# Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Journal Closed.



## Ady34

Hello,
after my first planted scape and the introduction to the enjoyable antics of shrimp, ive decided to dedicate a tank to them.
Looking at various nano set ups i stumbled upon this Aqua One set up, which at 40 x 40 x 40cm, 55l is a little larger than some, but hopefully that should offer more water stability for the shrimp.
The tank has inbuilt weir style filtration at the rear of the tank with sponge and bio media, a 500 lph pump to draw water through the media, its light by an 18w pl bulb and had a heater included in the package which im choosing not to use.
With the current lighting and the other already costly high tech set up, im going to use liquid carbon exclusively and the same ferts (special n type macro mix and ei micro mix) im using for my current set up. Im aiming for a relitively slow paced easy to maintain planting scheme of mainly mosses, anubias, ferns and a few stems....undecided thus far....but its more about the shrimp really.
Anyway first things first...the leak test...












....passed   

Back indoors and onto the substrate:
Wanted an active substrate and one which buffered the water as im looking at CRS shrimp, so acidic and low KH are aided with Ada new aquasoil amazonia powder. A small amount of powersand special m (had spare from previous scape, mainly to add depth to rear substrate), and unipac zambezi sand (again spare from previous set up).











Only a small amount of substrate added initially in preperation for hardscaping.






And next the hardscape:
Dragon stone (left from previous scape), and Manzanita wood, a collection from George Farmer and more recently additions from Hoggie.... thanks its great wood!






Then trying to assemble it into the small tank.... i had an idea of what i wanted, and i wanted quite a hardscape heavy look, but my first attempt i cant decide if i like it, or if im trying to like it   . Opinions welcomed   
Ive left the rest of the aquasoil and foreground sand out for the time being incase i change things around, the rear will have much more height and lots of the nooks and crannies will be filled in.












Thats it to date, ill see how i feel tomorrow about the hardscape.
Cheers for looking,
Ady.


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## John S

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

I think the wood looks great.

Nice pond too


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## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Looks great ! And that Aquanano is a superb setup; I looked at them myself.  One modification I was going to do was to but a cut down 90deg elbow on the water return outlet and attach a black spraybar to it for more even return flow. Something that you may find useful


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## Gary Nelson

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Very nice start Ady, the garden and pond look good as well! I had a look at these tanks in my local MA and thought they looked a nice design and a decent size.... will be watching this progress


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## awtong

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

I like the twisted look to the wood placement especially the high branch on the right hand side.

I am more jelous that you have boxes of both rock and wood hardscape!   

Andy


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## pariahrob

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

I really like the hardscape. No need to tinker. It has lots of height and depth. You'll have lots of scope for planting.


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## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

the hardscape looks really good mate, can see lots of moss going on that wood.
Only thing i would suggest is skipping the zambezi sand as it really wont show off the shrimp.  I recently swopped from sand/gravel to fluval stratum black and the shrimp really pop against the black, especially if you are still looking for CRS.
That set up looks very smart too, looks pretty similar to the TMC set ups im very tempted by.
Subscribed.


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## Kristoph91

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

This is going to be good. 
Really like the hardscape, can't wait to see it up and running.


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## Aqua sobriquet

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Looking good!


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## sarahtermite

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

I do like scapes with a lot of hard landscaping, so I already _love_ this one!


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				davem said:
			
		

> I think the wood looks great.
> 
> Nice pond too


Thanks Dave.



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Looks great ! And that Aquanano is a superb setup; I looked at them myself. One modification I was going to do was to but a cut down 90deg elbow on the water return outlet and attach a black spraybar to it for more even return flow. Something that you may find useful


Cheers Chris and you must be reading my mind, 13mm spraybar and fixings next on my list of purchases.... any idea where ill get black ones?



			
				Gary Nelson said:
			
		

> Very nice start Ady, the garden and pond look good as well! I had a look at these tanks in my local MA and thought they looked a nice design and a decent size.... will be watching this progress


Thanks, Bowser enjoys hurtling around the garden and the cats like stealing fish food from the pond! The aquanano is a decent little tank and good value for what it is.



			
				awtong said:
			
		

> I like the twisted look to the wood placement especially the high branch on the right hand side.
> 
> I am more jelous that you have boxes of both rock and wood hardscape!
> 
> Andy


One thing i learned from the other tank is that giving a little extra height from a piece of wood helps balance the overall look of a tank.... i had bought more wood to add to the other tank, but couldnt fit it in exactly right so left it out. Much easier to do it from the start   ... and yeah it certainly helps having a selection of hardscape to choose from.



			
				pariahrob said:
			
		

> I really like the hardscape. No need to tinker. It has lots of height and depth. You'll have lots of scope for planting.


Thanks Rob. Itll be a squeeze if i use any amount of stems as the gaps between rocks and wood are tight and substrate shallow except at the rear, but think itll be mainly tie on plants so should be good.



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> the hardscape looks really good mate, can see lots of moss going on that wood.
> Only thing i would suggest is skipping the zambezi sand as it really wont show off the shrimp. I recently swopped from sand/gravel to fluval stratum black and the shrimp really pop against the black, especially if you are still looking for CRS.
> That set up looks very smart too, looks pretty similar to the TMC set ups im very tempted by.
> Subscribed.


Yeah i know what you mean about the shrimp, youve got me thinking now about some black sand.... just dont want it to get too dark as the light isnt that bright!



			
				KrisHumphreys1991 said:
			
		

> This is going to be good.
> Really like the hardscape, can't wait to see it up and running.





			
				Aqua sobriquet said:
			
		

> Looking good!


Cheers KrisHumphreys and Aqua sobriquet, i want it up and running soon so it can get on with cycling, i want shrimp!! 

Thanks all for the comments, it helps in deciding to leave alone, even the wife said it looked good this morning   ! I have made the mistake of impatiently trying out hardscaping before sinking the wood though, so it may need to come out anyway if it all floats when i fill    .
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				sarahtermite said:
			
		

> I do like scapes with a lot of hard landscaping, so I already _love_ this one!


Thanks Sarah, ill maybe not like it so much when it comes to planting and maintenance   
Ady.


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## faizal

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Great hardscaping Ady   . It's gonna look awesome.


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## danmullan

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Nice job with the scape. Totally agree with the hardscape reaching higher up in the tank. Can't wait to see this planted.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				faizal said:
			
		

> Great hardscaping Ady  . It's gonna look awesome.





			
				danmullan said:
			
		

> Nice job with the scape. Totally agree with the hardscape reaching higher up in the tank. Can't wait to see this planted.


Cheers Guys, im getting excited about planting now, decisions, decisions!   

Sticking with this hardscape, being very indecisive if i started changing things id never finish   . The long branch on the substrate reaching towards the right front corner has a sawn edge, but im hoping this wont be as obvious with a little more substrate and maybe a little moss or something. The only other piece i was unsure of was the left front upright, maybe a little too thick but again its looking at the bigger picture and when planted the look will change anyway.
The rest of the aquasoil substrate has been added to the rear and gaps, and a little more sand added to the foreground with a couple of small substrate holding rocks.



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> i would suggest is skipping the zambezi sand as it really wont show off the shrimp. I recently swopped from sand/gravel to fluval stratum black and the shrimp really pop against the black, especially if you are still looking for CRS.


Iain, your suggestion for swapping out the zambezi sand was strongly considered, however with the black background and limited light level, ive decided to stick with the lighter tone for now to brighten the tank up. In the future if the shrimp are blending too much ill syphon out the current sand and add an inert black sand so not to affect the water chemistry or leach ammonia etc. If its anything like my other tank, the aquasoil will end up all over the sand anyway   . 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Hi,
decided on a plant list... most of which ive not tried before, a couple ive failed with before  . We can only try!:
Coral Pelia / Riccardia Chamedrifollia
Fissidens Fontanus
Flame Moss / Taxiphyllum Sp. 
Pearl Moss / Plagmonium Sp. 
Ranunculus inundatus **EDIT.. out of stock, so replacing with Marsilea Hirsuta
Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba'' 
Staurogyne repens 
Rotala rotundifolia 
anubias nana petite
hopefully some hydrocotle sp. Japan 
and some microsorum petite from my other tank.
See how i go with these, may add some hygrophila sp. compact.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Ian Holdich

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

great hardscape mate, if you want some Japan, drop me a PM and i'll be able to send you a bit.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> great hardscape mate, if you want some Japan, drop me a PM and i'll be able to send you a bit.


Much appreciated Ian. Waiting to hear from piece of fish about some japan so should be good thanks   .
Ady.


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## Seagull

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Saw this in my local PaH store a while back - really like what you've done with the wood there. I'll have to keep an eye on this one


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Hey ady,

Loving this setup like it appears everyone else is too!
I have a small amount of Ranunculus inundatus if you want it FOC.
Its been hanging around with some Sp. Japan in my low tech Shrimptank for ages, so should burst into life quite quickly, and will be 100% shrimp safe 

Where did you get the tank from? Im sure Ive seen these at paddock farm, with a built in filter in the back?
And from what I recall, a great price too, something in the region of £90?

Keep up the good work,


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## Gill

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

The Hardscape is very promising, will evolve nicely


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Seagull said:
			
		

> Saw this in my local PaH store a while back - really like what you've done with the wood there. I'll have to keep an eye on this one





			
				Gill said:
			
		

> The Hardscape is very promising, will evolve nicely


Thanks guys, ordered plants from freshwatershrimp today so hopefully it will start to evolve soon!
Cheers,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey ady,
> 
> Loving this setup like it appears everyone else is too!
> I have a small amount of Ranunculus inundatus if you want it FOC.
> Its been hanging around with some Sp. Japan in my low tech Shrimptank for ages, so should burst into life quite quickly, and will be 100% shrimp safe
> 
> Where did you get the tank from? Im sure Ive seen these at paddock farm, with a built in filter in the back?
> And from what I recall, a great price too, something in the region of £90?
> 
> Keep up the good work,



Hi Whitey,
yeah they have them in paddock farm, i actually got this from Fish Alive in Durham, i rang Paddock farm to price them there and they reckoned about £120, but got it for less than that. Bought the stand too, so did a deal   .
From what ive seen £90-100 is about the going rate.
As for the ranunclus that would be great, dont expect it foc though, ill give you something.
Cheers,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Hardscape complete, and all substrate added; and an obligatory couple of shots of how it stands before planting and filling. Some small bits of dragon stone have been added along the sand/substrate border to fill in any gaps and hold substrate. Hopefully ill have enough room for my plantlist   .

FTS showing height of substrate at the rear:






From above to show available planting areas:





Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey ady,
> 
> Loving this setup like it appears everyone else is too!
> I have a small amount of Ranunculus inundatus if you want it FOC.
> Its been hanging around with some Sp. Japan in my low tech Shrimptank for ages, so should burst into life quite quickly, and will be 100% shrimp safe
> 
> Where did you get the tank from? Im sure Ive seen these at paddock farm, with a built in filter in the back?
> And from what I recall, a great price too, something in the region of £90?
> 
> Keep up the good work,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Whitey,
> yeah they have them in paddock farm, i actually got this from Fish Alive in Durham, i rang Paddock farm to price them there and they reckoned about £120, but got it for less than that. Bought the stand too, so did a deal   .
> From what ive seen £90-100 is about the going rate.
> As for the ranunclus that would be great, dont expect it foc though, ill give you something.
> Cheers,
> Ady.
Click to expand...


Hey,

Don't worry mate, its fine. I will hopefully get it bagged and sent tomorrow, there isn't a great deal, but like I said if you let it grow in it shouldn't take long. Something about the leaf shape is appealing. Been in low
Light so the stems are long. 

Looking great full of substrate 

Regards


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey,
> 
> Don't worry mate, its fine. I will hopefully get it bagged and sent tomorrow, there isn't a great deal, but like I said if you let it grow in it shouldn't take long. Something about the leaf shape is appealing. Been in low
> Light so the stems are long.
> 
> Looking great full of substrate
> 
> Regards


Very much appreciated, and every little helps, hopefully it will take and fill in nicely.
As for it being long stemmed, thatll be good as i think ill mix it with something a little shorter.
Cheers, ive pm'd you.
Ady.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey ady,
> 
> Loving this setup like it appears everyone else is too!
> I have a small amount of Ranunculus inundatus if you want it FOC.
> Its been hanging around with some Sp. Japan in my low tech Shrimptank for ages, so should burst into life quite quickly, and will be 100% shrimp safe
> 
> Where did you get the tank from? Im sure Ive seen these at paddock farm, with a built in filter in the back?
> And from what I recall, a great price too, something in the region of £90?
> 
> Keep up the good work,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Whitey,
> yeah they have them in paddock farm, i actually got this from Fish Alive in Durham, i rang Paddock farm to price them there and they reckoned about £120, but got it for less than that. Bought the stand too, so did a deal   .
> From what ive seen £90-100 is about the going rate.
> As for the ranunclus that would be great, dont expect it foc though, ill give you something.
> Cheers,
> Ady.
Click to expand...


Hey,

Don't worry mate, its fine. I will hopefully get it bagged and sent tomorrow, there isn't a great deal, but like I said if you let it grow in it shouldn't take long. Something about the leaf shape is appealing. Been in low
Light so the stems are long. 

Looking great full of substrate 

Regards


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

Sorry about double post! Tapatalk loves it. Ha
Thats fine mate, I will also be trimming a decent amount of hc.  So there will be a pot or two there. 

Suppose every little helps! 

 Im keen on getting a manzy setup done in my ebi now. Ive got the ebi gold shrimp soil in there but ideally i would prefer to get some Amazonia powder. Just for ease of planting and more atheistic look.  

Regards


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Im keen on getting a manzy setup done in my ebi now. Ive got the ebi gold shrimp soil in there but ideally i would prefer to get some Amazonia powder. Just for ease of planting and more atheistic look.
> 
> Regards


Ebi gold looks excellent from what ive seen on Freshwatershrimp sponsor forum. Had just recieved my amazonia when they posted the thread about it otherwise i would have definitely considered it. Much the same product probably.
See you tuesday   .
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Im keen on getting a manzy setup done in my ebi now. Ive got the ebi gold shrimp soil in there but ideally i would prefer to get some Amazonia powder. Just for ease of planting and more atheistic look.
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> 
> Ebi gold looks excellent from what ive seen on Freshwatershrimp sponsor forum. Had just recieved my amazonia when they posted the thread about it otherwise i would have definitely considered it. Much the same product.
Click to expand...


Yeah its apparently one of the best for CRS so I heard. Large grain size is a bit of a ball ache though. Found when trying to bank substrate, it was a bit difficult too. As i dont think there is as much clay content in ebi, the balls dont seem to stick together well.

Ive got about 10ltrs of it in a little basic iwagumi setup in my fluval ebi. Will get a photo tonight to show you general idea.

Hope plants arrive today in a good condition for you! 

Regards,


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Yeah its apparently one of the best for CRS so I heard. Large grain size is a bit of a ball ache though. Found when trying to bank substrate, it was a bit difficult too. As i dont think there is as much clay content in ebi, the balls dont seem to stick together well.
> 
> Ive got about 10ltrs of it in a little basic iwagumi setup in my fluval ebi. Will get a photo tonight to show you general idea.
> 
> Hope plants arrive today in a good condition for you!



Hi,
sounds like it may be better for less aquascaped breeding set ups, maybe try some substrate supports to help it out a bit. 
Plants arrived first thing so will be planting tonight   .
It could be a slow burner this one as mosses are slow at the best of times, but no pressurised c02 its gonna be like watching paint dry! The large in vitro moss pots i ordered are impressive, fissidens and mini pelia meshes will take a while to flourish i suspect, but looking forward to seeing how they fare in this set up, and of course watching the shrimp critters fidgeting around all over them  8) !
Its weird looking at 1-2 grow stem plants as they all look like carpeting plants, there will be no height in the plant mass to start with so fingers crossed theyll take to the liquid carbon and low light and grow   . Im slightly worried now abot 18w pl over 55l.... very slow i suspect!!!
Anyway, ive got the plants from you to add aswell so thanks again for them, much appreciated and keep us posted with the Ebi nano set up.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

i find that my mosses grow like crazy under a 11w  no carbon in my nano but other plants are painfully slow.  You might be surprised!
Look forward to the planted pics mate.  Gotta love planting a new tank!


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

I too am interested in seeing this grow in ady, and dont worry about the plants, Hope you find use for them 

as for light, I have 2 Fluval PCL's on my ebi (30ltr) and they are 11w each. So I think I may have gone a bit overkill on mine haha. I left my lights on all day ( dose 2ml easycarbo & 1ml TPN+ on a morning) and waters gone green this afternoon when I got back ha! So going to be doing 4-5 hour photo periods beteen 5pm-9/10pm ish. 
Will wait for green to go and plants to come on a bit then post a photo, its only a basic layout designed in a way to be easy to see shrimp! 

Hope your 18w proves powerful enough, just depends on how quickly you get bored! 
Oh, by the way, Ive got some peacock moss' on pads that are just shooting through the netting now.
I did them as a try out to see if they would grow on a pad, and they are growing slowly but are getting there.
Let me know if you want one !

Updated cabinet pics on my thread, take a peak if you get chance mate.

Regards


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## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

My nano comes with an 11w flouro tube as standard and I have just bought this....http://www.aquariumledlighting.co.uk/brilliance k2.php
(the 310mm version)

Anyone using anything similar  ? (sorry for the mini hijack but its kind of "on track" lol).


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

Hi all,
tank was planted and filled last night. Tying moss onto tiny pieces of wood and stone with cotton without four hands is pretty awkward and time consuming! However i got there in the end and this is how its all shaped up. Im quite pleased with the result, and the 1-2 grow plants and in vitro pots are easy to work with and theres plenty of bang for your buck when you look at the stems in particular.

Heres what you get with in vitro pots and tropica 1-2 grow:






Heres progress before filling:











and directly after filling, a little murkier than it would have been but i managed to carelessly jet water at some of the aquasoil powder near the lower filter inltet when filling   Also excuse the mega rock right foreground, its doing a good job of preventing floating wood:






and finally, this morning after a little more time to clear:











Looks a little one dimensional at the moment, but once the rotala rotundifolia stems 'hopefully' start growing at the rear it should add more depth. 
I am a little worried about the lighting and liquid carbon not being sufficient for the hc, but we shall see. Ive pretty much failed with staurogyne before, so will be interesting to see how it fares in here, its roots in soil and hopefully no snails. If they fail ill have to go to plan b..... more mosses! 

Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....*

What a fantastic job of planting! Loving the overall layout of the tank.
Leave auto spraying behind and go pro !


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## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

like that a lot mate


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## awtong

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

The hardscape looked great, but now with it planted it is already an absolute beauty.  I don't really do jelousy but the green eyed monster is coming out.  Great job.

Andy


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## Ian Holdich

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

awesome mate!

you really do have the 'eye' for this hobby...


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## pariahrob

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

That looks gorgeous. Really liked it before you planted and now just looks even better!


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## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*

When that grows out it would easily be worthy of IAPLC entry mate.  Congrats.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Planted.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> What a fantastic job of planting! Loving the overall layout of the tank.
> Leave auto spraying behind and go pro !



 . Cheers mate.



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> like that a lot mate



Thanks Iain.



			
				awtong said:
			
		

> The hardscape looked great, but now with it planted it is already an absolute beauty. I don't really do jelousy but the green eyed monster is coming out. Great job.
> 
> Andy



 ... speaking of green, it is a bit green and i dont think the lighting will be strong enough to bring out any red in the rotala, maybe i should have thought of an accent more.... :idea:  maybe the shrimp will do that though!



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> awesome mate!
> 
> you really do have the 'eye' for this hobby...



I think the expression is; 'even the sun shines on a dogs .... someday'   . Just need to hone the growing skills too now! Thanks though its much appreciated.



			
				pariahrob said:
			
		

> That looks gorgeous. Really liked it before you planted and now just looks even better!



Cheers Rob, its always a worry that youll make things worse when planting, but i do quite like the way its turned out. Think maybe if the rotala grows at the rear i may remove the uppermost mini java fern as it seems to one dimensionalise (is that even a word?) the centre of the scape a little.... or 'flatten' it, thatll do!



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> When that grows out it would easily be worthy of IAPLC entry mate. Congrats.



Thanks and high praise Chris , i think theres a way to go yet but im quite pleased at the initial look..... need to be able to grow the damn plants now!

Thanks all for the positive feedback, it helps on this sad night   
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Dosing advice please*

Hi, 
advice please.
Last time i started a tank i cycled without plants, emptied, planted and refilled, let settle for a week then bought livestock. This time obviously ive planted from the start and understand this means more water changes to reduce ammonia etc and help the plants and reduce the risk of algae whilst cycling. My plan is to every other day 50% water change for the first week, then every 3 days for the next week, 4 days the week after and down to once a week the week after that...... does this sound about right or is there a better way?
Also dosing, im going to use liquid carbon and ferts as macro and micro mixes. Do i start both immediately, carbon obviously, and i would have thought ferts too, but want to clarify. Also being as its relitively low light would you suggest bottle recommended dosing regime, or still more? Thinking i dont want to overdo it with the ferts as this will in turn raise tds which wont be great for the CRS i intend to keep.
Thinking of starting photoperiod on 5hrs/day?, = less demand for c02 and ferts?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Ady.


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....'Mega' rock removed.*

Hi,
quick snaps of how its looking now that the wood has sunk and ive been able to remove the large rock holding it down. Fissidens moved into position.
Every other day 50% water changes at the moment (one just completed pre photo), dosing 2.5ml flourish excel, to be reduced to 1.5 ml when shrimp are added. 1ml macro, 1ml micro ferts started today. As above, advice would be appreciated on these as not 100% sure of the best course of action.
Lighting period set at 5hrs, 6-11pm.












Cheerio,
Ady.


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## nayr88

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....'weight rock' removed photo.*

Mate!!

This tank alone has inspired me to get back into the scene! 
Thanks


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## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....'weight rock' removed photo.*



			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> Mate!!
> 
> This tank alone has inspired me to get back into the scene!
> Thanks


  Wow, cool man, and pleased your coming back!
Cheers,
Ady.


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## sr20det

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....'weight rock' removed photo.*

Lovely tank, in the process of scaping an aquarium, this is inspiration, well done.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....'weight rock' removed photo.*



			
				sr20det said:
			
		

> Lovely tank, in the process of scaping an aquarium, this is inspiration, well done.


Thanks and happy scaping, its great fun!


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 Shrimp tank....Plant melt and new TDS meter.*

Hi,
currently suffering a bit of plant melt, which i suspect is going to turn into a lot of plant melt!
Staurogyne, and HC all showing signs of leaves softening, ferts and liquid carbon dosing amounts as above post.
Any ideas and advice..... is it transition, c02, ferts?
Heres the damage:

Staurogyne:





HC:










On a more positive note the TDS meter ive been waiting for arrived today. Factory calibrated, temperature compensation, and wide range = ideal for me to measure my fish/shrimp tank water   
I tested the tank and its 76ppm TDS, so a little on the low side for my planned CRS, so ive started experimenting with my salty shrimp bee shrimp GH booster. Just dosed 2.5ml to the 55l tank and the reading is now 102ppm TDS, so getting somewhere near. Dechlorinated tap water immediately reads 72ppm so ill add approx 1.75ml GH booster to each 25l drum of prepared water and see how i go. Im aiming (when at one water change per week) to get around 150 ppm post water change, increasing to a maximium of 180 ppm by the end of the week after fert dosing.... ill have to wait and see how the ferts effect the TDS over the course of a week. 

