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Found 6 results

  1. My tank looks like it full of marine snow. I am not sure if it's a good or bad thing. I also have 5 or 6 tiny white worms flailing about in the water, they are maybe 1cm at most. My tank is plants only right now and it's been setup for 6-8 weeks. Should I be concerned?
  2. Hello, Ive noticed I had some equipment laying around that needed to be put to better use, and after settling in my half a dozen or so new shrimp colonies and other tanks, I figure I'll get to scaling it. Ive cleaned up an old 50cm Long tank and cut a glass brace for this light to sit on, Was a standard 3ft tropical PL compact flouro light, one ballast stopped working ages back so I cut it out and halved the unit, and the other has powered along for over a year now with a new globe. I've Got that light 36w, my 1L Ista co2 bottle just behind it, Aquaone 650 canister filter- which I'm putting a glass skimmer on, a standard glass heater, and drop checker.- That's about it for equipment, I'm contemplating adding a sotching oxydator I bought from newbreed aquatics closing down sale. Looking for some nice lava rock as I want to keep the kh quite low in this one, most of my other tanks have had seiryu or something else reactive, and I find plants like anubias and buce grip much better into light pourous stone like lava rock. I've got a fresh bag of Black earth to go in there when I do find the lava rock, till then.
  3. Many aquatic keepers combine their passion for plants and shrimp in the one tank. One common question for newcomers is how to keep the shrimp safe in a planted tank that requires fertilizers. Why is this important? Well, how do you know what's safe, what's not, how it affects water parameters, what's not recommended, premixed liquid vs dry and the list goes on and on. One SKF Aquatics member, @Brentwillmers, found the following as a safe method for Taiwan Bee shrimp in his planted aquariums. Using only use R/O water with salty shrimp GH to a TDS of 80-90, the fertilizer dosing schedule is a mix of liquid and dry powders. This mix depends on availability and cost. Micro-Mix supplies a broad range of trace elements demonstrated to be necessary for proper plant health and growth. The following dosage of Micronutrients was found to be safe for his Taiwan Bee shrimp: Iron: 0.5ppm Magnesium: 0.80ppm Zinc: 0.002ppm Manganese: 0.001ppm Boron: 0.002ppm Molybdenum: 0.003ppm Cobalt: 0.00002ppm For trace elements, Seachem Trace, Aquavitro envy or a dry powder using a product such as Plantex CSM+Boron can be used. Often people will choose to dose chelated iron separately from other trace elements, though most commercial trace mixes do include some level of chelated iron. For this reason, Aquavitro propel is preferred. However, with some micro-mixes be aware of the copper concentration as these can be fatal for your shrimp. Micro-nutrients can be used alone or in conjunction with a macro-nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Liquid Seachem Nitrogen can be used or a dry powder form via adding the compound Potassium Nitrate (KNO3). Try to keep the levels at around 10ppm in low, medium and high light aquariums. Do not exceed 20ppm!! If you do stop dosing and do a water change and test again. Liquid Seachem Phosphorus or a powder form as Monopotassium Phosphate or KH2PO4 can be used in the aquarium but keep the levels low. It's best used in low, medium and high light aquariums and kept at around 0.5ppm. Always keep these levels low as possible it can be harmful to shrimp. Seachem Potassium or powdered potassium sulfate, or K2SO4 can be used. Keep the dose to around 10ppm in low to medium light aquarium and 20ppm with high light aquariums. Do not exceed 20ppm as it can be harmful to more sensitive shrimp. Dosing macro's 3 times per week and micro's 3 times a week alternating between days generally works well. You can find the perfect balance by dosing in the mornings and performing water test before lights out. On day 7 it’s important to do a water change, 50% weekly is recommended to reset water parameters. Unfortunately, a 50% water change will cause TDS levels to fall quickly. One method to minimize the rate in reduction is to perform 2 lots of 30% water changes (morning and afternoon) instead of a single 50%. The PH of the new water should be as close to your aquarium PH as possible. TDS will increase again after each dose of fertilizers so keep this in mind when adding remineralization to R/O water. Some methods of dosing are: Estimative Index (EI) Dosing Target Dosing PPS Pro Dosing EI method: EI dosing involves dosing each individual macro and a trace mix up to a high level throughout a week and at the end of the week, a 50% water change is performed, cutting the remaining nutrients in half, and the tank is dosed again. This is a simple way to insure you never bottom out on any nutrients. However, not a great idea for shrimp. Target Dosing (preferred method): Target dosing involves performing water tests on nitrate, potassium, phosphate and iron levels, dosing as per the target levels for your tank. PPS Pro Dosing: PPS Pro dosing involves dosing the tank with the amount of each nutrient needed during a 24-hour cycle. It requires daily dosing, but is great for keeping the tank from having excess nutrients which can cause algae issues. It does involve some math and some pretty small measurements, but is a very effective way to dose. Whatever the dosing method, one key point to remember is that everything is dependent on CO2, lighting and plants. Hope you enjoyed this article and happy shrimping. References and Content/Image Credit SKF Aquatics member - @Brentwillmers
