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This made me giggle because it's so true! I would do a zig zag quickly through the tank to try and count them ? A good problem to have nonetheless!

I got mine from petbarn. They are good tanks except the light might need upgrading for anything other then java moss. Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk Oh yeah and get rid of the filter cartridges and use something else. You would figure that out on your own but just saving you the time. Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

Try the aquaone aquanano series. I like the 40 but thereis a 50 and maybe a 60 now. Good tanks with a rear sump system. A sponge over the intake and it is shrimp safe. Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

HI mate, All ok here by and large! Of course the hobby always has its ups and downs but my shrimp are alright at the moment. I'm just keeping some cherry shrimps and a colony of mostly S grade CRS that I started a year or so ago. Interested to see what you end up doing. [emoji111] [emoji173] Will

A week I think, not long at all

Sorry about no article guys, been super busy all week. Will get to it this weekend for sure, promise! Trying to work on my website to get the articles up on there too. Back to topic, i have rarely ever (if ever) seen anything but brine shrimp at LFS's around me. I know of 2 that have carried blackworms (at premiums) but they are far away from me. I've not seen stuff like grindals, banana worms, white worms, etc. I wish these were more accessible here! The rest of the world (especially US) has so many live foods, I want them here! More live foods!! :D I've fed ants and similar to my fish in the past, probably not the best idea as you don't know where they have been. I've had "maggots" and "flies" appear in micro worm cultures and similar, which I feed to fish. They don't seem to mind at all... I figure they are decent protein anyway. haha.

gh is the amount of magnesium and calcium ions in the water kh is the amount of carbonate ions in the water follow me on this adding calcium chloride will raise gh but not kh adding sodium bicarbonate will raise kh but not gh adding sodium chloride will raise neither. Adding magnesium sulphate will raise gh. Kh provides ph buffering

Welcome @milbog

Oh, you mean the white tiny crustaceans? These are ostracods aka seed shrimps. Harmless. They just let you know your water tank is perfect, as they thrive in well balanced tanks

A couple things have changed around here, how long has the new logo been up? Looks good.

​That's your choice of course. Boiling water will kill BBA real fast. Just saying. Ohh, show us your light when you get it. Come back here to talk to me when you get your controller. I can help with using the software that you use to program the sunrise/sunset.

Awesome - shrimp to the rescue!

Solution found, leave water parameters alone, obtain Amano shrimp that will eat the stuff. Added 7 Amanos and within days noticed a decrease in the thready stuff.

Well, I tested it and I have 0.5ppm phosphate. Not sure what the optimal range is.

I dont think there is supposed to be a specific ratio as different plants seem to utilise slightly different ratios of each. I think its more important that there is at least some phosphate because the plants will not be able to utilise the nitrates without the phosphate, whereas (I'm guessing) the algae can. This may be the cause of your algae issues.

This looks like spirogyra and is one of the toughest algae to get rid off. -Remove as much as you can manually. -As for all fillamentous algae increasing flow should help. - introduce more plants to suck up the available minerals or run activated carbon to deprive them of food and they will eventually die, plants can sustain longer so they will hang up for longer period. - for heavy infestations You can use blackout method for 5 days by covering the tank using blanket with lights off.

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.