Jimbo's Picotope! - Page 3 - Aquarium Advice

Jimbo7 · 01-07-2009, 10:05 PM

Quote:

how long did your pico take to cycle? did you see a noticable ammonia spike? I've had mine going since 12/12/08, and nothing yet. I used a little water from a mature tank, and eubbed the filter media from the pico on biomax media that has a year's worth of thriving bacteria on it, so maybe that has something to do with me not seeing a spike. ,,,,cause everything is 0ppm....ammonia, nitrate, nitrite...

Sorry, got excited about my shrimp and forgot to post on your question. Um, the rock i am using in the tank is half from my already established 90 gallon and i let the other half sit in the sump for a couple weeks. Did you initially add a source of ammonia to kick off things?

Fishypop22 · 01-07-2009, 10:28 PM

What thread were you reading on the sexy shrimp?
And congrats. If I were you I would be SUPER SUPER SUPER excited!!!!!!!!!

Jimbo7 · 01-07-2009, 10:57 PM

i am super excited, i hope it wasnt just my brain messing with me when i saw those eggs.
Sexy Shrimp - Thor amboinensis (De Man, 188

(Breeder Challenge) - Reef Stewardship Foundation Forums (Formerly Project DIBS)

Reef Central Online Community - Raising Sexy shrimp

the only problem is that i dont really have any other tanks or such here. My nursery may end up having to be a big mug that i use for kool-aid.

i just hope i can find BBS eggs and a hatchery of some sort around here...

Jimbo7 · 01-08-2009, 01:44 PM

Well she did what i really didnt want her to...i managed to scoop out some larvae but im not really hopeful as i dont have any supplies for them.. Thread here:
New Sexy Shrimp Babies!

nanoluvr · 01-08-2009, 03:12 PM

Nothing other than unseeded live rock from the LFS. I picked the rock with some good coralline algae nyself, but I did something I never did before...I don't know why I did it, but I swished all of the pieces I picked back and forth, and some cloudy debris came from the rocks ( this is while still in the LFS holding tanks). The detritus was probably a little die off that would have brought some ammonia to the tank> I'm thinking of just getting a little clown goby to help start it up. I've never had one before, so I'm too sure they are hardy enough to withstand a cycle...may have to get a damsel instead.

Jimbo7 · 01-08-2009, 03:25 PM

I myself am against using a fish to cycle..there are so many more ways that you can achieve a good cycle without putting the fish at risk. What i did to cycle my shrimp was go to a local supermarket and asked the guy for one jumbo shrimp. Just make sure it is unseasoned and uncooked. The dude gave me a crazy look, and then just gave it to me for free. Just hang that in your tank for a couple days and it will decompose all sorts of good ammonia for you. There are all sorts of articles around here on how to do this. You can also just buy straight cleaning ammonia from a hardware store of some type, again make sure it has no perfumes or dyes in it.

Jimbo7 · 01-08-2009, 03:34 PM

Newest Addition!
i know this won't be exciting for anyone else but me, but i thought i would post anyway. My custom glass lid for the pico came today. Hopefully it will help cut down on evap by quite a bit. We dont have control over the heat in the dorm but they insist on keeping it like a furnace in here. We have both our windows open with fans in them just to keep it comfortable in here.

The black wrapped glass is where the baby shrimps are. Im headed out to my local LFS in a min to see if i can hunt down some BS eggs and a hatchery of some sort.

nanoluvr · 01-08-2009, 03:43 PM

yeah...I prefer not to use a fish either....never have done it before....good idea on the jumbo shrimp.

**Ziggy953** · 01-08-2009, 03:51 PM

Can you get a pic of the babies? Are they big enough to eat BBS? I would think they will need something like Rotifers to feed on. I haven't done any research on raising shrimp so I'm shooting in the dark.

pat8you · 01-08-2009, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Quote:
Very nice aquascaping SON! What a good idea to include those sexy shrimp! Now why didn't I think of that? BTW, you forgot a few frags here, can you say "YOINK!"
You can "yoink" all you want, i will have my secret ninja brother bag them and bring them when he comes to visit..plus the ones i forgot i split off so there is no point stealing an identical frag. And in no way did you think of the sexy shrimp idea...there is a whole Sexy Shrimp Pico club on another forum which is where i saw them...so :-p

Bwa ha ha secret ninja brother checking in. Tank looks great so far. That's very cool the shrimp had babies. You should take pictures of the zoa's that need coloring up every week or so so we can see the difference.