# 40g Blue Diamond + SS CRS



## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

OP Update 9/6/14

*Tank*
-40g Breeder
-Aquariumplants.com substrate
-Osmocote + Root Tabs
-2x24w 10k T5 HO Odyysea
-SunSun 303A Canister Filter
-Hydor Inline Heater
-UV Sterilizer Inline
-EXT5000 CO2 reactor
-Carbon Doser CO2 Reg

*Flora*
-Subwassertang
-Anubias nana
-Rotala rutondifolia
-Hygrophila angustofolia
-Hygrophila diformis
-Marsilea minuta
-Ludwigia repens X arcuata
-Hydrocotyle sp. Japan
-Crypt wendtii green
-Riccia fluitans
-Blyxa

*Fauna*
-Otocinclus
-Blue diamond neocaridina
-SS CRS (added 3/23/14)

*Water Parameters*
-70-72 degrees
-Socal Tap

Consolidated pics from thread for update 

PS- If you ever want to buy some of my plant trimmings, just let me know! Ill see what I can do for you 

*9/14*































*02/14​*























































































*SS CRS added 3/23/14*


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Blue Velvets have been ordered


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## assasin6547 (Feb 6, 2013)

^From where? Nice start btw.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

*40g Breeder Neo Tank*



assasin6547 said:


> ^From where? Nice start btw.


Thanks!

I got them from Speedie on this forum.


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## STG88 (Jul 16, 2010)

I LOVE that 40g tank! Great start 8)

Sammy


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

STG88 said:


> I LOVE that 40g tank! Great start 8)
> 
> Sammy


Thanks sammy!

Hey if you would like to get the shrimp I just got let me know, I put them up for sale because I decided to go with a different color strain after they got shipped lol. Just trying to make my money back from the order. Check out my sale thread!

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=296074


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## zoo minsi (Jan 1, 2006)

very nice tank and i love that you're using your drop checker as a planter thats awesome lol. I got 12 blue velvets from speedie last october and am up to 75-100 now. Great little shrimp, seeing some cool variations in them with this last generation.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

*Update *
-I had a rough start with the tank due to converting to low tech from high tech. Algae took a hold while the plants adjusted and I had to fine tune the amount of light I needed for them. BUT everything has balanced out now 
-Growth is slow but steady (Zero fertz or CO2, just Osmocote root capsules)
-Just setup a Marina Breeder Box to do some selective breeding of my Neos. Going to get a light, substrate, and plants in there shortly.


*Livestock*
-10x Blue Diamond Neos (2 berried females as of last week, waiting for those beauties to drop )
-70+ Caridina Babaulti (I bought 2 berried ones and they dropped a HUGE amount of shrimplets that have grown at an insane rate. Already about the about size of my neos after only 2 weeks)
-1x Amano (I want to get this guy some more friends soon, he's lonely)
-3x Otocinclus (They only like to come out at night for some reason, oh well)
-20+ Assassin snails and growing (Now that they have settled to the low tech water parameters, there are snail orgies all over the tank all day long, I keep finding more and more eggs and babies)

















































*SNAIL ORGY*


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)




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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

One of my berried Blue Diamonds


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Setup the light on my hang on breeder. Nice! It is bright, I hope it doesn't cause a ton of algae growth since Im not dosing fertz or CO2 (just root tabs). 

I just threw together what I had available right now. 
-Black Sand
-Osmocote root fert capsules
-E. tellenus
-M. Minuta
-R. rutondifolia
-L. Arcuata x Repens
-tiny bits of xmas, taiwan, pellia, and java moss

I will be keeping my eye out for some new shrimp/plant substrate, maybe tiny driftwood or tiny seiryu stones, and super micro size plants. I'd like it to basically be a Nano tank


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

First batch of blue diamond shrimplets have arrived!

http://youtu.be/Vte7UqAlj7s


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Update on the berried females, they both have dropped!(sortaaa)

*Female #1* dropped her shrimplets just fine in the main tank and I occasionally see one (hard to find them in a 40g lol), but I will start seeing them when they get a little bigger.
*Female #2 *had an issue, I decided to move her to the hang on breeder I have as I could tell she was due to drop any day (i kinda wanted to be able to see the babies grow better in a smaller tank). She started dropping them this morning and I have about 5, but I guess she was over the whole motherhood thing and decided to molt with about 10-15 eggs still unhatched  I removed the sticky stuff that holds them together from her molt and have placed them gently on some moss that is in direct flow of the incoming water. I was wondering if the other shrimp would go for them, but I haven't seen anything do more than walk over the eggs and touch them for a second and move on. We shall see what happens! You can even see their eyes, and knowing that some already hatched means that they should hatch any moment as well.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

*40g Breeder Neo Tank*

Update on tank

1) Started pumping 1 bubble/ 2 seconds for a little extra growth
2) Made my own light hanger out of an old metal frame bookshelf, hack saw, spray paint, 8$ of hardware from Lowes, and some elbow grease. Looks pretty clean to me 
3) Turned on both t5 24w bulbs in the single fixture and turned off the other 15w t8 fixture since the tank has co2 being injected.

