2ft Low tech rescape. ideas?

**georgelam** · 11th Dec 2014, 23:46

Yup phillipians i agree with you. Thats the kind of aquascape that i am trying to achieve. Thus the use of lots of nana, ferns, moss.
I did find a nerite snail from the plants i got from fellow AQ member haha. Lucky me. Most of my plants are rather basic and so far i found nothing that will die from excel. Hopefully all goes well.

Just an update to what i have done, I added root monster to supplement the nutrients in the substrate as my soil is quite old(more than 1 year).

Some tank specs and new fert regime:
Up aqua pro Z. Photo period from 10-6 (8hrs daily)
No Co2 injection.
1ml eiho liquid carbo at start of photo period
1ml seachem flourish every sunday after water change(20%-30%)

I hope my monte carlo grow as easily as your fireblade.

Any suggestions on what else i can do?

**ichise** · 12th Dec 2014, 09:49

Hi ,
you can add Potassium (K)

**georgelam** · 17th Jan 2015, 14:20

Updates! Monte Carlo spreading.. But algae keeps appearing. Anyone can identify can recommend a cure? Seems likes theres 2 types of algae..

more algae.jpg

**Urban Aquaria** · 17th Jan 2015, 14:58

Originally Posted by georgelam

Updates! Monte Carlo spreading.. But algae keeps appearing. Anyone can identify can recommend a cure? Seems likes theres 2 types of algae..

more algae.jpg

For those type of algae, an army of cherry shrimps (ie. 40-50) would usually be able to do the job... though i noticed in your earlier posts that there are rams and apistos in the tank too, so maybe go for a team of amano shrimps instead (ie. 8-10), they are larger in size so less likely to be eaten before they can do their jobs.

Dosing a course of anti-algae treatment (ie. AlgExit) could also be done concurrently, it'll help inhibit algae growth and speed up the shrimps algae removal process.

**georgelam** · 17th Jan 2015, 19:01

Thanks UA for replying! I can't seem to post anymore pictures.

Anyway, I have a bottle of algae remover by ista and have completely no idea how to dose it. I'm trying to spot dose liquid carbo at places where algae seems to grow. But it has little effect. Guess ill try the algae remover.

I would like to try out amano shrimps too. Do you know where i can find some? i am always confused by the shrimps i see at LFS. Not sure if the bigger shrimps are yamato, amano, malayan... So many types. By the way, I do have some normal grade cherries in the tank. They come out to graze when i off the tank lights. Really cute shrimps.

**Urban Aquaria** · 17th Jan 2015, 19:23

Originally Posted by georgelam

I would like to try out amano shrimps too. Do you know where i can find some? i am always confused by the shrimps i see at LFS. Not sure if the bigger shrimps are yamato, amano, malayan... So many types.

You can get amano shrimps from places like C328 or Seaview... usually they are sold in bags of 10pcs for $8. Nowadays i notice those LFS are selling a version labelled as "wild yamato shrimps" which have nice dots and stripes, looks quite nice.

Originally Posted by georgelam

By the way, I do have some normal grade cherries in the tank. They come out to graze when i off the tank lights. Really cute shrimps.

The existing cherry shrimps in your tank should be eating some of the algae, though i guess there probably isn't enough of them to make a dent in the algae mass at the moment (the algae grow faster than they can eat), and if they are not actively grazing in the day and only at night (probably due to hiding from the fishes), then their algae clearing efficiency is also reduced.

You'll need alot more shrimps... or larger and braver shrimps.

**georgelam** · 21st Jan 2015, 18:35

Ok. So I just visited c328. And saw 2 types of Yamato shrimps. Yamato wild and Yamato. The Yamato wild shrimp was more pricey and it was about the size of a cherry shrimp. I asked the Aunty and she said that it wouldn't grow anymore. Which was confusing since I thought yamatos are larger.

The other bag of Yamato was huge! Each of them was about 2inches in size. I didn't expect them to be that big. Which deterred me from buying as it would make my tank look much smaller than it already is.

Is this normal for Yamato shrimps? Isn't there some thing In between? About 1in. I'm starting to lean towards getting an army of cherries. Which from what I read could be cheaper if purchased in bulk. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Urban Aquaria** · 21st Jan 2015, 20:12

I saw those bags of yamato shrimps at C328 too... what i guess is the "wild" versions are probably younger (and hence smaller) specimens compared to the normal versions.

Wild shrimps also rarely grow as large too, as few of them survive long enough in nature before getting eaten by predators anyways.... compared to commercial bred ones which get plenty of food and safe environment.

If you want to preserve the sense of scale in your tank, then cherry shrimps would be more suitable, you'll just have to stock alot more of them to get the equivalent algae management effect.

Advantage with cherry shrimps is they can breed and increase (or at least somewhat maintain) their population over time, compared to yamayo shrimps which can't breed in freshwater.

**georgelam** · 21st Jan 2015, 20:16

That was what I was thinking too. If I were to get wild Yamato I might as well get cherry. Then I started reading about Malayan shrimps. Which are sold in large quantity at affordable prices, exactly what I need. Haha. Would you know where to get them? Thanks for all the help! Much appreciated.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Urban Aquaria** · 21st Jan 2015, 20:28

You can usually get malayan shrimps at places like C328, Y618 and Seaview... usually packed in 50pc or 100pc bulk bags.

Just have to keep your eyes open for their availability, as those shrimps tend to get sold out very quickly.