Very new still to underwater plant keeping, but have spent countless hours researching there needs and im quite confident :hihi:
I have 2 tanks , both the same size , but my 2nd tank is for shrimp only
My tank
Volume: approx. 110 litres / 25 Imperial gallons.
Aquarium Size: 80 x 35 x 45cm external measurements
Bio flow 600ltr/hr pump and added a bag of ceramic rings in place of the carbon filter.And a small 300ltr/hr circulator
Lighting is DIY 2x 25watts spiral compact 65000kevlin
100 watt heater
CO2 is now pressurised,ceramic defuser. It was DIY up until 2 weeks ago
Brief introduction-
3rd of April 2012 - Tank was cycled with ramshorns and MTS.Then added a few neons and guppies.
Added 2 albino bristlenose and a hand full of red cherry shrimp.
just ordered 50 Sagittaria subulata , might remove java moss grass and hc and spread the grass about ,hopefully making a nice carpet . Taking a risk planting in the foreground hoping it wont look too fake keeping it trimmed short.
Had a few issues with my drop checker not going back to blue at lights off , problem now sorted. may upgrade to a ceramic atomizer.
Stopped upping my CO2 and backed off a touch now as i spotted a shrimp sitting there opening and closing his mouth/pinchers ? well it looked like he was gasping a touch on the bottom.
Nearly now on my 2nd week of my new ei dosing feed. followed the instructions from the supplier to make my mix.
Macro -4tsp KNO3, 1tsp KH2PO4 and 6tsp MgSO4 in 500ml of water
Micro - 1tsp chelated trace in 500ml water.
Both dosed 3 times a week on separate days at 10ml per day. with a 50% water change on sat .
Ill give it a month and see if i need to alter the ratios any.
Thanks The Trigger , its redmoor, the colour looked great at the beginning. The peice of wood i really wanted got sold 30 mins before i got online . Im still happy with this peice.
Everything you see in this tank,plants, shrimp and fish was purchased on Ebay.
Comparing pics ,my plants have not grew a massive amount .
I think im coming close to not having enough CO2 .
Im using a up internal atomizer, which is great.. But because my governor is pre set, My needle valve is fully open.
The pressure needed to run the atomizer is a little less than my governor is set to ,, so im stuck i cannot raise CO2 anymore . my drop checker is still green but not so greeny yellow it used to be .
just having a moan lol ill sort it
Since last update tank has been trimmed many times , growth on all plants is perfect. Floaters are kinda taking over but i trim heavy every week , as my atomizer cannot be turned up any more due to a pre set governor.
Got some new shrimp , about 20 Red Crystals. Im really liking them compared to my cherries . Theres no "grading" in my tanks , im happy with whatever i have .They must breed in my other tank before i put them in this tank
Thanks , its pretty much ticking over on its own , shame i cant get the atomizer any faster , might switch back to a regular diffuser to get the extra bpm for my plants ...But the saying "Dont fix whats not broke " makes me think that the tank is doing fine as it is ,,dont touch ..
Took atomizer off now and replaced with my old ceramic diffuser .
Running at about 2-3 bps now right under a new wave maker 2000l/hr ,added to get the tank water moving a bit better . Took drop checker straight to yellow , but fish and shrimp don't seem to be bothered at all. got a week off work so i can monitor levels closely and adjust as needed .
No pics of the main tank , but here's a few of my shrimp tank ,no CO2 and its occupants.
had theese shrimp a week and they have berried up already
edit - Just purchased another 5 x Crystal Red shrimp ss+ grade Double Hinomaru to get some nice babies
looking for some black crystals also
Had a random crystal death in my shrimp tank 3days ago . May have been old age , but i decided to get a tds meter.
Tap water - 245 ppm
Main tank 1 day before weekly water change - using E.I salts - -540 ppm
Shrimp tank - 387ppm .
Im not gonna mess with main tank cause the weekly 50% w/c will keep the ppm in check.
The shrimp tank has had a 25% w/c and is now reading 301ppm.
Purchased 50l of asda still water @ 17p for 2 litres with 100ppm and are slowly introducing that to the tank . May do another 25% on sunday
Love the wood and all your livestock look great but--have you ever considered leveling the front substrate? I think I get where you were going with the hump, but, to me, it detracts from the look of that great driftwood tree, especially being dead center.
Hey thanks Knotyoureality . Coincidence was i had just removed all the java moss/riccia from the gravel just before i read your post . Ive kinda smoothed the hump out , but the driftwood has a nasty front edge on the base so ive had to hide half of it with gravel.
Tank is starting to look more and more overgrown now , and looks a little untidy .
Was kinda planned tho . I want my plants to grow out nice and fat before i trim real heavy . That should leave me with a decent bit of trim which i plan on re using or replacing new with old .
The big re scape will prob happen nxt month , if i get a few days off wrk ill go for it .
I did have a nice open top tank , until my cat fell in the tank ....twice .No damage done.
Ive had to put the old trim and diy light back on temperary until i train the cat
Just purchased a 3 stage RO filter . Only a cheap one but it makes 230ppm water come out at 12 ppm . With a ratio of my tap water i can easily sort my ph and ppm out now.
I tested the dorset pea gravel yesterday , and it is buffering hard at ph 7.6 which is not good.
i put 2 peat balls in the tank but to no effect , lovely tannins but straight back to 7.6 .
so ive purchased some black sand and made sure it has no buffering capabilities and a water test kit .
Gravel substrate in the crs/rcs tank will be 100% removed on sunday , hoping to get all shrimp back in by the end of sunday . big job it looks like it is gonna be .but its gonna be worth it in the long run for my crystals
Only down side is there is about 10-20 cherries only about a week old in the tank , and possibly new born crystals , my preg crystal went the full 4wks with the eggs but i cannot see any babies that dont look like cherries.Total shrimp population is around 40 - 50 shrimp plus 20 - 30 ramshorns and lots of trumpet snails
fingers crossed that all shrimp make it safely will post pics sun night .
Well the substrate swap went pretty smooth
started this morning with my daughter keen to earn her pocket money .
all the hard work was done for me lol
tannins in my water from the peat
sand substrate. not as black as i was hoping for.
filling up
All shrimp and snails are back in now Total time taken - 5 hrs , RO maker is very slow
So im happy now that i have control of the water perimeters, which I havent notched it down too rapid , over the nxt week the PH will be brought down to 6.5 and TDS 130
current stats
PH 7.0 with tester 6.8 with test strip
TDS - 174
KH 70 mg/l
GH 200 mg/l
nitrate 10 mg/l
nitrite 0 mg/l
I like how you built up that hill in the middle, you don't often see that in an aquascape. Very nice looking tank!
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