TDS Meter:






Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hi Ady, dont know the reason for your plant issues.  Probably CO2 !!! Lol, cos it always is.  Got a link for that TDS meter ?  Cheers


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hi Chris, probably right with c02, already dosing nearly 2x recommend excel though!
Heres the link mate, there are less expensive ones but thought id get a decent brand and one with a temp sensor on too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HM-DIGITAL-TDS- ... 78&sr=8-34
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## O'Neil

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Awesome nano and the more tanks I see like this the more determined I am to redo my epic aquascaping failures.


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Hi Chris, probably right with c02, already dosing nearly 2x recommend excel though!
> Heres the link mate, there are less expensive ones but thought id get a decent brand and one with a temp sensor on too:
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/HM-DIGITAL-TDS- ... 78&sr=8-34
> Cheerio,
> Ady.



Nice bit of kit.  Reasonable price too.  How do you intend using it ?  Will you use it each time you do a water change ?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Nice bit of kit.  Reasonable price too.  How do you intend using it ?  Will you use it each time you do a water change ?


im gonna use it all the time because its a new gadget.... tank water, water change water, tap water, bath water, rain water...     
Seriously, ill use it to test the water regularly in the tank but predominantly pre and post water change to make sure im keeping the TDS within a suitable range.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hey,

Ady,whats the TDS from the tap?
 I know your wanting to keep Crystal red shrimp, so on the tds front one of the best things to have is a small bucket. In your case probably 5 litres, some airline and one of them airline taps.

Put them all together and you get a drip acclimatiser 

I don't know how the 'salty shimp' raises tds, is it a powder? Therefore slowly. Or a liquid? Which will increase tds instantly? 

I would recommend Mosura Mineral plus, its a liquid allowing you to adjust tds instantly before adding to tank.

Regards,
Nathaniel


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey,
> 
> Ady,whats the TDS from the tap?
> I know your wanting to keep Crystal red shrimp, so on the tds front one of the best things to have is a small bucket. In your case probably 5 litres, some airline and one of them airline taps.
> 
> Put them all together and you get a drip acclimatiser
> 
> I don't know how the 'salty shimp' raises tds, is it a powder? Therefore slowly. Or a liquid? Which will increase tds instantly?
> 
> I would recommend Mosura Mineral plus, its a liquid allowing you to adjust tds instantly before adding to tank.
> 
> Regards,
> Nathaniel



Cheers mate,
yeah salty shrimp is a powder, i just mix it up in a jug with bit of aquarium water (or the water change water) to dissolve it and then add it to the tank, its then pretty instant.
TDS is 72ppm from the tap, so pretty low.
Ill have to hunt out some old airline valves to make the drip acclimator, probably the best way to slowly acclimatise them   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Yeah I thought it was a lot softer over in darlington.
Mines like 300  which means I generally cut mine 50/50 with RO water.

Drip acclimatisation will be the best method for making changes easy! 

Regards


----------



## JohnC

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hi,

Lovely set up, will be ace when it all grows in.

The HC is suffering from low or fluctuating CO2. When I tried it in my 10L dennerle I had the same thing (link in my sig).

I got one of these TDS meters while ago after seeing the acronym used here. Other then a general idea of KH/GH what other stuff is this meter catching? Surely it measures all dissolved salts, including ferts but also fish wastes, silicates etc.....

Out of interest my CRS tank is at 180 TDS and they are breeding. My other tanks range from 130 to 210 dependant on dosing and hardscape.

My GH and KH of my tap water are between 0 and 2.

Best Regards,
John


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				JohnC said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> Lovely set up, will be ace when it all grows in.
> 
> The HC is suffering from low or fluctuating CO2. When I tried it in my 10L dennerle I had the same thing (link in my sig).
> 
> I got one of these TDS meters while ago after seeing the acronym used here. Other then a general idea of KH/GH what other stuff is this meter catching? Surely it measures all dissolved salts, including ferts but also fish wastes, silicates etc.....
> 
> Out of interest my CRS tank is at 180 TDS and they are breeding. My other tanks range from 130 to 210 dependant on dosing and hardscape.
> 
> My GH and KH of my tap water are between 0 and 2.
> 
> Best Regards,
> John



Hi John and thanks.
Awesome nano you had there, in its favour it had gas c02 and a greater amount of light than what im currently using, and at the moment im questioning whether this set up will grow in at all    !? Did you run c02 24/7 with the dannerle nano system to keep it constant/stable rather than fiddling with it on/off every day? Im reasoning with c02 being the culprit here as its melt im seeing, but im also unsure if the light will be sufficient anyway. Probably hit a crossroads really where i either spend more money on extra lighting and gas c02, or remove the plants which are more demanding and add more moss/low light/low c02 plants. Unsure whether excel dosing will be sufficient for some of the plants... my melt seems to say no but it could be transition. This was supposed to be pretty low tech so maybe i should stick with mosses etc and just enjoy the shrimp!... when i get them.
Incidentally how would i know if there was too little light (symptoms)???
The TDS meter does measure all dissolved salts and is probably a more accurate way of conditioning water than using gh/kh test kits. The shrimpers seem to use them, so as i wanted crs i thought it a good investment. Ill be able to monitor my water and adjust/water change accordingly to keep it right. Got some surprising results from my 180l tank with it though... but thats another discussion.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Im supplementing a tank with just easy carbo and tpn+ and the HC is growing fine mate. I fear it may be your lighting? 

Regards


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Im supplementing a tank with just easy carbo and tpn+ and the HC is growing fine mate. I fear it may be your lighting?
> 
> Regards


Maybe its transition then as its melting im experiencing and i would think too little light would result in loss of leaves not melt? I could do with finding out the symptoms of too little light so ill do a bit of research on that. For now ill hang fire and if things dont improve ill have to look more into LCP (Light Compenstaion Point). Ive read a few threads about it and am wondering if im below it for these species! Unfortunately to accurately measure it it seems you need a PAR meter, which will maybe cost £200.....   My first port of call if things dont improve (ie its not transition) may be additional lighting, or lower LCP plants as i dont want to add more excel.... and if i am below the LCP then adding more carbon would be futile.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hey Ady, I was under the impression HC melt was pretty much the norm in any new set up..? Id wait a while a see what happens.
Low tech tanks are a joy unto themselves anyway mate, i love my low tech nano and how easy it is - twice weekly ferts and bi weekly 10 minute WC.  Low tech in a big tank i can imagine to be tedious but with small ones it fills in pretty quick and with next to no maintenance.  The shrimpies will thank you too  

On a side note id happily chip in with a couple of other regulars to get a par meter....


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

I would try and increase the lighting ady, 
As you questioned if this was a potential problem in the First place. Dont you think a fluval PCL (11w) or similar could make the difference?

Ive just got my grobeam mounted  that would definitely power it down to your substrate!


----------



## O'Neil

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Before you go buying a light, have you tried lowering the water level?
Correct me if I'm wrong but would this not have a similar effect to adding more light?
If so, you may be able to try this and if it fixes the issue then go buy a light.
If not save your money and buy loads of assassin snails (joke couldn't resist, lol)


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Lighting is relatively easy to come by !


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Hey Ady, I was under the impression HC melt was pretty much the norm in any new set up..? Id wait a while a see what happens.
> Low tech tanks are a joy unto themselves anyway mate, i love my low tech nano and how easy it is - twice weekly ferts and bi weekly 10 minute WC.  Low tech in a big tank i can imagine to be tedious but with small ones it fills in pretty quick and with next to no maintenance.  The shrimpies will thank you too
> 
> On a side note id happily chip in with a couple of other regulars to get a par meter....



Yeah i think patience may help in diagnosing this issue. Ill lose nothing to wait and see and let things settle properly for a couple more weeks. As for the PAR meter it may be worth looking into. Im a bit skint at the moment but in the future maybe like you say a few regulars could chip in and buy a 'UKAPS members' one. Maybe to be kept by an administrator to be loaned as and when?



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> As you questioned if this was a potential problem in the First place. Dont you think a fluval PCL (11w) or similar could make the difference?
> 
> Ive just got my grobeam mounted  that would definitely power it down to your substrate!



Nice light mate   
Yeah ive looked into a couple of additional light units and although if i were going down that route id like another 18w aqua one one (im a little bit ocd about matching things for aesthetics), the fluval 11w would probably up lighting sufficiently and not look too mismatched as its black. mmm...there is a grobeam going on the site i think...... but being as how youve just offered me yours thatll be great thanks     



			
				Porksword said:
			
		

> Before you go buying a light, have you tried lowering the water level.
> Correct me if I'm wrong but would this not have a similar effect as adding more light?
> If so, you may be able to try this and if it fixes the issue then go buy a light.
> If not save your money and buy loads of assassin snails (joke couldn't resist, lol)



Hi, unfortunately the main filter inlet is near the water surface for the weir style filter chamber so i couldnt do this for any length of time. Im unsure of light penetration, but it may be more to do with distance from the substrate although im sure it does travel easier through air than water so there may be some justification for this theory. Apart from other snails do assassins eat anything else (algae/organic matter) as a few might look quite nice in here, but touch wood, i dont have any other snails yet!


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Apart from other snails do assassins eat anything else (algae/organic matter) as a few might look quite nice in here, but touch wood, i dont have any other snails yet!



I watched 3  of my assassins take out a cardinal like a pack of wolves! had pictures but lost my photobucket account somehow along with the pics i posted.  Shrimp might be on the menu if snails are in short supply?  They seem to hibernate in the gravel for months when there are no snails, i believe they are strictly meat eaters mate.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apart from other snails do assassins eat anything else (algae/organic matter) as a few might look quite nice in here, but touch wood, i dont have any other snails yet!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I watched 3  of my assassins take out a cardinal like a pack of wolves! had pictures but lost my photobucket account somehow along with the pics i posted.  Shrimp might be on the menu if snails are in short supply?  They seem to hibernate in the gravel for months when there are no snails, i believe they are strictly meat eaters mate.
Click to expand...

   thats a risk i aint taking.....  assassin  :idea: , sorry porksword.
Cheers for the heads up Iain.


----------



## JohnC

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apart from other snails do assassins eat anything else (algae/organic matter) as a few might look quite nice in here, but touch wood, i dont have any other snails yet!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I watched 3  of my assassins take out a cardinal like a pack of wolves! had pictures but lost my photobucket account somehow along with the pics i posted.  Shrimp might be on the menu if snails are in short supply?  They seem to hibernate in the gravel for months when there are no snails, i believe they are strictly meat eaters mate.
Click to expand...


Bejesus. I've heard anecdotal stories of them taking infant shrimp but never a fish.

I got fed up with them in the end as they just kept disappearing. Plus you need tons to make a real dent in a big snail issue.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				JohnC said:
			
		

> Bejesus. I've heard anecdotal stories of them taking infant shrimp but never a fish.



Yep, i couldnt believe it, 3 of them holding it by the tail as it was trying to swim away then eaten alive from the tail up


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Im supplementing a tank with just easy carbo and tpn+ and the HC is growing fine mate. I fear it may be your lighting?
> 
> Regards



Hi Nathaniel, what are your recommendations for lighting vis a vis HC ?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Im supplementing a tank with just easy carbo and tpn+ and the HC is growing fine mate. I fear it may be your lighting?
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Nathaniel, what are your recommendations for lighting vis a vis HC ?
Click to expand...


Hi, just to add to that what are you dosing of easy carbo?
Cheers,
Ady.


----------



## O'Neil

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

As far as I know Ady they only eat other snails


----------



## faizal

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Yep, i couldnt believe it, 3 of them holding it by the tail as it was trying to swim away then eaten alive from the tail up



That's like something out of that movie "Grey" with Liam Neeson,....


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Antipofish said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Im supplementing a tank with just easy carbo and tpn+ and the HC is growing fine mate. I fear it may be your lighting?
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Nathaniel, what are your recommendations for lighting vis a vis HC ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hi, just to add to that what are you dosing of easy carbo?
> Cheers,
> Ady.
Click to expand...



Hey guys,
Well at the moment i have 22w on for 5 hours (5-10pm) and dosing 0.5ml daily Easycarbo & 0.5ml daily of TPN+. 

(tank dimensions 30x30x35. So only 2 inches deeper than yours ady. Holding 30-33ltrs) 

The growth rate isnt massive, but its definitely spreading. Ive got some blxya japonica in there too and all seems to be doing fine. 

Fire red shrimps seem ok too.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*





Heres a quick snap to show how its going. Its not growing that slow actually. and I think its looking pretty healthy.


----------



## O'Neil

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

I watched 3  of my assassins take out a cardinal like a pack of wolves! had pictures but lost my photobucket account somehow along with the pics i posted.  Shrimp might be on the menu if snails are in short supply?  They seem to hibernate in the gravel for months when there are no snails, i believe they are strictly meat eaters mate.[/quote]

Holy crap I didn't know that


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey guys,
> Well at the moment i have 22w on for 5 hours (5-10pm) and dosing 0.5ml daily Easycarbo & 0.5ml daily of TPN+.
> 
> (tank dimensions 30x30x35. So only 2 inches deeper than yours ady. Holding 30-33ltrs)
> 
> The growth rate isnt massive, but its definitely spreading. Ive got some blxya japonica in there too and all seems to be doing fine.
> 
> Fire red shrimps seem ok too.


Cheers for the info mate and the tanks coming along a treat...must be nice to see hc growing and green!
From your info that means about 2.5wpg in you set up with just under recommended dosage for easy carbo, no algae and plant growth with healthy shrimp.
Im dosing 2.5ml excel in a tank with 1.2 wpg and getting melt. If this isnt transition then im with you on the light so ill be adding to it regardless. I think if your having success with 2.5 wpg with no algae then ill be safe upping mine to around 2wpg and reducing my liquid carbon to around 1-1.5ml/day (running out of excel so ive bought some easy carbo to try). Ive read that smaller volumes of water need more light to get the same intensities?
Is it possible im overdosing the liquid carbon at the moment, i know some plants are susceptible to melt with it, but thought it to be vallis and some other narrow leafed varieties?
I know i can get fluval 11w clip on lights but does anyone know where you can get larger wattage ones like an 18w?
Cheers,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Hey ady, 

Thanks mate. Yeah I understand what you mean. I would definitely get another light unit as I think its more that than over dosing liquid carbon.
And yeah you could drop it down to a slightly lower dosage, although i don't think that would melt the Hc like you say.

Im happy how mines growing, so if you can get somewhere near that then surely it should rectify itself? 

Itching to get on with next scape.
Patience is not 'my' virtue 

Regards,


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Patience is not 'my' virtue
> 
> Regards,


Ha, i know what you mean, i want these plants to be growing now but unfortunately it seems nothing good happens fast in planted tanks!
Bet your sat fiddling with all that manzy at home wishing you had some substrate!
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Ha, your very right.

These pieces are great, but also they are going to be very dominating in the scape. Will see what I can come up with.

Keep us updated with the results of adding lighting. I wouldnt know where o get an exact match, but fluval pcl's shouldnt be too intrusive as they are black and quite compact too. 

Regards


----------



## JohnC

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Patience is not 'my' virtue
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> 
> ..... nothing good happens fast in planted tanks!
> ....
> Ady.
Click to expand...



oh i have to disagree on this one.... I've just had to remove the reflectors on my 180L cthulhu tank as it was growing TOO fast....  8)  

I quite enjoy the slow pace of my two low light tanks. I deliberately downgraded my CRS tank to a microLED with anubias and ferns so avoid having to add too much ferts and chemicals to keep it looking good. Something that is now paying off with my first berried crystal...

Best Regards,
John


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Oh ady, 

Look heres a months growth;
From this (ugly)  






To this;



Bit better


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				JohnC said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whitey89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Patience is not 'my' virtue
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> 
> ..... nothing good happens fast in planted tanks!
> ....
> Ady.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> oh i have to disagree on this one.... I've just had to remove the reflectors on my 180L cthulhu tank as it was growing TOO fast....  8)
> 
> I quite enjoy the slow pace of my two low light tanks. I deliberately downgraded my CRS tank to a microLED with anubias and ferns so avoid having to add too much ferts and chemicals to keep it looking good. Something that is now paying off with my first berried crystal...
> 
> Best Regards,
> John
Click to expand...


Well i could argue my case that in removing the reflectors to slow things down, that fast again wasnt good   , but i know what you mean, when things settle, and in good conditions the plants do then grow fast!
Great news about the CRS John, you must be well chuffed. Maybe slowing things down and not being so intrusive with ferts, chemicals, trimming water changes etc helps with the shrimp. Ive maybe put myself between a rock and a hardplace with this set up wanting an aquascape thats ideal for shrimp?! We'll see, i havnt got any shrimp yet so when i do they may well dictate the way the tank goes. 



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Oh ady,
> 
> Look heres a months growth;
> From this (ugly)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To this;
> 
> 
> 
> Bit better



 , id be well happy with that on easy carb!
Ill prob get another 11w clip on light this weekend   

Quick shot of how its looking, the melt seems to have slowed, but no new growth on the staurogyne and hc. Some of the mosses are starting to show new growth and the pearl moss seems to be taking on a wider (presumably submerged) form. Theres a bit of mould on the wood, but when i get the shrimp im sure theyll sort that out. Still on every other day water changes at the moment to keep the water in check during the melt.

'warts and all', so heres the melt, its actually not too bad really and if the stauro and hc dont make it ill replace with something else:





Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Oh, added 100ml purigen on 30/05/2012.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Looking good ady, decide on a light yet? 

Regards


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Looking good ady, decide on a light yet?
> 
> Regards


Prob just a hagen 11w clip on.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Purchased a Hagen 11w clip on plc light today to up the lighting slightly to 2wpg. Will see what effect this has, it obviously looks visibly brighter and a nicer colour too.

This:





Results in this:





Compared to this:





Ill monitor progress/problems.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Looks a lot better already, you should see the intensity of the grobeam. Its really bright and white. Rather than a yellow hue.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Looks a lot better already, you should see the intensity of the grobeam. Its really bright and white. Rather than a yellow hue.


Ha yeah, but even 2nd hand £150 is well out of my price range.... luckily for me the one that Malawistu had for sale on here sold so no temptation!
Maybe you should get yourself one of those snazzy new ADA or Elos LED's and sell me your grobeam well cheap   
 
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

oh Whitey, have you spotted your ranunculus over there on the left yet? I reckon it may do alright


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Haha! I wish i could. And yeah Ive just spotted it! Told you I didnt have much 

Like the warmer lighting now, i rate the fluval PCLs like. A little Bit pricey though for their size.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Haha! I wish i could. And yeah Ive just spotted it! Told you I didnt have much
> 
> Like the warmer lighting now, i rate the fluval PCLs like. A little Bit pricey though for their size.


Yeah, very pricey considering what you can get the ebi or flora complete set ups for, Chilton Aquatics is doing them for £75! Made me almost tempted to buy a complete set up and sell some bits on.
as for the ranunculus mate...its not the starting size that counts, itll grow  ... at least it hasnt melted like some of the others.
Ady.


----------



## AAB

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Yeah, very pricey considering what you can get the ebi or flora complete set ups for, Chilton Aquatics is doing them for £75! Made me almost tempted to buy a complete set up and sell some bits on.
> Ady.



What did you pay for the light if you don't mind me asking. Because I bought a new Fluval Ebi complete set couple of weeks ago from http://www.portonaquapet.co.uk for £55.95 + £6.50 P&P.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				AAB said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, very pricey considering what you can get the ebi or flora complete set ups for, Chilton Aquatics is doing them for £75! Made me almost tempted to buy a complete set up and sell some bits on.
> Ady.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What did you pay for the light if you don't mind me asking. Because I bought a new Fluval Ebi complete set couple of weeks ago from http://www.portonaquapet.co.uk for £55.95 + £6.50 P&P.
Click to expand...

Hi, i got the light for £32, think they retail at around £40 give or take. Thats a great price for the Ebi, ive heard they are discontinuing them so maybe that explains the prices coming down a bit. Its painful paying so much for the light when for a little extra you can get the complete set up, but without use for the rest (and being skint) i thought it prudent to just get what i needed and save the rest for shrimp  
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

I bought my ebi brand new with everything, inc light and filter plus substrate and minerals for...



£30


----------



## AAB

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> I bought my ebi brand new with everything, inc light and filter plus substrate and minerals for...
> 
> 
> 
> £30



Wow! I thought I got a really good deal on mine but yours is about half the price I paid.  Can you share with us where you got yours from?


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Mine was a steal from ebay buddy,
Just a one off auction, where the person had opened the box and didnt fancy it. 

Lucky times


----------



## AAB

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

You are soooo lucky, I would buy one at that price any day.


----------



## LondonDragon

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Plant melt & new TDS meter.*

Tank is looking great Ady, careful with the extra light


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra light.*



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Tank is looking great Ady, careful with the extra light


Cheers Paulo, its been a considered upgrade....ill monitor and can reduce/increase individual light photoperiods accordingly.   
Currently on 6hr photoperiod both lights.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Keep us updated on light progress Ady 

I know youve been away, so when you get chance, would be good to see if there has been any improvement yet.

Im starting my 600x400 optiwhite cabinet build soon, just been cutting a couple of components this morning.

All the best,


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Keep us updated on light progress Ady
> 
> I know youve been away, so when you get chance, would be good to see if there has been any improvement yet.
> 
> Im starting my 600x400 optiwhite cabinet build soon, just been cutting a couple of components this morning.
> 
> All the best,


Hi Nath,
came back to another stauro melt and surface scum   
The missus said she put a bit too much of one of the 'thingys' in, possibly liquid carbon? Maybe this caused it, maybe its a response to the added light and not enough liquid carbon? 
On the plus side the mosses and mini pelia are starting to take off....think ill be pulling out the stauro and hc and trying something else.
Bloody planaria in here somehow too??? Gonna get some treatment and do both tanks.
Bit disheartened at the moment, failed with stauro before and even the hydrocotle isnt doing great, so maybe need to try something else in here. Anyone got any suggestions, thought maybe some mini hairgrass, wendtti green crypt (maybe too large) or just some monosolenium tenerum and christmas moss? Seems a bit defeatist but if it aint working it aint working.
I know some shrimp would cheer me up, but want to wait till things have settled and are going well really.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Hey ady, sorry to hear that some of the plants arent doing so well... have you considered dwarf riccia on some cleverly shaped stones around the base for detail? not sure how it does with easy carbon though.  Goes great guns in my low tech nano.
Im sure youll get there mate and the stauro curse will be broken eventually...


----------



## faizal

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> ......another stauro melt and surface scum



Hi Ady,..I am sorry to hear of your problems mate. But melting & surface scum appears to point at a co2 issue,..in this case it's most probably the recent increase in lighting levels about 10 days ago. Ady I have got staurogynes growing at 20 micromoles mate. Very low PAR. The lights are on for 6 hrs ,...only Excel dosed ( probably just 1.5 times the recommended Excel value for my tank size) . I would switch back to the old lighting levels, remove the dead leaves & keep at the current excel dosing levels for another 2 weeks. 

