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It's been long time ago that I showed you my first PRL. Meanwhile, they are divided into four Tanks. The offspring grows . Greeting Lars

You should get pH pen and calibration fluid first. LOL!!

Day 16 cycle After thinking I had somehow stalled the cycle i did a 10% water change and I have finally found nitrites and nitrates showing up. I also tested the gh and kh. Gh looked like it changed at 4 but definitely 5 and the kh changed at 1. My Tds was 135 a couple of days ago but since the nitrites and nitrates appeared it has jumped to 155. I found this interesting as I have not added anything to the tank since the cycle started. Just wondering if the increase in tds is actually the nitrites and nitrates showing up? I also wanted to increase the gh to 5 but would like my tds to stay around 150. I guess once my cycle it complete I'll have to do a large water change with ro water. I was also trying to work out my calcium ratio but it seems that the calcium tester changes colour after one drop so I'll need to get my self a bigger vial so I can get a more accurate reading. So it looks like I am halfway there next update I will be setting up my air pump to run my sponge filters!

From what I can gather; you'll find Paratya australiensis, Caridina mccullochi and Macrobrachium australiense - all seem to be widespread in the Murray system across a few states. P. australiensis is more widespread. I don't know much about distribution, but it is something I'm interested in. And it seems not a lot is known about how large these populations are or how far they extend. I've been doing some digging around in Australian ecology journals, with not a lot of luck.

I haven't gone shrimp hunting yet so I must have a look at Mannum next time we go. I keep saying I will get some natives but it still hasn't happened. too many projects happening

You can catch shrimp out of the Murray near Mannum. Also, as others have suggested - out of the catchment areas. I have seen shrimp in the River Torrens just below Kangaroo Creek reservoir as the water can be very clear in between flow release periods.

The egg crate is not really needed unless you are separating something you don't want mixing, there is no real need to have all sorts of media in there unless you want to spend the money?? it is for bacteria to live in, I use Dacron as a krap catcher first contact and replaceable, shade cloth and up here with soft water, coral, coral is not for areas with hard water already. Most fish farms use cheap medias like shade cloth or foam of some sorts and some of the commercial medias block to easy, shade cloth is a easy clean, used it for many years in many systems My 2 cents Bob