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Setting up my new ADA tank for Ebiten PRL

23K views 163 replies 28 participants last post by  sbarbee54 
#1 · (Edited)
As I posted earlier, my akadama substrate is no longer buffering all that great so it's time to set up a new tank while taking my old one down. I will also be taking a different direction with the shrimp. Going forward I will only keep Ebiten PRL which are currently housed in a breeder net to keep them separated from the normal CRS/CBS population. I have a ton of juveniles so starting a new PRL colony will not be all that difficult. I was initially going to get a cheap 20 gallon tank again from Petco but decided on a new ADA 60-P with 4 bags of ADA Africana and 2 bags of Amazonia as a cap (I like the black color better). I would highly recommend that if you have just one or two display tanks that you go with an ADA tank. Sure, they are more expensive but the difference is night and day when it comes to clarity.

I purchased all my soil and tank @ the ADA store in Ridgewood New Jersey. Here is their link: http://www.ridgewoodaquariumimports.com/
If you are close to this location go pick up a tank since they are not all that expensive if you do not include shipping. I picked up the 60-P (17 gallons) for 150 bucks plus 6 bags of ADA substrate @ 20 bucks a pop. Not all that bad.

I'll eventually be updating this thread with charts/graphs as my water cycles. I plan on having a snail / scud free tank so I'll be dipping all my moss and plants in hydrogen peroxide. Same will be done to some old hang on back filters which I will be using to cycle.

I will try to make this thread very easy to read and will post a ton of pics. Hopefully it can benefit some new hobbyists looking to set up a shrimp tank. For this very purpose I'll be posting prices etc so you can get a gauge how much you are going to have to spend...it's definitely not a cheap hobby if you want it done right.

This tank will be taken down and all shrimp sold off at some point:


New stuff:








 
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#75 ·
HedgeFund, we think alike with testing things. I am going through something similar with a few shrimp I put in a 20L tank I am cycling with UP aquasoil. Long story I picked up what was supposed to be 16 low grade CRS from a guy locally. He gave me his entire stock and it was 41. I put 5 of them in the 20L with the new soil that is leaching ammonia as I had more than I wanted for the established 5 gallon. It has been close to 2 weeks and 1 shrimp that was berried when I put her in is still berried, and one additional female has berried since being put in. The PH is at 6.0 or lower (IDK) typical kit that does not go lower than 6.0, will have to get a low range kit. Ammonia does not get crazy high like some soils but was at 1ppm when I put them in and is at 2ppm at last check a couple days ago. Agree that the PH is keeping them safe. Sponge filter is seeded also. It is weird to see so much ammonia in the test and happy looking shrimp in the tank.
 
#77 ·
So I would like to move this awesome fissidens into the new tank but I'm still trying to research as to what type of chemical dip I can do in order to kill all the limpet snails. This patch is about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide. I never really paid much attention to it until I flipped it over today and noticed how nice it is.

I am leaning towards moving this entire branch into the new tank and just taking the current pieces of wood out.





 
#79 ·
I ordered some things from Aqua Forest Aquarium in California but received the wrong item. The mat they sent me is for the wrong tank so now I need to wait until they read my email. Things happen so I am sure they will fix this ASAP. Luckily, I am not moving the tank yet so I have some time. I'm not mad or anything, just trying to keep everything in this journal so when others read it they can see that unforeseen things happen and you need to plan accordingly.

Here is the receipt that I received from them...as you can see it says 60x30. But I received a mat for a 45x30 tank.



 
#90 ·
I ordered some things from Aqua Forest Aquarium in California but received the wrong item. The mat they sent me is for the wrong tank so now I need to wait until they read my email. Things happen so I am sure they will fix this ASAP. Luckily, I am not moving the tank yet so I have some time. I'm not mad or anything, just trying to keep everything in this journal so when others read it they can see that unforeseen things happen and you need to plan accordingly.

Here is the receipt that I received from them...as you can see it says 60x30. But I received a mat for a 45x30 tank.

Good news. AquaForestAquarium emailed me a return label and they have also mailed the correct mat which should be arriving soon. These guys are awesome and work very fast, especially when it comes to correcting a mistake.

nice fissidens patch, those are mini or just regular?
It's just regular fissidens fontanus but it's really nice looking. ;-)
 
#83 ·
More updates:

I decided to move the fissidens into the new tank but I also decided to keep the branch instead of trying to take it off. It grew in so nicely that it would be a shame taking it down. Instead, I took out the other driftwood and plopped this bad boy in after doing various hydrogen peroxide dips. The tank looks much larger and I like the open space everywhere. Eventually I am going to get some glass lily pipes so the green tubes from my Eheim will have to go. The tank is definitely getting ready to be populated with some Ebitens. For now, however, it still needs some time to finish cycling and clean itself up a bit (there is black dust all over the place after doing the rescape today).