Daily small water changes. Remember that if we change more than 40% of the water then we need to add more excel each time after the water changes. Don't give up just yet.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Hey ady, sorry to hear that some of the plants arent doing so well... have you considered dwarf riccia on some cleverly shaped stones around the base for detail? not sure how it does with easy carbon though.  Goes great guns in my low tech nano.
> Im sure youll get there mate and the stauro curse will be broken eventually...


...ill never break the stuaro curse  :? 
Think i might just play this safe now with respect planting and go for some less c02 demanding plants that should be guaranteed, get things stable and enjoy some shrimp   .



			
				faizal said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ......another stauro melt and surface scum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Ady,..I am sorry to hear of your problems mate. But melting & surface scum appears to point at a co2 issue,..in this case it's most probably the recent increase in lighting levels about 10 days ago. Ady I have got staurogynes growing at 20 micromoles mate. Very low PAR. The lights are on for 6 hrs ,...only Excel dosed ( probably just 1.5 times the recommended Excel value for my tank size) . I would switch back to the old lighting levels, remove the dead leaves & keep at the current excel dosing levels for another 2 weeks.
> 
> Daily small water changes. Remember that if we change more than 40% of the water then we need to add more excel each time after the water changes. Don't give up just yet.
Click to expand...

you could well be right there Faizal, it all points to c02 really but i was just concerned at the level of light before. I must say i probably have been inconsistent with the liquid carbon though as you said. Ive been doing 40% every other day water changes (till this weekend) and not been consistent with dosing the excel to compensate. I need to get a routine and stick to it. Im going to leave the lighting as it is for now and attempt to regulate everything else better.
Cheers for the encouragement and advice guys.
Cheerio,
Ady


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Hey ady,

This isnt good news! Everyone has said basically what I have thought. Stick with lighting, pump up excel/EC. 

I use a 2.5ml/5ml syringe. If you dont have one I suggest you invest, as both accurate and consistant.

How much excel were you dosing? Have you been dosing TPN+ too?

Regards,


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Also,
Im doing a Stauro trim shortly, let me know if you want a fresh batch to give a go.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey ady,
> 
> This isnt good news! Everyone has said basically what I have thought. Stick with lighting, pump up excel/EC.
> 
> I use a 2.5ml/5ml syringe. If you dont have one I suggest you invest, as both accurate and consistant.
> 
> How much excel were you dosing? Have you been dosing TPN+ too?
> 
> Regards,


Hi mate,
yeah i have a syringe, been dosing 2ml daily on a morning along with 1ml macro mix and 1ml tpn for ferts (just today started ei micro mix also to replace used up tpn), but not adding more after the water changes which normally take place on an evening during lights on...probably the worst time especially without adding more LC to compensate   Think when the water changes reduce in frequency this will help manage the w/c timing better and maybe more frequent but smaller water changes for the time being as Faizal suggested may be a better way of stabilising things. Dont really want to add more than 2ml easycarb especially with the shrimp ill be keeping.


			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Also,
> Im doing a Stauro trim shortly, let me know if you want a fresh batch to give a go.


Probably leave it mate thanks, id like to try again but im sure it will do the same so ill decide on an alternative.
If i now remove the melted plants, i can maybe reduce water change frequency down to 1 a week so i can do it (on a weekend) pre dosing and photoperiod to get more stability.
Cheers, 
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Hmm, Why are you doing as many water changes as that?

Your dosing enough to keep algae at bay to a degree aren't you? I just do a WC of 15-20% a week.  And my tank
Is in its grow in stages. 

My HC is spreading like Wild fire now, in both my tanks, so its kind of frustrating that I cant help you 

Regards


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hmm, Why are you doing as many water changes as that?
> 
> Your dosing enough to keep algae at bay to a degree aren't you? I just do a WC of 15-20% a week.  And my tank
> Is in its grow in stages.


To keep ammonia and organic waste at bay in the maturing stage with the leaching from aquasoil and planting immediately method. Prevention rather than cure for algae.
Its been a few weeks now, thought id just carry on as i was still having melt and the plants hadnt settled yet. Maybe time to get the old test kit out and do some ammonia readings. If i get the melting plants out i can probably reduce this now.


			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> My HC is spreading like Wild fire now, in both my tanks, so its kind of frustrating that I cant help you


i have plant poison tap water   
all i can think is its your light and hc likes it as im dosing more LC and similar level of ferts, but my lighting is lower wpg....but who knows? In fairness its probably a few things most likely fluctuating c02 due to my frequent water changes and then not compensating the LC, also not helped by changing the light intensity... :idea:  pretty much all the things ive learned are important from my other tank not being put into practice on this one!!!   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Haha can be frustrating at times cant it.
Well there is the WPG but depth is only 4-5cm more so that light must be penetrating. The fact my water is harder too, at approx 250-300 ppm.

Sorry if Im wrong but isn't the fact ADA leeches ammonia intended for initial plant growth? I Thought this was beneficial during the stages before stocking mate? 

Regards,


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Haha can be frustrating at times cant it.
> Well there is the WPG but depth is only 4-5cm more so that light must be penetrating. The fact my water is harder too, at approx 250-300 ppm.
> 
> Sorry if Im wrong but isn't the fact ADA leeches ammonia intended for initial plant growth? I Thought this was beneficial during the stages before stocking mate?
> 
> Regards,


yeah can be very frustrating, its good keeping a journal though as it helps others help point out the obvious for you! You can look back through the evidence trail and have it written in black and white   
TDS in my tank is only around 110ppm at the moment and surprisingly is only 220 in the 180l, which given the conductivity reading of getting up towards 500 surprised me a little.
Yeah ADA ammonia leaching helps cycling for the filter bacteria etc but too much i think is good for algae especially in the early stages when the plants havnt rooted and began strong growth.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Ahh cool,
i understood cycling properties and thought plants preferred the ammonia at start. 

Regards


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				faizal said:
			
		

> Remember that if we change more than 40% of the water then we need to add more excel each time after the water changes....



Hi faizal, why is that  ?  I dont add any excel at all and i change 50 to 60% water weekly.  Doesnt seem to cause any issues, so I am wondering what the thing is with adding extra excel ?

Ady, keep going with the stauro... mine seems to have REALLY perked up now I have upped the flow.  In fact I will be doing a trim soon and adding in extra plants to thicken up the carpet.  

Im sure you will ride out the niggles you are having at the moment mate.  All tanks have glitches... blame the wife for adding too much "stuff" and tell her you need some expensive piece of equipment to rectify it hehe.   

(Like an AI sol LED light unit   )


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> faizal said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Remember that if we change more than 40% of the water then we need to add more excel each time after the water changes....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi faizal, why is that  ?  I dont add any excel at all and i change 50 to 60% water weekly.  Doesnt seem to cause any issues, so I am wondering what the thing is with adding extra excel ?
> 
> Ady, keep going with the stauro... mine seems to have REALLY perked up now I have upped the flow.  In fact I will be doing a trim soon and adding in extra plants to thicken up the carpet.
> 
> Im sure you will ride out the niggles you are having at the moment mate.  All tanks have glitches... blame the wife for adding too much "stuff" and tell her you need some expensive piece of equipment to rectify it hehe.
> 
> (Like an AI sol LED light unit   )
Click to expand...

Ha ha, it is fathers day on sunday so maybe......
Pleased your stauro is taking off mate, but mine is a no go, practically all melted    Water change night tomorrow so im going to remove this and the hc to be substituted with something else. The mosses and pelia have started to grow now so thats encouraging so may well end up being just mosses, liveworts and ferns in here, although im considering giving the amania sp. bonsai a go. Tanks in need of a cuc, cant tell wether its mould or diatoms on the wood but it needs to go. Want to add some ottos but water temp only at room temperature sitting at a constant 21.5 degrees c so maybe borderline a bit chilly for them....im sure the shrimp will take care of it when i eventually get some.
The liquid carbon thing is only significant if your using it as a carbon source, your supposed to add a higher amount after a large water change although i myself am unsure why as as far as im aware it degrades within 24hrs anyway? I can understand adding a percentage after a water change to compensate for any removed to keep the carbon levels constant....maybe its more to do with its algaecide properties or something?
Hows your shrimp nano coming along Chris?
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Thanks for the explanation about the easycarbo.  I used to use it but Im happy without it at the moment.  
Shrimp nano... erm...  Im trying to get everything sorted for it.  Got a TMC mini LED but decided I wanted a different one, so am selling the brand new mini 500 I have    

Once thats sorted I will get it going for sure


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Have you got it filled so it can be cycling, then when youve got the light etc sorted youll be ready to plant and add shrimp


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*

Ive got the filter set up on the main tank as well as the big eheim but im wondering if i take it off if that will cause an issue in the main tank now ?  What do you reckon ?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Ive got the filter set up on the main tank as well as the big eheim but im wondering if i take it off if that will cause an issue in the main tank now ?  What do you reckon ?


Will be ok. Your main filter and plants will keep the big tank in check   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## spyder

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Bit disheartened at the moment, failed with stauro before and even the hydrocotle isnt doing great, so maybe need to try something else in here. Anyone got any suggestions, thought maybe some mini hairgrass, wendtti green crypt (maybe too large) or just some monosolenium tenerum and christmas moss? Seems a bit defeatist but if it aint working it aint working.
> 
> Cheerio,
> Ady.



I found Crypt Wendetii green stayed really small in a low tech or with liquid co2, around 1.5 - 2 inches. Give it pressurized co2 and it becomes a 6-7 inch plus monster.


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Antipofish said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ive got the filter set up on the main tank as well as the big eheim but im wondering if i take it off if that will cause an issue in the main tank now ?  What do you reckon ?
> 
> 
> 
> Will be ok. Your main filter and plants will keep the big tank in check
> Cheerio,
> Ady.
Click to expand...


Great to know.  I will fill the nano this weekend in that case.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Extra Light.*



			
				spyder said:
			
		

> I found Crypt Wendetii green stayed really small in a low tech or with liquid co2, around 1.5 - 2 inches.


Thanks for the info spyder, thats good to know, i may well add some in that case, i have a hole that needs filling  :silent:  
Cheers,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Photo update.*

Hi, 
after all the issues i thought id post a few how it looks now photos.
It was water change night tonight so removed the old staurogyne stumps and the melted mass of hc leaving several gaps to fill. Going to cut water changes down to 1 40-50% per week (or 2 small ones). TDS is currently around 107ppm, but im aiming to increase this to around 130ppm. Need to get the test kits out and check for ammonia and nitrite, should be almost cycled now i would think, but need to check before adding livestock.







quite a bit of surface agitation to help with 02 saturation for the shrimp, no worry of gassing off c02 with liquid carbon!





The rotala at the rear is slowly growing....very slowly growing....but at least it is growing   





Ill decide on plant replacements and update on changes as and when.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## AAB

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Photo update.*

Ady, your setup looks amazing to me.  If mine looked anything like yours, I would be very happy with it.   No need to be disheartened mate, keep your chin up.


----------



## danmullan

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Photo update.*

Looks really good mate, plants compliment the scape and the sense of scale is really impressive. If not for the easy to identify style of the tank, you could easily fool people into thinking this was a much bigger cube!

Jealous!


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Photo update.*

Hi,


			
				AAB said:
			
		

> Ady, your setup looks amazing to me.  If mine looked anything like yours, I would be very happy with it.   No need to be disheartened mate, keep your chin up.


Cheers for that mate, i feel a bit better about things now the melting plants are out, they were a bit of an in your face reminder! Mosses seem to be doing ok, although some of the weeping moss has brown areas under the new growth so may need to reattach it.



			
				danmullan said:
			
		

> Looks really good mate, plants compliment the scape and the sense of scale is really impressive. If not for the easy to identify style of the tank, you could easily fool people into thinking this was a much bigger cube!
> 
> Jealous!


Appreciate the comments mate, its funny, my brother had seen the pictures on ukaps and when he came round to visit he was shocked at the size of the tank....he was expecting something much bigger   I may pop up a shot with my ugly mug next to it for scale   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick update.*

Quick update.
Added some small green (unknown) crypts to the centre where the stauro and hc failed. Trying a bit more ranunculus too. Flame moss going great guns...fissidens slowly but surely as too the mini pelia. Pearl moss and weeping moss not so successful and the rotala has hit a standstill  :? Thinking maybe some mosses dont like the liquid carbon, and maybe the stems need more? Considering super low tech now with reduced liquid carbon and ferts, but not decided yet.
Currently suffering a little staghorn algae along with some brown type on the glass and foreground sand. Carried out a full filtration system clean tonight and syphoned detrius from the filter chamber bottoms whilst cleaning the sponge and bio media....hopefully this will help clear the staghorn issue and will need to be done regularly as its surprising how much dirt there is in a tank without livestock!
Water changes down to one every 6 days, considering 2 smaller ones a week to benefit the shrimp but awaiting some advice on that front. TDS currently set at about 130ppm, can adjust if necessary.
Not going nearly as well as id hoped, but on a more positive note the tank is cycled, with the frowned upon test kits i still keep there is no sign of ammonia or nitrite so ill be able to order some shrimp soon....when funds allow.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## FreshWater Shrimp

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick update.*

Ady, will reply here to your question instead of PM.

Do not put CRS in until you sort out your melting plants. Reason is that as they melt they release sugars to water from leaves which are food for bacteria. You want to clean substrate a bit too  to simply make it nice clean tank and do 3 full water changes and clean filter as if you had now melting plants your water can be pouted with too much bacteria load (wrong type of bacteria some vibrios etc.) Also get Mosura BT9 to promote good bacteria.

See the thing is ..you need to learn how to grow plants only then I would recommend to use them together with CRS else you fail at both. Swamp shrimp like cherry, sakura, yellow would be more or less OK. CRS, tiger etc are fresh stream shrimp so water must be tip top.

I would suggest either you put easy plants which will not melt in your low light setup such as crypts, ferns, hygrophilas  and those mosses and lower easy carbo dozing to 1ml max. Or recommended doze on bottle. With crypts and ferns you do not need to fertilize every day just once a week. So your TDS will stay more or less same. +-10-20 is not problem for CRS. Then you do 10-20% water changes. Once less once more. 

Temp 21 is perfect, fluctuations OK like in nature... Cover glass yes if you want to keep water to top but cover glass will increase your temp in summer too. Make sure you have good surface agitation (oxygenation) all the time as well. Or keep 2cm gap to get no jumpers.

Temperature fluctuation with water change is ok as long as you add colder water.

So again make sure  no plants are melting anymore, unhealthy plants=unhealthy shrimp. That's why we put to tanks dried catapa or oak leaves only.. they are fermented already.. no sugars in them and so safe for shrimp.


----------



## Alastair

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick update.*

Tank looks fantastic mate, I'd be really proud of that. Looks great and once it's crawling with shrimp it will look complete. Well done mate your patience will pay off. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick update.*



			
				FreshWaterShrimp said:
			
		

> Ady, will reply here to your question instead of PM.
> 
> Do not put CRS in until you sort out your melting plants. Reason is that as they melt they release sugars to water from leaves which are food for bacteria. You want to clean substrate a bit too  to simply make it nice clean tank and do 3 full water changes and clean filter as if you had now melting plants your water can be pouted with too much bacteria load (wrong type of bacteria some vibrios etc.) Also get Mosura BT9 to promote good bacteria.
> 
> See the thing is ..you need to learn how to grow plants only then I would recommend to use them together with CRS else you fail at both. Swamp shrimp like cherry, sakura, yellow would be more or less OK. CRS, tiger etc are fresh stream shrimp so water must be tip top.
> 
> I would suggest either you put easy plants which will not melt in your low light setup such as crypts, ferns, hygrophilas  and those mosses and lower easy carbo dozing to 1ml max. Or recommended doze on bottle. With crypts and ferns you do not need to fertilize every day just once a week. So your TDS will stay more or less same. +-10-20 is not problem for CRS. Then you do 10-20% water changes. Once less once more.
> 
> Temp 21 is perfect, fluctuations OK like in nature... Cover glass yes if you want to keep water to top but cover glass will increase your temp in summer too. Make sure you have good surface agitation (oxygenation) all the time as well. Or keep 2cm gap to get no jumpers.
> 
> Temperature fluctuation with water change is ok as long as you add colder water.
> 
> So again make sure  no plants are melting anymore, unhealthy plants=unhealthy shrimp. That's why we put to tanks dried catapa or oak leaves only.. they are fermented already.. no sugars in them and so safe for shrimp.


Thanks for the information....maybe i need to look at a different shrimp species   I initially wanted CRS as ive always liked them, my tap water was soft (low tds) so thought these to be a good option without having to adjust my water too much. Will Sakura or yellows be ok in low tds? I really need a shrimp that is suited to this type of environment as id like to keep the tank planted, i think ill swap out any not doing so well and try some more crypts and reduce liquid carbon. The melt has now stopped, all species that were melting have been removed and the filter media was thoroughly cleaned last night. 
In reference to the Mosura bt9, is this something that needs to be used frequently or just to seed good bacteria initially?
Surface agitation is good so oxygen exchange wont be a problem and water change only results in reduced temp (of 1 degree celcius) so this should be ok too.
Guess i have more to think about again now, theres me thinking id sussed it with regards the water  :? 
Thanks again,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick update.*



			
				Alastair said:
			
		

> Tank looks fantastic mate, I'd be really proud of that. Looks great and once it's crawling with shrimp it will look complete. Well done mate your patience will pay off.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Cheers Alastair,
not as healthy as id like plant wise, but with a few adjustments hopefully it should flourish   .
Cant wait to have some shrimp in there too.
Cheers,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS   
Cant wait to get the little critters in, theres only so much snail spotting you can do!
Reduced easy carbo to 1.5ml/day, will reduce further to 1ml/day when the shrimp arrive. 
Staghorn still here, but itll maybe have to be a feature as i wont be doing huge water changes and overdosing liquid carbon to get rid of it with the shrimp arriving. Good tank husbandry and stabilising the c02 should eventually see it off.
Will post an update when they are settled in.
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS



Exciting!   

Where did you order them from and grade?

btw if it was me I would lose the CO2 when the CRS arrive they don't mix well, I heard reports of people getting a lot of deaths with CO2 and CRS, my 2 cents


----------



## sr20det

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exciting!
> 
> Where did you order them from and grade?
> 
> btw if it was me I would lose the CO2 when the CRS arrive they don't mix well, I heard reports of people getting a lot of deaths with CO2 and CRS, my 2 cents
Click to expand...


On the contrary, many I know have co2 with shrimp with no ill effects.

I ordered yellows from FWS, and they are awesome.  Only into the second week, and know how you are, I was excited to say the least


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exciting!
> 
> Where did you order them from and grade?
> 
> btw if it was me I would lose the CO2 when the CRS arrive they don't mix well, I heard reports of people getting a lot of deaths with CO2 and CRS, my 2 cents
Click to expand...



Easy carbo & excel is worse than Co2.


----------



## nayr88

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Otto72 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exciting!
> 
> Where did you order them from and grade?
> 
> btw if it was me I would lose the CO2 when the CRS arrive they don't mix well, I heard reports of people getting a lot of deaths with CO2 and CRS, my 2 cents
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Easy carbo & excel is worse than Co2.
Click to expand...


i second that
bring the co2 down slowly before they arrive, dont just turn right down over night do it over a good few days.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ooooh, just orderd 10 CRS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exciting!
> 
> Where did you order them from and grade?
> 
> btw if it was me I would lose the CO2 when the CRS arrive they don't mix well, I heard reports of people getting a lot of deaths with CO2 and CRS, my 2 cents
Click to expand...

Hi there,
ordered from Freshwatershrimp and just got grade A. These will be fine for me.
Appreciate the advise on c02, there are conflicting reports everywhere you read about the subject, and with ferts. Im going to reduce both down, but not stop entirely unless i need too....hopefully i wont be  haunted by it, but i am slightly apprehensive! Maybe drop the liquid carbon down to .75ml/day and dose ferts once or twice a week.



			
				sr20det said:
			
		

> ordered yellows from FWS, and they are awesome. Only into the second week, and know how you are, I was excited to say the least


....kid in a sweetshop   hopefully i wont end up   





			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Easy carbo & excel is worse than Co2.





			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> i second that
> bring the co2 down slowly before they arrive, dont just turn right down over night do it over a good few days.


i have no experience to speak of, but like you i think chemicals must be worse than pressurised....shame i cant afford a c02 set up just yet,  :idea: but maybe if i have to take down the studio 900 i can pop it on here, mind you the plants i now have left in here probably dont warrant c02 injection.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Just received confirmation that they have been shipped!


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Nice one Ady34 look forward to lots of pics   

I'm still in the process of getting everything together its very time consuming saving and buying eveything to set up a shrimp tank. I can't wait to get to the position you are in now  
I will defiantly be ordering from FreshWaterShrimp too, they have some lovely Sakura's I have my eye on, I think the perfect starter shrimp. 
What I said about the CO2 is only what I have read by the way, I don't have any true real experience of keeping CRS with CO2   
What most concerned me more about it was the livelyhood of the offspring with CO2 more than the adults themselves.

After my Sakura tank is up and running, tank two will be CRS, I want to get good at this first before I dive into the expense


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> What most concerned me more about it was the livelyhood of the offspring with CO2 more than the adults themselves.


yeah i have read too that breeding and rearing of young is less prolific with liquid carbon, to be honest if they breed and i get any additions ill be well chuffed. I dont know if i dare have no liquid carbon but i may go down the pressurised route still yet with this tank, i could ditch the liquid carbon then and run at a reasonable, but not all out c02 level which would suit the plants in here fine id imagine.


			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> After my Sakura tank is up and running, tank two will be CRS, I want to get good at this first before I dive into the expense


plans for another set up already, its addictive isnt it! In all honesty i have very little experience with shrimp keeping and have never bred any   I chose CRS due to my tap water locally which is naturally low in hardness and would need the least conditioning for these shrimps.
Im really looking forward to having a dedicated shrimp tank to see them in all their glory not hiding away or being shy due to the presence of fish.
Good luck with your set up, keep us posted   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> plans for another set up already, its addictive isnt it!



Very addictive and I havn't even bought the tanks yet!   

My plan is 3 tanks of the same size, all shrimp tanks, Sakura, CRS and possibly Blue Bolt if I can source them.
Will be a while before I have all these running together but I'm close to having enough money and everything I need for tank number one.
I'll be sure to start a journal in the near future


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> My plan is 3 tanks of the same size, all shrimp tanks, Sakura, CRS and possibly Blue Bolt if I can source them.
> Will be a while before I have all these running together but I'm close to having enough money and everything I need for tank number one.
> I'll be sure to start a journal in the near future


Were you at Aquatics Live last year? I think it was the Aquajardin stand had 3 shrimp tanks in a row...ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey. They looked lovely and were well executed with a single piece of wood cut and running through them all to tie them together with a left, centre and right scape....i can but dream!
A bit of food for thought if you hadnt seen them already, not the best shots but it gives you an idea.
Ill look forward to a journal too   







Left:





Centre:





Right:


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> Were you at Aquatics Live last year? I think it was the Aquajardin stand had 3 shrimp tanks in a row...ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey.



