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I was late for last week but these are my Monday Blue contributions this week.

Congrats @jc12 You are the winner of price number 2. Please pm me your details.

Well done Neo-2FX. I was going to post my attempt, until I saw neo-2fx's.

Wohoo!!! I thought you were trying to get me excited like how Jamie quoted OzShrimp!!! Haha. Thank you. :) Again Jamie, thank you for sponsoring the prizes. I was planning to order something from you so can I please ask you to hold off sending me the prize until I place the order in a day or two?

Blue neo juvie!

Snail Grooming Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Monday half blue??? (love this mutt)

Pm me when you are ready @OzShrimp i got a few.

So I had the opportunity Friday to setup some new 30cm cubes, which will be used for guppies (maybe shrimp later on!) I then decided it would be great to run a side by side comparison of the lights we sell online. All tanks have same heaters, filters and substrate (shirakura red bee sand). Left to Right: Aqualighter Nano Aqualighter Pico Up Aqua Y series 18cm ATLEDTiS E6 Left to Right: Flexi Mini Aqualighter Nano Up Aqua Y series 18cm ATLEDTiS E6 Left to Right: Flexi Mini Up Aqua ProZ 30cm Up Aqua Y series 18cm Up Aqua Y seties 25cm Left to Right: Flexi Mini Up Aqua ProZ 30cm Aqualighter Nano ATLEDTiS E6 Very surprised by the blue content in the Y series lights, though these still work well wih mosses and low light plants. Really Pleased with the ATLEDTiS E6 as it probably hd the most natural colour. I knew the Flexi minis were bright, and this is the original version, but when directly compared it outshines all. The ProZ has a nice even white colour to it as expected. Not a very scientific study, but amazing to see the side by side comparison. Hope it helps with any future plans for smaller tank setups. Will definitely give me a better base for recommendations in the future. Also have planted some tissue culture plants in each tank, again same plants across all tanks, so will be fun to watch the growth rates of each. As all other factors are the same, light will be the ultimate factor to growth. View full article

Hi All, Soon I will be having my own shrimp room so will be adding 20+ shrimp tanks to the existing ones. The mistake I have done with the older tanks is - the water change and drainage were all manual work so it takes quite a bit of time for the water change. Mostly I get weekends only to spend with family and if I spend a big chunk of the time in water change then obviously family will not be happy. So will be selling some of the tanks and will get all similar size of tanks for better understanding and plan is to automate the water change as much as can. Below is a crude diagram of the rack(s) and how the system I am planning - Will be a 3 layered custom made rack, which will mostly keep 3 tanks in each level. Now my area tap water is around 800 tds so will be using RO plus remineralizer. First we will keep a square container around 250-300 lt at ground level where I will put RO water and will mix the remineralizer and then at a decent height one more container of around 200lt will be kept which will be used to distribute water to every tank(s). From the ground level to the top level water will be sent using a pump. Will replenish the bottom container once its empty. Each tank will have 2 pipes - 1 for input and 1 for output. Each tank input will be connected to a master PVC input and the PVC will be connected to the top container. And each tank output will be connected same to a master PVC output which will be connected straight to the drainage. Each of the tank inlet and outlet will be controlled by valve and will be opened during water change. Below is a diagram of the tank sizes, filtration etc. Tank dimension are mentioned in inches. Each tank will have 2 filtration - Taiwan style UG filtration and one sponge filter. A 4 inch partition will be done in the tank where the UG plate, filter media and soil will be kept. The UG and Sponge filter will be connected to a bigger Hiblow XL pump which will run all the tanks. So each tank will have 4 air pipes - 1 water drainage -valve controlled 1 water inlet - valve controlled 1 air pipe for UG 1 air pipe for sponge filter Mostly will be using LED for all the setups. Now would require members advice on the system we have planned. Please share your thoughts/suggestions/area of improvements. My end goal would be to provide efficient filtration and also to automate the water change as much possible as it can be.

