Advice please :)

[Kaliilo]

Hiya guys
So my little shrimp tank has been set up. I have crammed it with fast growers as per advice I have read on here. Difficult to tell how much its growing but seems to be doing okay. My salvinia looks a bit paler than when I got it but has little buds by every plant now so I am going to get some APT rather than the Tropica Premium. (I am giving a small pump of the tropica every day rather than weekly)
I have stayed away from test kits (first time ever but this forum has convinced me of the shakiness of the science behind it when done by the lay person) but I am really unsure when its safe to add some shrimp? I am not having fish in this one just shrimp (my other nano is waiting for a filter) and I have a really lovely fluffy white goop around my wood which I'm sure shrimp would wolf down. Don't want to harm them by putting them in too early though.
Im using tropica aquasoil. A venturi on the filter (hence the bubbles)
Flow is...okay. Not ripping around the tank but plants are gently swaying
Bog standard LED light on for about 6 hours a day
Plants are mainly pennywort and some hornwort as well as salvinia. I do have some hygrophilia siamensis and java fern, moss and anubias in here but I know they are slow growers and dont help much at the moment.
I dont really have any algae (couple of spots on the odd leaf but easily shaken off so unsure if diatoms or just dust from substrate)
Any advice would be much appreciated

I do have two little hitchhikers in the form of miniscule snails (probably pond, too small to tell) 🙂

Amy

 

[hypnogogia]

How long has it been set up for now?

 

[MichaelJ]

So my little shrimp tank has been set up. I have crammed it with fast growers as per advice I have read on here. Difficult to tell how much its growing but seems to be doing okay. My salvinia looks a bit paler than when I got it but has little buds by every plant now so I am going to get some APT rather than the Tropica Premium. (I am giving a small pump of the tropica every day rather than weekly)
I have stayed away from test kits (first time ever but this forum has convinced me of the shakiness of the science behind it when done by the lay person) but I am really unsure when its safe to add some shrimp? I am not having fish in this one just shrimp (my other nano is waiting for a filter) and I have a really lovely fluffy white goop around my wood which I'm sure shrimp would wolf down. Don't want to harm them by putting them in too early though.
Im using tropica aquasoil.

Nice tank! Densely planted with fast growing plants - great!

As @hypnogogia already asked.... how old is the tank now? It mostly comes down to how the tank is developing in terms of plant grow, some mulm/dirt build up... but still, it might take a bit longer since you're using aqua soil as it leaches ammonia. Get an Ammonia test kit, to be on the safe side before adding any livestock.

As far as fertilizer goes you should get a complete or all-in-one fertilizer solution. The Tropica Premium you are using is not providing any Nitrogen or Phosphorus. So right now your plants are relying on what your soil provides. Some good complete fertilizers include TNC complete, ATP Complete and Tropica Specialized which is tailored for more densely planted tanks.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Kaliilo]

Hiya guys
It’s been going nearly 3 weeks. I just tested as you asked…I do have test kits I just tried to not rely on them. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is 0.25. Dunno how reliable that is. I did a week of just soil and filter then added plants. Some of them are just floating as you can see. But yeah only 3 weeks in total. 2 with plants. My water is liquid rock (Hertfordshire) dunno if that affects anything

ATP has been ordered already as I was aware the tropica premium wasn’t enough again mainly thanks to this forum 🙂

 

[MichaelJ]

Hiya guys
It’s been going nearly 3 weeks. I just tested as you asked…I do have test kits I just tried to not rely on them. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is 0.25. Dunno how reliable that is.

Ammonia and Nitrite tests are fairly reliable I would say. 0 ppm ammonia and 0.25 ppm nitrite are good readings at this stage... Give it a bit more time though, while Nitrite is not nearly as toxic for shrimps as ammonia I would wait a week or so and see if that Nitrite reading can get down to zero or super near zero (can be hard to judge from the color chart that comes with the test kit).

My water is liquid rock (Hertfordshire) dunno if that affects anything

If your water is very hard like 10 GH or above you might want to consider Amano shrimps instead of the slight more finicky species.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Kaliilo]

Ammonia and Nitrite tests are fairly reliable I would say. 0 ppm ammonia and 0.25 ppm nitrite are good readings at this stage... Give it a bit more time though, while Nitrite is not nearly as toxic for shrimps as ammonia I would wait a week or so and see if that Nitrite reading can get down to near zero.

If your water is very hard like 10 GH or above you might want to consider Amano shrimps instead of the slight more finicky species.

Cheers,
Michael

Thanks for the advice, I’ll hold off until nitrite is behaving itself. I was def going to get amano anyway but I’ve had cherries before and they bred like rabbits despite my water lol. I’ll start with amanos though.
My water is actually 19degrees of hardness hahaha, literally liquid rock
Appreciate the input 🙂

 

[Megann194]

Hiya guys
So my little shrimp tank has been set up. I have crammed it with fast growers as per advice I have read on here. Difficult to tell how much its growing but seems to be doing okay. My salvinia looks a bit paler than when I got it but has little buds by every plant now so I am going to get some APT rather than the Tropica Premium. (I am giving a small pump of the tropica every day rather than weekly)
I have stayed away from test kits (first time ever but this forum has convinced me of the shakiness of the science behind it when done by the lay person) but I am really unsure when its safe to add some shrimp? I am not having fish in this one just shrimp (my other nano is waiting for a filter) and I have a really lovely fluffy white goop around my wood which I'm sure shrimp would wolf down. Don't want to harm them by putting them in too early though.
Im using tropica aquasoil. A venturi on the filter (hence the bubbles)
Flow is...okay. Not ripping around the tank but plants are gently swaying
Bog standard LED light on for about 6 hours a day
Plants are mainly pennywort and some hornwort as well as salvinia. I do have some hygrophilia siamensis and java fern, moss and anubias in here but I know they are slow growers and dont help much at the moment.
I dont really have any algae (couple of spots on the odd leaf but easily shaken off so unsure if diatoms or just dust from substrate)
Any advice would be much appreciated

I do have two little hitchhikers in the form of miniscule snails (probably pond, too small to tell) 🙂

AmyView attachment 205685View attachment 205686View attachment 205687

Omg what plants do you have this looks amazing and im tryna figure whats best to plant for the shrimp that will go with my betta in near future!

