[drewsuf82]

Greetings everyone time for another journal.

I got RAOK a tank and I decided that I will track it's progress here with you guys.

Known About tank:

• 16 Bowed
• Gravel/Sand substrate
• There's Cherry Shrimp in there somewhere, I've seen at least 4 or 5 different ones tonight in setting it up
• T8 Bulbs (There's two of them there atm)
• Sponge filter
• 20G HOB filter
• Fair amount of MTS in the tank

So here's the pictures, I just moved and reset it up today across state. I'm planning a rescape and a cleaning tomorrow after I get home from work -- just trying to let the dust settle a bit -- the inhabitants are stressed enough from the move, I wanna let them calm their nerves a bit.

I took a few pictures as I was filling it up, don't have any of it full now but I hope that everyone gets the idea

Here's the full frontal as I was filling it

Here's a view of the right side

The left side

Closer view of the crypts up front

The crypts in the back corner

The Java moss (it seemed to roll a bit in transit

I plan on trimming this tank and rescaping a fair amount tomorrow after work, this tank is in the living room in a corner near the TV so I will be putting some work into it over the coming weeks to try to get everything balanced and happy I'm def open to suggestions for scaping.

Thanks for stopping by and I should be updating this regularly at least over the coming weeks.

 

[drewsuf82]

Wow I just realized that the java moss looks in bad shape here, not sure why, I've been working on the tank tonight and will be adding a ton of pictures tomorrow, but every strand I pulled out was GREEN!

As a side note though I've found at least a dozen or so cherry shrimp so far in the tank planning on adding some ottos here as soon as everything gets stabilized.

Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites are right where they should be though, and the shrimp seem active and healthy, I threw in a veggie wafer tonight to try to draw them away from where I was working and they happily attacked it

Found a lot of mulm at the bottom of the tank and have been working on getting that out of the tank and will be adding some O+ tabs when I get everything settled. It's coming together nicely so far tonight.

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As for the plan, I'm soaking some man. wood right now and I found a bunch of round river style rocks at the bottom of all that moss! Thinking of a tree style setup for this tank.

Please add any suggestions

 

[drewsuf82]

So I got to work tonight on the tank.

This is how the tank looked tonight when I got to work on it.

As I was pulling plants and cleaning

Still working on cleaning as I get the wood placed

This guy decided to come out and say hello! I've counted approx. 20 of them in here, there's prob more but they are excellent at hiding. When I fed them last night I counted a good dozen of various ages.

And the final shot tonight. I'm thinking of adding a java moss covered cholla or two to the tank for the shrimp, what do you guys think? I'm hoping the moss will bush out a bit and kinda resemble the trees down here in places which have busy and bare sections

 

[drewsuf82]

whoa nellie

Whats that ? LOL

 

[drewsuf82]

whoa Nellie lol was in response to the first photos where the moss was on a rampage. Looks much better in the last pic

Thanks, yea I pulled a ton out I may add a bit more back but I think that it looks a lot better and I want to make sure that the crypts get light. I'm interested to see how this tank fills in over the next month or so

 

[drewsuf82]

Just a small update (no photos with this one)

Tank has been going great since the re-scape and clean out. I've been feeding the shrimp a bit more than I normally would to try to help them recover a bit from the move and all the stress I put them under in those three or so days.

So far I've counted 23 different Cherry shrimp in the tank, and a bunch of MTS (the bigger ones have been going to feed my assassins, while the smaller ones grow up a bit)

I haven't dosed any ferts yet outside of the O+ caps for the crypts and I haven't noticed any of the algae coming back that was on the glass. I'm keeping a close eye.

Surprisingly I haven't seen a mini cycle start with this tank like I've had happen in the past after I've moved tanks. I'm still keeping a very close eye on it.

Lights are running about 4 hours a day for now. Want to keep algae at a min. I've gotta get light specs together and ask if it'll be good for my needs in the tank.

Anyway thanks for dropping by, any suggestions or comments are always welcome!

 

[drewsuf82]

So it's been about two weeks or so....time for an update -- just a few pictures Should be working on other journals here soon as well but I guess one journal at a time when I've got some spare time to work on learning this new camera LOL

Anyway the java moss has been brightening up and as you can see I've got several new growth tips coming in -- Trying to figure out how I can scape this so it looks 'bushy'

Here's a look at the crypts they seem to be growing slowly but steadily. Gave them O+ about 10 days ago

Kind of a top down look from the middle of the tank.

Feeding Time -- Can't wait to get a macro lens

The FTS sorry if it's crooked a bit LOL

Thanks for dropping by! As always if you have any comments or suggestions they are always welcome

 

[drewsuf82]

Woah, a Tank roak? Nice. I got a tank roak about a year ago, a 46 with light, eheim .. ya know, an old petsmart special. Looks like it cleaned up nice! Mine had a ton of green algae and needed to be resiliconed but yours seems to have fared better but free is free right?

I wish I got free shrimpies with mine but mine was barren! I'll have shrimps in it as soon as they start breeding in my smaller tank.

My only complaint with java moss is that short stands will find their way into EVERYTHING. I'm having that issue with my xmas moss. Once it breaks off it'll float around and find a new home and attach to some plant or another. I think it's worth it though cause it's easy to pick out and shrimps go crazy over it!

Thanks! Yea I was pretty excited about getting it and it got me out of the Tampa area to go pick it up I was pretty excited about the shrimp too, I figured there were only going to be half a dozen in there but there seem to be more every time I feed them and they seem pretty happy since the rescape. I've been eyeing them pretty hard looking for one with berries

All of the mosses I've had seem to do that, however most of the time they find the filter intake and then they go into a mixed moss bin and I let them grow under low light there and then share it with peeps when I get enough. The shrimp all love the mosses though from my experience, they'll hide out and play in the moss all day which is great because they help keep it happy and clean

What kind of shrimp do you have that you're working on breeding ?

 

[drewsuf82]

I'm breeding cherry shrimp. Pictures are in my mini m signature link

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Nice I'll have to check it out when I get home tonight

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[drewsuf82]

Hey everyone!

Stopping by with a few pictures for update -- note tank maint is tomorrow so I figured I'd feed them tonight and low and behold I had berries! That led me to taking out the camera and now we've got a few pics for update here -- Enjoy

First big update! I've got Berried Cherries I'm pretty excited that they are berried so quickly after a move like the one that they went through! I've counted 3 females with berries, so I'm hoping for the best

Next up! Feeding time!

The java moss tree project is growing in, will prob trim a bit tomorrow and tighten it up to see if I can get it to come in a bit more densely, or maybe just trim off the new growth not sure yet

The crypts are coming along nicely Starting to make a nice little forest

Leaves are coming in nice and dense!

The MTS have been happily enjoying life in the tank. They will come and try to mooch off the food that I feed the shrimp, I've been sort of thinking about once a week starting to feed them one of the calcium sticks since my assassins are so voracious LOL but these two went clear across the tank with each other so I figured I'd share a shot of them with you since I've been enjoying watching them this evening

And last but not least, the Full Tank Shot! It's come a long way in the last 4 or so weeks, I sit on the couch to watch TV and end up trying to count shrimp playing in the java moss.

Current info:
Lights: 3-4 hours a day
Ferts: extremely light, 3x O+ caps under the crypts approx. 3 weeks ago
NO CO2 additives

As always comments and suggestions are always welcome! Thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoy this tank as much as I do!