Rhsoto94 7g Build Journal

[rhsoto94]

Ok so I got the tank in on Tuesday ordered it Sunday night, for free shipping wow that was fast. I love the tank very sleek and silicone in very clean pricing was a bonus.

It was packed very well I probably could've thrown the box at the ground and it wouldn't break haha. I was too excited to take any pics of how it was packed except one whoops.

I'll be documenting the tank progress here from my iPhone5s (excuse the bad camera phone pics haha) and hopefully I can keep some of you interested haha.
This is going to be a planted shrimp tank going with blue pearls since there cheap and this is only my second shrimp tank so I don't want to go too crazy I already have one berried.

This will be low-med tech

Plants I'm interested in:

Hygro corymbosa kompakt.

Staurogyne repens

Star grass

Anubias nana petite

Water sprite

Java and Christmas moss

Crypt wendtii

Narrow leaf java fern

Probably more that's off the top

Lighting: 12" finnex planted plus

Will be moving onto dry ferts and metricide 14 (I know shrimp are sensitive)

Filtration: no name sponge filter and maybe an aqua clear with a sponge intake if I don't like the sponge filter.

Substrate: dirted with flora max cap.

I think that's it for right now and a big thanks to Brian_Nano12g for recommending the tank and inspiring me to make a build thread! Haha will upload pics shortly.

 

[rhsoto94]

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Sweet! That's one beautiful cube you have there! It looks so crystal clear

Anyways, nice to see another rimless build... I'll be following with excitement

 

[imtcurveball]

Where did you get that tank?

 

[rhsoto94]

Truaqua.com about 50$ shipped

 

[imtcurveball]

Truaqua.com about 50$ shipped

Thank you

 

[rhsoto94]

Sweet! That's one beautiful cube you have there! It looks so crystal clear



Anyways, nice to see another rimless build... I'll be following with excitement

Hey Brian I was wondering what you would recommend for heating such a small tank buying a 30$ heater for such a small tank doesn't sound that appealing to me haha or if anyone else has any recommendations plz

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I use Hydor Theo 25w heaters for my nano tanks - Aquarium Heaters: Hydor Theo Heater

 

[rhsoto94]

How much is shipping on there?

 

[rhsoto94]

finally finished moving yesterday so back to the build got it dirted with the cap and a seeded sponge filter hasn't cleared up that much still foggy after 5 hrs

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Shipping is free (and tax free) if you can get $50 bucks worth of stuff in your cart. Unfortunately, I can easily do that in this hobby! If you need recommendations on what to add in the cart, LMK! haha

Otherwise, it's on Amazon for a bit more. Free ship with Prime but you'll get taxed.
Amazon.com : Hydor 25W Submersible Aquarium Heater - Original Theo : Pet Supplies

Are you going to do any hardscape in the cube?

 

[rhsoto94]

Brian stop spending my money! Haha just kidding. I don't think I need to much beside a heater, the light, thermometer, driftwood, rocks and plants. But I know I'll forget something. Yeah I'm going to pick up a piece of driftwood and rocks sometime this week for the hard scape.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Haha... welcome to the "black hole" vortex that has appeared mysteriously in your wallet!

 

[rhsoto94]

I think back to all the money I spent and think I could have done so much more productive things with it but who cares haha.

Side question what other testing kit do I need for my plants it's phosphate and what else? I've juss done low light plants for the most part so I never got one.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I just have the standard API Master Test Kit... I also added an API Phosphate Kit and KH/GH kit. Oh yeah, and a TDS meter. The KH/GH and TDS meter are highly recommended with shrimp keeping.

 

[rhsoto94]

Yeah I got the master kit but I see people talking about other kits for planted tanks and I'm ordering a bunch of stuff off amazon so I'm getting everything now. What's a TDS?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

TDS is total dissolved solids. If you look up care guides on any certain shrimp species, you'll see a pH, kH/gH, and TDS as the main parameters. Usually keeping your TDS around 200 is a good medium between Neos and Caridina sp.

Water Parameters | Shrimp Keeping

This is the TDS meter I've been using:
Amazon.com: HM Digital TDS-EZ Water Quality TDS Tester, 0-9990 ppm Measurement Range , 1 ppm Resolution, +/- 3% Readout Accuracy: Home Improvement

To control TDS, you have to use RO/DI water. Then you either remineralize or you do what some people do (which is more risky), which is 50/50 tap + RODI -- adjusting this ratio to get TDS around 200.

 

[rhsoto94]

Oh I see. Would this be mandatory with easy to keep shrimp like the blue pearls or with just harder to keep shrimp. My shrimp have been doing pretty good so far now have 2 berried and only have 6.

 

[rhsoto94]

Set up the tank around one and already seeing nitrite that was fast

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You can possibly get away without being meticulous with the basics in shrimp parameters. Neos do offer a certain level of leeway. But in AZ my tap is liquid rock with a ridiculous level of TDS. I just err on the side of caution plus I'm learning a bit myself because we eventually want to try more touchy shrimp like CRS. So I figure might as well learn the right way with neos to increase the survival rate of their offspring.