Hi All Im new to this Forum so thought I would put up my new Zebra Tank for Opinions criticisms etc. I see a few familiar names from another Forum Im a member of. Tank Size - 90 x 45 x 45 Filtration - Sump with Bean animal overflow (marine Pure & mat) Tank is heated to 22 deg, will add a chiller prior to next summer. Tank is open top and the sump has a float valve connected to me 200lt RO tank. TDS - 35 PH - ? GH/KH - ? I have 22 Zebra's which are being fed shrimp cuisine, snow and Almond Leaves. Looking for a supply of Mulberry leaves to add to this. Thanks for looking, please offer you advise, as I want to give this a real good go. Thanks Mark

I resurrected a few from the last month or so cheating I know but nice anyway!

Umm plan to bring the teal and hopefully red eyes constantly but will see how it goes and ozshrimp ill have to see if i have a pic he hides alot Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Woohoo, I've actually won something! Haha thanks@kitz for the awesome prize and organisers ??

That's a good guess @neo-2FX

Guess #1

I've recently got into mosses after receiving small portions of about 14 varieties from a friend as a bonus from a purchase. When they arrived I wasn't exactly sure what to do with them as before this I had only ever grown the basics (eg. Java Moss, Peacock Moss, Flame Moss, etc.) and all of a sudden I have rare mosses like F. splachnobryoides and F. zippelianus just sitting in clip-seal bags on my dining room table. Suffice to say I had a little problem as my tanks were full to the brim with other stuff, and as a stickler for quarantine I wasn't going to have them sharing the same tank. A lot of the mosses also needed high light, low temperatures and CO2. So I began thinking... and thinking... and thinking. And eventually I came up with an ingenious idea to give them high light, easy access to CO2, low temperatures and all the other things they needed, all while keeping them separate from one-another. I decided on growing them emerse (as I have had luck with Echinodorus and Cryptocorynes that way in the past). However, I wasn't too keen on using the soil mixes I had used before as they always absorbed too much water and ended up covering the medium in algae, so knowing this I decided on perlite instead and I would be mindful to keep the liquid level a lot lower than the top of the perlite to avoid algae potentially covering the mosses. Be mindful your perlite cannot fall out of the pot, however, as the pot I used had large holes on the bottom of it (I used filter wool to plug them). For extra growing help I decided to switch out water (which I had used when growing plants emerse in the past) for BioJuice (a seaweed mix for hydroponic use which promotes vegetative growth, not flowering or root growth like most) to use as the liquid, and for each pot which a moss to be contained inside a bag for humidity which I then put onto my verandah in a place where it would not be too hot, but would also get a decent amount of sunlight with the moss laid out on top of the perlite. This'll be a work in progress. It's not too clear now but I'll work on that later today and into the future. Better photos will come, don't worry! The location of the bags on my verandah. A close view of the set-up (excuse the fog). This one is already growing after about a week. View full article

The best method I have found for cleaning any marks off my tank glass exterior: I use a very fluffy 100 percent cotton tea towel that I slightly wet with a very small amount of boiling water out of a kettle. The hot water evaporates as soon as it hits the glass and no white mineral deposits or fingerprints remain after a good once over. Spotless, and at no cost. I saw API Safe & Easy and I thought: Aha! A type of super-safe Windex for aquariums. At $9.95, I had to have it. The Pros: It is fish safe nice little trigger bottle of a good size The Cons: It leaves streaks all over the glass, seriously, after thinking I did a lazy job, I tried again. It leaves streaks with the best of cloths. Then you have a hazy look about your tank. This I attribute to the layer they claim it leaves behind to to prevent future mineral deposits. There is not enough surfactant in the product to wash ornaments, rocks, heaters etc. to actually qualify as clean. For a cleaning agent that leaves marks, streaks and a dull coating on glass and does not have the surfactants I expect of a cleaning agent, this product gets rated ?/5 Shrimp Tails. The one tail was awarded for it being a safe and non-toxic product, although completely ineffective. I want my $9.95 back... View full article

