Absolute beginner - Some concerns

[roygbiv]

Great! Thanks for the info on glues. I was afraid to use anything other than silicone for fear of toxicity.

I'll pick something up over the weekend to use next week. I still need to wait until I can get my hands on the larger lava rocks that should be coming in for pickup on Tuesday. They will determine how many of the little rocks I need.

I know they look like a lot in the photo, but the perspective is making them look bigger in comparison to the tank than they really are. All of the ones on the paper fit into a coffee mug to rinse (granted, it was my 16oz coffee mug).

[Wippy]

I find the gel super glue to be easer to use when doing my scapes. Rember a little goes a long ways and glue where you wont see the glue marks as the glue will show white.

[mike.d]

Based on what I've read here, the Ecosphere contains hair algae, which I don't want in my aquarium, so I'll try to remove that, or make sure it doesn't get into the main tank.

I have hair algae in my tank. It's not a problem. It grows very slowly. My tank has been set up for 2 1/2 years with a strong LED light that's on for about 15 hours a day. I've only had to take out the algae twice. But I agree with you, it's better to avoid it if you can.

[roygbiv]

Glad to know that hair algae isn't necessarily a show stopper.

Quick update:

Yesterday I picked up larger, black lava rocks at a nearby Home Depot. Today the selected rocks were rinsed in scalding water (the best I can manage in the office). I glued four together using Gorilla Super Glue Gel, to make a vertical feature for this vertical tank. After they'd cured for about 40 minutes I placed them in the tank and added smaller, loose bits of black lava rock along with six of the seven calcium carbonate rocks (I'm not going to have a full gallon of water).

I also found these small, silicone "feet" that were originally for the bottom of a LaCie external hard drive enclosure, but they fit perfectly on the top of the tank to create a gap of about 2mm between the tank and the acrylic lid (still looks blue because I haven't removed the protective film from both sides yet).



So, tomorrow will be the day to mix the water and salt, then fill the tank and add the macroalgae. Then I can start the countdown as the tank cycles. With luck, I'll be ready to order snails by mid-November.

My only regret right now is that I haven't been able to form many caves and nooks for the shrimp to hang out in. There's one little area under the main structure. I considered using some scissors to try to gouge some shallow holes in the sides of the larger rocks, but thought it might look bad. Hopefully they'll enjoy their home as it is.

PS. When I was using the glue, and found that some areas where the glue was visible (from the side), I collected some of the lava rock dust on a piece of paper and tapped it onto the wet glue so that the cured glue would be covered with the dust, and hopefully less noticable.

[Dch48]

My guys don't spend much time hiding. They're always out and about, swimming around or grazing on some surface or another. They should do fine with what you have. I have found that cured glue will be white for a while but then that will go away. When its ready for the shrimp which should take 4-5 weeks, I would start with 10. I think you could put a snail or 2 in right away to provide an ammonia source for the developing bacteria. Or you could drop in a very small amount of fish food every 3 days or so.

[roygbiv]

I mixed the salt solution and filled the tank (used some tubing to do a siphon for the first time in my life!)...but there are bubbles all over the lava rocks. Just tons and tons of bubbles. I've tried rubbing a wooden stirring stick over the surfaces, I've pounded on the desk...bubbles come off, but there are still so many.

Wondering what to do. Will they eventually dissolve into the surrounding water?

PS. I'm guessing I should have soaked the rocks first so they weren't dry when I added the water.

[sliphorn]

I mixed the salt solution and filled the tank (used some tubing to do a siphon for the first time in my life!)...but there are bubbles all over the lava rocks. Just tons and tons of bubbles. I've tried rubbing a wooden stirring stick over the surfaces, I've pounded on the desk...bubbles come off, but there are still so many.

Wondering what to do. Will they eventually dissolve into the surrounding water?

PS. I'm guessing I should have soaked the rocks first so they weren't dry when I added the water.

..
The bubbles will disappear in due time. It is quite normal. Sit back, be patient and enjoy.
..

[Dch48]

I had bubbles everywhere at first. They were on the rock and sea fan and also all over the gravel. There was also a white dust on things. All of that disappeared in time but bubbles still form in crevices of the lava rock that grow and then break free from time to time. I don't know what they are but everything is going well and my shrimp have produced young in 4 1/2 months since being introduced.

