Starting fresh

added two white cloud mountain minnow

 

hey do you still have that spare sodastream adapter?
\

 

@carl leathwhite check https://www.brewkegtap.co.za/online-store/Sodastream-60-Deluxe-adapter-p122991806

For 30 and 60 sodastream bottle,

Mine is still working perfectly, I'll post a video after I clean and trim the tank this afternoon

 

i have one but i broke the boring that fits inside do you know where I could get one ?

 

My Model 60 bottle has big thick threads but the adapters in the photos show small threads. What kinds of threads do your bottles have?\

 

Update on the tank

 

Wowww

 

Looking lovely

 

Very nice setup you got there

 

Added 2 Blue bolts on Saturday

I've been wanting these shrimp for a while now....

They juvenile shrimp, compared to the Red cherries

Hoping all goes well and I'll update later on to see how they doing...

I can see I ended up with a Female and Male white cloud, their differences are clearer now expectating some spawning late September? Anyone know about the minnows and breeding?


I am able to keep the Tank between 21 and 18degrees without a heater, I keep my bedroom heated now in winter.

But otherwise hope everyone else is enjoying their tank, tanks...

 

Some pictures after yesterday's trim,

Added a small piece of hard dry wood, it's not like the driftwood I had in my previous tanks,

Boiled and left in water over night I've added it to the tank

 

Love that aged look on the wood....nice natural contrast to its surroundings. Very nice indeed!

 

As a new week starts I hope everyone is doing well

I haven't added updated pictures and videos of the tank lately, but I will soon and it looks a bit different!

Anyway, saw this picture earlier and thought about all the other shrimp keepers

 

Tuesday evening looking at the tank I noticed two shrimp sitting on some wood close to the surface of the tank,

I didn't think much of it,

Wednesday early morning I had my usual get outta bed and go wee routine, on my way back to get in bed It felt like I stood on something crunchy.....

I lifted my foot to see what I had stood on and there was one of my cherry shrimp! I ended the shrimps life quickly when I saw it was too late and damage was caused, also don't know how long it was on the floor for, was still wet but I dunno... If that was after I stood on it...

Quickly switching on lights to see where all the other shrimp were I noticed they were also close to the surface as well as the two mountain clouds swimming like guppies when they eat floaty flake surface food. The nerite snail was out the water, but still on a piece of wood coming out of the water

All trying to get oxygen obviously... Or better water

So, why I'm going into detail about this is the tank has been without a source of oxygen from the start, about the beginning of the year

No air pump, air stone or additional source of oxygen... Apart from what the plants release?

All this time the tank and plants have been thriving with the co2, ferts, soil and a consistent 8hr light cycle so I thought it must be okay without additional oxygen?

I think the oxygen levels slowly depleted over time, keep in mind I look at my tank everyday and closely at the shrimp so I'll notice something,

So found a cheap solution to this, if you have a canister filter and don't mind the noise to much, you can also do this to get oxygen into your tank quickly....

Drilled a small hole into the top of the outlet pipe to the tank, using some air tubing, some oxygen, air is pulled through and runs out with the water,

I can see this doesn't effect the filters performance in anyway?

Am going to use some course foam to eventually silence the air noise, or get a air stone going!

Am now keeping it like this until further,

co2 during the day when the lights are on but oxygen all the time while the filter is working

I am happy to see the shreemp, snail and fishes are enjoying the oxygen and are not at the surface or out the water!

I have had airstones in my previous tanks and heaters so me being careless and seeing that the plants were okay I thought everything else was and I didn't need to add oxygen


All my previous tank never had soil, ferts, and plants only now

I guess to have balance, you need all of this for a happy tank don't just assume everything is going good in there

I'll post some pics below, and more of the tank this weekend after a trim and clean.

 

Bubbles