Gudgie’s No-Tech Walstad bowl journal

Well, MTS strikes again! I guess this’ll be my second covid tank project.

The same friend who gave me my Fluval Spec also just gave me a 12” bubble bowl he had lying around (clearly, I should just blame my MTS on him). I’ve decided to try a no-tech Walstad setup - it’ll just have a light, no heater. I still need to get the bowl cleaned up and pick up some soil this weekend, but my goal is to plant and flood next week! Current state of the bowl:



Primarily inspired by the 3g bowl from this plantedtank thread: .

I’ve also been checking out Foo the Flowerhorn’s old bowl on YouTube, which is similar but with more plant variety:

Currently planning some Vallisneria spiralis, Dwarf sag, and Salvinia minima. I feel like it might need something else, but I’m not sure what. Maybe a crypt or other stems? What do you think would grow easily and mesh well with the other plants? This is my first no-tech or dirted tank, so I welcome your opinions.

Substrate will be potting mix capped by Super Naturals Peace River gravel.

Lighting will be a cheap desk lamp with CFL - I need to see if we have one laying around here, otherwise I’ll be hunting through our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Keeping this project as low cost as I can!

More pics and updates to follow next week once I have plants in the bowl.

 

What are you planning on stocking it with? Shrimp?

 

What are you planning on stocking it with? Shrimp?

Definitely shrimp, though I may add nano fish as well if I can find something that’ll be a good fit. I’d love ember tetras, but the bowl is on the small side for them and I’m not sure if they can handle the upper 60s our house is in winter. Some sites say that’s fine, others say firmly in the 70s. Another option might be least killifish.

 

Following! I wanted to do this too. Do you have a link to the bowl that you have? How big is it?

 

Following! I wanted to do this too. Do you have a link to the bowl that you have? How big is it?

I’m not sure which bowl it is since I don’t know where my friend got it, but it has thicker glass and looks a lot like the one I’ve linked below. Probably holds around 4 gallons or so?
https://www.amazon.com/Candles4Less-Large-Clear-Glass-Bubble/dp/B071F9VLXV

 

Following to see another awesome bowl project!

 

I’m not sure which bowl it is since I don’t know where my friend got it, but it has thicker glass and looks a lot like the one I’ve linked below. Probably holds around 4 gallons or so?
https://www.amazon.com/Candles4Less-Large-Clear-Glass-Bubble/dp/B071F9VLXV

Thanks! I'll check it out!

 

Following to see another awesome bowl project!

Hah thanks for the vote of confidence! I’m just hoping that it doesn’t become a disaster.

 

Hah thanks for the vote of confidence! I’m just hoping that it doesn’t become a disaster.

Nah you will be fine. There are enough threads here to get ideas and help for issues you may have

 

Well this weekend I went to my local Habitst ReStore for a lamp, and came back with an additional two bowls. So I guess I now have a series of three a Walstad bowls (oops?).

I’m awaiting the arrival of some Italian vals (thanks, StarGirl) and lots of dwarf sag later this week. In the meantime, I decided to do some prep work today - aka I was impatient, and I could work on it while still listening to my work conference. Got all three bowls cleaned, arranged, and set up the lamp over the largest bowl. Then I sifted some topsoil to remove the big pieces and added about an inch or so into each bowl.






After some thought, I think I will try some least killies and shrimp in the largest bowl, a few shrimp in the medium bowl (~1 gal), and probably just plants and pest snails in the tiny bowl.

And now...I’m back to waiting. Once the plants arrive, I’ll plant them, add a layer of gravel, and flood the bowls. Livestock to come later.

 

The bowls have now been filled and planted! Bowls are still a bit cloudy, but a few more water changes should fix that. There are a few Italian vals in the largest, plus lots of dwarf sag. The two smaller bowls are all dwarf sag for now. Salvinia minima on top of all three. Hopefully there are enough plants for the Walstad Method?

I also changed my mind on the gravel selection - went with fluorite black over peace river, and I’m very happy with it!

Here’s when I first filled the large bowl last night:



And here’s today after two more water changes and adding the Salvinia:






Side note - I have no idea why the photo orientation is messed up, since they’re fine on my iPad. Can’t find a way to fix it yet.

