Jump's Shrimping Journal

[mayphly]

Came out great. I wish I had a nice clean looking set up like that!

[High5's]

That's awesome!

[mayphly]

Interesting looking breeder box. Who makes it?

[jumpsmasher]

Interesting looking breeder box. Who makes it?

 

I got it from a fellow shrimpkeeper but i believe he got them from a breeder in Taiwan.  I believe they are from the same place that sells the "Zebulon" snowflake food but not 100%.  I remember seeing a few ppl here selling that food so maybe they would know better.

 

I am actually not a big fan of breeder boxes in generally, at least when it comes to selective breeding purposes.  I used the Marina / Sudo ones for acclimatizing or preparing shrimps for shipping but that's about it; I prefer to use divided tanks for my selective breeding projects (hence the 3 divided 20 gal tanks on the top row).

 

The reason I got this one was that it also came with two solid back panels (one white, one black) for photography purposes.  This particular one was a bit of a custom job as they made the overhand piece a bit wider than usual to accommodate tanks with wide rims or in my case, eurobraces.  I will try to take some photos of this outside the tank since I been getting quite a few requests about it. I am also going to ask my friend to see if they (the breeder in Taiwan) are able to make some custom sizes for me.

[jumpsmasher]

Not much update this weekend, tested my top row of tanks after a water change and there is still some nitrates so looks like it will be another week or so until they are ready. 

In the mean time I started tearing down some of the tanks on the original shrimp rack; even after three years and with an OG filter hooked up to canister / hob filters, they were still buffering fine but they will need to go to make room the second section of the new rack.   

 

I got a call from one of my friends who run a local fish shop to tell me that he finally has some of the new Fluval Stratum for me to try out.  I had conflicting reports that it is new source but even the Hagen rep said it is just a repackaging of the old stuff so I wanted to try it out myself and see.  Original plan was to use of the tanks on the new rack but the local Hagen had some major issues filling orders after they moved their warehouse so it has been backordered for the last 3-4 months. 

 

I decided to clear out my Ehiem Aquastyle 35 that been running for a couple years and start flesh with the Fluval Stratum.  I wanted to really test out buffering capacity and there is no better way to do that than with an UF filter hooked up to a canister / hob filter; pretty much a standard setup for me prior to switching over to HMF’s for the new rack. I also wasn’t too impress with the stock filter so this will give me the option of leaving it turned off even though it still need to be in there as it is what holds the LED light

 

I done a dozen tanks like this before so this will be familiar to those who have seen my previous tank setups but I don’t think I ever posted any of my old tanks here so might be new to some. I am just going to post it in here to keep everything in one place. 

 

Jump’s living room Aquastyle 35L

Tank: Ehiem Aquastyle 35L
Filter: stock, UG + Aquaclear Mini
Lighting: stock
Substrate: Fluval Stratum (new version)

Plants: tbd
Hardscape: Branch wood + ADA Kobe stone
Shrimps: tbd
 

Here is the tank after empting it out

 

Grabbed an old AquaClear Mini and hooked it up to my usual CPVC DIY UG pipes

 

When filling in my UG filter I like to layer the material with the coarser lava rocks first:

 

Then my biological filter media (hex media / rings, Seachem Matrix, Ehiem Substrat, etc;)

 

Then add old sea mud powder and bacteria additives (Benibachi BeeMax, etc;)

 

And then finally the Fluval Stratum and a piece of branch wood and some Kobe Stones

 

And now to fill it up with water..

 

As far first impressions goes; it's darker than I remember than the original Fluval shrimp stratum and definitely darker than Amazonia; It is basically black whereas Amazonia is a dark brown.  Also it seems a lot less drier than Amazonia, the granules were quite solid, even moist like; maybe it is just packaging but there is no dust when placing it in the tank or when filling it up with water.

[metageologist]

Nice, I realy like you DIY UGF. I will need to try that some time with my canister filters.

