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Hi Team, So here is the list of what has been purchased 900x400x200 PPG starphire glass rimless tank (custom build) 10mm glass Flat one ONF+ warm white 60 cm pendant light (rated for 17 to 20 gallons - so hopefully can put it high and it will be bright enough! - the 90cm is rated for 40 to 48 gallons) Eheim ecco 130 filter Seachem Matrix (for the filter) DOOA Stream Pipe ARC P-2 (13mm) DOOA Stream Pipe V-1 (13, H15mm) ADA power sand advance 2 kg ADA amazonia fine granules 9L ADA amazonia II (with extras) 9L ADA cube garden mat 8mm 900x450 ( will have to trim it) Seachem flourishm liquid fertiliser I think other than some tweezers and curved scissors that is it so far.. I will start to post pics when the tank arrives! Thanks and have a great day sub

Hello, I have recently started working towards keeping shrimp. We keep other terrestrial invertebrates (isopods, mantises, and cockroaches) and thought that shrimp would pose an interesting new challenge. With our mantises, we have focused on bioactive vivariums that include a cleanup crew, microfauna, and plants. That isn't the norm for mantises, but it is almost a necessity in the shrimp-keeping hobby from what I have seen. We intend to take the same approach, including heavily planted tanks, shrimp, snails, and possibly some mosquito rasboras if we are able to establish our shrimp well. I have some experience with aquariums through helping my dad, who has had several freshwater and saltwater aquariums. That said, shrimp are completely new to us. My goal is to establish two shrimp tanks, a 7 gallon and a 1 gallon. I understand that smaller is harder. 7-Gallon Tank Started with the Imagitarium 6.8g rimless tank from Petco. Modified the filter system to include more biomedia and a more powerful water pump. Using Eco-Complete for substrate since it is widely recommended for planted tanks and shrimp look better on dark substrate from what I read. Using Mopani wood as our primary hardscape. We soaked it for several days prior to adding to the tank, but it continues to leech some tannins. We are trying to stay fairly focused on plants, especially in the beginning. No CO2, but we are dosing ferts and Excel. Our plants include: Bacopa as a background plant. S. repens as a mid-ground sort of plant. I plan on letting it create bushes more than creating a carpet. Micro-sword for a foreground carpeting plant. Anubias nana for mid-ground/background. I would like to add a little dwarf water lettuce but haven't yet found a source. Our plants are notably lacking moss, which I read is preferred for shrimp. We may end up adding a little java moss but I am hoping the micro-sword will give them enough surface area to be happy. Once cycled, we will be adding shrimp. We are likely going to get blue velvets, starting with 10-15. Once the shrimp are added, the fish will be moving out. To start out, we are working on cycling the tank. We used some stuff from an established aquarium and added Safestart+ to kickstart the bacteria. Keeping the tank at about 78F with a few Zebra Danios and two mystery snails to keep ammonia going while the bacteria gets established. We are dosing Prime and doing daily water changes to keep the temporary inhabitants happy. It was started about a week and a half ago, and while we aren't seeing ammonia dissipate like we want, it is steadily working. We don't plan to add shrimp until we have 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite. Here are some photos of the process and where we are now: First setup, keeping plants in as we get the hardscape ready After setting up wood and the rest of the plants 1-Gallon Tank Started with a one gallon vivarium style container from Michael's Originally planned on it being a no-tech tank, but decided I would be happier with some water movement and filtration. I designed a custom water pump sponge filter. Used Eco-Complete for Substrate Using Malasian driftwood for hardscape. Sticking to fewer plants for this build to stay more organized. Monte carlo planted in substrate for carpet, and a monte carlo mat to cover up the filter. A little bush of s. repens. A small bit of anubias nana. Would like to add a floating plant, but havent been able to source any. Once cycled, I will be adding shrimp. Planning on 5 RCS or orange rili to start. Cycling this tank has been much harder so far. We added some Safestart+, but have not seen any real progress yet. I am keeping two small nerite snails in here to create the ammonia, feeding them since algae hasn't established. This tank will be much more of a custom project for us. I designed and built a 1"x2"x3" large water pump sponge filter to help the water stay a little more clear and give the bacteria some flow to process the ammonia. For the lid, we are also going completely custom, designing an acrylic and wood lid with built in lighting and containment for floating plants. We have a laser cutter and CNC so it is fun to have the lid be a separate design project. My goal with the lights is to have too much light available, and the ability to dim. That way we can grow the plants but turn down to reduce algae problems as needed. This tank will eventually go on my desk at work. Since it is a pretty professional environment, it is important that this tank isn't noisy or technical looking, and is attractive for client meetings in my office. There is a rather small available footprint which is why we went with the 1-gallon, even though it will be more challenging. So far, it looks like we are getting a little nitrite, but its slow going. Doing daily water changes and dosing Prime so we don't kill off the snails. Here is the custom filter. The sponge media goes in the acrylic cage, and water is pushed out the grated hole. It fits neatly behind the driftwood and is not visible except from directly in the back. The top is covered in a monte carlo mat to hide it better. Here it is set-up and slowly cycling. We are temporarily using a CFL hood for the light to keep the plants going well. It also raises the water temperature to about 75F, not very high for establishing bacteria. I already received some good advice from @jayc regarding how the temperature needed for Zebra Danios is lower than the recommended temperature to get bacteria growing quickly. I am hopeful that with some patience and careful monitoring, the danios will stay healthy and the bacteria will get going. I have read many articles about fish/fishless cycling and do not plan to change to fishless for this build. Any comments or advice appreciated. We are taking it slow, but are getting excited for cycling to complete so we can start adding shrimp.

