# 2.5 gallon lilly vase



## Kehy

I've had my dwarf water lilly since I got my 1.5 gallon betta tank over a year ago, and it's been doing great. The bulb was in a $3 pack from Wallyworld, and was the only thing in that pack to grow. It's been with me since I started with keeping fish on my own, and I'm really attached. Sometimes it doesn't behave however...









That lil monster is just the result of a couple lilly pads reaching the surface from one plant...I've now got three plants all trying to do that! Poor plants below them are getting light-starved and some are starting to die off, so the lilly's gotta go somewhere else.

Here's my solution:
The 2.5 gallon lilly vase

I needed something cheap, and hopefully good looking that I can chuck some extra plants into, and not have to sell or give away my lillies. This is that bowl...









Going to have some dirt under the gravel, since I've noticed how much the plants I have currently love the dirt from my backyard. Prepping it is currently requiring lots of rinsing though...oh, and there's some rock in there too








Found some nice small gravel in a fairly nice color. Thought it would show off the color of the lilly nicely, and maybe reflect more light to other plants too.









Anyways, more to come soon!


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## Summer

Should be interesting. Take lots of pics!


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## Kehy

Alright, I figure the pictures say this better than words, so here we go. (Warning: 90% pictures)

















































That last pic shows the scratched up lamp I picked up for $4. A lil paint later, and I could probably buy it for $12, LOL. 

Plants:
-Dwarf Lilly bulb
-Crypt Wendii 'bronze'
-Anubias Nana
-Willow Hygro
-oh, and I guess that bit of duckweed counts too

Fauna:
-nothing yet, considering cherry shrimp and a Badis Badis

Filtration:
-Might pop my betta tank filter in there to kick start the cycle

Lighting:
-A desk lamp, either 25 or 40 watts, Full Spectrum

To Do:
I need to get a lightbulb, and this bowl could pretty much be finished. I'm happy with how it is right now. That can wait till tomorrow...Maybe.


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## Rob72

all those little tanks, landlord should just give in and let you have a big tank setup kay, looks cool though by the way


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## Kehy

lol actually my landlord's fine with a bigger tank...It's the mother dearest that's the problem. She says a big tank is too much work, and can't spend 2 weeks unsupervised. I say why is _she_ whining. 

Oh, and the person with the worst impulse control in the world got a light bulb. 40 watts, WAY too powerful for the tank, but with the lilly, and the hygro, I might actually get some use out of those extra watts. Pics in a sec. It's purdy.


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## Kehy

Alright, here's the final shot of the tank tonight, with the light. As I said, too powerful, and it makes me wonder how long that pretty white gravel will stay white..hmm...Still, it was the only bulb in the right size/shape, so I guess it'll have to work somehow.


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## Summer

looks pretty!


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## debisbooked

That is a lovely mini-tank build Kehy! I'm going to start looking for large vases at the thrift store....


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## Kehy

debisbooked said:


> That is a lovely mini-tank build Kehy! I'm going to start looking for large vases at the thrift store....


Lol yeah, mini-tanks are like candy and chips...sooo addicting! Just be careful of the Price, that vase was $25...Seems to be fairly good quality, but there's definitely better bargains out there!


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## Kehy

Well, the mother dearest is coming over to visit, and she doesn't quite understand the concept of waiting till its safe to add livestock to a tank...I think I'll add 2-3 ghost shrimp for a little active life for her. I hope they make it through cycling, if not, I won't really be disappointed either...ghosties and cherries don't mix well. 

Also, I ordered some Excel and Flourish, but I've never used them before, and I'm a bit wary of using them in such small tanks, but I've got some BBA taking hold in my smaller tank, and there was a 2 for 1 deal going on. Will using them with the high light lead to a massive algae outbreak? (more massive than just the dirt and high light alone?)


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## Kehy

Alright, things are looking good so far. Found out that mother dearest is _not_ coming over, she threw out her back and it's a 3 hour drive over mountains...not fun for her! But that means I hopefully will not be getting ghost shrimp...better for the shrimp, and better for my impulse control, lol

Anyways, I added diy co2, currently getting 1bpm after being set up for just 3 hours...yay. Diffusing it with an airstone, but I can see I'm getting bubbles all the way to the bottom, and the plants seem to already be loving it...I think even my anubias is bubbling! 

One question though, can you gas out a bowl with no critters in it? It's gonna be a lot of co2, especially with the lights off, and I don't want stuff dying on me. (aside from the mandatory crypt melt, of course)

Anyways, a pic of it in the morning light:








A closer look at the bottom...and the wee baby crypt by the rock








Sorry for the blurriness, the airstone actually does a fairly good job at diffusing the co2









One more question actually, any thoughts on the scaping? It's my first time doing any serious planning into plant layout. I'm thinking about maybe adding some more stems of some sort, if I get money, but that might have to wait.


