creekbottom

To answer a few questions: Mko - those are your plants, thanks! The background is painted with an acrylic craft paint that I bought at Michael's. I painted the OUTSIDE of the tank. I think I'm going to go with cherry shrimp, I've got some already so when they start multiplying I'll move them in here. Regarding the lighting - there isn't really a reflector. The housing that the bulb is in is white, and there is only one bulb. I'm going to try the 13w and if that creates problems I'll go to a 9w. Ok, now for the next update!!! This is going to be a shrimp tank so I don't think I'm going to put a heater in it. I've got one if needed but I want to keep stuff out of the tank as much as possible. To that end I need something for filtration? The hood has these handy dandy cut outs to put things in the tank, and the hood is hinged. It flips up so you can work in the tank. I don't want to go with a HOB cause that puts it in the middle of the tank, I could modify the back of the hood but I like it, very slick. I was thinking of an internal filter but I'm still trying to keep things out of the tank. I'll probably be using a very small internal filter for CO2 dispersion but I got this off a member in Edmonton. It's a Zoo med (turtle filter) but should be fine for a small fish tank. I'll have to modify the intake and outtake so that they fit the tank but I'm really excited to try this out. Next comes the attempt at 'scaping this. I got these rocks at Big Al's a while ago and then never used them. I tried them here but they look HUGE in this tank. In the back is a PVC tube that I'm going to use to elevate an anubias. I won't bury the rhizome but I wanted to be able lift it up, and not use driftwood in the tank. I have since gone a different route than the PVC and used a clear plastic tube. I was in Cochrane/Canmore this week and was in a few parking lots and found these: Can you believe it! a parking lot? I brought them home, cleaned them up and did the vinegar test - passed! The size is appropriate for the tank so I put them in. Pardon the humidity I'm trying to attach some moss to those rocks now. I think in the meantime I'm going to start the L. mauritiana as well. I'll get that going and then finish planting when I can fill the tank. Hopefully in 2 weeks or so. So the next update might take a while.

So my F. fontanus has attached after about 2 weeks. I put it in the tank and MOST of it stayed put. I'm not sure if being on rock or driftwood makes a difference. I'm trying some F. splachnobryoides on rock right now, hopefully that works out.

This might be a dumb question... but whatever! What is the difference (or is there one) between white, blue, and black filter sponges? I was at a LFS and noticed bulk sponges on the shelf in those colors. I'm going to need some of that stuff in the near future but was wondering if I have to buy a certain color? These were just sitting on the shelf, no packaging. If it was a carbon filter thingy I would suspect it would be wrapped and sealed, right? Oh, I'm just using them for pre-filters and for diffusing CO2 in the small internal filters. I like the black cause it's less noticable in the tank. Thanks

I'm fairly new here on AA but not so new to fish keeping. Although I've never done tanks like this before. Usually fish in a tank and do my best to keep the algae out... boring!!! So I've decided to change things up a bit and am using this 5 gallon to try out a whole bunch of the things I've learned by experimenting with my 10 and 20g's, and reading the endless and always contradictory info online. This forum has been a great place for info and answers, for even simple questions. I don't know how many hours I've spent cruising the forum soaking up info. So here goes! 5.5 gallon acrylic tank hood included with lights I've never done acrylic before, always glass, so not sure how this will work out. I bought the tank used off one of the members here. I painted the back black: I was in superstore one day and came across these: which are better than what's in the hood now. So now to fill it!!! I think I'm going to be putting shrimp in here and nothing else. So I wanted black substrate - good luck! I'm pretty sure anything I choose is going to be pricey. I decided not to go with one of the fancy plant substrates, even though they are darker in color. Tahitian moon sand is pretty expensive if you can find it, I couldn't find it here in Edmonton but I didn't look very hard. I found this: It was in the reptile section of a big box store. The bag says it's all natural sand with no additives or chemicals. Here's hoping it's safe. Everything I've read so far says it should be. It's pretty fine so there will definitely be MTS going in there. I got this: from a pile on the side of the road near the gravel pits west of Edmonton. It was DIRTY, but cleaned up well enough, just not crazy about the color. I did put a box of laterite down underneath the sand, we'll see. I put it all in the tank with minimal rinsing cause it's so fine and filled it up. I was glad to see that there was little clouding of the water and no movement when I turned the filter on. Here I just had an Eheim HOB (also from a member) with floss to clear the water for a day. I have since drained it and am waiting for it to dry out so I can figure out a hard scape. I have been buying plants as they come available on the board and right now they are sitting, hopefully not much longer! Lilaeopsis mauritiana? Cryptocoryne not sure which Don't know what that red striped thing is, I think it's a sword plant, I can't remember. I have some other things I might consider putting in but I'm going to try and keep the planting list simple. That's it for now.

I just made a 4 dKH solution myself using distilled water and Edmonton tap water, no baking soda. Does this sound right? I tested the distilled water - 2 Tap water - 7 mixed them up eventually came to - 4. That's what my API test kit is telling me. Before I put this in my drop checker I just want to make sure I'm not completely off my rocker with this.

