Almost ready

[Dch48]

I got a one gallon tank, put in the gravel,an anubias plant, and filled it with distilled water. Now I need to get the salt and macroalgae and then wait until it's ready for the shrimp. I also might add a small rock or two and some carbonate pebbles.

[sliphorn]

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If that is a real, as in "not fake" anubias, you have to remove it because over time it will be harmful to the shrimp and likely kill them given enough time. Also it is important to mix the salt and the water in a container and then add it to the tank. It takes vigorous stirring or shaking to properly dissolve the salt, and you won't be able to do that successfully with the water and substrate already in the tank.

It's a simple fix. Siphon the water into a container, add the salt and mix thoroughly, then add back to the tank. You'd only have to siphon half of the water or maybe a bit more to get it mixed properly. Do get some carbonate pebbles as they are needed to buffer the water. What type of stones are those? The white pebbles look like they might be some type of calcium carbonate. If so, then you are good to go. You could replace the anubias with a nice piece of volcanic rock.

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[Dch48]

It is a real Anubias. Why would it harm the shrimp? I don't understand that. Is it that it will consume the nutrients in the water and inhibit algae growth? I have 2 freshwater tanks I can move it to. I had just read that Anubias and Java Fern can live in brackish water. How would this be for a replacement?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P405EY/re ... UTF8&psc=1

The white pebbles are just white aquarium gravel. The black is also gravel. The red stuff is pieces of a broken Terracotta flower pot. They were boiled for about 10 minutes to make sure they were clean.

I was going to siphon out about half of the water and mix the salt with it and then put it back in.

How would an old Mystery snail or Nerite snail shell be as a source of calcium?

[sliphorn]

It is a real Anubias. Why would it harm the shrimp? I don't understand that. Is it that it will consume the nutrients in the water and inhibit algae growth? I have 2 freshwater tanks I can move it to. I had just read that Anubias and Java Fern can live in brackish water. How would this be for a replacement?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P405EY/re ... UTF8&psc=1

The white pebbles are just white aquarium gravel. The black is also gravel. The red stuff is pieces of a broken Terracotta flower pot. They were boiled for about 10 minutes to make sure they were clean.

I was going to siphon out about half of the water and mix the salt with it and then put it back in.

How would an old Mystery snail or Nerite snail shell be as a source of calcium?

=====

The anubias and java fern will slowly die in brackish water. The subsequent organic matter is very unhealthy for Opae Ula. Click on Supershrimp Articles found above and read all about it. You can use a broken/crushed egg shell for your source of calcium or a chunk of cuttle bone works well too.

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[Dch48]

I am still waiting for my salt and macroalgae to get here. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but never got here. Now it says the delivery date is unknown. I'm hoping it comes Monday and I hope the algae will still be alive.

In the meantime, I bought a piece of sculptured lava rock on Amazon but it turned out to be too big. I cut the top half off using a hacksaw and a Dremel tool. I think it looks pretty good. The Nerite snail is just an empty shell.

[sliphorn]

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looks good! I'm pretty sure the macroalgae will be just fine.

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[Mustafa]

Read this about so called "brackish water plants":

https://www.petshrimp.com/beware-of-so- ... er-plants/

[Dch48]

I put the Anubias in a freshwater tank and it is already growing a new leaf. I won't be putting any more plants in. I read that Anubias and Java Fern can survive in slightly brackish water with a salinity up to 1.005 but will suffer in anything more than that. I used the packet of salt I was sent so I'm assuming my salinity is about 1.010 but I have no way to measure it and all the hydrometers I see for sale are too big to work in my tank. I'm not willing to pay more than $10 for one.

[Dch48]

Here it is now. The salt has been in for 2 weeks and I added some sea fan. My ammonia reading is at 0.5 with nitrates at 5.0. The presence of the nitrates gives me hope that the ammonia will soon be gone.

I have a question. If the tank finishes cycling and there is still no algae growth other than the macro stuff, Could I put shrimp in and give them some powdered spirulina every 2 or 3 days until the algae starts growing?

[Varanus]

Even if you see no algae, feeding that often would be a mistake I think. Every three weeks or so would be better, and no more than what it takes the shrimp a few hours to fully consume.

Keep in mind that a lot of biofilm is invisible to the human eye, so once several weeks pass there is usually a lot of bacteria and such coating surfaces that you simply won't notice. Algae is just a useful visual indicator, but its not the be all end all way to tell.

[Dch48]

I wouldn't be able to tell when the spirulina is fully consumed. I put it in my freshwater tank that has cherry shrimp in it and the powder disappears as soon as it is put in. It is never visible anywhere. I mix it up in a little distilled water and then pour it in a very little amount at a time.

[Varanus]

It'd be better to use pellets or something like that you can keep track of visually then.

[Super Jess]

The hardest thing about supershrimp is resisting the compulsion to feed. RESIST for success!

[Dch48]

I would think that not having a filter on the tank would make overfeeding more of a problem. Most of the beneficial bacteria in a "normal" aquarium is in the filter and the water is constantly flowing through it so any ammonia from decaying matter or inhabitant waste products would be processed a lot more slowly in an unfiltered tank. That would be why the algae is so important because it absorbs those waste products as nutrients.

Ammonia toxicity is also highly dependent on the pH of your water. In a tank with a pH of 7.0 or lower, very little of the ammonia that shows in a water test will be of the toxic variety and levels of 4 or 5 ppm can be safe. In a saltwater tank where pH is usually around 8.0, any trace of ammonia can be toxic and cause fatalities. Even 0.25 ppm would be bad.

[Dch48]

Okay, yesterday I saw test results of 0.5 Ammonia, 2.0 Nitrite, and 20 Nitrate. The cycle is progressing since 3 days before the Ammonia was higher and the Nitrites lower. I changed out 50% of the water with distilled mixed with Instant Ocean at half strength. I'll see how it looks Friday. There is some brown algae on the gravel and glass. I'm getting impatient

Oh yeah, the pH was like 7.8.