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## Kehy

Got some new plants today! Something I think is parrot's feather, but I can't really tell, Ludwigia peruensis (red plant), and what I assume is dwarf hairgrass. And since I don't really feel like talking much...pics time! 








sorry for the blurry!








hoping this stuff makes it
















And this is what I did with the extras. They're all sitting in pots that are sitting in water


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## Kehy

Decided to go with Blue Pearl shrimp as the main fauna of the tank...for now. I was going to go with blue rilis, but I don't really feel like paying $70 for 10 shrimp, and the blue pearls almost look like them anyways.

Question is, how many shrimp? 

As of right now, there's no filter on the tank, but that can be changed fairly quickly, although I haven't found any that look like they would suit the tank, aside from the one I had on there. Unfortunately for the future shrimp, my betta wanted his filter back. Hopefully it was in there long enough to jump start the cycle. 
Still, going to be doing weekly WC and making sure the plants are growing well to help keep the water clean.


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## Kehy

Started dosing liquid ferts this week, first time using them. I was a little worried about figuring out the dosage, since it's such a small lil bowl, but a some basic math ended up being rather useful. lol, who would'a thunk it, math, useful?

So far the mix of excel and flourish seems to be going over well with the plants. The hygro, crypts, even the anubias is bubbling! What's better, I'm finally seeing some bubbles from the Ludwigia I planted earlier. It doesn't seem as red as it did before, but since it doesn't appear to be dying, I'm calling it good. I also got a mystery plant that I can't figure out. Some sort of frilly stem plant who's survival is questionable. It's alive in 2/3 tanks I put it in, but it's actually got bubbles in the vase. 

I know it's not the best pic, but can someone ID this?









I don't know how much work I'll be able to get done on the tank next week, it's finals, and then spring break. Hope everything can make it through about 10 days without light...I hope. It's that or leaving the light on for 10 days straight. Also, I know there's ammonia producing stuff in the vase now, but I'm not getting a solid ammonia reading, 0 nitrites, and 0 for nitrates. Sound like a silent cycle?


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## Kehy

It's been a week, and wow, whatever that mystery plant is, it's growing fast! It's grown 1.5" already. Why was I worried about it again? It's even growing well in a lower light, lower ferts tank. I think I have a new favorite plant. Not to mention it looks cool.

I added some extra gravel to the bowl, so I could actually keep the lilly from floating for once. Once it gets rooted into the dirt, there's not chance it would float away, but until then, it's been hovering about 3" from the bottom. I also noticed the lilly pads are never really breaking the surface of the water...always right under it. I'm guessing that has something to do with the light being so close to the water.

The ferts have been going over really well, everyone that I've noticed growing at all, is growing like crazy. The anubias and crypts are, well, growing like anubias and crypts. I'm watching the anubias like a hawk though, just in case it starts getting burned from the light...I did that to it before, went from 10 leaves to 4. Now there's 5 leaves. I just don't have good luck with that stuff, lol. 

My new favorite plant:








Almost entirely buried the lilly bulb. I'm hoping those pond people knew what they were talking about when they said I could go this deep with it. 








The ludwigia seems happy


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## Kehy

The vase seemed to do ok over break, even though the ludwigia and the mystery plant (myiro?) took a hit. The crypts grew a TON...for crypts. They've got weird algae-ish stuff on them. It acts somewhat like BBA, but seems less destructive. The ludwigia is in poor shape, but definitely better than the stuff in the former betta tank. Good ferts and high lights should have it back in shape in no time. The myiro survived as well, again, much better than the betta tank where the stems just melted. Only the lower leaves are dropping in the vase. It's also turning red and pearling like crazy. Red...I wanted a _green_ plant though!

Did a major trim on the lilly, since I spent the break reading up on water gardens, and especially lillies. The vase looks a little weird without the pads bringing attention to the top of the vase, but at the rate the myiro is growing, I don't need to worry too much about that. 

Also, I got 10 blue pearls ordered today, they should be shipped next week, the shipper has finals this week, and I understand his pain. 
















What is this stuff, and how do I get rid of it?


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## Kehy

Got new plants and cleaned/trimmed a bit more. pic spam time








tiger val?
















trimmed the ludwigia








these silly guys bent over while I was planting the val








The crypts are really starting to kick into high gear...no idea why








And finally, the val and cuuute little val runner. bad placement, I know, I'm hoping when the baby grows in, it'll look less weird

















Lol and now to hijack my own thread...my other tanks, including the brand-new "most boring bowl in the world"


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## Kehy

(Warning: Pic spam)

SO I've had a bit of a change of plants. I decided not to put the shrimp in the vase, I've come to see how it doesn't have nearly enough of a foot print or climbing room. Instead I'll be putting them in the 1.5, which I just added a nice piece of driftwood to.

