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Everything posted by loverland
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To heat, or not to heat?
loverland replied to therehere3's topic in Filtration, lighting and other equipment
Same here. I don't heat any of my shrimp tanks. My basement gets down to 62 in the winter, and they do just fine. Goes up to low 70s in the summer. Also fine. I've had many heaters fail over the years, and in my opinion, if you can get away without them, absolutely do it. I've come home to a boiled tank before. Also, heaters cost the most to use, so your fishroom/shrimproom expenses will go down. -
This has reached a somewhat comical level. I filled 4 buckets with RO water, then remineralized. All were right about 6.4. I let the water sit for a few days, as I couldn't get to water changes. I tested the water in each bucket before adding. 6.4, 6.5, 7.2, 7.4! I did a water change on one 20 gallon tank. It was at 7.3 pre change. I replaced about 70% with 6.4 water. Tested it at about 6.9. Two days later, the tank is at 7.3. Fun! At this point, it just seems that my ph is what it is, and nothing is going to change it.
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This is purely my opinion and nothing more, but to me, 20Ls seem to be the perfect size for shrimp. I really don't love 10 gallon tanks for, well, anything. Not great visibility. More susceptible to water chemistry issues. The 30 breeders though are too big for shrimp, which is why I'm adding acrylic dividers to each. The 15 gallons per side seems to work, but 20Ls just are the right mix of volume and dimension for shrimp. Again, my opinion. Many shrimpers seem to use 10 gallon tanks with great success.
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A couple pics of my primary shrimp setups. I have a three random 20 gallon tanks outside of these two racks. Six 30-gallon tanks. Working my way toward putting acrylic dividers in each. A couple have more algae than water. Don't judge. Three 20-gallon tanks
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Here are a couple images. The new tanks are the three 20s. The 6 30 breeders are all existing. New tank parameters: tds 120 kh 0-1 gh 5 ph still 7.4 I remineralized some RO water that I’ll use for a big water change tomorrow. That water, at the parameters above, is holding at ph 6.4. We’ll see if it jumps to 7.4 again.
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@aotf - Yup. I use SS KH/GH for my neos and SS GH for my caridina. My neo tanks are typically a little higher PH, so I figured KH/GH upped PH a bit, but I wasn't sure if GH+ only did, too. Glad to hear it doesn't. @JonRon - No CO2. I'll have to test KH tonight to give you an accurate reading, but my caridina tanks are typically around 1KH. Tank has been up one week, but is fully cycled. SL Aqua Soil doesn't have the ammonia leaching issue of other buffered substrates. My ammonia reading is 0. I've had a fishroom of 10-20 tanks for about 20 years now, and seeded sponge filters are magic cyclers. I do understand that cycled and ready for shrimp are two different things. Also, I always add remineralizer before the water hits the tank, but in this case, I figured I'd start with plain RO water, then do a full water change. But, the water parameters (outside of ph) looked solid, so I added SS GH+. I'll still do a big water change to see if I can get the ph to chill out. Then I'll give it some time to see if it drops. @Memphis118 - I'll try to get a pic tonight for reference.
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I’ve got about 1-1.5” in, but remember it’s a 20 long, so there’s more tank bottom here. I don’t need the ph to be crazy low. Hell, staying at 6.4 would probably do the trick. But jumping up to 7.4?!? The tank is cycled now thanks to the big sponge filter. I did add a little magic powder to help kickstart biofilm, but that shouldn’t impact ph, right?
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No rocks at all. No chemicals to speed up cycling. I’m going to do a significant water change. Maybe all of it. Does salty shrimp increase ph? That’s the only thing I’ve added. I’ve found 2 tiny neos and a michling in this tank. Must have snuck over on the driftwood and filter. I put plain RO water in at first, then remineralized in the tank, which I never do. But that means those tiny shrimp were in 8TDS water for a few days and lived.
