the-obstacle

Hi, I've just picked up a bunch of fresh water shrimp (thanks!) and I'm just wondering how many I should add to my 75L tank. It's a tropical tank but the shrimp are transitioning really well (5 in this morning, still going strong). They're fairly little at the moment so I guess I've got a couple of questions 1) how big will these guys get? 2) I assume they add ammonia to the system but is it a lot? Cheers

PG13 (this should be interesting)

That's what I was wondering... How will they ever know what the problem was/is with selling them? They may just assume someone took offence to the sale so reported them for no real reason.

Damn, I'd happily take them off your hands but I'm in Auckland. Good luck with the re-homing - I'll ask my friends that are local to you if they're interested.

Same I'm adding the grit to cover it up on the weekend.

I've got a few swords growing in a 25cm high tank and 3cm of sand with jbl balls is ok as long as you don't have digging fish. worst case is you get a bit of muddy/cloudy water for a bit while the filter does it's thing. The plants are really settled in. Don't sell your tank - just pick some plants that don't usually grow above 25cm (there are heaps) and/or are easy to prune/trim (ambulia etc.)

Awesome, thank you. I've got the clarity back so I'll pull it out now and let the plants do their thing. I've probably burnt a couple of bottles of ferts in the process...

Why is this? I've got carbon in for a bit of a clarity issue but I've also got new tank syndrome brown going on. Is the carbon going to make the brown algae harder to get rid of or increase it's growth rate in some way?

Hmmm, guess I'm used to it from other forums... I've seen much much much worse.

What's the problem with quoting 2 images?

hahaha, fanboy alert! Sounds good though - I've been considering the glass ones from a well known overseas supplier but would prefer a spray bar than that funny breast milk suction cup shape. Then again, I thought I'd hate the green parts but they're growing on me.

Do they perform better than the standard green setups or is it just for looks? I agree they look heaps better, especially in tanks with darker backing, just wondering if it's a must have upgrade.

Ahh, I've seen these in your tank photos and wondered what they are. Cool. Is there a source for them in NZ?

Thanks for the heads up guys. I've just got a 'pair' but after looking at this I'm sure it's a pair of males.

What are they?

How did you know? Thanks for the tip, the uraguayensis has settled right in but the others have had a bit of a hard time. Nothing that can't be fixed but a couple of leaves didn't make it so far. I've pruned the dead/dying leaves right back to the base and the rest seem to be doing ok. Now to stop the panda's from digging up the JBL balls... :roll:

hahaha, isn't this still a triangle? I didn't think there was a top and a bottom to them.

OK, I'm now running 0.75 watts per litre where I was running 1.49 watts per litre :lol: :lol: The black neons have got their neon back too - their colour got washed out for a few weeks there.

Yeah, I know, and I've had conversations where I've said the same thing but the tank is definitely a lot happier since I made the change.

So I was looking at the tank today and trying to figure out why it was so much brighter than the AR126 next to it. Then I thought I'd better actually check why that is. Turns out I have 5.2 watts per gallon of light in a shallow tank with reflecting silica. :oops: I turned half the tubes off (2 out of 4) and instantly the fish all joined their respective schools and started doing what they do best - flying fox was eating algae, pandas were sifting the silica, black neons schooled from end to end constantly and the new cockatoo dwarf cichlids even came out from their various hiding places. Seems I may have been overdoing it a bit. So I now have 2.6w/g which is apparently plenty for my swords and a very lively tank with fish that don't have to hide from the blinding light. Fingers crossed it means the end of the algae too as it had gone from brown to green. The things you learn...

and you spit the guppy fry back into the tank.

Can't hurt I guess. I did put some of the media from the old tank in the 2224 cannister but it was like putting a grain of sand in a sandpit compared to how much more fresh stuff I had to put in. it's cool, the fish are happy, the water is stable so I'll just take it easy and let it run it's course. The panda i added yesterday has pretty much cleared all the brown algae off the silica by digging it up which is awesome. When it's settling it's white again and there are little brown puffs floating to the filter inlet.

money's not a problem. what does the stability do? I've got stress zyme in there at the moment but was thinking maybe some 'cycle' would be a better option? I also noted someone overseas was using a pure amonia liquid of some sort to speed it up. Looks like I'm booked to pick them up (and the new pandas) on saturday so I'm happy to do whatever I can to make it less stressful on them.

75L, cycling with 5 black neons, a flying fox and a panda cory. Can't even get the ammonia to read anything more than 0.25ppm after 2 weeks but there's a bit of (very slight) movement on the nitrite side. There are 3 swords, a forest of ambulia (25cmx25cm) and some hair grass that's yet to come out of the pots. The other fish are super happy and although I tried to transfer all the good bacteria from the pre-cycled tank I'm sure this one hasn't kept much of it as there is some ammonia and no nitrates. There's also been a bloom of brown algae in the last week which happened to the last tank about 1/2 way through.

Hi, I've found a couple of juvenile double red cockatoo's that are awesome. My tank is about half way through cycling - would these guys handle that last little bit of the cycle if I was to get them now or should I absolutely wait until the cycle is complete? I know it's best to wait it out but I'm feeling impatient today and a bit concerned I'll miss out on these little guys. Am I a complete idiot for even considering it?