No longer lurking

[03amida]

Hi everyone! I had been interested in owning an EcoSphere ever since I saw an ad for them when I was 10. When I was about to buy one on Amazon I read through the reviews first and saw one that mentioned that they were awful for the shrimp and the name of this site was referenced.

Since then I’ve been voraciously reading through the forum before setting up a tank at the office. I have a 2 gallon tank, Caribsea Naturals inert sand, a couple pieces of lava rock, and a sea fan. I plan on getting an LED light on a 12 hour timer even though the office is well lit.

My question is this: how do I go about cleaning the sea fan? I bought one that was found on the beach and dried in the sun. I plan on boiling the lava rocks in distilled water, will that work for the sea fan? I have searched this forum and even forums of aquarium enthusiasts and really don’t think bleach is a good idea.

The Etsy seller I bought the sea fan from also included a gift of little shells. Would boiling those work too?

I plan on thoroughly rinsing the sand and may buy another piece of lava rock so they have a plenty of places to hide. My tank will be pretty simple (not cool like Nanosphere 9) but hopefully enough to keep them happy.

Am I missing anything?

[Dylan]

Boiling is the best, safest way to disinfect most things that go into any fish or shrimp tank.

[Mustafa]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum! Boiling or distilled water is unnecessary. Just wash and soak your collected items in a bucket of tap water, then take them out and let them air dry or dry just enough so they are not dripping wet. Done. As for the shells, make sure they are not coated with some chemical that makes them extra shiny. And, yes, bleach or any cleaning chemical is a terrible idea. Let us know how your project goes!

[03amida]

Thank you Dylan and Mustafa for your input! Unfortunately I didn’t see Mustafa’s response until after I boiled everything in distilled water. I’m still waiting on my LED light to come in but I figured that shouldn’t stop me from putting the tank together. The office is on the 4th floor with Northwest facing windows that get sunshine in the afternoon. I was thinking of starting with 15 - 20 shrimp and a Mustafa special mossball. Do I need to get snails? Are they easier to see than the shrimp? I attached photos of my tank before and after water was added and with my makeshift lid.

[Mustafa]

Great looking little tank! You don't *have* to get snails, but they do help with keeping things clean in the tank and making sure no gunk builds up on your sand substrate. Plus, they help keeping the tank cycled. People also enjoy watching them grow up and have babies. So, not absolutely necessary, but I recommend them. I have them in all of my tanks.

[03amida]

Perhaps I will go for the gusto and get a 10 pack of snails after all. While I’m waiting for algae to grow (I have had 2 different dreams that I came in and found algae in the tank) now would be a good time to ask a couple questions. How did you all introduce your critters to your tank? I’ve read about some posters who just snipped the bag and dropped them in, others who slowly dripped water in to acclimate, and others who put them in a shallow container to make it easier to dump them in. Is there an ideal method, or personal preference?

To those of you who have an office tank: did you have the snails and shrimp shipped to your home or your office? If you had them shipped to your home how did you transport them to work?

I know that snails and the plants would speed up cycling but I live in the northeastern United States so it won’t be warm enough to receive shipments for a while. Thank you all for your input!!

[Varanus]

Perhaps I will go for the gusto and get a 10 pack of snails after all. While I’m waiting for algae to grow (I have had 2 different dreams that I came in and found algae in the tank) now would be a good time to ask a couple questions. How did you all introduce your critters to your tank? I’ve read about some posters who just snipped the bag and dropped them in, others who slowly dripped water in to acclimate, and others who put them in a shallow container to make it easier to dump them in. Is there an ideal method, or personal preference?

Drip acclimation probably never hurts to do, but in my opinion it seems largely unnecessary for these shrimp. Being brackish water animals means they are adapted to thrive in conditions where salinity and other water parameters can change very rapidly and frequently. As such, even if the tank water you put them in is somewhat different than the water they were in, its far less than the changes they would experience in the wild.

Strictly freshwater or saltwater animals are where drip acclimation is more beneficial, since they come from habitats where water conditions are often stable or only change slowly.

[i<3Opae]

I have had 2 different dreams that I came in and found algae in the tank

Second Varanus' post, drip acclimation is not needed. As for the method to transfer them from bag to tank, I put a small fish net on top of a small bucket, snip a corner of the bag (have to be kinda careful how you're holding the bag when you do this) and dump everything into the fish net. Check the bag to make sure no shrimp or snail is stuck, then lower the fish net into the tank and let the shrimp swim out on their own. It takes about 2 minutes in total.

[Super Jess]

I used the snip and dump method and it was fine. I did let the bag sit out for a bit to bring it to room temp.

[03amida]

So when I came in I noticed these little dots on the walls of the tank where bubbles used to be. Does anyone know what it is? Will I have to change the water?

[Super Jess]

It looks like the bubbles just sort of concentrated the tiny dusty sand particles in those spots as they disappeared. No worries! The spots will vanish as shrimp and snails rove around the glass.

[03amida]

It’s been 6 weeks since the tank has been set up and still no algae. The water has a tint to it when the light is off. Aside from that I can’t tell any difference from when it was first set up. Am I doing something wrong?

[Varanus]

Sometimes it takes longer than usual for visible algae to appear, but a lot of biofilm (layers of bacteria and such) is usually invisible. If the shrimp are still scrubbing surfaces then they are still finding food, you just may want to supplement their diet every month or so with a bit of extra food.

One thing that may help get more algae is to leave the top off of the tank for a while, as that will provide more opportunities for algae spores in the air to find their way to the water.

[Mustafa]

Post a picture or two of the glass, substrate, and rocks. At 6 weeks your tank should be ready. Algae and/or bacterial growth can be very subtle.

[i<3Opae]

I'm following this thread as I have a similar situation with a cycling tank. It's been 4 weeks, and no brown algae yet. The bio-film was there after week one. I took Varanus' advice and adjusted the lid so there could be more air contact. I was getting antsy but Mustafa's response below reassured me. To put in perspective, one of my other tanks took only 2 weeks to grow a ton of brown algae then green algae started taking over. So I had the expectation that similar setup should yield similar results. But I've been learning as each day goes by and no sign of algae - each tank can be so different!