Sharpie's Nano Planted Shrimp Journal [With Photos]

[SHARPiE]

Hi all!

I haven’t been around in a while but I caught the bug again, decided to build a Planted Nano Shrimp Tank and share its journey here!

My inspiration was the addition of Cherry Shrimp to my planted community tank (might post separate photos of that). I don’t see them very often but when I catch a glimpse, fascinate me. My aim is to build a heavily planted tank with some good quality shrimp and eventually breed. So here goes, sit back and come along for the ride

Equipment:
iCube Nano Tank - 9W LED, separate built in filtration (foam & ceramic chambers), 4.5G
25W Heater

Substrate:
Fluval Shrimp Stratum 5lb (2in deep)

Decoration:
Seiryu Rock 1lb
Gold Vine Driftwood
Driftwood

Flora:
Peakcock Moss
Wallichi
Needle Spikerush
Anubias

Fanua:
Red Crystal Shrimp or something nice I can get my hands on locally – (they've had some excellent blues). This is still up in the air

Cycle:
I’m looking for a silent seeded cycle here and won’t need to cope with a large bio load as I’m just keeping shrimp. I took the ceramic filter media and a handful of filter wool from of my current 20G to seed the filter. The plants should help speed the cycle up too. I had a bottle of stress zyme and have been dosing that too. For an ammonia source, I’m adding fish flakes - in the back section of the filter so it doesn’t muck up the main display and so I can remove it easily if needed. I’m putting the temp up to 80F to speed things up too. I won’t bother with pH for now, until the cycle’s done.

Parameters:
Day 1: NH3 – 0, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 0
Day 2: NH3 – 2, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 2.5
Day 3: NH3 – 3, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 2.5
Day 5: NH3 – 2, NO2 – 0.25, NO3 – 2.5
Day 7: NH3 – 2, NO2 – 0.25, NO3 – 2.5
Day 10: NH3 – 1, NO2 – 0.25, NO3 – 2.5
Day 12: NH3 – 1, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 5
Day 14: NH3 – 0, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 5
Day 15: NH3 – 0, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 5

The cycle is close if not done. I'll do a water change in the next couple of days to drop the Nitrates and might look at stocking in a few days.

CO2:
Thinking I might have to run some CO2 here. The 9W LED is quite a bit of force...

Questions:
With this much light, do you think i should be running CO2. Thoughts on shrimp and CO2?
What type of shrimp do you think would suit? What colour?
Liquid or Gas CO2? (I run gas in my community tank and can get refills easily) What is preferential with shrimp?
What other plants can I pack in there?

Feel free to ask questions add suggestions/comments/thoughts!

Photos in the next post.

[SHARPiE]

Day 1 - Tank is all set up. Substrate, rock and vine is in:


Day 2 - Water has now cleared, was very brown and murky:


Day 6 - Plants arrived - drained out water, planted and refilled - clearing really quick:



Day 14 - Going well - wallichi and spikerush getting new shoots and all settling well:


Day 15:

[Aliray]

Very nice looking tank. Alison

[SHARPiE]

Thanks!

Update:
Parameters:
Day 18: NH3 – 0, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 2.5
Seem all OK after a PWC.
pH: 6.6
Temp: 75F

Went into the LFS and they had a new batch of S Grade Crystal Red and Black Shrimp - so I got 5 of each. There was also an all white shrimp (crystal I assume), so I picked that up too. Got a batch of high quality shrimp food - Benibachi.

Drip acclimated over around 45 mins.

Decided to get the good camera out and take a photo once they had settled.
They seem to love the driftwood - and are all on there at the moment. Couldn't get a shot of the white shrimp but here's some more.

Hairgrass seems to be struggling, so ordered a small CO2 kit - no sure when it will arrive.

[coralbandit]

The shrimp and tank look great!
I know when people do the 'One/Two punch'(metricide and H202) it is noted that it may not be safe for inverts....
This is IMO due to the HIGH dosing,but would lead me to believe that CO2 gas may be safer on the shrimp....?
Set up sure does look cool!

[SHARPiE]

An update for you all - decided to get the CO2 kit.
Installed for a few days, running it at about half the reccomendation and will start going up/down if needed. Things seem OK - the shrimp aren't acting any different and the plants are taking off. A little diatoms as expected.

Here's some photo updates:





Parameters:
NH3 – 0, NO2 – 0.00, NO3 – 2.5-5

Water change soon. Might take some of the filter wool out soon as it's causing issues with the water levels in the filter system.

[Hunter73]

Nice looking set up!

[Nils]

Shrimp look awesome! Could we have an FTS?

[SHARPiE]

Thanks!
I've added some java moss, and a tube for them now too.
The CO2 has been keeping the algae at bay, but the lights are so strong!

Here are some FTS:





And a closeup of the white shrimp - looking more creamy in this light:

[Nils]

Looks awesome!

[jad2411]

I need to do something like this, looks gorgeous!