I have been using UP Aqua Shrimp Sand 1mm size for years with great success. Perfect product for me. However... I recently bought some from Tech Den (Australia). It was a larger size, about 2-3mm, and looked a little different. It came in a vacuum-packed bag, instead of loose in a regular bag. I figured it's just the larger size that I have heard about, but that it would be basically the same. Not! Within 90 days most of it has disintegrated to dust. Stirring up the substrate produces dense, heavy clouds of 'smoke' - the disintegrated material. It's a disaster. Also the water chemistry is not quite the same. OK, but not perfect like before. Has anyone else experienced a change in this product, or know whether there is a fake version around? Do any Australians here know where to buy the good 1mm UP Aqua Shrimp Sand, in the ordinary (non-vacuum) bag? Thanks.

Hello SKF readers! To save me starting multiple threads and also so I know here to find answers I am doing a journal/question thread. If I put this in the wrong spot JayC/mods then feel free to move it or tell me to re-make :D Sorry.... this WILL be long probably and I appreciate any time you take to read and answer my questions! So, on Thursday (edit: tomorrow now according to an email from AU Post) I have a package coming from The Tech Den with a Aquael Shrimp Set Smart 30 and a few other goodies. My plans so far are: Iron sand (found posts saying shrimp when ok with it).... May need more than the 2kg I initially got...? An amazing piece of Gold Vine that I found at my local pet store The light and filter (modified) from the kit with the heater only being used in winter if needed Filtered water (RO maybe? It is a 2 canister counter top carbon and sediment drinking water filter gifted by my mum a few months ago. Unsure brand etc) with JayC’s DIY remineraliser IAL and alder cones Some ceramic hidey holes API GH/KH and Master kits TSD pen - Xiaomi Professional TDS Meter from eBay Still need: TDS pen as I forget to check the pet store and Tech Den were out – Recommendations? Plants Shrimp – Would like blue dreams and maybe glass shrimp Fish – Big IF! I am worried about eating all the baby shrimp. Spotted rasbora since they are sooo tiny if any. So, according to the local store the light from the kit is pretty good and I have seen quite a few good things about the filter around YT and such. I was thinking of modifying it like this with a single though: https://youtu.be/I_ckQpO8GBo My old 16L (does not fit in spot and wary of using for fish since it housed mice) has been a bit of a dummy test on water temps and for the last week has been in a safe range. None of these have been 40+ days though so I will probably need to air-con or get a cooler for coming into next summer.... or something (nowhere near planned this part since should be cooling off by time cycled). So... to break up some questions that relate to the ‘still need’ list: - I was thinking plant wise Anubias nana petite, Java fern narrow (still need to source somewhere to get... not sure local store has anything other than plain) and.... a moss... I was hoping for something less stringy than Java moss. It is just so..... wild lol Fissiden sp. ‘Vietnam’ and Mini Pellia are calling to me but are slow growers and needs med-high light and I think Co2... filter has a Co2 option if needed.... but NO clue what a 6w, 8000K LED translates to on a nano tank... and I guess that would depend on other planting... Also pondering about Peacock and Phoenix? But probably similar problem.... Maybe I should just wait for if I get a bigger tank.... for anything other than Java lol *sighs* - Sourcing blue dream shrimp! Your trade section does not seem to get many responses lol My local has glass shrimp (Australian... soooo Paratya australiensis?) who looked blue tinged at least, cherry red and cherry yello but no source of cherry blue. Would appreciate sources to get from Newcastle or Sydney! Gumtree makes me hesitate though I have found people with them up on there. One seems a safer bet but maybe not as easy to get to. A second one has potential and very easy for me to get to for Newcastle (no car). - Now... going with plants that don’t need a planted substrate.... should I still actually go with an actual buffering/planted substrate for bacterial reasons...? Should I add hidden biomedia sock or anything like that since the bacteria won’t really colonise in a thin layer of sand, unlike a planted tank. Starting to get into the excited but freaking out I am doing something to mess it up bad stage. Blue dreams are more expensive than I was wanting to be learning on... but if I get red cherries that would just mean another tank later lol

