New tank started 11-17-2017 after broken ecosphere.

[SGTSHEW]

So we bought an ecospehere last year and a couple of weeks ago a child dropped his phone onto the globe and knocked it off into the floor breaking in a million pieces. We tried to save all the shrimp frantically trying to figure out what to do. We put the ones we could find in a mason jar with tap water and put some sea salt from the pantry in it not knowing it wasnt pure and the caking agent is poisonous. We also put the little branch and the moss balls in there. They acted dead off and on for days and finally one turned red and kicked the bucket. So we had one left, the lone survivor. We decided to buy him/her a little setup and save our little fighter. I began taking crash courses in brackish water setups for Opae Ula and went to an aquarium store but they really didnt seem to know anything about these little guys, neither did the fish guy at Petco. Came away with some rinsed gravel, 10g tank w/ lid and light, water conditioner, instant ocean salt, water pump, hydrometer, filter on order. The water after 5 days in the mason jar was looking horrid so after we followed all the instructions on our new equipment we transferred our little guy to his new home. I realize it was too soon but felt like we didnt have a choice since his current home had poison in it from the salt. He seemed to not like the current of the pump but I held steady because the guy told me all the salt would just accumulate in the bottom if it didnt circulate. Cooper (yes we named him/her) went MIA after a few days and my gf thought he might be in the pump, I disagreed so we left everything alone for a night. About noon the next day she went with her gut and unhooked the pump and shook it around in the water carefully and after a few times Cooper fell out. I didnt know the pump sucked through the big opening. Again all this time I'm reading every night and day about these guys and their perfect setups. Some people have pumps some don't, and some people swear by them and some are adamantly against them. I decided to remove the pump. For 4 more days he swam freely and perched around different areas of the tank and we thought we were home free with him. He finally submitted to whatever was ailing him and he curled up and died. Very sad because he had been through so much and it was like a part of our family. We decided in his memory to keep the tank going and someday order some more from a breeder when we can get our tank right. We added some crushed coral with argonite, feeding dish, barnacle cluster hiding place, Carib Sea South Sea Base Rock. If you took the time to read this thank you for sharing in my shrimp story. Everything in the tank besides the gravel is new, post Cooper.

Here are the parameters of the tank water after Cooper passed on into the shrimp afterlife.
Salinity 22 or 1.016
PH 7.9
Ammonia 1.0
Nitrite .50
Nitrate 0.0

Don't know what the chlorine or chloramine is but I used the water conditioner as instructed with tap water, soft water system.

[SGTSHEW]

It's been 3 weeks and I can't get anything to grow in it. I just ordered some of Mustafas algae hoping that will help.

[JoanToBa]

If I was you I would definitely not put tap water in there. The chlorine kills algae and fish. Use the water instructed in the instant reef salt mix and buy some live rock/live sand or water from a reef tank and put it in there, after a couple of months or weeks you'll have everything as it should.

[SuperProofer]

I'm currently working on my first tank set up as well as I have 1 lone ecosphere survivor I wanted to do right by (I named him/her Trooper - so kinda similar there!). My tank is much smaller as it really is just a large jar, but I went with the au naturale method outlined on this site. It probably took a little longer than normal as I didn't add anything live because I can't buy them in less than 10 packs and I seriously would only need 1 snail and moss/algae would be out of control in my small space.

So, I've just been patiently waiting. I think it was a little over 1 month before I started seeing any visible algae growth. But after that, it's growing like gangbusters. I haven't added any shrimp yet because my ammonia is still too high, but it's slowly coming down. I'll probably look to order my shrimp in the next 2 weeks. You can follow my progress, for what it's worth, in the thread "Have 8-year-old ecosystem Shrimp - not sure what to do".

I'm learning in the shrimpin' game, patience is a virtue.

Good luck!

[SGTSHEW]

I'm currently working on my first tank set up as well as I have 1 lone ecosphere survivor I wanted to do right by (I named him/her Trooper - so kinda similar there!). My tank is much smaller as it really is just a large jar, but I went with the au naturale method outlined on this site. It probably took a little longer than normal as I didn't add anything live because I can't buy them in less than 10 packs and I seriously would only need 1 snail and moss/algae would be out of control in my small space.

So, I've just been patiently waiting. I think it was a little over 1 month before I started seeing any visible algae growth. But after that, it's growing like gangbusters. I haven't added any shrimp yet because my ammonia is still too high, but it's slowly coming down. I'll probably look to order my shrimp in the next 2 weeks. You can follow my progress, for what it's worth, in the thread "Have 8-year-old ecosystem Shrimp - not sure what to do".

I'm learning in the shrimpin' game, patience is a virtue.

Good luck!

Superproofer glad to see your lone survivor made it. Patience is for sure the key to the game here. That's the biggest thing I see on here as I read is being patient.

