mayphly

This is my tank which was cycled with Amazonia in 20 days. These shrimp have now been in here 4 days and are all doing fine. I've tested ammonia for the last 3 days in this tank to make sure there are no spikes. All parameters are stable. If your adjusting parameters using an HMF I suggest you wait 24hrs after remineralizers have been added and then re-checking them. It takes some time for the jet lifter tube to draw all the water through the filter.

My daughter tested 20 different types of drinking water for her science project a few years back. The results varied all over the board. They are all different. I think Avion had the highest of all mineral content. There were a couple that were just right for shrimp. I just can't remember which ones. I'll check later tonight.

Maybe this will help http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/4065-step-by-step-cycling-techniques/

Lowered price in order to find these guys a new home.

2 more tanks are done cycling today. So, I introduced a tester shrimp into one of them (tank #5). Yesterday I introduced 12 shrimp into tank #6. Total of 13 shrimp in this tank now. They all appear to be doing well grazing around and doing shrimp stuff. Also, there's alot of good bug activity going on in these tanks. I'm feeling pretty good about it. These shrimp that I'm adding are all part of my pinto project.

I managed to seperate some taitibees yesterday and today. I placed the ones with the snowflake patterns into tank #6. Today I added a tester shrimp into tank #5. In this tank I'm planning on putting the ones with the nicest red colors in. Tank #4 is also done cycling as of today. I just need to adjust the parameters.

Congrats to the winners on this great RAOK!

I really like this Taitibee.

I've posted pics in the past of some of my moss (fontinalis) with new life growing from a dead fronds. Some ferns are also known to do the same.

I'd be down for a couple if the price is right. The way I have my tanks set up I could use a couple internal boxes. Eric, let us know if you decide to get some.

There's mostly salvinia minima along with duckweed and giant duckweed. All very healthy and 100% algae free. Free snails come with it. The first person to contact me gets it. I'll stuff a small priority flat rate box. Just cover the $6.00 shipping.

SOLD!!!I have 1 package of 6 + 1 Aura tibees (Aura Blue Tupfel x Snow White) available. USPS Priority shipping within the continental USA only. Live arrival guaranteed. I'll accept Paypal as form of payment. These are f5-f6. These are juvie sized. Some may be a tad smaller. They range in color from,blue, brown and red. The bigger they get the more solid their white becomes. Feel free to contact me with any questions. I keep these in crs parameters. Thanks, Andy

Nice models!

They look a bit stressed out to me. It could be because your parameters were a bit off. However, it looks like you have a berried female which is a good sign.

I added a test shrimp yesterday to a newly cycled tank. It's been 24 hrs and he's doing fine. How long would you wait before placing all your shrimp into a new tank?

1. Marali 2. StarryNight15 3. Forumsnow 4. mayphly

It's been 20 days since i started cycling the first 6 tanks. one of the tanks is already showing 0ppm ammonia. I still need to test for nitrate. I'm betting that nitrate will read zero. This week I'll slowly be replacing the water to bring the PH down and to make sure the tank is running stable before adding any shrimp. Today I also ordered 6 more HMF filters from Swiss Tropicals for the 6 10g's that are now also sittng on the rack. I also added a 40B tank which will be mostly for rare plant species. Here's my log for anyone who's interested in reading it TANK CYCLE START JUNE 14, 2015 6-14-15 Add Old Sea Mud, Bacter AE, and Magic Powder to bottom of tank Add Amazonia substrate Install HMF. Place biorings and heater behind HMF Fill tanks with tap water 6-15-15 100% water change 6-16-15 100% water change 6-18-15 Tanks 1-3 drain water 100%. Add SL Magic Powder to top of substrate and add 100ml Purify. Cover top of substrate with tap water (w/ Prime) Tanks 4-6 complete 50% water change. Turn on heater to 85 and add plants 6-19-15 Tanks 1-3 fill with 100% conditioned tap water. Turn on heater & add plants. Add buffer 6-20-15 Add minerals to raise TDS to 130 and GH 5. Add Bacter AE to tanks 4-6 6-21-15 25% water change. Adjust TDS and GH. Add buffer 6-24-15 Add buffer PH between 6.8-7.0 6-28-15 25% water change. Add buffer to tanks 1-6. PH 6.8-7.0 7-1-15 Added Bacter AE to all tanks 7-3-15 25% water change tanks 1-6. Test for ammonia. Tank #6 is showing 0ppm. Test Tank #6 again. Add 3.0ml of Purify to all tanks. Add Magic Powder to all tanks. Add almond leaves to all tanks. Adjust heater in Tank #6 to 72 Also, all tanks were seeded with muck from sponges from other tanks around 6-19. I wish I knew from which tanks I seeded tank #6 with.

Happy to say the tank is finaly at 0ppm ammonia today. Yesterday I performed a 50% water change. I'm pretty convinced due to the lack of water changes using Amazonia along with RO is the reason it took so long. Now for the shrimp!

That might not be a bad idea. I would think the jet lifter produces more than adequate O2 bubbles. My HMF are hooked up to my closed air loop and I barely need to open the taps to get them to move the water. Just curious, do you keep the jet lifter submerged or above the water? I keep mine above the water. I'm not sure it really matters.

I have a mini oxydator in my 20g. I use one catalyst and have to refill it about once a week. I'd go with the next size up which I believe is the "D". Cost wise it may a better choice to upgrade your pump. Are you using the Swiss Tropics jetlifter with your HMF?

I'm glad it worked out for you. I don't know why it didn't work out for me? I know we talked about. One other person contacted me with the same results that I'm having. But it's all good. I have plenty more tanks to set up and will try this method per instructions again.

I think Michael Nadal was working on these a few years ago. I haven't really seen any around. You know what that means! Hehe[emoji13]

I know it's been close to 3 months and my ammonia is still around .50ppm. This is definitely the longest cycling tank I've ever had. I have 3 other SL tanks that I set up a couple of weeks ago also with Amazonia and they are already at 1.0ppm. These 3 tanks I'm cycling with regular tap water and have performed 2 100% water changes in the beginning along with several smaller water changes and they're doing fine. However, these 3 new SL tanks did not bloom like the original tank did. Something with RO water, Purify and Magic Powder combo gave it that nice bacterial bloom. These new set ups only have small patches of bloom on the substrate here and there. By the time the original tank is done there will be a feast awaiting some very lucky shrimps.

This is one of my favorite looking shrimp at the moment

My shrimp are totally loving artichokes!