The Planted Tank Forum banner

freph's 20L

36K views 185 replies 24 participants last post by  freph 
#1 ·
Got some Fire Red Cherry Shrimp, fissidens fontanus and java fern from the great jimko (highly recommended!) and setup a tank today. Not much right now since my aquasoil doesn't come in until Friday, but here goes.

Equipment right now: Note, this is all temporary.
Hydor submersible some wattage heater (can't read it atm, I'll update this later)
Aqueon QuietFlow 30 (backup HOB filter for random thigngs like this) with Fluval sponge pre-filter
60W T10 lightbulb in a fixture that came with this piece of furniture

Flora:
Fissidens fontanus
Java Moss

Fauna:
20something Fire Red Cherry Shrimp juvies

Rock is just a couple of granite stones found around my yard that I busted up with a sledge hammer. I've got plans for this puppy....including a HC carpet. I also plan to de-rim this thing.

 
See less See more
1
#5 ·
Noticed my water temp was a little high (which is unusual because ceiling fan + window AC unit = cold water)...and reached my hand up to the light bulb. Holy freaking hot. This thing runs hotter than the florescents at the grocery store I work at, lol. I wish my new fixture would hurry up and ship... :(
 
#6 ·
Holy crap I live in fayetteville, NC lol. Hey I also happen to be selling off my HC if you need some. Since your local you can have some of it for free if you come pick it up. I didnt think anyone in the faytteville area were into shrimp or fish tanks like ours lol.
 
#7 ·
Yay locals. :) And yeah, I get weird looks when I tell people that I keep plants, fish and shrimp lol. "You keep what....? Can you eat them.....? Doesn't your room always smell like a fish market....?" Hah.

Update! I got my light today. Just hooked it up. Looks great. :) Light is a 24" (the arms extend to be quite long) 2x24W T5HO Fixture by Odyssea. I also got 2 100mL packs of Purigen today via Amazon. Gotta love that free 2 days shipping with Prime via a student account. :)

 
#8 ·
Man I hate the, "can you eat them" line. Its like hurr hurr yeah lets go grill em up right now. Of course its to be expected from people who dont know any better. I would say sometime down the line we could exchange a few fire reds to keep the stock genetically diverse ....... but since we got them from the same souce and all. lol. Although if my CRS ever breed id be happy to sell you a few cheap.

Anyways that light looks good, reminds me of the marineland LED systems. I also not sure how I feel about that heater. I mean hydor is a good brand, at least from what I know about their inline heaters. But for a shrimp tank I dont think its needed, personally. But if it works for you then thats all that matters.

Also for the HC do you plan on getting co2? It will really NEED it to grow at all. It wont die without it, it just wont grow. A homemade yeast co2 setup will do just fine.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Yay cheapo shrimpies. :D And eh, rather be safe than sorry. I have a hydor eth 200w coming with Monday's shipment (eheim 2215, aquasoil). My room gets pretty chilly at night with my window AC unit and door closed...don't want chilled shrimp even though they like it a little cooler. Also yes, it will have CO2. I have a paintball CO2 setup on my main tank but it's just got crypts, moneywort and java fern in it so it'll be fine going low tech.

Edit: Expect an update Tuesday afternoon since I have class and work on Monday...which = 8-2 then 3-9. It's gonna suck having everything here but not being able to set anything up...grr. :(
 
#11 ·
Indeed. The only thing that sucks is that I won't be able to be here when the packages arrive since I have class. Ah well.

Future fauna plans include Neon/Cardinal Tetras/Espei/Harlequinn Rasboras and Pygmy Cories! Undecided on otos...my 20g tall has no algae except for a couple of very small patches of bba (I think?) on the tips of my java fern. Knock on wood, though.

Hardscape plans include the addition of a few oak twigs that will be wrapped with java moss.
 
#12 ·
Shrimp are doing well and getting redder every day it seems. :) Me gusta. Had a little scare this morning...all is well though. You can read about it here. Gonna take Monday off from work just because I never take days off and well..., I can darn it. :tongue: Classes last until 1pm on Monday and tank will be setup with new soil, scape (HC whoo!), CO2 and filtration + heating system.

Additions coming Monday:
-Power Sand Special S 2L + 9L Aqua Soil Amazonia NEW Normal type
-Eheim 2215 with Lily Pipes and Hydor ETH 200W
-Hemianthus callitrichoides :icon_cool
-Java Moss if it gets here in time
-Twigs!
 
#13 · (Edited)
Turns out the shrimp from this morning did end up dying. :( Hopefully that'll be the only one for now....I'd hate to see my stock take too much of a hit.

Also, wasn't able to get Monday off but I do get Tuesday off....which means an entire day dedicated to scaping and other tank matters. :D

Ah well. Moving on to the good times...a couple of new pics.

King Shrimp so far it seems. Colorful little bugger. :)



They really love dining on the java moss and fissidens. Thanks Jimmy!

 
#14 ·
Stuff arrived!

Inventory:
Eheim 2215
Hydor ETH 200w in-line heater
9L of ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia NEW (they were out of 9L bags so they shipped me 3 3L bags at no additional charge :))
3L of ADA Power Sand Special-S
2 100mL pre-bagged pouches of Purigen (already owned....sitting off to the side for now)

Tomorrow will be fun. :D

 
#16 ·
I'm usually up until about 3am most nights, lol. No worries.

Update: Tank is setup....probably gonna do dry start method for this HC and see how it does for a while. got a HUGE bunch of java moss (thanks Vesh!) today for the shrimp to live in in the tupperware container while the tank is stabilizing itself. Managed to cut myself twice pretty good while derimming the tank...nothing requiring stitches though. The only issue I found with that tank was that there was a small piece of glass broken out at the top...oh well. I'll fill it with silicone or something. The tupperware container is 13"x7.25"x4.25" filled about 3/4 with water. Shrimp are doing fine in it and my room temperature doesn't fluctuate that much. Yes, I'm moving it off the ground....I have cats y'know. ;)

Anyway, pics!
 

Attachments

#18 ·
I wouldnt dry start the HC I gave you. Its already in its submerged form and will probably do very poorly in a dry start. People only do dry starts with HC because 99% of the time the HC you buy is in its emersed form for farming reasons. There is even a possibility you could completely kill it off.

Yeah I was going to say too, break up the HC some more then that. You should break each one of those into 5 smaller pieces. Each strand in an individual plant. It will grow 'faster' and look better. I say 'faster' because growth rate is the same, just it seems to grow faster because it will cover faster.
 
#19 ·
I figured if it can transition from dry to wet fairly easily with the right amount of CO2, why can't it go from wet to dry with all the CO2 in the air? Hmm...I really have no idea how I'd go about planting the HC, though. I just kinda laid it on the aquasoil and pushed it down a little bit. I figured the roots would just grow into the soil.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top