 

[Kaliilo]

Omg what plants do you have this looks amazing and im tryna figure whats best to plant for the shrimp that will go with my betta in near future!

Hiya
Just remember im very new to planted tanks so I went with the advice mainly given in other posts by people like @dw1305 that you want fast growing stem plants and floaters
With that in mind I used:
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (pennywort) some planted the rest just literally crammed in, has so many offshoots I can already use half of it for my other tank
Hornwort (floating - just crammed it in)
Salvinia and frog bit to diffuse the light and because I find the duckweed index easy to understand as a beginner (its literally everywhere)
Bolbitis heudelotii stuck to stuff
Java fern again stuck to stuff
Anubia coin also stuck to stuff
Dwarf hairgrass (not expecting a carpet, this will never have co2 but I like it)

The last three dont really grow quickly so dont really help me with maturing my tank but I crammed as much pennywort, salvinia and hornwort as I could stick in the tank. No algae really and tank is looking really healthy. Aleady got new offshoots on the bolbitis!
Hope this helps 🙂

 

[Kaliilo]

New bud on the bolbitis and little happy green blobs on the moss!! Minor I know but very exciting.
Iron and a complete fert is due to be delivered tmoro!!

 

[Megann194]

Hiya
Just remember im very new to planted tanks so I went with the advice mainly given in other posts by people like @dw1305 that you want fast growing stem plants and floaters
With that in mind I used:
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (pennywort) some planted the rest just literally crammed in, has so many offshoots I can already use half of it for my other tank
Hornwort (floating - just crammed it in)
Salvinia and frog bit to diffuse the light and because I find the duckweed index easy to understand as a beginner (its literally everywhere)
Bolbitis heudelotii stuck to stuff
Java fern again stuck to stuff
Anubia coin also stuck to stuff
Dwarf hairgrass (not expecting a carpet, this will never have co2 but I like it)

The last three dont really grow quickly so dont really help me with maturing my tank but I crammed as much pennywort, salvinia and hornwort as I could stick in the tank. No algae really and tank is looking really healthy. Aleady got new offshoots on the bolbitis!
Hope this helps 🙂

Amazing thank you, most of them I was already looking at so it’s great to see what they look like once they’ve started growing in.. what substrate is that youve used? I cant get over the plants, I’ve never been good at keeping plants alive but im hoping aquatic ones will be more successful!

 

[Kaliilo]

Amazing thank you, most of them I was already looking at so it’s great to see what they look like once they’ve started growing in.. what substrate is that youve used? I cant get over the plants, I’ve never been good at keeping plants alive but im hoping aquatic ones will be more successful!

Its tropica soil but i was informed the other day that the oase scaperline is the exact same soil, comes from the same factory and everything, just twice the price! Im limited on whats on offer in my area though without travelling a far distance

 

[Megann194]

Its tropica soil but i was informed the other day that the oase scaperline is the exact same soil, comes from the same factory and everything, just twice the price! Im limited on whats on offer in my area though without travelling a far distance

Oh the last scraperline is cheaper? I’ll have to have a look .. I’m having to order online I think only pet sop for fish stuff really is pets at home and their awful!

 

[G H Nelson]

Hiya
Just remember im very new to planted tanks so I went with the advice mainly given in other posts by people like @dw1305 that you want fast growing stem plants and floaters
With that in mind I used:
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (pennywort) some planted the rest just literally crammed in, has so many offshoots I can already use half of it for my other tank
Hornwort (floating - just crammed it in)
🙂

Hornwort (floating - just crammed it in)
Is actually Cabomba!

Cabomba aquatica

Cabomba aquatica is a highly variable fanwort originating from the northern and central parts of South America. There are various colour varieties, the most frequently found in trade form of which is a green plant named giant Cambomba. C. a...

www.flowgrow.de

😉

 

[Kaliilo]

Hornwort (floating - just crammed it in)
Is actually Cabomba!

Cabomba aquatica

Cabomba aquatica is a highly variable fanwort originating from the northern and central parts of South America. There are various colour varieties, the most frequently found in trade form of which is a green plant named giant Cambomba. C. a...

www.flowgrow.de

😉

I didn't know this! Sounds fancier than hornwort lol

 

[G H Nelson]

Ceratophyllum demersum - Rigid hornwort

Ceratophyllum demersum, also known as hornwort or coontail, is a ubiquitous aquatic plant, a true cosmopolitan. It is found floating or anchored in the ground, in manifold stagnant to slow-flowing waterbodies. This plant has been used in aq...

www.flowgrow.de

 

[Kaliilo]

Ceratophyllum demersum - Rigid hornwort

Ceratophyllum demersum, also known as hornwort or coontail, is a ubiquitous aquatic plant, a true cosmopolitan. It is found floating or anchored in the ground, in manifold stagnant to slow-flowing waterbodies. This plant has been used in aq...

www.flowgrow.de

This may explain my confusion when not finding hornwort when searching on plant sites lol...I was actually looking for cambomba! Interesting, thanks for the clarification 😁