Oh, and I got some friends (the voices in my head made me do it, I'm sorry!) Sorry if they look strange, the shape of the vase _really_ distorts sizes. They're just 4 small male feeder guppies. I feel bad about putting them in a tank with so little swimming room, but they seem happy...and this has got to be a better fate than getting eaten. 

With an diy inch ruler

























































4-1-2012 tank update - YouTube


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## hanky

All very nice pics I was wondering in post #15 "your new favorite plant" is pretty cool looking, do you know what it is? I'd like to get some myself.


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## Kehy

hanky said:


> All very nice pics I was wondering in post #15 "your new favorite plant" is pretty cool looking, do you know what it is? I'd like to get some myself.


I believe it's a Myriophyllum...also known as water milfoil. Same family as parrot's feather. Once I can get more going, I'd be happy to share. 
Seems to need at least medium light, and turning very red under the high light I've got. Grr, I wanted _green_ plants, not more red!


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## jbrown5217

are those endlers? I love them in the vase!


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## Kehy

lol I don't know...When I got some the first time (long story, didn't end well) I was almost certain there was endler blood in them, but I don't really know. These are just the regular feeder gups at my LPS. Right now they aren't even showing half of their potential...can't wait for them to color up more


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## jbrown5217

Wow, those are some nice feeder guppies.


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## Kehy

lol nice and 5 for $1...but they are in fairly rough shape. I had one not even make it through acclimation, and the ones I've got seem to have some ammonia damage. soooo pretty though


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## Kehy

well sorry about the late update, been busy. Warning: pic spam

Did a minor rescaping, added a strand of anacharis...I hate that stuff, but I needed height, it was there, and it should help keep ammonia and such under control. I haven't been having issues really though, since I do daily water changes to remove uneaten food and such. 

before:








after:








I considered removing the anubias and replacing it's spot by covering a rock in xmas moss, but since this is the fastest I've ever seen it growing, I'll let it stay. I feel bad though, all the leaves are getting roasted by the light. 








new growth is really encouraging though. Maybe lower light, but keep the higher ferts?








The crypts are starting to grow like a proper jungle. I think their roots are finally finding the dirt under all that gravel. 








remember this was the tiny baby crypt?








the only problem with all this though is the algae...still everything seems fine despite that. 








This is the former baby val runner, it's gotten huge, and starting to get another runner off of it








the dwarf water lettuce loves it here








And to top off the bowl, here's the four amigos doing their thing:


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## Kehy

Update #2- the blue pearl shrimp!
Warning: pic spam again

gotta love hijacking your own thread, but I may end up putting some of the less-blue shrimp in the vase and see how they fare. I'd like some permanent occupiers of the bottom/ middle of the vase, since the gups stay mostly either right at the top or on the bottom, foraging for food. I'd feel terrible putting more fish in here though.

well...these are still juvis, I'll give them some time to turn blue








(sorry for the blurriness) think they like the rock?








Not quite where you expect to see a shrimp...








This one's gonna look great all grown up! i hope...









my entire setup, including all the emersed farm stuff, and without the vase:


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## hanky

coming along nicely.... I see your almost at 1000 posts congrats, do the moderators send you some kind of gift? hahaha,


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## Kehy

Well....really bad news guys.

Lost one of the four amigos, the one without much color...he swam right into the airline tubing I was using to clean, and didn't make it.

Then this morning, I woke up to find 5/12 shrimp dead, a couple not looking so hot, and 1 missing entirely...Everything was normal, I have no idea what caused this die off...


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## Kehy

Well, update time. Since I got a large tub to grow things emersed that might become a small pond, I might take the vase down in a few weeks/months. It was only meant to be a place for my tall plants to grow, but I've gotten really attached to it. I'm hoping I can afford a real tank soon, and move whatever plants aren't going into the pond into that. I might set it up as a low tech/low light vase for my mother dearest. Or use it as a pot for some regular houseplants. Either way, it'll be a bit until its fate is decided. 

Switched out the light over it to my floor lamp so I can have an emersed setup on the ground beside it. Neither is getting enough light though, so I might end up seeing the lilly pads again. May start introducing the 3 amigos to live food (bugs) so they can get used to it before I dump them in the hypothetical pond outside. Also, I've got more plants ordered that will be being shipped out on saturday, so expect a bit of a rescaping.