Hey hey hey, Hows things everyone? Ive been getting right back into shrimp in a major way now, Had a few days spare so I got around to re-sealing an old tank I had laying around and building a quick stand for it. This is being setup as a shrimp/ low tech planted mostly somewhere for all my anubias to live I have some rather large varieties now, just some lava rock as the main hardscape, then course white sand, lots of ferns etc. standard aquaone heater, and the filter I'm running is an aquaone 1050 series ii. It's quite new I got it on the cheap ages ago and it's sat there lol. The tank was already drilled through the bottom panel from an older project, so I decided to run a closed plumbing system which seems to have stopped the notorious dead spots you sometimes get in tanks bigger then 4ft. And it's working great with only a relatively small filter. Probably Going to end up being for my chameleons and or something else. Loving life right now, even though I didn't sleep and it's water change day today haha peace ✌️

Hey everyone how's things? So I was on and off with shrimp the last 6 months or so while I was doing other things and getting into nano softwater fish, building tanks and saving money, now I've got a bit more free time again I just bought a ton of new tanks, equipment and shrimp in the last few months, it's all coming together now. This is what my lounge room/fish room looks like ATM lol

Hi everyone im new to this site. I was looking for some advice. I have a 5ft tank i was looking to divide into 4 sections for shrimp. I dont want to run a canister filter if possible and i have sponge filters ready to go but does anybody think glass dividers are a bad option?

Hello, Just wanted to share a build I've been working on. I bought this small 2ft beta tank divided into 5, and figured for the price of doing each one individually I'd have a go at plumbing my first sump. I got an old tank I had lying around that fits under a 3ft stand perfectly, and a 3ft stand. I cut down the stand but haven't taken a router to the one plain edge yet, meh. Drilled a 1" hole in each section and just siliconed in a mixture of pvc and poly pipe fittings cause it was like $20 instead of 5 bulkheads for like $50. Im just using 13mm poly irrigation pipe and droppers as the return back into the tanks, there's a ball valve on the return so Majority of the flow just recirculates through the sump keeping the water pristine for the shrimp. ? Waiting on a proper return pump and stainless steel shrimp guards that just slip straight over the poly fittings inside the tank. Still a work in progress, I have to figure out the best design for the sump, I'm thinking something that will help cool down the whole system etc, need to design it all before I find some 2nd hand glass to get my DIY on lol. Any ideas welcome. cheers

hi all. i have just got my hands on a plain rectangle 20l tank which i am looking at making into a shrimp tank. i am planning on a heater and filter but i would like advice on substrate plants plant additives as i wont be using co2 any advice would be great

What clever ways have you come up with for jump-proofing a shrimp tank, to protect from losses of jumpy species like Darwin Red-nose Shrimp? The tricky part is that I want a glass-free method for the Summer time, because my cooling system relies on evaporation using fans across the water surface. It also needs to look neat, and not cost an arm and a leg. Easy, right?! This is what my tank rim looks like. Usually the water level is a little higher.

Hi all, would like to share the progress of my nano shrimp tank that i am currently setting up. Tank: Fluval Edge 23l Filtration: Aquaone hang on back Lighting: 2ft Up Aqua LED Hardscape: Bonsai wood, Cholla wood and mopani driftwood Plants:  Taiwan moss  Bucephalandra  Native Stringy moss Livestock: Blue dream shrimp Update # 1 : I have recently added the driftwood into the cycled water and am now waiting for the driftwood to sink. I have also added Salty Shrimp Mineral Gh/kh to remineralise the RO water. In addition, i have also added some bacteria powder to the tank. Tank right now Update #2 ... The tank has cycled and i have started to introduce the livestock, moss and bucephalandra. I have tied some bucephalandra "Red Jade" onto the bonsai wood and some native stringy moss onto the pieces of cholla wood and shrimp cave. Also have added a driftwood containing some taiwan moss. Looking forward to see how the plants develop as they become more established. First inhabitants BLUE DREAMS !!!☺️

