Dioaquatics 12g Nano Bowl

Hey everyone!
I'm starting this thread to note down the progress of my new nano bowl. I've already ordered everything I really need for the bowl build so should be getting everything within a week or so. Today I got the gooseneck light in the mail and I've got to say, I'm really impressed with this light. I think it'll grow plants easily. I should be getting the bowl in the mail between tomorrow and Tuesday. As for the substrate, I'm going to be using Fluval Stratum as I heard its great for shrimp. I will update this thread as I get more supplies.

 

How big will your bowl be?

 

How big will your bowl be?

I found a bowl that holds around 10-12 gallons so it's pretty big

 

I found a bowl that holds around 10-12 gallons so it's pretty big

Oh awesome! Do you have a link to that? I’d love to see it

 

Oh awesome! Do you have a link to that? I’d love to see it

This is it. It measures 18 inches in diameter, 15 inches tall, and has an 11 inch opening, holding around 12 gallons

 

I can’t wait to see what you do!

 

I have the same light, made mg jungle val grow like crazy.

 

I have the same light, made mg jungle val grow like crazy.

Oh that's awesome to hear! I want this tank to be a planted shrimp jungle!

 

I also have that light (plant version), over a low tech 10gal. Works well for low light plants (water sprite, Limnophilia sessiliflora, Anubias nana, java moss). Gives a beautiful shimmer. Super easy to just bend out of the way for wc, trimming, etc. Dimmer is a nice feature.
Amazon.ca has that same bowl at $160CDN. Yeesh.
How did you/will you attach the screw clamp to your glass bowl?

 

I also have that light (plant version), over a low tech 10gal. Works well for low light plants (water sprite, Limnophilia sessiliflora, Anubias nana, java moss). Gives a beautiful shimmer. Super easy to just bend out of the way for wc, trimming, etc. Dimmer is a nice feature.
Amazon.ca has that same bowl at $160CDN. Yeesh.
How did you/will you attach the screw clamp to your glass bowl?

Great to hear that this light grows low light plants well! I love the build and design of it. I'm actually going to build a DIY "L" shaped platform to set the bowl on and the back "wall" portion is where I'm going to clip the light

 

My bowl came in the mail today! My excitement levels are through the roof right now! This bowl is serious a lot bigger than I expected but I love it! You can see in the picture, I have a regular 12 inch ruler on top and it looks small haha. I have it in my bedroom in its final resting place. I have to go to Home Depot to get the wood to build the "L" shaped base. I'm also waiting on the fluval stratum to come in the mail. I'm sooooo close to having a super cool shrimp heaven

 

Today I realized I didn't buy the hardscape for the bowl. Thankfully I still have a couple pieces of driftwood in my basement. I went down there and cleaned off my nicest piece and got what I needed I'm going to put tall background plants, probably some bacopa caroliniana and maybe a second background plant (suggestions welcomed) behind the wood. For midground, I'm not 100% sure, maybe a type of crypt that stays smaller or something? (Suggestions also welcomed). For the foreground, I might try some dwarf hair grass or s. Repens. I'm also going to attach some rhizome plants on the wood. I can already see it coming to life!!

 

Need some scaping advice everyone. I just want to ask, how would you position the driftwood in the bowl? I have 3 different positions that could all work

 

I like #2!

 

I was leaning towards that one also!

 

I think it'll make a really nice nook for the baby shrimp to hide in too.

 

I think it'll make a really nice nook for the baby shrimp to hide in too.

That's a very good point. I didn't even think of that

 

I like number 2 as well.

 

I like #2 too but can you put the top part down? I'm not a fan of manmade cuts in driftwood. The substrate would help hold it down.

 

I like #2 too but can you put the top part down? I'm not a fan of manmade cuts in driftwood. The substrate would help hold it down.

I can definitely give it a try to see how it looks

 

Finally got my Fluval Stratum in the mail today! As soon as I got home, I cleaned the inside of the bowl with some warm water, scrubbed it with a brand new sponge and dried it all up. I now have the Stratum and the driftwood in the bowl and am asking for the last time, which position the driftwood looks better in.
#1



#2



I like #1 more because of the height I get with the driftwood but I also like #2 because I don't get that man made cut part of the driftwood right in my face. What do you think?

