journal GotCrabs' AquaTopia Aura 20L Peacock Moss & Shrimp Forest

[GotCrabs]

Recently I posted a couple of photos on here I found on Instagram of someone’s tank with just Christmas Moss tied to Malaysian Driftwood in it with Red Cherry Shrimp, even though it was quite a simple looking set up and some would say boring I quite liked it and thought I’d give it a crack.

 

Yesterday I went out and bought a AquaTopia Aura 20L, it’s nothing special but I didn’t want to spend big dollars on a tank at this stage that I was only going to put some Moss and Shrimp in, it’s nothing special or flash but it’ll do the job I’m looking to do though.

 

So the AquaTopia Aura 20L is a glass tank with top opening compartments, light and filter, I bought the heater and substrate separate, the light is a AquaTopia 9 watt florescent, light switch on the right side of the tank with water proof housing, filter is a AquaTopia 100 internal filter with flow rate adjustment, heater is a AquaOne 25 watt glass heater which is now set to 24c and substrate I thought I’d just try some AquaTopia black pebbles at first, I went for dark coloured substrate as I’d like the Shrimp and Moss colour to really stand out, tank capacity is 25 litres and measurements are 36cm x 21cm x 31cm which I think is suitable for what I’m looking to achieve.

 

What am I looking to achieve? Something very along the same lines of the photos I posted in another thread, a tank with just Moss growing healthily and a healthy colony of Shrimp living and breeding amongst it, a forest look I guess you could say.

 

At this stage I’m not sure what Shrimp I’m going to keep in there, but I’d prefer something with bright stand out colour, so I’m thinking either the Yellow Cherry or Crystal Reds that I have, only problem is I only have male Crystal Reds so if I go with that I’ll need to invest on a handful of females, Moss wise I have decided to go with Peacock Moss as I think it will produce and display a nice natural forest growth look to it, I was thinking Christmas Moss but I think Peacock Moss will look great once filled out and grown, Moss will be tied to a decorative clay hollow log which can be used by the Shrimp as a shelter or breeding ground and is more than a decent size for them.

 

Once I’ve received the Moss and everything is put together and I’m up and running I plan to keep a week by week photo log of the development of how the Moss and Shrimp are going, I’m interested to see at what rate the Moss will grow to be honest and how quickly/slowly it will take to thicken up and show the growth I’m aiming towards.

 

Foods involved will be the Boss Aquaria range in which I use in a separate tank and am very impressed with, ie. Shrimp Crack, Shrimp Snow and will throw in a random treat now and then, will also be using from the Boss Aquaria range Shrimp Booster, Mineral Powder and Mineral Balls.

 

Other additives to the tank will be AquaGreen’s Dinosaur Pee and Spit range, I again use this in my other tank and am more than pleased with the results.

 

That’s all for now, stay tuned I guess, cheers.

Edited January 16, 2015 by GotCrabs

[fishmosy]

Looking forward to the updates. Sounds like it will be a great set-up.

[buck]

Soooo pics?

[GotCrabs]

 

WEEK 1

 

OK Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get this ball rolling shall we.

 

I'm going to be making a week by week log of the development of a Peacock Moss and Crystal Red Shrimp tank, I am mainly interested in the growth rate of how quickly or slowly the Peacock Moss will take to develop into a healthy and well contained forest looking display as well as the health and growth of the Shrimp that will be kept in the tank.

I have decided to go with Crystal Red Shrimp, I think that the red and white will look great amongst the dark background and substrate as well as the dark green Peacock Moss and am looking forward to hopefully managing to achieve the Crystal Reds to breed.

 

Aquarium: AquaTopia Aura 20L, 36cm x 24cm x 31cm, 20 litres 

Filter: AquaTopia 100 Internal Filter

Lighting: AquaTopia 9w Fluro Lamp (6 Hour Light Period)

Heating: Aqua One 25w Glass Heater (22c)

Substrate: AquaTopia Black Pebbles

Flora: Peacock Moss
Fauna: Crystal Red Shrimp 

 

Boss Aquaria Mineral Balls x 3

Boss Aquaria Mineral Powder 1 Spoon Per Week

Boss Aquaria Boss Booster 1 Spoon Per Week

Boss Aquaria Shrimp Crack

Boss Aquaria Shrimp Snow

Boss Aquaria 1 x Feeding Dish

 

AquaGreen Dinosaur Spit 2 x Drops Per Day

AquaGreen Dinosaur Pee 1 x Drop Per Day

 

TDS Pen on Order

 

Black Cardboard Cut and Taped to the back of the Aquarium

 

Water Changes Each Sunday

I have not purchased the Crystal Red Shrimp yet, but will hopefully some time this week, still undecided in what ratio of male and female to go with, either 3 females and 1 male, 4 females and 2 males or 4 females and 1 male, thoughts and opinions on this are more than welcome.

 

Peacock Moss has been tied down to a clay decorative log/cave for the Crystal Reds to take shelter in, hopefully breed and think that the opening on the left side of the log/cave looks good and will look great once the Peacock Moss has grown out.