 

IDK Basil 's pics were all sideways today too. Maybe Mike would know why?
They are looking really good so far!

 

Looks great! And yeah, my photos also posted sideways and I have no idea how to fix it!

 

My least killies arrived today!

I thought I was getting six, but they actually sent me 9! They’re so tiny that I decided to still add all of them to my largest Walstad bowl, but I’ll be watching it like a hawk for any ammonia/nitrite spikes.

Seriously though, these guys and gals are tiiiiiiny! But adorable! They settled in right away and happily ate some bug bites already - they don’t seemed phased at all by shipping.

 

Oh my gosh they are so cute! I wonder if my betta would eat them? Probably.....lol

 

Oh my gosh they are so cute! I wonder if my betta would eat them? Probably.....lol

Depends on the betta, but I expect the adults would be okay. The fry would probably be goners though.

However, I’m not sure if they’re temp compatible or not. Technically it looks like the least killies can go up to the low 80s, but it seems like the general consensus is mid 70s or lower for the long term (though it’s still debated). Keeping an aquarium with both species around 78F might be a successful compromise?

 

Depends on the betta, but I expect the adults would be okay. The fry would probably be goners though.

However, I’m not sure if they’re temp compatible or not. Technically it looks like the least killies can go up to the low 80s, but it seems like the general consensus is mid 70s or lower for the long term (though it’s still debated). Keeping an aquarium with both species around 78F might be a successful compromise?

Yeah I forgot killies are lower temp...She chases the cherries like a mad dog. Probably not...

 

They are so cute! I totally love all my little fish.

 

Two months later, and I’m clearly overdue for a bowl update! Current inhabitants are four orange neo shrimp and the killies. Not positive on the killie count since they move so much, but I think I still have all 9, plus I spotted a baby for the first time today! All inhabitants have been there over two months now, and things seem pretty stable.

I did some much needed maintenance today - thinned out the very overgrown Salvinia, plus removed a lot of dead bits of dwarf sag. Also did a water change - parameters were fine, but I wanted to lighten up the tannins.

A few quick pics:

Before:



After the cleanup:

 

Looks great!!

 

Where did you get your killis from? I’ve been looking for a good source. Beautiful setup!

 

Looks great!!

Thanks!

Where did you get your killis from? I’ve been looking for a good source. Beautiful setup!

I bought them online from Zimmerman’s Fish. Thus far I’ve been really happy with them, though I’ve never seen other least killies in person to compare mine against. Seem to be very hardy though!

 

The bowl is still going strong! Still have all the adult killies and a few orange neos, and the plants seem to be doing well. Unsurprisingly, I regularly have to thin out a ton of Salvinia.

While I've seen a few babies in the last few months, I'm fairly sure none of survived. Not sure if that is due to the bowl being too cold for them (cooler winter temps), or not finding enough small live food in the bowl, or something else. I certainly never saw them go for the prepared foods that I feed the adults.

 

I’d get a Everglades Pygmy sunfish pair and the killis can dither it. They are super tiny and they aren’t active

 

I’d do Everglades Pygmy sunfish pair or ricefish

I'd love to try pygmy sunfish one day, though I think I'd opt for Okefenokee if I can find them. Perhaps when my Fluval Spec is no longer occupied, but that's likely not for a few years since my betta that lives in it is only a year old; so who knows what'll change by then...

 

You can, a pair can live in a really tiny tank and when I get my fry grown up I’m going to put them in a 3 gallon tall or I will make a bowl for them

 

I'm super jealous of the bowl right now! I think I'm gonna start one of my own eventually.

 

My friend has a Dario Dario in a 2.5 walstad bowl and he doesn’t touch it at all not even feeding or water changes completely self sustained
If he didn’t become oj Simpson and kill his wife (the female) it would have been infinite self sustaining biosphere

 

My friend has a Dario Dario in a 2.5 walstad bowl and he doesn’t touch it at all not even feeding or water changes completely self sustained

Woah! That's so cool... Anything with the Scarlet Badis like shrimp to help with algae and possibly provide some life food?

