20 Gallon Shrimp Only Tank

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#41
Feb 22, 2008
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#41
Pure said:
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
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I bought it at a LFS instead of online. I wasn't paying attention to which one I got, although it should've clicked since I was in the saltwater section.
The HC seems to be doing ok with the 10K, so I'm leaving it in for now, I'm not in a hurry to get both bulbs, so I'm sure I'll be fine with one 6700 when it comes in.
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#45
Feb 22, 2008
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#45
I had a vision yesterday, and I went with it!!!
I paid $3 for the 3 scoria rocks at an LFS, and $30 for a huge microsword mat, which I used to cover this 20 gallon, and the 15 gallon. The anubias I stole from the 10 gallon. I put the anubias in between the rocks. It has a bunch of bba on some of the older leaves.

It took me nearly 6 hours to completely remove the HC and plant the microsword... time went by ridiculously fast though.

I also replaced the actinic bulb with a 6700 K bulb... which will be my primary bulb, and the 10,000 K will come on for a few extra hours a day (i'll replace it sometime soon... after tuition is paid *twirlysmi)

I'm pretty happy with it.



I was thinking that after my shrimp population starts off pretty well... I might add some micro rasboras, but that's many months from now... I've got close to 1 month for cycling, plus at least another month for my shrimp population to start picking up.


So, what do y'all think?


Oh, I'm using DIY CO2 on this for now... I'm saving up for a pressurized system.
 

Pure

Pure

Elite Fish
#47
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
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Jacksonville, FL
#47
The anubias will tend to grow algae on it left out under that much light. Other than that it looks really good. Kinda going for an Amano thing aren't ya.

Thanks for that reply Orlando I thought 68-6900K was the max spectrum for usable light on a planted tank. So for deeper tanks the 10K penetrates better?
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#49
Feb 22, 2008
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#49
Pure said:
The anubias will tend to grow algae on it left out under that much light.
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It got the algae from being in the 10 gallon without any CO2 and 3 wpg of lighting. The new leaves though have no algae on them yet... hopefully it'll remain that way.

I added a floating piece of hornwort to help deal with any nutrient problems that may cause algae down the road. I was thinking of doing some kind of DIY sump with hornwort in it (since I don't want it as part of my scape).

I have to do lots more research on that though... knowing me, I'll be "lucky" enough to flood my room with some siphoning.... Probably won't even get started on looking it up until winter break. I can't make my tanks a priority over school (and work), especially this semester. I can't drop anymore classes, or else I'll fall behind yet another semester, or possibly year... Ah, the pleasures of being a senior, and freaking out about being able to graduate. I'm glad I have 3-day-weekends though, so weekly water changes definitely should not become a problem like they were becoming last semester.


Pure said:
Other than that it looks really good. Kinda going for an Amano thing aren't ya.
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lol; yeah, I suppose. I like dutch-style tanks too - but for me, it's a lot more work and devotion than I have to give while I'm in school. I'm a big fan of simplicity as well. This is the first rock-scape I've done, I'm glad the new piece of driftwood I got wouldn't sink either. IMO, this turned out better than if I had a giant piece of driftwood in it, although, I think the shrimp would've preferred a giant piece of driftwood with moss all over it... I kinda wanted this scape for my 29 gallon.... which is still sitting in my car :rolleyes:
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#50
Feb 22, 2008
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#50
Uhh... So it would seem the tank cycled in not even a week (?!?!), with no cycled media. I've added a lot of ammonia every other day... and it's eaten it up! I had my nitrite spike on day 3... and now it's gone... I do have some hornwort in there, whose purpose was to help me keep algae at bay...

Unfortunately, the hornwort didn't succeed at keeping algae away. The only algae on the newer anubias leaves is diatoms (although, not really algae, right?). The older leaves and the scoria have this really weird algae on it, that I can't really describe - I'll do some research on it later.

The microsword has gotten this weird algae on it too.. it's like a "ball" of algae... with algae spikes coming out of it... but on a happy note, I've noticed that it's starting to take root very well!!! :) I'm seeing some new runners popping up too.

I bumped the lighting on this one down to 7 hours now. I'm only at home at night (to sleep) and on the weekends during the semester anyway, so I don't need to have them on for too long for my enjoyment.

I got a little excited over the weekend when I saw this for the price listed... and I impulsively bought it... so I'll have pressurized CO2 on this within a week.

I'm going to keep adding ammonia to keep my bacteria alive for a couple more weeks, till I'm confident enough that the microsword has rooted well, and the cherries won't uproot it.

That was the fastest cycle ever... :confused:
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#51
Feb 22, 2008
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#51
I'd like to say that close to 75% of the microsword here is melting... and helped cause a bacterial bloom... The few cherries i put in here I found dead... I guess I'll just let the microsword that's melted keep producing ammonia so that the tank can cycle back again... I suppose I'll let whatever microsword is alive here grow back out on its own..
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#52
Feb 22, 2008
1,370
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#52
OK, so there's a 100% microsword death... the Anubias seems fine though... it's losing algae, so that's good I suppose... *sigh* I'm going to have to dish out another $30 to get more-than-enough microsword to cover all my tanks again... It's a great deal, but I just got the microsword not too long ago...

Still no power either... According to the CenterPoint energy website, my zip-code was supposed to have substantial power by yesterday at the latest, and I didn't. I had to stay at school late just to try to catch up on my online homework. CenterPoint sucks! :mad:
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#54
Feb 22, 2008
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#54
OK, dang. It turns out that even the anubias in this one melted big time.

But anyway, what's done is done. It's been rescaped. I'll get a photo posted some time at the end of next month, after there's been some growth.
 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#56
Feb 22, 2008
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#56
Rescaping this one. I've got quite a bit of needle-leaf java fern, and more than plenty regular java fern. I've got the microsword too. The driftwood will get covered in java fern as it keeps growing little plantlets as well. I've got many plantlets already growing.

 

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emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
#58
Feb 22, 2008
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#58
Please ignore the rock in the driftwood :D It's holding the dw down.

I switched the position of the needle leaf with the regular java fern from what I originally had on my schematic. Rather than microsword, I decided to give riccia a try in the foreground, and I have some blyxa japonica coming in that I'll put in the back.

 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#60
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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Hamilton, ON.
#60
Lookin' real good!! I like the looks of it a lot. I personally would have loved to see a microsword foreground, but to each their own :D. I look forward to watching this one grow :D.
 

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