Competition sponsored by Newbreed Aquatics http://newbreedaquatics.com.au/ Ladies and gentlemen the competition has begun. Somewhere hidden under these tiles are the following prizes - 1. 2. 3. 4 Blue Bolt Juvies or 5 Blonde OEBT or 2 PRL. You will need to pay $20 postage to claim this prize. . How to play - Each member can pick one tile per day however you must ensure you check what everyone else has picked as i will not advise you. Once you pick your tile for the day you can NOT edit your post. Any edited post will not be counted. I will advise everyone when a prize has been located by a member. There is only one of each available. To be eligible to play this competition you must have a minimum of 10 posts on the forum. Other moderators are eligible to play.

hi all im going to make a tank up just for my crs shrimp i am thinking of this: 1. Tank 4ft x18 x1. 2. Filtration Aqua One Canister filter aquis 1000 model, while also adding 2 sponge filters 3. substrate i am planning on going with ADA Aquasoil amazon now with this is the 9l bag big enough to cover the tank? 4. a few bits of cholla wood and a medium sized piece of Malaysian drift wood 5. Heater 300w 6. plants/mosses so thats what i have in mind i know ill need to invest in a chiller later on since winter is coming ill hold off on that for now currently my tank sits at 23.5-24.5 degrees thats in a room with aircon. but does this sound okay for crs ?

Decided to try my hand at something different last night. I've heard of people having a lot of success with anubia some with Buce and using superglue to mount them, So I figured I have a crack. I'd just trimmed my Buce Brownie Ghost after a year of good growth. Recycling some driftwood I've had for a while and a piece of stainless mesh, I drilled a 3mm hole into the wood and secured it to the mesh with a stainless screw Then test run with my Buce cuttings. Tricky balancing them but enough to visualize before glue Dry the part of the plant that will be attached with paper towel. Just put a drop of superglue where the rhizome or roots attach. Then the finished product. Rinsed and placed into tank The CPD squad scoping it out Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The other day we went on a little day field trip to Blackdown Tablelands roughly a 2hr one way drive from my house. There has been no real rain to speak of out that way and the creeks and waterfalls where either dry or greatly reduced. Sadly we saw very little actual wildlife and even birds where almost non-existant. Many times we stopped on various walking tracks or along the 4WD track and just listened and where surrounded by deadly silence, not even a cicada called. This lack of creatures may have been down to the fairly recent controlled burns the rangers had been doing the past month or so but even in regrowth areas wildlife was missing apart from the occasional butterfly. The various waterways too seemed devoid of life, no matter how hard I looked I saw no fish or snails. In fact the only waterlife I did spy where water skaters, water boatsmen, tadpoles and some odd caddis type creature that had made a narrow tube like home out of something that seemed shell like. We where not eaten alive by mosquitos so I am guessing that something is keeping them in check but for the life of me I could not see anything that I would normally expect to see in a permanent water source. Many of the creeks etc I saw where also quite devoid of any plant life which could also explain the lack of other watery wildlife. First View on the approach to Blackdown Tablelands First port of call was Horseshoe Lookout and Goodela and Yaddamen Dhina Along the way I saw some sweet little Sundews Some moss, some type of Fissiden? Further along we went to Mook Mook (at least some of the way didn't fancy another 1.2 km walk) Look carefully and you will see the tadpoles, some of them where HUGE Sort of lost track of which walk these where along......after 5km the mind goes a little blank, especially after the hell climb back up from the base of Rainbow falls. The base of Rainbowfalls The COLD water was a welcome relief to sore hot feet and our feet stayed semi-frozen at least halfway back along the 2km walk. Lookout at Mitha Boongulla There where wildflowers out, but not in abundance and quite a few of these quite little dragons. The upshot, if visiting Blackdown Tablelands it is worth it, but take lunch snacks and plenty of cold drinks. Also have spare water on hand to wash hands with ease at any of the parking areas aside from Horseshoe Lookout. A 4WD is a must to get to and from Mitha Boongulla, most of the track is tame but there are a couple of hair raising, butt clenching spots. And I would not attempt it in summer, the heat alone will kill and the chance of wild storms very real. Also before going up the range ensure your car is up to it, we met a couple at the information booth at the top that had boiled their radiator during the drive up the range. I shall leave you with this is it a spider or an ant.....

