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Forgot about the Xiaomi tds meters. Get it from here quick before the sale ends. https://newbreedaquatics.com.au/xiao-mi-tds-meter-preorder-.html?category_id=54 You might get an extra 10% off for being a SKFA member (not sure about sale items though). Use "SKF" at the checkout. LOL @Zebra. That looks like something the riot police use for crowd control. ?

The blue lab wands are the ducks guts, I use and like the Xioami tds meters, but the $5 ebay ones almost do just as good a job.

Hi @Cheza Hanna Instruments are good ... if you have cash to burn. Upwards of $100. HM digital is mid range. HM TDS-3 is $30 - $40. AP-1 is $35 - $45 (I have this one) 3.Then you have those no name ebay ones. $10-$25 Check ebay. There are even sites selling both TDS and pH meter for less than $20 !! They are so much cheaper now compared to when I first bought mine.

I Had to just cling wrap it up over night, I didn't want to start filling As since Jayc mentioned it I'm seeing huge gaps between the tank and table, I must not have noticed them when setting up this tank before- or the weight of the water just flexed the tank down against the table "shudders" so today I need to cut some underfoam (which I hate doing and will probably try do with my sliding mitre saw as I always end up with jagged crappy cuts when I use large scissors or sheers, Haha- or put a thin guitar string in the oven till it's really hot, then use that to slide through the foam heaps straight like a cheese knife- I hate cutting foam lol) Lol I should have listened when you first said it before I'd finished the scape- eh it's only a small tank should be easy enough to still get te foam under. Moral to the story? No matter how technical something gets never forget the basics. Lol Then just gotta plant the last few background plants, get the equipment in and running well, And make up some ferts for it :)

This is still a draft now final but can still be updated to accommodate new info. Please help me refine the terminology, and let me know if I have forgotten anything that has to be included. Common Terminology Tigers, Crystals and Taiwan Bees will all breed together. Here are some common terms or names that are used in the Shrimp hobby to describe various shrimp. The following picture from rah-bop will paint a better image as we go through the descriptions. Refer back to this picture as you read the descriptions. (Click to expand) What is a Tibee? A tibee is a hybrid between any Tiger (OEBT - orange eye blue tiger or also blonde tiger) - and usually a Taiwan Bee (TB) OR can also be hybrid between any Tiger and Crystals - CBS (Crystal Black Shrimp) and CRS (Crystal Red Shrimp). The preference is to cross with a Taiwan Bee. Since TBs are rarer and more expensive, you might not have enough TBs to breed. Using a Tiger as a partner to the Taiwan Bee, will ensure some genes are carried over when you cross the Tibee back with the Taiwan Bee parent. It's offspring could yield some Taiwan Bees. Crystals are more common. So a Tibee from TigerXCrystal is not as sought after. But nature can throw up some amazing colours from this hybrid too. I am working on a TigerXCRS myself to try to get some Red Tiger tibees. What is a TaiTibee? A Taitibee is a Tibee crossed back with a Taiwan Bee. What is a Pinto? A Pinto is a colour variation and type of Taitibee. There are 3 variants of patterns: Spotted Head Zebra Fancy - Such as skunk pattern and cloud patterns. The creative name for skunk pattern is derived from the black-and-white pattern, which very much resembles that of a skunk, especially due to the pattern on the head. And as the name suggests, the Cloud pattern very much resembles clouds shapes on the head of the shrimp. Colouration of pintos generally come in either black or red base. Black Zebra Pinto Red Zebra Pinto Cloud Pinto Skunk Pinto What is a Mischling? Mischling is a German word for "crossbreed" (plural: Mischlinge). A mischling (in the shrimp hobby) is a hybrid cross between Crystals and Taiwan Bees. When this crossbred mischling is crossed with another CRS, it's genetics are diluted, and you get a small % of Taiwan Bees. When mischlings are crossed with another mischling it's genetics are even more diluted. And the % of TB are even smaller to the point of never getting a TB. It's like striking Lotto. However, when you cross a mischling back with a Taiwan Bee, you get a larger % of TBs, but with the added benefit of strengthening it's gene pool when it's original parents were mixed with a CRS. BlueBolts has already started an excellent sticky thread on Mischling here: http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php/topic/714-minchlings/ This article is a supplement to information already on SKF. It is by no means trying to supersede any information found elsewhere. Here is an excellent explanation from Ineke as well “Taiwan Bees crossed with Crystals give Mischlings which are then crossed back to Taiwan Bees to help people get to their goals quicker in having more Taiwan Bees (TB) however on this forum we like to let people know when Mischling bloodlines appear in our breeding so more initials are added. If you get a King Kong (KK) Bluebolt (BB), Panda or any other TB from a TB/ Mischling cross we like to let people know by saying we have a KK(TBM)-King Kong from TB / Mischling. If you are lucky enough to get a TB. From 2 Mischlings it would be a KK (TBMM) or whatever type of TB you have. This just keeps people honest and let's buyers know that they will get a percentage of Mischlings from their TBM / TBMM. Nothing worse than having Mischlings showing up in your TB. Breeding program when you thought you had purebreds". What is a Tibee cross Mischling? To my knowledge, this has not been given a common name yet. It's still a Caridina Cantonensis. It's still a bee shrimp. It is just a different colour variant. Let's call this variant a "Tischling" for now (03Oct2014), unless someone can confirm a common name that pre-dates this name. This Tischling is an uncommon hybrid, possibly because the desirable genetic traits are too diluted and takes the shrimp keeper further away from achieving desirable goals. Not when there are easier and faster breeding choices that would achieve the same goal. Like for instances, using the Tibee or Mischling to be crossed back to a pure Tiger, Crystal or Taiwan Bee. A hybrid Mischling might carry recessive traits, and is unseen (like a specific colour), and crossing it with another hybrid Tibee would be like trying to get a certain colour (say red), from something that doesn't show any colour. A complete guess.

