I Keep Changing My Mind! 1 Gallon Walstad Bowl?

[starlitsunrise]

Hey everyone, 

Basically I am wondering if it would be possible to create a no tech Walstad "tank" in a 1 gallon fish bowl. I want to stock it with two dozen or so pond snails and nothing else. Currently the snails are in a .5 gallon "betta tank" with some java moss and a baby java fern thrown in. I quite enjoy these little guys and was planning on putting them in my five gallon with some shrimp but have since decided to house my african dwarf frogs in there instead. 

I found this website and would be following some of these instructions: http/www.plantedspace.com/howto/set-up-design/item/5-low-maintenance-aquatic-vase-or-bowl

Thanks guys!
 
Edit: 

I just realized this is similar to a question I asked a while ago...So I'm sorry if the two topics were too similar. 

 

[attibones]

I think you could do that. You'll want to make sure that you've got some kind of water movement though. I'm not sure if the bowl will be large enough to permanent house the snails which will reproduce at a fairly decent rate in such an environment but you could do some interesting things with plants in this set up though.

 

[starlitsunrise]

I think you could do that. You'll want to make sure that you've got some kind of water movement though. I'm not sure if the bowl will be large enough to permanent house the snails which will reproduce at a fairly decent rate in such an environment but you could do some interesting things with plants in this set up though.

 
Thanks for your reply Atticus! I think using a small air stone shouldn't be a problem. I hadn't really thought about what I would do if/when the snails over populate the bowl...I suppose I could upgrade to a larger bowl or set up another one xD. I want to stay with a small bowl because I'm technically not supposed to be setting up another tank haha, I'm thinking I can get away with the tiny bowl because it is just a bit bigger than what the snails are currently in. 

 

[attibones]

The smallest I've kept common snails in was a 2.5 gal but I was feeding them to puffers so they weren't there for long. You may be able to get away with a one gallon. Maybe someone else will pop on and advise about that.

 

[starlitsunrise]

The smallest I've kept common snails in was a 2.5 gal but I was feeding them to puffers so they weren't there for long. You may be able to get away with a one gallon. Maybe someone else will pop on and advise about that.

Hopefully the one gallon will work out ( or like you said someone else will give their input). 

You wouldn't happen to know the approximate bio load of these guys do you? How many snails do you think could live in one gallon? Even with the 2 dozen or so of them the .5 gallon still doesn't look over stocked. 

 

[Byron]

I can't see why your initial idea wouldn't work fine.  I personally would not bother with airstones.  I have had a 10g tank with no filter run fine with snails, fish and plants with a sand substrate.  I don't know what the bioload of pond snails might be, but I doubt this would be an issue, since you have no fish to be affected.  As for the snails reproducing, they will but only so long as food is available.  This is the best way to keep them in check.
 
I might be tempted to forget soil and stay with plain sand.  My thinking is that the organics in the soil might feed algae fairly rapidly.  On the other hand, the ammonia resulting from the organics in the soil being broken down would feed the plants nicely.  At least with a small bowl if a mess should result it is easy to tear down and start over.
 
Byron.

 

[starlitsunrise]

I can't see why your initial idea wouldn't work fine.  I personally would not bother with airstones.  I have had a 10g tank with no filter run fine with snails, fish and plants with a sand substrate.  I don't know what the bioload of pond snails might be, but I doubt this would be an issue, since you have no fish to be affected.  As for the snails reproducing, they will but only so long as food is available.  This is the best way to keep them in check.
 
I might be tempted to forget soil and stay with plain sand.  My thinking is that the organics in the soil might feed algae fairly rapidly.  On the other hand, the ammonia resulting from the organics in the soil being broken down would feed the plants nicely.  At least with a small bowl if a mess should result it is easy to tear down and start over.
 
Byron.

 
Thanks for your reply Byron! 

I went to Petsmart on my way home from school today and I ended up picking up a 1 gallon tank. The fish bowl I was planning on getting was really poorly made. 
 
Edit: 
 
See even now I can't make up my mind...I think I might just keep looking for a 1 gallon bowl...I'm probably just going to return the tank,