THE BIG MOVE COMING UP

[witchez]

I got my supply from petshrimp and setup a new tank about 1 gal in office. I bought a 3 gal salt pre measure mix and did my best to split it into 3 portion before mixing it with 1/3 with 1 gal distilled water. Next week is the 1 month day. Currently don't see sign of algae. I just receive the purple plastic plant this friday and gentle wash in tap water (since I am in office), before I set it into the jar container.
1. Now I wonder if I need to add more week of waiting to it now? Since no algea and I add something new to the jar.
2. current open eco sphere is have a small opening. Previously I think about submerging the whole thing in the jar and let them swim out? But with all the decoration in place.... not too sure if that still work. Or shall I slow pour them into the jar?
current population 4 audlt (1 berried), 15+ larva of different stage.

I am not too sure if I shall delay the transfer until the berried hatch or do it anyway by next week.
Let hope the water is okay, otherwise there will be a massacre.

[witchez]

That stupid plastic decor I put in last friday have some expose iron part. Now it start to rust in the water. I end up extracting it after 4 day exposure. Not sure if I need a full water change now. And here I am 3 week in on the cycle

[witchez]

I took a sample of the water to test last week at Petco, they said the result it good. I told them the situation with the rusting wire in the decoration. They suggested a 75% water change in case if it is copper wire.
I pour the 2nd portion of petshrimp salt into distilled gal water and kind of left it there for a good week, since I was soaking the new decoration (from petco) in the old water. For some reason when I look at the water in that gallon bottle. I see white particle, like the salt did not melt completely after the whole week. It's flowing in the water like pixie dust. Oh well, still did a 75% water change. Rearrange my decoration. I love the setup more than the last one.
1. Just not too sure if I need to wait the whole 4 week again or it can be shorter before I put in the shrimps (my 3rd berried female just release her egg the other day, whole bunch of floaters)?
2. I put about 2 gal amount of calcium carbonate rock in the 1 gal container (11 rock), some of them I saw some discoloring with a bit rusty color. Is that normal.

[Mustafa]

Welcome to our discussion forum! No, you do not need to start the cycle all over again after the water change. Just continue as usual. As for the calcium carbonate rocks, they can have have some colors besides white due to other mineral inclusions. It's harmless.

[Mustafa]

Also, I would still try to submerge your old container and let the shrimp swim out. It has such a narrow opening that pouring the shrimp out may turn out to be a disaster as the shrimp may get berried under the shifting substrate and decoration. They tend to swim against the direction of water flow, which makes things extra difficult.

[witchez]

Mustfa - thanks for the advise. Since you mention I don't need to wait another 4 week. I took some water to petco again. test strip is all good. salinity at 1.012 (perfect portion as mention by the pre-measure salt sell petshrimp). I think I will try submering my bottle tomorrow and leave it alone over the weekend. Finger cross everything is good.

1. things I notice is that when I use a plastic bag to scoop some water for sample, a thin (oily looking) layer stick to the bag.... I think that is the biofilm everyone is talking about here on the forum. I can barely make it out, since it is not obvious and there is no visible algae on the wall. (pic attached)
2. My macroalgae also seem to be slight lighter (not dark green anymore). Maybe because I been putting it on a few weeks of 24/7 low light led. It did grow from 2.5 inch size to a good 5 inch now (in 7 week). I do notice some string have some brownish spot on it now. I guess maybe like other post, it's growing too fast and no nutrition in the water.....I guess I better add my shrimp soon to make the cycle complete.

[Mustafa]

No problem!

Yes, the surface film is a type of biofilm too and shrimp like to pick on it swimming upside down once your population grows and enough shrimp get interested in it. The biofilm we talk about usually grows on surfaces, such as the sides of the tank, the substrate, rocks, decoration etc.. In the end it's all food for the shrimp and a type of biofilter for the tank.

Macroalgae do become lighter in color under brighter (and more direct) light. Your clump looks pretty healthy and normal to me. The fact that it is growing so fast means that there are/were plenty of nutrients in the water. The brown stuff on it appears to be brown algae/diatoms, which is part of the biofilm and a sign that your tank is ready for shrimp.

[witchez]

I took out the hair algea to put it in the big jar first. slowly fill the water to the top of the small bottle. Then I submerge the small bottle into the 1 gal jar and left it for the weekend. By Monday, everyone seems to be out. I removed the jar and took out the hair algae to put it back in the small bottle. Look like the move is very smooth. Let just hope I did not spread too much hair algae part into this jar.

with this bigger jar and more decoration to hide. They just occasional swim by to do luxury walk. I am literally having a hard time counting their qty or finding them on the substance floor since they seem to be very pale (like ghost shrimp).

my macro do seem to grow a bit white on 1 string.. overall, still green so far.

[Mustafa]

Thanks for the update! Glad it worked out great in the end! How are the shrimp doing so far?

[witchez]

Mustafa
thanks for asking. The process is very smooth with all the per-wash substance/rock and per-measure salt from you. My shrimps occasionally swim around a bit, around and around it goes like they taking some casual walk in the park. Since I got too many decoration in the jar, I cannot locate them all together. But since they all swim around (not panic or anything weird), I believe most is healthy and hiding. Hopefully no casualty since they are very light in color ( I think I only got 1-2 more red, everything else is very light peachy white). I cannot even tell from all the hiding area.
I personally still think my macroalgea is turn a bit pale-ish (when compare with first receive). Since it is not too alarming pale, I just keep watch on the macro. I am not even sure if it's because my new light or whatever. I just switch my led off just in case, since it reach quite a good size anyway.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PRBN4LJ?ps ... ct_details
here is the link for the led I got, it is higher than the 3w you recommend though.

I don't bother to feed them at all, since they got a huge macro to munch on if they want.
I find them more often past few days outing and about picking through the substance.

I cannot wait to you add your color mutant to the shop. I just want to add a few more different color to the jar (since most of my are pale peachy color)

[witchez]

There goes 2 mommy again. I cannot really tell if it's 1 or 2 since they swim around too much.

[witchez]

update pic. 2 more berried female. chaeto is definitely getting paler, bought some backup from online. After comparing, color did faint quite a bit.
problem: I think my shrimps is munching on the flexible purple silicone decoration I have. I am seeing holes and cavity on it. Since I recall it said good for fresh and salt water, i don't think it is the water that desolve it. So are the shrimp getting high eating the silicone?

[Mustafa]

Your macroalgae is doing fine. The color of it can vary depending on light intensity (higher intensity = brighter green) and nutrients (more nutrients = darker green given same light intensity). When this plant melts you'll know because it will become soft and lose structural integrity (e.g. breat apart easily). But even then it usually recovers.

Not sure where you bought the backup online, but if it's not specifically the Supershrimp macroalgae that thrives in brackish water, it will just slowly die over time as pretty much all Chaetomorpha spp. sold out there are meant for full ocean salinity reef tanks. If the Chaetomorpha you buy can't be traced back to Petshrimp somehow, it'll most likely just melt away.