Nano planted bowl

[TankGirl]

Click Here for the photo diary of my nano planted bowl.

The bowl is about 2 gallons and has no mechanical filtration and no heater. I decided to use more than just low light plants, and found a cheap light fixture in the garage. The fixture was not quite right for the setup but so far I had not spent any money on this little tank, and I was determined to find a way to make it work. I enlisted some help in the DIY forum and was able to modify the fixture with pretty decent results.

I did purchase some Anubias nana petite from Off-Ice at Plantgeeks, and he threw in some pygmy cryptocoryne when he found out it was a nano tank (thanks, Curt!) but those plants, the replacement globe for the light and some machine screws are all I have purchased.

The lamp keeps the water reasonably warm but both varieties of crypts melted while I was getting my lamp situation sorted out, and I am hopeful they will come back. Temperature is the limiting factor in this tank so it is something of an experiment. There are 3-4 common snails in there now that are about 5mm in size, and if you have any doubts what snails contribute to your bioload you should see the amount of poo scattered all around this bowl. 8O Once I start getting some plant growth I will put a "tequila sunrise" guppy in there, and perhaps a ghost shrimp. I will continue to add photos to the diary to document the success or failure of the setup and see which plants make it and which did not. Wish me luck!

 

[Xzap]

Now that is just about cool. You go TG

Dave

 

[greenmaji]

Glad to see your DIY modification turn out reasonably well (maybe some shorter screws painted white would polish it up to your likeing?)..
I hope your crypts make a comeback..
Keep up the good work

Clickable version of TG's progress..
TankGirl's nano planted bowl

 

[BrianNY]

Very cool Liz.

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks, guys, and thanks for the clicky, GM!

Those were the shortest screws I could find that were not too short (the new globe has a smaller diameter opening than the original) but now that I have the concept working I can go to the hardware store and get better fitting screws than what I could find at Lowe's. I saw some at Lowe's that had a white or ivory head, and I'll bet I can find something like that if I look hard enough, or I can just paint them.

Today I see some new growth on the crypts and I am hopeful they will adapt to the cooler water without me needing to get a heater, as I really want to keep the electrical cords associated with this bowl to a minimum, lol.

 

[Tiffi]

That a great idea TG!
And it really looks awesome !

I'm just afraid the lotus will grow out the "tank" really quickly. And I am already thinking about getting something similar. Told my husband yesterday, that once started with aquaristic you always want more and more tanks. He said he already figured that .

Could you keep endlers in that? Or would it be better not, without heater and cuz they jump so much? Won't the shrimp crawl out of a "tank" that size with the open top?

 

[Jchillin]

I can fix that link if you want TG. I'm very impressed with the mod you made. The lamp looks real cool.

Nevermind, I see that GM took care of it already!

 

[TankGirl]

The lotus should stay small for a good while, at least mine do, and I'll just move it out when the leaves get too big. It too melted, though, so I will have to see if it comes back or not.

Endler's are perfect for this and I certainly have enough of them, but I wanted a yellow guppy because it will show up well in the bowl. My friend has a guppy in her unheated bowl and it has done well for a year or so. We will have to see about the shrimp.

My friend's bowl gets only ambient light, no heat, and she grows java fern and java moss in hers with daily water changes of about a cup or so, so I think this is something anyone could do - just set up on a desk, or on a counter or side table, or anywhere. I have been experimenting with no-tech aquariums and if you have plants that are growing and doing well you don't need any electricity at all - very old school.

 

[TankGirl]

I can fix that link if you want TG. I'm very impressed with the mod you made. The lamp looks real cool.

Nevermind, I see that GM took care of it already!

Thanks, Bill - I actually made my own clicky - "techno girl" I am not but I can take a hint! I don't know why I did not do that to begin with.

 

[Tiffi]

I said that about the lotus, cuz mine went into the tank a couple weeks ago and has already leaves larger than my hand 8O !

Anyway, the idea you had there is awesome and it looks really great !!

 

[TankGirl]

I have a lotus that has huge leaves, too, Tiffi, in my 55, growing from substrate all the way to the surface, but in my 10g the leaves have stayed pretty small and close to the substrate, and in my 37 the leaves are about 2.5" long, and again hugging the bottom. I think it has to do with the amount of light - could be CO2 also. We'll see - this is an experiment, for sure.

If anyone has any suggestions for other plants that might stay small and not mind slightly cooler water, bring it on.