[Soothing Shrimp]

That UGF is sweet for DIY.  I may have to try that too!

[jumpsmasher]

thanks

 

Nice, I realy like you DIY UGF. I will need to try that some time with my canister filters.

 

That UGF is sweet for DIY.  I may have to try that too!

 

I have tried several different setup's in the past but I keep going back to the UG + HOB/Canister combo because it is zero maintenance, at least that has been my experience.  I used this method with all 6 of the tanks in my original shrimp rack and all 6 were still buffering fine even aft 3+ years - although i think they may have lost some buffering capacity but the PH is still in the low 6's and shrimps were still breeding.  In that time i have never touched the filter media in both the HOB and canister filters;  I purposely use media that doesn't clog or breakdown as easily such as coarse sponges and Ehiem MechPro media and than pack the rest of the filter full of biological media like Matrix or SubstratPro

 

I was pretty close to using the same method for the new rack but in the end it came down to the power cost of running 11 HOB filters for every 4ft section as well as having to have enough power outlets for both the heaters and filters for every tank

[jumpsmasher]

It has been approx. 24hr since the tank was set up and today the water is fairly cloudy - probably a bacterial bloom as I added a full dose of cycle last night after it was filled with water. It is also a lot lighter in the water, i would say it is comparable to Amazonia so perhaps the foil packing keeps moisture in better and results in the darker colour and less drier look.

 

 

I just tested the water in the Aquastyle 35L and got some Interesting results:

 

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: < 0.25ppm ( I would say it is barely over 0ppm)

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: 80-160ppm

 

It buffer the ph lower than I would expected, remain to be seen how long it stays that way.  As for the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates; I added the recommended dose of Cycle to the tank and the biological media as taken straight from the UF bed of one of my shrimp tanks that I torn down the previous.  Plus, the stock ehiem filter was running right up to when i took the tank down to redo it so not sure what to make of it; 

 

either: 

1) the new fluval stratum is leaching very little ammonia and the nitrates are from my old filter media

2) the combination of cycle and old media is converting the ammonia to nitrite to nitrates at a rapid pace

3) it leeches very little ammonia and the "nutrients" that this it is suppose to have is contributing the the high nitrates

 

I guess I should have tested this with brand new media to control the variables but than again I rarely do so when setting up a tank.  

 

I was hoping the pH would be a bit higher as it it will fill a gap in my substrate lineup but for now the resulting PH is exactly the same as my Amazonia tanks.  Will see how things settle down int he next few days 

[woopderson]

It is very interesting how similar our results are with this substrate. Mine is the exact same cloudiness, but I did not add any cycle starting materials, other than heavily seeded media from another tank. I also found that it was darker, and had a bit of moisture in comparison to Amazonia. Following!

 

 

It has been approx. 24hr since the tank was set up and today the water is fairly cloudy - probably a bacterial bloom as I added a full dose of cycle last night after it was filled with water. It is also a lot lighter in the water, i would say it is comparable to Amazonia so perhaps the foil packing keeps moisture in better and results in the darker colour and less drier look.

 

 

I just tested the water in the Aquastyle 35L and got some Interesting results:

 

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: < 0.25ppm ( I would say it is barely over 0ppm)

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: 80-160ppm

 

It buffer the ph lower than I would expected, remain to be seen how long it stays that way.  As for the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates; I added the recommended dose of Cycle to the tank and the biological media as taken straight from the UF bed of one of my shrimp tanks that I torn down the previous.  Plus, the stock ehiem filter was running right up to when i took the tank down to redo it so not sure what to make of it; 

 

either: 

1) the new fluval stratum is leaching very little ammonia and the nitrates are from my old filter media

2) the combination of cycle and old media is converting the ammonia to nitrite to nitrates at a rapid pace

3) it leeches very little ammonia and the "nutrients" that this it is suppose to have is contributing the the high nitrates

 

I guess I should have tested this with brand new media to control the variables but than again I rarely do so when setting up a tank.  