Tiger val is growing wild (lol) but I really like it, so it can grow as much as its little hearts desire. The myrio is finally getting close to the surface, so it'll need a trim. The bottom part of it isn't looking too hot though. The crypts seem really happy, growing like crazy still. The dwarf lilly is a nice little bush now...grr, it in the vase where I wanted it to have lilly pads too!

Pics - sorry for the odd sizes and how blurry they are...Trying to get decent pics of the gups, and it's really hard. 
FTS from a different angle than normal:









My apologies for the pics...I really wanted to show off the pretty colors though


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## w0rstn4m33v3r

very cool tank, I have 2 pots of lucky bamboo at home, one I bought at a local shop that had 8 stalks braided together and another group of 3 stalks that I got from an event at my school that I've babies since they were under 2 inches long. I've wanted to start a fish tank for awhile just to give them a stable place to live and always thought they would look really cool in a fish tank.


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## Kehy

Just make sure that A) the stalks don't get submerged- the leaves and most of the stalk needs to be above water, and B) the bamboo (dracaena really) don't get damaged, they release a chemical that is harmful to fish. That being said, I've seen people make sump tank filters that include bamboo, and if you build a platform in there somehow that would keep the stalks elevated, it could work.


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## lonedove55

Wow Kay! Your "vase tank" is really looking great. The feeder guppies are awesome...makes me want to try this set up. I've been following this thread and am amazed at the progress your plants have made. Are you still dosing with CO2 or not?


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## Kehy

I've actually stopped with the co2, I was really working the ferts (Flourish + Excel), but I've kinda gotten lazy and haven't kept up with those as much either. Instead of co2, I use excel, and it seems to work fairly well. If I kept up the ferts, and put the original light back over it, I would be getting better growth, but I'm happy with it so far...the best growing out of all the tanks I've ever done!


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## Kehy

Alright, update time, FINALLY! Been busy being a college student 

Seeing some decent plant growth in the vase, but I split up the lilly plants since they were shading each other out, and really not growing as well as they could be. They aren't even the main focus of the tank anymore, which kinda sucks. Instead, the tiger vals and the crypts are really popping now, and the crypts are going insane, looks like a proper jungle now. I suppose they're MUCH happier without so much light- I moved the desk lamp to the 1.5 gallon shrimp tank so I could use the floor lamp to light both the vase and an emersed tub I've got going...not nearly enough light for the tub though. Starting getting collectoritis with crypts too...great. 

The three amigos are doing well, and they're acting like desperate frat boys who haven't seen a girl in months...sorry guys, you're outta luck! I don't want babies! Speaking of babies, my one female shrimp is nice a berried, has been for a week or two, can't wait to see babies! I did lose one shrimp though, to unknown causes, and I'm now officially calling these shrimp zombie whites. They seem healthy, just opaque white flesh. Nice red stripes on them, even if there isn't any blue really. I think I'm going to try breeding for the stripes. Should be easy, I only have 1 female and 5 males :icon_conf Also, anyone got an amano shrimp and assasin snails? My pond snail problem in the 1.5 is out of control, and the vase is about to experience a bad outbreak too. 

I redid the most boring bowl in the world, with some extra plants. I stuck one of the lilly plants in there since it should be getting more light/ferts in there and should start growing more. I have a couple other lilly plants, a different species, can't remember if it's zenkeri, looks more like a lilly than a lotus. Going to be trying a glosso carpet in there too, now quite sure how well that will work, can't decide between using co2 or excel in there...going to move some of the culls from the shrimp tank in there or in the vase. Unfortunately we all know how well shrimp and excel mix. :angryfire. It's only a 1 gallon bowl, so maybe co2 would be overkill? I want an actual carpet of something, and it was between glosso and HC.

And now, pics:








crypt jungle
















berried shrimp moma (sorry, forgot FTS of the 1.5 and the bowl!)
















bowl rescape
















My emersed setups...
















Someone need some HC?









And finally, since I thought ya'll deserved it for waiting so long, a video of the tanks:
4-29 fish tank update - YouTube


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## Kehy

Alright, it's been 2 weeks since my last update. Not a whole lot to report in the 2.5, aside from some aggression from the 3 amigos...They're acting like desperate frat boys who haven't seen a girl in months...which I guess they are, sorry guys! Now stop picking on Anchor! The tiger vals are really starting to stand out, they look great. Now if I only had 3 less of them in the vase, that'd be perfect. I might try growing them in the pond when I get it set up, I think they'd really like the extra light and growing room.

