# A Vessel



## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

Talking to Mike today and discussing our absolute love for shrimp. Addictive.
We go on and on.
Sometime into this Mike comments "Don't you have a greenhouse?" Yes and the wheels start turning. Have always wanted to set one up, actually have a 60cube in one empty. 
Back up a minute the Dear Sweet Husband has drawn a line about aquariums in the house!!!!

We are calling it "A vessel" 
We now have a "A vessel" down in the GH. Scrounged around and found a 10G, some soil, small filter, water and a few plants. Vessel is up and running. No live aquatic critters, yet. Just want to see how it performs in sunlight and the temperatures effect the water temp. 
To repeat myself I have oh so wanted to try this.
I put it on some plywood and Styrofoam on one of the metal racking shelves. We will see.
This is a bare bone set up no Co2 just ferts and sunlight. May place some ricca & pella patches in to see how they perform. 


Logic would suggest that temperature fluctuations of a larger volume of water would be easier to control than this small 10G.

Thought, Concerns, Ideas are absolutely welcome.

Thank's Mike


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Congrats on the "vessel". What kind of shrimp are you going to put in there?


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## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

Just check the temps. I have the house sealed up due to weather temps tonight. House is 97.8, water temp unheated was 75.3. 
Mike suggested throwing in some reds to see if they make it. But if this is a hospitable environment hate to get something going in this tank that might be better served with another variety. LOL It will cool down inside shortly. That is when the fun begins, will keep checking tank water. I might have to run a tank heater down.

Drinda any suggestions!!!!


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## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

Had to turn the heaters on last night and the night before let the aquarium get to cold. Did not have a heater on it, hooked one up yesterday. The GH smells like Gardenias, here is a pic of what is blooming. A lot of the Plumerias are starting to wake up and put out inflow's.


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## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

My vessel!!! 
Well I'm about to cover the GH for the summer will get sunlight just not direct. I'm going ahead and embarking on setting up the 60 Cube that is down there. 
The plants that are growing in this vessel--not bad. I need to fertilize. I'm amazed the crypts, Val's, lotus holding there own. Actually seeing growth. This will be a plant only tank for now. Well just have to see how this progresses through the summer & winter. The temp varies, it's just 10G I expected that. A larger vessel should be more stable. In the other GH I water root stems in the winter. I use a bubbler, heater and the roots go crazy. This has been going on for years and the water stays rather consistent.

On a side note the DH was in the GH the other day and made not one comment about the vessel. Either he did not see it HA or it's not in the house so all is fair in love and war!!!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Love the plumeria! I had that very one when I was in FLA. Thanks for the px.


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## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

Thank You D
Late yesterday was down looking at the vessel. All the plants had steady streams of bubbles coming off of them. Actually quite a bit. Things are growing. Roots are being sent out. Still no fish or artificial lighting. I think if I added a little excel or something things would really take off. The nano filter is just to keep the water moving so no mosquito's. 
Wish I still had a light meter!!!


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## Cocobid (Jan 26, 2007)

Last week I turned on the heaters, have two just thought a back up might be in order. They are old. Vessel has no lid as of yet, GH is still wide open meaning last week with temps in the 40's tank kept stable in the 70's where I had the temp set. Plants are growing well. Will be moving the tank to another area to accommodate plumeria winter storage. Will put a Plexiglas lid and some black out foam board on the back & sides. This should help to increase the thermal mass thing going on.
The Sphinx snails that we inherited wound up down there, their poo seems to be a nice fert for the plants. 
I'm just curious how this tank will do during the winter......


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## stuckintexas (Aug 12, 2008)

we are supposed to have a cooler winter, with el nino and all. hope those heaters can do their job.


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## northtexasfossilguy (Mar 6, 2009)

I find these low-tech tanks very interesting. Good luck with yours! Amazing flower by the way!

Heres a bit on my low-tech adventure: 

I have two jars in my place that have been running with the same water for a few months, with top offs of course. One has a large Macrobrachium shrimp in it bought for 10cents, the other has only plants. I don't fertilize or do anything to it really except feed the shrimp daily. It actually is a very colorful little creature as an adult.

In my experience, I'd say sponge filters are the best for low tech, and the cheapest filter. I tried several types.

I noticed that the plants in the container without the shrimp did much worse than the one with the shrimp. It was pretty interesting to see the symbiosis that has been created between the animal bacteria and plants in comparison with the absence of the animal. It's sort of the "El Natural" / "Walsted method" type tank, but I just don't bother with them. I wanted to see how well it would do by itself with the worst care possible, and I found that almost everything was very resilient, especially those cheapo feeder shrimp. In my experience, I'd say sponge filters are the best for low tech, and the cheapest filter. I tried several types and I think sponges are the most reliable and allow the poo or "mulm" to get into the substrate instead of being trapped in the filter. Gravel/fluorite mix is what I used, and I think is better than aquasoil personally as the large size of grains lets water through more easily, and allows the waste to sink to the bottom.


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