Elora's Microscape

I finally got the last of the stuff I needed to start working on this idea I've had stuck in my head. And work I did! 3 hrs later and I've finished my aquascaped bowl, or Microscape as I'm calling it.

The bowl is 5 cups in volume, 5" H x 5" L x 3.5" W. It has a 6400k, 24 watt T5H0 growlight that it shares with the rest of my garden. I used an organic soil mix infused with mycorrhizae as the substrate, capped with play sand.

I managed to find a chip of MopanI wood at my lfs ( $0.60!) On which I attached some Anubias nana. I also picked up some narrow leaf micro sword (lilaeopsis Mauritiana) as the background plants. Underneath them I buried half a flourish tab.

The water I got from my mums 4yr old tank so it's essentially an aged "aquarium". Complete with nutrients and micro critters. No other inhabitants.

Can't wait for it to fill in. And sorry for the long post .

 

It looks great!

 

The slope of sand looks awesome! Nicely done, will look good once grown in.

 

Nice! Maybe some fairy shrimp when you're done?

 

The slope of sand looks awesome! Nicely done, will look good once grown in.

Thanks!

Nice! Maybe some fairy shrimp when you're done?

I thought of putting something in, but it's a bit too small and I think I want it to be like a little zen garden type thing.

 

Love it! These are usually referred to as "jarrariums" if you were curious! I have 3 of them myself

Oh and you should put some ramshorn snails in there, they make awesome additions to these tanks, and they'll keep your glass super clear and breed like crazy. Won't try to escape either!

 

Love it! These are usually referred to as "jarrariums" if you were curious! I have 3 of them myself

Ah, I wondered if it had name. I like the sound of Microscape though...

 

So do I, call it anything you like, it's yours after all!!

 

Oh and you should put some ramshorn snails in there, they make awesome additions to these tanks, and they'll keep your glass super clear and breed like crazy. Won't try to escape either!

It already has some! Couldn't avoid them if I wanted to though, since the anubias and water came from my mums tank. But they are cute and tiny and do an amazing job so I don't mind.

 

1.5 week update. It's going well, the plants have settled and even grown a bit. I have to do water changes every 3 days or it gets so dark with tannins. I am having a little trouble with a protein skI'm on the surface but some tissue and a Turkey baster deals with that.

 

Missed the original posts, but wow, it looks great!
It seems so... achievable, I think I’ll try something like this.
So, literally 5 cups? Just over a quart?is that total volume, or how much water u added after scaping?

 

Those are awesome results for 1.5 weeks! How many hours of light per day?

 

Missed the original posts, but wow, it looks great!
It seems so... achievable, I think I’ll try something like this.
So, literally 5 cups? Just over a quart?is that total volume, or how much water u added after scaping?

Yes, it's very easy! I totally reccomend trying it, it's so satisfying. It's 5 cups empty so probably around 4 cups after the scape. It looks bigger due to the slope of the substrate.

 

Those are awesome results for 1.5 weeks! How many hours of light per day?

I know, I was so surprised when the microsword started growing, I had read it's a slow grower. I think the lights are on about 14hrs a day? I sync them with the seasons so my more typical house plants grow and flower properly. So as winter comes the lights will be on less and more as summer rolls around. I think the fast growth can also be due to the soil, it has mycorrhizae fungus which is a symbiotic fungus that attaches to plant roots. It basically acts as an extension to the root system. I also stuck a flourish tab in there.

 

It's been 4 months since I set up the bowl and I decided to tear it down. It was quickly requiring too much maintenance, the microsword wasn't doing well, the sand kept sliding and exposing the dirt underneath, and it was getting smelly. No matter what I did, it was too hard to clean and trim the plants. However, rather than toss the plants I put them in my mums 9g tank where hopefully the better flow and such will make them grow better. It was a cool experiment but way too much work, it might've worked far better with a simpler scape.

 

This is the progression it went through. I think the main issue was that the plants burned through their nutrients too quick. There wasn't really a way to stuff a root tab in as there wasn't much room and anytime I touched it, everything slid.