Big news in the 1.5, babies! I don't know how many, but mama was loaded with eggs! I'm hoping they didn't get caught in the filter though, didn't realize there was a part with no sponge before the pump part. The babies really like the filter though, and there's usually at least one or two on it at a time. Sooo freaking cute! I also got what was sold to me as an amano shrimp to help with the crazy hair algae I've got in the moss, but so far no signs of it doing anything with that. In fact, no sign of the amano at the moment, thanks to all that dumb dwarf water lettuce. I can barely see anything due to the roots, but I have a feeling my nitrates are a big fat zero. It seems that the other shrimp relaxed and were out and about more after I got the amano. I would be too, if there was a huge version of me, lol.

In the boring bowl...growth! Glosso's growing well vertically (grr), and so is the N. micrantha. The sword is happily just doing its thing, I'm not about to stop it from growing out of the bowl. I think the bowl needs more light though, but for now, that isn't possible. 

















dumb dwarf water lettuce...








babies and moma! Ignore the algae, it counts as baby food. 








The...amano? Seems a little brown...


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## Kehy

Haven't kept up the updates, sorry!

*5-20*
Not too much to report really, except that one of my lillies is floating in the vase the tiger vals are getting much bigger, the three amigos continue to pick on one of their own, and I'm considering separating them to either protect the victim or isolate the aggressor.

Almost all of my shrimp except for 1-2 blue pearls have disappeared, including the babies and amano...noooo....I have no idea what happened to them, I haven't even seen bodies. Not even sucked into the filter.

The boring bowl seems to be puttering along. Too bad I'm one payment away from selling the sword...what I'll put in there instead...I don't know. Maybe a crypt. The glosso seems to be doing well, just growing vertically. I'll trim it when I get the chance.

Right now though, I feel really exhausted, and I'm busy with school work. I end up spending a long time staring into the tanks, and it does make me feel a bit better. So sorry if I'm not posting much I'm just...out of it..

*5-24*
Minor update: moved the guppy that was being chased to the 1.5 so he can recover. Unfortunately he seems to have liked it much better, and isn't showing his pretty black colors. Still, the vase seems to have calmed down since he's been moved. I'll be doing a minor trim over the weekend since I'm selling some plants, including one of the lillies. 

Started working on a written guide for beginners to plants. Would be doing better if I wasn't falling asleep, lol

*6-11*
Alright, it's been too long since I've updated.

Not a whole lot has changed, although I did have to remove the lillies from the vase since the pond snails were eating them like crazy. Ended up with one decent sized plantlet, and then 2 babies still attached to the bulb. I stuck them, and the rest of the lillies in the 1 gallon bowl. The snails have been going nuts and killing everything. I figured out how to take care of the snails in the vase though; hook up some co2, and all the pond snails rise to the surface, where I just wiped them off. I think I removed over 50 snails, most of which were hatchlings and tiny babies. The MTS in that vase seem to be doing ok though, I think. Hard to tell with them.

I replaced the lilly in the vase with a baby sword, an E. Parviflourus, which should stay small enough to work in the vase. 

Bad news on the guppy front though, one of the 2 gups in the vase disappeared. I literally saw it one minute, turned around to clean the 1.5, then looked back and it was gone. I couldn't find it anywhere, but the remaining boy in the vase seems fine.

In the 1.5, did a pretty big rescape, much happier with it now, although I don't know how well it will grow because I moved the light from the 1.5 to my emersed tub and forgot to buy another one for the 1.5, so now it's running off of sunlight. No idea how it's doing, since I'm on my one week summer break. Entirely certain every shrimp in there is dead and gone, working limiting the snail population now. The emersed moss on the driftwood is growing very nicely, but everything below that got bad hair algae, so I cut that part out, and I re-tied the moss. Immediate improvement there. 

pics to come


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## Kehy

Left side








right side








crypt forest








the anubias is puttering along nicely








New baby sword








1.5 before rescaping








after


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## z1200

Where do you find a 2.5 gal vase? If you don't mind me asking.


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## Kehy

I found mine in the arts and crafts section at my local grocery store- just look for the largest base you can find. I measured mine after I got it, about 8" across and 10" tall. Try to get one. At least that big or bigger would work well


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## Henke_89

Soooo cool!!!


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## Kehy

Thanks, it's been a bit since I updated, and I've been on summer vacation for 6 weeks. Once I get back to school next week, I'll be doing a restart of this tank. It needs a through cleaning and a rescaping. And mass snail removal, they're eating the sword. I'll also be needing to redo and clean the boring bowl, and my 5 gallon.

From the short and few visits I've made, all the bowls/tanks seem to survive fairly well, I stopped a lot of evaporation by putting syran wrap over things. Plant growth did pretty much came to a halt, but most things seem to have survived.


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