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I'd recommend leaving the air filter in, plant any plants you intend on using and hold off on any further dosing just to let your tank stabilize on its own. Just go the ol' K.I.S.S method and keep it simple, the only reason your tank would give off a chemical smell is if there is an abundance of something in the tanks water, the fact the smell reduced after a water change also kinda confirms that, with just a small portion of slow growing moss in there I don't see a huge need to the extra dosing. Excel btw can melt mini pellia in higher concentrations, so if the daily dosing is slowly increasing the amount present in the water there may be a point that your moss suffers. Good luck though! keen to hear how things go :)

Keego, bacteria love the heat. Crank the heat up to 27-28 deg C. Hopefully you are not cycling with shrimp. Otherwise, don't turn the heat up. If the tank is empty, then you can make the conditions warm for the beneficial bacteria. Once the tank is cycled, turn the heat back down.

I had a missing Nitrite cycle when I first used Benibachi and Dean -The original Boss wrote this Shrimp Whisperer Premium Members 2,645 posts 1,073,206 Excellent @Mention Posted 02 June 2013 - 07:10 PM you wont get a NITRITE reading with benibachi soil :) there is something in it that removes all nitrite from the water.. Like This Back to top Quote

Definitely avoid the WD-40 product ! It's not the right product to use in a tank or filter. It's a petroleum based solvent !! You want something like this instead. http://www.clarencewaterfilters.com.au/products/Rocol-Food-Grade-Silicone-Grease-for-o%252drings.html

Do 1/3 water change today. Got to run but I'll get back to you soon.

No I've always got it in little tubes. Try googling 'food grade silicone grease' to see what I mean.

If you're getting some nitrate and the ammonia is decreasing, then the tank is cycling. I assume you are worried because you aren't detecting nitrite. Its been long enough that any nitrite will be (almost) immediately turned to nitrate. Are you adding any source of ammonia (fish food, ammonia, ect)? If so stop, and wait for the ammonia level to reach zero. If not, you'll just have to wait until it reaches zero itself. Given that it has fallen from 2 to 1 ppm in the last couple of weeks, it shouldn't be too much longer. Depending on the temp. of your tank, it may be an idea to put in a heater to bring it up to 23 or similar. This will increase the growth rate of the bacteria that are cycling the tank.

Not sure as I haven't used it. I always use silicon grease. Its inert and pretty safe.

Very nice BB mama Ineke.

Beautiful, just beautiful.....well done ineke.

Woohoo! Beautiful parents, the bubs will be stunners! Congrats Ineke, she looks to be carrying a fair few!

Micro 'fissidens' - this is about 5mm tall. Star moss, excuse the slightly out of focus shot

In Hungary 2 $ piece. I possess 10 pieces.

Yeah they are a great shrimp! I hope i can get the blue ones i selected to breed! I put heaters in set at 22 degrees and from the main 4 foot tank and they seem to have started getting jiggy straight away! Found 4 buried females. The few selected have not bred yet though.

Did you bring cake BB.? ? ?

I'm ONLY here to say hello to Sprae......Hi Sprae :-)

Yes! Yes! Yes! That's what my shrimps tells me. Every summer you'll have a week of 40+ degrees in Melbourne, which will kill off most if not all your shrimps.

For absolute peace of mind, and if $ aren't too much of an issue, why not .... If the room/house is air conditioned there's really no need, but if you're on hols or headed out without leaving the AC on, the 1-2 days of over temp may cause issues ...espacially if the tanks are nano's... Fluctuates more readily. I have 2 Racks, and 5 nano's I'm a air conditioned room, and they All have individual chiller units :-(, lots if & outlay, but gives me dorm serenity when I'm out and can't get to my AC....

I have chillers on mine Jen but each chiller was around $400. For the size of your tanks it could be less. If you are keeping aircon going, I wouldn't bother! Just be sure to check temps on 40+ days. You can use frozen bags of water as an emergency measure. As others have mentioned, the fans can help too.

If you can afford a chiller then that is the best for overall stability but having said that I have 4 computer fans on my big tank and they keep the temperature between 22/23 . They work very well with a temp controller and that tank is against a wall in a corner which gets quite warm in the afternoon..

I definitely suggest a chiller for shrimps tank.

Ultimately if you are going to leave the air conditioner on when its expected to be hot then i would say no, but if there is going to be times when the shrimps tank will be exposed to high temps and force the water temp up then i would recommend a chiller. You can also buy fans which blow over the top of the water and reduces the temp by a couple of degrees but when it comes to the crunch no where as good as a chiller or air con.