Walstad bowl journal

[Ismene]

So, actually a bowl and a vase. Still need to clean up the dirt that was displaced when I filled the bowl and vase. This is my first attempt at the Walstad method. No filter, no heater, no CO2. Room temperature is 70 degrees F. Plants in the bowl: Rotala, Pogo. Octopus, Brazilian Pennywort, and dwarf Sag. Plants in the vase are the same, but no dwarf Sag. No livestock yet. Will be waiting a couple of months on that. Plan to throw in some MTS in late November and see how that goes. If that goes well, I will add a couple of ramshorn snails. Then maybe a shrimp or two in late December. If I did this right and the plants live

 

[BettaFishObsessed]

Nice

 

[Ismene]

So it’s been almost a month. There was some floating dirt that got left behind as water evaporated. Wiped that off with a wet paper towel. Topped off the bowl and the vase. Plants are doing well. I do 4 hours of light, 4 hour siesta, and then another 4 hours of light. Snails hitched a ride on the plants. And they’ve multiplied. So that happened 2 months early. They seem to be doing well, so last week I started dropping in a few Tetra pellets every couple of days. You can see a pretty big one in one of the bowl pictures. I put a piece of algae wafer in both just to see if the snails remain healthy. I’ve never cycled with plants from an established tank, so I’m just waiting for everything to crash. Not ideal, but at least they’re only snails.

 

[AcornTheBetta]

I like it!

 

[LouPey]

How are your tanks going?

I am thinking to have a filterless tank so wanted to see how you did with yours!

 

[Ismene]

How are your tanks going?

I am thinking to have a filterless tank so wanted to see how you did with yours!

Mixed results. I have to break down the vase, there’s algae growing at the bottom. The bowl has become a jungle, which I like the look of The light is the problem with the vase. It’s too far away and the vase is too deep. The bowl looks great. Same light bulb, different light. My shrimp haven’t taken off yet. When I need to cull them, the snails in the bowl are going to get a couple of shrimp friends. I would recommend a desk lamp over a floor lamp and bowl over a vase!

 

[Ismene]

So the bowl is going better than I ever imagined! The Brazilian Pennywort went nuts. There’s nothing but that and dwarf sag in there now. And snails. No shrimp yet, my colony has not taken off

 

[Ismene]

So this bowl has been going for a year and half. There’s a bunch of algae under the pennywort. The dwarf sag seems fine but I think I may redo it with new soil.