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Just on the subject of foam - your tip@jayc re bunnings polytuf mat was a good one. They are adequately thick, affordable and look good in my opinion :-) Keep us posted@Jarad love ya work mate as always!

Purigen's main role is absorbing organics before it turns into Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Purigen is not the best at absorbing colour bodies or tannin. But it does absorb some of it, activated carbon does a far better job. So it only dampens the pH lowering properties of the peat, but it still removes some of the humic acids and colour. Trace elements released by peat will not be absorbed by Purigen, as it only targets organic compounds. This is what one of the Seachem tech support guys said on their forum... "Using Purigen will not have any impact on the benefits of peat. While Purigen will remove the color bodies, unlike carbon and other chemical filtration medias, it does not remove trace minerals. So, you can use Purigen without loosing the pH buffering ability and the trace elements produced by the peat. However, because it will remove the color bodies, the water would be fairly clear and Purigen would not be the product to use if you were seeking a blackwater look to the tank. " and " Purigen is an organic scavenging resin that remove nitrogenous waste at an unbelievable rate. It does not remove any other elements such as metals, trace elements, or nutrients from the water column. It removes nitrogenous waste before it can convert into ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. It has such great capacity for organics, that it has become known as a "protein skimmer in a bag"! It also does a fantastic job at removing tannins and color bodies from the water. " Just remember this ... Purigen is not a long term filtration media. It performs a role. Use it only when you need it to perform it's function, then remove it. Purigen should not be used long term in the tank, and left forgotten in the filter or bag. This goes for activated carbon, macropore and most chemical filtration media as well.

Thank you guys very much for the advice, i really appreciate it. I don't know how it survived the delivery and i guess my tank was acting like an egg tumbler with the suface agitation and bubbles it created. Ill try to keep him away from the bad colors neo to prevent WT. if this guy is blue i'll name him optimus prime :) ill keep an update on this little guy! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Great videos! I can definitely see a saddle on the red female! The yellow female looks like her saddle is smaller and it blends in, too... An adult male would be smaller than an adult female, and the difference is pretty obvious, too! :)

The stud just made an appearance and I caught him... with a huge long string of a turd hanging out his bottom. Yuck! [emoji12] Still thought I'd share anyway. He's improved since I last had a chance to get a pic of him.

Still working on the sump design, Loving teaching myself 3d modeling at the same time :)

Could have even been a hitchhiker baby in the subwassertang. That's honestly more likely, considering the fact that shrimp don't lay eggs. They carry the eggs around with them, then the eggs hatch and the babies get "kicked" away from the mother. It's like the mother can tell when the eggs are hatching, and will constantly fan the eggs, which might help assist in the egg hatching process? I guess the next question might be, what kind of baby shrimp did you end up with???? :D I'd personally bump up the GH just a tad, since 4 is on the low end, but other than lowering the temperature to around 74°, as long as there are no spikes and the numbers don't get too high, the little one should do fine!

Are these giant bloody mary? Or are theses CRS shrimplets? Big difference in size I envy you, they are sooooo beautiful

You have shrimp in the tank while it is still cycling? I thought the tank was empty apart from plants. In that case, yes, lower the temps. The bacteria colonisation will slow a bit compared to a warmer temp, but you have to think about the shrimp in there as a priority. Now that you have livestock in there, I suggest you look into getting that "Bacteria in a bottle" to boost bacteria growth asap. Or squeeze the junk from an old filter media into your tank. It might look dirty, but it will boost bacteria numbers instantly, and the dirty look will be gone after a short period. Try to avoid cycling a new tank with shrimps in it. As contentious as the subject is, a fish would have had a better chance of survival in a new tank than shrimp. It takes a while to see the effects of shrimp exposed to too much ammonia.

Now it's time for a little update :) Paracaridina Blue Bee: My Little Reef 28L: Some my New Shrimp ( Aura Blue and Rote Tupfel) My PRL: And my SCR: Thanks :) And My Sulawesi :

Reading about the zebra shrimp made me think about someone who's breeding tiger mixes and raising them in tiger/neo parameters, despite the fact that they are mixed with bee shrimp. The female tiger shrimp would be introduced to the bee tank, would berry up, then be transferred back to their own tank. The offspring would thus be raised in the tiger parameters. I wonder if something similar could be achieved with these zebra shrimp, although it may be somewhat more difficult. I've seen some people say to use Epsom salts to raise the GH in the tank. I just don't necessarily think it's a good approach personally.

@s1l3nt is a fan of apistos but he too lament on the lack of them in the hobby nowadays. He should be pretty cluey where to get some in Sydney.

Hi RW92 The WP for the fish tank are fine. Also the TDS for fish is not so critical as long as it is stable, providing it is not up super high like over 600 or so. I just monitor mine, as i use tap water and not RO, to have an idea where it is but never try to change it as i'm just to lazy. The KH and GH are also good for almost all fish and would only need to be lowered for the shrimp to get it where you want. The remineralizer you have is for bringing up the GH and KH of RO water from 0 to your desired level. The lazy way, and much cheaper, is to mix tap water with RO and get the desired level. This does not work if there are other impurities in your tap water that you dont want and can be a bit tricky if your tap water changes throughout the year as some do. The test kits for GH and KH are a general guide and give a pretty broad range, for drops in 5ml of water, of ppm. This can be converted to dKH by dividing by 28 (i think, can somebody correct me there). To get a more accurate measurement the water volume can be increased to 10ml. Generally if you quote the drops per 5ml water then most people know what you are talking about. Adding bacteria to your water, in my opinion, is a waste of time and money. You would benefit from taking a sponge out of the established tank and putting it in the new tanks filter. Best spot would be at the start of the flow in the filter so any bacteria that gets washed out of it will be washed through the new filters media. That will cut the cycle time by weeks. Keep the updates coming along with the photo's.

+10 to everything zoidburg said. 28degC or 82-83degF is ideal for growing bacteria. You don't need it at 86° F. Too cold and too hot can slow bacteria growth. TDS meter is highly recommended as already mentioned. The 2 other things I would do is change the filter media: 1) Remove the coarse sponge, keep the fine and medium sponge. Fill the space with biological filter media like ceramic noodles, marine pure spheres, eheim substrat pro, biohome. The more the better. Maximise the Sunsun 602b's wasted space with this bio media. The space under the plastic stand can house a layer of bio media. The space on the top plastic tray can also hold a layer of bio media. 2) Stop CO2 injection until the tank is cycled. CO2 drops pH, whereas bacteria like higher pH. If you want a faster cycling time, keep the pH up above 7. After cycling you can drop it to 6.6-6.8. The tank's current 6.4 pH is already slowing bacteria multiplying. Our tap water in Aus is usually 7.8 pH, which is perfect for cycling tanks. So if your tap water is similar, do a water change now to raise pH.

Bump your tank up to 86° F during the cycle. It will help the bacteria grow a bit faster. Once the cycle is over, you can drop it back down to 68-72° F. Shouldn't need any carbon in the filter, unless you are trying to clean the water/remove meds. Probably don't need the copper test. Maybe ask your LFS if they can test for it? Been in the hobby for about a year, give or take... I don't have a copper test and I don't believe most hobbyists use one. Unless you have an issue with large amounts of copper in your water or you have a lot of copper pipes, I'd just recommend putting that money towards a TDS meter instead.