20 Gallon Shrimp Only Tank
- Thread starter emmanuelchavez
- Start date
Could I ask for a direct link to that page? I can't find it 
Let's see your Shrimp Aquariums! - Page 20 - The Planted Tank Forum
a picture will come either tomorrow morning, or very late tonight. I had a dream, where I saw I had a dwarf hairgrass carpet in this tank, as opposed to the dwarf sag, and well, I loved it! I'll put the dwarf sag in the other tank. Now for a quick bite of dinner, then for some rescaping! (lol, I went all across Houston today looking for some more dwarf hairgrass! lol, those who know Houston know how big it is.)
The Magic of Eco-Complete
So I decided to impulsively buy some Eco-Complete at an LFS last week, and finally got around to scaping both my 5 gallon shrimp only tanks on 5/9. I added 4 drops of ammonia in each... and that brought my ammonia levels to way above 8 ppm (the color was almost black).
Today, 5/12, I decided to check how the tank with the small rock-cave that had already been in an established tank was coming along. It read .25 ppm ammonia. I decided to leave it there for 15 more minutes, so I tested the other one.... reading of .5 ppm of ammonia.
I figured that had to have been wrong, so I test both again, and same readings of ammonia. So then I test for Nitrites; .25 ppm, then Nitrates; 10 ppm.
I still had the bag of Eco in the trash can, so I read through it, and it said it contains live bacteria... does it really?
This is just amazing! *BOUNCINGS I'm going to have to keep feeding it ammonia until I can afford to get my tigers and yellows in at least 2 weeks.
I don't know whether this makes any difference but:
Tanks 1 has:
Tank 2 has:
So I decided to impulsively buy some Eco-Complete at an LFS last week, and finally got around to scaping both my 5 gallon shrimp only tanks on 5/9. I added 4 drops of ammonia in each... and that brought my ammonia levels to way above 8 ppm (the color was almost black).
Today, 5/12, I decided to check how the tank with the small rock-cave that had already been in an established tank was coming along. It read .25 ppm ammonia. I decided to leave it there for 15 more minutes, so I tested the other one.... reading of .5 ppm of ammonia.
I figured that had to have been wrong, so I test both again, and same readings of ammonia. So then I test for Nitrites; .25 ppm, then Nitrates; 10 ppm.
I still had the bag of Eco in the trash can, so I read through it, and it said it contains live bacteria... does it really?
This is just amazing! *BOUNCINGS I'm going to have to keep feeding it ammonia until I can afford to get my tigers and yellows in at least 2 weeks.
I don't know whether this makes any difference but:
Tanks 1 has:
- 1 piece of driftwood covered in java moss
- java moss wall
- dwarf hairgrass
- duckweed
Tank 2 has:
- 1 small "rock-cave" from already established tank (Ok, so this does make a difference, but that's still some very fast progress)
- Dwarf Hairgrass
- Duckweed
Tank 2 seems to be cycled already! I'll have to keep adding a drop of ammonia each day to make sure the bacteria stays alive.
Tank 1 is getting there.
Tank 2 was getting a severe case of blue-green algae. I didn't scrub down the small cave I put in there, which had some bga on it, so all my hairgrass was covered in the stuff. I put a powerhead in there while there's no inhabitants to help with more circulation, and to help with the CO2 dispersal. There's been a more rapid growth in the hairgrass since I hooked up the co2 to the powerhead. The new growth isn't covered in bga! I'm going to use a maracyn treatment to kill the cyanobacteria I have in there already, it shouldn't be a problem if it kills off some of my nitrifying bacteria, since it doesn't have inhabitants yet. I'm going to wait to add shrimp till the hairgrass has filled in more, and is less likely to be uprooted by shrimp trying to get some food.
Tank 1 had a severe case of hairgrass, moss, and even duckweed melting... there's new growth in the hairgrass, so it looks like it's making a comeback. i'll probably take some from the 10 gallon to add to this one, to spread it out a lot more. most of the moss I had on the moss wall appears to have died on me.. there's still a bit doing well in there, so hopefully it'll just spread itself around.
I promise i'll get pictures soon, I have 6 gb of pictures from spring break and my friends' graduation this past weekend, so both my memory cards are pretty full, lol.
Tank 1 is getting there.
Tank 2 was getting a severe case of blue-green algae. I didn't scrub down the small cave I put in there, which had some bga on it, so all my hairgrass was covered in the stuff. I put a powerhead in there while there's no inhabitants to help with more circulation, and to help with the CO2 dispersal. There's been a more rapid growth in the hairgrass since I hooked up the co2 to the powerhead. The new growth isn't covered in bga!
I'm going to use a maracyn treatment to kill the cyanobacteria I have in there already, it shouldn't be a problem if it kills off some of my nitrifying bacteria, since it doesn't have inhabitants yet. I'm going to wait to add shrimp till the hairgrass has filled in more, and is less likely to be uprooted by shrimp trying to get some food.Tank 1 had a severe case of hairgrass, moss, and even duckweed melting... there's new growth in the hairgrass, so it looks like it's making a comeback. i'll probably take some from the 10 gallon to add to this one, to spread it out a lot more. most of the moss I had on the moss wall appears to have died on me.. there's still a bit doing well in there, so hopefully it'll just spread itself around.
