ClownPlanted

I did not notice any at all on my bottle. I looked at my bottle and did not notice a expiration date. I wonder if your has been sitting possibly in some heat too long.

I am actually using three 603B Filters for three of my shrimp tanks and they have been great so far. All ordered from Amazon.

This is actually possible according to them as they test before selling/sending. So most likely you scored a new filter

25% every two weeks seems to be a great routine for all of the CRS and PRL. Sometimes though I may wait three weeks or sometimes I may do one after just one week. I typically keep an eye on tds and nitrates. If one or the other or both start to rise more than I like then a water change is your best remedy.

Size: diameter about 6cm，hight about 7cm Here is a link to them I got from eBay. Keep in mind they took about 3 weeks to get delivered as they shipped from China. You can get them on Amazon I believe as well but more expensive but faster shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Clear-Holder-Aquatic-Plant-Glass-Cup-Pot-Plant-Decor-Cup-Hot/292112637952?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It is hard to say so you would need about half of what I am doing in my 20 gallon to be safe. So like 3-4 of the bowls filled with the substrate. I would add them and test a day later to see what the substrate is then test a couple days later to ensure it stays the same.

The lower the temp the less active and slower they grow but tend to live a bit longer. The higher the temp they are more active and grow faster. But when talking about the temp difference between 70 to 73 which is what is recommended for them the difference is very little. I have always kept mine at 72 and since they do well at that temp I have no reason to change it.

Just a heads up after reading some reviews on the Sera pellets they do not buffer the PH for that long maybe a few weeks and thats it. I would not consider this a permanent solution and would instead do what I did with some pots and use something like SL Aqua substrate that will last probably a year or longer. With Cardinia you do not want to take short cuts.

What does the Pellets buffer down to? Remember you need to have enough to make a difference. You also can get these little glass pots and fill with the pellets. I did that in my 20 gallon tank that has BDBS as substrate and used 6 of these pots that got my PH down from 7.4 to 6.4 using SL Aqua soil in the pots only. The pots I got for super cheap like $2.5 each on the bay.

I keep my crs and prl tanks at 72 and they absolutely thrive. Tons of berried and babies. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah that's about right. For me though I would start with the lower dosing of just one pump per 10 gallons especially since I assume you have low/medium light plants and low tech. 2 pumps at most. I do 2 pumps per 10 gallon tank twice a week and my mosses absolutely boom and all plants stay really healthy.

Actually what I find is the tds stays relatively the same or even lower as the plants consume the fertilizer. I typically get roughly 10-15 tds raised in about a week but thats from everything like food and stuff that gets added during the week not just fertilizer. I have found its MUCH better to try and keep the plants happy than starving them of food. They are just like shrimp in the fact they also need food and unhappy plants starts to turn the ecosystem into a downward spiral. My tanks are much happier when they are fertilized. The relatively small tds raise from fertilizer has never caused a problem in all of my shrimp tanks and a healthy ecosystem keeps all happy. I would not account for it in your water changes just add your typical 4GH water like you always do(or whatever GH you go for). This is what I do and never have issued. I typically do a 25% water change in all my shrimp tank every 2 weeks. All happy and thriving

LOL so I just did a test with my ThriveS. So I did the same thing and added one pump of thriveS into exactly 1 cup 0tds RO water and got 320 tds. I then took that one pump in one cup water and added to my cycling shrimp tank and it raised the tds just 3. You should be even lower than that since you get 180 tds in one cup of water. You will probably get like 2 tds higher after one pump in 10 gallons.

Wow that is extremely high tds. No way would I use something that would bring the tds up that high. I have always used ThriveS and have always been happy with it. I get maybe 10tds raised after using 2 pumps per 10 gallons and is extremely reasonable. I would be concerned with it raising the GH that high for sure. Did you shake the bottle really well before using?? Have to ask. Just read the dosing instructions and it says 1 pump per 10 gallons so the 180 tds raise seems reasonable. Since you added 1 pump for one cup I am betting you get that down to about 5-10 tds per 10 gallons. That is the way to test it for sure. I think it is fine.

That is very good work. Good job. You have some skillz.