Manrock
Member
- Joined
- 15 Dec 2007
- Messages
- 225
This journal has been completed by the children in my class (they are 9-10 years old) so please go easy with any comments please guys. I have added some comments in brackets to their original text just to show them that they needed to be clearer with their instructions. Hopefully we can get time to add more as the project progresses. Thanks again to all of you who have helped by sending us plants. You may not see them in the photos but be assured that either my class or the class next door have found a home for them. Mr Driscoll, class teacher.
Hi,our year group (yr 5) have made and looked after our own Walstad bowls. We would like to share with you how we set them up.
First of all our teacher had brought in a fish tank and over the summer holidays he set the tank up. When we came back to school we were amazed how impressive the tank looked. We wanted to make our own and he agreed to let us make the Walstad bowls. He came on to this forum and asked for donations of plants. We can't thank you enough for all your donations of plants. We were thrilled to get so many. Thank you all!
Firstly we cleaned out the bowls (Mr Driscoll got 11 off of E-Bay for £25) very carefully so they didn't break. Then we laid out all of the plants, rocks and substrates at the front of the class so that we could get to them easily.
Secondly we carefully laid down the fine sub-strait about 3 centimetres from the bottom of the bowls.
Next we gently added some bigger, coarse substrate on top (to 'cap' the finer substrate) and wetted (added an inch or so of planted tank water) the substrate and put our hand out on top of the bowl (so that the substrata would not be disturbed by the water flow too much).
Then we very carefully added some of your lovely plants, and got some rocks from the beach.We tied plants to the rocks (with cotton) and poked (carefully planted) the plants into the substrate and tied (some of them) with lead (around their base).
After that fill it with pure rain water and put your hand at the top of the bowl as you pour the water into your palm. This will stop the water gushing and disturbing the substrate, which would cloud up the water.
To maintane your walstad bowl you will need to do the following: 50% water changes every 2-3 days; add shrimps and snails. After a couple of days they eat the algi. Add led lights shortly after this to help the plants grow (make sure they work).
5sd hope our instructions were useful!
Hi,our year group (yr 5) have made and looked after our own Walstad bowls. We would like to share with you how we set them up.
First of all our teacher had brought in a fish tank and over the summer holidays he set the tank up. When we came back to school we were amazed how impressive the tank looked. We wanted to make our own and he agreed to let us make the Walstad bowls. He came on to this forum and asked for donations of plants. We can't thank you enough for all your donations of plants. We were thrilled to get so many. Thank you all!
Firstly we cleaned out the bowls (Mr Driscoll got 11 off of E-Bay for £25) very carefully so they didn't break. Then we laid out all of the plants, rocks and substrates at the front of the class so that we could get to them easily.
Secondly we carefully laid down the fine sub-strait about 3 centimetres from the bottom of the bowls.
Next we gently added some bigger, coarse substrate on top (to 'cap' the finer substrate) and wetted (added an inch or so of planted tank water) the substrate and put our hand out on top of the bowl (so that the substrata would not be disturbed by the water flow too much).
Then we very carefully added some of your lovely plants, and got some rocks from the beach.We tied plants to the rocks (with cotton) and poked (carefully planted) the plants into the substrate and tied (some of them) with lead (around their base).
After that fill it with pure rain water and put your hand at the top of the bowl as you pour the water into your palm. This will stop the water gushing and disturbing the substrate, which would cloud up the water.
To maintane your walstad bowl you will need to do the following: 50% water changes every 2-3 days; add shrimps and snails. After a couple of days they eat the algi. Add led lights shortly after this to help the plants grow (make sure they work).
5sd hope our instructions were useful!