 

There you go people, comments, opinions are more than welcome so please either comment on here or inbox me, thank you.

Edited January 26, 2015 by GotCrabs

[GotCrabs]

I apologise for the poor quality photo also, iPhone 5s camera quality isn't too flash.

[wot_fan]

Very cool. I look forward to your updates.

[2OFUS]

Hi mate

Looking good :)

Just be sure not to tie the moss down thick as it will then die

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude, very clean & simple, well done!

[GotCrabs]

 

WEEK 2

 

OK, week 2, Peacock Moss appears to be slightly more 'fluffy' I guess you could say, everything seems to be going well, adding 2 drops of AquaGreen's Dinosaur Spit and 1 drop of AquaGreen's Dinosaur Pee per day, have introduced 3 low quality CRS to the tank to see how they react and they seem to be doing well, although can be very shy and private, don't seem to be interested in eating though.

 

Received a TDS Pen in the mail and tested the water, levels were 227 ppm, obviously too high for CRS, so I tested the water in the rainwater tank outside and the levels were 24 ppm, so drained half the water out of the CRS tank and replaced it with rainwater, levels went from 115 ppm to 130 ppm and have been 140 ppm the last two days, tank temperature is 23c according to the pen, although the heater is set to 22c, but I assume the lighting in the tank will have a bit to do with heater notching up 1 or 2 degrees.

 

Removed 1 litre of tank water and replaced with 1 litre of rainwater today, also added 1 spoon of Boss Booster and a pinch of Mineral Powder.

[buck]

Looks like it's going well man! Hope you've got some scissors ready for when that peacock moss goes bananas haha

Edited February 1, 2015 by buck

[GotCrabs]

Looks like it's going well man! Hope you've got some scissors ready for when that peacock moss goes bananas haha

 

I can only hope it does.

[Squiggle]

Lookin good dude!

[GotCrabs]

 

WEEK 3

 

So week 3 came along, everything is going real well, can really notice that the Peacock Moss is starting to thicken and get fluffy I guess you could say, looks nice from a distance, the low quality CRS I have in the tank are doing really well also.

 

Again another small water change today, replaced with rainwater tank water from outside, again 1 spoon of Boss Booster and a pinch of Mineral Powder added also.

 

While I was cleaning out my other tank I came across 2 pure white RCS, I gather these are called Snow Whites? They are only juvi but you can see what they are and have no red patterning at all, so thinking of moving them into this tank, thoughts?

[buck]

Fluffy is good dude! good to see everything is stable :)

[jayc]

Boss Aquaria Mineral Balls x 3Boss Aquaria Mineral Powder 1 Spoon Per WeekBoss Aquaria Boss Booster 1 Spoon Per WeekBoss Aquaria Shrimp CrackBoss Aquaria Shrimp SnowBoss Aquaria

Lol, love the Boss Aquaria tank.

Squiggle, we are going to need Boss Aquaria heaters, lights, tank and substrate too.

Then fill the tank with Boss Aquaria plants and shrimp.

Edited February 8, 2015 by jayc

[GotCrabs]

Lol, love the Boss Aquaria tank.

Squiggle, we are going to need Boss Aquaria heaters, lights, tank and substrate too.

Then fill the. Tank with Boss Aquaria plants and shrimp.

 

Already told Squiggles to look into substrate, haha.

[GotCrabs]

Lol, love the Boss Aquaria tank.

Squiggle, we are going to need Boss Aquaria heaters, lights, tank and substrate too.

Then fill the. Tank with Boss Aquaria plants and shrimp.

 

OK, so this tank is now named the Boss Aquaria Tank, haha.

[jayc]

You getting sponsorship?

[GotCrabs]

You getting sponsorship?

 

Due to contract negotiations I am by law not able to answer this question, please consult my lawyer.

[Disciple]

lol

 

Couple more weeks and I'll have my tank I am looking for sponsorship too!

[Squiggle]

Lol

[GotCrabs]

 

WEEK 4

 

Everything seems to still be going alright, TDS is the same, hasn't lowered or dropped, although I did do a pH test during the week and pH level is over 7.5 so will do a big water change during the week using rainwater seeing the TDS in my rainwater is in double digits, will add Mineral Powder once in and test again.

 

Peacock Moss is going well, again is nice and fluffy and can notice the growth, notice the thickening, so happy with how that is going so far.

 

Have taken the low quality CRS out due to the high pH levels, they are now in my Mr Aqua tank where the levels are lower.

 

That's all for now I guess, nothing exciting or interesting to report sorry, but as I said, everything is going well so far.

[jayc]

Definitely noticing more growth with the moss.

 

And a new avatar I see. Why Bill Cosby?

[GotCrabs]

Definitely noticing more growth with the moss.

 

And a new avatar I see. Why Bill Cosby?

 

Because I have a rather inappropriate sense of humor, haha.

 

That and it's a cracking sweater he's got on.

[buck]

 gota love a little bill! and that sweater is on point, then again his sweater game was always strong!   

 

 man i can just imagane that peacock moss in 6 months, its gone be wild!