Nope that wasn't me but wow what inspiration for me! 

Thanks ady34, thats pretty much what I'm aiming towards   



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey.



You  think the Do!Aqua are expensive tanks? I thought they were pretty well priced, but i'm going one step up from those I'm going for the ADA Garden range tanks either 45p or 60p, I still can't decided which size to get yet  :? 

The 45p is £132.99 and the 60p is a whopping £149.99 this is probaly why its taking me so long to sort everything out, but I think getting these high quality tanks will pay off when taking photo's.

I was going to do one tank with lots of plants but I think I may just stick to with mosses, low light and just concentrate on the shrimp rather than the scape, my plan is to start breeding them all once its all set up.

Btw do you know what make those clip on lights are in those pictures?


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Were you at Aquatics Live last year? I think it was the Aquajardin stand had 3 shrimp tanks in a row...ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope that wasn't me but wow what inspiration for me!
> 
> Thanks ady34, thats pretty much what I'm aiming towards
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You  think the Do!Aqua are expensive tanks? I thought they were pretty well priced, but i'm going one step up from those I'm going for the ADA Garden range tanks either 45p or 60p, I still can't decided which size to get yet  :?
> 
> The 45p is £132.99 and the 60p is a whopping £149.99 this is probaly why its taking me so long to sort everything out, but I think getting these high quality tanks will pay off when taking photo's.
> 
> I was going to do one tank with lots of plants but I think I may just stick to with mosses, low light and just concentrate on the shrimp rather than the scape, my plan is to start breeding them all once its all set up.
> 
> Btw do you know what make those clip on lights are in those pictures?
Click to expand...



I believe the lights are or are very similar to fluval PCLs which are 11w.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Btw do you know what make those clip on lights are in those pictures?


like Nathaniel said they are similar to the Fluval 11w PCL's, maybe message Aquajardin (forum sponsors) to find out.
Youll have some very nice looking tanks whichever you go for with the ADA's and no wonder its taking a while to save up! Personally id go as big as you can afford as this helps keep stable water conditions especially if your aiming to breed them long term. 


			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> I was going to do one tank with lots of plants but I think I may just stick to with mosses, low light and just concentrate on the shrimp rather than the scape,


In some ways i wish this was what id done, but the tank in the front room had to be a bit of a scape....just scape yours well with the hardscape, and moss only will look cool, this one may end up that way yet.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Edit;  

For some reason thought they were Dennerle, and just typed ' Dennerle clip light' in google and this came up ;

http://www.aquajardin.co.uk/product/158 ... _light_11w


Pretty much the same other than its grey as oppose to the Fluvals black.

Im selling an Ebi setup soon possibly, with 2 of the fluval ones included.

Regards,


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Ady34 are your shrimp coming today?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 are your shrimp coming today?


Yeah they have arrived, im at work now but will be acclimatising them from 5.30, and will pop some pics up later when they are in.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

These shrimp arn't even for me and I'm excited   
Can't wait to see the pictures  



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> Personally id go as big as you can afford as this helps keep stable water conditions especially if your aiming to breed them long term.



My original plan was to go for the 45p size as these 3 tanks will be going in an upstairs spare bedroom and I was a little concerned about weight, but the 60p which is slightly bigger works out about 54 litres per tank. So I'm wondering do you think three 54 litre tanks is ok to have upstairs? Obviously they will be spread across the room against one side of the wall. I'm thinking I probably have nothing to worry about  as I heard of other people on various forums claiming they have had one 250 litre tank (and bigger) in an upstairs room! It's good to get some other people opinions though.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> These shrimp arn't even for me and I'm excited
> Can't wait to see the pictures


I hope i can capture a shot of them, they are small and i reckon they may disappear in the tank...and my camera isnt great at close ups! They are being drip acclimated now with my diy drip acclimitising rig   ...its something to behold!



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> So I'm wondering do you think three 54 litre tanks is ok to have upstairs? Obviously they will be spread across the room against one side of the wall. I'm thinking I probably have nothing to worry about as I heard of other people on various forums claiming they have had one 250 litre tank (and bigger) in an upstairs room!


Well when i lived at home i had a 6ftx2ftx2ft tank in my bedroom with a 20" Black Shark in it!!! I wouldnt recommend this big a tank for upstairs really but i think 3x 60p will be ok. Maybe worth finding out which way the joists run under the floor so you can position accordingly. A well designed stand will dissipate load effectively reducing point weight.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

These little shrimp are awesome, they are amusing me already. Drip acclimatising, airline tube to holding vessel is touching the side and creating a 'stream' of water running down. The little buggers are only climbing the side of the jug up the water stream!! Ive had to reposition it so its dripping into the centre of the jug otherwise theyd have been up the airline


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> The little buggers are only climbing the side of the jug up the water stream!!



haha awesome   

Can you post pics of your acclimatising rig and whats your method?

I got so much to learn


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The little buggers are only climbing the side of the jug up the water stream!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> haha awesome
> 
> Can you post pics of your acclimatising rig and whats your method?
> 
> I got so much to learn
Click to expand...

Ive never done this before, but had heard about drip acclimatising over a 3-4hr period to very gradually mix the water from the new home to suppliers water. I had some spare airline, a pipe clip and a pair of mole grips so this is it...very technical and advanced   ... but does the job and you can dial in drip rate very well. Aimed in total to have mixed the supplier water and my water in a ratio of 1:4 by the end of acclimatising, ie for the water supplied in the bag i added another 4x this amount to it to slowly get them used to any changes in water perameters very slowly.
















Hope that helps.

Just about to put them in now  
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> drip acclimatising over a 3-4hr period to very gradually mix the water from the new home to suppliers water.



So the shrimp are ok in the water they were delivered in for over 3 hours without any heater or anything, just in the jug?

I bet they love your tank setup


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Loving the flow control valve Ady       You can buy little plastic ones for airline tubing for 99p   Just thought you might like to know for next time.      Can't wait to see pics of these shrimp, they must be the most eagerly awaited shrimp on the forum


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> drip acclimatising over a 3-4hr period to very gradually mix the water from the new home to suppliers water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So the shrimp are ok in the water they were delivered in for over 3 hours without any heater or anything, just in the jug?
> 
> I bet they love your tank setup
Click to expand...

Yeah, no heater, there is no heater in the tank either, sits at a steady 21.5 degrees celcius, although has been up to 23 recently with the warm weather. They have been in that water since yesterday afternoon when they were posted!



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Loving the flow control valve Ady   You can buy little plastic ones for airline tubing for 99p  Just thought you might like to know for next time.  Can't wait to see pics of these shrimp, they must be the most eagerly awaited shrimp on the forum


   yeah i know...every penny counts though    I thought i had some in all honesty but i didnt so had to improvise.
They have been the most eagerly awaited shrimp for me thats for sure, they are now in looking a little lost. Even a 55l looks huge for them at the minute but hey the smaller they are the longer theyll live! It amazes me how much colour they have and how active they are foraging around even just after putting them in. Ive also dropped the water level a little after watching their climbing earlier   , i may have to drop it a little more as i know 2cm has been suggested as the 'safe zone'!
So here goes a few photos, not the greatest shots but show them well enough. You can also see the pearl moss which is starting to come back again now, i suspect this one doesnt like liquid carbon so will improve further with reduced levels.
















Couple of FTS so you can see whats going on in there now.











Thanks for all the interest guys, and thanks to Freshwater shrimp for their advice and great little CRS   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## sr20det

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*

Looks awesome


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*



			
				Ady34 said:
			
		

> Yeah, no heater, there is no heater in the tank either, sits at a steady 21.5 degrees celcius, although has been up to 23 recently with the warm weather. They have been in that water since yesterday afternoon when they were posted!



Hmm, so say for example it was winter would you still acclimatise them without a heater? 
Also do you add a heater to the tank during winter?

Thanks for the lovely pics Ady, those shrimp look like great quality, congratulations  

Now let's play the waiting game for CRS babies


----------



## sarahtermite

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

It's a stunning tank, beautifully proportioned, and I love the balance between plant and wood.   Your gorgeous new shrimp are very lucky!


----------



## pariahrob

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

Couldn't agree more. Lovely looking scape and those shrimp look really vibrant. They must be liking their new home.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*



			
				sr20det said:
			
		

> Looks awesome





			
				sarahtermite said:
			
		

> It's a stunning tank, beautifully proportioned, and I love the balance between plant and wood.  Your gorgeous new shrimp are very lucky!





			
				pariahrob said:
			
		

> Couldn't agree more. Lovely looking scape and those shrimp look really vibrant. They must be liking their new home.


Thank you, really positive comments and i can start enjoying it properly now that the shrimp are in   



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, no heater, there is no heater in the tank either, sits at a steady 21.5 degrees celcius, although has been up to 23 recently with the warm weather. They have been in that water since yesterday afternoon when they were posted!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, so say for example it was winter would you still acclimatise them without a heater?
> Also do you add a heater to the tank during winter?
> 
> Thanks for the lovely pics Ady, those shrimp look like great quality, congratulations
> 
> Now let's play the waiting game for CRS babies
Click to expand...

I think they would always be acclimatised without a heater, putting a heater in a very small volume of water may even with the smallest heater create rapid changes in temperature and innacuracies between tank and bag water. I would always float the bag first in the tank to gradually equalise the temperatures (did this for 30 mins), then when dripping to acclimate water, the temperature would remain even in a house as its centrally heated. My house is set at 22 degrees celcius which maintains the water temp at around 22 give or take. Even during winter the house remains the same temp as my central heating runs 24/7 on a thermostat. It may be vigilant to put a heater in, set at maybe 20.5 degrees c just incase though. I have one so may do this over the colder months incase the boiler breaks down.
No worries about the pics, we all love to see them, the shrimp look great and have coloured up even more since the photos.... cant wait to get home tonight and see them with the lights on again    Quickly counted 8 this morning without the lights on so im sure all is well.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> I think they would always be acclimatised without a heater, putting a heater in a very small volume of water may even with the smallest heater create rapid changes in temperature and innacuracies between tank and bag water. I would always float the bag first in the tank to gradually equalise the temperatures (did this for 30 mins), then when dripping to acclimate water, the temperature would remain even in a house as its centrally heated. My house is set at 22 degrees celcius which maintains the water temp at around 22 give or take. Even during winter the house remains the same temp as my central heating runs 24/7 on a thermostat. It may be vigilant to put a heater in, set at maybe 20.5 degrees c just incase though. I have one so may do this over the colder months incase the boiler breaks down.
> No worries about the pics, we all love to see them, the shrimp look great and have coloured up even more since the photos.... cant wait to get home tonight and see them with the lights on again   Quickly counted 8 this morning without the lights on so im sure all is well.
> Cheerio,
> Ady.



Thanks Ady for your help and patience with my questions, I'm still in Shrimp noob stages (but I have read tons of threads etc) as you probaly noticed but all this info from someone who is at the point of actually owning the Shrimp is ever so helpfull 

Now how about some more pics of your new children


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Thanks Ady for your help and patience with my questions, I'm still in Shrimp noob stages (but I have read tons of threads etc) as you probaly noticed but all this info from someone who is at the point of actually owning the Shrimp is ever so helpfull
> 
> Now how about some more pics of your new children


Hey no problem, im new to it too but im pleased to pass on any information and experiences   
Took a little video of a few of them busily foraging away but i cant download the video as im having issues with my computer memory....it has none! Ill try and do it at work tomorrow.
All 10 have are present and correct.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

Could'nt resist a few more photos, as you can probably tell im still a little excited about the new arrivals...ill stop harassing everyone soon!

This first one is a little poorer quality than the rest but even as a bloke this was kinda cute:







...must have been something interesting in there...





















this one you can use the snail poo as a sense of scale as to the size of the shrimp   ...






Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ian Holdich

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

really love this Ady, and mate, please keep the pics coming. Thats what a journals all about. Get the vid up as well!


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

This looks great Ady!
 The shrimp do seem to be liking it by the way thy have coloured up.

They are fascinating to watch, especially when they all of a sudden jump up and 'fly' off. 

Moss looks well too, and will only get better as it grows


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> really love this Ady, and mate, please keep the pics coming. Thats what a journals all about. Get the vid up as well!



I second that Ady,  :text-coolphotos:  and let there be plenty more


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

I'm with the guys  on that one!


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

Cheers men,


			
				ianho said:
			
		

> really love this Ady, and mate, please keep the pics coming. Thats what a journals all about. Get the vid up as well!


thanks Ian, ive downloaded the video at work and will post later when ive added some music background rather than the kids screaming and wife complaining!   
Nothing special and shaky hands Ady again but it shows the shrimp stuffing their little faces   


			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> This looks great Ady!
> The shrimp do seem to be liking it by the way thy have coloured up.
> 
> They are fascinating to watch, especially when they all of a sudden jump up and 'fly' off.


Cheers Nath, thats exactly what they seem to do, fly off like little insects.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## tim

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp in!*

+1 to more pics stunning tank lovely crystal reds make red cherries look boring love to get some but london water   not a chance


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Hi, 
couple of quick vids, very similar but couldnt decide which one to use so added both.





Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## AAB

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Amazing videos Ady, your shrimps seems to love their new home.  Your scape looks brilliant too.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Excellent videos Ady, your really getting into it now aren't you  

The more pics and videos I see of your setup the more I can't wait to get mine up and running


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Looking great ady, shrimp colour is really nice are they from ed? mosses look super healthy and a lovely vivid green, light level must be just right!  I miss my flame moss, unexpectedly it works just as well emersed.  It did feel like the flame moss at the front is hiding something behind... but probably different in the flesh?
Great looking, spot on proportioned nano mate


----------



## faizal

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Wow ! Ady,...your flame moss look super clean & lovely


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				AAB said:
			
		

> Amazing videos Ady, your shrimps seems to love their new home.  Your scape looks brilliant too.





			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Excellent videos Ady, your really getting into it now aren't you
> 
> The more pics and videos I see of your setup the more I can't wait to get mine up and running





			
				faizal said:
			
		

> Wow ! Ady,...your flame moss look super clean & lovely


Thanks guys, shrimp do seem to have settled well and the flame moss is certainly doing well, its the one that has taken the most. I know how you feel Otto, very pleased to have mine now  


			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Looking great ady, shrimp colour is really nice are they from ed? mosses look super healthy and a lovely vivid green, light level must be just right! I miss my flame moss, unexpectedly it works just as well emersed. It did feel like the flame moss at the front is hiding something behind... but probably different in the flesh?
> Great looking, spot on proportioned nano mate


Yeah shrimp are from Ed at Freshwatershrimp. Some mosses like the flame have really taken, as you say the flame moss at the front could do with a trim as its getting a bit big for its position (it looks that way in the flesh too). I got it in vitro so ive seen its emersed shape and your right its just the same, its amazing how the thin fronds can remain upright. 
Is it ok to just lop the tops off with this moss when trimming? Im kind of reluctant to do it as its the only one thats growing in earnest and filling out the scape at the moment.
Now the shrimp are in i can concentrate on keeping everything stable so hopefully this will benefit the plants too and help get rid of the staghorn algae which is the other thing thats currently going great guns  
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

yes mate, just chop away and as always comes back stronger.  I did find that after 4 or 5 trims it seemed to slow down and stay at that height?? but maybe that was just mine.
laters


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

How is this going Ady? little Fellas doing well?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> How is this going Ady? little Fellas doing well?


Hi Nath,
ok i think. Have only managed to count 6 shrimp over the past couple of days, but saw 3 empty shells/skins last night so maybe theyve been hiding away moulting. Dont know if i should be worried but the food i put in isnt encouraging them to swarm like ive seen photos of others doing. Ive ended up taking it out before it pollutes. They seem happy enough and busy with their little claws wherever i do see them though so maybe they are just enjoying feeding off whatever they are finding.
Did a water change and trimmed the flame moss so will post a pic tonight. After the water change added Mosura BT9 bacteria supplement, part of the routine now as recommended by FWS. Its about £15 to buy but with the amounts you need to use will probably outlast me    Manual removal of staghorn algae, but its still there and i feel after reducing the liquid carbon down to 1ml/day i should look at reducing lighting too....maybe run the 18w for 7hrs, and have the additional 11w come on for maybe 4hrs (currently both running together for 6hrs). The staghorn is all in the upper levels nearest the light, but thought it to be more c02/maintenence related  :?  maybe just coincidence. Id like to blast it with a strong dose of easycarb once the lighting is reduced, but dont want to upset the shrimp.
Still not balanced quite right yet, the weeping and pearl moss arnt thriving, but hopefully more lighting adjustments will help get things running smoothly.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Ady what do you use for water changes on the tank Seachem Prime? also do you get the water the same temps before adding? 

I can't remember also are you using a RO/Tap mix with tap water for changes?

Cheers Otto


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> Ady what do you use for water changes on the tank Seachem Prime? also do you get the water the same temps before adding?
> 
> I can't remember also are you using a RO/Tap mix with tap water for changes?
> 
> Cheers Otto


Hi Otto,
water changes are done with pre prepared water the night before. Just tapwater with Nutrafin Aqua Plus dechlorinator which also eliminates chloramine too. The tap water here is 76ppm TDS so i just add about 2.5ml, give or take, of salty shrimp bee mix GH+ to get it to around 130 ish ppmTDS (currently 137 ppm TDS). I leave the drum of prepared water in the house until water change time so the temp is equalised (no heater in tank so room temperature). Tested tds pre and post water change, pre was 136ppm, post was 137ppm so stable.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

thanks for the info ady, learning all the time, another nice piece of information added to the otto notepad 



			
				ady34 said:
			
		

> (no heater in tank so room temperature)



Sorry I forgot you wasn't using a heater, doh silly otto


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> thanks for the info ady, learning all the time, another nice piece of information added to the otto notepad
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (no heater in tank so room temperature)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry I forgot you wasn't using a heater, doh silly otto
Click to expand...

No prob, getting the water to the same temperature is best really, but when i asked FWS about it i was told its best if the water you add is on the low side rather than higher if anything....personally id try to keep any variation within one degree celcius.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## FreshWater Shrimp

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

They are not swarming when they have enough food around. 10 shrimp in huge space they will probably never run out of natural algae and microorganism. When they molt they go to hide usually until shell hardens. 

But they should not be shy and static after, healthy shrimp constantly grazing around with small breaks. If it is opposite then something is wrong with water.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				FreshWaterShrimp said:
			
		

> They are not swarming when they have enough food around. 10 shrimp in huge space they will probably never run out of natural algae and microorganism. When they molt they go to hide usually until shell hardens.
> 
> But they should not be shy and static after, healthy shrimp constantly grazing around with small breaks. If it is opposite then something is wrong with water.


Cheers guys,
yeah they are fine, just moulting....some seem considerably bigger now, how much do they grow after a moult and how frequntly do they do it?
Feeding continuously around, they are no longer congregating in one area but dispersing around the tank making them harder to spot   
I need another 20 i reckon, i can hardly even notice them at the moment..... with a bit of luck that will take care of itself in time....cue Barry White.....
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ian Holdich

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Lady Gaga works better Ady. Or you could just use the 'Wiseguys' tune.

Nice video mate.


----------



## FreshWater Shrimp

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Hard to say how much they grow after molt. They grow until the point they need to molt again and again until they die . More often they molt the sooner they die.


----------



## Ian Holdich

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

temp also makes a difference on molting doesn't it?? The higher the temp the more molting...due to metabolism.


----------



## FreshWater Shrimp

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Yes higher temp, faster growth, eggs mature faster, more often molting. Also sudden changes in temperature for example drop from constant 24 to 20 for day, two or three may induce molting. It is like wearing summer jacket then changing for winter fur


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> Lady Gaga works better Ady. Or you could just use the 'Wiseguys' tune.
> Nice video mate.


Ha, ill try a few different ones out when they 'come of age'   



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> temp also makes a difference on molting doesn't it?? The higher the temp the more molting...due to metabolism.





			
				FreshWaterShrimp said:
			
		

> Yes higher temp, faster growth, eggs mature faster, more often molting. Also sudden changes in temperature for example drop from constant 24 to 20 for day, two or three may induce molting. It is like wearing summer jacket then changing for winter fur


Yeah ive read that before, and being shrewd for once, i opted for no heater room temp to get the most from them   
Recently temp has been up to 23, but down to 21.5/22 for the past few days. Ive just done a water change and temp dropped to 21.
Some of them  are bigger...its not just me   
Its bizarre, christmas moss seems to be doing well, and flame too, but pearl and weeping are just not thriving. I can see me swapping out the weeping for more chrismas and finding an alternative for the pearl too. I havnt altered the lighting yet though so will have to try that first.
Cheers chaps,
Ady.


----------



## Otto72

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

how are they settling in now Ady?

more pics would be cool


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*



			
				Otto72 said:
			
		

> how are they settling in now Ady?
> 
> more pics would be cool


Really good thanks, i was a little worried as ive found it difficult to count all 10, but last night i spotted them all for the first time in over a week....they are illusive little fellas. Growing nicely and all seems good with them. Ill try to get a few more photos soon.
Thanks for the interest,
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Antipofish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Quick video.*

Lol hoping they are illusive little fellas AND lasses.  OR ten will remain ten ! hehe.  Glad to hear all is going well though Ady


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*



			
				Antipofish said:
			
		

> Lol hoping they are illusive little fellas AND lasses.  OR ten will remain ten ! hehe.  Glad to hear all is going well though Ady


Ha, yeah that'd be just my luck. 

Few pics from tonight, they kindly came out to play...

















and from further away so you get an idea of how big they are now:











And a shot taken last week after the moss trim:






Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Piece-of-fish

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*

Beautiful looking shrimp and tank, ehh.
With your selection of plants I would leave only 18w light. Everything will grow perfectly well. 
In such a relatively big shrimp tank 10 CRS will thrive with no extra feeding at all also. You can treat them occasionally with a solid pellet but dont keep it to long in the tank. 1-2 hours would do. The fact they are not interested means they are more than happy as it is. And they do look like it from the vids. These pictures you are referring to have relatively high density shrimp populated systems. 
Well done


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*

Hows this coming along Ady mate?
Are the CRS doing well?

