


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks Newman. I plan to drain the tank down to nothing and then planting and refilling once it is done. I think the planting will go fine as long as I don't uproot things.

I think I will do the 15 watt bulb and will wait before adding cherries. 

So far the bowl has cost (rounding up including tax):
$18 bowl
$12 miracle gro...bag will be enough for many projects down the road.
$8 bag of play sand
$12 ikea desklamp
$12 box of 6 15W 6500K CFLs


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

and it would cost even less if you already had some of the materials lying around you house like a lamp, and maybe sand. it is a fairly low cost FW nano right?

also add floating plants like Salvinia and frogbit to my plant list. you only need one species, but they are very beneficial.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

What happened when I planted my bowl with the sand cap in and flooded was the sand being heavier fell through the sand cap and mixed the two... pretty big mess... I was able to suck out the MGOPS and place more sand back in, but it messed up my lower layer by mixing it with the soil... My 2nd bowl, I planted right before flooding and everything went much smoother... best case would be to drain lower than the sand, so the sand stays clumped and doesnt flow down through the planting hole.... good luck, especially with crypts because of the extensive roots to plant ratio....


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

I planted with the bowls full because I didn't really think about it ahead of time (or care). I was mostly just testing out the method. I knew that I wasn't in a hurry to add shrimp so I just did what I needed to do and let whatever MGOC soil I mixed up while planting settle to the bottom over a few days.

I didn't test water parameters but I would imagine the water got toxic (to fish or inverts) for a few days. By the time I eventually got around to adding shrimp though whatever soil had been exposed had clearly leeched whatever it was going to. The substrate of my bowls looks sort of like a natural or leaf littery kind of substrate and doesn't look bad, IMO (not that I can see it through the dense planting).

What I did would likely look horrible on a light colored sand though. 

I don't recommend doing it the way that I did it but unless you are adding fish/inverts very soon or you have a substrate that will show any tiny impurities then I just want to point out that it isn't the end of the world.

As far as plants - I love the frogbit in the bowls. I have roots on mine that hang all the way to the substrate before I eventually thin them out and move the frogbit to other tanks. Dwarf sag will grow like crazy in one of these bowls and will eventually reach the surface and sort of 'bend' over with the shape of the bowl (and the surface of the water) and looks pretty cool. Crypts should do well especially in the heavily planted and shaded areas.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I have spent the day thinking of creative ways to de-water the bowl to prepare it for planting. I think syphoning out what I can with the bowl on an angle and applying pressure to the sand with a dinner plate will keep it in place and allow me to remove enough water for planting. I already have the bones for a 15 gallon at work, so learning these things now on a smaller scale is definitely a good idea. 

Those plants you have suggested are a good idea. I will see what is available at the lfs because the canadian swap and shop isn't populated quite like its american counterpart.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I drained the water last night. It filled up about half a 5 gallon bucket, so I would say the total max volume is right around 3 gallons. 

I tilted the bowl, put a plate to press down the sand so it wouldn't shift and syphoned out what I could. I did a test planting and it worked out very well.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

sounds like a good plan, mine was definitely "wet" when planting, almost the same as yours... we just gotta keep the sand from flying around... thats when it gets messy, glad to hear it went well!


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Going to look at a LFS tonight for plants and pick up the lamp. I am interested to see what is available.


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## GhostRider (Jan 17, 2011)

That bowl is amazing. To tell the truth i never really liked bowls but they have kind of been setting in. After reading this i made a trip to walmart for that bowl with no result :/ thats the coolest bowl ive seen!


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

Awsome..
Love fishbowls. Love them Love them. 
I need ot take apart mine and give it a miricle grow base though as the plants are... Faltering a little..
Nice little bowl man.. cant wait to see where this goes. I always find it challenging to scape a round tank.


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

GhostRider said:


> That bowl is amazing. To tell the truth i never really liked bowls but they have kind of been setting in. After reading this i made a trip to walmart for that bowl with no result :/ thats the coolest bowl ive seen!