Let me know what y'all think!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Seeing more and more baby blues!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Soaking a different big single piece of driftwood that will look MUCH better than the current setups. I wont post until its all redone, but here is a teaser pic of a blue diamond and babaulti on the soaking wood.


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## Black Hills Tj (Jul 19, 2008)

Very cool setup, Triton. Just ordered one of those nifty little breeder boxes for myself! Those are way cool.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Black Hills Tj said:


> Very cool setup, Triton. Just ordered one of those nifty little breeder boxes for myself! Those are way cool.


Thanks! And awesome, congrats! They are very neat little additions to any tank. Enjoy


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Got a cheap $10 macro/fish eye/ wide angle amazon.com lens for my iPhone 5. Amazing purchase IMO.

Photos had to be touched up a tiny bit in iPhoto, but still awesome!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

*Update on the tanks rescape finally!
*
-Added a moss tree using taiwan moss (needs to grow in, cant wait)
-Rearranged the driftwood with subwassertang and anubias nana
-Added and rearranged plants
-Floating baskets have IALs and some of the weird variants of my Blue Diamonds that I am breeding out

*Before*








*After*









*My army of Blue Diamonds is building in my hang on breeder!*


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Your 40breeder looks awesome!  How did it work out btw using the 2 24 watt bulb Odyssea fixture, since the bulbs are only actually 24 inches long? Did you have problems lighting the tank at all? because I'm contemplating on doing the same thing with a 40breeder with the same fixture.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Blackheart said:


> Your 40breeder looks awesome!  How did it work out btw using the 2 24 watt bulb Odyssea fixture, since the bulbs are only actually 24 inches long? Did you have problems lighting the tank at all? because I'm contemplating on doing the same thing with a 40breeder with the same fixture.


Thanks a lot! It's coming along nicely being a low tech shrimp setup 

As for the lighting, the light is hung about 6 inches above the water and centered. Also, it is only 6 inches shorter on each side of the fixture to be able to cover the whole length of the tank , so the corners of the tank don't lose that much light intensity. 

Here is a pic of how the fixture is hung, its also described on the 2nd page of the thread  I like the way it looks.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

no problem  It does look nice that way. Did it still work decent when you had it just right on top of the tank?


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Blackheart said:


> no problem  It does look nice that way. Did it still work decent when you had it just right on top of the tank?


Oh yeah, it worked perfectly sitting on top of the tank. I hung it for aesthetic purposes only, the hang on breeder interfered with the fixture being able to sit nicely on top.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Few more phone pics


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Looks awesome


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Just a little baby blue diamond


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

How much for the blue diamond babies? Also, how far would you ship these guys? Im in CT.


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## thejoe (May 23, 2013)

I also am interested in buying blue diamond babies. I live in Los Angeles. Joe


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

thejoe said:


> I also am interested in buying blue diamond babies. I live in Los Angeles. Joe





cbachmann said:


> How much for the blue diamond babies? Also, how far would you ship these guys? Im in CT.



Sorry! I've only had them for a little over 3 months since they were imported from Taiwan. My first generations are just now starting to breed for me, so ill need a little longer to get some exponential growth going on lol


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Update - moss tree has started growing more, but now it doesn't look like I was sold Taiwan moss  Looks like java  Ill have to live with it until I do a rescape in the future.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Carpet update M. minuta


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

*Update on breeder box*

No cool scapes or anything, just random plants. It is hard to balance out the settings for both the box and main since they have the same water parameters, the settings are tuned to the main tank's setup. I keep experimenting with light settings on the box so it stops growing algae lol

Also, I am breeding out some of the random reds that came from my blue diamonds. They are PFR grade actually, so thats pretty fun! lol I am keeping them separate and seeing if any of the reds still carry the blue color genes and can produce blues. Or if they lost it completely. Will update later on that.

Lastly, snails! My assassin snails are constantly hungry for protein in the main, so I use the breeder box as a safe haven for pest snails to breed and grow.. then I send them to their deaths lol


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Put a 5g bucket, sand, sponge filter and simple light under the main tank (no heater, but might put a little better light above). Going to raise up my reds (came from the blues so technically culls) and blue culls in there and let the best blues dominate the main


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Nice tank that looks like a ton of light from that little fixture.






trit0n2003 said:


> Update on tank
> 
> 1) Started pumping 1 bubble/ 2 seconds for a little extra growth
> 2) Made my own light hanger out of an old metal frame bookshelf, hack saw, spray paint, 8$ of hardware from Lowes, and some elbow grease. Looks pretty clean to me
> ...


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

newbieplanter said:


> Nice tank that looks like a ton of light from that little fixture.


Thanks! Also, even though the fixture is only 24" on a 36" tank it gives good light distribution.


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## Jonnywhoop (May 30, 2012)

Tank looks awesome! 40br is huge for shrimp!


