Fresh2o
Aquarium Advice Addict
Finally getting around to post this. Been wanting to setup a shrimp tank for a while. Since I am new to shrimp keeping, I would like to start with RCS. Had a set back in April (see thread "Unknown Ammonia Source"). Restarted from scratch. Root cause not known but possibly a bacterial infection.
Here are the details:
Tank: 20 gallon long
Filter: Aqua Clear 50 HOB
Heater: Finnex 50w titanium set at 78 F
Lighting: Coralife AquaLight dual T5 NO 17w x 2; about 8 hours per day
Substrate: 40# EcoComplete black
Driftwood: Manzanita and Malaysian
Plants: Flame moss and some other kind of moss (Java?), Water Lettuce, Salvinia minima
4/24/13: Setup tank,DW, and substrate. Circulation via a spare HOB with filter floss. Started running the filter (AC50) on an established moderately planted tank.
5/3/13: Moved filter from established tank to new tank. Dosed with 4 mL ammonia (from Harris Teeter) to get the ammonia to 1.0 ppm.
5/5/13: 48 hours later ammonia drops to 0.25 ppm; raised it to 4 ppm with 8 mL ammonia.
5/7/13: 55 hours later ammonia drops to zero; nitrites start to appear at 0.25 ppm. Re-dose ammonia back up to 4 ppm
5/8/13: Ammonia drops to 1 ppm in 9 hours, to 0.50 ppm in 19 hours and to zero in 36 hours. Nitrites hold steady at 1 ppm and nitrates are at a weak 20 ppm
5/9/13: Ammonia and nitrites are at zero, nitrates between 20-40 ppm
I believe the tank is cycled. Going to do a big water change to bring down the nitrites. HOB ran in other tank for 9 days and ran in new tank for 6 days where it converted 4 ppm ammonia to zero twice during that time.
Question: Between now and the time I plan to stock this (which could be this weekend or next week), should I continue to add ammonia to keep the BB colony thriving? If so, would dosing at 2 ppm or 4 ppm ammonia be sufficient?
I had more pics but had a problem with my iPhone and lost the images.
FTS:
Right side:
Left side:
It is a bit spartan at the moment, though the Malaysian DW has quite a few nooks and crannies which should work well for hiding shrimp. I plan on placing an order for Crypt wendtii red and Crypt undulata this weekend to fill in the hill sides with low light plants from Peabodys Paradise. Any other low light plant suggestions?
Here are the details:
Tank: 20 gallon long
Filter: Aqua Clear 50 HOB
Heater: Finnex 50w titanium set at 78 F
Lighting: Coralife AquaLight dual T5 NO 17w x 2; about 8 hours per day
Substrate: 40# EcoComplete black
Driftwood: Manzanita and Malaysian
Plants: Flame moss and some other kind of moss (Java?), Water Lettuce, Salvinia minima
4/24/13: Setup tank,DW, and substrate. Circulation via a spare HOB with filter floss. Started running the filter (AC50) on an established moderately planted tank.
5/3/13: Moved filter from established tank to new tank. Dosed with 4 mL ammonia (from Harris Teeter) to get the ammonia to 1.0 ppm.
5/5/13: 48 hours later ammonia drops to 0.25 ppm; raised it to 4 ppm with 8 mL ammonia.
5/7/13: 55 hours later ammonia drops to zero; nitrites start to appear at 0.25 ppm. Re-dose ammonia back up to 4 ppm
5/8/13: Ammonia drops to 1 ppm in 9 hours, to 0.50 ppm in 19 hours and to zero in 36 hours. Nitrites hold steady at 1 ppm and nitrates are at a weak 20 ppm
5/9/13: Ammonia and nitrites are at zero, nitrates between 20-40 ppm
I believe the tank is cycled. Going to do a big water change to bring down the nitrites. HOB ran in other tank for 9 days and ran in new tank for 6 days where it converted 4 ppm ammonia to zero twice during that time.
Question: Between now and the time I plan to stock this (which could be this weekend or next week), should I continue to add ammonia to keep the BB colony thriving? If so, would dosing at 2 ppm or 4 ppm ammonia be sufficient?
I had more pics but had a problem with my iPhone and lost the images.
FTS:
Right side:
Left side:
It is a bit spartan at the moment, though the Malaysian DW has quite a few nooks and crannies which should work well for hiding shrimp. I plan on placing an order for Crypt wendtii red and Crypt undulata this weekend to fill in the hill sides with low light plants from Peabodys Paradise. Any other low light plant suggestions?