journal Neo Strikes Back

[neo-2FX]

After my first, somewhat successful tank, I decided to do a basic, shrimp dedicated tank. I think I will go with CRS but I'm yet to decide.

Tank - 45cm

Light - Flexi Mini

Substrate - ADA Amazonia Powder

Heater - 50W AquaEl

Filter - Dual Sponge

I'm not convinced with the Dual Sponge, may swap over to a hang on filter. The outflow tends to splash water everywhere with bubbles popping.

Happy with the heating compared with my last experience. Heater set to 23 and it's maintaining that temperature perfectly unlike my original tank with the Jager.

The ADA substrate is great, but lots of air pockets atm which I'm sure will dissipate over the coming days.

Extremely happy with the Flexi Mini, great light. Does anyone know if the part that clips onto the tank can be covered with water? Will it rust?

A few things coming soon:

1. Cholla Wood

2. Some goldvine

3. Mineral balls

4. IAL

5. Java moss

Stay tuned...

Edited September 13, 2015 by neo-2FX

[jayc]

The ADA substrate is great, but lots of air pockets atm which I'm sure will dissipate over the coming days.

 

Dig your fingers in to the substrate and rake it to get the bubbles out. Otherwise the bubbles will stay there for ageesss.

[neo-2FX]

 

Dig your fingers in to the substrate and rake it to get the bubbles out. Otherwise the bubbles will stay there for ageesss.

Uh oh, will do!

[GotCrabs]

Looking forward to seeing what you do here, considering your last tank is sweet as flap, what plants are you going to use?

[neo-2FX]

@GotCrabs I think I'm going to stick with mosses for the time being. Going to keep it as simple as possible.

[ineke]

I run 2 x double sponges in all my tanks and I'm very happy with them once you get past the fact that you can see them! The babies really love grazing on them and I find they circulate the water quite well without being too strong for the shrimp to swim in. My tanks are 60 litres and you can see the plants swaying in the turbulence .

[neo-2FX]

I run 2 x double sponges in all my tanks and I'm very happy with them once you get past the fact that you can see them! The babies really love grazing on them and I find they circulate the water quite well without being too strong for the shrimp to swim in. My tanks are 60 litres and you can see the plants swaying in the turbulence .

Do you have your output from the sponges above the waterline or below @ineke?

[Jo]

I just did a massive trim of my tank this weekend, I have the cuttings in a bucket currently.  All mosses, all mixed, all yours for free if you want them (disclaimer: the tank has BGA and snails, so would need some bucketing/treatment before using in your tank).

There's a lot of weeping mosses, there might be some rose moss (but not much) and a bit of mini pelia.  PM if you're interested and I can point you towards a picture of my tank so you can see the mosses (didn't want to hijack your thread with my tank pics!)

I also run the double sponges in my 21L tank, usually with the outlet below the waterline.  I have experimented with using an extension tube with holes in it (like a flute) above the water line, but the water pressure wasn't really enough to get the effect I was looking for, and it mostly just dripped out of the first 2 holes :)

[ineke]

I have mine below the water line and as long as I rinse the sponges about once a month ( in the water I siphon out) the flow remains very good. They are the only filtration in 11 of my 13 tanks including my TB tanks and the water quality has remained excellent .

[salvanost]

yesterday, setup tank with ada amazonia too

with dual twin sponge, same here, too much bubble on soil surface

mess with it would just make the water cloudy, so i will mess with the water later when i'm doing the water change

 

good luck with yours, i will ignore my tank for 2 month LOL

if u don't like the splash, just cover above the sponge with plastic food wrap

[neo-2FX]

yesterday, setup tank with ada amazonia too

with dual twin sponge, same here, too much bubble on soil surface

mess with it would just make the water cloudy, so i will mess with the water later when i'm doing the water change

 

good luck with yours, i will ignore my tank for 2 month LOL

if u don't like the splash, just cover above the sponge with plastic food wrap

Too much bubble on soil surface or water surface?

My output is at the water line and produces lots of bubbles which pop and splash water everywhere. I've lowered it now which has helped.

[GotCrabs]

So how is the tank going?

[neo-2FX]

Interesting so far. Already seeing Nitrites. May be attributed to the fact that I've been putting some water into the tank from my established tank. I'll be measuring parameters on the weekend. And will be squeezing some water from the filter intake on the established tank onto the new one to try kickstarting the cycle.

[neo-2FX]

I'm not sure what to think of this. It's only been like 4 days!

All I've been doing is putting some water from established tank to this tank. Those kind of readings took me weeks on the original tank!

[Disciple]

Nitrates already after 4 days? wow

[neo-2FX]

We could be in for the quickest cycle of ADA Amazonia! Hold on tight!

[Disciple]

lol 

[GotCrabs]

How's the tank going Neo?

[neo-2FX]

It's going well! Just waiting for Nitrites to drop off. My cycle had stalled because of low pH. Was too busy with work etc. and lost track of it. pH back up now and have put temp to 28 so hopefully the cycle should finish soon.

[neo-2FX]

She's ready!

Could have cycled in 3 weeks but cycle stalled due to low pH and me not noticing.

Big thanks to @Disciple for all the help!

[GotCrabs]

Cleeeaaan! Nice!

[neo-2FX]

Just waiting for some Pogo Helferi and Mini Java Fern now.

Will also be putting some AR Mini in there when it grows, thanks @GotCrabs!

Can't wait to get some of @newbreed's TB's in here! I also swapped to the aPump which I won at auction. It's super quiet, can't even hear it. Thanks again Jamie.

[neo-2FX]

It's all coming together slowly. A CRS and my remaining Chameleons in there as a test before TB's. Also got some AR Mini and Pogo Stellata.

[GotCrabs]

Is that the AR mini I gave ya?

[neo-2FX]

Is that the AR mini I gave ya?

Nope, that's in the main tank. It's only just taking root now so I'm sure it'll grow like crazy in the next couple weeks.