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Open to comments before I finalise.

Hey mate, welcome to the forum & glad to have you back in the hobby. The best way to get the maximum out of your substrate is to use RO water & remineralise it to the right TDS with a product like Salty Shrimp, this way your KH & GH will be at the right levels & the substrate won't have to do so much work to buffer you pH. By using Salty Shrimp minerals you don't have to use any chemicals to adjust the water parameters. Personally I think only the canister & sponge filters are enough. The best way to prevent hydra is to keep your feeding to a minimum, but there are shrimp safe products to get rid of it available these days.

Happy Chinese New Year to all the members that are celebrating tonight. I wish you all the best for the New year!

Yeah I've had to replace that particular reagent quite a few times, often it would seem prematurely. The iffy colour behavior you describe seems about right for dud reagent.

No it won't raise the GH & only slightly raise the TDS, but not enough to be a concern.

GH 17 drops! wow maybe try do the test again and give the bottle a real good shake.

I think the KH is considered low, and the GH is considered fairly hard. http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/KH

I'll be reducing the banner size and adding sponsor info down the bottom.

Bump

It seems like once they start there is no stopping them. I've taken all the white/ golden babies out to put in my white Mischling tank. There are at 25 and 3 of those are Blue Bolt TBMM from my F8 Mischling to F8 Mischling cross. They are siblings but as I don't have a TB at the moment I thought I would see what I got - lucky is what I got they are quite blue on the head already and pale blue bodies. Lots of other little Panda TBMM in the Mischling tank as well from F 8 to F8.

Thought that now i'm im the photo taking mood I would show just a few inhabitants of the tanks. CBS and some Mischling babies Blue F2 Tibee and a baby CRS Mischling Mischling babies Mischling in the snow

They look great! I actually really like the look of shrimp tanks that are just breeding tanks, something about the minimalist lay out of breeding tanks just looks cool :)

Awesome pics. Really like the one with all the shrimplets! Although it Makes me jealous lol

The last 2 are my CRS tank and tank number 10 the tree is still being weighed down and is cycling waiting for the TB's when the weather cools- I put the benibaci soil back in that one -not taking any chances

The tanks have just been trimmed and also because of the mirror backs it's a bit hard to get a front view without seeing the camera and me in the back ground. They aren't landscaped for looks just for breeding and seeing the shrimp. /

just so you guys know, a pallet is 100 bags & to make it worth while everyone would have to be in the same area or you have the same problem of shipping individual bags everywhere.

*Cue Laugh Track*

Also a nice tank with crystal reds that cached my eye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeI_Kw9_Xno

There was a saltwater tank in the aquascape contest too. Just a short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CO8MZrPqIw

Racks going great, although they're both due for new substrate, as the buffers worn out :-( Been adding minerals, fluvial acids etc just to keep the shrimps appeased. Just noticed that the demand to constantly boost up my GH is getting more frequent. Approx. 22 bags of Benibachi soils required

In reference to the conversation that started in this thread ... http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php/topic/7693-prevent-algae-going-everywhere/?view=getnewpost where Ozshrimp mentioned that he had to dispose of a plant due to it being infested with algae ... I have started this thread in the hopes of helping others who might have the same issue. Have you ever had a prized plant that was infested with algae? The algae has grown in between your plant and has become one big mass of algae and plant. To the point of not knowing where the plant started and where the algae ended? Where manual removal is too difficult, and futile cause the algae just grows back, and where spot dosing with Excel/glut/Dino spit would kill sensitive plants like mosses, pellia or fissiden? Using regular algaecides on plants will kill delicate and sensitive plants like pellia and mosses. Well, I have found one product to be different. And I have tested it with great success with my own algae infested plants. I have mini pellia that had Staghorn algae and BBA growing through it. My Peacock moss was also infested with Staghorn. Manually pulling it out was destroying my delicate mini pellia. And it was fuitle ... the algae would just grow back in a matter of days. I had to researched a better way of treating algae, that had interwoven itself into the mini pellia. The moss, I wasn't too fussed about. But pellia is more precious to me. I came across a product that showed promise. Searching for local retailers brought me to two. And by luck both are SKF sponsors !!! Cha-ching! What's this product? EasyLife AlgExit. Notice it will treat filamentous algae - that's the staghorn, hair and string algae, Brush and beard algae. Notice also that it says it is safe on plants and shrimp. I can personally vouch for the safe with shrimp and plants statement, within reason. It is safe with higher order leafy plants. It is also safe with delicate mosses, pellia and fissidens AS LONG AS you don't use too much of the product and leave the plants soaking in it for longer than 3 days. How do I know this? Well I tested the limits, so you don't have to. (Warning: Do NOT follow this example - it is a test of limits to see what dosage will harm plants) I put in a small bunch of mini pellia into a plastic container, with just enough water to cover the plant ... approx 100ml of water. In this container I added 1ml of AlgExit. Left it for 5 days. Please note the dosage according to the instructions is 10ml per 100Litres. Or 1ml per 10L. So 1ml of AlgExit in 100ml of water is many times over the dosage. (anyone want to try calculating how many times over?) Inadvertently, a shrimplet (1mm) came along with the ride in the plant. Didn't notice it until about 15-30 minutes into the treatment. The shrimplet was removed from the container, and survives to this day. At this crazy overdose levels and 5 days of treatment the mini pellia is now showing signs of not surviving. It's back in my tank now, to see if it pulls through. Needless to say, the algae on that test plant was all dead. (End of warning. Recommended treatment method follows below) However, with more reasonable levels of dosage my mosses and mini pellia will survive even harsh dosage treatments. The following is proof. Mini pellia that was treated about 2 months ago. Not a sign of BBA, brush algae or staghorn. The plant is very much alive and thriving. This is a more recent treatment. Started 6 days ago. I had algae growing on the stainless steel mesh as well as in the mini pellia. Notice the algae is now purple? This will turn white in a few days and die off. the shrimp will graze on it too. But the pellia is unharmed. Same plant, another view. Notice the purple bits in between the Pellia? That's the dying algae, but the pellia itself is a lush green. I have managed to clear it out/eradicate/kill the algae within 3days, without killing the mini pellia. This is the treatment method. 1) Remove the plant for treatment into a bucket. 2) Add enough water to cover the plant. Make a note of the amount of water used. 3) Add up to 10 times the dosage. Recommended dosage was too slow. 4) Keep the algae infested plant in AlgExit for no more than 3 days. 5) Remove and rinse with clean water. 6) Return to tank and observe the algae. If it has not changed colour in the next day or two, return to the treatment bucket for another day or 2. Repeat from step 5 until algae changes colour. eg. I use a 1Litre container for mini pellia, it's only a small plant. I'd add 500ml of water and 1ml of AlgExit. (yes it's more than the recommendation above, but I'm a Pro at it now ) I remove after 3 days , and that is what you see in the picture above. All the algae has turned purple on the steel mesh. You can treat it in the tank, but you'd have to use more of the product. And I suggest following the manufacturers dosage. But this method will treat the algae infected plant in a targeted approach without impacting the main tank, at a much faster rate. You can get the Easy Life AlgExit from our favourite sponsors Age of Aquariums and Tech Den. Hope you found this useful. If it saves you from throwing away a plant, let me know. I get encouragement that I have helped someone else, and we get confirmation it works.