My 2ft tank

[kerwen]

First time setting up planted tank. As beginner, I try to follow the low tech way. For substrate, i used amazonia with power sand. Lighting, I used LED and on for 12hrs daily. For filter, i used eheim classic 150 with sponge & bio ceramic rings as media. I am not familiar with all the plant names, so i just try to add as many plants as possible. For fish, I added 10 cardinal tetra, 3 sae, 2 red snails and 1 sucker fish.

I wish to add red cherry shrimp. Can these shrimp survive in normal environment temp as I am not using chiller.
Any comments do share with me.

[Aquanoob]

I think the straight stem plant beside the driftwood is not a pure aquatic plant, it look like belongs to the Dracaena family like the Chinese New Year
Lucky bamboo.

[bluebubbles]

You can install inexpensive fan to bring down the temperature to below 2-3degree from room temperature. Thereafter no harm adding cherry or sakura shrimps.

[KITTY]

Hi kerwen,

where do u get the hairgrass like at your background on your right?

[Shadow]

that is not hairgrass, it look like Eriocaulon species

[kerwen]

You can install inexpensive fan to bring down the temperature to below 2-3degree from room temperature. Thereafter no harm adding cherry or sakura shrimps.

I see, thanks. I will try to read up more before getting the shrimps. Think they are sensitive to water conditions ... don't wish to kill innocent lives haha
Besides, do you think the sae will attack the shrimps? I don't think the cardinals will.

[kerwen]

Hi kerwen,

where do u get the hairgrass like at your background on your right?

I bought it from jalan kayu, seletar farmway 1. I didnt take note of the name of the place though

[bluebubbles]

I see, thanks. I will try to read up more before getting the shrimps. Think they are sensitive to water conditions ... don't wish to kill innocent lives haha
Besides, do you think the sae will attack the shrimps? I don't think the cardinals will.

I believe most algae eaters are harmless to shrimp and their shrimplets. I don't keep SAE so I am not too sure. Cherry and Sakura are not so demanding shrimp, if based on the set-up in the photo, I believe they could thrive and spawn. If you are into shrimp, it is good to read more before buying. Cooler water is also good for both plants and shrimps.

Oh, so the "hairgrass" on the background was bought from farmway. Did you see my fingerprint on the plastic bag, I was holding it and undecided whether to buy. I think it was the last bag....hahaha

[kerwen]

I believe most algae eaters are harmless to shrimp and their shrimplets. I don't keep SAE so I am not too sure. Cherry and Sakura are not so demanding shrimp, if based on the set-up in the photo, I believe they could thrive and spawn. If you are into shrimp, it is good to read more before buying. Cooler water is also good for both plants and shrimps.

Oh, so the "hairgrass" on the background was bought from farmway. Did you see my fingerprint on the plastic bag, I was holding it and undecided whether to buy. I think it was the last bag....hahaha

Maybe you will see my fingerprint instead... coz when i bot it, there were a couple of hairgrass on the shelf ... lol.
Back to shrimp, anyone tried keeping under normal water temp without fan/chiller? I bought some floating plant, and if i use the fan, these plants will be flying all around in the tank

[bluebubbles]

Your tank looks exactly the same as mine. How much did you get your eheim classic 150 and where can I buy it. Was it noisy? I am currently using Eden 501 for my 2 feet tank.

[wongce]

My tank is at normal ambient temperature, 28-29 degrees...so far sakuras are surviving although some went missing during the first week..currently their numbers are stable, no casualty for 2 week already. they are quite hardy unless something eat them.

SAE don't disturb sakura..but i'm not sure about shirmplets though.. I have a fan recommended by bluebubbles.. works great so far.. how you produce such a wind that blow your plants around? Let me know, i'm trying to get a powerful fan...LOL.. i don't think normal sized aquarium fan can blow your plants and make them flying around except for oversize filter or wavemakers

[KITTY]

HI SHADOW, '

I mean hairgrass look alike- but i dont know the species of that, use that as a descirbe thanks

[KITTY]

hi kerwen, that's seaview

[bluebubbles]

SAE don't disturb sakura..but i'm not sure about shirmplets though.. I have a fan recommended by bluebubbles.. works great so far.. how you produce such a wind that blow your plants around? Let me know, i'm trying to get a powerful fan...LOL.. i don't think normal sized aquarium fan can blow your plants and make them flying around except for oversize filter or wavemakers

I think he meant floating plants like frogbits or plants that float on water surface and the fans that blowed on the water surface will push them to one corner. Sometime the floating food on water sufrace also swirled, because of the fan, before they sank.

