stormhawk's shrimp adventures

[Jovel]

I read some bad reviews on water buffers, what I recommend is try not to add it to the main tank itself but dissolve in an external source. Tried a few times, and it seems like every time I used it, still some deaths will come, whether is it the buffer or not, I can't really confirm, but they seem to be healthier when I didn't keep trying to maintain the parameters.

Take note that cichlid buffers increases GH as well.

I still think, it'll be best to maintain parameters naturally. Well, we'll all find a way Been thinking of trying out Beni Golden Soil as well, will be rooting in the thread for Bro stormhawk here A question thou, does the soil buffers the PH at 7.2 by not letting the PH to drop below that certain level or by capping the increase to max 7.2? Or is it just a rough gauge of neutral water? Hope some Tiger shrimp bros here can share some insights on this soil as well.

All the best bro! excited to see the tank mature, try to culture some GDA on that tree, and a sponge filter perhaps? they'll love grazing on them. Cheers!

[chansl]

I read some bad reviews on water buffers, what I recommend is try not to add it to the main tank itself but dissolve in an external source. Tried a few times, and it seems like every time I used it, still some deaths will come, whether is it the buffer or not, I can't really confirm, but they seem to be healthier when I didn't keep trying to maintain the parameters.

Take note that cichlid buffers increases GH as well.

I still think, it'll be best to maintain parameters naturally. Well, we'll all find a way Been thinking of trying out Beni Golden Soil as well, will be rooting in the thread for Bro stormhawk here A question thou, does the soil buffers the PH at 7.2 by not letting the PH to drop below that certain level or by capping the increase to max 7.2? Or is it just a rough gauge of neutral water? Hope some Tiger shrimp bros here can share some insights on this soil as well.

All the best bro! excited to see the tank mature, try to culture some GDA on that tree, and a sponge filter perhaps? they'll love grazing on them. Cheers!

Malawi Cichlid buffer solution rise GH level too !!!! Are you sure as i was going to purchase that thinking that it will only rise ph but gh .. lol

[mincedmeat]

I used it twice (the buffer I mean), once with pinches of it (didn't had a measuring spoon then) and the other time almost a teaspoon worth of it was mixed in the aquarium water before adding into the tank. Current pH range from 7.6 - 8, gH 6-10 and kH 6 (I would believe so). The tests were done with the Sera strip test and may not be the final indicative results one might obtain with the test kit.

Not too sure if these values were altered because of the buffer because I added in coral sand, coral chips, mosura old sea mud powder and hayashi micro bacter.

[chansl]

But base on the seachem website ..

http://www.seachem.com/support/forum...ead.php?t=2084

They mentioned that it wont raise GH or KH. Any bros could advise on this ? I haven use it yet but intending to as i am setting up a sulawesi tank

[stormhawk]

I think zenith82 has used this product to good effect, however, not everyone's experiences may be the same. It is crucial to get the dosage right with this product I think. If you have coral chips or sand in the tank, I don't think you'll need it much.

Right now I'm toying with the idea of re-doing the Sulawesi tank with a low-type 2ft tank, given that a tank this small may be harder to control the water parameters.

[Matt]

Yay! Stormhawk took the plunge! Anyhoo, agree with Matt on that it just lacks the greens. I have some lava rocks lying around. Let me know if you need them...

Since we are on the topic of Sulas, and that Bro Matt has an MO going on, I thought I'd share this website I chanced upon for any newbies who are curious to see the different types of Sula shrimps and snails. It's pretty cool!

http://www.aristocratama.com/

I'm still checking my water parameters. Do my dismay, everything but the pH is high (pH now at 7.6). I am dutifully doing water change with distilled water bit by bit.

Agree that this website serves a good pictorial reference for the different species of shrimps and snails in Sulawesi.

[Draka]

There's a small pocket behind the driftwood where I can dump my coral chips without disturbing the layout of the tank, but I may opt to place the chips directly in the Eden 501 for better effects.

Hmm, putting directly sounds better as flow of water and thus buffering will be better. Interesting (and a little disappointing) that the golden soil is inert though.

[stormhawk]

Current tank parameters (did not measure all)

pH 6.7
Ammonia 2 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm

Ammonia went up. The driftwood is producing some brownish gunk at the water surface. I might just go without this driftwood and redo everything else with a 2ft low tank.

[silane]

silane, I thought they are fine with less plants? I took the videos on Youtube as a rough guide in planning for this tank. I might get some Java moss for this tank at a later date.

They can do without plant, but plant offer better water quality and in high pH tank, there is a presence of NH3, so better use lot of plant.

[xconnect.]

They can do without plant, but plant offer better water quality and in high pH tank, there is a presence of NH3, so better use lot of plant.

For sulewesi tanks what kind of plant can we put? Curious

[stormhawk]

I did a search earlier on other plant forums for plants that are suitable for high pH and hard water conditions:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lo...ard-water.html

Of the species mentioned, I'd probably go with Vallisneria since they're super easy. I have to go back to the drawing board and redo the tank again.

[mincedmeat]

I have Bacopa caroliniana in my planted tank (i think it is based on pictures I googled of it). Will give it a try in the sulawesi tank and let you know. My gut feel is that it might need soil to grow in and not just sand.

[Shi Xuan]

I have to go back to the drawing board and redo the tank again.

Jianyang, maybe you can get some inspiration from this link, I've posted a while ago in another thread as well;
http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/show...2%B4s-new-tank

[stormhawk]

Gave me some ideas, thanks. I got a plan in mind for the rescape with a new tank, but will only start over the weekend.

[RonWill]

I got a plan in mind for the rescape with a new tank...

Re-doing everything so soon?? Looks like you need a larger drawing board!

[Shi Xuan]

Re-doing everything so soon?? Looks like you need a larger drawing board!

Jianyang's tank setup looks fine, but I think he should have done it vice versa, with big rocks and smaller wood pieces, to give it a Sulawesi conventional-looking tank.

[stormhawk]

I like the driftwood for various reasons, but it looks great anyway. Only thing, now some sort of algae has formed over the upper section of the wood, and is growing on some of the rocks. Water is clearing up significantly but the brownish foam produced is uh... icky.

[stormhawk]

Current tank parameters Day 3:

With API test kits:-
pH 6.8
Ammonia 2.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0

pH pen gives a reading of 6.9

With Sera test kits:-
GH 4
KH 1
Chlorine 0

KH went down by half over the past 3 days. I guess the soil may be buffering the pH after all. It should be counteracting the effects of the driftwood.

[chansl]

The world is so weird .. When we try to do up a crs tank .. It is hard to bring down ph as the ph is always so high .. When we try to do a sulawesi tank, the ph is hard to bring up .. LOL ... life is tough ... I had 2 tanks , crs tank has high gh of 6 and still cycling .. sulawesi tank i dont dare to test ... Maybe after cycling a while then i test .. hehe

[stormhawk]

chansl, I haven't done anything to this tank, and it is fairly easy to get the pH up with a little bit of coral chips, because my water is soft. Some parts of Singapore have tap water with different values.



Day 3 and the fungus is visible in this picture if you look hard enough. Clarity is much better today.



The gunk I scooped out of the tank with my finger. Brownish stuff caused by the driftwood and making some brown colored foam along the water line.



The fungus I was referring to. This patch of fungus is closest to the light, and was whitish grey initially, now a little brown at the base and dark grey at the ends. There are patches of whitish globular fungus all over the top half of the wood.

Reason why I didn't use big rocks in this tank was lack of space, and the potential for a dead spot to form underneath a big chunk of rock.