Try a Homegoods, Anna's Linens, TJ Maxx, or Marshals. Or tuesday morning. Even Michaels has some cool ones.
I got an awesome 4 gallon bowl on a stem for $10 at Homegoods.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Yes, it was the very first time when I turned to my girlfriend and said:

"I want to go to Home Outfitters"

Now that I have my bowl, never again 

I went to PJ's Pets as they had an excellent plant selection about 2 months ago and some really nice quality planted displays. Today, the planted displays had turned into algae farms and about 1/2 of their plants weren't true aquatics, the rest were growing hair algae or half brown and melted away...


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## Basil (Jul 11, 2011)

That's too bad to hear about the plant tanks... Someone wasn't doing their job either in researching the plants when they ordered or they thought they could sell them off quick. I know it makes me upset to see pet stores neglect their own products. You dont go to the grocery store and find smashed cans and broken glass bottles. So why should a pet store let their tanks go to crap. Ok, rant done. Hope you find some good plants at another pet store!


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## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

I guess we BCers are just lucky with the Wal Mart bowls, I have the exact same one, price and everything down to the do not pick up sticker, set up the exact same way lol, same dirt and sand as a cap too. I just need plants for mine ... my crypt wendtii red melted to nothing in transition :/


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I think maybe someone set up some intricate and beautiful displays, then found a job somewhere else, leaving the plants to some less knowledgeable people. 

Jaguar, that's pretty funny. I definitely like the size of the bowl, it is a good, modern shape and the top is big enough for excellent access. I'm sure other Wal-marts have them, just look in the home decor section.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Finally got some plants. Cryptocoryne parva, wendtii green, wendtii brown, anubias 'broad leaf' and some sort of valisneria/sag. I just filled it, so there is some floating debris and 'new tank bubbles' all over the glass/plants, etc. I also didn't have the lamp just yet, but I have one I will bring home tomorrow to set it up permanently.


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## rikardob (Aug 13, 2011)

Looks good, and good luck!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

looking great!


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks guys. I came home today to a greyish tinge to the water, so I did a 90% water change and the plants are pearling under the 13W 6500K bulb I have in the desklamp. It is pretty amazing that it is all done now. There is nothing to tinker with until the plants start to grow out and I may have to trim.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

actually you definitely need floating plants...otherwise you run more risk of a more intense algae bloom than you need.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I will consider the floating plants. Currently the 13W fixture is approximately 10 inches from the top of the bowl. I doubt my issue will be too much light, and if that is the case, I can raise it a little more.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

i highly recommend them...salvinia, even duckweed if you don't want to notice them. they are extremely beneficial to bowls like this.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

The water is a bit cloudy, but I'm sure this will pass with time. I added a bit of sand around some of the crypts whose roots weren't covered completely. I have the 13W 6500K bulb in the ikea desklamp on at 11am and off at 9pm.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

yes the cloudiness is from the sand, it should pass with time or water changes.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

With zero current tanks like this anything that get mixed up in the water seems to settle pretty quickly. A couple of days.

I second the nomination for floating plants. Even if you plan to remove them later on they will be really helpful for the initial stage. Another reason that I love frogbit is that it is a big enough plant that it won't really 'infest' your tank. It is easy to pick out.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

The water was quite a bit clearer when I came home today.

On another note, I am thinking about getting an LED light to replace the CFL in my desklamp. 

Any experience on a tank like this? I would estimate the bowl to be 12" in diameter. I was looking at a 3x3W E27 bulb but I'm not sure about the spread or intensity.

Let me know if you have any experience with LED screw in bulbs and maybe if you've purchased one from [Ebay Link Removed]


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I did a water change and cleaned the glass today. Some of the cryptocorynes are looking a bit ragged but they tend to do that for me until they get used to everything. 