  4. Many aquatic keepers combine their passion for plants and shrimp in the one tank. One common question for newcomers is how to keep the shrimp safe in a planted tank that requires fertilizers. Why is this important? Well, how do you know what's safe, what's not, how it affects water parameters, what's not recommended, premixed liquid vs dry and the list goes on and on. One SKF Aquatics member, @Brentwillmers, found the following as a safe method for Taiwan Bee shrimp in his planted aquariums. Using only use R/O water with salty shrimp GH to a TDS of 80-90, the fertilizer dosing schedule is a mix of liquid and dry powders. This mix depends on availability and cost. Micro-Mix supplies a broad range of trace elements demonstrated to be necessary for proper plant health and growth. The following dosage of Micronutrients was found to be safe for his Taiwan Bee shrimp: Iron: 0.5ppm Magnesium: 0.80ppm Zinc: 0.002ppm Manganese: 0.001ppm Boron: 0.002ppm Molybdenum: 0.003ppm Cobalt: 0.00002ppm For trace elements, Seachem Trace, Aquavitro envy or a dry powder using a product such as Plantex CSM+Boron can be used. Often people will choose to dose chelated iron separately from other trace elements, though most commercial trace mixes do include some level of chelated iron. For this reason, Aquavitro propel is preferred. However, with some micro-mixes be aware of the copper concentration as these can be fatal for your shrimp. Micro-nutrients can be used alone or in conjunction with a macro-nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Liquid Seachem Nitrogen can be used or a dry powder form via adding the compound Potassium Nitrate (KNO3). Try to keep the levels at around 10ppm in low, medium and high light aquariums. Do not exceed 20ppm!! If you do stop dosing and do a water change and test again. Liquid Seachem Phosphorus or a powder form as Monopotassium Phosphate or KH2PO4 can be used in the aquarium but keep the levels low. It's best used in low, medium and high light aquariums and kept at around 0.5ppm. Always keep these levels low as possible it can be harmful to shrimp. Seachem Potassium or powdered potassium sulfate, or K2SO4 can be used. Keep the dose to around 10ppm in low to medium light aquarium and 20ppm with high light aquariums. Do not exceed 20ppm as it can be harmful to more sensitive shrimp. Dosing macro's 3 times per week and micro's 3 times a week alternating between days generally works well. You can find the perfect balance by dosing in the mornings and performing water test before lights out. On day 7 it’s important to do a water change, 50% weekly is recommended to reset water parameters. Unfortunately, a 50% water change will cause TDS levels to fall quickly. One method to minimize the rate in reduction is to perform 2 lots of 30% water changes (morning and afternoon) instead of a single 50%. The PH of the new water should be as close to your aquarium PH as possible. TDS will increase again after each dose of fertilizers so keep this in mind when adding remineralization to R/O water. Some methods of dosing are: Estimative Index (EI) Dosing Target Dosing PPS Pro Dosing EI method: EI dosing involves dosing each individual macro and a trace mix up to a high level throughout a week and at the end of the week, a 50% water change is performed, cutting the remaining nutrients in half, and the tank is dosed again. This is a simple way to insure you never bottom out on any nutrients. However, not a great idea for shrimp. Target Dosing (preferred method): Target dosing involves performing water tests on nitrate, potassium, phosphate and iron levels, dosing as per the target levels for your tank. PPS Pro Dosing: PPS Pro dosing involves dosing the tank with the amount of each nutrient needed during a 24-hour cycle. It requires daily dosing, but is great for keeping the tank from having excess nutrients which can cause algae issues. It does involve some math and some pretty small measurements, but is a very effective way to dose. Whatever the dosing method, one key point to remember is that everything is dependent on CO2, lighting and plants. Hope you enjoyed this article and happy shrimping. References and Content/Image Credit SKF Aquatics member - @Brentwillmers View full article
