My first attempt of setting up a iwagumi scape

[cw1985]

This tank started on 20 June 2015. Previously I did try out a low tech tank but decided to upgrade to a high tech tank when seeing so many beautiful tank set up by many bros here. I like something simple thus I chose iwagumi as my tank design. I used 3 big pieces of black lava rock with Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' as the main carpet plant. I wanted to create a mountain landscape.

A special Thank to bros UA for answering a lot of my doubts during my planning for this tank set up. Sorry UA, I using your tank introduction to explain my tank stats because I don't know what to include.

Here are my tank stats:

Tank Size: 60cm x 45cm x 45cm
Substrate: I have no idea what soil I am using because I only told the uncle from Yishun fish shop and he packed 3 different kind of soil for me. From bigger size particles at bottom, medium in middle then follow by fine soil on top layer.

Filter System: Atman CF-1200 pressurized canister filter + OF Surface skimmer
Filter Media: Seachem Matrix
Temperature: 29-30°C (Day) / 27-28°C (Night)

Lighting: Beamswork high lumen 60 LED, but I changed to T5HO because LED was not bright enough to reach my tank base.
Light Duration: 8 hours (8pm-4am)

Pressurized Co2: ANS Co2 System + DIY CO2 Reactor using Dymax power head PH 600 / 1bps / 30ppm
Co2 Duration: 8 hours (8pm-4am)
Fertilizer: Flourish Comprehensive (During water change on Sunday) + Flourish Iron (1 ml on Mon, Wed, Fri) + Flourish Potassium (1 ml on Tue, Thur, Sat)
Fan/Chiller: 12 walts fan/None

Water Change Regime: 30% Weekly

Water Parameters (Cycled):
Tested using API Freshwater Master Test Kit
pH = 7.4
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 5-10 ppm

DIY

I used a contact lens storage to make the shrimp feeding bowl

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2 weeks (30 June 2015) after the set up of the tank

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image 1.jpg

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I tested the tank by putting some cherry shrimps and 3 guppies into the tank. All shrimps none survived. I still in the progress of finding out what has caused their death. The guppies look fine to me. Will update again weekly.
Thank you for reading.

[Dscheng]

Ammonia reading might be 0 but doesn't mean that your tank has cycled. My suggestion is don't put any shrimp first, let your water cycle at least a month. By the way your rocks will buffer your PH and TDS reading. Best is to find lava rocks if you are serious about shrimp keeping. You also need to measure KH, GH and TDS. Once your water parameter is stable, then slowly introduce some hardy shrimp like Yamato / Malayan.

Cherry red shrimp idea parameters.

PH: 6.4~7.6
KH: 0~10
GH: 4~14
TDS: 80~200

[Urban Aquaria]

Perhaps check your pH again... your listed pH as 7.4, with aquarium soil they usually buffer the pH to slightly acidic levels (around 6.0-6.8 ).

If your pH is still high when using aquarium soil, it could be due to the soil being relatively inert (may need to add in more ferts to support the plant growth) or the rocks themselves are pushing up the pH, so its best to check to get a better idea of the tank conditions.