My Tanks

Discussion in 'Members Systems' started by BoelderBeestie, Oct 4, 2016.

  1. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    If your sucsess with the discus is anything to go by this will defnitly work. Stunning

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  3. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Ok switched to shrimp king gh+ and ditching the equilibrium. Don't want to chance it.
     
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  4. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Decided to start a new tank for my CRS today. Got a 60L and 8L shrimp king soil, I followed there instructions and made the soil 4cm thick. Will give it some time to cycle and settle. I used RO water and shrimp king GH+ to up the gh and stability for the cycle, the wood came out of a well established tank so that will help it along. I'll add some more plants later on. I searched for a nice clip on light also but didn't find one I liked so will keep hunting. Have a 10w 6500k LED spotlight on it for now. I'll add the shrimp when I'm happy that the tank is stable and cycled properly.

    Parameters:

    Temp 22.5c
    TDS 130
    GH 5
    KH <1
    PH 6

    Here's some pics.

    IMG_20171028_202547.jpg

    IMG_20171028_202826.jpg

    IMG_20171028_202835.jpg

    IMG_20171028_202602.jpg
     
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  5. Discusnut

    Discusnut

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    Nice bro.

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  6. Hendre

    Hendre Polypterus freak

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    Stunning
     
  7. Pezulu

    Pezulu

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    I have converted 5 of my tanks to Prodibio, and think it works very well.
    The granules are all round pellets, making it much better for Corydora than the sharp edged Seachem Flourite.
    One negative of the substrate though, is that it is very light, and you need to take care when topping up water, or even when using a HOB filter, as you can easily cause a crater to form in the substrate.
    Using a vacuum to clean the substrate you also need to take care to use a very light touch, as you can disturb the substrate very easily.

    With regards to the LED light, you could do worse than trying the Zetlight Lancia 4000 590, especially if you use the optional rotating acrylic brackets, and make use of the WiFi options as well.
     
  8. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    @Pezulu will see if I can find one. All the shops I went to only had the boyu crap and I'm in no need of an algae scrubber haha.
     
  9. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Ok so I so I started the tank on Saturday and tested the water before I went to bed and also replaced the sponge from one from the discus tanks. Sunday the parameters where still exactly the same and the water cleared so decided to go for it as this soil doesn't leach. I acclimated the shrimp and in they went. They started to brighten up almost immediately. I also added the rest of the plants and scape. All the wood comes from a well established tank so they have something to graze on. Why wait for a cycle if I already have the means. I'll update if any die. There's 12 now.

    20171029_204409.jpg
    20171029_204402.jpg
    and from the other side
    20171029_204327.jpg
    20171029_204343.jpg

    I also found these two wandering around in one of my other tanks and placed them in the old shrimp tank. One is berried so hopefully I'll have shrimplets soon. These are the only red ones I have left and I'm going to try again. @Pezulu gave me hope haha.

    IMG_20171029_185614.jpg
    IMG_20171029_190704.jpg
     
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  10. Pezulu

    Pezulu

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    You seem to be doing the same as what I mistakenly do in many of my tanks.
    Most of the plants are attached to driftwood, making the use of an expensive substrate unnecessary.
    My heavily planted tank uses a combination of inert black sand and Seachem Flourite.
    I am hoping to rescape it in the near future, replacing the substrate with Prodibio.

    The thing I like about the Prodibio is the StartUp kit that they supply with the substrate.
    It seeds the soil with everything necessary to get the cycle going, as well as the water column, removing harmful chemicals and introducing further beneficial bacteria.

    That said, that new tank looks like a winner.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2017
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  11. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    Looks really nice @BoelderBeestie ..
    I like the effect of the black substrate.. make the shrimp stand out
     
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  12. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Thanks man. Will explain why I went this route.

    I use normal inert substrate for my neos same as you. Crystals need a more acidic water at a ph of around 6 to thrive and breed. The wood didn't make the ph budge from 7.2, not even with RO with a 0 kh, the nitrification is also too low in a shrimp tank to pull it down, after I tried for a month and with no luck I decided enough is enough. They started losing colour as time went by and the last time that happened they died after a few weeks when I had them last year.

    In my discus tanks the nitrification is enough to pull down the ph to 6.5-6.8 with a kh of 1 give or take. When I do a 30% RO change while breeding it goes down to a ph of 5.5-6 with a kh of <1 and tds of 50-60.

    This substrate has no ferts and is shrimp specific for crystals, buffering it to a ph of 6-6.5. In my research they said peat can be used but isn't the way to go in the long run as it's not consistent and thus will affect breeding and the survival rate of the shrimplets.

    I must say it was a breeze to setup, and my water was clear in the morning. The ph, gh and tds is also holding rock solid and hasn't changed. It took me a year to decide on the soil and so far I'm very happy with it. It's one of the products that does exactly what the box says for once.
     
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  13. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Thanks @MariaS can't wait to see babies.
     
  14. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Just some updated pics on how it's going.
    IMG_20171114_172813.jpg

    IMG_20171114_172834.jpg

    IMG_20171114_172845.jpg

    IMG_20171114_172852.jpg

    IMG_20171114_172933.jpg

    IMG_20171114_172953.jpg
     
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  15. Ladysphinx

    Ladysphinx

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    Wes looking really good. Love these ones with the stripe over the eye very pretty

    img_20171114_172852-jpg.jpg
     
  16. Discusnut

    Discusnut

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    Looking good. Where my sample fish.lol

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  17. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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  18. Hendre

    Hendre Polypterus freak

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    Hurrah! That didn't take long
     
  19. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Magical shrimp king soil! and an acceptable temp, TDS and GH of course haha, didn't expect it to happen so soon. The parameters are still the same as the day I set up the tank, I only upped the temp to 23c last week.

    Temp 23c
    TDS 130
    GH 5
    KH <1
    PH 6
     
  20. umarbass

    umarbass

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    Awesome looking tanks!
     
  21. Adhil

    Adhil

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    Boelderbeestie they are look great man, when can we get some from you?


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