Great comparison Jamie! I initially loved my flexi mini but after having seen a bunch of other lights now, it's easily not my favourite anymore haha. It's way too white and I think it has to do with how low it sits. Maybe it reflects off the water somehow when sitting low and doesn't have a good spread. That E6 though!!! ?

I bought one of those TDS meters and really like it.

I am glad to have done it too. Much better to see the difference in a n obvious manner. The plants will be the ultimate judges.

Hope this quote doesn't get your hopes up too Shaun! Lol and the Xiaomi testers are awesome, great accuracy and much easier to hold than the other models. (Ps. I am not a hand model, lol) Tds at 36 was for my Zebra tank.

She is one of my hybrids - before I had any Tigers. I put her to a blue tiger and have 3 lovely blue babies that I'm 99% sure are hers. She doesn't have any white on her - unfortunately I rarely see her so I can't get a better picture. She seems to disappear for ages and then suddenly she is back again, I think perhaps she isn't always blue I think some of the time she just looks like a Tibee - that's the only explanation I can think of for her disappearing act.

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I just bought some. Been wanting to keep them for a long time.

Wow @Disciple, frustratingly I was only allowed to click the Like Button once....they are gorgeous!

I think this is the most participants we have had in one of these comps. Great to see!

Rofl JAYC !! Good one! Congratz neo-2FX

Very nice Bas

Hello @Mitch91 Welcome to SKF. I think you need 2 to 3 bags. From memory I used 2 bags of normal and one of fine in my 4fter. Please do invest in a chiller before the it starts getting hot. I can not recommend chillers enough as I believe daily temperature swings up and down which would be difficult to monitor is has a huge effect on shrimplet survival rates.

Got excited gettimg quoted! Gonna sit in the corner andcry now lol. Thanks for answering :)

Ahh, a sign of a true shrimp stare master.

Ok maybe this was not as hard as I thought. Grats @neo-2FX You win! please pm your address so i can organise this prize to be sent to you

#3 - have you thought about using Cal Aqua Labs Black Earth Premium instead? I find it a better substrate than ADA Amazonia. 23.5 - 24.5 deg C is ok for CRS. If you can get it down to 22.5 - 23.5 deg C, that would be even better. Just need to turn down the heater a little.

Yeah i have been buying Up Aqua aswell so was good to put them in perspective side by side. I have never seen it done before obviously because it can make a product look worst then advertised. I for 1 am grateful you did it :)

I have always been a fan of the Up Aqua lights but agree with you Shaun, the ATLEDTiS has really pleasantly surprised me.

Thank you @Disciple, for the next review, I will be reviewing something from Germany....I thought it would be a refreshing change from most of the Japanese products ?

I have just tried that: when taking a photo with a camera flash, it is very noticeable. I tried it on a clean glass front with no calcium at all. Compared to a tad of boiling water and a tea towel, much more foggy glass result.

The trick is to wipe it off before it dries, otherwise you are just spreading around the calcium build up.

A few pics to update. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

H @VBSeeWee you'd want to have a read of the following posts ... Make sure you read right through it, as I talk about some flowers/plants to avoid. And this pinned post will also give you an idea of the many types of fruit and veg that can be fed.

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I use the SS covers from dural irragation, have been for a few years and it doesn't seem to bother the natives or cherries.

So I know I'm a few hours early for the Monday blues, but I cleaned my big tank yesterday and took a couple of shots. And by a couple, I mean 5. Got carried away sorry ;)

The reason the RCS might have cost you more would be because they were of good quality. There are definitely some cheaper lower grade RCS out there, but why get cheap, which tend to have less colour, when you can invest in a few good quality RCS of each sex that in the right conditions will breed nicely for you and produce alot of colour and activity in your tank? Good luck on getting it all sorted. I look forward to seeing pics of your busy tank soon ☺️.

Latest and greatest update is that it will be around June/July....stay tuned for a firmer date :-)