Nils 2.5G upgrade to 5.5G DP Build!

[Nils]

Looking great nils! I'm glad you can post pics now, it blew my expectations away. Great scape and nice shrimp.

Thank you! It's been a little since an update, not much of an update but whatever lol. Elodea is going crazy with the Co2 and under the high light, going to have to ship some out soon. Possibly getting some Pogo. Erectus too plant in the back and some downoi for the front. Do you guys think I could grow downoi in this tank? I don't think it should be a problem but I want people to let me know from their experiences. I just need something to carpet the front, it looks empty and boring No more berried shrimp as of now, just waiting for the magic to happen Anyway that's all for now, stay tuned for updates!

 

[Sk3lly]

Im managing to grow downoi slowly in lower light so you should be ok


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[Nils]

Ok good to know. Looks like a really cool plant, can't wait to try it. I might make a tank thread like a lot of other people soon to just keep track of everything and not have to always be switching in between different threads and stuff. I might not be able to post as much with school and everything so you'll just have to bare with me


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[Nils]

So I'm not getting any downoi soon, at least not for the next couple weeks. Not really much to update on, plants, fish and shrimp are doing great. Pretty sure I saw another berried female this morning but not 100% sure. Anyway, here a couple pictures. that's a picture of the 16 just for the heck of it. Baby tears are growing awesome, I love them!!


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[TheresaM]

Tanks looks good! I've been having crazy luck with the baby tears in my no tech tank, always thought it was a somewhat difficult plant.

 

[Nils]

Shrimp update!
Guaranteed 2 berried females! Saw them rght next to each other! I woke up this orning and one already has bebies under her tail, not the eggs. She's just flying around the tak this morning and up against the glass and everywhere else lol. the other one is just kinda chilling. Also, the baby tears are funny because they grow towards the sun whent he binds are open and when closed they go back to growing straight up. Interesting and funny.

 

[Nils]

Last night when I was going to bed I turned the light on to see what is going on and noticed tons of male RCS flying around the tank, against the glass and then settling back down for a bit only to start doing it again a minute later. I figured they were just having fun until this morning. Berried shrimp left and right! I'm guessing that the female shrimp released that chemical of theirs and the males went looking for them. I don't mind, berried shrimp is the point of it for me! That's pretty much all going on with the tank right now, everybody is healthy and the plants are happy.

 

[Fresh2o]

That's more like the 2.5 gallon love shack. I see many shrimp in your future.


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[Nils]

T Tell me about it!


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[Autumnsky]

Hoping you get the babies this time!

 

[Nils]

Hoping you get the babies this time!

Yeah so do I! I won't be surprised if they drop the eggs a couple times before they get it right. Just a quick little update:
Plants are doing great (as usual), fish and shrimp are doing great (as usual) and everything is running smoothly (knock on wood ) I did a 50% PWC yesterday, I was WAY overdue.
Since I've started doing Co2, stopped using as much fertilizer and lessened the lights there has been no more algae growing except some diatoms on the side glass. Does this mean that I can extend the photoperiod a couple hours more or would that just bring algae back in? I have no algae problems in the 16 and the lights there are on from 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM. With more light I could leave the Co2 in longer and the plants would have lots more growth, right? Should I slowly lengthen the light over a long period of time or could I do it quickly in a couple days? Just asking, as I have no idea if it would bring algae back (which I don't want, obviously)

 

[Autumnsky]

I am wondering if you can do lights out for 3-4 hours during the day and then up the light on time overall, anyone know the answer with co2 I don't know.

 

[Nils]

Just thought I would share this


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[Autumnsky]

So MANY big eggs again. I would do a couple quick pwc almost back to back so you don't have to worry about it too much after the babies come. Maybe 3 - 20% in a day and a half ( if you even have that much time that poor heavy momma shrimp, lol!) Clean/vac substrate first if needed now so you won't need to do it for awhile!!!

It is a pain to do when there are babies skittering everywhere.

 

[Nils]

So MANY big eggs again. I would do a couple quick pwc almost back to back so you don't have to worry about it too much after the babies come. Maybe 3 - 20% in a day and a half ( if you even have that much time that poor heavy momma shrimp, lol!) Clean/vac substrate first if needed now so you won't need to do it for awhile!!!

It is a pain to do when there are babies skittering everywhere.

Lol my mom feels the worst for them, she feels so sorry for them with all those eggs. I'm thinking of stretching some kind of fine material over the intake of my vacuum as to not suck up any baby shrimp. I can see the puffers zeroing on invisible things on the substrate so I'm pretty sure that they have found the babies. Hopefully some make it to adulthood. I am moving the puffers soon though, tbh they do seem just a little cramped in the 5.5 Plus I could get them some buddies in there Probably going to just let shrimp be shrimp for themselves until I get a good colony going and then I'll see about scarlet basis or other nano fish. My Co2 hasn't been working for the past couple days, either I screwed up the mixture or there is a leak some where, which I doubt because I put my thumb over the end of the tubing and squeezed the bottle and nothing came out anywhere. I think I just didn't put in enough yeast. Going to add some more today and see if that helps. I've decided to lengthen the photoperiod by a half hour every couple days and at the slightest hint of algae I'm turning it back down. Can't stand that stuff. I also planted some micro sword in the front, hopefully it carpets. Found a big patch of it when cleaning the 16 yesterday.. i honestly thought it died but no it was all happy in there. It should appreciate the Co2 and higher lighting. Male puffer still isn't eating I might have to give up and buy some more black worms for him. Making me angry! He's not skinny, but he's not the fattest either. Gosh, fish can be so aggravating sometimes

 

[Sk3lly]

Couple of days is not long enough to see changes! You should wait a couple of weeks if not months really


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[Nils]

So not much to update on, plants are still growing fine, having to trim the anacharis bi weekly now! Good thing because I'm doing a science a project with it. Making a thread about that alter today. Getting some stems of pogo. erectus sometime next week, either Thursday or Friday. Also getting a black worm culture set up again, I hate seeing my oldest puff not eating anything. My set up is in a small container with some burlap (instead of paper strips) and an air stone. Hopefully I can keep them alive this time. question: Do I have to cycle it in order to keep the worms alive? I have a couple ramshorn snails in there right now just to produce some poop and to produce some food for the worms. The snails are doing fine. Will post pics in a couple minutes. Main thing I'm concerned about is the worms, if anyone has any tips please tell me.

 

[Nils]

Best pic ever I have made!!
black worm set up, a little cloudy because I threw an algae wafer in there


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[Nils]

Baby tears



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[Autumnsky]

Is the algae wafer gonna up the ammonia and kill the culture? (I don't know anything about the worms) Just wondering.

That is a really nice pic.