Probably shoulda mentioned this earlier but I decided to use the power filter that came with the tank when I added the shrimp pellets. It has stronger mechanical filtration so I figured I could keep it in until the shrimp arrive. could this be a problem in any way? I have also been turning the air pump to full a few minutes each day to create a temporary current strong enough to kick the settled food up. thanks for all the replies. also what do you think about adding a mussel or freshwater clam?
Thanks again for the replies. I don't think I'll do the ammonia drops. I like my snails and it might hurt the najas someway. still got two weeks till the shrimp come and I can still delay it if (sigh) it's not done by then
lol when i first bought the tank i didn't think I'd be caring for bacteria instead of shrimp.
Tank params update!: Nitrates/nitrites 0 ppm
hardness:50-ish ppm
alkalinity: 120-180 ppm
PH-7.2
And finally, AMMONIA!-slightly lower than last time (crowd cheering)
sry. broke that rule again. I'll try harder next time. On the good side I just realized that my mom has a three clawed frog in a 20-30 gallon tank downstairs. this tank happens to have been running for years and is full of substrate that probably has beneficial bacteria! I can be an idiot sometimes. Just added a handfull. would it also be a good idea to add some old snail shells that have been sitting in there for a while? they might provide some calcium and have been dead and empty for a while. I would immagine they have a bit of bacteria on them too.
Also I plan on taking out the power filter soon after the shrimp arrive. not immediately but pretty soon after or maybe before they arrive because of the biological filtering ability of the sponge filter. I'll just take it away and lower the feeding amount for the bacteria when i remove it.
The stuff I ordered arrived! I'm soaking my sponge filter in tony's (the frogs) tank now. in an hour or two I'll put it in the tank. I also put a replacement sponge over the power filter intake.also got ph up/down, ammo-lock, cycle (which I will not use now) several feet airline tubing, some airline joints/connectors/valve controls, replacement sponges, replacement parts for my stingray, a siphoning tube for acclimation using a bucket, gloves made for aquarium use (I hate using my hands in aquariums. I'm afraid I'll contaminate the water), and a battery powered gravel cleaner. All I need now is some more Hiding spots for my shrimp. Does anyone know about some cheap ones that dont cost 22$ a piece? all i have in there now is my najas and a tiny little cave thing. I think I need more hiding places if the macros I ordered are more violent towards other shrimp than the website I got them from said.
Also I have noticed alot of bright red tiny worms. I have gotten tired of picking them out. Will my pearl shrimp, or ghost shriimps eat these? I assume they are not excessively harmful but there are a lot of them. Probably a by-product of feeding the bacteria.
Thanks again, and I searched for everything I wrote down but it is more than likely I missed something, so sry in advance if I did
Okay good news! My shrimp have arrived and are currently acclimating using the slow drip method. I have 2 rcs, 1 malaysian flower shrimp and 5 ghost shrimp. I suffered 1 loss of a large ghost shrimp but The package had been sitting a while before I got to it so It was probably lack of oxygen. The Ghosts
(Or at least the big dead one) looked like a long arm shrimp because of the size of its arms. There is only enough light in the room to see the outline of the rest of the shrimps but whatever. My tank parameters seem to be doing fine. they are well within safe ranges. Wish me luck! I also got 2 freshwater clams which are acclimating the regular bag floating method.
Edit: I forgot but I also lost those tiny red worms. Haven't seen any in a week!
I'll post pic after shrimp are acclimated (probly tomarrow if I can get hold of a digital camera) the shrimp arent moving much but there isnt any stimulus like light or anything except the dripping water so I'm hoping that they are just resting and that something isnt wrong with the water.....The clams are alive though. 1 of them is open And I saw its little Valve open and close then open again for a sec, so they are alive
Good news! They are most definately moving a bit, and they are in at least 60% tank water! My water isn't completely poisonous! (You shoulda heard my thoughts earlier..."Oh no! What is my tank is full of arsenic, or tannins, or etc.... Do they have test kits for those? should I get test kits for those? oh no They are arriving tommorrow!" It was kinda funny I really need a life
I Think I'm gonna release them now....I've been doing this for about 1 hour and 48 mins. Unless anyone objects in the next 15 mins.....then turn off light and put blanket over tank and no loud noises until tomorrow night at least
Last edited by Pea-brain on Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Good news! I released them! I'd been using milk cartons cut in half as containers for the drip, and needless to say it wasnt fun trying to nab them with my net....fast buggers....the clams were a bit easier....the ghost shrimp (before i turned the light off) had a green tint and some had white organs I could see through their bodies (like a little bundle of white balls packed tightly together) I'm assuming this is normal unless someone tells me otherwise. Before I turned off aquarium light I didnt see any corpses, so non died on contact.
I didnt see the cherry shrimp or the malaysion shrimp before i turned off the aquarium lights (they just kinda swam away) so I don't know what they look like but i think they are clear-ish, and will probably regain there colors in a few days. On another note I heard that clams float to the top of the water when they die. i hope this is true because it would suck to have a dead clam pollute my water and not know it. I'm pretty sure they are okay but just in case of future death could someone verify this info? A blanket is over the aquarium for now. I can't wait for the first feeding tomorrow!
As far as I know, an hour and fourty-eight minutes sounds like plenty, for acclimating.
As far as tannins go, in my experiences with driftwood, you can tell how much tannic acid is in the water by how tinted brown the water is. I try to keep it clear.
Pic of my tank. You can see my Java fern floating around. I plan to fix that eventually.
Probly Best shrimp pic I took. These buggers are kinda photo shy apparently.
Some shrimp. I think you can see 2 in this
This one is pretty blurry.
They seem to be doing well. They are mostly sticking around on the right side under the najas and sponge filter. The feeding frenzy for their first meal was....lackluster, to say the least. They started walking around in the pellet direction and then one found it and wouldn't let the others near it. when they all lost interest the CRS came and picked up some leftovers.
I sadly lost the singapore flower shrimp. Here is a pic from site I got it from [/img]
. They will become more active as they adjust to their new home.
I really need a life 
[/img]