journal Hexad's Cube Journal

[Trav80]

I feel you're pain Hexad, I had the same thing happen. Lost all but one of my SSS and SS CRS one or two every day or so. We just have to try again, it's damn hard I know.

[HexaD]

Thanks for the support guys! Really feels great to be on SKF! I have had a lot of support from Gbang and Dean, hence I decided to take the plunge to get a 2 foot Cade and reboot from scratch. Hopefully it will end the pain as I really want to keep high grade CRS! If all else fails, I will convert it to a planted and scape it with rainbow cherries (chocolate) lol

And for Sprae, its really YNWA here!

[Gbang]

here at skf we all spread the love.....erm straight love.......erm shrimp love.

[HexaD]

here at skf we all spread the love.....erm straight love.......erm shrimp love.

lollllllll Its called bromance BROTHER!

[Sprae]

I think all of us at SKF is here to support all shrimp keepers that goes through tough times. God knows I've been through it before and almost gave up.

[Gbang]

agreed, everyone here has experienced many failures. it's all part and parcel of life and the shrimp keeping hobby. always remember shrimpies!!!

with every success, one thousand failures lie forgotten:triumphant:

with every failure to try, a thousand successes prematurely die :sorrow:

[HexaD]

After another SSS death, enough is enough!

ROAR

Watch this space for a new noob setup!

[lin]

man all u guys get so good shrimp and good brands im only 13Years old dont have alot of money to get expensive brand:sorrow:

[619torrey]

dont worry i had had my whole colony die off at one point now im just starting to slowing build it back up i lost snow white sss and ss etc i lost over 60 shrimp and they were all high grades too. but now its getting better i havent had any deaths.

so never give up it will get better eventually.

[lachie1998]

Not another sss:sorrow:

is that a new cade tank?? going to be shrimp only??

[HexaD]

man all u guys get so good shrimp and good brands im only 13Years old dont have alot of money to get expensive brand

Don't worry' date=' when you are all grown up like us, you will have better access to better shrimping technology, the prices would be much cheaper too *hopefully*! But my lesson is life is to remember not to get a GF or wife, they control your life desires lol

dont worry i had had my whole colony die off at one point now im just starting to slowing build it back up i lost snow white sss and ss etc i lost over 60 shrimp and they were all high grades too. but now its getting better i havent had any deaths. so never give up it will get better eventually.

Thanks torrey, like your signature says NEVER GIVE UP NEVER BACK DOWN! :) After speaking to Gbang and Dean, it's like a cycle of life, you have up and downs. Hopefully it can only get better from now!

is that a new cade tank?? going to be shrimp only??

Yup, decided for now its gonna be a Cade shrimp only tank! Bit of a waste.. But if I still fail, I will go full planted and scape it like my 3 ft Cade with some micro fish and low grade shrimps/RCS,Back to the cube, small update over the last two weeks,Dear death journal, another 2 SSS deaths ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Looking at the freshness and color is depressing.. I have been trying my best to eliminate all possibilities like emptying the plants so I can see if there are any planaria, only doing water top ups to stabilize the tank, not dipping my hands in, not scraping algae on the glass, not microwaving spinach in bowls which are washed with detergents, being very careful with feeding etc etc etc.And now.. I have lost my whole SSS colony bar 2. And all the little lips I bought from Marcus aka Bluebolts.Honestly I don't understand what is wrong with this tank. I thought it was doomed, but it gives me hope with one or two shrimps being berried and finally seeing some shrimplets darting here and there. Then 2 of my best SSS dies when I was on cloud nine. Hopefully there is a blessing in disguise in all of this that new batch turns out with solid colors and accepts the current water parameters. On a sidenote, Project Cade is turning out well, I am waiting for the hanging kit brackets as Adam left it out and it will be ready to go.First thing on the list is substrate. As Dean doesn't have the normal Benibachi soil in stock, would you guys recommend ADA new Amazonia? or should I wait for the Benibachi? I spoke to one of the breeders in SA and he said Benibachi is the worst thing to happen to him, heaps of problems and loses its buffering capabilities after 6 months. Any thoughts?

[Gbang]

hey mate. i'm personally more than happy to donate some shrimps to kick start the programme again!!! honestly i have more than 5 tanks with benibachi soil and i have a stupid amount of success so don't know what this SA guy is talking about. my tanks have been running for over a year now

[Sprae]

I'd agree with Gbang. Benibachi has been awesome for me too. But there's no harm it getting multiple tanks with different soil set ups.

[HexaD]

I'd agree with Gbang. Benibachi has been awesome for me too. But there's no harm it getting multiple tanks with different soil set ups.

That's great to hear! My current ones are all ADA Amazonia I' date=' so I guess I should give Benibachi a try lol. SPRAE, SAHIN DOUBLE! Perfect time for him to play in the hole with Jonjo suspended don't you think?

hey mate. i'm personally more than happy to donate some shrimps to kick start the programme again!!! honestly i have more than 5 tanks with benibachi soil and i have a stupid amount of success so don't know what this SA guy is talking about. my tanks have been running for over a year now

Thanks, so generous of you as usual! But like you said, you want my shrimp to survive before passing me some hehe, so that would be my aim for now, taking it niceeee and slowwww. My dream is to have success like your BB x Minchling project :)

[emboli]

Sux to see those drop off one by one HexaD. I do feel your pain and I have had similar problems happen to me in the past.