  5. One of the biggest headaches for planted tank enthusiasts is choosing the right substrate. There is no 'best' substrate as each has advantages and disadvantages. So let's take a look at what is available. NATURAL SAND AND GRAVEL Inert sand and gravel can make a perfectly good starting point for any aquarist. My favourite quartz sand is from the Nepean River. Never use beach sand, always river sand. Fine rooted plants like Hc and Hairgrass will grow easily in sand. Their roots are able to make a tight grip in sand and in nature, they are usually found growing on the fine, silty edges of creeks and pools. When choosing a gravel, go for a grain size around 2-4mm as this will allow roots to grow freely and also allow water to circulate through the root zone. Quartz gravel is a good choice for people wanting to use Undergravel filters as it will not break down over time and clog the filter. Baby fish and shrimp will not get caught in these filters and cleaning with a gravel filter then topping with clean water achieves a water change and filter clean at the same time. Amendments such as Laterite are also suitable to provide food directly to the roots. The addition of Marble Chip will help avoid problems with Vallisneria, Swordplants, Aponogetons and most of the Cryptocorynes. If you are planning to use only Mosses and Ferns, Natural Gravel is possibly the best choice. MANUFACTURED SUBSTRATES These are designed to provide a good media for heavily planted tanks. When you choose a brand of soil, I suggest you stick with the same brand of amendments and fertilizers since these are designed to compliment the substrate. People using these substrates will often spend a lot of time dosing, testing and adjusting their tanks. Good lighting and CO2 injection are necessary to achieve the best results. DIY SUBSTRATES Many people these days like to mix their own substrates. Diana Walstad has written articles and books with her findings on home made mixes. Well worth reading her material if you want to have a go. There is also a trend for some of the better aquarium outlets to provide their own specialty mix. One of these is SMARTSOIL, designed by aquarists to make planted tanks easy. SMARTSOIL will help prevent ammonia spike during set-up and contains a flocculant to avoid cloudy water when disturbing the substrate. I welcome comments and positive input to the comments I have made here. AR View full article
  6. Anthony Rae

    A look at planted tank substrates

    One of the biggest headaches for planted tank enthusiasts is choosing the right substrate. There is no 'best' substrate as each has advantages and disadvantages. So let's take a look at what is available. NATURAL SAND AND GRAVEL Inert sand and gravel can make a perfectly good starting point for any aquarist. My favourite quartz sand is from the Nepean River. Never use beach sand, always river sand. Fine rooted plants like Hc and Hairgrass will grow easily in sand. Their roots are able to make a tight grip in sand and in nature, they are usually found growing on the fine, silty edges of creeks and pools. When choosing a gravel, go for a grain size around 2-4mm as this will allow roots to grow freely and also allow water to circulate through the root zone. Quartz gravel is a good choice for people wanting to use Undergravel filters as it will not break down over time and clog the filter. Baby fish and shrimp will not get caught in these filters and cleaning with a gravel filter then topping with clean water achieves a water change and filter clean at the same time. Amendments such as Laterite are also suitable to provide food directly to the roots. The addition of Marble Chip will help avoid problems with Vallisneria, Swordplants, Aponogetons and most of the Cryptocorynes. If you are planning to use only Mosses and Ferns, Natural Gravel is possibly the best choice. MANUFACTURED SUBSTRATES These are designed to provide a good media for heavily planted tanks. When you choose a brand of soil, I suggest you stick with the same brand of amendments and fertilizers since these are designed to compliment the substrate. People using these substrates will often spend a lot of time dosing, testing and adjusting their tanks. Good lighting and CO2 injection are necessary to achieve the best results. DIY SUBSTRATES Many people these days like to mix their own substrates. Diana Walstad has written articles and books with her findings on home made mixes. Well worth reading her material if you want to have a go. There is also a trend for some of the better aquarium outlets to provide their own specialty mix. One of these is SMARTSOIL, designed by aquarists to make planted tanks easy. SMARTSOIL will help prevent ammonia spike during set-up and contains a flocculant to avoid cloudy water when disturbing the substrate. I welcome comments and positive input to the comments I have made here. AR
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