 

[czcz]

Thats really cool TG. You can have some of my hygro corymbosa "compact" -- nice silver underside normally but the top of the leaf turns pink under good light, and it grows in 74-76F. If you can spare a bit of the rhizome from nana petitie even better

 

[TankGirl]

Okay, czcz - when I see that the petite is growing I'll trade ya! That sounds like a plant I'd be interested in.

 

[TankGirl]

Nano planted bowl *update*

Well, things are coming along nicely in the nano bowl. Since I last posted I have added some things, like a tiny bit of Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort), some glosso (sure does resemble the clover!), and some Christmas moss (don't remember the scientific name but will look it up ) kindly sent to me by czcz. I also put in what I was sold as aquatic mint but that is not what it is, it resembles baby tears more but it is a vivid light green and has very delicate tiny leaves that do well in medium to high light tanks - it the stem plant over on the left side so an ID would be appreciated. The moss is starting to fill in the back and will obscure the heater cord before too long.

The two mosses are pearling and there is new growth on absolutely everything, though the dwarf sag is losing all of its original leaves to yellowing, with good new growth. The clover is spreading nicely and the lily plants are growing well, with still tiny leaves, fortunately. The crypts all bounced right back.

My only problem is my A. nana, which is getting large brown patches on the leaves, even the new ones are getting it, and is obviously lacking a nutrient. The nana "petite" does not suffer any such problems and is growing new dark green leaves in the slow predictable way. It looks perfect.

I am doing 50% pwc twice a week, and am daily dosing Excel, every other day dosing Flourish and the tiniest bit of Flourish iron. I wound up getting a heater, a Hydor pad type heater that is under the substrate. It has no controls on it, but raises the water temp about 2-5 degrees. It was too hot in the water but is perfect buried. We are steady at 78F in there now.

Below is a pic of the bowl as it is today, and also a pic of the Endler's/guppy cross that I got out of one of my Endler's tanks. The pic is crummy but it shows the extended tail that demonstrates the guppy coming through. These are culls but this fellow is pretty nice looking and is happy in the bowl so he will stay for now.

 

[rich311k]

Wow. Looks great.

 

[czcz]

I can't believe how huge your bowl looks. Great job. What do you think about the lights after this much time? Would you recommend more or less?

 

[TankGirl]

Right now the lighting is perfect. Everything is growing and it is the only tank in the house that has not a speck of algae, lol. There is a 6500K 15w PC screw-in bulb in the fixture and I lined the interior of the globe with foil since the scatter was tremendous with the opaque glass globe. It lit the room too much, mainly. I know the bowl is not getting 15 watts, but it gets plenty. If the petite nana was also doing poorly I'd blame the leaf problems the regular nana is having on too much light, since in my other tanks the anubias sp. does better in partial shade.

The extremely low bioload and frequent water changes go a very long way in making this type of tank work - I am positive if I left it to accumulate debris like some natural tank keepers do I would have algae.

It looks very nice in this bathroom and for me that is a major factor. So far the plants are proportionate to the bowl and that is why it looks larger than it is, but this will change and I need to keep on top of it.

Can you use bonsai techniques to miniaturize aquatic plants? That would mean keeping them in pots and trimming stems and roots regularly, which many plants would not like, but I have been curious about it ever since I started this project. I don't think it would work but wouldn't that be cool to have a 3" Amazon sword in the background?

 

[czcz]

I've not tried it but know some people can dwarf terrestrial plants grown hydroponically by trimming the roots. I think the problem is most aquatic plants pull such a large percentage of nutrients from the water column, assuming it is available. (Easy to propogate many stem plants by floating them, for example.) For a long time Tom Barr said substrate did not matter at all, though his new substrate changes things, but he still says he only changed his mind after growing certain, demanding plants.

Anyway, how about no dosing in the water column except for whatever leeches out of root tabs, which are in the planters? Maybe if the plant is dependent on the roots for the majority of nutrients it will be easier to dwarf it. FWIW I tried some large sword in a natural 10g and failed, but just stuck it in the substrate and hoped it would eventually grow emersed.

 

[Drocnoc]

Looks Awesome TG, Thanks for the update.

 

[An t-iasg]

TG, that is an awesome job! It's very beautiful, and the guppy/Endlers is the perfect fish for the bowl. A small Amazon sword would be great! I love that plant and wish there was a way to keep it in my 5 gallon tanks.