Thinking of getting myself some taiwan bees for my 'Ryuoh Ravine'


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*



			
				Piece-of-fish said:
			
		

> Beautiful looking shrimp and tank, ehh.
> With your selection of plants I would leave only 18w light. Everything will grow perfectly well.
> In such a relatively big shrimp tank 10 CRS will thrive with no extra feeding at all also. You can treat them occasionally with a solid pellet but dont keep it to long in the tank. 1-2 hours would do. The fact they are not interested means they are more than happy as it is. And they do look like it from the vids. These pictures you are referring to have relatively high density shrimp populated systems.
> Well done


Thanks Ed,
yeah i think with 18w everything would grow well, but the colour rendition is pretty drab to be honest and with the more yellow of the hagen unit the tank looks more vibrant. The aqua one bulbs only come in 2 types and the alternative one is even bluer i think.....unless i can source different pl bulbs elsewhere. Ive raised the 18w light unit to about 15cm above the water surface at the moment.
Yeah the times ive seen the swarming has been on very densely populated tanks, probably more sparsely planted too. Ill maybe try occasional treats just to judge their hunger and ensure they are getting enough food   



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hows this coming along Ady mate?
> Are the CRS doing well?
> 
> Thinking of getting myself some taiwan bees for my 'Ryuoh Ravine'


Taiwan bees sound cool, but ill have to google image them.
CRS are doing really good mate, some of them are getting pretty big now, probably growing fast due to the recent warmer weather weve been having and consequent higher tank temps, was up to 24 degrees celcius yesterday....thats the highest its been. They have been much more active in the past few days, but i suppose that goes hand in hand with warmer temps as theyll need to forage more for food to increase growth rates.
Also, dont want to speak too soon but staghorn seems to be slowly reducing with every week filter cleans and consistency of liquid carbon dosing. Im down to 25% weekly water changes, 1ml daily easycarb and half ei dosing, could prob reduce fert dosing a little more as tds is rising by about 5ppm during the week, but nothing to worry about. Plant growth rates are v. slow, but thats not a problem, just makes maintaining it easier   
May try swapping the rotala for something else as a background though as this is at a standstill, myriophyllum or maybe ludwigia repens for a splash of colour....although rotala is supposed to be very easy so something is lacking still....c02!   Really fancied some vallis nana as that would have looked great, but liquid carbon and v low carbonate water = no go.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*

hey ady, have you considered blyxa aubertii as a replacement for vals, look pretty similar but i found that it doesnt like much flow.... dunno if that would suit?


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> hey ady, have you considered blyxa aubertii as a replacement for vals, look pretty similar but i found that it doesnt like much flow.... dunno if that would suit?


ill have a look thanks Iain, maybe cyperus halferi too......


----------



## tim

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*

good looking tank ady ime cypres helfri needs the co2 monster, not worked out well in any of my liquid carbon tanks why not try elocharis viviparia


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....new pics.*



			
				tim said:
			
		

> good looking tank ady ime cypres helfri needs the co2 monster, not worked out well in any of my liquid carbon tanks why not try elocharis viviparia


Thanks for the heads up Tim, wont waste my money on that one then.
Vivipara could work well   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*

More pics just for the crack


----------



## Mark Evans

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*

Nice shrimp Ady. 

I look forward to catching my CRS again, and putting them in the new tank.


----------



## Heid

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*

Just read through your thread and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Bought myself the Aquaonano 40 a couple of days ago with a similar idea of setting up a planted shrimp tank. Got a few ideas of how to pimp it for flow,inline diffuser, spray bar, lighting etc.... hope mine ends up as half as good as yours!

Cheers

Reg


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*



			
				Mark Evans said:
			
		

> Nice shrimp Ady.
> 
> I look forward to catching my CRS again, and putting them in the new tank.


 8) 



			
				Heid said:
			
		

> Just read through your thread and thoroughly enjoyed it!
> 
> Bought myself the Aquaonano 40 a couple of days ago with a similar idea of setting up a planted shrimp tank. Got a few ideas of how to pimp it for flow,inline diffuser, spray bar, lighting etc.... hope mine ends up as half as good as yours!
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Reg


Thanks Reg,
theyre pretty good little tanks really, although i dont personally like the colour rendition of the supplied lighting bulb.
Good luck with yours.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Hi all, came home today to I think 3 berried shrimp  
Got some poor quality I phone shots but haven't had time to upload them.
Fingers crossed I'll have babies, better read up on gestation times to see how long its likely to take.
Any tips regards maximising the chances of the shrimp going full term and then maximising survival percentages will be greatly appreciated. For example do I just carry on as normal with maintenance and water change routines etc?
Cheers,
Ady.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*

Hey Ady mate,

Great news! Gestation is usually 3-4 weeks depending on temperature.
CRS have a fairly low survival rate too, but if you keep the parameters good then you should hopefully have good results! 

I also believe there has to be a good amount of readily available calcium in the form of either Calcium powders or stones. I imagine you'll get on fine though 

Good luck!


----------



## nduli

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

TDS important
oxygen important when berried (IMHO) I find better survival when surface of water is broken
also try to minimise or reduce water changes (10%), if its stable then leave as is.
just my hard earned lessons but know its different approach for different set ups.....


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Sorry Ady, thats probably the most important factor TDS & Dissolved Oxygen Levels.

nice one nduli


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Do you like my avatar?  He's growing a little bit! Might be 7mm long now


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....yet more pics.*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Hey Ady mate,
> 
> Great news! Gestation is usually 3-4 weeks depending on temperature.
> CRS have a fairly low survival rate too, but if you keep the parameters good then you should hopefully have good results!
> 
> I also believe there has to be a good amount of readily available calcium in the form of either Calcium powders or stones. I imagine you'll get on fine though
> 
> Good luck!


Cheers Nath, a month of nail biting then!
Using salty shrimp gh booster so hoping required mineral content will be covered....the shrimp in here have grown and moulted so im guessing all is well.



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Do you like my avatar?  He's growing a little bit! Might be 7mm long now


Looks like a happy little chappy  



			
				nduli said:
			
		

> TDS important
> oxygen important when berried (IMHO) I find better survival when surface of water is broken
> also try to minimise or reduce water changes (10%), if its stable then leave as is.
> just my hard earned lessons but know its different approach for different set ups.....


Tried and tested advice is always the best   water surface is being regularly broken at the moment as evaporation lowers the water level so that the spray bar aerates after a couple of days prior to water changes....I'll just ensure I don't overfill at water changes. TDS is being kept within a range of 10 during the week ( ie it raises by 10 TDS over the week prob due to ferts etc the I reset it with a water change)
Thanks for the advice   
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Hi,
Just thought if post a little update.
3 shrimp still berried so that's good news, prob next week should start to see some offspring all being well.
Plants suffering a bit and the misses are browning from the points of attachment, most likely c02 related, but don't want to change anything at this time.
Haven't got a shot of the berried shrimp but here's a couple of others. They have had another growth spurt! Don't know if you can make it out but the shrimp in the background of this shot is a berried one.









Cheerios
Ady


----------



## andyh

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Nice pics! hope they survive for you. I managed 6 babies out of my last batch.


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Cheers Andy,
If any make it I'll be well chuffed, only 10 current stock looks a bit sparse  
Fingers crossed


----------



## Ady34

*Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Berried shrimp!*

Baby shrimp.
Just came home tonight and spotted one tiny baby shrimp on a java fern leaf. Can't see any others yet but the female I suspect is dropping still has some....
Scratch that I've just spotted another!
Hope they survive, does anyone know a rough guide to the critical time where they are likely to make it or not? Here's the best I can do on my phone for photos:





Same one zoomed in:





Cheerios
Ady


----------



## Gary Nelson

Ah, that's great news Ady, baby shrimp... they are telling you that they are not fussed with the anything in the tank setup and that your doing everything right


----------



## nduli

Ady,

Normally 4-6 weeks in my opinion. Just be careful with water changes at the moment. Probably lost 10+ with a poor water change (water quality).

Keep O2 levels up too and should be fine.

Ps congrats. It can get quite addictive getting them to breed. Don't get too annoyed, frustrated or upset when u lose some at some point. It can be quite devastating.


----------



## Ady34

Cheers chaps,
I'll hold off for a few days on water changing and then ill be extra vigilant with temp and TDS of changed water  I know I need to do them and keep up with filter maintenance as some of my mosses are browning at the base so will be releasing organics that need to be kept in check.... not the time for a major overhaul though.
Found at least 5 now.
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Good luck mate, as mentioned they have a high mortality rate when young. If you manage a survival rate of 40% apparently your doing very well. 

I'm sure you'll ace it though buddy


----------



## Kristoph91

Congrats  

Hope they come on well !


----------



## tim

Nice one ady hope the little fellas are still doing well


----------



## Ady34

KrisHumphreys1991 said:
			
		

> Congrats
> 
> Hope they come on well !





			
				tim said:
			
		

> Nice one ady hope the little fellas are still doing well



Cheers guys,
Seems they are doing ok but not prolific. It's suggested that survival rates are small but I've counted 13 tonight of different sizes. I'm guessing they are from multiple batches/females but it's nice to see double figures   
Just did a very tentative water change and filter clean so will see how things go over the next few days. I'm going to have to keep on top of water changes now regardless as TDS was 148ppm pre w/c tonight which is a tad on the high side. Post water change its 141ppm, Didn't want to drop it right down in one go so will attempt to get it nearer 120-130ppm again over the next few weeks. To help with this and some algae issues and browning mosses I've switched the 18w light off permanently (chose this as I don't like the colour rendition it gives) so down to the 11w fluval one for 6 hr photoperiod. Will continue 1ml/day easycarbo and reduce ferts to around 1ml/day to prevent fast rises in TDS.
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## nduli

Ady34 said:
			
		

> KrisHumphreys1991 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats
> 
> Hope they come on well !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tim said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice one ady hope the little fellas are still doing well
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cheers guys,
> Seems they are doing ok but not prolific. It's suggested that survival rates are small but I've counted 13 tonight of different sizes. I'm guessing they are from multiple batches/females but it's nice to see double figures
> Just did a very tentative water change and filter clean so will see how things go over the next few days. I'm going to have to keep on top of water changes now regardless as TDS was 148ppm pre w/c tonight which is a tad on the high side. Post water change its 141ppm, Didn't want to drop it right down in one go so will attempt to get it nearer 120-130ppm again over the next few weeks. To help with this and some algae issues and browning mosses I've switched the 18w light off permanently (chose this as I don't like the colour rendition it gives) so down to the 11w fluval one for 6 hr photoperiod. Will continue 1ml/day easycarbo and reduce ferts to around 1ml/day to prevent fast rises in TDS.
> Cheerio
> Ady
Click to expand...


Ady

Your Tds should be fine at that level....I'd be worried if it climbed above 180-200.....


----------



## Ady34

Yeah all seems fine so tds at 150 ish is ok but just want to lower it a little as ive maintained it around 130ppm from the start which has worked well.
counted 15 shrimplets tonight so water change carried out without fatalities it seems  
Cheerio


----------



## Ady34

Slightly better phone pics.
Seeing more and more shrimplets, they are getting bigger and more brave and also noticed at least 2 more berried shrimp, one of which is v close to dropping as the eggs have changed colour to more transparent so you can see the eyes! It's not the one in the pic below this is another one. Really pleased so far especially now there activity and size is increasing....it's great!

Fun on the Fissidens!














Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Iain Sutherland

Very jealous ady, you must be very chuffed!  Im still at the point of being unsure if they will survive let alone breed!  If mine make it to a month then ill add another ten, then roll on the blue bolts and pandas     wishful!
Looks like you have a good amount of babies too, the tank will be buzzing in no time!!
Must be due a new video once they get a little bigger.


----------



## Ady34

easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Very jealous ady, you must be very chuffed!  Im still at the point of being unsure if they will survive let alone breed!  If mine make it to a month then ill add another ten, then roll on the blue bolts and pandas     wishful!
> Looks like you have a good amount of babies too, the tank will be buzzing in no time!!
> Must be due a new video once they get a little bigger.



Im sure youll manage fine mate, then the more the merrier   ....ive been searching out shrimp in the tank for long enough so hopefully these babies will survive and immediately double my quantity, its looked barren for months with my 2 boys asking "where are they Daddy?", now theyre enjoying seeking out the young and hopefully there will be a sea of red and white activity before long!
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Westyggx

Hope mine breed soon, got the same as you a couple of weeks later!


----------



## Ady34

Westyggx said:
			
		

> Hope mine breed soon, got the same as you a couple of weeks later!


Think I've got luck really, I'm sure yours will start before long. What you keeping your TDS at?

Shrimplets doing really well, must have 20+ and all growing rapidly   more berried females so looks set for a population invasion over the coming months which is great for the tank. What isn't great for the tank is the state it's in looks wise   detached moss and the odd bit of filamentous algae strings, and a couple of minute tufts of bba. Been leaving well alone of late but will get round to a tidy up soon. Then I'll pop another vid up. 
I've considered doing away with the plants entirely in this set up and opting for leaf litter instead, but I suppose I may open up a can if worms changing things around...for now ill keep it as is as I'm more happy with the shrimps reproducing. Still not adding any food for them, but a few brown bits of moss must be keeping them plump!  
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Hey Ady mate,
Was wondering how this was getting on?  I run mine at 150 TDS approximately. Been a tad high of late though, trying to slowly bring it down.

I'm expecting some babies this week too hopefully! 

Cheers,


----------



## Ady34

Hi Nath,
All going well really. Haven't really given it any attention and needs a tidy up still but keep getting more new shrimplets so it never seems a good time to get in there and sort it out.
Must have at least 40+ shrimplets now all at various sizes from different batches. The first batch are coming along nicely now.
Hope all goes well with yours, I'm sure they'll do great.

Thanks for the interest and here's a few pics I've just taken to show the sizes:









And some are really tiny:


----------



## Mark Evans

Looking good Ady. I take it your over most of your issues?.....

Great to see baby CRS


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Absolutely fantastic mate, chuffed your doing so well! We will see how it goes mate


----------



## Ady34

Mark Evans said:
			
		

> Looking good Ady. I take it your over most of your issues?.....
> 
> Great to see baby CRS



Yeah CRS babies are cool, miniatures of the adults from the get go and it's great that the tank looks like it will be full of CRS before long  
As for the issues, well it flattered to deceive and is a bit of a mess scape wise   the shrimp are doing great but man it needs a tidy and as for growing plants, despite my best efforts, they too are green and that's about the best that could be said for them  
No real growth, only survival and a dash of thread algae too....I'm sure gas would get things going but for the time being it will be shrimp focused although I do like the Idea of micro rasbora or chocolate gourami in here with the addition of a heater but then it would be goodbye shrimp.
Either way it seems all I think I've learned about planted tanks I still can't put it all together either semi low tech or high tech.....on the plus side it seems I could go into breeding crs  



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Absolutely fantastic mate, chuffed your doing so well! We will see how it goes mate



Thanks mate, I'm sure you'll do just fine, your shrimp look great!


----------



## Ady34

Tank update.
Did a tidy up so this is how things are looking.
1ml daily of easy carbo and ferts. 11w fluval clip on light for 6hr photoperiod.
Anubias and fern doing well, as is the fissidens, albeit a little slow.
Moved the hair grass to the left and rear to open things up again where the sand bed is. Removed most of the mosses which had become dislodged and were floating freely.
Moved the 2 hillstream loaches from the studio tank as felt the lower temps if this tank and no c02 would suit them better and they won't be a threat to the shrimplets.
Would quite like a small shoal of corydoras hastatus for this set up, but think 21-22 celcius is on the edge of being too cool for them.
Anyway enough rambling.
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Beautiful setup Ady.


----------



## OllieNZ

Very Nice


----------



## Iain Sutherland

Hey Ady, this tank is doing really well mate! Really like this layout. Seems to be doing well with just the 11w, do you think you need the liquid carb with 11w?  Been tempted to add it to my nano now I'm not worried about the riccia.
Very envious of the Shrimplets!


----------



## Ady34

Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Beautiful setup Ady.





			
				OllieNZ said:
			
		

> Very Nice



  Thanks.



			
				easerthegeezer said:
			
		

> Hey Ady, this tank is doing really well mate! Really like this layout. Seems to be doing well with just the 11w, do you think you need the liquid carb with 11w? Been tempted to add it to my nano now I'm not worried about the riccia.
> Very envious of the Shrimplets!



Hi Iain,
not really sure on the lc, but it cant hurt....except the pocket slightly   Actually growth is so slow and patchy i think if i stopped dosing the would be a negative effect, since reducing the lighting down its the first time my hydrocotle has shown any growth so thats a plus and suggests a better light c02 balance....if i added more lc then it may really take off and i might get 2 new leaves a month from the crypts   
Guessing your riccia test in the lc dosed barb island tank has flourished?
Shrimplets are great, put some food in for the first time tonight as ive got the loaches in there too and the shrimp were all over it..... was nice to watch    Sure your tank will be awash with them soon enough   
Cheerio
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

Can't help but add pics of the shrimp as its so easy via the phone:

Couple more berried:










And shrimplets feeding:









Tried to add video from the phone but I'm a technogo so failed!

Cheerio


----------



## Crystal Red

Ady just wanted to say many thanks for posting this journal - its inspirational and very helpful for learning the ropes

Was a joy to read and this is how i stumbled upon UKAPS   

Thanks again,

Murray


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Looking good Ady! Mine is home to lots of babies now too! With 3 more berried 

The little ones seem to be moulting ok too, I watched one


----------



## Ady34

Crystal Red said:
			
		

> Ady just wanted to say many thanks for posting this journal - its inspirational and very helpful for learning the ropes
> 
> Was a joy to read and this is how i stumbled upon UKAPS
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Murray



Hi Murray and welcome to Ukaps, it's a great source for all sorts of information aside from the obvious!
Pleased you have found the journal useful, hearing it helps others is great feedback so thanks for that  
Enjoy reading around the site
Cheerio
Ady



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Looking good Ady! Mine is home to lots of babies now too! With 3 more berried
> 
> The little ones seem to be moulting ok too, I watched one



Great news Nath, look forward to some picture updates to the journal  
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Ady34

Building up the numbers:













Feeding them now that numbers have increased. Drop a few pellets in every 2-3 days to keep them satisfied, it's funny watching the adults nick off with the whole pellets and then the shrimplets crowding round for pickings and crumbs!

Still on 1ml day easy carbo and 1ml alternate days macro then micro ferts.
Water changes a little lax, maybe one every 2 weeks of 30%....needs to be more frequent than that with the greater numbers, subsequent waste and the fact that I'm feeding them now too. Should prob be doing 20-25% weekly with filter cleans too.

Cheerio
Ady


----------



## jack-rythm

Looking healthy ady, really pleased to see your growing in population   soon you will have enough to send to me for free   on the basis I stop my nano from being liquid carbon engulfed! Haha   on a serious not Mate very cool to see so many bright and happy  

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## nayr88

That looks stunning! I'm so envious!

Shrimp look so good in large numbers. Spot on mate, must be really enjoying the tank


----------



## LondonDragon

Apologies if already mentioned before, are you using RO or Tap? Tank is looking great and so do the shrimp  congrats


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Definitely a beauty Ady! And reproducing like wild fire by the looks. Great success. Well done mate. 

Saw another nearly all white newborn the other day too, which was exciting.


----------



## Ady34

jack-rythm said:
			
		

> Looking healthy ady, really pleased to see your growing in population   soon you will have enough to send to me for free   on the basis I stop my nano from being liquid carbon engulfed! Haha   on a serious not Mate very cool to see so many bright and happy
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2



Cheers Jack,
im sure youll sort your tank mate....no air freshners or the like anywhere near your tanks are there?



			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> That looks stunning! I'm so envious!
> 
> Shrimp look so good in large numbers. Spot on mate, must be really enjoying the tank



Ive seen youve got your tank full now so wont be long until you have some too. I must admit its been a game of patience as i initially only bought 10 shrimp from FWS, I had to wait for them to mature, then saw a few berried then another month gestation, then nail biting times to see if the shrimplets survived......but its now paying off as im getting somewhere near having the masses that look so striking   



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Apologies if already mentioned before, are you using RO or Tap? Tank is looking great and so do the shrimp  congrats



Thanks Paulo,
good old northern tap water, comes out the tap at about 76ppm TDS. Dechlorinated the night before and left in the house to warm up to room temperature. Then i add some salty shrimp gh+ to get the TDS of the water change water to around 120ppm and do the water change.



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> Definitely a beauty Ady! And reproducing like wild fire by the looks. Great success. Well done mate.
> 
> Saw another nearly all white newborn the other day too, which was exciting.



Cheers Nath, seems to be going well, but as the numbers increase and im having to feed them i may have to adjust my water change routine to ensure quality water.
Cool to be getting different strains from yours, suppose thats something to do with the lines and quality of the original stock?

Thanks all,
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## jack-rythm

no air fresheners no! just a tele above it! not that I ever watch it being so close to my tanks


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:
			
		

> Thanks Paulo,
> good old northern tap water, comes out the tap at about 76ppm TDS. Dechlorinated the night before and left in the house to warm up to room temperature. Then i add some salty shrimp gh+ to get the TDS of the water change water to around 120ppm and do the water change.


Lucky you, if only I could do that down here  time for a shrimp rack I would say


----------



## Ady34

Ill send you some down  
They need to invent a gh-  :idea:

I think ive got lucky really, i cant seem breed cherries  :?


----------



## nduli

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Paulo,
> good old northern tap water, comes out the tap at about 76ppm TDS. Dechlorinated the night before and left in the house to warm up to room temperature. Then i add some salty shrimp gh+ to get the TDS of the water change water to around 120ppm and do the water change.
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky you, if only I could do that down here  time for a shrimp rack I would say
Click to expand...



I'm currently getting 40tds out of the tap. My issue has been the big swing in ph the last month or so from 6.4ish to 7+ as a result of change in water supply I think. Lost 100+ Sakura last year at this time due to big change in params and clearly not realising they had changed so much - learnt a lot about Tds and gh last 12 months.

Ebi gold goes in this weekend (hopefully) and should start to see the results you have here ady. 

Ps what you are missing now are some CBS  I love the two together. You have a stunning setup.


----------



## nduli

Quick question but how did you shut off the holes in the bottom of the back wall? Given I am rescaping at the weekend i want to see what other options are available to me. Currently it's a bit of plastic milk bottle and gravel.....


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

nduli said:
			
		

> LondonDragon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ady34 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Paulo,
> good old northern tap water, comes out the tap at about 76ppm TDS. Dechlorinated the night before and left in the house to warm up to room temperature. Then i add some salty shrimp gh+ to get the TDS of the water change water to around 120ppm and do the water change.
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky you, if only I could do that down here  time for a shrimp rack I would say
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I'm currently getting 40tds out of the tap. My issue has been the big swing in ph the last month or so from 6.4ish to 7+ as a result of change in water supply I think. Lost 100+ Sakura last year at this time due to big change in params and clearly not realising they had changed so much - learnt a lot about Tds and gh last 12 months.
> 
> Ebi gold goes in this weekend (hopefully) and should start to see the results you have here ady.
> 
> Ps what you are missing now are some CBS  I love the two together. You have a stunning setup.
Click to expand...



Do you know if female shrimp can be inseminated by multiple males? I had an almost all white SSS flower head CRS have  red banded, black SS no entry and Smily Red markings. So
Clearly all couldn't come from one. 

Agree about CBS though. I love them.


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:
			
		

> I'm currently getting 40tds out of the tap. My issue has been the big swing in ph the last month or so from 6.4ish to 7+ as a result of change in water supply I think. Lost 100+ Sakura last year at this time due to big change in params and clearly not realising they had changed so much - learnt a lot about Tds and gh last 12 months.
> 
> Ebi gold goes in this weekend (hopefully) and should start to see the results you have here ady.
> 
> Ps what you are missing now are some CBS  I love the two together. You have a stunning setup.



