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Hi, I am new to the forum and to the hobby. I have just setup a new 10 gallon tank and all I have so far is: - ADA Amazonia Light Substrate - A little bit of Dwarf Baby Tears - CO2 with about one bubble every 2 seconds - My filter is an Aquaclear 30 with Plurigen and Seachem Matrix media. - Tap water treated with Seachem Prime - I have also dropped some API Quick Start in the first day It's only the second day of my fishless cycle, so I don't have too much history on it yet, but my PH is at 6.0 (Maybe lower since 6.0 is the minimum I can see in my test) I am also going to add drift wood as decoration, which i hear lowers PH even more. I will have CRS shrimp in the tank at some point when the numbers are good. Does anyone have experience and tips for me? Will the PH likely go higher after the cycle is complete? How often should I do water changes during the cycle, and how much water? Thank you.

I've been unemployed since I finished myPhD and was feeling pretty down on myself. I was sick of constant rejections and having no control over my own life so I decided I was going to get a fish tank. 22/4- The decision I did do a little bit of research and read up about the nitrogen cycle and everything and I was trolling Gumtree (Australia's Craigslist) for a first tank. I settled on a blue 34L Aqua One with stand. It was a bit of a bargain, if I do say so myself. It came with awful crimson gravel and some decorations but nothing I wanted to use. Over the course of a couple of days, accrued black galaxy gravel, a really nice anubias on a small piece of driftwood, an ambulia plant, an elodea (anacharis) plant and a dragon's flame plant (which I later discovered wasn't a true aquatic plant so I took it out before it could melt). I initially wanted a HM/RT betta and was looking for some tank mates as well. 23/4-Winning I won 2 online auctions: 2x Corydoras Venezuelanus (orange, i think) 10x blue black cherry shrimp juvinilles 24/4-Naming day I ended up getting 3 platies and 3 mystery snails to cycle the tank along with what I think was jungle val. I named them after destiny's child because the first night I had them, the big one was dashing about the whole time and all I could think of was "Calm down, Beyonce". Kelly had a strongish feeding response and I barely ever saw Michelle but she had a red tail like Beyonce which helped me tell Kelly and Michelle apart as they were the same size. these were pretty cheap and I figured I wouldn't mind if they died although I did end up getting semi-attached to them. 25/4-The Rescape I really wanted to re-scape the tank as I had gotten 3 ornaments that I wanted to put in it. I set up the dimensions of the tank and did a dry run but when it came to the actual placing of them, the vase wouldn't fit and had to be left out as I also had another medium sized piece of driftwood I wanted to use in my tank. As I knew I wanted it to eventually add shrimp, I went to a guy who was selling java moss and ended up getting 5 Red cherries along with 2 hands full of java moss. Nice guy, only 19 and had a huge set up in his garage. He was breeding cherries and had yellows and blues as well but they weren't ready to be sold, he also threw in a couple of plants he had extra. I threw some moss in the temple and the dodecahedron. and used a plastic storage container to add in more sand as an embankment (reject shop but looked exactly/very close to the galaxy sand I initially bought) I think it was also at this point that all three of my snails died, I had been getting water tests but nothing really seemed to be wrong, my tank was slowly cycling but no nitrates yet. It was also at this point that I noticed my tank was running quite hot 28-30C and even opening the lid didn't seem to affect it too much. I put down losing the snails to this although I read later that they could actually withstand such temperatures. 27/4 Shrimpies, tale of a murderer I was getting a little concerned that since putting the shrimp in, I had barely seen them. I was afraid my platies had eaten them and my logic was that if I removed the platies, then maybe they would come out of hiding. So I prepared a bucket of water and the tank came with a battery operated air pump which I switch on after fiddling with the air stones and tubing as well. Caught the platies, and let them sit while I waited for the shrimp to come out. I saw 1 and contemplated getting rid of the platies the next day, thinking that there was only 1 left. It was at this point that I noticed Beyonce swimming a bit funny and floating a little, I immediately put her back in the tank where she thrashed a little and ended up dying. RIP Beyonce Michelle was also lying on the side at the bottom of the tank but Kelly was still swimming around and doing her thing. It was definitely temperature shock as I later learned and I will never do this again 28/4 Destiny reborn Both Kelly and Michelle made a full recovery, Still no sign of shrimp. I went back to the guy I got the snails from and ended up getting 3 more as well as 4 brown ramshorns. he gave them to me for free (i think cos he felt bad that my first 3 died. When I got home, one of the mystery snails was already dead and had worms (i think planaria) coming out of it, the other 2 snails also had some on their shells so I washed them off and put them in my tank. The ramshorns seemed unaffected and I later found another worm on my mystery snail which I again took out and killed. I got my water tested that day and everything was perfect so I okayed the delivery of the blue black cherries. 