I am surprised you keep both your tanks so close to the TV! Again I should not be judging you as I keep a marine next to mine haha!

I myself use benibachi and it is the best thing to have happened to me.

I prefer it over ADA which I also have had success with. I have been following your journal eagerly and am amazed by your aquascapes.

[Ace027]

Any chance you have trimmed your Stauro recently, I had problems before everytime I trim my Stauro, I end up losing the whole colony.

Ace

[emboli]

Is it because you trim it too low Ace? I trimmed mine recently and never had problems

[Sprae]

That's great to hear! My current ones are all ADA Amazonia I' date=' so I guess I should give Benibachi a try lol. SPRAE, SAHIN DOUBLE! Perfect time for him to play in the hole with Jonjo suspended don't you think?[/quote']

Sahin and the kids are doing us proud!!! BR should just keep playing them. Sterling and Suso are pure class.

[HexaD]

Sux to see those drop off one by one HexaD. I do feel your pain and I have had similar problems happen to me in the past.I am surprised you keep both your tanks so close to the TV! Again I should not be judging you as I keep a marine next to mine haha! I myself use benibachi and it is the best thing to have happened to me.I prefer it over ADA which I also have had success with. I have been following your journal eagerly and am amazed by your aquascapes.

Haha' date=' that's why I hardly use the TV! I only use it to play my PS3 and stream soccer live when I have some mates over lol Another vote for Benibachi, thanks for sharing your experience guys, I think I've made my decision! :) Thanks for the compliment, honestly my scapes aren't that good, I always start with a flat surface and just keep adding plants, rocks and driftwoods to it, then I cross my fingers and hope they grow out nice and lush. I am trying to improve my plant knowledge and learn skills where I can start with making slopes, hills, hedges and cliffs etc. Haha I have your blog on my bookmarks list! I like your opal scape a lot, you use many colorful and stem plants which I have never used before. I would love to try a dutch scape like yours one day where it is a pure plant garden with no rocks and driftwoods, (as that is my lazy man's cheating method to scape lol). I also love the photos you take, they are so clear and lighting is awesome, I always tend to get reflections of my tank even if I use my DSLR and I would never get any close to your macro shrimp shots! Those CBS are sexy!

Any chance you have trimmed your Stauro recently, I had problems before everytime I trim my Stauro, I end up losing the whole colony.Ace

I did a quick trim last month as it was growing into a jungle but didn't have a massive shrimp death tho. I only used scissors to trip them in half randomly, didn't uproot much, so didn't think any harmful stuff in the substrate would have been mixed into the water. Did you trim the same way too? I would lose a shrimp every now and then in the 3ft, but I don't really mind as they are low grades and mixed with fish, and tend to be more adult size, so might be age :(

[Ace027]

Is it because you trim it too low Ace? I trimmed mine recently and never had problems

You're right, I actually did....but did not disturb the substrate. Do they have toxins in their stems?

[HexaD]

small update with the tank, everything seems to be settling down, with only one death a week. Not great, but I am not complaining, however I have had two drops with 1-2 females getting berried. The only downside is there is only 2 SSS left, down from 20 after the great purge :(

Hopefully the small specs on the tip of the driftwood are all SSS!! Can't see the bands yet!!

[Loach]

I wish you all the best :)

[Gbang]

from my experience the ones that survive will be stronger :) good luck!

[HexaD]

After breaking my back to move the cube, it has been banished and is now sitting next to dining table, guess I'll be looking more at the tank rather than TV during dinner haha

With most of the gear going to the Cade, the tank has gone back to a very basic and minimalistic style which actually has made me happier with it! It reminds me of the good old days, using an in tank heater with the filter just as it is, instead of being hooked up to a zillion things. The flow is excellent with the spray bar, and the shrimps seem to be enjoying swimming against the current, although I thought they didn't like that?

With that in mind, maybe I should adjust the bar to spray the surface to help with skimming. I also had another question about how you guys go around handling gear after you get back to work. I try not to touch the water as much as I can, but what if you need to? Do you just wash your hands and wipe with a towel? Or use hand liquid like dettol first?

Initially the plan was to move all the shrimps over to the new setup before tearing the cube down but I am actually having second thoughts about selling the tank now because I wanna see if going high tech was the whole reason why the deaths started in the first place, with me complicating things. But with no chiller, I am very worried with summer around and it sitting next to the window, the temp might rocket up since the size is so tiny.

Looking at this ugly bare tank, makes me want to scape it so bad!! I have a two nursery tanks where I can pluck all the plants from! They have been stocking up on plants and moss for the new setup and should have some extra which can go onto here..

Ahhh so tempting!

Another reason why I want to keep it is that I might have found the culprit to all the deaths. Myself lol. Seems like I put way too much mineral balls and Benibachi balls in the G3 and totally forgot about it, no wonder the EC was rising even with me adding just pure RO. I would be extremely keen to see if I could get the population up with the RO + Salty Shrimp Mix combo!