What I did was to buy a floating feeder (usually meant to trap floating foods for fish) and put all my frogbits inside to avoid them moving around too freely. Usually I tried to avoid floating plants because they tend to block the lights to the bottom plants. I heard people used floating plants to absorb execessive nutrients thus prevent algae from thriving....hmmm

[kerwen]

Your tank looks exactly the same as mine. How much did you get your eheim classic 150 and where can I buy it. Was it noisy? I am currently using Eden 501 for my 2 feet tank.

i bot from the shop in jalan kayu (seaview?) ... price tag put 84 but aft discount about 75+/-
I don't have any reference but to me it is very quiet.

[kerwen]

I think he meant floating plants like frogbits or plants that float on water surface and the fans that blowed on the water surface will push them to one corner. Sometime the floating food on water sufrace also swirled, because of the fan, before they sank.

What I did was to buy a floating feeder (usually meant to trap floating foods for fish) and put all my frogbits inside to avoid them moving around too freely. Usually I tried to avoid floating plants because they tend to block the lights to the bottom plants. I heard people used floating plants to absorb execessive nutrients thus prevent algae from thriving....hmmm

Yes, i meant floating plants... think the plant i got is duckweed. When i adjust the rainbar to agitate the water surface, it was like raining duckweed to the bottom of the tank and got all the fish to be excited... so in the end, i adjusted the position of the holes abit lower and the duckweeds just swirling in circles now. I read somewhere these floating plants will limit algae growth and that's why i got it. Is it myth or proven theory?

[bluebubbles]

i bot from the shop in jalan kayu (seaview?) ... price tag put 84 but aft discount about 75+/-
I don't have any reference but to me it is very quiet.

Sound reasonable equipment. I have seen Eheim around that price but didn't come with media. Media need to be bought separately. Will bookmark this item if someday my 2ft tank bioload is beyond my Eden to handle.

With regard to floating plants, many people have been talking about it for years, so I believed it is true they absorbed nutrients to prevent algae strike. Personally I don't like floating plants, they can become messy when they overgrown.

[kerwen]

Sound reasonable equipment. I have seen Eheim around that price but didn't come with media. Media need to be bought separately. Will bookmark this item if someday my 2ft tank bioload is beyond my Eden to handle.

yes, it comes with 1 coarse & 1 fine mech media only. The bio media have to buy separately

[benjidog]

I think you should take out the duckweed. It will multiply really fast and block out the light.
If you get some frog bits, DIY and use a sytroform food tray(you can use a black color tray) , cut out the middle portion, put the floating plants in the cut out space in the tray and the plants will not go everywhere.

I have kept sakura shrimps in non chilled conditions(28-29 degrees) and without a cooling fan in a one feet cube, and another set of sakuras in another one feet cube with a cooling fan.

Both bags of 10 sakuras were brought at the same time.

After a couple of months, the sakuras in both tanks had spawned.
However the colors of the original shrimps and their shrimplets were redder in the tank with the cooling fan.

The difference of about 2 degrees celsius can make a big difference to the overall health and colors.

In conclusion, you can keep cherry or Sakuras in non chilled, no cooling fan conditions, although the cooler temperature seems to keep colors redder.


If you use a cooling fan, the temperature can be brought down to 26-27 degrees but you require topping up of water.

[wongce]

Normal hornwarts ( i see you already have them) are great NO3 absorbers, Floating plants will block the crucial lights for bottom plants, unless you have severe NO3 prob, there is no need to have floating plants in normal aquarium, i would always prefer hornwarts as they are great as background plants, and you get new bunch of hornwarts every 3-4 weeks when you trim them..lol..

No need to be worry about of NO3 unless they are more than 20ppm. Add plants, WC, less bioload will help to get the ecosystem going in your tank, i only do 10% WC when the water is yellowish or smells funny (about once a month).. as long the plants and fauna are ok, no need to worry so much, that's the beauty of LOW TECH Tank...

If you worry about temperature, get a fan from NA...KOTOBUKI fan works great for me, stick to the glass side,powerful and quiet...you can have cherry/sakura in room temp(+-29) without problem although 25deg is always better though.. get some cherry to start off first before you try more expensive shrimps....

Yamato shrimps are also good as starter shrimps but be warned, they eat both algae and plants...and they are big bully as they will snatch food and scare off other fishes or shrimps with their large size..