SKF Aquatics (Shrimp Keepers Forum) welcomes Kingo. Please feel free to browse around and get to know others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. View Member regards, skfadmin G'day all. New aquarist, even newer CRS keeper. Planted tank enthusiast, Qlder from Brisbane.

Dude, what an awesome thread! It looks fantastic.

Haha for sure. These are more for hydroponics but great and conveinient to use especially if you had racks and that, can just test them while standing up.- kinda dear though. But they like never need calibration even after rioting lol They also read in both scales (tds and ec)

That was quick! The tank is flooded already. This will be a nice Buce tank once everything starts growing. Good to see that foam there. And you used black ! Sooo much nicer. It's more ... stealth. That chip in the glass at the corner looks a bit suss.

Just a quick description of the plants used in this setup by order of coloured circles lol: Pink- B. Lamandau Blue- B. Mini Brownie Purple Orange- B. Dark Suken Red- B. Theia Green- B. Mini something something lol. Black- B. Gianmara White- B. Lamandau Mini Red Yellow- B. Forgoton lol

Welcome aboard!

Just about done now, just a few more cups of white sand to spread around, I'm still thinking about planting some amazon swords between the bolbitus- or just cover the top of the AS with black lava rocks for the bolbitus to grow over, which should also help keep all the soil down. The glass skimmer pipe was heaps overwhelming and probably not needed on a small tank like this so I went with a standard prefilter- this way can be a full shrimp breeding tank too haha. I have C. Pygmeaus and C. Hasbrosus that I was trying to breed but they just came from the petshop and I'm sure they are past their fertile stages now and probably won't breed so one or both species may end up in here lol, also have some otos and different algae shrimp once it's all cycled through. Well here it is anyway:

Welcome. :) Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Thanks @Zoidburg for the link provided, but allow me to just remind you that in my original post I did mention that I am wanting to also keep RCS once again so if all goes "balls up" with my parametres at least I know I can do slight tweaking to allow me to have them instead of just CRS. I am happy either way and yes, in a perfect world I would love to have both species in the tank but if that is not what fate dictates in the long run I will stick to whichever will be easier to manage with my ability and time constraints. Seems the latter conversations here have been slightly slanted towards the housing of CRS only...I am happy to just one species if that is all that can be managed. I just no longer want fish in that tank...in such a small space it was really laborious. I hope that is cleared up and again thank you for your ongoing advice and help, look forward to more of your guidance in the future.

I think the ph and kh is too high. Use the SS GH+ for the neos. And the nitrate is getting on the high side for both neos and crystals. Try bringing it down. What does the shrimp look like when they die?

