Tank Setup -- General Questions

[Flippers]

I've followed the guidelines on petshrimp.com, but I want to make my tank unique. I researched brackish plants and I came across Java Fern and Marimo Moss Balls as options... I placed both in my tank along with my Zebra Nerite snail. My salinity is just below 1.014 on a Fluval Sea hydrometer. I have piles of lava rock in addition to two plastic plants. My tank is 5 gallons and it has about 80% RO water and about 20% treated tap water. I used instant ocean salt and aragonite sand. I want my shrimp to reproduce successfully, what are your opinions on my setup? I haven't yet placed my order. Has anyone had success with Marimo balls in brackish water? What about Java Fern? Thanks in advance!

[Vorteil]

I would have not used any tap water unless you're in Hawaii. Would only use 100% RO or distilled. Here in California there's a lot of minerals in our water so I went completely 100% distilled. No marimo unless it's from Petshrimp and no java fern. Make sure your sand is completely washed and sterilized. Mine was live sand and I did not wash it and had too much decaying material in it which caused all kinds of algae issues.

[Flippers]

Here in California there's a lot of minerals in our water so I went completely 100% distilled.

I have a filtration system in my house that strips most of the minerals, should I still start over? The water in my kitchen is R/O, the water upstairs (where my shrimpies will live!) is just filtered through my house's system.

[Vorteil]

RO is fine.

[Flippers]

RO is fine.

Sorry, I should specify. 80% of my water is the RO from my kitchen, the other 20% is from my treated tap. Should I still start over or do you think it's ok? My snail is doing well.

[Sasquatch]

Full disclosure: I am a novice. That being said, I would replace the water and not use any tap water. All is not lost, as I understand it that would not set your cycle back to zero. There should be lots of organisms still on the sand and the rocks that have also been cycling.

I would remove any live vegetation in the tank unless you buy it from here Mustafa should hire me. The plastic plants should be fine though.

Overall good setup. I think your tank is just about ready for shrimp.

[Flippers]

There should be lots of organisms still on the sand and the rocks that have also been cycling.

I didn't think about that! I'll go ahead and change the water completely tomorrow . What should I do with my snail, though??

[Varanus]

Mustafa has mentioned that it works fine to change old freshwater tanks into supershrimp tanks without even removing all the old water (which comes from tap water), which I would take to mean your tank should be fine. Distilled water is ideal, but having 20% tap water shouldn't be that big a problem provided its treated to remove chlorine and other contaminents.

[Flippers]

Mustafa has mentioned that it works fine to change old freshwater tanks into supershrimp tanks without even removing all the old water (which comes from tap water), which I would take to mean your tank should be fine. Distilled water is ideal, but having 20% tap water shouldn't be that big a problem provided its treated to remove chlorine and other contaminents.

Oh, awesome !!! I was really weary of starting over with the salinity and cycling… especially since I already have a snail friend !

[Mustafa]

I researched brackish plants and I came across Java Fern and Marimo Moss Balls as options...

Take those out, especially the Java fern. The information you find about most of the brackish water plants out there is plain and simply wrong. The marimo ball may hang in there for a long time but doesn't grow or multiply as reported by others here. The "mossballs" sold here are not marimo balls. They are most likely a different species and multiply and grow just fine. The Java fern will stay green for a long time, which gives people the impression that it's doing "well", but it's just dying or dead. Same applies to Java moss and other supposed "brackish tolerant" plants. When it comes to Supershrimp, I'd just stick with information on this website. I know it sounds very self-serving, but there really isn't a better source out there in this case...but lots and lots of misinformation. Search "plants" or "brackish plants" in this forum and you'll see that we have covered this topic a gazillion times over the last 14 years...if any of these plants actually grew and did well at the salinities we're talking about we'd know it by now.

[Flippers]

I researched brackish plants and I came across Java Fern and Marimo Moss Balls as options...

Take those out, especially the Java fern. The information you find about most of the brackish water plants out there is plain and simply wrong. The marimo ball may hang in there for a long time but doesn't grow or multiply as reported by others here. The "mossballs" sold here are not marimo balls. They are most likely a different species and multiply and grow just fine. The Java fern will stay green for a long time, which gives people the impression that it's doing "well", but it's just dying or dead. Same applies to Java moss and other supposed "brackish tolerant" plants. When it comes to Supershrimp, I'd just stick with information on this website. I know it sounds very self-serving, but there really isn't a better source out there in this case...but lots and lots of misinformation. Search "plants" or "brackish plants" in this forum and you'll see that we have covered this topic a gazillion times over the last 14 years...if any of these plants actually grew and did well at the salinities we're talking about we'd know it by now.

I took them out already
Thank you