I promise i'll get pictures soon, I have 6 gb of pictures from spring break and my friends' graduation this past weekend, so both my memory cards are pretty full, lol.
haha, pictures never came.... and now they're not picture worthy.
I killed most of the cyanobacteria in one tank.... but I'm going to re do it a bit... in the sense that i'm going to take out the cave in there, and in its place add one of my driftwoods that has a bunch of anubius on it, with some moss.......... me being my clumsy self though, tipped over the DIY co2, and had 50% of the stuff make its way into the tank.... i haven't replaced the water in 3 days... good thing there's no inhabitants.
the other tank has some little critters, some gsa, and hair algae. i just gotta do a waterchange, clean the walls, start adding ammonia again, b/c i completely slacked off... and eventually add my tigers!
I think I'm going to convert the 10 gallon into a shrimp only tank too, and distribute the inhabitants between the 15 gallon, and one of the 5's... we'll see. I have to get paid first! Where's my stimulus check?!
I killed most of the cyanobacteria in one tank.... but I'm going to re do it a bit... in the sense that i'm going to take out the cave in there, and in its place add one of my driftwoods that has a bunch of anubius on it, with some moss.......... me being my clumsy self though, tipped over the DIY co2, and had 50% of the stuff make its way into the tank.... i haven't replaced the water in 3 days... good thing there's no inhabitants.
the other tank has some little critters, some gsa, and hair algae. i just gotta do a waterchange, clean the walls, start adding ammonia again, b/c i completely slacked off... and eventually add my tigers!
I think I'm going to convert the 10 gallon into a shrimp only tank too, and distribute the inhabitants between the 15 gallon, and one of the 5's... we'll see. I have to get paid first! Where's my stimulus check?!
OK, so I have absolutely no idea how to scape this. All I've got at the moment is play sand, and a sponge filter. I'm going to be getting another underwater filter for additional water movement, and replacing the stock lighting, (going from .75 wpg to 3.75). I'm going to leave this open top, with duckweed to keep some jumpers at bay.
The only thing I know I'll be putting in, b/c I don't have another tank to transfer it to, is the driftwood with anubias and moss on it from the 10 gallon.
I may add some Alternanthera reineckii for some red/pink. I was thinking of trying something new for foreground / groundcover, as opposed to hairgrass. I was thinking of using maybe some glosso - but I've been having second thoughs about it b/c of it's invasive nature.
After I'm done with homework, I'll probably draw up a few ideas and then ask for suggestions. Any suggestions in the meantime though, much appreciated! *thumbsups
The only thing I know I'll be putting in, b/c I don't have another tank to transfer it to, is the driftwood with anubias and moss on it from the 10 gallon.
I may add some Alternanthera reineckii for some red/pink. I was thinking of trying something new for foreground / groundcover, as opposed to hairgrass. I was thinking of using maybe some glosso - but I've been having second thoughs about it b/c of it's invasive nature.
After I'm done with homework, I'll probably draw up a few ideas and then ask for suggestions.
Any suggestions in the meantime though, much appreciated! *thumbsups20 gallon. Open tank, two powerhead/sponge filters. 2 clip-on lamps, 4 wpg.
Substrate: Some of the gravel/laterite mix I had in my 10 gallon at the bottom, and playsand on top.
This is what I'm thinking as far as scaping.... I took the drifwood out after filling because it's a floater, and it's still releasing tannins. I've got it soaking somewhere else
That's hc that I plan on using as a carpet... that may change though, it doesn't appear to be doing very well. I'm hoping it's just readjusting to submersed from emersed. I wanted to grow it emersed, but I didn't have anything to cover the tank with to keep it humid inside, but still allow the light through...
Currently, I've got 2 DIY bottles of CO2. One is being fed into one powerhead for diffusion, and the other into a limewood diffuser, placed underneath the powerhead for futher diffusion...
I'm dosing Flourish Excel every day, and Flourish Iron 2x's a week, with Flourish Comprehensive once a week. I've got some Flourish tabs coming from Aquariumguys, I've got to put those into the sand pronto! I keeping my fingers crossed, and hopefully they help the hc recover.
If the HC keeps going downhill, I'm going to pull out whatever is left alive, and put into the 10 gallon. I'll probably replace it with Dwarf Hairgrass since I have plenty readily available in my 15 gallon, and I can get the pots cheap.
I have a TON of javamoss waiting to go onto that driftwood. So it'll have javamoss in some places, and it'll probably have some anubias on some of the branches too.
I've got to get a background also. I'm thinking black.
I'm going to make a canopy, like for the 10 gallon, to lift those lamps up a bit... and b/c i don't want any shrimp jumping out from that one piece of the driftwood that's sticking out of the water...