Ahh, bummer mate, good old waterboard! Im guessing the tds remained similar but the ph had altered? Maybe they change levels of certain chemicals they add to compensate for temperature or source changes? I dont know, but it would be nice to know seasonally if they do alter things so we have an idea of what is coming out of the tap.
Hopefully as you say youll be back on track soon and that will go some way to repairing the pain felt from your losses.

I love CBS too, but unsure of mixing them....although i dont know why as i have no plans to sell or anything like that.
Thanks for the positive comments


----------



## nduli

Not 100% sure I thought it was always to do with gene pools and that offspring are rarely exactly the same...my quick reading tonight suggests that they mate once and thus you are seeing gene pool issues rather than multiple dads.....

http://www.planetinverts.com/shrimp_reproduction.html

The above doesn't cover it but might help some on breeding who stumble across this section on google....


----------



## Ian Holdich

These look great mate, well done!


----------



## nduli

Ady34 said:
			
		

> nduli said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm currently getting 40tds out of the tap. My issue has been the big swing in ph the last month or so from 6.4ish to 7+ as a result of change in water supply I think. Lost 100+ Sakura last year at this time due to big change in params and clearly not realising they had changed so much - learnt a lot about Tds and gh last 12 months.
> 
> Ebi gold goes in this weekend (hopefully) and should start to see the results you have here ady.
> 
> Ps what you are missing now are some CBS  I love the two together. You have a stunning setup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh, bummer mate, good old waterboard! Im guessing the tds remained similar but the ph had altered? Maybe they change levels of certain chemicals they add to compensate for temperature or source changes? I dont know, but it would be nice to know seasonally if they do alter things so we have an idea of what is coming out of the tap.
> Hopefully as you say youll be back on track soon and that will go some way to repairing the pain felt from your losses.
> 
> I love CBS too, but unsure of mixing them....although i dont know why as i have no plans to sell or anything like that.
> Thanks for the positive comments
Click to expand...



Not sure what killed them off but it was slow and torturous. Probably a combination of Tds and ph swing and possibly run off of ferts in the fields. Winter is a mare for field fert run off apparently. had long conversation in Tgm about the very subject. Over their way the locals revert to rainwater / ro during certain months to avoid picking up run off following farmers fert runs. Then again restocked my tank with lovely sakuras from a guy called Ste in leyland who never used anything but straight tap water all hear round and never had any issues and ran SSS crs in some tanks.....boy did I curse him. Ps think Ste is a member on here thinking about it.....


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:
			
		

> Quick question but how did you shut off the holes in the bottom of the back wall? Given I am rescaping at the weekend i want to see what other options are available to me. Currently it's a bit of plastic milk bottle and gravel.....


Hi mate, I didn't block them off, luckily the height of substrate is to the left and low enough to be just below the lower inlet at the right hand side.



			
				Ian Holdich said:
			
		

> These look great mate, well done!


Cheers Ian  
I love dropping some food in now and watching them all appear.


----------



## MARKCOUSINS

What a great read your journal was better than most top selling books!I hope you keep it going lots of help to us   all with the highs and lows!Cheers mark


----------



## Ady34

MARKCOUSINS said:


> What a great read your journal was better than most top selling books!I hope you keep it going lots of help to us all with the highs and lows!Cheers mark


Thanks Mark 
heres a shot taken just before christmas, needs a good tidy up again as im still being slack with maintenance. Sand foreground needs the aquasoil removing and the moss is starting to look a bit shabby again....must do weekly water changes!!
Shrimp still battling on though, another female ready to drop anytime soon 
Must admit, im getting a bit of an itch to do something else with this tank now ......


----------



## Westyggx

Sell some babies to me


----------



## Ady34

@westy, if I was ever going to move them on I'd happily give you some, just don't feel confident posting them! 

Did a water change last night, TDS currently around 160ppm so getting it back down again slowly. There are that many shrimplets in here now that every time I clean the filter they creep through the slots into the filter chamber. I always find several in the filter floss too which I have to try and carefully remove in a bucket of tank water and net out back into the tank before I clean it! 
I need to tidy up the sand foreground but trying to figure out a way of doing it as there are so many shrimp that I can't just syphon the aquasoil off for fear of sucking loads of them out into a mucky bucket of water....

Took a few pics on the phone tonight after I'd broken up some bits of algae wafer as a snack:





















Cheerio
Ady


----------



## MARKCOUSINS

Nice pics mate how many do u have in there roughly?cheers mark


----------



## Ady34

MARKCOUSINS said:


> Nice pics mate how many do u have in there roughly?cheers mark


Thanks. 
No idea of numbers, maybe anywhere between 50 and 100?


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> No idea of numbers, maybe anywhere between 50 and 100?


Looks like a lot more than that  when I stripped down my tank I though I had about 100 shrimp in there in the end gave up counting when I reached 500 lol


----------



## Ady34

Just uploaded a short video taken the other night during a water change....they all came out to play!
Poor quality, reflections, no music and shaky hands but here you go:


----------



## Iain Sutherland

awesome mate, will be good if they do take to your other tank or your gunna have a stocking issue soon lol


----------



## Westyggx

Cant believe how many you have lol!


----------



## nayr88

That is unreal

Please tell me your selling some!!! I'd sent you everything you need to send them back??


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Thats mint mate


----------



## martinmjr62

WOW!!! Can't believe how many are in there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ady34

easerthegeezer said:


> awesome mate, will be good if they do take to your other tank or your gunna have a stocking issue soon lol


Cheers bud. Yeah, think ill give them a go int the other tank, maybe 5 and see how they fare.



Westyggx said:


> Cant believe how many you have lol!





nayr88 said:


> That is unreal
> 
> Please tell me your selling some!!! I'd sent you everything you need to send them back??


Ha, I may be, Westy is first in line if I do move some on....he also offered to send everything I'd need to post them as this is where I wouldn't feel too comfortable. 



Whitey89 said:


> Thats mint mate


Cheers. Bet your shrimp tank is filling up too tho mate?



martinmjr62 said:


> WOW!!! Can't believe how many are in there
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Me neither, I switched the filter off for water change and out they all marched....I don't know where they all hide when the filters running! Even when I feed them there doesn't seem this many.


----------



## jack-rythm

Amazing video Mate! Looks class seeing them all swim about !

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Arana

Very Very Cool Video


----------



## Ady34

jack-rythm said:


> Amazing video Mate! Looks class seeing them all swim about !
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2





Arana said:


> Very Very Cool Video


Cheers guys


----------



## MARKCOUSINS

Top draw shrimp show!mark


----------



## Deano3

looks great mate and like other ppl said there is a lot of shrimp in there lol keep us updated

Dean


----------



## nduli

Looking good fella very impressed.


----------



## Lindy

That tank is heaving with shrimp, damn!


----------



## Matt Warner

Wow that's a lot of shrimp. They must all be worth a fortune!


----------



## nduli

Ady, what are your water params these days? Interested in Tds, ph and gh.  I have just checked my Tds and surprised to find its hit 170, ph is betwen 6.5-6.8 and gh around 4-5 but no signs of berrying. Do you regularly water change to keep the Tds down? Weekly? What mechanical media are you using just the 2 bags of ceramics that came with the tank? How often do you clean out the filter bits?  Are you running purigen? Are you running the pump at maximum? Lots of questions....sorry


----------



## Ady34

MARKCOUSINS said:


> Top draw shrimp show!mark





Deano3 said:


> looks great mate and like other ppl said there is a lot of shrimp in there lol keep us updated
> 
> Dean





nduli said:


> Looking good fella very impressed.





ldcgroomer said:


> That tank is heaving with shrimp, damn!





Matty1983 said:


> Wow that's a lot of shrimp. They must all be worth a fortune!


Much appreciated!
There's a few in there now. I think I've got lucky really...a combination of being blessed with good tap water for CRS and trying to keep TDS at good levels. I also think that the aquanano tank has a lot to do with it also, the filter is really big for the size of tank and I'm sure will help keep water quality good. I also use a product called Mosura Bt-9, a beneficial bacteria supplement after every water change. The plants aren't the most prolific or healthy but I'm happy with the shrimp!
Cheerio,
Ady


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> Ady, what are your water params these days? Interested in Tds, ph and gh.  I have just checked my Tds and surprised to find its hit 170, ph is betwen 6.5-6.8 and gh around 4-5 but no signs of berrying. Do you regularly water change to keep the Tds down? Weekly? What mechanical media are you using just the 2 bags of ceramics that came with the tank? How often do you clean out the filter bits?  Are you running purigen? Are you running the pump at maximum? Lots of questions....sorry


Hi,
No idea about water perameters...just check TDS before and after every water change. It has been slowly rising due to lack of water changes. Currently around 160, was over 170 last week before water change. initially I'd been keeping it at around 130-140ppm TDS. I'm trying to get it back down to sub 150 with regular water changes again. I haven't been doing weekly water changes of late, probably only every other week at best which is bad given the number of shrimp now residing in the tank. The filter floss I use on top of the foam pad, and the foam pad itself are always very dirty when I clean them which is with every water change. I run the provided ceramic bio media with one small bag of purigen on top which hasn't been renewed or replaced since I put it in! I also have only cleaned the bio media once since set up. The pump is running at maximum, I'm going to strip and clean this next water change as its got a little noisy of late!
I have ADA Amazonia which I'm guessing is helping keep PH at a good level. I use salty shrimp GH+ to increase the TDS of water change water from 70ppm to around 110-120ppm whilst trying to reduce the tank TDS. Liquid carbon and ei ferts at the rate of 1ml each per day (alternate macro/micro dosing days). This dosing level doesn't increase TDS too much, and with only running the 11w fluval light on the tank, it's almost low tech and static....the plants are very slow growing but green, mosses don't seem to flourish, but the tough guy Anubias and fern make up the majority of the plant mass and green colour in the tank! Photoperiod still only 6 hours.
I don't feed the shrimp much, maybe 6 or so hikari crab cuisine pellets every 3 days. I'm going to look at improving their diet with some different foods now that the numbers are getting high and natural food within the tank will be limited. I never fed them at all for months after I first got them until there numbers had increased substantially.
Hope that helps a bit, like I said in the above post I think I've got a bit lucky really, I don't drip acclimate water at water changes, just pump it in the same as with the bigger tank and there's never any issues with even the tiniest baby shrimplets!
Tank temp is a steady 21-22 Celsius, and water change water is always close to this, but never higher! I prep the water the night before, just fill from the tap with dechlorinator added then leave to stand in the house to warm up to room temp. Then add salty shrimp GH+ to get the TDS right just before topping the tank back up (it's really fast at dissolving and this way I can get TDS right even if there has been a change in tap TDS)
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## nduli

Ady34 said:


> Hi,
> No idea about water perameters...just check TDS before and after every water change. It has been slowly rising due to lack of water changes. Currently around 160, was over 170 last week before water change. initially I'd been keeping it at around 130-140ppm TDS. I'm trying to get it back down to sub 150 with regular water changes again. I haven't been doing weekly water changes of late, probably only every other week at best which is bad given the number of shrimp now residing in the tank. The filter floss I use on top of the foam pad, and the foam pad itself are always very dirty when I clean them which is with every water change. I run the provided ceramic bio media with one small bag of purigen on top which hasn't been renewed or replaced since I put it in! I also have only cleaned the bio media once since set up. The pump is running at maximum, I'm going to strip and clean this next water change as its got a little noisy of late!
> I have ADA Amazonia which I'm guessing is helping keep PH at a good level. I use salty shrimp GH+ to increase the TDS of water change water from 70ppm to around 110-120ppm whilst trying to reduce the tank TDS. Liquid carbon and ei ferts at the rate of 1ml each per day (alternate macro/micro dosing days). This dosing level doesn't increase TDS too much, and with only running the 11w fluval light on the tank, it's almost low tech and static....the plants are very slow growing but green, mosses don't seem to flourish, but the tough guy Anubias and fern make up the majority of the plant mass and green colour in the tank! Photoperiod still only 6 hours.
> I don't feed the shrimp much, maybe 6 or so hikari crab cuisine pellets every 3 days. I'm going to look at improving their diet with some different foods now that the numbers are getting high and natural food within the tank will be limited. I never fed them at all for months after I first got them until there numbers had increased substantially.
> Hope that helps a bit, like I said in the above post I think I've got a bit lucky really, I don't drip acclimate water at water changes, just pump it in the same as with the bigger tank and there's never any issues with even the tiniest baby shrimplets!
> Tank temp is a steady 21-22 Celsius, and water change water is always close to this, but never higher! I prep the water the night before, just fill from the tap with dechlorinator added then leave to stand in the house to warm up to room temp. Then add salty shrimp GH+ to get the TDS right just before topping the tank back up (it's really fast at dissolving and this way I can get TDS right even if there has been a change in tap TDS)
> Cheerio
> Ady


I hate it when people say no idea of my params when they are so successful  just jealous. Met a guy called ste in leyland with the best jungle tank i have ever seen with sss crs and Sakura in there and loads of fish and he was very similar didn't know the ph, gh or even Tds and all was fine  

 Thanks for the full response. I have a few things to have a think about today and take action on. Water change and filter clean  the first I think and a more stringent water change regime. (Much to the misuses annoyance) 
I use salty shrimp but haven't been adding to water before a change been adding it once the water was in tank.will swop round. 

I am amazed by your tank, some great work gone on in there.


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> I hate it when people say no idea of my params when they are so successful  just jealous. Met a guy called ste in leyland with the best jungle tank i have ever seen with sss crs and Sakura in there and loads of fish and he was very similar didn't know the ph, gh or even Tds and all was fine
> 
> Thanks for the full response. I have a few things to have a think about today and take action on. Water change and filter clean the first I think and a more stringent water change regime. (Much to the misuses annoyance)
> I use salty shrimp but haven't been adding to water before a change been adding it once the water was in tank.will swop round.
> 
> I am amazed by your tank, some great work gone on in there.


Hi again, and thank you, although im not sure ive worked hard 
Keeping the filter/tank clean is very important though, as any organic build up etc is not good for the shrimp as i understand it from the guys at FWS.
i never test with test kits anymore, as after joining this forum have read many posts (from Ceg/Clive, amongst others) suggesting the various inaccuracies and subsequent problems they can cause. Although i dont test so dont know for sure, I do have some idea of the perameters of my tap water as when i was doing a bit of research before setting up the tank (Thinking of setting up a CRS tank..... | UK Aquatic Plant Society), i listed readings given for GH and KH from my local water authority. Darrel kindly did the maths and said that my GH and KH were both around 2.5 from the tap. For ideal perameters in this thread which im sure youll have read, A Guide To Crystal Red Shrimp | UK Aquatic Plant Society, it suggested i needed a slight raise in GH and reduction in KH to get 'ideal' perameters of 4-6GH and 0KH, so i used the amazonia soil to reduce KH and stabilise the PH, and bought the Salty Shrimp GH+ to raise the GH slightly.....so educated guesswork really, which seems to be working  I did get an email from Freshwater shrimp about the dosing amounts of the Salty Shrimp GH+ and how much it alters GH, but i just tend to dose it based on the TDS and get that right and it seems to work. A lot of what i do is based on judgement of TDS at water change time. If its high in the tank like now, and im trying to reduce it i add less gh+ to the water change water to reduce it slowly, (maybe no more than 10 TDS at a time in the tank measurements). I much prefer to alter the gh of the water going into the tank as this way TDS readings arent effected by other factors like in the tank from fert dosing etc so i get a constant to work from....really im not sure it makes any difference, but it keeps any swings less drastic before they are addressed, even over a very short period of time...in my mind at least!!
Im sure that some of my practices would come unstuck if i were to get higher grade shrimp, but im happy with these little fellas, do exactly what they say on the tin....Red and White stripes 
Hope that adds a bit more food for thought!
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ian Holdich

Bloody hell mate there's some monies worth in there! What a great little aquascape, really complimented by shrimp! Love love love!


----------



## nduli

Cleaned the sponges and fair to say they were filthy, added some floss in at the top too. Think I need to be rinsing the sponges more often.   Tds down to about 140.


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> Cleaned the sponges and fair to say they were filthy, added some floss in at the top too. Think I need to be rinsing the sponges more often.   Tds down to about 140.


Yeah it's surprising how dirty they get, even after a week! 
I'm sure the shrimp will be fine, but I'd maybe bring TDS down slower in future, over the course of a few weeks maybe 10tds per week as shrimplets may be more sensitive to large changes. Maybe you won't need to if your doing more regular water changes as it may not creep up that high again....170 would be ok, I've read up to 200 is acceptable, but I'd aim for around 150 give or take.
Keep us posted on how things go mate, fingers crossed.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## jack-rythm

Ady... 

How would you specifically raise and lower TDS in a tank?

Cheers Mate  

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Iain Sutherland

jack-rythm said:


> Ady...
> 
> How would you specifically raise and lower TDS in a tank?
> 
> Cheers Mate
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


 
RO water and either more or less GH booster.


----------



## Ady34

Ian Holdich said:


> Bloody hell mate there's some monies worth in there! What a great little aquascape, really complimented by shrimp! Love love love!


Thanks very much Ian, I do love nano's.....especially at water change time!


----------



## nayr88

Ady34 said:


> Thanks very much Ian, I do love nano's.....especially at water change time!




2nd that! 

Half a bucket for a 50% WC is always good haha


----------



## Ady34

No particular reason to post, only that this is about as good a photo as i could take so thought id share it


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Nice one Ady  Looking really nice mate.


----------



## Lindy

Beautiful. I'm begining to think all of mine are male I'd send you a poly box and bags if you'd sell me something that is definately female.


----------



## nduli

Why did I have the same thought his am.......


----------



## bogwood

Brilliant post, just read all for the first time.
Its certainly helped me focus on whats important in a CRS tank.
Im sure, there are plenty of people out there ready to follow your approach and success and set up a similar tank.
A great advert for shrimp keeping.


----------



## Ady34

ldcgroomer said:


> Beautiful. I'm begining to think all of mine are male I'd send you a poly box and bags if you'd sell me something that is definately female.





nduli said:


> Why did I have the same thought his am.......


Thanks lindy, I'll bear both yourself and Nduli in mind if I ever move any on, currently I'm reluctant to change anything while its going well....I could end up passing on my main reproducers 



bogwood said:


> Brilliant post, just read all for the first time.
> Its certainly helped me focus on whats important in a CRS tank.
> Im sure, there are plenty of people out there ready to follow your approach and success and set up a similar tank.
> A great advert for shrimp keeping.


Really nice to hear that, thank you


----------



## danmullan

Such a cool tank, congrats on such successful breeding. Plants look nice and healthy as well.


----------



## nduli

Ady - spotted first berried CBS tonight. Well chuffed. Focus on water changes and keeping detritus down seems to have worked.... Fingers crossed they will survive. Please don't think this means I won't consider any of your cast offs


----------



## Ady34

danmullan said:


> Such a cool tank, congrats on such successful breeding. Plants look nice and healthy as well.


Thanks Dan, tempted to put gas on it to enable some more variety with the plants though!



nduli said:


> Ady - spotted first berried CBS tonight. Well chuffed. Focus on water changes and keeping detritus down seems to have worked.... Fingers crossed they will survive. Please don't think this means I won't consider any of your cast offs


Great news mate, it's fascinating seeing the way they fan the eggs and move them around  now you'll have a nail biting four weeks or so wait, checking out that berried shrimp day in day out, then all being well you will have a nice surprise one day when you spot the first shrimplet!....then you'll spend hours trying to spot more!
Good luck mate, keep up the maintenance and don't over feed....it's surprising how well they find food themselves!
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## nduli

Ady, i have some experience of shrimp breeding from Sakura and some limited crs experience (more luck than understanding) just chuffed that I think I have the understanding now.  I love spotting the babies in the tank. Get the kids to join in, they love the fact that that they are perfect miniatures. The Sakura in my main tank seem to be starting to berry again as well after a few months off following co2 poisoning incident. Journal to follow on main tank when I get time.


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> Ady, i have some experience of shrimp breeding from Sakura and some limited crs experience (more luck than understanding) just chuffed that I think I have the understanding now.  I love spotting the babies in the tank. Get the kids to join in, they love the fact that that they are perfect miniatures. The Sakura in my main tank seem to be starting to berry again as well after a few months off following co2 poisoning incident. Journal to follow on main tank when I get time.


Ahh, cool, yeah my kids love shrimp spotting too. It's quite incredible how they are so small, yet like you say perfect miniatures of the adults....even the colour!
Shame about the co2 incident mate, i know how that feels....Good news about the Sakuras now though, I'll look forward to  the journal. I have only ever bred CRS, I can't breed any others!!
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

Little update:

Added some lobelia cardinalis cuttings from the studio tank to see how they fare with liquid carbon. Shrimp have already uprooted some as it has no roots as yet! Spotted 2 more berried shrimp also.










Cheerio
Ady


----------



## nduli

Day do you run with the top off? 
Rich


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> Day do you run with the top off?
> Rich


Hi Rich,
I run the top off for better temperature control....more for the summer months really but with the house being set on a thermostat and heating on 24/7 then there isn't really any downward fluctuations. In the summer though it can raise a few degrees and the open top seems to keep it more stable and allow it to cool quicker. Also any heat generated by the light unit isn't trapped or exaggerated in the water column.....
well that's my reasoning anyway, right or wrong??! Lol
Cheerio,
Ady


----------



## Ady34

Hi,
ive noticed a few of the older shrimp in particular are showing signs of translucency in the white banding. Also the diet I'd been offering was limited to Hikari crab cuisine and the odd algae wafer so I've expanded my offerings to include some Genchem foods which offer calcium and mineral supplements  and claim to enhance white banding.....we shall see!





Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> lso the diet I'd been offering was limited to Hikari crab cuisine and the odd algae wafer


The more foods you mix the better, have a word with FWS they have quite a lot of foods for shrimp.


----------



## Lindy

My shrimp love the white pellet stuff.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Ady34 said:


> Hi,
> ive noticed a few of the older shrimp in particular are showing signs of translucency in the white banding. Also the diet I'd been offering was limited to Hikari crab cuisine and the odd algae wafer so I've expanded my offerings to include some Genchem foods which offer calcium and mineral supplements  and claim to enhance white banding.....we shall see!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheerio,
> Ady.



Hey mate,
I recently have done the same, And noticed maybe a little difference in colour. They absolutely love them though, thats for sure.


----------



## bogwood

Good idea ,as the say the more variety the better, good for health, and they dont get hooked on one product.
Im presently feeding my crs;
Mosura Exocel
Biomax
Natural foods from our sponsor.......,Nettle. and Bee mix. and decaying capa leaves


----------



## Ady34

Water change night last night. In trying to prevent strays working their way into the filter chamber through the slots when i remove the filter foam, I popped in an old riccia stone. Before I had chance to add anything else over the other slots the shrimp swarmed!





Thanks for the confirmation about the food too guys and gals, it seems they do indeed like the Genchem white pellet food, they swarmed for that too! It seems to break down a bit easier and faster than the hikari crab cuisine, so they can break pieces off which means they all get some. They grab and scamper, sit and scoff!
Still to try the biomax, seems you have to mix that one with water first.....any tips?
Cheers
Ady


----------



## Ady34

Quick update.
Still going well, no more shrimplets yet, but one very close to dropping.
There was a jumper shrimp last night  My youngest found its dried body on the floor this morning and threw it in the washing up bowl while the wife was doing the dishes in an attempt to save it...the wife nearly jumped out of her skin! It was an adult too. Id just done a water change and had topped the water right up, its happened once before and a little reminder to keep the water a little lower.

