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Sorry it has been so long since my last update. The tank has had its ups and downs in the last few months but I think I have everything on track again. The main issue I had was low pH. For some reason, every time I swapped out the Purigen in the tank for Purigen I had recharged, the pH would drop. When I started losing shrimp I checked the WP and found the pH was about 5.5. I used aragonite to slowly raise the pH. It has been stable for about 6 weeks at about 6.7. I lost my remaining adults but many of the juveniles and shrimplets survived. I would guess there are about 50 shrimp in the tank now. The good news is the oldest of these are starting to get berried. Two berried this weekend and there are at least half a dozen more with saddles forming. My colony should be growing again soon. Below are few pictures of my shrimp. Sorry, I forgot to clean the glass before taking them. Also, I recently fed powdered food so the water may look a little cloudy.

My order from AquaGreen arrived today, 5x Spotted Blue Eyes 'Cadell River' rainbowfish, 30x Darwin Algae Shrimp, 5x Darwin Red Nose Shrimp and 10 more Chameleon Shrimp. Hopefully they help take care of the thread algae and black brush algae that is in parts of the tank. I also decided to get my proper camera out instead of the iPhone I've been using, so here are some pics: also had a shrimplet that I assume is from @Disciple's Red Rillis that he gave me come out to pose at the front of the tank, this guy was tiny, those are HC leaves next to him for reference so I'm hoping it's a shrimp born in this tank and a good sign they are happy.

Neo if your current set up is fine except for the stone, why don't you just do exactly the same thing but leave out the rocks. It should be fine then. Do you use RO water? if not I would suggest switching over. I can comment about those soils as I never used it but many SKFer use both and swear by them.

More stems equals more often your hands have to go into the tank for trimming

As you have found out, keeping it simple is the best way. 2ft is a good size and with filtration personnally i would go cannister. i would go shrimp specific soil

What an awesome tank! Love the plant with the little leafs how you put it in there, very nice.

If u do decide to get a new tank go bigger. The larger the tank the more stable ur water perimeters will be. In terms of filtration why not use both canister and sponge filters there is nothing wrong with extra filtration. I have a 4ft tank which i run run a 2000ltr eheim pump through an aquis 1250 canister then into an aquis 800 canister like a sump kinda then i have 2 dual biosponge filters running as well. I would normally run 3 tho. 2ofus is right with the stem plants and avoiding putting hands in tank thats why i got anubias plants

Nothing wrong with using BEP. I use it with my CRS. And I'd rate it above ADA and Benibachi.

That's a very good point. I think I may duplicate it minus the rock. Few questions: 1. I've noticed lots of shrimpers don't use bright lights. Is that because they mainly have moss and don't require much light or to keep algae at a minimum? 2. What's the benefit of RO water? My tap water is 40ppm so not sure what other benefits RO water would have.

Even though I no longer have any shrimp, or tanks minds you, I'd stick with the substrate you have left over, as you know it works well, stick to what you know I guess, plus you'll save coin also, filter wise, I'd go canister or air sponge, I've never used sponge though but have seen many, many successful shrimp tanks with sponge filters, I guess if you want the quiet approach go with the canister, if you don't mind a little noise go with the sponge, up to you, tank wise, stick with the same size perhaps, doesn't take up too much room, plus you can get a sweet colony going of shrimp, shrimp wise, stick to what you know, unless you want to explore over shrimp, nothing wrong with CRS at all, cool shrimp, great colour and once you have a nice colony going they will be easy to sell off, either culls or for the purpose to put the coin back into the tank and shrimp, plant wise, go with what you want, you already know how to successful grow HC (jealous), so why not test another plant, perhaps another carpeting plant, or perhaps stems, , as you know shrimp love mosses, could do a variety of moss tank, or do a complete carpet only tank, perhaps go down a variety of java fern tank. Personally I would go with another full HC carpet, you already have easy access to the plant, you've proven you can successfully grow it in the conditions you have, but instead of adding stone and stems in the tank, add a piece of gold vine driftwood, something that the shrimp can crawl all over and explore, when the wood leaches tannins the canister filter will fix that when fitted with Bio Chem Zorb, when the wood grows a fungus as it does at times, the shrimp will love feeding on it, but that's me. You could grab say 10 CRS off a member on here, 3 males, 7 females, a nice starting group and if all is well will breed in no time.

i cant give advice re substrate. but i agree as above 2 foot is a great size (bigger would be ok too) and im an eheim canister addict they are virtually faultless :-) i add a little macropore/purigen in them to help keep nitrates low) run an airsponge in my tanks as well as backup and for added oxygenation. this has been a great setup for me once i overcame my earlier nitrate issues. i am happier with moss than stem because for me stem plants get in the way more when trying to catch shrimp. ps i am semi-noob compared to many other here as u know so I'd take my advice with a pinch of salt ;-) love n peace will

@neo-2FX from my experience I would avoid ADA if not putting too many plans in the tank. My tank doesn't have many plants and I feel the ADA soil is a bit of a waste in there considering it is fantastic for growing plants - plus as you know it takes a lot of time and patience to get your tank cycled.

Wow I didn't know there are many though. Nice man :)

Saw the title and thought "a tiger tank"?

Make sure you visit (in no particular order): - Nature Aquariums, Mont Albert - Exotic Aquatic, Carnegie - Subscape Aquarium, Richmond - New Life Aquarium, Richmond (Billy is a top bloke!)

I just tried one and seems really good. Feels like heaps of space for the shrimp i already caught. Hopefully it is still hanging on the morning. Took me awhile to catch these guys.