 
#85 ·
+1 here. The first piece of wood had a perfect amount of tank usage.

Don't forget the more vertical space you give shrimp, the more you can have/keep them occupied


MABJ's iDevice used for this message :p
 
#86 ·
Have you tested PH yet? As my 10 gallon with about 3" of amazonia new buffered my water to low. I had to take some out. I am down to a 1.5" of substrate and it is at 5.5 and that is doing water changes with tap at 7.4... I am still cycling to be safe. It is week 5. This is just going to how a breeding pot of hybrids. My PRL project is going to really start after the first of the year. I am getting the same tank you and will be doing something similar. Then I can take all the PRL I have now and throw them in a nicer tank and display it in the house instead of in my shrimp cave/Office
 
#88 ·
Nope, not yet. Was supposed to arrive yesterday but it never did.

I am definitely supporting your idea. I can't believe that I was always playing around with these Petco tanks that look like crap. Getting a nice ADA tank literally is like night and day. When you walk into the room it just pops with color. It's kind of like watching TV on an old tube TV and then switching to the newest HD LED one....it's amazing. Too bad I only recently got one and didn't do it sooner.
 
#89 ·
nice fissidens patch, those are mini or just regular?

I totally agree with the tube TV to HD LED TV comparison to a petstore tank compared to ADA. The difference is stunning and unreal.

I also love how the LIG glass seams/edges glow soft blue with bright lighting.:hihi:
Giving it that "framed" like appearance you see in Aquajournal.
 
#95 ·
So far so good....it actually looks perfectly green and healthy. I have been leaving the CFL lighbulb on it overnight and then a few hours after work. My LED lights should be coming tomorrow so I'll take some pics once installed.

I did a 10 ml hydrogen peroxide to 1 gallon of water dip....the fissidens was not affected. All the scuds and snails dropped off after 10 minutes. I didn't realize how many scuds were actually hiding in there since I washed it out pretty precisely.
 
#96 ·
UPDATE:

Some goodies arrived today.....RAY 2 LED Light, low PH kit and purigen bag which will be installed next time I clean the filter (should be a few months). The PH is hovering around 5.2-5.4 (a bit low but I'll run with it).



Here are some random pics I shot with my iphone once the RAY 2 has been installed:







 
#99 ·
I'm not really sure since I only had one CFL bulb directed at the moss. Not much light was given off.

If I had to make a recommendation I would say go with the RAY2....hands down the best light I've seen in person. It actually compares to the AquaSky except that it's about 1/5th the price. :icon_eek:
 
#100 ·
absolutely going RayII! My 20g high aquarium currently runs (3) 26w cfls at the moment... it was a temp solution that is going on 8 months now. Other things like CO2 equipment, new tanks, new filters and other things keep derailing me on getting these lights sorted out. This hobby is the real money pit... not the house ;)
 
#103 · (Edited)
I only plan on having the light on maybe 4 hours max a day so this shouldn't be an issue. I pretty much only have have my tank lights on when I'm home after work. ;)

It actually grew the same way in my other tank with the T5 lights. I basically moved the entire branch without touching the fissidens aside from a hydrogen peroxide dip.

On a side note, I might actually trim that branch so all the floaters are getting stuck on the fissidens and that's starting to annoy me.
 
#104 ·
Purchased yet another item out of sheer boredom. I couldn't justify paying 100+ dollars for ADA lily pipes so I went with knockoffs from Asia. Should be here in 2 weeks but I am unsure of the quality so I'll eventually review it on here. The green tubes from my Eheim were starting to bother me so these knockoffs will be a huge improvement.

 
#111 ·
When I got home last night at around 2 am I decided to drop in the Ebiken Nagomi balls. I boiled some water and then poured it over them for 2 minutes as per the directions. My TDS last night was 155 and today it's 163.



soaking with boiling water:



in the tank (not the prettiest things but I'm more into shrimp anyway).

 
#112 ·
So I finally plopped all my Ebitens from my old tank's breeder net into my new set up. I had a guy come this morning and buy 9 from me so I was only left with 13 offspring which are about half an inch long. The 9 that he purchased were the two parents and 7 of their offspring. I will be getting more Ebitens from Max on here in the next few weeks....aiming for some diversity.

Just a random shot of me catching some of the shrimp to transfer them over.



I was so glad to finally pull out the breeder net after sitting in my tank for at least half a year. It's ugly, dirty and it's filled with scuds as you can spot in one of the pics. The one drawback of me taking this off is that I am taking the biggest feeding ground out of my tank. This entire net was constantly filled with shrimp on both sides as they ate all the bacteria and algae growing on it.





And now, for something that has never been done on this forum. FIRE! ;)
Was pretty happy to throw it in my little fireplace in my living room. Not going to lie but I enjoyed watching it burn as I sat there with a nice cup of coffee watching.

 
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