Questions - New Tank 60x30x24cm

[ConcaveLiNkiN]

The question on anti-chlorine. Some of the guys here did not believe in anti-chlorine as well, they had successfully done water changes without anti-chlorine for years with no casualty. For me, I was using ocean-free, one of the cheapest anti-chlorine you can find in the market. Everytime, I did a water change, one of my cutey oto moved on. It was when my otos were reduced from 5 to 2. I got a better quality anti-chlorine (could not remember the brand), they stop dying.

If you ask me, I would rather be safe than sorry, afterall it is a life we are talking about here. 1 wrong move and it is a life that is lost. I could not afford that.

[Urban Aquaria]

Try dosing some trace/micro ferts, those usually deplete faster than macro nutrients.

Shrimp soil usually has less nutrients than say soil designed for planted tanks (ie. ADA aquasoil), but it can be easily supplemented by dosing fertilizers into the water column or injecting root tabs when necessary.

You should definitely use good quality anti-chlorine/anti-chloramine to treat all water introduced into the tank... if not, chlorine/chloramine will kill the beneficial bacteria and disrupt your tanks cycle. The fluctuations and toxic spikes that occur after that are what affect fishes and shrimps (unless those very hardy species or have been used to such water conditions).

[tcg170980]

IMG_0249[1].jpg
do not know how to rotate..

[tcg170980]

and my small tank have oil at the surface. only can use surface skimmer?

[fateddee]

and my small tank have oil at the surface. only can use surface skimmer?

A surface skimmer can help.
Alternatively you can raise the outflow to ensure that there is sufficient surface agitation (better if u do this outside the photoperiod to prevent loss of Co2)
Frequent (small) water changes will help too

[erwinx]

Surface skimmers take up quite a bit of space. If your tank is small, you can consider DIY your own surface skimmer. One quick way is to use a 16/22mm hose with a 12/16mm intake as shown in the photo above. The outer hose draws the water at the surface down into the intake. The only disadvantage is that if the water level drops below the hose, then it won't skim the surface (but it'll still work as a normal filter). I do a mid-week water topup so the skimmer has never stopped working for me.

After you confirm that the hose method works, you can improve the looks by hunting for a clear acrylic pipe and using it instead of a 16/22 hose (there's a separate thread on this somewhere).

[thebaldingaquarist]

Actually, from the pic, is it 60X30X24?
or is it because its the side view in the picture?

like what Urban Aquaria mentioned, shrimp soil has little nutrients. the nature of the soil is to preserve water parameters for shrimps. If you want it to be fertile, best is to add root ferts and dose the water column with fertilizers.

protein file (oil film) issue can be resolve by pointing the rain bar holes towards the surface. causing agitation. agitation of the water surface will cause more air exchange, which leads to loss of CO2, so you may need to crank up your CO2 if you see that CO2 is low.

speaking of the rainbar, how come the rain bar is in the middle of the tank?

[tcg170980]

Hi Erctheanda,

I posted this question for my other tank. The one i asked is for 30*30*40H.
I am using UP external hang on filter. the flow is strong and i need to adjust the outflow. but because of the tank height, its not working well and had dead spot.
so i replace the orignal rainbar with my spare eheim rainbar which is too long but managed to cover the whole tank. Although unsightly but it works.

[tcg170980]

Hi Guys,

Last week when i tested my PH its a 7 so to bring down PH i on CO2 for 24hrs daily.
Bought my API KH test kit and it seems that my KH is quite high. It only turn yellow after 8-9 drops.

Is it due to my rocks? my 2ft tank is laid with rocks the entire bottom.
my tank is now into its 4/5 weeks.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yeah, most rocks will usually raise pH and kH over time... i guess if you have a higher rock to water volume ratio, the effects would tend to be more pronounced sooner.