Loss of Organic Carbon? (Seachem Excel)

[learner]

Hi guys,

trying out a new office tank with bare minimum equipment and maintainence. Don't want my boss to think that i have so much time that i can afford to maintain and upkeep a fish tank in the office.

Some stats:
1.5 ft tank
Undergravel filter
No base fert (all my tanks are base fert less and most plants are doing well)
Lonestar gravel (about 2-3 cm(
'Williow' Moss - from NA
11W PL clip on light (arghh... got the white/pink tube!!! )

Intend to use it to breed cherry shrimps in the office...

Some problems:
1. Reason why I used the UGF is for circulation. I rather not have a clip-on filter since i think the filter will most likely suck all my baby shrimps...
Hence decided to experiment with the UGF. If I fill up the tank with enough water, i can probably reduce the surface agitation.

Was going to try Seachem Flourish Excel as the source of carbon. I guess the willow moss will probably do ok even without this but just wanted to be extra sure that it will grow quickly.

Problem: Will the surface agitation lead to loss of carbon, like in the case of co2? Chan told me to reduce the surface agitation to reduce loss. But what exactly is 'organic carbon'? Does it escape like dissolved co2?

2. The water level is about 1.5inch from the top of the tank. Will the cherry shrimps jump? Not so sure about cherry shrimps but I've heard of malayan shrimps jumping out of tanks.
Need a cover?

Thanks guys :P

[Sleepy_lancs]

Some people whom used excel had higher mortality rate for shrimps. I think you have to consider the price as well. Not cheap.

[budak]

if you are having low light and plants like moss, forget about the filter totally...... there's an article on low maintenance tanks somewhere in the articles section, and there were a few threads on this topic a few weeks ago....

[loupgarou]

organic carbon is simply some form of a sugar like compound that some plants can consume for a carbon source.

My office tanks (with one betta ) and (4 guppies) (each of which has less than 2 litres of water each), runs on excel, some fluorish , moss, money plant and anubias

[PeterGwee]

A non-CO2/ low light tank basically means a very rich and thick substrate with mulm at the very base to kick start things and no water changes unless prunning/uprooting work is done. The key is to balance fish load/feedings(fertilizers for plants) with the amount of plants(those that can grow in a no CO2 and low light conditions). Water changes can be done every 3-6months...pretty lazy method but limited plant types though.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[joe]

I'm using the smallest Eden internal filter and it works fine. The baby shrimps even survive in the filter!!!

As for the CO2, you can either use low maintenance plants with DIY CO2. Much better option IMO

[quote:ad3338a539="learner"]1. Reason why I used the UGF is for circulation. I rather not have a clip-on filter since i think the filter will most likely suck all my baby shrimps...
Hence decided to experiment with the UGF. If I fill up the tank with enough water, i can probably reduce the surface agitation.

Was going to try Seachem Flourish Excel as the source of carbon. I guess the willow moss will probably do ok even without this but just wanted to be extra sure that it will grow quickly.

Problem: Will the surface agitation lead to loss of carbon, like in the case of co2? Chan told me to reduce the surface agitation to reduce loss. But what exactly is 'organic carbon'? Does it escape like dissolved co2?[/quote:ad3338a539]

Yes, they do jump. And that is if there are fish inside that will nip. I've a 100% shrimp tank and perhaps 1 or 2 jump to death every 3 months.

[quote:ad3338a539="learner"]2. The water level is about 1.5inch from the top of the tank. Will the cherry shrimps jump? Not so sure about cherry shrimps but I've heard of malayan shrimps jumping out of tanks.
Need a cover?[/quote:ad3338a539]

[Plantbrain]

"Hi guys,

trying out a new office tank with bare minimum equipment and maintainence. Don't want my boss to think that i have so much time that i can afford to maintain and upkeep a fish tank in the office. "

Oh this is easy advice, get a new boss.

I have a 4 gal cube, I use a 13w light open top design, no water changes, prune once a month maybe........., a few guppies, snails, shrimp etc, a tiny Azoo filter and that's it, I do feed the tank daily, but that's it.

The tank looks better than the AGA contest nano tanks and it NON CO2.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[TanVincent]

Hi,

I have a 2 feet tank with the following specs....

size: 2 x 1 x 0.75
filter: Eden 316 at 4 hours daily
light: 3x 15w FL at 6 hours daily
gravel : cheap aquarium gravel
base fert : nil
water change : nil (top up water once a week)
dosing : nil
fan : 2 x 6" DC fan

critters : 100+ shrimps (cherries, green, blue, tiger, mosquitoes, started off with 30 shrimps), 4 x lampeyes, 2 x silvertips

plants : java moss, willow moss, nanas, mini nanas, a.coffeefolia, bolbitis, winderluv, java fern, narrow leaf java fern.

This is pretty much a real low tech tank where I only give it a damn when i feel like it. I feel that for a shrimp breeding tank, the less you mess around in the tank, the better it is. Let the tank be as natural as possible.

My 1/2 cents

Cheers
Vincent

plants :

[sotong80]

Hi, am using DIY co2 in my 1 feet tank which contains riccia. Do you think its possible to do away with the DIY co2 and use excel as a sole provider of co2?

Tank: 10 litre
Lighting: 13w pl
Filter: Small Eden filter
Fertilization: 1 drop florish and iron weekly
Water change: 50% weekly