29/4 Birthday My 30th. I think this was also the day that both my snails died again. I could also only count 3 ramshorns. I feel like it just may be this tank that the snails don't like but I really had no idea. this little guy ended up coming out for my birthday so I knew that there was at least 1 shrimp left for sure. By this time, my subwassertang, morimo moss ball (which I split) and Indian almond leaf orders had come in and been added to the tank. 30/4- Tidying Up Went to get my water checked again but everything had spiked. I thought it might've been cos of my snails dying and was advised to do a 50% water change. My excess java moss and new subwassertang were all in a clump around the front of my tank, I decided to anchor them to rope as I saw in a youtube video to make everything look neater. The subwassertang was entangled with Christmas moss and java moss so I went about separating everything and then anchoring them to ropes. While doing this, I found a really bright red girl that didn't let go in time. I quickly put her back in the tank but never saw her again. 1/5 May Day I only realized that it was a public holiday on Sunday. I also realized that my platies, if they had eaten the other shrimp, would probably eat the blue blacks. My cory's when they eventually came in would also outgrow my current tank. So the only logical decision was to get another tank. I also went to another guy to get some free mystery snails although these were smaller. Maybe they would survive better? I got some black gravel and the new tank came with a piece of driftwood that wouldn't sink so I chucked a big pebble on it and left it with 3 of my moss ropes, my bunch of elodea and the val. I put 10 small mystery snails in my 34L and left the rest in the new 70L tank as well as Kelly and Michelle to cycle the tank. There was also half a vacation feeder which I added to the 70 cos I read they were good for snails 2/5 Engineering Marvel My snails in the new tank were doing really well. Not a single 1 dead that I could see. In the 34, however, 2 were already dead although the ramshorns still seemed to be doing ok. I went about scaping the new tank and moving stuff over from the old tank. I figured the temple and my medium driftwood piece would do well in the 70. Luckily the big driftwood piece had become waterlogged at this point and so I went about trying to fit it in. I suddenly had a brilliant idea to put the big piece into the fork of the other one to make a really nice bridge and used the large pebble to hold everything in place. After a bit of fiddling, it stayed and I was super proud of myself. I was still waiting on some aquascaping tools to come in the mail so the plants at this point were still all over the place. I did get some variegated rush and extra bunch of ambulia (which do super well in my 34) and some pink baby tears. I also ~2kg of extra black sand to put on top of the gravel cos I didn't think it was black enough. In my 34, I weighed down the 2 moss ropes by tying them to stones and tied them to the spray bar of my filter. The big sponge looks a little distracting but at least its good filtration. when moving stuff around, I also did another water change and found a molt!!! which meant that at least 1 red cherry was doing well 3/5 The Planting My aquascaping tools finally arrived. I could scape everything before my shrimp arrived. I realized at this point that my val was melting and so was my elodea. Ended up throwing most of it away and salvaging what I could. I tidied everything up and ended up swapping the rush and ambulia in my 34. I did read that it was another one of those -not really aquatic plants- but they're still looking good so I left them in to see how they go. I added another 1kg of black sand so fill in some holes I made. but I still feel like it's not enough. Im really liking the snails in this. especially when they hang onto blades of plants and they look like they fly away at any moment. Here's some pics 4/5 New Arrivals when I woke up, I saw what I thought was my last red cherry just chilling out. I ended up naming him Sebastian cos it was a request from a close friend. I was really hoping my blue blacks were gonna arrive today so I did another water test and my nitrogen levels were up but I figured it would be fine after another water change. When I got home they were there! When I was doing the water change, I poked around the dodecahedron and found the missing ramshorn, half out of its shell aka dead. One of the three ramshorns that's always in the same spot also died. That's 2 left that are always on their sides but don't smell and seem receptive to touch. I also found another 3 dead mystery snail which means there should be another 5 but I haven't seen them at all. I drip acclimated the newbies for about an hour and then added them to the tank. After watching them for a bit, I saw TWO red cherries and I was sure I saw Sebastian swim the other way just a second before that?! so maybe the other 2 (which I think were females) are still alive? Here's hoping. One of the new shrimp is really dark and nicely coloured. I ended up getting sent 14, one was a tiny tiny shrimplet and the 3 'adults' all look like males I'm really loving this tank now, all the shrimp are still swimming around everywhere which is amazing considering I never saw the reds at all. I've also started poking the java moss into the sand to attempt to grow somewhat of a carpet. what I'm not loving is the variegated rush but that might melt anywayso we'll see how it goes. some actual val there would look nice. I did another water change for my 70 cos the pH was a bit high. I also did the java moss carpet attempt on this so we'll see how it goes. when it finally cycles, i'll get my cory's in. the filter on this is super strong and small so I'm thinking I might get a sponge filter for this. I also need a proper light which I might splurge on. looking at this one at the moment. any thoughts? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/132111758384?var=431460474208 And that is all for now, sorry for the long read. If anyone has any ideas on why snails continuously die in my 34, do let me know I'm considering naming it The Snail Reaper or something to that effect