Comments? Suggestions? Thoughts on how to make the hc work? Do I need to up the lighting to 5 wpg, or 6??
Substrate: Some of the gravel/laterite mix I had in my 10 gallon at the bottom, and playsand on top.
This is what I'm thinking as far as scaping.... I took the drifwood out after filling because it's a floater, and it's still releasing tannins. I've got it soaking somewhere else
That's hc that I plan on using as a carpet... that may change though, it doesn't appear to be doing very well. I'm hoping it's just readjusting to submersed from emersed. I wanted to grow it emersed, but I didn't have anything to cover the tank with to keep it humid inside, but still allow the light through...
Currently, I've got 2 DIY bottles of CO2. One is being fed into one powerhead for diffusion, and the other into a limewood diffuser, placed underneath the powerhead for futher diffusion...
I'm dosing Flourish Excel every day, and Flourish Iron 2x's a week, with Flourish Comprehensive once a week. I've got some Flourish tabs coming from Aquariumguys, I've got to put those into the sand pronto! I keeping my fingers crossed, and hopefully they help the hc recover.
If the HC keeps going downhill, I'm going to pull out whatever is left alive, and put into the 10 gallon. I'll probably replace it with Dwarf Hairgrass since I have plenty readily available in my 15 gallon, and I can get the pots cheap.
I have a TON of javamoss waiting to go onto that driftwood. So it'll have javamoss in some places, and it'll probably have some anubias on some of the branches too.
I've got to get a background also. I'm thinking black.
I'm going to make a canopy, like for the 10 gallon, to lift those lamps up a bit... and b/c i don't want any shrimp jumping out from that one piece of the driftwood that's sticking out of the water...
Comments? Suggestions? Thoughts on how to make the hc work? Do I need to up the lighting to 5 wpg, or 6??
OK, so this scape isn't working.... the wood just won't sink. I'm going to leave it soaking in that other container, and save it for another tank in the future. I'm just going to get another piece of wood on slate instead. The hc seems to be recovering... but it'll probably start to hate me again, haha.
I'm going to take out a bit of the sand, and add a thin layer of eco and grow the hc emmersed. I'm going to the hardware store tomorrow to buy some plexi-glass to keep the moisture in.
My favorite LFS ran out of tiger shrimp, so I'm definitely in no rush to get this set up now. I know I should've gotten the shrimp and held them in the 10 gallon until this one was done, lol.
btw, does anyone know if there's a way to change the title of the thread like on TPT? It's a 20 gallon now!
I'm going to take out a bit of the sand, and add a thin layer of eco and grow the hc emmersed. I'm going to the hardware store tomorrow to buy some plexi-glass to keep the moisture in.
My favorite LFS ran out of tiger shrimp, so I'm definitely in no rush to get this set up now. I know I should've gotten the shrimp and held them in the 10 gallon until this one was done, lol.
btw, does anyone know if there's a way to change the title of the thread like on TPT? It's a 20 gallon now!
Only a couple new thing to report. I finally got a background, $3 - not too bad...
I finally bought a light fixture for this puppy as well. 130 watt Coralife. It has one 10k bulb and one actinic. I just have the one 65 watt 10k bulb running. I'm going to replace the actinic and have the extra 65 watts run for about an hour or two each day.
I won't be using that piece of driftwood on this tank either. For some reason, when lying down horizontally, the right side of the dw wouldn't sink... but I placed it vertically in my 15 gallon, and voila, it sunk... and made a great tree-like decoration. So now it's in my 15 gallon.
So now I've been debating how to scape this one. I was thinking of having a wall of hornwort, to keep algae at bay... and then covering the hornwort, a wall of some type of val. I'll be keeping the HC foreground.... But I was trying to decide whether to get some other type of driftwood pieces and cover them entirely in moss, or maybe go with rocks....
I finally bought a light fixture for this puppy as well. 130 watt Coralife. It has one 10k bulb and one actinic. I just have the one 65 watt 10k bulb running. I'm going to replace the actinic and have the extra 65 watts run for about an hour or two each day.
I won't be using that piece of driftwood on this tank either. For some reason, when lying down horizontally, the right side of the dw wouldn't sink... but I placed it vertically in my 15 gallon, and voila, it sunk... and made a great tree-like decoration. So now it's in my 15 gallon.
So now I've been debating how to scape this one. I was thinking of having a wall of hornwort, to keep algae at bay... and then covering the hornwort, a wall of some type of val. I'll be keeping the HC foreground.... But I was trying to decide whether to get some other type of driftwood pieces and cover them entirely in moss, or maybe go with rocks....
Why didn't you just buy the coral life fixture meant for plants with 6700K bulbs? And why are you going to leave the 10000K bulb in this? Isn't that a bit of a waste as your plants won't really use the light in that Kelvin range.
Tank looks nice. Makes me want to get a move on with setting up a CRS tank. crystals mmmmmmmm
Tank looks nice. Makes me want to get a move on with setting up a CRS tank. crystals mmmmmmmm