Mustafa wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2018 1:37 pm
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?
Everything leveled out in time. The green algae was starting to take off then when I put your snails in they ate it all. Those things have massive appetites. The chaeto you sent was a little bigger than a golfball roughly and now its about the size of a softball or bigger. The only thing that hasn't grown or done anything are my marimo balls I had from before. Since the weather finally turned springish I ordered 20 of your stock today. When I add the shrimp will I get some more algae growth? I'm concerned the snails are going to run out of stuff to eat especially when I put the shrimp in. There are a few who have resorted to burrowing in the chaeto and eating that! These snails are quite happy as they have reproduced several times.
Attachments
Last edited by SGTSHEW on Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
You’ll be fine. The shrimps eat the microgoranism you can’t see. I have specs of algae all over my glass. Very tiny. The snails and shrimp pick at it. Even if you can’t see it, they’re still eating.
Nellyville41 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:50 pm
You’ll be fine. The shrimps eat the microgoranism you can’t see. I have specs of algae all over my glass. Very tiny. The snails and shrimp pick at it. Even if you can’t see it, they’re still eating.
I took a final water reading on Tuesday night since my shrimp were set to arrive on Wednesday.
Salinity holding at 1.014 just fill it with distilled water when it’s low.
PH 8.3. I had a bit of a hard time placing the color of the tested sample up against the card but that’s what we came up with.
Ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites were all 0s.
Received my shrimp from Mustafa on Wednesday alive and well, nicely packaged as always just like the snails I got from him. All but one of them were clear, I imagine a result of their harrowing journey. After letting them acclimate to the tank water for an hour or so I set them free in their new home. They at first kind of just hung on to the string Mustafa provided in the shrimp bag then after a minute or so they all started darting around inspecting everything. I was concerned they would get trapped in the chaeto but no issues there as they would just get into it and kick back out. Today is Thursday and they are all nice and red now. There seem to be two groups split up between the heater and the chaeto. I read somewhere I should wait two weeks before feeding them to see if they are hungry or not. That about right? Thanks again to Mustafa for the great shipping. I’m going to need about 30 more.
Thanks for the update! Yes, that sounds about right. There's usually lots of food growing in the tank already so no need to immediately feed the shrimp.
Squeezed my balls today to get them to sink. They just popped back up after a couple of hours but I noticed this a few minutes ago. My first molt!! That I can see anyways.
Cool thread (-: It was fun to read your journey with your ecosphere. I had an ecosphere myself and recently let my shrimp loose into the tank world, I am having some ups and downs but I think everything will work out! RIP Cooper, I’m glad you’re honoring him. Congrats on the molt!
shrimpnoobie wrote: ↑Sat May 26, 2018 8:32 pm
Cool thread (-: It was fun to read your journey with your ecosphere. I had an ecosphere myself and recently let my shrimp loose into the tank world, I am having some ups and downs but I think everything will work out! RIP Cooper, I’m glad you’re honoring him. Congrats on the molt!
Shrimpnoobie it has been quite a journey and it's still going. This whole thing kicked off with the broken ecosphere and its been really interesting to find that this is such an obscure hobby and being involved in the tightly nit communities. I just wish I would have known what I know now then I could have saved Coop. Interestingly enough after the molt that I found yesterday I peeked in on my tank again just a while ago to see if the molt was gone and there was my first berried female. Not sure how far along she is but those eggs are a swayin. I will have to start perusing the forums again to see if I need to do anything special now. Maybe someone with more knowledge than myself will read this and let me know.
SuperProofer wrote: ↑Sun May 27, 2018 10:18 am
Nope. Nothing special. Just let them be. Don't disturb the tank and she'll do the rest. It's a sign the conditions in your tank are just right.
That’s good to hear SuperProofer. It’s really interesting watching how she scoops them up and tucks them back into her body. Great learning experience.
Things I noticed since yesterday morning as all of this comes together. 30 minutes after my light came on I was drinking my coffee and walked by my tank. I noticed that my opae were swimming around frantically and darting all over the place, something they have never done before. I was most certainly alarmed and thought that maybe my tank had crashed and did an ammonia check. No ammonia was found. I gave them just a little piece of a shikura wafer and watched them eat for a few hours before I removed it. By this time the opae had settled down and I thought that it may have been just because the light just came on but I never noticed it before. Figured it was time to trim the chaeto and transfer the trimmings to my other tank. I squeezed my moss balls so they would sink and the opae began climbing all over them. Yesterday afternoon I noticed the exoskeleton left on the moss balls which were now floating again, the first I have seen. Yesterday night I noticed the berried female. After doing some research my gf read that there is a small window after a female molts that they can accept fertilization from the male and that the males will dart all over trying to find her. Any successful breeders out there shine any light on this? Mustafa?
Last edited by SGTSHEW on Sun May 27, 2018 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If you have a decent amount of females you can tell when they’re mating. Basically all the males are frantic while the females are chilling and eating. The males are looking for that one female. Lol
The mossball probably moved because some air bubbles that it produced during photosynthesis got caught in it. How is the tank doing now?
The only thing that hasn't grown or done anything are my marimo balls I had from before. Since the weather finally turned springish I ordered 20 of your stock today. When I add the shrimp will I get some more algae growth? I'm concerned the snails are going to run out of stuff to eat especially when I put the shrimp in. There are a few who have resorted to burrowing in the chaeto and eating that! These snails are quite happy as they have reproduced several times. 
