sarah

After watching my Amanos absolutely devour large wriggling blackworms, I wouldn't put it past them to eat anything they can catch and hold. I wouldn't trust them near my smaller shrimp for a minute.

Absolutely. The bacteria just help the cycle move along quicker. The ammonia feeds the bacteria. Maybe this video will help explain the process:

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-start You need to keep adding ammonia to keep it at the right the levels. At the end, you do a big water change to remove the large amount of nitrates that will have built up.

I think I'm going to have to try your technique. I covered the top surface of a piece of rough granite rock with it today, and as soon as I dropped it in the water all the Repashy just slid right off and made a mess It did all get eaten by my cory catfish and Amanos, though!

Fish and snail look awesome (and she gave me an extra fish for free)! I can't wait to make up some repashy-coated rocks

I just wanted to update this - I ordered the Super Green from Rachel O'leary, along with a snail and a few fish that I've been eyeing for a while! She is such a pleasure to deal with! I have been emailing her back and forth with questions about the fish and about getting my water parameters right (and also months ago about setting up a quarantine tank), and she writes back so quickly and is so informative and knowledgeable. I haven't even gotten my fish yet, but I can't recommend her enough!

I also have dazelea's fissidens, and it's doing great in 2 tanks! Definitely happier (brighter green, fluffier) with more light, but does well in lower light too.

Thanks! I'm obsessed with her videos. Great to hear she has it since I was about to order some fish anyway I don't see them listed on that page, so I'll send her an email.

Where do you guys buy your Repashy? I can't find anywhere online where shipping doesn't cost 50% of the product. I don't even know if this will be eaten, so I'm reluctant to spend $15 just to try it.

This is what I do too. However... I just recently saw a video by Rachel O'Leary where she argued (for shipped fish) that getting them out of the nasty shipping water asap is the most important thing... or at least to drop some Prime in there as soon as you open the bag if you are planning to drip acclimate. She explains how the water chemistry changes once the bag is opened (CO2, pH, ammonia toxicity). I assume this does not apply in the same way to breather bags. Adding Prime and then drip acclimating shrimp seems to make sense to me. Food for thought:

Has anyone here ever used Repashy Super Green? Reading the description, it seems like it might be a great food for my nerites, since it's vegan and algae-full: http://www.store.repashy.com/super-green-4-oz-bag-wholesale.html Mine have rejected all algae wafers and veggies offered to date. I was thinking of smearing this onto a rock and creating a place for them to graze. Has anyone here tried something like this before?

This. You should probably find a way to add some sort of screen/sponge to prevent any small babies from being sucked in there. Those openings look pretty large. "Swimming around" generally gives me more concern than sitting on the filter intake and eating. Are they still doing this? Cherries tend to mainly swim when unhappy with water parameters, or when a female is molting the males will "swarm" or "dance" while looking for her in response to her pheromones.

OK, seems like there's some interest! So who can figure out the logistics here?

So you just set up this tank yesterday? Does it have a filter? Does all your water come from the seller? Are there shrimp in there now? If no shrimp, you can just do a big water change to remove the nitrates. What are you using to make new water?

High nitrates and low pH sounds like old tank syndrome to me. Is this a possibility?