I just did the vinegar soak thing on some glass as well. Laid paper towel on the glass, soaked it with regular vinegar. I was intending to use a razor blade but got called away! When I came back several hours later the paper towel was dry, and the glass was really clean. I didn't bother scraping cause it was so good. Just rinsed and done!

Looks like a Ludwigia species, not sure which one. Bigger pic might help ID it easier.

I found them! In Edmonton!!! These work great for CO2 diffusers, small, lots of water movement too. There are a bunch of them at Paradise pets in St. Albert. I think if your ever looking for anything Fluval and can't find it in Edmonton... that might be the place to check out. Impressive assortment of stuff.

Where do you find the hydro date? And what would be considered not current?

I have an opportunity to get a cylinder from work but I know the tanks are a little older. How can you tell if they are still good? Besides going to get it filled and finding out that way Thanks

It does take a while to get the plants from Malaysia, and to date I haven't had a problem getting green moss from them. I just find it is a bit of a guessing game because they may not be entirely upfront about what they are selling. That's not really a problem I guess, you just have to do your research before ordering some of the 'aquatic' species they have listed. On another note - I got a hold of some Fissidens splachnobryoides and F. fontanus. I've tried this out on driftwood. It's been in a tupperware container on the windowsill for about 10 days now. Not completely sure about the attachment yet so I'm going to leave it for a bit longer. I think the F. splach might attach a little quicker but I kinda don't want to submerse it to find out that it hasn't worked yet.

yup, the line comes from the yeast bottle, into the 'seperator' and then out to the tank. Check valve installed just after the second bottle on the way to the tank.

My salvation has just arrived! I ordered the smallest internal filter I could find online and it just arrived. Sticking the airline inside and problem solved!

So it's pretty late as I'm posting this. I have a planted tank in my bedroom, it's about 5 ft. away from my bed. Everything in the tank is SILENT - HOB filter, powerhead... nothing makes noise. I have a DIY CO2 bottle hooked up to an air stone in the tank. In the last two days the stone has started to make noise. There are always bubbles coming out of it but at random intervals it makes noise. Kinda sounds like a drumroll heard from far away and through a pillow. Not really... loud, but excruciatingly annoying. Especially when it's sleepy time. I've shaken the bottle to get more gas moving through the stone to see if that will 'shake things up a bit' nope. I have yet to reach in the tank and adjust the stone in the airline. My experience is that once an airstone has been shoved in the line, the only adjustment that happens after is replacing a broken airstone and cutting out the fitting from the line. I should be tired enough now that I could sleep through a marching band, I hope the airstone can keep time.

Neon black tetras, blood fin tetras, the cardinals have all disappeared. Thanks Sprucegruve, very helpful.

Hi, I'm creekbottom, and I have ich... I've been reading through the posts but a question still remains. If I'm adding salt at 1tbsp/10g, do I do that once and then leave it or is that a daily thing... or add it again after a water change? I've got the temperature up and added salt today, just wondering if I keep adding? thanks

I bought a few (15) cherry shrimp a while back, maybe 6-8 weeks ago or more, and have them in a 10g planted. Pretty sure they love it. Not long after having them I noticed little specks flying around the tank, obviously babies or so I was hoping. The stupid thing I did was add fish, it's a fish tank thats what you do, right? Ember tetras, no way they are going to snack on cherry shrimp. However, I added them all at once and the corresponding ammonia spike or whatever (I wasn't testing at the time) killed ALOT of shrimp. All the babies and most of the adults. I have about 5 left. Pretty sure both sexes as some are large and red and some are small and not so red. They don't seem to be breeding anymore. I keep looking for one of those large red ones to have yellow berries in her swimmers but nope, nothing. All the water parameters are good (I'm testing now), there is a sponge on the filter intake, as far as I know everything should be shrimp heaven. any suggestions? other than getting more shrimp.

I have the Odyssea T5 HO fixtures over both my tanks as well. I was a little worried because of what I had read online. I bought them off an ebay seller, the labelling wasn't very clear and I didn't know they were Odyssea. Now that I have them, I think they are fine and I'm happy with the purchase. Sleek, sturdy, the only problem I have is that they don't fit my 20" tank like they are supposed to. Which has nothing to do with how well my plants like them!

I think I'm getting it under control... not completely sure yet. I noticed bright red filaments of algae in my tank tonight. Have I managed to discover a new algae or does it turn red when it's dying?

Ok Jayba, you win the cookie! Water change today with prime instead of Big Al's, and it was a bigger one than usual... no cloudiness. Thanks to everyone that chimed in.

We'll see what happens after the next water change.

Ok, great! This sounds like a solution. I will get a bottle of prime, and keep this updated after the next water change.

Great! thanks for the first hand experience.

I've thought about switching to prime, but I have Amano and cherry shrimp and have read that those things are not compatible with prime. I'm not sure about the ammonia spike. The next time I change water and it goes cloudy I'll test it. The bottle of big Al's states that it will neutralize chloramine. And too, note that this doesn't happen in my 10g tank, which gets the same water. The water usually ages for about a week before it is used.

I purchased a new bottle maybe a month ago, little longer. Expires in 2014.