Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hows it coming along there, status update?
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Hardscape for Shrimp Tank
- Thread starter JoelCouch
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
It's going well, I have not put shrimp (or anything) into the tank yet. I need to post some pictures. I am struggling with algae and want to get that under control before I put the shrimp in. I've cut back the light to just a few hours a day and still battle with algae. I'm also not dosing any ferts at this time. I've played around with CO2, kicking it WAY up and cutting it out completely. Today I put a little Hydrogen Peroxide in the tank, this helped me with my other tank so I figured I'd give it a shot. My thinking is that I should be able to balance the tank out without using a "cleaning" crew to do it.
Slavo
Aquarium Advice Freak
Following.
Very nice setup and scape. I like your stone arrangement, nicely executed.
Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Yeah, you are the cleaning crew. Try just a couple less expensive shrimp when starting out. Its a mixed bag of results people seem to experience. The best shrimping success stories come from tanks that have been running for at least a few months. Its my experience as well.
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
Yeah, I'm trying to be patient and learn along the way. My goal is to have a tank where each component can stand on its own. Hard scape looked awesome. Then adding the plants has been a good stage. Once I get the algae taken care of, I figure it will be about time for shrimp.
Slavo
Aquarium Advice Freak
+1, I'm having success now on my 2nd go at a shrimp tank, mainly because the tank cycled for 6 weeks first. That and I invested in some shrimp supplements.
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
Nice feedback guys, really appreciate it. My tank has cycled for several months now. So fortunately that should not be a factor for my shrimp when that time comes.
I do have a question though. As for the algae, would more frequent water changes help with that? Say twice a week instead of once?
So far I have cut the lighting down to about six hours every other day. And am still not winning the battle. I'm not using ferts. Although my CO2 is not running at the moment I figured that I'm not really lighting the tank enough to warrant it. And to be honest, if I can have the tank thrive without CO2 that would be just dandy. I don't have anything in the tank that really needs it or high light that I'm aware of.
Feel free to drop some knowledge here. I'm just a little sponge right now.
I do have a question though. As for the algae, would more frequent water changes help with that? Say twice a week instead of once?
So far I have cut the lighting down to about six hours every other day. And am still not winning the battle. I'm not using ferts. Although my CO2 is not running at the moment I figured that I'm not really lighting the tank enough to warrant it. And to be honest, if I can have the tank thrive without CO2 that would be just dandy. I don't have anything in the tank that really needs it or high light that I'm aware of.
Feel free to drop some knowledge here. I'm just a little sponge right now.
SpaceFish42
Aquarium Advice Addict
I got nerite snails because I had lots of algae problems, and I haven't seen a single strand or clump of algae since I got them. I definitely recommend them.
Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Sounds like a stalemate algae battle. It certainly seems like the countering measures you're taking should make a dent. There are some smart plant people floating around. Hopefully they can chime in.
The cleaning crew(you), would really appreciate a couple algae eating caddys like nerites or a Red Lizard Whiptail Plecostomus.
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The cleaning crew(you), would really appreciate a couple algae eating caddys like nerites or a Red Lizard Whiptail Plecostomus.
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
I may break down and do it's working in my other tanks. If I understand correctly this is doable without the crew. And that the crews are only needed for newbies (well I am a newbie). However, I want to learn and I think this is the best and fastest way to learn. Once I figure it out I will have that much more knowledge and then I can move on to the shrimp, see how many of those I need to kill before I get those [emoji3].
Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Obvious question here, does the tank receive any glancing sunlight rays?
Ive only run low tech low light plants so far. Im learning along with you here.
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Ive only run low tech low light plants so far. Im learning along with you here.
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
Good question! I've paid close attention to that myself recently. Absolutely no direct sunlight. During the latter part of the day the tank does receive indirect light. Not a lot but of course it doesn't take much. That has been on my watch list lately.
Also, I am going to start doing huge water changes several times a week. I have a feeling that this may do the trick.
Also, I am going to start doing huge water changes several times a week. I have a feeling that this may do the trick.
SpaceFish42
Aquarium Advice Addict
It is doable without an algae eating crew, and they are helpful for newbies, but they definitely help A LOT.
JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
So, I got home today and flipped on the lights to my little shrimp (to be) tank and took a look. I gotta say, I believe I'm getting ahead of the algae thing. The water is sparkling clear and no added algae build up. In fact, the algae looks like it has much less oomph than it had before. And luckily the plants don't look bad either. I think they are doing better at the lower light condition than the algae.
So, this proves a couple things... or at least there are a couple things that come together to help prove what has been going on. First, I was at one point using ferts and CO2 as well as a high amount of light. This resulted in great plant growth and slowly the algae became an issue. I didn't panic at first because even in my other tanks I'd have a bloom of algae and a week or two later it was gone (although in those tanks I have a clean up crew).
By removing ferts from my daily routine and cutting WAY back on lighting I think I've started to tip the tide. Now, what I plan on doing is going for the next week or two and do a bunch of water changes to help clear out anything in the water column. I'm going to trim things up and see about manually removing any algae that's currently in the tank. Then I'm going to run my lights in the afternoon on a daily basis and observe my progress.
Everything I've read indicates this balance between light (being the biggest foundational element) ferts and CO2. Kick up the lights and you kick up the need for CO2 and ferts for the plants to put all that light to use and have the ability to grow. Each is a direct representation of the other. This is why I cut off the CO2 after a while of extremely low light. And eliminated the ferts completely. The good thing is that as long as you keep watching the plants they will tell you if the last change you made was good or bad. In my case, the plants don't like this little of light but are hanging in there. The algae on the other hand can't take it. This to me is good news because that means there is a balance somewhere where the plants thrive and the algae does not. My goal is to find that balance.
I hope this all makes sense, I kind of rambled a bit. I will see about posting some images later today.
So, this proves a couple things... or at least there are a couple things that come together to help prove what has been going on. First, I was at one point using ferts and CO2 as well as a high amount of light. This resulted in great plant growth and slowly the algae became an issue. I didn't panic at first because even in my other tanks I'd have a bloom of algae and a week or two later it was gone (although in those tanks I have a clean up crew).
By removing ferts from my daily routine and cutting WAY back on lighting I think I've started to tip the tide. Now, what I plan on doing is going for the next week or two and do a bunch of water changes to help clear out anything in the water column. I'm going to trim things up and see about manually removing any algae that's currently in the tank. Then I'm going to run my lights in the afternoon on a daily basis and observe my progress.
Everything I've read indicates this balance between light (being the biggest foundational element) ferts and CO2. Kick up the lights and you kick up the need for CO2 and ferts for the plants to put all that light to use and have the ability to grow. Each is a direct representation of the other. This is why I cut off the CO2 after a while of extremely low light. And eliminated the ferts completely. The good thing is that as long as you keep watching the plants they will tell you if the last change you made was good or bad. In my case, the plants don't like this little of light but are hanging in there. The algae on the other hand can't take it. This to me is good news because that means there is a balance somewhere where the plants thrive and the algae does not. My goal is to find that balance.
I hope this all makes sense, I kind of rambled a bit. I will see about posting some images later today.
JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
Slavo
Aquarium Advice Freak
Very nice! I don't see any algae in this picture, seems to have subsided, as you said.
I love the look of the Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan' with the black lava stone, great combo.
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I love the look of the Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan' with the black lava stone, great combo.
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
Thanks, Slavo. As for the algae, it was growing in the moss and on the Hydro. I just cut it all out. Now I'm going to see if it grows back or not. Last time I cleaned it up it grew back within a week. I figure if I can keep it on the low side for a couple weeks than I'm good with that. Once I introduce the shrimp I'll be able to keep it under control.
The Marsilia Crenata on the lower section has taken the biggest hit from all I've put the tank through. Some of it is doing really well and I'm sure it'll continue to. However, I may be adding some leaf litter down there anyway, so I'm not sure how that plant is going to fair in the long run.
The Marsilia Crenata on the lower section has taken the biggest hit from all I've put the tank through. Some of it is doing really well and I'm sure it'll continue to. However, I may be adding some leaf litter down there anyway, so I'm not sure how that plant is going to fair in the long run.
Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Very cool design! Do the deeper areas of substrate pose any issue at all later on? Are the water parameters good?
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JoelCouch
Aquarium Advice Regular
The deeper substrate is mostly lava rock which has been glued together during build up. The water parameters are good and solid. I had a few fish in the tank for a short time and the parameters held strong.
Tbox
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Nice!
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