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Salty shrimp gh
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I just set up three new 20 longs with SL Aqua Soil, my first venture into buffered substrate. Here's what I can't figure out: My RO water comes out at 6-8ppm TDS and has a pH of 6.4. I remineralized to about 130 TDS, filled the tanks that had the SL Aqua Soil, added a few low tech plants, driftwood/cholla and leaves, and a large seeded sponge filter from another established tank. No shrimp yet. After a week, the pH is coming in at 7.4. What the @#%^ is causing it to go up? I figured the Aqua Soil would have brought it down from 6.4. Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites are all zip. Thoughts?
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Never. The occasional carbon rili pattern shows up, but that’s even maybe 1%.
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Several months back, I bought a bag of shrimp at an auction, and they were labeled as carbon (not carbon rili). They were small, but showed a more solid pattern. Fast forward a few months, and I have a 30 breeder full of these. I've been selling them as carbons, but I'm wondering if that's really what I should be calling them. Most of them are just about black, but from a dark, dark blue. My understanding is that black rose are black, but from a dark, dark red. Some show a more typical grey-blue-speckled color, similar to a carbon rili (but without the rili pattern). And some a very dark blue. But, the vast majority are nearly black. They are damn cool, and I think I have about 200, but I want to sell them with the proper name. They are too dark for blue dream. They seem too dark for blue diamond. But black rose doesn't seem right either. Deep blue? Thoughts? This is what they mostly look like when adults. The color starts more clear/blue/speckled, but fills in to nearly black as they age. But here's a good example of how the blue is sometimes visible on certain ones (left) and how some have more of the carbon coloring (right).
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Been a long 10 months since I've last updated. I've cleared out most of my cichlid tanks, and have added shrimp tanks. Now keeping --NEOCARIDINA-- Fire Red Cherry Shrimp Red Rili Blue Velvet Yellows/Goldenbacks Green Jade Carbon Orange Rili --CARIDINA-- Crystal Red Shrimp BKK Mischlings Blue Bolts Golden Bees Black King Kongs
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And, she's already saddled up and ready to go for round two.
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I caught an orange rili egg hatching in progress. You can see the first few tiny babies on the filter. You can see by the second photo that she has a ton more to go.
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Update. This has been working really well. It's been 8 months, so I think it's safe to say this works, if it's your style. Some CRS enjoying fresh cholla.
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I'll take a package.
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I have this running in a couple caridina tanks since Feb, and it's working brilliantly. I started in Feb with 20 CRS in one tank, and now I'm up to probably close to 150 or more. And, the taiwan bee tank I have going has a ton of babies. I planted some java moss in the tubs, and it has grown to the point where you can barely see the tub at all. It looks good. My tanks are bare bottom, aside from cholla/leaf litter/etc., but you could easily put inert substrate in as well. When the active substrate in tubs no longer buffers, it'll be as simple as swapping out the tubs. I love the set up so far.
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It's definitely not black though. It's a deep red color. I'll see if I can get a closer pic.
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Due to its lack of white (looks like just one stripe), would this then technically be a Ruby Red? It's still only about a 1/2", so I'm curious to see where it ends up.
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I've got a tank of very prolific CRS that have gone from the initial 20 to easily 120 in just a few months. But, I've noticed two that are significantly darker red with less white. Despite the terrible photo, you can see the difference here. It's right in the middle of the photo. Would you call these wine red? Something else?
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As a fish hobby forum owner (www.minnfish.com), I can tell you that traffic in summer drops significantly. The hobby in Minnesota almost shuts down, and it's much harder to sell livestock. But, fall comes around and it ramps back up. Traffic usually maxes out around January/February, which makes a ton of sense considering Minnesota weather.
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@bostoneric - Read the top of the post.
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Update on this: Turns out that my PH test kit went bad. It was never up to 7.6, so all of my panic was for nothing. In the 2.5 months since starting this tank, the CRS are doing great. Healthy, growing, reproducing. I counted 40+ tiny babies this week. A few more berried females. So far, the tubs are working great. I'm starting another tank with them today.
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Here's my current list of what I keep: 20 gallon high red rili 20 gallon long yellows/yellow goldenbacks 10 gallon A blue pearl 10 gallon B cherry reds 30 gallon A Crystal Red Shrimp 30 gallon B (divided) Section A: empty Section B: cull tank Section C: green jades Section D: fire red cherries Auction this weekend. Hoping to add a few groups!