 

I'm super jealous of the bowl right now! I think I'm gonna start one of my own eventually.

You totally should start one soon!

My bowl is now past the 6 month point, and still doing great! Other than topping up the water and thinning the salvinia, I've been doing little maintenance but the bowl seems stable. The three orange neos and least killies seems to be doing well. Hoping to possibly add a couple more shrimp sometime soon.





Can't remember if I mentioned, but I did break down the two much smaller bowls I had. Couldn't do too much with them, and decided I'd rather focus my efforts on the larger bowl.

 

Woah! That's so cool... Anything with the Scarlet Badis like shrimp to help with algae and possibly provide some life food?

Usually food starts to form, like little crustaceans, etc. seed shrimp most likely, at least in my case when I did this a year or so back.

This bowl looks great! When I did mine it was mostly all dwarf sag as well. It's a great plant and fills in a simple bowl very quickly!

 

Lol, I traveled to this thread from another where you included a link of this journal and actually bought the 10" bubble bowl (4 gals) two years ago, housed a male long-finned Betta, and planted it! Sadly, a family member was upset with the condition of the house ("too much stuff") and threw this $16 bowl on the ground. This was at a time when money was extremely scarce for me, so it wasn't a good day (I was too young for a civilian job at the time). Luckily, I now have a good amount of money saved from CL sales and am now planning to buy a 12" bubble bowl (from Hobby Lobby if anyone needed to know with a 6" 0.85 gal, 8" 2g, 10" 3.9g, and 12" 6.5g). Unfortunately, I was a day too late for the 50% off sale so the bowls are now full-priced.

 

Lol, I traveled to this thread from another where you included a link of this journal and actually bought the 10" bubble bowl (4 gals) two years ago, housed a male long-finned Betta, and planted it! Sadly, a family member was upset with the condition of the house ("too much stuff") and threw this $16 bowl on the ground. This was at a time when money was extremely scarce for me, so it wasn't a good day (I was too young for a civilian job at the time). Luckily, I now have a good amount of money saved from CL sales and am now planning to buy a 12" bubble bowl (from Hobby Lobby if anyone needed to know with a 6" 0.85 gal, 8" 2g, 10" 3.9g, and 12" 6.5g). Unfortunately, I was a day too late for the 50% off sale so the bowls are now full-priced.

Just saw this and I got their 12in bowl! I did not realize it would hold 6.5g tho!

edit: I got excited and wanted to see if it really held that much. It only holds about roughly 4 gallons of water lol

 

No real updates to share, just a few photos after I thinned out the Salvinia and topped up the water.

 

Did your bowl cycle?
I didn’t intentionally try to cycle my bowl but it did. I guess the snails added ammonia and the plants from my other tanks provided a supply of bb.

 

Did your bowl cycle?
I didn’t intentionally try to cycle my bowl but it did. I guess the snails added ammonia and the plants from my other tanks provided a supply of bb.

I'd say it cycled, though like you it wasn't particularly intentional. In the first month I saw small traces of ammonia a couple of times, but always quite low (0.5ppm or less) and never since then. It's consistently 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and < 5 ppm nitrate these days. Clearly there must be some bb taking care of any ammonia that appears, though I expect it's not a high amount due to low bioload.

 

More photos to share! Today I thinned out the Salvinia, added a small amount of guppy grass and java moss from my other tanks, and topped the bowl off. I'm really liking it these days!





I added a variety of cull shrimp from JettsPapa to the bowl back on the 15th, and they all seem to have settled in well! I love hunting for the variety of colors when I look at the bowl.





I've also spotted at least four juvenile least killies! They seem to be eating and growing well. Plus a couple of the adult females look ready to pop soon. I suspect I'll be looking to rehome a handful of offspring later this year, once they've grown a bit more. You can see one of the juvies below:

 

You have me half tempted to try one of these!

 

You have me half tempted to try one of these!

I would go for it! I got a 3-4g bowl from Hobby Lobby and I cant wait to set it up!

 

You have me half tempted to try one of these!

Go for it! I love my little tank, and it has the benefit of being so low maintenance!