Hi all and welcome to the journey of my shrimp tank. Decided i would start up another shrimp tank so i purchased a 70L rimless. ? Setup Details: Tank: 70 Litre. 61x30.5x38. (2 foot) Filtration: 1 Sponge Filter and 1 HOB (Marina S20) Lighting: eBay Light Substrate: CAL AQUA LABS - Fine Hardscape: Gold Vine Driftwood, Cholla Wood Plants: Needle Leaf Java Fern, Java Moss, Blyxa Japonica Also added: Mineral Balls, IAL, Alder cones. Hope thats all for setups? Initially was not going to scape the tank in any particular way but i have quite some bit of driftwood laying around so why not! Will be housing CRS. and keeping it low tech if possible with blyxa. So i got a new shelf. those two empty cubes will have a bonsai and a terrarium for display. Does anyone sell ADA stickers so i can stick it onto my tank? ? Added some mineral powders and bacteria. Set up hardscape. (no rocks as i am keeping it simple) I left a large open space on the left only because itll be easier to see shrimp and not take up too much with the scaping. So i kept it to a minimum. And then comes the plants. Needle Leaf Java Fern Blyxa Japonixa Java Moss. Also added gravel because i have them in my other tanks and i love the look. Once everything is set, i will make the gravel look less organised.. AANNNNDDD now the wait for the cycle to finish... ? Added bio balls from old tank into HOB. Using sponge filter i have prepped for three weeks. Added some old filter floss also into the HOB along with fresh floss. Slowly removing air bubbles from subsrate also. Will upload tank photo once everything is setlled. Maybe later today.

Hi I've been keeping shrimp for about a year now and I just wanted to find out how everyone else cleans the tank without throwing away babies? I siphon an icecream bucket of water out then sit it under a light and fish out any fry with a syringe. Have any of you got different/better strategies? Here is my 30L 'jungle' tank I've got RCS, Red Rilli and there was three Caridina Spp that have recently had babies I kind of scaled it to start with but I've gradually added things until it went wild. Here are some pics Caridina Spp Female Rescued Caridina Spp Babie (these guys are so small I suck them up with a syringe after siphoning) https://vimeo.com/168918484 Here is a baby RCS on some cholla wood (at the bottom near the sand) Adult Cherry Red Rilli Buried Cherry Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well on the weekend drove from Brisbane to Maryborough for a breeding system. Was a long drive and even longer home thanks to some fallen power lines just out of Gympie. But for the price it was worth the drive. Wooden stand, 12 2ft tanks, 4ft sump, lights, sump pump, some media and all plumbing for a crazy price of $300!!! Only problem is that I have no room until I buy a house at the end of the year. So this will sit at dads house until then. All 13 tanks went into the cruiser and the stand into the trailer. Few pics of the car and trailer Will be changing it around a little bit. Not to keen on the way the sump is set up so will be changing that. White paint will come off and redone in black. Currently the top tanks feed to the bottom tanks then to the sump and pump back up to the top so that will be changed. Will have another 3 tanks next to the sump that will run separately. Depending on how big the shed will be maybe another 6 tanks on top. Re-enforce the stand. Take out the fluros for some LED's. Thats it for the moment I think. Will be updating when I change things around. If you guys have any idea's for it don't be shy! This will be my first shrimp system. Cheers Zac

I've been told to get the AquaOne nano out of its temporary location inside the house so decided to upgrade it at the same time. New tank 2' x 1' x 1' going in the garage on my tool rack currently doing a water leak test. Equipment list ordered: Up Aqua Pro Z LED Light ordered from SKF Sponsor @newbreed Fluval 201 ordered from SKF Sponsor @ageofaquariums Mr Aqua Black Gravel 9Kg ordered from SKF Sponsor @newbreed Black Vinyl sheet for tank back ordered from eBay

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

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.