Heres a picture i took, which has somehow become corrupted during upload, but i quite like it so have posted it anyway:





Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## MARKCOUSINS

Shame about the jumper but a good point for uncovered tanks to not fill it up too much.Cheers mark


----------



## PM

Ady34 said:


> *Re: Aquanano40 CRShrimp tank....Shrimp ordered.*
> 
> 
> Were you at Aquatics Live last year? I think it was the Aquajardin stand had 3 shrimp tanks in a row...ADA Do Aqua range though so a bit pricey. They looked lovely and were well executed with a single piece of wood cut and running through them all to tie them together with a left, centre and right scape....i can but dream!
> A bit of food for thought if you hadnt seen them already, not the best shots but it gives you an idea.
> Ill look forward to a journal too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Left:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Centre:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right:



Can anyone tell me what size these three aquariums are?? Great journal, I just read the entire thing!


----------



## Ady34

PM said:


> Can anyone tell me what size these three aquariums are?? Great journal, I just read the entire thing!


Cheers PM.
Just go to the Aquajardin sponsor forum and ask them which size they are:
Aquajardin | UK Aquatic Plant Society
They also have a few sub forums on these set ups, but ive looked and there doesnt seem to be a size listed anywhwere.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Lindy

Oh dear, looks like your tank might be over crowded if you have jumpers. I'm sure I wouldn't mind if you'd like to send some up here, purely as a favor to you of course  Kidding about the over crowding but YOU HAVE SO MANY SHRIMP! Its not fair


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> its happened once before and a little reminder to keep the water a little lower.


I would always say keep the water level at 1.5cm below the top of the glass, I haven't found shrimp lately but I do find the odd pond snail.


----------



## Ady34

Been dosing 1.5ml daily easy carbo for the last week, up from 1ml previously......seemingly no ill effects on the shrimp, there are new shrimplets too, no issue


----------



## nayr88

Ady34 said:


> Been dosing 1.5ml daily easy carbo for the last week, up from 1ml previously......seemingly no ill effects on the shrimp, there are new shrimplets too, no issue


Your living at large mate!!! 
So many people have trouble keeping them alive and your overrun with them and been chucking in thee old easy carb!!  

That corrupted pic you posted did look pretty good, work of art by accident


----------



## Ady34

Couple of photos.
Anyone know why the crs i put in my other tank has changed colour pattern compared to these in the nano. In the third picture that shrimp is nearly all red with very minimal white banding....is there a reason for this?

Nano tank shrimp:











Studio tank shrimp:





thanks for any ideas 
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

you been tipex'ing cheeries and its now worn off?!
All looking very nice ady, no idea with the colouration though, maybe radik would know..?


----------



## tim

Maybe mineral deficiency ? Are you using just your tap water for this tank mate ?


----------



## Ady34

Just testing uploading video on new computer.
Seems i have uploaded it wrong as only in 320p and cant add music.
back to the drawing board 



*EDIT* testing uploading one from the phone camera too:


----------



## Ian Holdich

I bet this tank is really eye catching! I love seeing all these shrimp in a big colony. It looks super clean!


----------



## Ady34

tim said:


> Maybe mineral deficiency ? Are you using just your tap water for this tank mate ?


Hi Tim,
yeah, remineralised tap water for both. Sera salts for the larger tank Salty shrimp for the nano. Large tank is slightly higher TDS with more swings. Dosed with pressurised c02 and EI ferts. Maybe just environmental conditions, just wondered if there is a specific reason for it. The banding isnt transparent, just the white bands are very narrow as you can see.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

Ian Holdich said:


> I bet this tank is really eye catching! I love seeing all these shrimp in a big colony. It looks super clean!


Cheers Ian, ....maybe not super clean 

Got a few more plants to add to this, a little echinodorus reni (got one for the other tank too), and some mini hairgrass from Ryan (nayr88) - thanks mate 
One night this week will do a bit of a tidy up and plant new additions.
Cheerio,
Ady


----------



## Lindy

I knew I'd seen one of these somewhere. If you look at the CRS article pinned in the inverts forum, in the grading bit with pics the last photo is of a 'super red' It looks very like yours!


----------



## Ady34

ldcgroomer said:


> I knew I'd seen one of these somewhere. If you look at the CRS article pinned in the inverts forum, in the grading bit with pics the last photo is of a 'super red' It looks very like yours!


Thanks Lindy, youve got a good memory 
Your right, it does look a bit like that, maybe just not so good a grade, thanks for the heads up....a nearly 'super red' ....all on its own, could be the start of a breed line if i had the inclination. Crazy how its this one shrimp in the other tank that has coloured like this.



Dincho said:


> *Crystal Red Shrimp Grading*


----------



## Lindy

I thought they looked really smart.


----------



## Ady34

funnily though, this is what the shrimp looked like a while ago.....i think......I did add one more tiny shrimplet at a later date but have only ever seen the one, and it is now quite big so i dont think its the one i added later.


----------



## Lindy

Anychance it was a fertilised female that hadn't dropped her eggs yet because I don't think it could change pigment like that. Red is red. white can lose pigment but not change to red? I recon there must have been babies born in the tank and both parents must have the genes for more red.  Pretty cool, you could have two distict colonies .


----------



## NanoJames

Hi Ady,
Looks like you may have too many shrimp in the tank for one person to care for. So,kindly, I will volunteer to take some. Free of charge!  But seriously though, great tank mate. Lovely shrimp too! 
Cheers


----------



## Lindy

Hey, NanoJames, join the back of the queue! A few of us have already offered the same favour


----------



## NanoJames

Sorry Idcgroomer, didn't realise! Surely there's plenty to go round?  I don't think Ady will have many shrimp left by the time we are finished! 

Cheers


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> In the third picture that shrimp is nearly all red with very minimal white banding....is there a reason for this?


Looks to me just like a low grade CRS.


----------



## Ady34

Hi,
Apologies for my multiple posts, and for the phone quality photos for such a question, but seeing the images above on gradings got me looking around at my shrimp. I don't really know much about the grades, and its never really interested me, but do breeders simply improve lines from 'better' shrimp, and can you just get lucky with your offspring to do so? I seem to have some now to my eyes which are improvements on my original 'a' grade shrimp, to tigertooth, s grade V band and possibly even SS grade double Hinomaru.....is it simply down to the markings/bandings or is there more?

For example, the shrimp below looks to me like a tigertooth:




and these ones s grade V band (the pigmentation on the top shrimp especially is not solid, is it this that effects 's' gradings? can you get just V band CRS for example, or is it simply the V banding that makes it an 's'?):



Notice the difference in band shape between the two shrimp and the lack of red colouration on the tail of the V band shrimp:




and perhaps an SS grade double Hinomaru? Or halfmoon?:




I have more which look to be of better than A grades,












I seem to have a few which are getting towards higher grades but would be interested to hear what makes for a higher graded shrimp, is it markings alone or do other factors such as strength of colour etc play a part in 'labeling' grades?

Here's a slightly better video of them after feeding:



Cheers,
Ady.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## Ady34

Hi,
a more substantial update.

This tank had been getting a little scrappy of late. The substrate had been moved about by the shrimps actions and the sand bed lost.
After purchasing a few more plants, i decided last night to give the tank an overdue spring clean and mini makeover 
This meant i ended up changing around 70% of the water in total  and syphoning a lot of aquasoil from the front and replacing at the rear.....not ideal to do all at once in a shrimp tank .....but once i had started, i had to finish.
I had only prepped 25l of water the night before, so needed to make some fresh on the night to top off....i was a little worried about this, but added dechlorinator and ensured the temperature and TDS were spot on to reduce the risks. I also added the mosura BT9 bacterial supplement after the filter clean.....all seems well 

After syphoning as much aquasoil from the sand bed as i dared....ive been putting doing this off for ages.....shrimp are inquisitive little creatures and i didnt fancy accidentally sucking them out into a bucket of dirty water, so did the best i could.....they have already began moving it back 

I didnt want to waste the soil, there wasnt a huge amount of it from the outset and it helps keep the water perameters right for the shrimp, so i added it back to the rear of the tank from where it came. As careful as i tried to be this was the result:




 



mmm.....anyway, it was done, so then i planted up the echinodorus reni id bought last week, you can just see a leaf or two emerging from behind the anubias in the second picture below. Some microsorum petite was trimmed to allow less shading to this area. Hopefully it will grow to somewhere between its 15-40cm potential and fill that void. I then planted the eleocharis sp. mini i bought from nayr88....cheers mate there was loads ......and the shrimp really liked it too, they swarmed and have kindly already uprooted some  :



 



this is what i was left with last night after topping up and turning the filters back on:



 .....and then a couple from tonight, much clearer but not completely:



 



I think it is an improvement, and looks a little more like an aquascape again.
Ill be adding some elecharis acicularis from the other tank to add some height at the rear behind the microsorum which is slowly taking over. There was some hydrocotle sp. japan in the right rear, but that has lost most of its leaves. Hopefully the new plants will succeed.
Its odd, some of the lobelia cardinalis cuttings i put in from the studio tank are thriving, whilst others , much like the hydrocotle, dropped all their leaves immediately, but are now coming back 

I do have one problem.
Every water change and filter clean im having to spend ages removing shrimp from the filter floss (no easy task), and there are quite a few now residing permanently in the filter chamber. I need to devise a mesh to cover the upper filter inlet grids to prevent them getting in there, you can see the smaller shrimp that have already made it through and the larger shrimp trying unsuccessfully to get to what must be a feast within the floss  (the mini hairgrass is there temporarily, excess which may be needed to fill gaps). The floss is already filthy after its clean yesterday from the aquasoil bomb!:




 



One thing i have noticed is that since starting to feed with the Genchem foods, the colours are definitely improving 

Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## nduli

Ady

You thought about using a sponge to cover the holes? When I got my tank I got a different sponge than the standard one, the holes were much smaller. I have since replaced the smaller hole sponge with standard but I could cut you off a couple of centimetres of cross section and you could use it to cover the holes.....

Ps tank looking amazing. I am doing spring clean this weekend. The flame moss has died on the branch (light issue I think) and I am going to move to ro water now after my berried shrimp death last week.


----------



## tim

That's looking stunning ady, very healthy plants and shrimp, for the filter chamber you could cut some sponge to size and stretch a stocking or cut tights over the sponge, I used this method in my fluval spec, it solves the shrimp problem but unfortunately needs cleaning as much if not more than filter floss, lovely looking scape ady


----------



## Alastair

Agree with Tim, it looks stunning mate.


----------



## nduli

Ady34 said:


> Hi,


 

ady

whats the moss here? - love it


----------



## Ady34

nduli said:


> Ady
> 
> You thought about using a sponge to cover the holes? When I got my tank I got a different sponge than the standard one, the holes were much smaller. I have since replaced the smaller hole sponge with standard but I could cut you off a couple of centimetres of cross section and you could use it to cover the holes.....
> 
> Ps tank looking amazing. I am doing spring clean this weekend. The flame moss has died on the branch (light issue I think) and I am going to move to ro water now after my berried shrimp death last week.





tim said:


> That's looking stunning ady, very healthy plants and shrimp, for the filter chamber you could cut some sponge to size and stretch a stocking or cut tights over the sponge, I used this method in my fluval spec, it solves the shrimp problem but unfortunately needs cleaning as much if not more than filter floss, lovely looking scape ady





Alastair said:


> Agree with Tim, it looks stunning mate.


 
Much appreciated guys.
Re. the filter, yeah a sponge section sounds like a good idea wrapped in tights to stop the shrimplets entering the sponge. 
Nduli, thanks for the offer mate, but i think i have some spare juwel ones which i may be able to retrofit and slip into a pair of the mrs. tights  If not ill get a replacement sponge and cut it to fit...theres a handy spare parts sticker on the side of the tank so should be easy to get hold of.


nduli said:


> ady
> 
> whats the moss here? - love it


Fissidens Fontanus.....its quite long here as its never been trimmed since i set up. Its been a slow grower but is looking really nice now and is popping up on the hardscape all over the tank  The shrimplets in particular love it and theres always a group of the tiniest ones residing within it.

Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## nduli

Ady34 said:


> Nduli, thanks for the offer mate, but i think i have some spare juwel ones which i may be able to retrofit and slip into a pair of the mrs. tights  If not ill get a replacement sponge and cut it to fit...theres a handy spare parts sticker on the side of the tank so should be easy to get hold of.
> 
> Cheerio,
> Ady.



Ady

2 links 

 Aqua Nano 40 Aquarium Spares & Accessories - Buy with confidence from Aquarium Parts

Official part which is actually a lot cheaper than they are in the shops (minus shipping of course)

 Filter Bio-Sponge 11.8"x4.7"x2.36" Media Block Foam pads Biochemical Sponge bio | eBay

Ebay USA similar part.

Rich


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Looks great that Ady mate 

Do you just dose EC? You'd easily mistake this for a top end aquascape with co2 pumped in by the bucket 

I like the fact the filters all integrated too, Might have to give one a whirl


----------



## Ady34

Nathaniel Whiteside said:


> Looks great that Ady mate
> 
> Do you just dose EC? You'd easily mistake this for a top end aquascape with co2 pumped in by the bucket
> 
> I like the fact the filters all integrated too, Might have to give one a whirl


Hi Nath, 
yeah 1.5ml easy carbo daily.
Very kind of you mate, not sure about top end, but its functional and trouble free now the lighting is low  I was just saying to the wife tonight that this tank could probably run forever, i had been getting a bit of an itch with it, but have realised i love the shrimp too much to take it down, plus very little trimming, and infrequent (and small) water changes make it a nice easy tank to maintain....just needed a spruce up. Fancying adding maybe an aponegeton red or some cyperus halferi to the rear behind the fern along with some e. ecicularis from the studio tank to finish it off.....I'd kind of forgotten about it as an aquascape until recently, a few improvements can make a big difference....I want a chair in front of this one now, its currently flavour of the month 

It has crossed my mind to sell up the large tank in favour of another one of these or another nano. Even without rescaping frequently there is always something to buy, with smaller tanks the overall running costs are much reduced, and a rescape may cost you £100 - £150, whereas larger tanks you can spend more than that on a new plant list alone, nevermind the new hardscape you want, the new sand you want to try etc etc. I'd quite like a tank that I could try new things on more regularly, but with the bigger one its not feasible. The flip side of course is the versatility offered from a larger tank, fish choices for example would be limited in a nano. Anyway that's just me thinking aloud and rambling....
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

Ady34 said:


> Anyway that's just me thinking aloud and rambling


no thats just you talking crazy 

Totally understand what you mean though mate, big tanks arent cheap if you like rescaping.  When i look at Paulo's that ran for 3 years i see a part of the hobby i wish i could enjoy as much as full rescapes... .  you just need another nano to go with the other two tanks? lol
Could always reconsider your old idea of a low maintenance south american biotope'ish tank with just hardscape and a few plants once you finish  the current scape... enjoy the fish as much as the shrimp


----------



## faizal

Hi Ady. Lovely tank mate. I love your fissidens fontanus. They look really cozy.


----------



## Ady34

Iain Sutherland said:


> you just need another nano to go with the other two tanks? lol


that was my first port of call...it was a firm NO! 



faizal said:


> Hi Ady. Lovely tank mate. I love your fissidens fontanus. They look really cozy.


Thanks faizal...like a duck down for shrimp, zzzz


----------



## Deano3

great pics ady looks great and that must be awfull all the shrimp in the media   hope mine don't get into filter looks like hard work

Dean


----------



## TallDragon

Hi Ady,
I love this tank.  Hoping to do something similar in my 35x35x40 cube. My goal is also 'low maintenance'.

Could I kindly ask you to give an *updated list of all the plants* that are in your tank at the moment?
What plants like to quasi-low-light low-fertilizer environment? 
What is the current lighting setup (hours in the day)?
Water change frequency? 
What would you do differently? (almost a year of experience)

Really appreciate the answer.


----------



## DTL

Ref "I do have one problem.Every water change and filter clean im having to spend ages removing shrimp from the filter floss (no easy task), and there are quite a few now residing permanently in the filter chamber. I need to devise a mesh to cover the upper filter inlet grids to prevent them getting in there,":

I'm just setting up my Nano40, but I've ordered a couple of sheets of stainless steel mesh from "the Mesh Company" Stainless Steel Woven Wire Mesh with a view to trying to either: create a secondary input screen; or to make a basket to over the top of the floss to make it easier to remove any escapees. I'll be happy to let you know how that looks like working out.


----------



## Steve Smith

Hi Ady.  Tank looks great!  I've been skimming through from the start and love the progression.  Out of interest, are you using a TDS meter?  Can you give me any info about how you're measuring your TDS?


----------



## Gary Nelson

I've missed a few of the updates on here mate, so I've just been reading up! It really does look superb and your shrimp population has grown somewhat too... Brilliant!

The Fissidens Fontanus really looks ace too and one of my favourite plants although I have never had any myself as yet - another great tank to add to your portfolio


----------



## jon32

Hi Ady. Your tank is looking really nice. The wood fills the height of this tank nicely which is something I struggled to achieve with my little iwugami layout. Love the CRS they're amazing.


----------



## DTL

DTL said:


> Ref "I do have one problem.Every water change and filter clean im having to spend ages removing shrimp from the filter floss (no easy task), and there are quite a few now residing permanently in the filter chamber. I need to devise a mesh to cover the upper filter inlet grids to prevent them getting in there,":
> 
> I'm just setting up my Nano40, but I've ordered a couple of sheets of stainless steel mesh from "the Mesh Company" Stainless Steel Woven Wire Mesh with a view to trying to either: create a secondary input screen; or to make a basket to over the top of the floss to make it easier to remove any escapees. I'll be happy to let you know how that looks like working out.



Just gave this a go. Not a great pic but I think something like this might work. The grid is just pressed against the slotted panel by the filter pad behind it.

Doesn't seem to inhibit flow at all.






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## Ady34

TallDragon said:


> Hi Ady,
> I love this tank.  Hoping to do something similar in my 35x35x40 cube. My goal is also 'low maintenance'.
> 
> Could I kindly ask you to give an *updated list of all the plants* that are in your tank at the moment?
> What plants like to quasi-low-light low-fertilizer environment?
> What is the current lighting setup (hours in the day)?
> Water change frequency?
> What would you do differently? (almost a year of experience)
> 
> Really appreciate the answer.


Hi TallDragon, welcome to the forum.
Ill do my best for you 

Plant list:
Mini java fern
Anubias nana petite
Mini pelia
Christmas moss
Fissidens fontanus
Eleocharis ecicularis
Eleocharis sp. mini
Small green cryptocoryne (unnamed when purchased-unsure which species?)
Echinodorus Rubin
Lobelia cardinalis....a shrimp feast when they get hungry, grr!
And a tiny bit of pearl moss and marsilea hirsuta

In my experience the plants which do well in low light and fert environments are the ferns, cryptocoryne, anubias, fissidens and the mini pelia has done reasonably well too. I do add liquid carbon currently at 1.5 x recommended dosage.....Im not the best plant grower.....but these species seem to thrive anywhere. Mosses are also 'supposed' to be easy, although I struggle to get very healthy looking moss. 
The ecicularis grass has survived long term, but the mini sp. is relatively new and isn't exactly giving me a lawn yet! This tank is leanly dosed so this could go some way to explaining the slow growth of all species, but highlight the ease at which the ferns and Anubias in particular can adapt.
The lobelia cardinalis was doing relatively well, until I went away and the shrimp didn't get fed for 5days, it then became a snack 
I think most plants can adapt to low light low fert environments, just growth will be slow. I've recently increased my liquid carbon dosage to 1.5ml/day, but am going to reduce it back down to 1ml as I have seen no benefit in this set up and my shrimp have slowed reproduction.....but there could be many reasons for that. Maybe coincidence also but I have had a couple of jumpers of late. Anyway, there is little point in adding more LC if there is no improvement so I think the low light (11w) is the limiting factor alongside the lean dosing of ferts. This suits really as I've been slack on weekly maintenance for a long time now, perhaps water changing 30% every 2-3 weeks which I'm sure would have caused issue had the tank been higher energy.

Like I've just said, my shrimp have slowed reproduction and I have just last week seen another berried after perhaps 3-4 weeks of nothing. No coincidence im sure that this occurred after my 'spring clean' where i inadvertantly had to change 70% of the water. Perhaps it has been a natural winter dormancy as suggested by others, but most likely it will be down to the lack of small and frequent water changes.....especially now with the increased bio load from the increased numbers of shrimp, which are needing to be fed more regularly. The large water change probably helped cleanse the system to a degree and spurred some more shrimp action! I think to successfully keep and breed shrimp you need to keep on top of water changes and maintenance, little but often to keep organics low. I also use a bacterial supplement (mosura bt-9) which I add after every water change and filter clean which I'm sure has helped keep things healthy....it's not expensive and on small tanks will last a lifetime!

The lighting is low, 11w over 55l and still only a 6hr photoperiod....great for low maintenance, it keeps everything slow and reduces demands for ferts and co2 which helps minimise the wastes from plants and has been most likely the only reason I've got away without weekly water changes for so long.....although now I'm sure I need to be more vigilant given the numbers of shrimp all producing waste now!

What would I do differently.....id have had low light from the start! This tank has taught me a lot, low maintenance needs low light! I melted a few plants initially with too much light and not enough carbon....probably not enough ferts either, but I knew I wanted to keep TDS swings minimal for the sake of the shrimp so was always going to dose lean, its a bit of a conflict of interest really, so I then decided the shrimp were the main focus for the tank so lowered the light intensity and kept less demanding plants. I would also have continued with weekly water changes, maybe only 10-20% maximum, but regular, I think this is beneficial especially with increased bio load.
I think have a plan is the best advice. Know what you want to achieve and choose flora and fauna accordingly. This tank is based around the shrimp now, low light, easy plants and slow growth help keep everything happy  
If low maintenance is your goal don't go for fast growing stems or demanding carpets of hc. You can create nice displays with easy plants, check out the tropica website for more inspiration and information. Keep lighting low, maybe even check out the low tech sub forum if your fancying super low maintenance, maybe a 'dirt tank'? Like I say, know what you want to achieve before you start, it makes things easier in the long run 
Good luck and keep us posted, maybe start a journal of your own.....it's a great way of keeping track of progress.



SteveUK said:


> Hi Ady.  Tank looks great!  I've been skimming through from the start and love the progression.  Out of interest, are you using a TDS meter?  Can you give me any info about how you're measuring your TDS?


