New to CRS, my 1st shrimp tank

[AquaDean]

Well I've been lurking about on Shrimp Now for a while now and have enjoyed the hours of reading the long lost and probably forgotten list of posts. I put my introduction in the intro area so won't duplicate here. I'm new to shrimp though and set up my first tank about a month ago. It is a 4 gallon Finex Nano tank and the below pictures show it at 4 weeks. I'm using a Zoo Med 501 canister filter with the sponge, Eheim substrat pro, and a small bag of Purigen. I made my own intake and exaust tubes from acrylic tubing (I'm a little on the DIY side also) and I'm using CO2 for the plants. Being a little on the impatient side, I quick cycled it using old filter media and Nutrafin Cycle. Plus lots of water changes and careful testing. I used some white clouds to be sure the tank was "shrimp ready".

I put eight images in the Shrimp and Shrimp Tank Gallery because I don't have enough post to place them here yet. But take a look and let me know how I'm doing so far.

[retardo]

Nice start... Are those Eriocaulon sp. Australian Red/Blood, or Trithuria sp. (not sure if it's been reclassified yet) in your pix?

[louuu]

Nice tank... nice shrimps... thick white and vivd red...

[AquaDean]

Retardo -- I purchased that as Australian Red/Blood just because it looked like a neat little plant. The two larger ones have doubled in size since I added the CO2. The smaller one only has one skinny litte root and keeps coming out as the shrimp climb over it. I might need to take it out and see if I can get it rooted better. We'll see.

Louuu -- Thank you, I couldn't find any good shrimp at the LHS so had to buy online and have them shipped. No losses in the shippind even though it is only 50F this time of year. But did loose a couple about a week or so later. I figured being new to this I'd have a few losses.

[AquaDean]

I should give another note about my setup. I am using Aqua Soil- Amazonia II but I’ve probably done it all unconventionally. I put the soil that I was going to use in a bucket and filled it with de-chlorinated water, stirred it up really good, and let it soak for a day or two. Then I took it out and rinsed it a couple times before putting it in the tank. It is about an inch deep in the back of the tank and a half inch in the front. I pushed it away from the front and sides and then covered it with the fine black gravel. Again being a little impatient I didn’t want to wait for tank to clear like I’ve seen many others do. However for my next tank (yes, I’ve got my mind set on a larger shrimp tank) I think I’ll just use the Aqua Soil- Amazonia II and go through the whole process of waiting for the water to clear.

[dxiong5]

Hm, check your water parameters. Did the tank fully cycle before you added the shrimp? There is usually an ammonia spike when using ADA Aquasoil.

[AquaDean]

I have been checking the parameters at least every other day.

Ammonia -- 0
Nitrite -- 0
Nitrate -- 0
Ph -- 6.2 - 6.6
Kh -- 1
Gh -- 7

Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate haven't changed at all after the 2nd week. I even have two different Ammonia test kits. Ph has changed a little but with the CO2 it might be the time of day I'm testing. I've been trying to slowly raise the Gh up to 10 or 12 using Gh builder and mineral powder but it seems to just stay right around 7. I've been thinking of putting a little crushed coral in the filter to see if that would do it. Is there any downside to using crushed coral?

[louuu]

Hi AquaDean,

Using coral chips is a very slow process... anyway GH 7 seems ok for CRS... but CO2 may not be so, esp in a nano as the crs require well oxygenated water... i had encountered CO2 poisioning before and now no longer use it...
I choose the shrimps over the plants... now using slow growing plants... ferns, moss and some liverwort only...

By the way u can use this very useful link on Water Management and Conditioning by Retardo to help u decide...

[AquaDean]

Thanks for the link louuu, I’d already read that but went back and read it over again. I’ll leave the coral out for now as the tank is staying pretty stable. I’ll also cut back on the CO2 some and just got a solenoid so it is now completely off at night.

I think that the water gets pretty well oxygenated because the return pipe from my filter is under the water surface but pointing up towards the surface so that the surface is always be roiled or disturbed. I think that makes sense?

A question that has been on my mind is; do some young shrimp get stunted or stay as small runts? I’ve only been able to get good CRS by purchasing online and while almost all of the shrimp have grown to around ¾” (2 cm) two of them have stayed small around 3/8” (1 cm). I’ve watched them go after the food and eat but don’t see any growth in these two.

When you say ferns are you referring to Java Ferns or are there others?