[SGTSHEW]

So I things I have added since last post. Risepro Digital Thermometer currently water temp staying between 69 and 71 degrees. Mustafa's macroalgae ordered last week and it arrived today so in it went. Fast shipping and great packaging on the algae, thanks Mustafa. A DennerIe Power LED 5.0 watt 6500 kelvin light. I have been tossing around the idea for a week to add the BioDigest as I have read some success on using it to jump start a tank. The more I read the more it seemed like the more popular thing to to was to just leave it alone and let it do it's thing. Today when I added the macroalgae I noticed something......I HAVE ALGAE GROWTH!!! It's only a small patch but it signals to me things are working like they should. Again the tank was started on Nov.11 so I think it's pretty good in just over a couple weeks. Pics of the new equipment and the algae growth are below along with some extra shots. With the new light I had to remove my lid/light so it's just open now. I have dogs and kids so there is always stuff getting kicked up in the air so I'm thinking of having some plexiglass cut with holes in it for air to go on top inside the little lip on the tank. Don't know how that would affect the light though. Anyone use a lid with their overhead light setup?

[Mustafa]

Looks like your tank is ready for shrimp! As for snails, I wouldn't worry about 10 snails being too much. They're not. The ones I send out are very small to begin with and you'll be lucky to notice them at all in the beginning. As they grow they self regulate their numbers anyway so there won't be any problems at all. Your tank is actually big enough to support over 100 snails...and even then most of them will be in the substrate so you won't even know how many you have.

[SGTSHEW]

Looks like your tank is ready for shrimp! As for snails, I wouldn't worry about 10 snails being too much. They're not. The ones I send out are very small to begin with and you'll be lucky to notice them at all in the beginning. As they grow they self regulate their numbers anyway so there won't be any problems at all. Your tank is actually big enough to support over 100 snails...and even then most of them will be in the substrate so you won't even know how many you have.

That's good Mustafa because I think I told you the wrong size tank in my message to you. It's actually a 10 gallon tank. It sounds like the 30 snails I ordered will be right at home though! Another question that someone may be able to answer is do the macroalgae move on their own. I have no flow in my tank and no one messes with it but me so nothing has been in it but the ball of algae has moved under one of the coral rocks. Is it hiding from the light? I took some pics of it and if you compare it to my earlier posts it has clearly moved on it's own somehow. I also took some more pics of algae growth. Definitely beginning to turn green on the walls all around the tank. I had another question, my salinity is a tad bit high so I was thinking of removing maybe a pint of water and replacing it with distilled water to dilute it some. It's sitting at 24 1.017 almost 1.018 now. Should I do this or is the salinity being in that high range ok?

[SGTSHEW]

Snails arrived from Mustafa yesterday and in they went. At first was concerned because most of them were just rolling around in the bag but he reassured me that this was normal. I put them in the tank last night and almost immediately they all began to slither around. One smart one found the algae buffet on the walls and started chowing down. This morning two more had found the chow line and began eating. The others are scattered around the tank on the coral or barnacle. Plan on ordering shrimp this weekend.

[SGTSHEW]

Decided to do a water test before ordering the shrimp and looks like I have some ammonia. I put a pinch of spirulina in the tank about a week ago and I’m suspecting that may be where it’s coming from. I removed all of it I could as it was just floating on top. I know ammonia levels will rise and fall as the tank cycles but I’m going to wait until the ammonia drops. I was really looking forward to getting my shrimp this week but must have patience. I did bring down the salinity by removing a pint of water and replacing it with distilled. I attached some new pics that show the boom in algae growth and the beginning of brown diatoms on the glass and coral. The snails are having a field day on everything. Here are the current water readings.

PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 2.0
Nitrite: 0.75
Nitrate: 2.5
Salinity: just under 22/1.016

[JoanToBa]

I would even go for 1.014/1.013 for the salinity, I’ve read that for reproduction, the best range is abouth this

[SGTSHEW]

I would even go for 1.014/1.013 for the salinity, I’ve read that for reproduction, the best range is abouth this

Yeah I might take out another pint and see if I can get it down into the mid range Mustafa suggests since right now it's at the top of it. Thanks for the reply and pointing that out. Hoping when I check my ammonia levels this weekend they are down.

[JoanToBa]

Nice!

[Mustafa]

I would even go for 1.014/1.013 for the salinity, I’ve read that for reproduction, the best range is abouth this

Don't believe everything you read online. That's not the "best range" at all. In fact, there is a very wide range, and the shrimp reproduce just the same within that range. 1.016SG is just fine...so is 1.008SG or 1.012SG. Doesn't really matter.

[Mustafa]

As for ammonia levels...I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you see algae, which you do, everything is just fine. The mossball probably moved because some air bubbles that it produced during photosynthesis got caught in it. How is the tank doing now?