A Jewel of a Tank

[diwu13]

Ugh, any ETA on when power will be restored?

[davrx]

Possibly by the 6th.? What a mess, never gone this long before without power.

[diwu13]

Oh man.. yea that's really long. I would imagine everything in my tanks would have died with so long without power :\

[davrx]

We have power back, thankfully since the temps have been hovering around 100 the last couple of days.
I used a generator to keep the tanks and a refrigerator going during the outage.
It doesn't look like I lost any of my tank's inhabitants although they'd probably all have been dead if I hadn't had the generator.

[Carneasada11]

Very cool tank and set up. Interesting how this style of tank is very ornate and the edges defined with intricate molding. This differs from the more modern Iwagumi style tanks, where so much effort is invested in concealing the tank itself, focusing on a piece of "natural art."

[diwu13]

How long does it take to charge your generator back up fully? Glad you had no casualties during the whole thing.

[davrx]

I haven't counted all the shrimp but I haven't seen any casualties since I bought this second batch of shrimp. They seem to be doing fine despite my vuppa II malfunction. I noticed it wasn't running when I got off work last night. I'm going to check the pump after I get off work tonight to see if I can get it going again. If I don't run a surface skimmer I get a biofilm on the surface of the tank. This one's nice because of its small size and it goes with my other stainless steel intake/outputs. My tylos have had some babies but I also have a large number of pond snail babies that apparently hitched a ride with some hornwort I had in the tank some time ago. I may have to isolate the tylos and introduce some assassin snails.
I think either the first group of shrimp I got weren't as robust as this second group or the fact I had the seller use a cold pack due to the 100 degree heat may have caused them to get too cold and that's why they didn't make it.
The cardinals won't touch any shrimp food or flake food I've introduced into the tank but the tylos sure love them. Even when I place it on top of a rock where it's very difficult for the snails to get to they ignore it. I've had it sit on the rock for a day before the snails finally find it and devour it.
The shrimp must be living on protozoans and algae that grow on the tank's surfaces, otherwise, I'd think they would have starved by now.

[deeda]

Absolutely awesome thread on the old tanks! I really appreciate you posting all the wonderful pictures and the Jewel catalog too.

Great job on the 8G Jewel, absolutely perfect. I love the aquascaping in the tank, you nailed it perfectly.

Have I said awesome too many times yet?

I don't know how I even missed this thread. Thanks to Radioman for posting the link.

[radioman]

Originally Posted by deeda

Thanks to Radioman for posting the link.

I post this link whenever I have the opportunity.

[davrx]

Originally Posted by deeda

Absolutely awesome thread on the old tanks! I really appreciate you posting all the wonderful pictures and the Jewel catalog too.

Great job on the 8G Jewel, absolutely perfect. I love the aquascaping in the tank, you nailed it perfectly.

Have I said awesome too many times yet?

I don't know how I even missed this thread. Thanks to Radioman for posting the link.

Thank you so much. I need to add some plants and post some updates.

[davrx]

Originally Posted by radioman

I post this link whenever I have the opportunity.

Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

[davrx]

I added a Vuppa-1 as I was having problems with a surface film forming. Does a nice job and is a nice small size, not to mention it goes with the rest of my SS plumbing but it's not self adjusting with the water level so you have to adjust it on a daily basis. This is a pain but better than the film. Haven't counted the Cardinals but I don't think I've lost any. They seem to be doing fine, just wish they'd have some babies now. Here's a couple of photos I just took. Had difficulty with my camera focusing properly above the tank taken through the water so these were the only ones worth posting:

[diwu13]

Hm.. that's interesting why you're getting so much surface scum. Are you feeding high protein foods?

[davrx]

No, I think it's because I have the ADA P1 output which creates very little water movement. The shrimp have never actually eaten anything I've tried to feed them. I'll set different kinds of shrimp foods on a rock so it takes the snails time to find it and the shrimp have never shown any interest. They apparently are getting everything they need picking microorganisms off the rocks and sand.

[diwu13]

Hm.. interesting. Could you raise the output a bit higher so it creates more surface movement?