 

Even with the man-made cut on top, I still like the taller orientation. It sits at a good height in that (huge!) bowl. You can always try and hide the cut with some plants later if it really sticks out.

 

You know my vote

I have a rather large piece with a similar cut on one end and it just looked unnatural so the only position was to stand it up. It's the piece on the left.

 

I like the height with the 1st one that bowl is gonna look so awesome when you're done!!

 

Even with the man-made cut on top, I still like the taller orientation. It sits at a good height in that (huge!) bowl. You can always try and hide the cut with some plants later if it really sticks out.

You know my vote

I have a rather large piece with a similar cut on one end and it just looked unnatural so the only position was to stand it up. It's the piece on the left.
View attachment 399765

I like the height with the 1st one that bowl is gonna look so awesome when you're done!!

Thanks for the input everyone! I really like the height I get with the first position so I'm going to do the first one. I'm actually thinking of attaching some plants to that part of the wood to hide it. I will be getting the wood for the "L" shaped base tomorrow at Home Depot. I hope that I can get this filled with water and planted by tomorrow also but lets see how that goes.

 

I finished building the base for the bowl it was pretty simple, just 2 pieces of wood spray painted black and screwed together. I now have the light clipped in place and everything where I want it. All I have to do is heavily plant it, let it cycle, test my parameters and add the inhabitants

 

I like number 1.

 

I already have a bowl like yours but maybe a tad smaller so I am going to be watching this thread very closely I am curious as to how you are going to hide the filtration.

 

I'm going to put tall background plants, probably some bacopa caroliniana and maybe a second background plant (suggestions welcomed) behind the wood. For midground, I'm not 100% sure, maybe a type of crypt that stays smaller or something? (Suggestions also welcomed). For the foreground, I might try some dwarf hair grass or s. Repens. I'm also going to attach some rhizome plants on the wood. I can already see it coming to life!!
View attachment 398848 View attachment 398849

This is already looking like a gorgeous setup! Blyxa japonica, IMO this is great as a mid to back ground plant in a nano tank. I love this plant as it really helped with the scale and optical illusion in mine to make the 3 gallon look larger and more spacious than it really is.

Dwarf hairgrass, I don't how well it does in that substrate. I mean for example in my aquariums with small pea size gravel it is very spread out and not thick like I wanted it to be. With bdbs I am very happy to see it growing much closer together and more like a carpet as I wanted it to look. The only problem is that rcs seem to struggle to get around the thin blades. Perhaps as it fills in more that will change. Perhaps something like monte carlo is easier for shrimp to navigate, may not necessarily be an easy plant though, don't know yet.

 

I already have a bowl like yours but maybe a tad smaller so I am going to be watching this thread very closely I am curious as to how you are going to hide the filtration.

I'm actually going to try and rely on just the plants for filtration. I'm going to have a very low bioload in this tank so I'm not too worried about spiked and stuff. If I do have to put a filter in there, it'll probably just be a very small sponge filter

This is already looking like a gorgeous setup! Blyxa japonica, IMO this is great as a mid to back ground plant in a nano tank. I love this plant as it really helped with the scale and optical illusion in mine to make the 3 gallon look larger and more spacious than it really is.

Dwarf hairgrass, I don't how well it does in that substrate. I mean for example in my aquariums with small pea size gravel it is very spread out and not thick like I wanted it to be. With bdbs I am very happy to see it growing much closer together and more like a carpet as I wanted it to look. The only problem is that rcs seem to struggle to get around the thin blades. Perhaps as it fills in more that will change. Perhaps something like monte carlo is easier for shrimp to navigate, may not necessarily be an easy plant though, don't know yet.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely be considering blyxa for this tank. I love the look of it so that might just be the midground plant I use. As for the foreground, I'm still debating what to use. Monte Carlo would be a very nice too

 

Well guys, I've got the bowl half set up lol. I filled the bowl half way last week and was planting everything only to realize that the one bag of Fluval Stratum wasn't enough substrate. The plants kept coming out of the substrate and floating up or I didn't have enough substrate to even get the plant in so I'm ordering a second 4.4lb bag soon.
So far in the background, I have one stem of cobomba, a couple stems of bacopa Caroliniana, a couple stems of hygro polysperma, 2 red tiger lotus bulbs. For the midground, I have 2 small crypts, and as foreground plant, one sorry s. Repens stem I'm trying to bring back to life. The background and midground plants are good to go. If the s. repens makes it back to life, I might keep that as the foreground plant but I also want to try minI hairgrass that I found at my local PetSmart. Apparently it's different from DHG and much easier to grow so I think I'll give that a try too. I also want to buy a couple buce plants to attach in the driftwood.
Here's a picture of my sad little bowl as it sits now lol

 

It is going to be stunning once it is complete. Thank you for the update.