Standby! gotta take daughter to swimming lesson then i will edit this post. So maintain all that excitement you had when you read the topic! I assure you it wont be worth it! lol Okie Dokie heres the update. So i got my cheap $29 Kmart tank and raided my storage containers and this was what i had to work with. The amazingly best tank ever, from Kmart :P Regardless of the cost of the tank It is always enjoyable setting up a new tank. Stage 1 was adding my left over UP Aqua Shrimp Soil The came the adding of the sponge filter. Now given the height of the tank i am not overly satisfied with this filter given that the outlet is right below the lid it gives minor splash back which you may see later. I also replaced the filter media in the bottom to seachem matrix for greater surface area for the bacteria. I have hidden my Fluval Stratum 50w heater behind the sponge filter but unfortunately i dont think the damn thing works lol. Havent seen it turn on once so far. Just one of the problems i encountered lol. Also lost the suction caps to it so I am using one of my spare eheim heater holders which is slightly too big so It doesnt hold it firm just kinda sits in it. Out of sight out of mind though, The fun began filling up with no bucket! had to use a cordial holder drink thing which only meant about 20 trips back and forth lol. Tap water was used as i will use RO water once it is cycled. Heater is set to 26 (if it turns on) Something magical happened after i added water. About 20+ CRS shrimp magically appeared in my tank! Talk about instant colony! Here comes my fully setup tank! Its the best scaped tank in the world in my opinion, I started with lush invisbilitis plants along the back followed by its miniature invisi grass along the front. You might also note that my thermometer is not fully in the water. Thats because the damn suction cap dont work no more lol. Its no longer in the tank. I am thinking i might just add a bit of bolbitis sorry cant recall spelling right now. I have a light on the way from the tech den which i am looking forward to arriving. This tank is only to give me something to do since I am in the process of clearing my last big tank to save some money to put towards a rack. Its been decided we wont be able to buy a house now for another year atleast so stuck in rentals which will continually impact on having a decent setup if we have to move regularly. Atleast with this I can pull it down and put it back together quickly. With the exception of the tank and the light on order everything else i had laying around. It just doesnt all work haha. You were warned this would be the best tank journal ever!. So my plans are to add the piece of bolbitis, did have 1 piece of Cholla wood left but i cant find it in the left over removal boxes lol so that will be found one day. And when the tank cycles hopefully acquire a pair of shrimp. The filter will be replaced with a lower laying one and will have to replace the heater and thermometer for sufficiently acting ones lol

Hello all new member here. Im currently setting up my first shrimp tank since moving back to WA. Had alot of fish tanks and 1 shrimp tank with numerous cherries a few years ago in NSW. Tank im setting up is 3ft around 130 litres I think. 18kg of ADA amazonia substrate and currently has a Fluval internal filter until the water is cleared up from the damn substrate! Planning on switching to 2 or 3 sponge filters once I get some shrimp. I will be planting the tank with some type of moss and a few plants yet but im still undecided on which.. and also undecided on lighting. Shrimp going in will be chocolate cherries, and ill be setting up a small 1ft tank for some other shrimp.. ill post pics once the water clears up a bit.

After a 5 year break from fish keeping. Thought I would get back into it with a shrimp tank. Ill keep a tab on all expenses etc because I find it helpful and like to see what I spend on a tank. Also dad has a shed full of fish gear so alot of things came from there. AR-620- free from the shed Sponge filters - From the shed Schego WS3 air pump- free from the shed Eheim 2215- $25 Pisces iron sand 20kg- $60 The tech den Up aqua shrimp sand red- $50 The tech den Ceramic shrimp breeding cave- $8 The tech den Java moss- $5 Weeping moss- $5 SS mesh x 4 - $5 Wood- free Shrimp are 10 yellow 5 carbon rilli and 5 blue cherry shrimp. Wanted some colour but didn't want to go to expensive as Im just starting out. End goal is a display tank with white gloves as they are my favourite but $$$ for my liking. Thinking of adding some CRS in soon, I see alot of micshlings which look like CBS to me. Need to read up on those. Pictures from start until now. Cycling with the help of some established sponge filters Sand and moss in. Lilly pipes in. Still deciding on what to do with the intake cover. This is just a cut up piece of foam. Trying to make a nice display piece of wood out of about 10 pieces. I ended up using 3 pieces. As it sits now Still playing around with the wood designs etc. Also will cut the sponges out next weekend. I have read that shrimp love a lot of air and most just use sponge filters. Are there any nice looking sponge filters on the market? Black back ground will be applied this weekend. Thats all for today. Any help and tips will be greatly appreciated! Thanks Zac

Hi there.... I read some interest topic here. I am a plant and shrimp keeper. Im running 12 tanks now. I keep Snowball Crs neocaridina ( yellow, red, orange, blue) Sulawesi dennerli I saw a lot photos. :) My 180lt dutch tank. :) Red cherry , rummynose and bnp. A 10lt with red chery , without filter and heat. Just growing plants. 90lt Sullawesi cardinals 30 lt topaz blue 30 lt crs tank1 30lt crs tank2 30 lt neo Yellows 30lt snowballs 30 lt orange neo And a some videos... Thats all ... :)