[Super Jess]

Ah, an opportunity to practice the key components of opae ula husbandry: waiting and resisting the temptation to do things to the tank

The bubbles will disappear on their own. Adding some snails will help to move things along. Your tank setup looks good!

[roygbiv]

Just a quick note...

Thanks to everyone who provided me with information while I was getting my first aquarium set up.

I now have 9 or 10 (can never see all at once) healthy-looking shrimp -- and a few snails -- in my main aquarium (around .7 gallons), and still have 4 in the Ecosphere, but with a secondary, smaller aquarium set up for them to move into in the near future.

I will follow up this week with photos (better hosted) and more info on my experience, in case anyone like myself, with zero experience, browses this forum in the future.

[Mustafa]

I would just upload the photos here. That way you don't have to worry about hosting providers suddenly disappearing or your picture links not working in the future. Having said that, let's see some photos! (And, if you want, upload the old pics too, as they are not visible anymore).

[roygbiv]

OK, I've finally had a chance to figure out how to post photos, and I have some news...

First things first...Thanks to everyone who has provided advice. I really had no idea what I was doing when I started. As I mentioned, I've never had an aquarium before.

The big news is that two of the shrimp in my main tank (shrimp purchased here), are berried! I just noticed today, and I'm excited to see how things go. These tanks are in my office, and I'm only here three days a week, so a number of days can go by without me checking in on them.

One of the berried shrimp

I have a single IKEA LED lamp on a timer. It runs about 11 hours a day. There are no windows in my office. The only other light comes from a separate LED bulb lamp, also on the timer, that sits about two feet away.

Both tanks under the lamp

A month before I purchased the shrimp, I bought a single microalgae plant here, and you can see that I've separated it into two (one for each tank), and it's floating due the oxygen bubbles it creates and traps. There are also smaller clumps around the bottoms of both tanks that are growing from single strands of the original algae that dropped off.

Larger tank with 10 shrimp

The smaller tank contains the four shrimp I rescued from the Ecosphere that originally got me into all this. All four of those shrimp seem to be doing great. I'm contemplating merging everybody into a single, larger tank someday, but for now they all seem pretty happy.

Smaller tank with Echosphere rescues

One of the only things that puzzles me now is that I originally bought 10 snails here, and there are two in the smaller tank...I see them all the time, but I can never spot any of the other eight in the larger tank. I just never see them climbing the glass or floating around in the algae like their friends in the smaller tank do. I can't imagine they're all dead while the shrimp are clearly doing well, but I can't explain why I can't spot any of them, unless they constantly hide out in the cave area when the lights are on. I'm contemplating buying more, or hoping the snails in the smaller tank will breed, so I can move new snails into the bigger tank. Any insight there would be appreciated.

PS... Yes most of the bubbles are gone, but it took a really long time, and some have never risen up to the surface. I think the fauna played a big role in dislodging most of them.

[roygbiv]

I just quickly shot some video of one of the berried shrimp and thought I'd link to it here: https://youtu.be/NagthuZtO2E

It was just shot with the digital macro on my Samsung Note 10+.

Since I have curved glass that wasn't intended for aquariums, there's probably little point in me trying to use a high-end camera, but I may anyway.

I'm kind of freaked out by how poopy the substrate is. The smaller tank, with two active snails, looks totally clean. I really don't understand what happened to all of the snails I put into this bigger tank. I may run out this weekend to see if I can pick up a few more to add to this tank.

[Mustafa]

Great tanks! Looks like your macroalgae has grown a lot since you purchased it. That also means that there are more than enough nutrients in your tank for the shrimp and snails to have a steady food supply. As for the snails...I replied in another thread, but basically I would just be patient and wait. If the snails haven't died (and they would only all die if there is something wrong in the tank), then you'll see their offspring all over the place at some point in the future. As for the the poop...it's normal, nothing to be worried about. It will get recycled into nutrients for the algae grow and those will be eaten by the shrimp and snails.

[roygbiv]

I haven't been able to check in on my tanks since my firm told us to start working remotely back in mid-March. I'm hopeful that all my shrimp are doing well. The light should still be cycling 11-on, 13-off. My biggest concern is that there two berried females in the bigger tank (~3/4-gallon), and they'd been berried for about two weeks before this all happened, so I have to assume things have moved forward and I've missed it all. I just hope there are enough nutrients for the 10 original shrimp, and however many of these babies survived.