Thanks Steve,
yeah using a TDS pen, i test tank water before water changes and adjust added tap water accordingly to keep TDS around 150-170 ideally. Shrimples 



Gary Nelson said:


> I've missed a few of the updates on here mate, so I've just been reading up! It really does look superb and your shrimp population has grown somewhat too... Brilliant!
> 
> The Fissidens Fontanus really looks ace too and one of my favourite plants although I have never had any myself as yet - another great tank to add to your portfolio


Cheers Gary,
yeah the shrimp have impact now, at least you can see them at all times so the tank doesn't look devoid of life like it did at the start!
Fissidens is great, a really delicate looking plant but takes a while to grow! The tank is pretty simple really, mainly a big bunch of fern and some Anubias, but I like it, I've given up chasing plant growing in this one, its green.....and red and white so can't complain 



jon32 said:


> Hi Ady. Your tank is looking really nice. The wood fills the height of this tank nicely which is something I struggled to achieve with my little iwugami layout. Love the CRS they're amazing.


Much appreciated Jon, yeah the tank dimensions are a little tricky for an iwagumi, but yours looks lush....your grass will add a little height  
CRS are cool, they would look great in yours 



DTL said:


> Just gave this a go. Not a great pic but I think something like this might work. The grid is just pressed against the slotted panel by the filter pad behind it.
> 
> Doesn't seem to inhibit flow at all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Thanks DTL, thats a good way of preventing some of the jouveniles, but I think the shrimplets will still make it through that mesh, they are miniscule. I think tights around a foam block, or even your mesh may be the best plan, but could clog quickly and end up draining the filter chamber enough to run the pump dry....shrimplets are so small they even crawl into the pores of foam itself, so its a tricky one...still thinking, and shrimp fishing every filter clean 

Thanks for all the comments.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

CRShrimpy 






Cheerio,


----------



## Iain Sutherland

Nice work ady, how did the spare crs go in the fluval?


----------



## Ady34

Iain Sutherland said:


> Nice work ady, how did the spare crs go in the fluval?


ha, never got round to doing it  .....the fluval tank has only 2 shrimp in it! ill put some in eventually.....


----------



## TallDragon

Any update on this tank?


----------



## Ady34

TallDragon said:


> Any update on this tank?


Hi TallDragon,
not much to report, just ticking along, but reproduction has ceased. I had one berried female after the spring clean, but i think she was one of the kamikaze shrimp . Im guessing its either the higher dosage of liquid carbon or the lack of weekly water changes which has halted proceedings....maybe both. Im slowly reducing the liquid carbon down to 1ml daily again, currently at 1.25ml from 1.5ml. I dont think the lighting levels warrant anything more than recommended dosage and the shrimp were breeding happily at that so ill see if there is a positive change. If not ill up the water change frequency again, although maybe a halt in reproduction is a good thing with the numbers in here now. Im finding that if i dont feed every other day, they strip certain softer leaved plant species...namely the lobelia cardinalis which has now all but disappeared. The mini hairgrass isnt thriving, its either being uprooted, eaten or just doesnt like the conditions so may well be coming out in favour of the sand bed again (which will last a day until the shrimp have covered it in aquasoil again )
Oh, i added in the eleocharis ecicularis to the rear from the studio tank that i talked about, and also the ludwigia repens too rather than throw it away.






Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## TallDragon

Thanks for the update Ady.
lovely tank, still.
With the great number of shrimp, how can you tell if you are giving them enough food?
is the hairgrass getting enough light to 'thrive'?

cheers


----------



## Deano3

looking good ady  thriving

Dean


----------



## tim

Hi ady, is it possible the drop off in breeding is purely down to they won't breed if survival isn't threatened ?? I've only kept shrimp at around 20 ltrs and noticed they breed for a while then nothing until I move some on ?


----------



## Ady34

tim said:


> Hi ady, is it possible the drop off in breeding is purely down to they won't breed if survival isn't threatened ?? I've only kept shrimp at around 20 ltrs and noticed they breed for a while then nothing until I move some on ?


Hi Tim, I'm unsure but it is something I've considered, maybe when numbers get high they slow down naturally....food availability etc may also play a role, although it seems I may have been hasty in my assessment in the last post as I've just spotted two shrimplets tonight


----------



## Ady34

TallDragon said:


> Thanks for the update Ady.
> lovely tank, still.
> With the great number of shrimp, how can you tell if you are giving them enough food?
> is the hairgrass getting enough light to 'thrive'?
> 
> cheers


Thank you and no problem.
Well, I'm not sure really how you tell whether your giving them enough food, other than the fact that they are eating my plants which suggests they're not getting enough  The fact that they come out to get the food whenever i put it in means they must be hungry, but as to how much its guesswork really, I just drop some in every 2-3 days (probably 10-15 pellets) and assume they're all getting something as feeding continues for the rest of the evening.....they kind of share it all as it breaks down into smaller pieces and they all seem to end up sat on a leaf with a bit in their claws  maybe I should strictly feed them every 2 days now and see how it goes.....which will mean I need to do more water changes and maintenance which I still can't seem to get into the routine of doing!.....I should be doing it now infact, I've had a drum of water ready since last Thursday!!
As for the hairgrass, I'd be surprised if I was at the light compensation point, but its possible I suppose.....liquid carbon was being dosed at good levels, especially given the low light intensity, and distribution is good so I don't know really. Everything is painfully slow so maybe it is to do with the lighting levels.

Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Ady34

thought id share a few maintenance pics.

Take about this much water out overall, maybe a bit more sometimes depending on how many times i have to rinse the filter sponge  :





Use the water to rinse the filter sponge, which surprisingly results in this much waste  :





Add a little Mosura bt9 bacteria supplement to the top of the filter sponge before replacing the filter floss layer:









Then refill with room temperature water prepped and dechlorinated the day before, with added Salty Shrimp GH+ to appropriate TDS:





Voila, max 45 mins....dont know why i dont do it more often , maybe if i did my filter wouldnt get so dirty  :





Liquid carbon down to 1.25ml daily, reducing to 1ml next week.
Think im going to need to feed the shrimp daily....theyve started attacking my echinodourus now too! 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Ian Holdich

Great little run down on the tank there Ady. Really looks the business mate.


----------



## Steve Smith

That's great Ady  Is the mosura bt9 any good? Not heard of it before if I'm honest (that's what 18 months away from the hobby will do for you...)

Also, I'm starting to come around to the idea of these all in one tanks...  I've seen a few on sale locally and I'm tempted, even if I do already have a couple of Dennerle cubes in storage...


----------



## jon32

Thanks for sharing Ady. Looks really great, just love those shrimp. I'm tempted to get some for my tank but I have some amano's now.

Yeah steve I'm in the same boat, been away from the hobby for some time and I'm seeing all sorts of stuff out on the market I haven't heard about before.


----------



## Ady34

Steve Smith said:


> Is the mosura bt9 any good? Not heard of it before if I'm honest (that's what 18 months away from the hobby will do for you...)


well scientifically i dont know, but i wouldnt not use it now! Ive had no issues with shrimp health, the only casualties being crawlers, ive never seen a dead shrimp in the tank....ive used the bt-9 from the outset, there are hundreds of supplements which you could spend a fortune (and hours of dosing) on, but as this one in particular was recommended i went with it....touch wood, all is well and because of the very small financial outlay i dont fancy stopping using it as a test 



Steve Smith said:


> I'm starting to come around to the idea of these all in one tanks...


some really neat packages available, and i think this filter system is really good due to its simplicity and size.....still manage to fill your cabinet full of 'stuff' even though there is no canister down below 


Cheerio


----------



## bogwood

Ady34 said:


> well scientifically i dont know, but i wouldnt not use it now! Ive had no issues with shrimp health, the only casualties being crawlers, ive never seen a dead shrimp in the tank....ive used the bt-9 from the outset, there are hundreds of supplements which you could spend a fortune (and hours of dosing) on, but as this one in particular was recommended i went with it....touch wood, all is well and because of the very small financial outlay i dont fancy stopping using it as a test


 
Wise comments, exactly the same  has happened with me.


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## Manrock

That is a really beautiful tank - I'm trying to achieve the same but after only three weeks since introduction I can only see one of the 10 CRS I put in my nano! You obviously have the magic touch. Good work.


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## Ady34

Manrock said:


> That is a really beautiful tank - I'm trying to achieve the same but after only three weeks since introduction I can only see one of the 10 CRS I put in my nano! You obviously have the magic touch. Good work.


Don't worry, they can be very illusive, I used to spend hours trying to count my first 10, I rarely did, but they were there


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## NanoJames

Hi Ady
I don't know if you've mentioned this before but what do you feed your shrimp? Also, do you use any natural products like leaves, bark etc?
Cheers


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## Steve Smith

Catappa leaves are good, I'm told.  That's what I plan to use in my new setup


----------



## NanoJames

Steve Smith said:


> Catappa leaves are good, I'm told. That's what I plan to use in my new setup


 I use them in all of my tanks! I think they develop a bio-film which is good for the shrimps. They also condition the water and give it the parameters of an American set up!


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## Ady34

NanoJames said:


> Hi Ady
> I don't know if you've mentioned this before but what do you feed your shrimp? Also, do you use any natural products like leaves, bark etc?
> Cheers


Hi James,
no leaves or anything.....well not dried ones anyway!
They get fed hikari crab cuisine, a very odd algae wafer and the Genchem foods below  nothing flash.....they also eat some plants!!


Ady34 said:


>


Cheerio,


----------



## NanoJames

Haha, thanks Ady!  Would you recommend the Genchem line?


----------



## Ady34

NanoJames said:


> Haha, thanks Ady!  Would you recommend the Genchem line?


I bought the food to try and improve colour and I think it has done that so yes I'd recommend Genchem ....although the packets arnt the easiest to get into, the ziplock tops are tight, and one was so tight it came away from the packet before it opened so is now unsealable! I'd much prefer screw tops especially for everyday use.....sound old don't I


----------



## jon32

Hi Ady,

I may have missed this in your earlier postings but what's the reason for dropping the liquid carbon dosing? Also do you use the Mosura BT-9 after every water change or just on filter maintenance days.


----------



## Ady34

jon32 said:


> Hi Ady,
> 
> I may have missed this in your earlier postings but what's the reason for dropping the liquid carbon dosing? Also do you use the Mosura BT-9 after every water change or just on filter maintenance days.


Hi Jon,
Dropping the liquid carbon to see if it was the increase that has effected reproduction. I don't think the 11w of lighting will be driving a huge uptake and plant mass hasn't increased dramatically so it should be ok. 
You dose Bt9 after every water change, but I clean the filter whenever I do a water change anyway.
Cheerio
Ady


----------



## Ady34

Ady34 said:


> Ive had no issues with shrimp health, the only casualties being crawlers, ive never seen a dead shrimp in the tank....


Famous last words, when I got home tonight I found a congregation of shrimp devouring one of their own  There was a thread elsewhere on the forum about shrimp killing their own, not sure if this was the case or if the shrimp had already succumbed.....but I'm a little nervous now.
The liquid carbon had already been reduced to 1ml daily and feeding upped to daily also.....bizarre how this has just happened after these changes. All the rest seem fine, with totally normal behaviour colour etc. will be monitoring for sure.


----------



## Ady34

All seems well, unsure what happened with the eaten shrimp....no more casualties and a preferred diet (for me at least) of an algae wafer 






Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## Alastair

Sounds like they were just eating an already passed away shrimp mate 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


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## Ady34

Alastair said:


> Sounds like they were just eating an already passed away shrimp mate
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


I just don't know what went on, it was fully coloured up so must have been fresh, wasn't huge either so not an older one naturally passing I wouldn't think. 
I think though that they are hungry now and need feeding regular, I've been dropping something in nearly every day for the last few weeks now. I may have to invest in a catappa leaf carpet


----------



## NanoJames

Have you got enough shrimp yet Ady?! I think you should sell some. I know I'd certainly buy them! It could pay for itself...


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## faizal

Good gracious ,....there are so many of them !!!!


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## Ady34

NanoJames said:


> Have you got enough shrimp yet Ady?! I think you should sell some. I know I'd certainly buy them! It could pay for itself...





faizal said:


> Good gracious ,....there are so many of them !!!!


Yeah there's a few in there lol, I wouldn't like to have to catch them all anyway


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## Ady34

Well, ive had the easy carbo reduced to 1ml/day again for a few weeks now without berried shrimp, but carried out weekly rather than every other week water change last week, and hey presto, berried shrimp again. 
Seems that the water changes are the key, maybe keeping TDS lower, within a smaller margin and water quality up is most important in success rather than liquid carbon dosing....speculation of course, but when dosing liquid carbon heavily several weeks ago i then carried out the 70% water change 'spring clean' and that was when i had berried shrimp last.

Could well be wrapping this tank up in a few weeks.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## faizal

That's an interesting observation Ady. Could you give the latest FTS shot of the tank please?


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## Kurono

Its so green!!! I love it!!! That looks amazing!!!


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## logi-cat

outstanding journal, you've given me a lot of inspiration.


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## Ady34

faizal said:


> Could you give the latest FTS shot of the tank please?


Ill pop one up soon, nothing changed really though....apart from the hair grass is all but gone, oh and there's loads of Aquasoil back on the sand again 



Kurono said:


> Its so green!!! I love it!!! That looks amazing!!!


Thanks Kurono.



logi-cat said:


> outstanding journal, you've given me a lot of inspiration.


Really nice to hear that logi-cat, makes doing journals even more rewarding.
Thanks,
Ady.


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## Lindy

You could try mulberry leaves. Shrimpscape on eBay sells them. Basil, the shrimp king, recommended them to me and the shrimp go mental for them and strip them down to stalk and veins. I have to use pegs on all my genchem stuff as the ziplocks are a nightmare. 
And yes, it was my post about shrimp eating each other! None of that now...
Maybe you should rehome some, at some point it is going to be overcrowded. I've already passed on some juveniles of lesser quality.


----------



## Ady34

ldcgroomer said:


> You could try mulberry leaves. Shrimpscape on eBay sells them. Basil, the shrimp king, recommended them to me and the shrimp go mental for them and strip them down to stalk and veins. I have to use pegs on all my genchem stuff as the ziplocks are a nightmare.
> And yes, it was my post about shrimp eating each other! None of that now...
> Maybe you should rehome some, at some point it is going to be overcrowded. I've already passed on some juveniles of lesser quality.


Thanks Lindy, ziplocks suck!  
I may try some leaves, although i may be stripping this down soon, or selling it as a job lot, meanwhile I'm rehoming some of them in my studio tank so as to eliminate the possibility of overcrowding  
Cheerio,
Ady


----------



## Ady34

FTS as requested Faizal....






cheerio,


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## m_attt

looks awesome, what grade are your CRS, I think they look best stripy like yours rather than a few blobs of red.


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## Ady34

m_attt said:


> looks awesome, what grade are your CRS, I think they look best stripy like yours rather than a few blobs of red.


Hi,
thanks m_attt 
Shrimp are grade a, a few have maybe improved along the way but mainly a. Good enough for me, interesting and colourful and not too expensive!
Cheerio


----------



## faizal

Ady34 said:


> Ill pop one up soon, nothing changed really though....apart from the hair grass is all but gone, oh and there's loads of Aquasoil back on the sand again


 
Really sorry that the hair grass isn't quite working for you in this tank Ady. Maybe it's just the excel dosing y'know? And yeah,...it's a real pain when the soil gets mixed up with the sand. I used to get such a neck pain just trying to remove each grain of the aquasoil one by one with a pair of tweezers.

The Excel only dosing was sometimes truly frustrating for me in the past,...just a slight step up from non co2. I think there is a very fine line between light & co2 balance here. The other thing is ,...you've got to be consistent with the daily dosing. My old excel would just  go down every time i returned to it after a few days of being away simply because the excel dosing was inconsistent even if I did turn the lights off during those few days of non dosing.

 


 I am not really that experienced but i think it's easier to maintain a non co2 or pressurised system. Nevertheless you are an excellent aquarist. A talented one too at that. Looking forward to your new scape in the upcoming weeks


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## faizal

Damn,...that picture did NOT load up on my computer this morning. I'm sorry,...but what was it that you were complaining about? that tank looks awesome!!!


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## Ady34

Thanks Faizal, your comments are much appreciated and I think your spot on with liquid carbon, it needs to be treated with the same principals regards dosing consistency as gas co2, and matched with appropriate lighting levels.
I won't be rescaping this one though, ill most likely be selling as a job lot or stripping down and storing. I've got another non planted project I want to have a go at next month.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## tim

If your next unplanted project ends up like sticks and stones will be another excellent scape on the cards ady


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## Ady34

tim said:


> If your next unplanted project ends up like sticks and stones will be another excellent scape on the cards ady


Ha ha, definitely not planted this time.....don't want to swear on this site, but its going to be 'marine'


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## tim

noooooooooo ! Bad language like that sir, should not be allowed.


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## Andy Thurston

Becoming a bit of a habit lol
Saw your question about marine forums, sounds like you have an itch thats needed scratching for a bit. Good luck


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## faizal

What ? ....  don't cross over to the dark side!!!! Arghhhh,...


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## Ady34

Weekly water changes has had a definite impact on shrimp reproduction. I have at least four berried again, some of which are the second generation which is pleasing as its the first time I've had any other than the originals berried 





Cheerio,
Ady.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## faizal

I wish i could get my ferns to look as good as that.


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## Ady34

Odd little shrimplet I spotted 





Cheerio
Ady


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## Spartacus

Cracking little journal as always Ady!

Thank you for sharing - Tank is looking superb. Hope I can have success with my RCS tank


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## Lindy

I've had a few of those weird looking ones but they can be pretty if they have good white. I think they are snow whites?


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## Iain Sutherland

Yeah snowwhite AKA chain loach dinner :-/

Is the population still growing Ady or has it levelled out at capacity?


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## nduli

Iain Sutherland said:


> Yeah snowwhite AKA chain loach dinner :-/
> 
> Is the population still growing Ady or has it levelled out at capacity?



Iain why do you  say chain loach dinner? Thought snow whites were ok and not 'runts' if you get what I am saying


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## Ady34

Spartacus said:


> Cracking little journal as always Ady!
> 
> Thank you for sharing - Tank is looking superb. Hope I can have success with my RCS tank


Cheers Spartacus 
Good luck with your set up, shrimp are pretty fascinating little critters.


ldcgroomer said:


> I've had a few of those weird looking ones but they can be pretty if they have good white. I think they are snow whites?


I've heard of snow whites, this looks a little washed out and a bit skeletal, be interesting to see what he turns out like 



Iain Sutherland said:


> Yeah snowwhite AKA chain loach dinner :-/
> 
> Is the population still growing Ady or has it levelled out at capacity?


None get culled by me, not sure about numbers but there's always plenty of shrimplets kicking about. Possibly moving them all into the big tank.....if there's not too many. Not looking forward to stripping it down and catching them though 



Cheerio
Ady
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## Iain Sutherland

get to many of them with my taiwan bees nduli and usually weak colour so need culling, the loaches go mad for them though  but strangely the barbs have no interest..?


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## Alastair

Iain Sutherland said:


> get to many of them with my taiwan bees nduli and usually weak colour so need culling, the loaches go mad for them though  but strangely the barbs have no interest..?




 send some my way ha ha

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


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## Otto72

Well I'm back Ady34, my plans went to pot due to the car needing money spent on it.
Yeah this was I think like 2 years ago now! lol seems I forgot about the shrimp thing after the setback due to real life crap  
However .. As you can see I am back here and at the point again of saving up enough money (almost enough for tank number 1 again) 
I not one to give up on something I wanna do so keep an eye out for my journal in the next two months! better late then never eh 

hows your lovely tank doing these days?


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## steveno

What a amazing looking setup, i just read you journal from start to finish, what can say that's not already been said. Wow!!!. I've actually recently setup my first shrimp nano, will also be low tech! so reading your journal has been so insightful, and if i can replicate just small percentage of your success i will be a happy man. Good luck catching all shrimp and moving into your large tank...

Thank you for this journal, has been inspirational!


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## Ady34

Good to see you back Otto, tank is still ticking along but will soon be coming to an end. Good luck with your venture 

steveno, really pleased the journal has inspired .....although the addition of liquid carbon makes this a high tech, albeit a low light slow growing one


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## Otto72

Ady34 said:
			
		

> but will soon be coming to an end.


 
New shrimp tank plans or?


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## Andy Thurston

Hi Ady, tank looks great! How much liquid carbon are you adding? And what dose do you consider safe for shrimp?


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## Ady34

Big clown said:


> Hi Ady, tank looks great! How much liquid carbon are you adding? And what dose do you consider safe for shrimp?


 
Hi mate,
I'm adding 1ml daily (pretty much manufacturers suggested dosing volume), i get steady reproduction with that, personally i wouldn't add more as I've heard it does effect shrimplet survival rates but I've not really tested the effects of more or less.
Cheerio,


----------



## Ady34

Still going, but emptying next week.
Few more shrimp being sold this weekend then the rest will be off to Natural Jurassic 
Thanks to all who've helped and contributed along the way, its been a great little venture, its success attributed to good advice and good stock (with a liberal dose of good luck also )....its difficult to remember back to the 10 tiny shrimplets that started it all off!!







Ill be a little sad to finally close it down as you can probably tell from the length of time I've actually been saying I'm going to 





Cheerio,
Ady.


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## brancaman

Is this the end?


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## Jason King

Amazing tank  and journal.



> Ill be a little sad to finally close it down as you can probably tell from the length of time I've actually been saying I'm going to



dont do it


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## Ady34

brancaman said:


> Is this the end?





kisanjong said:


> Amazing tank  and journal.
> 
> 
> 
> dont do it


Yeah it's decided, it will be stripped next week, it's been great though and really simple to maintain due to the in house cleaning crew 
Cheerio,


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## MARKCOUSINS

It's a shameBut myself and i think i speak for many others have learnt a lot from this journal!Thank you Ady for writing itCheers Mark


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## Ady34

It's been a pleasure Mark.


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## Ruke

I have learnt so much from this journal as it has helped me develop my aqua nano. Thank you very much


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## Ady34

No problem Ruke. Pleased it's been of some help, it was a great learning curve in shrimp keeping for myself 

The plants and some more shrimp have been moved on today, but it has highlighted just how many shrimp are actually in here. I've sold about 150 shrimp over the last month and now it's bare I think there is at least another 250 left to move over to the NA tank......


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## nduli

Echo ruke's comments. Learnt a lot. Thanks ade. Still nowhere near as successful as your tank. Spotted 20+ babies today and quality improving seen at least 2 or 3 mainly white with small bits of red. Not seen them for long enough to try and grade them.


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## Ady34

nduli said:


> Echo ruke's comments. Learnt a lot. Thanks ade. Still nowhere near as successful as your tank. Spotted 20+ babies today and quality improving seen at least 2 or 3 mainly white with small bits of red. Not seen them for long enough to try and grade them.


Thanks nduli, pleased they're rewarding you with better quality, oh, theres always more in there than than you think mate 

whats left today, nowhere to hide:









Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Andy Thurston

Shrimp carpet!


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## tim

Shame to this come to an end ady, been a very informative pleasurable journal to follow for nearly two years  excellent mate.


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## TallDragon

What's next? 

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk


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## Ady34

TallDragon said:


> What's next?
> 
> Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk


The garage 
Decommissioned for the foreseeable future, 2 tanks is plenty to look after with a wife, 2 kids a dog and a cat to entertain


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## Ady34

All shrimp safely rehomed in the NA tank, must have been 300 or so left 
Many thanks again to all who contributed 
Journal now closed.


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