Hey! I was gifted an ecosphere for Christmas. My plan is to transfer them to a 3.5 gallon tank that my coworker gave me. I attached a picture of the tank.
I ordered substrate, so I’m just waiting for it to ship. Is it ok for me to set the water up in the tank and then add the substrate once I receive it? (I know I have to rinse the substrate with water before adding it to the tank.)
Also, is it safe for me to use Instant Ocean to set up the water’s salinity?
I don't see any reason why you couldn't add the substrate later. It's going to take a couple weeks or so for the tank to cycle anyways. And instant ocean reef salt is fine - it's what I used. Good luck!
No, I didn’t have anything big enough to mix it in. I added the water, and then the salt. I did stir it though. My tank filter sucks up water from the very bottom of the tank and and spits it out at the top, so I’m hoping it will help circulate the salt as well.
PetSmart will test my water, so I was planning on taking it there. I was going to buy some water care supplies while I’m there.
I generally mix my water in a container first by shaking it. Since you have the filter running, it’s okay. Just note that if not mixed properly, the saltier water will be at the bottom of the tank. So once your tank is populated, don’t just add salt and then water to your tank. Use premixed salt water. You wouldn’t need to anyways unless something goes wrong and water changes are necessary.
On the water test, very few commercial pet stores know much about brackish water upkeep. You can get a test kit yourself for ph, nitrate, nitrite etc. Amazon has refractometer for salinity test. I use this one:
The hydrometer that i use is just manual hydrometer and it was only $8.99 ,is it accurate enough? , mustafa said no need to measure but i still want to measure but not buying a very expensive hydrometer that u put link is $20 something. But i think its digital right for that price?
It is quite neat looking
Is there a way to encourage algae growth? Or to start it? I’m eager to get these shrimp in their new tank. Hehe!
Also, can I feed them ANY kind of fish food? I was at the pet store the other day, and I was completely overwhelmed by all the options that I ended up leaving without food.
I believe any fish food is okay. The only thing with feeding in an ecosphere is that it's so small you can easily crash the system if you pollute the water with uneaten food. Get a long aquarium tweezer if you plan on doing feeding and take out any uneaten food. Those food plates don't work because your shrimp will carry the pellet/flake around, but if you can follow them and take out any excess food, you are fine to feed. If you can't remove uneaten food, I'd wait till you move them to the bigger tank.
FriendsNotFood wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2018 7:38 pm
Is there a way to encourage algae growth? Or to start it? I’m eager to get these shrimp in their new tank. Hehe!
No. Just have patience and it'll happen sooner or later. If you overthink it and start doing things more likely than not you're going to negatively affect things. And turn off that filter. Take it out if you can.
I was gifted an ecosphere for Christmas. 
My plan is to transfer them to a 3.5 gallon tank that my coworker gave me. I attached a picture of the tank.
