It's A Jungle Out There (Non-CO2 Planted Setup Pics) (Good reference for beginners)

[Chetan]

Dimensions: 24 inches x 12 inches x 12inches

Lighting: 2 fluorescent tubes. 2 feet. One tube is full-spectrum, the other is violet-blue spectrum (photosynthetic action spectrum) for plant growth

Filter: Resun Cyclone External Filter. But after a couple of months the filter broke (I slipped and fell while carrying the dripping filter for cleaning ). Since then no filter in tank. Replaced it with a 24hr air stone bubble running to keep the tank aerated.

Substrate: Controsoil

CO2: None

Additional Fertilizer: None

Hardscape: Bogwood with lots of tunnels for the shrimp to hide into

Plants: Java moss, Pelia moss, Hydrocotyle, Baby tears, Red Tiger Lotus, Dwarf Sagittaria, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides), Cabomba, Amazon Grass

Fauna:
Cardinal tetra x8-10
Endler's guppy (all male) x4
Red Cherry Shrimp x80+
Crystal Red Shrimp x1 (had 5, but the other 4 died)
Otocinclus x2 (more than that die of starvation)
Assasin Snails x15+ (had initially got 6)
Trumpet Snails
Dwarf Ramshorn Snails

:.: It's A Jungle Out There :.:

[Chetan]

Setup Process:

Got the tank in July 2011. However, the beautiful piece of bogwood was got from an aquarium shop in May.

It had these series of tunnels in it that were perfect for shrimp to hide in till they felt secure enough to venture outside. The holes would also be a safe nursery for the baby shrimp and would greatly help in getting their population up.

On just seeing this wood, it was apparent that a good tank can come of it. I bought it immediately and held onto it for months. The tank wasn't there in the living room yet, but it was already there in my head.

This wood is the centerpiece of the tank's ecosystem.



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My other tank has a top filter, which works out dandy. However the planted tank was intended to be lidless. So had to look at other filters.

So got this neat mini external filter. Takes care of the mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration. It did a great job. Highly recommended.
However, it broke a few months later. No filter in the tank since then. Just added an air stone bubbling for oxygen, and on the surface where the bubble hit I placed a piece of sponge. This takes care of biological filtration.



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Selected Controsoil for the substrate. Had been reading up on it for a few months. It's basically lava soil collected from a volcano in Japan. It maintains the ideal Ph for a shrimp tank, and has good stuff for plants.

Fancy something from molten fire being good for a water project. One of many paradoxes of nature... Haha!



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Poured the controsoil in. Positioned the wood. Added more soil later on to make it 4cms thick.



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A thick thermocol at the base acts as suspension against vertical pressure.



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Positioned in the plants
(There's a banana plant in pic which was later removed. It was too big for the tank, and always floating away. The dwarf amazon plants in the foreground also melted away later.)





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@6.48pm ... poured in the water. fogged up due to the substrate. but the controsoil settles in much faster than regular river sand.



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water cleared by 10.20 pm. also assisted by the filter.



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preparing the pelia moss





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Final startup look on 22 July. No fish yet cos the nitrogen cycle going on. To make the cycle go real fast, had used some water from the other established tank.

Placed a small amount of java moss on the driftwood. This will eventually take over the wood.

Got a dual tubelights placed on top



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There is also a stone on top of the wood to keep it from floating. Will take a week for the water to log in and sink the wood.

Also introduced a few fauna after 6-7 days -- cardinal tetras, endler's guppy, and about 15-20 red cherry shrimp. The shrimp were just transferred from the other tank. They were always hiding in the other tank scared of all the predators about. In this tank however they should come out easily cos the fish chosen will not harm them.

[Chetan]

Time Lapse Pics:

And here's how the tank evolved over time ...

Tank snapshot: 22 July 2011

Right after setup



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Tank snapshot: 29 July 2011

After introducing the fish and shrimp along with some more plants



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Tank snapshot: Aug 2011

Making its way up.



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Tank snapshot: Sept 2011

Getting greener and greener



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Tank snapshot: Dec 2011

It's a jungle a out there!

[Chetan]

More Pics:









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The shrimp all out eating an algae wafer treat along with the otocinclus. Can count around 60 of them in this frame alone.



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That's how 20 shrimp became 100+ in a few months.
(btw its very rare to catch em at it during the day)



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And that's a shot of how the plants multiplied.
(Specimen: dwarf sagittaria sending off a runner)



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A common query is whether assassin snails kill adult shrimp. The answer is yes. This shrimp was still alive when I took this shot. Don't know how the snail hunted it though.



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[BiNgO]

nice set up. did u check ur water parameters? can u share it with us. im planning to use this contro soil also bat still in doubt coz no one replied on me. thanks ahead if u will check ur paramaters and tell me the results. if your shrimps turned pcs to hundreds maybe these soil is good. and also wat are the water are u using?

[Summit MicroFarm]

Nice tank...I love the assassin eating the cherry pic. Very cool!

[Chetan]

nice set up. did u check ur water parameters? can u share it with us. im planning to use this contro soil also bat still in doubt coz no one replied on me. thanks ahead if u will check ur paramaters and tell me the results. if your shrimps turned pcs to hundreds maybe these soil is good. and also wat are the water are u using?

Thanks bro. The only water parameters I can check is Ph, which is between 6.5-7 right now. Are there any other parameters you're looking for?
I wouldn't attribute the soil for the population explosion, especially that of the RCS. RCS are very hardy, they breed anywhere as long as they are safe. I got them transferred from my other tank, which has gravel for substrate. There was a time when their population exploded in that tank as well. However, then the goldfish and black ghost in that tank were young. As they grew they started hunting shrimp. So the population dropped to a few dozen always hiding in the bogwood in that tank which also had tunnels.
If you ask me, the real reason for their explosion was the bogwood with tunnels. Shrimps need lots of hiding place to feel secure. This bogwood helps to do that. Most important in the initial days when the plant density is little. The mother shrimp prefer giving birth within the crevices because then the baby shrimp can immediately go into hiding. This dramatically increases the survival rate of the offspring.
Even now after the massive plant growth, the bogwood is still the shrimp's main pad. I cannot stress more on a good tunneled bogwood for a shrimp tank.
The substrate will play an important role for raising more delicate shrimp like the CRS. The RCS on the other hand are quite tough.

[Chetan]

[pranavakira]

lighting how many watts ? which brand ? any ferts and what ? pls suggest !! wow u have a lushy growth how many months did it take in total? temp ?

[pranavakira]

water changes duration ? pls help sir !!