 

Quick little update. The bowl is still half full. I haven't filled it completely yet because I will have to take everything out again very soon. I already ordered an 8.8lb bag of fluval stratum (should arrive Tuesday) to add to the bowl so the plants have a deeper substrate bed. Once the extra stratum is in the bowl and everything is planted. I'll clean, replant, and fill the bowl all the way. Still have to buy more plants for it though so that will be bought soon too.

 

Got my 8.8lb bag of stratum! I also had a $10 off any $10 purchase at PetSmart so I too advantaged and bought some minI dwarf hairgrass for the foreground plant, I hear that it’s easier to keep than regular DHG. I’ll probably be working on the bowl tomorrow or Thursday so update pictures will be added soon

 

I didn’t realize there was difference between dhg and minI dhg... I’m interested to see how it does for you!

 

I didn’t realize there was difference between dhg and minI dhg... I’m interested to see how it does for you!

I remember seeing somewhere that it was easier to grow. Of course I can’t remember where I saw it but let’s hope this goes well lol

Edit: after a quick google search, regular DHG is Eleocharis parvula and minI DHG is Eleocharis acicularis

 

I got that exact stuff. I had assumed it was the same as other dwarf hairgrass. No idea how big stratum substrate is, but I tried it first with 4-6mm size gravel. It's very patchy, has not carpeted like I hoped it would. Now I put it in the 3 gallon with bdbs and the light isn't as far off the substrate and it is carpeting. Hopefully it will carpet nocely for you.

Monte Carlo Might be another option if this doesn't work out as desired.

 

I got that exact stuff. I had assumed it was the same as other dwarf hairgrass. No idea how big stratum substrate is, but I tried it first with 4-6mm size gravel. It's very patchy, has not carpeted like I hoped it would. Now I put it in the 3 gallon with bdbs and the light isn't as far off the substrate and it is carpeting. Hopefully it will carpet nocely for you.

Monte Carlo Might be another option if this doesn't work out as desired.

I’m not sure what size stratum is but I know it’s rather big. Let’s see how well it will fill in for me. I won't be upset if it doesn’t look like a full thick carpet. I’d be happy if it was just thick enough for the future shrimp to be able to hide in.
Thanks for that suggestion! Monte Carlo is a nice plane that’s for sure. If this doesn’t work, Monte Carlo it is lol

 

I did it! I took all the plants out, drained the tank, added more stratum and replanted everything. The bowl is finally filled all the way to the top, and planted how I want it. The minI dhg looks awesome already so I hope it does will for me and will carpet as much as possible. It's super cloudy right now so I'll take pictures and post them when everything is cleared up

 

Long awaited update. So I ended up adding the extra Fluval stratum substrate and planting the minI hair grass in the bowl. The bowl is planted with bacopa caroliniana, hygro polysperma, minI hairgrass, 2 red tiger lotus bulbs and 1 or 2 pieces of salvinia minima. I have yet to add any fish or shrimp to the bowl, but that will be happening soon. All that’s in there now is a nerite snail. Final stocking will be 9 Ember tetras, 9 kubotaI rasbora, crystal red/black shrimp, and Bloody Mary shrimp.

Here’s a picture from when I first planted it back in March. Pictures go from the left side of the bowl, to the front, to the right side.







Here’s the bowl as it sits today after it’s had a couple months to fill in. Pictures are in the same order as above. It’s filled in very nicely. I’m thinking of using just bacopa caroliniana all in the background instead of bacopa and hygro. One of the RTL bulbs has sprouted and is growing beautifully. Super excited to stock this nano bowl at the end of summer.