Going with Cal Aqua Labs Black earth for the soil at the back, then just white PFS for the front, would love some La planta sand or something if I could afford it lol but I think PFS is a good choice a short it's kind of off white and gives a more natural look to pure white sand, Plus for te price if it does get really dirty you can just vacuum it all out and replace it cheap and easy enough. It's usually better to mix the clay with a small amount of water the day before when doing this, but I was trying to get large amounts of salt out and didn't mind if te clay didn't 100% dissolve as this will further help its longevity underwater, just like the layer of clay or silt under natural river beds, and this way I'll never have to dose bentonite in this tank! Lol Rinsing it through in cold water trying to draw out as much salt as possible and wash off any fine sandy particals. I then strained out as much water as I could with my hands before mixing through some k2so4 and some dechlorinator (just dechlorinator- this one doesn't remove heavy metals or no4, I want to keep all the good trace elements in the clay so they can help slowly provide a constant supply to the water colomn.) Potassium also helps neutralise salt. I waited an hour or so before rinsing one last time, Then added a decent amount of k2s04 and used the dechlorinator to bring it back to the right consistancy, I would have added some Gypsum (CaSo4) if I had it. Then mixed together thoughoughly till it made a nice firm clay. I took the clay and started applying, working it into the more delicate parts of the layout first, With some of the more painful rocks at the back, I picked them up and placed a dob of clay underneath before pressing them firmly into place which worked great. Most of the others I just covered as best I could, pushing the clay down deep as I could into the rocks, And other then the mess I made on the walls etc, you can't see any of the structural clay on the front. I over filled, Then wiped off most of the excess with my hands before giving it all a clean up with a wet sponge, once the walls were clean I went back over the clay with the damp sponge to better smooth and flatten it out, also a final chance to press it down further, And this worked out really well.

Hi jayc I used just tap water to start my cycle and for each water change for the first 3 weeks then for the next 2 weeks I have used RO remineralised with the Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+, I will do a partial water change using treated tap water and go back to remineralised RO when adjusting after cycle has finished. Thanks everyone for your advice. Hi ineke, thanks for the info I will be sure to acclimatise them real slow when I get them, and I will buy a tds. meter and check that and temp before transferring them to the tank thank you for your help and advise it is much appreciated Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers mate, my rule of thumb for foam is on anything 2ft and above, this tank has been setup many times on all sorts of weird tables, but your right I should have some under there, mmmm I might scrounge around and see what I've got, would be a shame for something to happen to the tank for the sake of a few bucks. Thats what I use for my other tanks haha, I didn't know you could get solid ones, that's awesome, mine have holes like. Foam is a good idea, just I get OCD about keeping everything natural except the tech haha I filled the gaps under and around the main lava rock from the back with smaller peices, then went to woolies and got some clay cat litter- 100% sodium bentonite. I'm going to process this in 2 different ways to make my clay. I would have got calcium or potassium bentonite if possible but this is so cheap and readily avaliable And I'm not using it for calcium or other nuetrients (though it still has plenty of each and more) So I'm going to neutralise the sodium and chloride content, And amend it with k2so4, Fe and a little Cal bentonite rendering it potassium bentonite more or less :) Veiw from the back: Like building a natural stone wall I tried best to select pieces of smaller rock that would fit snug into the gaps, Filling the whole way around the main hardscape with first smaller sized then larger black lava rock, which apart from restricting the clays direct contact with the water should help strengthen the structure as one whole.

? starting to look much better now. Another option to prevent the aquasoil moving is to use foam under the rocks. Push the rocks into the foam to fill the gaps under the rocks ... preventing soil from sliding under and moving through. Then fill soil/substrate as per normal. Talking about foam ... I hope you are going to use some under the tank ... or risk cracking the tank once it is filled. No table is 100% flat. The pressure and weight of those rocks + water will eventually find the weakest spot. Oh, and don't use regular white aquarium foam. They look uggglllllyy. This looks much better ... https://www.bunnings.com.au/polytuf-50-x-50cm-solid-black-foam-mats-4-pack_p4490382

DO NOT bust up that lava rock. It looks amazing. If you have seen my tanks then you know i'm not a scapers toe nail but IMO the rock on the left needs to be turned 180deg so it kind of flows left to right and is in balance with the big rock on the right. It looks like it is leaning against the glass so this may be easier said than done. Love your work @Zebra.

@Filter Systems Australia tried to add a review on your website for the GT1-70DIALK, but couldn't. Kept saying the "Review Summary can't be empty". I'll paste my review here for later, and when you get it fixed, I can paste it on your webpage. "Excellent RO/DI system. Produces 0 (zero) TDS water which is a perfect base for Softwater fish and Shrimps. Service is excellent and the Staff are friendly at FSA. Pick up a TDS meter and pH pen from the "Filtration Component" section while you are at it. These are two essential tools for any aquarist."

Hi all, Saw the discount available and went ahead and bought the $155 dollar RO unit. Cody was very helpful and explained that it also includes a DI resin. Do I need to do anything besides remineralising it with the DI to make the water safe for shrimp? Planning to use seachem equilibrium for remineralising.