 

I was hoping the pH would be a bit higher as it it will fill a gap in my substrate lineup but for now the resulting PH is exactly the same as my Amazonia tanks.  Will see how things settle down int he next few days 

[High5's]

I have been using the new Fluval for about 7 months so far I only have good things to say about it.

[Dendrobatez]

Any idea when they changed the formula for stratum? I have been wanting to try it for my next tank but I would rather not get the older stuff.

[woopderson]

This is what the new bag looks like: http://www.fluvalaquatics.com/cache/media/bluemill/products/12695_Fluval-Stratum-8kg-A-Int_1w300-h300.png

The old bag is distinctly different

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/attachments/aquarium-plants/122204d1377186883-fluval-shrimp-strata-fluval.jpg

[jumpsmasher]

quck update, similar to woopderson's tank, my aquastyle 35L cleared up today; pretty much everything remained the same - nitrates seems like they are dropping a bit but are still sky high though 

 

test results for today:

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: < 0.25ppm 

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 80ppm

[jumpsmasher]

Added some plants to the 35L the other day, nitrates continue to drop but looks like the amount went up a bit. Like woodperson's my pH also dropped a bit today

 

pH: 5.5

Ammonia: 0.50ppm 

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 40ppm

[woopderson]

Hey Jump, how's the fluval substrate cycle going? My ammonia and nitrate are processing normally. Ph is staying at 6.4.

[jumpsmasher]

Hey Jump, how's the fluval substrate cycle going? My ammonia and nitrate are processing normally. Ph is staying at 6.4.

 

hey woopderson, sorry been quite busy the past week so haven't been able to test the parameters regularly. Did a do a top up with RO water on the weekend though and tested the water today:

 

Day 10 test results:

pH: 5.5

Ammonia: 0.25ppm 

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 20ppm

 

looks like my pH is holding steady at 5.5 - but I been using RODI water and i haven;t done a water change yet.  It is also still leeching a bit of ammonia.  Nitrates be going down slowly as well, will probably go down more quickly once I do the first water change this weekend (I usually do bi-weekly water changes when cycling)

[woopderson]

Good stuff. Sounds like are progressing at the same rate.

[jumpsmasher]

Did my first water change on the AquaStyle 35L yesterday and tested the water today.  

 

Day 13 test results:

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: 0ppm 

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 20ppm

 

Looks like it has finished leeching ammonia but there is still some nitrates.  The interesting thing is the pH level went up a bit; will be interesting to to see how long the fluval statum will be able to keep buffering and how low it can maintain the pH from the base pH of the water (my RO water is around 6.4).  I have to decide what shrimps i want as well.  Thinking of moving some of my PRL / CRS culls but a bit concern about the temperatures.  So far the temperatures is within range for the winter but they can get quite high in the summers.  Might have to add a fan for the summer.

 

Here is a updated photo of the tank:

[evabug1]

Good looking tank!  Interested in your tank's progress and seeing how the fluval stratum plays out. 

[jumpsmasher]

Good looking tank!  Interested in your tank's progress and seeing how the fluval stratum plays out. 

 

Thanks evabug!  i think the question for me now is how long it will keep buffering  - i know now that it can bring it down fairly low (comparable to ADA Amazonia in that regard) 

[jumpsmasher]

one of my friends asked me to take some photos of my "tier 2" PRLs today; thought I would share as I never posted any photos of them; the colors and patterns are not as nice as my top breeders but some of the juvies might "graduate" to my breeding group one day.  These guys will be going into one of the sections on the top row once those tanks finish cycling in a week or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adult male that didn't make the cut to my top breeders group

 

[chibikaie]

^-^ they look very nice to me!

[Ron]

Great looking, impressive what you've been able to do in a couple of years.

[jumpsmasher]

Finally managed to get some decent pics of my main breeding groups - my top male and as well as a couple of females.

 

My ever elusive male breeder:

 

 

 

and a couple of his females...