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Hello, Recently I bought a couple of Sötching oxydators from NewBreed Aquatics closing down sale, As I've been wanting one for awhile but didn't quite have to cash to fork out. These sold for $15ea at like 40% off. Shipping was really fast, and they arrived well packed in perfect order. The box comes with: 1x glass bottle with plastic lid 1x ceramic holster 2x Catylyst 2x 82.5ml bottles food grade H202 (4.9%) oxydator solution. Instruction manual. Basic instruction: fill glass bottle with H202 to within a few cm of the top. Add catalyst. 1 for <30L, 2 for 30-60L. Plug the cap back on carefully but tight, before inserting the bottle into the ceramic holster and placing in your aquarium. Choose the appropriate concentration of H202 for your application, and add the correct number of catylysts, by doing this you can tailor the oxygen production in your aquarium, For example: In my 40L tank I'm using straight 4.9% solution and 2 catalysts. Where as in my 10L nano I'm using 2.45% and only 1 catalyst, (diluted equal parts with distilled water) Store any spare catalysts somewhere safe so they don't get lost. As advertised, the sotching oxydator produces oxygen aswell as an "activated oxygen" which apparently has a lot to do with neutrient and micro neutrient bioavailability in plants. They are also said to reduce algaes esp blue green algae and green spot. Bubbling away peacefully in my tanks. :) they are lovely to watch when my Bazooka isn't running hehe. So whether you want to increase oxygen levels in a planted tank without increasing surface agitation (which outgasses precious co2), Increase DO levels to improve shrimplet or fry survival rates, Run a quite tank without a filter for example on your bedside table where an aquarium or scape would add a sense of peace and nature without loud bubbling or humming of filters that can be annoying, Help battle algaes or even just improve general fish and shrimp health this product does it all reliably. All in all, its clever German engineering combined with a sleek, sexy in tank look earns this product a full 5 stars from me. View full article

I love killies but don't actually have any experience with them. I am hoping to get a Betta soon so have been looking into 'LIVE' food a lot. I have nano fish anyway and they will enjoy the live food. I am going to try daphnia as there are some in a lake here so I can get someone to get me some. As far as I have seen on youtube videos the only thing I will need to get is some yeast so IF it works that should be EASY! I have also ordered a grindal worms kit. You don't need a kit if you again watch youtube videos, just some peat/soil and a small amount of dog kibble so again IF it works that is also EASY! These are the only 2 I have come across that I CONSIDER EASY, so will give them ago as they need virtually no special equipment other than stuff most people already have in the house. Here are a couple of the many I watched but you can do your own search for more videos if you want more. I won't be doing either on the scale of the videos though, 2L container for daphnia and whatever comes with the grindal worm kit. You don't need to buy a kit but between being lazy and housebound that is why I am getting a kit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dHJigrdzV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGEZX7BTPM As stated, not tried these yet but I will follow this thread with interest to see if there are any other EASY live foods. I can also get friends to get mosquito larvae from the lake but I am not breeding them indoors for obvious reasons, although fish love them, the riggle movement? Hope some of this helps with the 'EASIEST' question? Simon

Ok, trying again...maybe too small this time. Ammonia now down to 4ppm.

Update / summary: I got two cherry shrimp that look about the same from a local aquarium store with parameters: TDS 410 GH 14 KH 8 pH8. My own water is pH mid 6's, TDS 160, GH6 KH 0-1. Shrimp A got the 24 hour drip acclimation, which is: Day 0: TDS 410 -> 210 over 6 hours, rested overnight, then 201 -> 160 over a few hours, then... Day1: dump into tank, starts eating right away (I guess that is a good sign) Day 3: molted (maybe due to the transition) Day 4: still active, but losing color Day 8 : color returning Day 9: most of color returned Day 10: It molted again?? (for a shrimp of this size, I'd expect every 3 weeks) Day 11-12 (now): Has bad color again (clear and maroon instead of bright red) Shrimp B got a week's worth of acclimation, dropping about 20-40 TDS per day Day 5: It molted during the middle of acclimation (still too fast?) Day 8: dump into tank Day 12(now): still alive, but overall less active than Shrimp A. Never lost color, though I guess the lesson is that even a day might be too fast if the water conditions are very different, and the shrimp can still be "messed up" two weeks later. Here's a picture of the two shrimps next to each other.

Thanks mate :) Its an awesome product, I've been working on doing some experiments on two or maybe four 20L Neo tanks to compare shrimp breeding, colour and overall health with and without the oxydator, Leaving everything else as identical as possible. I'm pretty sure the one with the oxydator will grow better shrimp overall, But would be a really cool test just for a bit of fun. I'll update this with some progress pics from the two tanks they are currently in. So far very mixed results with plant growth haha In my Sanzon iwagumi nano scape the MC has just gone nuts since I added the oxydator, Though I've noticed a small patch of cyano that was there before I added it to the tank that has now started spreading quite far where it can across the soil, hasn't webbed across the plants like cyano typically does, Imo the oxydator is preventing this, and having a very posetive impact on this Monte Carlo. As well as general water clarity. I think the chain cranked along with some diatoms that grew on the layer of new black earth I added. Need to poke through the soil with a skewer as underneath the soil is starting to look a bit foul even though I've got tons of lava rock mixed through. As you can see the plants are healthy as even despite the lack of trace, yet anything that isn't living has mad algae growth haha I'm positive this is to do with the oxydators effects on the plants growth and bioavailability of Oxygen and nutrients in water.