I do get some brown 'stuff', very light material that sticks to the glass of the bowl. A quick wipe took care of it, but I guess this is due to no current. It is very different to not have a filter on the aquarium but maintenance is a breeze.

I just hope the plants will remain healthy and I'll see some good growth once they establish themselves.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

the brown stuff is either diatoms or some brown algae. typical in a newly setup tank, its normal. it will go away and maybe give way to some other type of algae.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Hey Newman,

Thanks for sticking around. The brown stuff is minute dirt particles that has adhered itself to the bowl glass in small clumps. 

I am on vacation for 2 weeks so my girlfriend will top off the bowl if needed. I wonder how things will go while I am gone and what changes will take place. I will probably add cherry shrimp on my return. It will have been about a month since setting it up, long enough to have stabilized for some shrimp.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

So, this bowl has been a bit of a roller coaster. I went on vacation for a week and came back to a disaster. Most of the plants had melted, the water was nuclear green and there was thick algal balls covering everything. I cleaned what I could but it was a sorry state of affairs. I let it be for months, and everything except the 3 wendtii in the front have returned, fuller than ever. I also found about 5 different varieties of moss here in Vancouver that I put in as an experiment. Some did ok, others stagnated. 

One thing that does bother me about this is cleaning the glass near the sand and the amount of brown detritus that clings to the side. There are still no residents, although I did notice some Copepoda-like creatures once. I am looking for some cherry shrimp at the moment.


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## Koi Kameon (Apr 25, 2010)

that is too bad as that was a beautiful-looking bowl...


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I have moved this bowl to my office where it currently amuses everyone that walks by. Koi, the bowl itself is doing excellently. The plats are growing well and it is looking good. I have a picture I would like to load up tonight.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I may have found some pfr cherries...will take pictures if it pans out.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

This is from approximately 2.5 weeks ago. I have since moved the bowl to my office, but here it is. Some plants have gone, others have come back with a vengeance. I think with some snails/shrimp, it will clean up some of the detritus/algae that I notice in a thin covering here and there.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

Very nicely filled out... One of the better bowls lately!


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks ozy, appreciate it.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

so.......lush.....must.......steal......bowl....


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Well the transport logistics were probably the easiest I have encountered. You could probably pick it up full.


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## Koi Kameon (Apr 25, 2010)

*Wow*

That is the best-plotted out jungle bowl I have seen on here. It is so great. Grab some little horned nerites (suggest black or black and gold) to not distract too much from the aquascaping and voila!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

looks perfect! the anubias really makes this thing stand out among the rest


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

Agreed, the broad leaves are not often seen on the bowls around here, lots of grass, no big leaves. A refreshing sight!


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

An update with this bowl. It survived more or less neglected with only monthly or bimonthly water changes until tonight. Plants started to slowly recede and thin out but still remained overall in fair health. 

When I started pulling out plants I realized why it had receded. Pulling one crypt out showed me that the entire soil layer was one disc shaped root mass about 3 inches thick. Over time I guess the plants simply ran out of root space and began to die off. Perhaps with fertilization and more regular care and pruning aquariums like this bowl can be long term successes but mine was simply stagnating after a period of approximately 1 year. 

I pulled the grass, crypts and Anubias out and replanted them in a 10 gallon rimless with eheim 2213 filter, eheim 50w heater, 2 of the desk lamps shown here with 2 x 13w 6500k bulbs and fine Eco complete substrate. I'll be posting its own thread shortly. Thanks for following along.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Here is the new home for the plants:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=4852585#post4852585

I'll be updating this one during the course of its life. Thanks for following.


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## Koi Kameon (Apr 25, 2010)

*Oh, you weren't fertilizing?*

And there were never any animals to help out on that either?


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I had some ill-fated attempts with some CRS as well as your standard pond snail and a nerite. Neither lasted more than a week or two. I gave up after awhile. I didn't want to risk anything else.


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