Hi new here, but not new to shrimp keeping, about 4 years ago I decommissioned all my tanks x3, when we had our first kid... still have all my gear sitting in the garage ready for when I have more time. Last xmas I decide I wanted to start a low tech easy to maintain tank. Always wanted a fluval edge as its clean looks and would look great as a centre piece in the dining room. EquipmentTank: Fluval edge 27LFilter: Stock Aquaclear 20Light: Stock 21 LED... thinking of upgrading to the 42 LED but will wait and see.Substrate: Fluval Plant & Shrimp Stratum... maybe bad choice, have been reading it stops buffering after 6months... should have went with ada FloraPeacock mossUs fissidens Subwassertang Still to come Star moss true aquatic, Anubias nana petite. Hardscape Mix of Dragon rock, Lava rocks, Mineral balls, Alder cones. Stock Started out with 5 yellow cherrys when tank was cycled... now have 20, and 10 CRS was added last week Here is the tank after 3 months... will be adding more moss in the coming weeks and can't wait for the moss to fill out. The little opening of the fluval edge has been a pain to move stuff around and to work with...... so I am tempted to start up my 30 cube as well, multi-tank here I come.

So after having a horrible first experience with shrimp, plecos and planaria. I decided to start up a new tank late Dec 15. So heres the setup. Tank: 3 Foot Komoda 90x45x45 Filter: Aqua one Ocellaris 850 (in box media) + Large single bio sponge filter Lighting: Up aqua Pro Z 90cm Substrate: Mr aqua soil 8L x2 + Up aqua shrimp sand 5L (had it leftover so i just chucked it in) Co2: Yes. Inline atomiser. Heater: None (will get one as soon as winter comes) Cycling process - Just used water straight from the tap and added some Api stress zyme and squeezed wool from an established tank into the cannister. After a week Ph 6.6 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0 Ammo 0. TDS = didnt check Gh/kh = didnt check. So after about a week i added some neons to speed up the process. Could not wait any longer so i took my chances and added some pandas and CRS within the fortnight. No deaths thankfully ? Since then i have added Oebt + MBB + BB + SW + GB and ottos. Issue #1 Micro organisms. Had a mini outbreak of planaria first week within cycling. Probably due to plants added. Solved with manual removal. Battling limpets daily. Solved by giving up squashing them. Lol. Last week saw a hydra killed it. Solved, none since. Nematodes, copecods (cyclops) and possibly seed shrimps starting to appear after introduction of new driftwood last week. Harmless so mostly ignored. Lesson learnt = WASH YOUR PLANTS AND WOODS BEFORE ENTRY. Issue #2 Algae. Had an outbreak of string/hair, green spot and BGA within the first fortnight. Most likely due to excessive lighting periods and poor circulation from the Aqua one cannister. BGA fixed with less light time and manual removal. Currently on 2nd dose of Algaefix. Seems to be working on most of the string/hair algae. Not so on the green spot. Issue #3 Ph rising. Not sure why it has gone up to 7.2 in the last fortnight. Possibly excessive seiryu stones. Left 1 in there only now. Could also be from poor substrate. Also treating with IAL and mulberry. Alder cones on the way aswell. Deaths: 1 MBB and 1 Otto ? Here a some recent pics. Can anyone recommend some nice background plants for my set up ? And should i use fulvic grains to try and reduce Ph ? And should i just buy a new cannister filter to increase water circulation or just buy a wavemaker ?

Picked this tank up locally for 150 bucks. I'm hoping to keep yellow cherries and royal blue tigers together in it. Don't like the filter in the hood or the lights either, so I'll go a bit custom and go for what I understand to be a low tech, medium/high light planted tank. I've already got NZ black iron sand, an 800L/hr ebay cannister filter, and some ebay led flood lights. I'm pretty new with this, but have a big background in technical fabrication. Please feel very free to advise me. Cheers,

As I've stated before I've kept a number of tanks and occupants ranging from native fish to eels but have had an 8 year hiatus. I have a small daughter and have rediscovered the joy of tanks now with inverts. The executive summary is I got a dozen cherries, they bred then the adults died. I've restocked and am keeping a close eye on the tank (as well as reducing the number of fish) and got another free tank that I am currently cycling. Has anyone out there used similar wood to this and found that it's clouding the water? I soaked it for two weeks but it seems to be releasing a bit of slime...?