Eco Refugees / New Tank

[SailorFromRI]

Hi all,

I have a 5yo Ecosphere with 2 survivors. I have been reading the forums for a few weeks and set up a new 1.5g tank for their emancipation. Used distilled water, salt substrate and calcium bits from this site. Friday will be 2 weeks of cycling. However, while researching elsewhere I read that marimo balls could live in brackish so I ordered and added some. Then I read here that was a no no lol. I removed them after 4 or 5 days. In an abundance of caution I did a 70% WC last night and sucked out all debris. Should I wait another week or so before cracking the sphere?

Thanks to everyone on this site for all the great info!

Pic attached. Lmk what u think =)

[Zlatan2601]

I like the tank, especially the substrate. Tha plants are plastic I suppose?
Will you add more opae or just the two of them?

Can't help with the moss ball issue though .

[SailorFromRI]

Thanks! Yes, the plant is plastic. I do plan on ordering more shrimp in a few weeks and macro alge and snails. Still pretty chilly here for shipping. Thanks for the reply

[Super Jess]

Taking out the marimo was a good move. Your cycling should still be largely on track after the water change--most of the beneficial bacteria and algae live in the substrate and on surfaces, and are not free-floating in the water. At any rate, two shrimp won't add much to the bio load. Lucky survivors!

[i<3Opae]

Kudos on taking out the marimo, that saved you a lot of trouble down the road. Plastic is great! They're perfect for opae ula tanks. I'd just wait for signs of algae (I personally wait for green algae, but brown is fine too if it's been over 2-3 weeks).

[i<3Opae]

PS I like the little dome! They'll like that.

[SailorFromRI]

Exfil complete! It was a little tricky because the sphere had a crack and tiny hole in the top. I had to hold my finger over the hole while prying the plug out. Once done I just dumped the majority of the water and shrimp in to the new tank. They were pretty fired up for 2 days. Swimming all over the place. They have settled down now and seem to be liking the new home. I have an order in for 14 more shrimp, snails, moss ball etc but it's still very cold here so I expect it's going to be a while before they can ship. Pics attached. I added the sea fan? from the ecosphere. Thoughts?

[Super Jess]

Nice job! Looks like your shrimp might have some eggs developing. I think they'll be very happy in their new home. While I'm anthropomorphizing, maybe they'll like having the sea fan as something familiar in their new digs.

[SailorFromRI]

Thanks Jess! Here's hoping. I did see a molt the other day so I def have my fingers crossed!

[SailorFromRI]

I got my order from petshrimp.com today! Thank you Mustafa!! Everything was well packed and in great shape. The new shrimp are exploring their new home and it's awesome to have so much more activity compared to just the 2 refugees. I'm sure they will settle down a bit but it's really neat right now. I added 14 shrimp, 10 snails, 1 moss ball and macro. Some pics below

[Mustafa]

You're welcome! Thanks for sharing your experiences with your new tank here! Can you even tell which shrimp are from the Ecosphere?

[SailorFromRI]

It's really hard to tell! I think I can pick one of the refugees out but I am just happy they have some friends and way more room now.

[Mustafa]

Yeah, pretty soon they will all look very similar and pretty much impossible to distinguish. But that's fine. We already have another thread here where we keep track of the age of (modified..i.e. opened) ecosphere shrimp.

[SailorFromRI]

Fed for the first time today. Put one tiny pellet in for a few hours. Everyone had a snack and shrimp were still working on it until sucked it out. See pic for portion size lol. They seemed to like it and it stayed together well which made it easy to Turkey baster it out. Dont plan on feeding for at least another month. On another note I noticed a molt in the tank today. Hope that will lead to some shrimp sexy time. Lol.

[Mustafa]

Next time try to feed only half or one third of that pellet. 16 shrimp don't eat all that much. Those pellets are pretty dense and swell up like crazy. You can use a utility knife/cutter to cut the pellet.