Simply try out another tank

[MrsT]

Hi everyone,
Looking at everyone trying to set up anew tank, it got me tempting too.
I don't like fancy looking or too finicky about it. I used one of my 5gal abandoned tank putting in some algae I already cultured a month.
I bought :
Lava rock 500g + coral crush = Usd2.10

Rain water I collected was when the rain were about to stop. Wash my Lava rock and coral with rain water, gave a good brush at the lava rock. Rinse them few times and place them in the cleaned tank.

Placing my cultured algae in there with a little tiny pinch of mosura tonic pro. Start pouring premix brackish water until it covers the algae, cover the top. Leave it outdoor at the brightest spot (facing north).

The below was on 23.11.17

[MrsT]

Looking at one of the cultured algae started to turn more darker green. It only took 6 days there were biofilm around. So today i decided to move it to a rack just right infront of my door and added premix brackish until it reaches about 1inch from the top edge.

What I did next was throwing 1 opae in to test it out. Hey, it's doing fine, I give it 5 minutes before I put the rest.
They were adjusting themselves in a new environment, checking out every corners and those rock piles.

After 2 hours I checked them again, they were stable down now, picking on the glass. Now it's time for me to abandon the tank haha.

Here's a few gifs I made today, not the best qualities because I don't want to take too much space here.

[MrsT]

They are munching non stop on those algae

[Nellyville41]

Nice! Looking good over there. I hope to be there soon. No algae growth in mine but film on top of the water.

[MrsT]

Nice! Looking good over there. I hope to be there soon. No algae growth in mine but film on top of the water.

You will reach there no worry.
My case is not the usual, because I don't cycle my tank. I let it cycle as it goes , as long there are food in there for them, there isn't the need for me to feed anymore.
Part of the coral crush I bought, was from an established marine tank of the pet shop which I bought a portion of marine water from their same tank too. It's for the purpose of quick rinsing the seeded coral crush. The rest of the new coral crush and rock, i wash it with rain water.

You can try alternative way of culture the algae yourself .
Take out an item with its water from your tank now, place it in small jam jar, put in a tiny bit of fish/shrimp food , lightly cover the top not completely seal. Leave it for few weeks under the sun.

I may want to culture another batch of algae to standby.

Good luck to you.

[Nellyville41]

Thanks! I ended up buying the macroalgae and snails today. I’m just gonna throw them in and see how that goes. I’m assuming it should be ok cause the snails get to eat the macroalgae. If anything I’ll add a piece of fish flake. Lol

[MrsT]

Thanks! I ended up buying the macroalgae and snails today. I’m just gonna throw them in and see how that goes. I’m assuming it should be ok cause the snails get to eat the macroalgae. If anything I’ll add a piece of fish flake. Lol

Oh good to hear that Nellyville41, I used 1 snail to kick start cycle on my other small tank too, it worked. You are on your way

[Nellyville41]

Thanks! How long does it take to acclimate the snails?

[MrsT]

Thanks! How long does it take to acclimate the snails?

Do you know what type of snail you ordered? Some might not need to acclimate.

[Mustafa]

No acclimation needed besides letting them warm up to room/tank temperature. By the way MrsT...I think the algae on your cultured rock is cyanobacteria. We usually don't want that in our tanks. You don't have to do anything though...just don't feed at all from now on and it should go away and "normal" so that normal algae can grow.

[MrsT]

No acclimation needed besides letting them warm up to room/tank temperature. By the way MrsT...I think the algae on your cultured rock is cyanobacteria. We usually don't want that in our tanks. You don't have to do anything though...just don't feed at all from now on and it should go away and "normal" so that normal algae can grow.

Oh I'm so surprised, do supershrimp eat cyanobacteria?
Isn't cyanobacteria algae in blue green colour?
It's an outdoor tank, innitially that's my plan for not feeding them anymore. Hope the shrimp will be ok though. I think I read somewhere that anchialine pool do have a lot of cyanobacteria.

[Mustafa]

They'll eat it all eventually, especially with the help of the snails. The snails are actually more efficient at eating them over time. But it can take a long time. And if you feed in the meantime they cyanobacteria can grow much faster than the shrimp/snails can eat them. Cyanobacteria come in all kinds of colors despite the name...even in red. The problem with them is that they form carpets on top of everything and can become a pest. Anchialine pools have different kinds of cyanobacteria..not the mat-forming pest that tends to occur in tanks.

[MrsT]

They'll eat it all eventually, especially with the help of the snails. The snails are actually more efficient at eating them over time. But it can take a long time. And if you feed in the meantime they cyanobacteria can grow much faster than the shrimp/snails can eat them. Cyanobacteria come in all kinds of colors despite the name...even in red. The problem with them is that that form carpets on top of everything and can become a pest. Anchialine pools have different kinds of cyanobacteria..not the mat-forming pest that tends to occur in tanks.

Thank you Mustafa, I will leave them be without feeding the shrimp. The tank is in shaded area away from direct light. I'm thinking of putting in my nerite but I'm afraid it'll chomp down everything and leaves no food for the shrimp, besides nerite creates lot of bioload and it'll also make the situation more worse than it is now.
It's really interesting despite no bioload, they can grow out by just shrimp food. Is it something in mosura product that causing it? Or does it came in from rain water?

[MrsT]

I have an interesting read on what's in anchialine pool, it says
"Plants, or vegetation found in anchialine ponds are also adapted to the brackish water. They are marine algae (seaweeds), cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), and native widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima)."

Then some site mentioned spirullina made by non toxin cyanobacteria algae.

I'm so confused and I can't read further all the scientific name made me headache. I will see how it goes with my abandon tank, hopefully some good news update in the future.

[MrsT]

I'm back again to share, one of my shrimp so aggessively picking on the algae and poop at the same time