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

I love it! Even the breeder box looks great on there. The rescape looks fantastic. You've got a whole setup in just one tank! I need to get some of those breeder boxes as I'm at the limit of what my wife will allow, but I need a place to put some of my PFR culls


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Jonnywhoop said:


> Tank looks awesome! 40br is huge for shrimp!


Thanks! I like to make sure they have enough room to swim  lol




The Dude said:


> I love it! Even the breeder box looks great on there. The rescape looks fantastic. You've got a whole setup in just one tank! I need to get some of those breeder boxes as I'm at the limit of what my wife will allow, but I need a place to put some of my PFR culls


Thanks! Be careful when keeping lots of males with females in there though, during breeding the males have killed 2 females of mine since they were all bombarding them during mating. Being such a confined space, the females don't have far to run and hide.


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## Steezy B (Apr 19, 2013)

any updates on your tank? I'm in love with your set up. I'm about redo my 40 breeder and have decided to go with shrimp this time.. what breeder boxes are you using?


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Steezy B said:


> any updates on your tank? I'm in love with your set up. I'm about redo my 40 breeder and have decided to go with shrimp this time.. what breeder boxes are you using?





trit0n2003 said:


> *Update *
> -I had a rough start with the tank due to converting to low tech from high tech. Algae took a hold while the plants adjusted and I had to fine tune the amount of light I needed for them. BUT everything has balanced out now
> -Growth is slow but steady (Zero fertz or CO2, just Osmocote root capsules)
> -*Just setup a Marina Breeder Box *to do some selective breeding of my Neos. Going to get a light, substrate, and plants in there shortly.


Marina


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Steezy B said:


> any updates on your tank? I'm in love with your set up. I'm about redo my 40 breeder and have decided to go with shrimp this time.. what breeder boxes are you using?


Marina box. 

But sadly my tank is going through a nitrate spike and I'm losing a lot of my shrimp


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

I have been playing with the occasional odd color morphs my blue diamonds produce. 

Took a glacier blue variant (_came from breeding two random solid red offspring from the pure BD line, it is lighter and brighter blue body than the sapphire blue color that is common in the pure line_) and bred it back with a pure line BD. Got one of these guys to show up! Looks like a neo blue bolt in the works


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Picture of my biggest Blue Diamond.










How the males feel around her.


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

trit0n2003 said:


> Update - moss tree has started growing more, but now it doesn't look like I was sold Taiwan moss  Looks like java  Ill have to live with it until I do a rescape in the future.


Yea thats taiwan moss i can tell by the soft look it has also has the same feel too. Java feels real rough an looks the same too (rough).


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Awesome shrimps!!! Nice tanks also!


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

trit0n2003 said:


> Picture of my biggest Blue Diamond.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Its beautiful but does remind me of a roach lol


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

I've been working on getting stable sapphire blue coloration on my blue diamonds. 











Sernt ferm mer phern


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Beautiful shrimp


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

The Trigger said:


> Beautiful shrimp



Thanks! Im trying to stabilize them and get them to be known as 'high grade' sapphire blue diamonds 

The original imported stock from last year has a mixture of blue/black/brown, and throwing out occasional PFR grade or nearly colorless offspring. However, I haven't had any randoms show up in a while. Just getting better sapphire coloration


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Another picture of what I'm going for


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

And a pic of my growing food arsenal


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Drip acclimating my SS CRS     

I wish I could change the title of my thread to Neo/CRS tank


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Very nice setup!! Those blue shrimps are simply amazing!!!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Crazy4discus said:


> Very nice setup!! Those blue shrimps are simply amazing!!!


Thanks!

Hopefully my CRS will survive the acclimation and add more amazing shrimp to the tank


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## peachii (Jun 1, 2013)

Click edit and go advanced, should be able to change the name of the first post.

Also, amazing color on those shrimp. I lurves them.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Ill get better pictures when they come out more. But here is the first look!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

peachii said:


> Click edit and go advanced, should be able to change the name of the first post.
> 
> Also, amazing color on those shrimp. I lurves them.


Thanks! I fixed it!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)




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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

My hang on breeder was difficult to maintain. I was having trouble balancing the light and water parameters in such a shallow tank with the water being calibrated for the main. SO, I decided to let the algae take over on the walls of it. Now it isn't easy to see in from the outside, but it allows me to grow high light plants now 

It has become a mini downoi farm for me


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Hey everyone! 

Update on the rescape after I moved the tank a few months back. 

PS- If you ever want to buy some of my plant trimmings, just let me know! Ill see what I can do for you


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Beautiful tank. The plants you chose created a peaceful scape. I just want to curl up on that pillow of hydrocotyle. Those are some lucky shrimpies .


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

pewpewkittah said:


> Beautiful tank. The plants you chose created a peaceful scape. I just want to curl up on that pillow of hydrocotyle. Those are some lucky shrimpies .



Thank you very much 

I am often told that I spoil my shrimp with such a large tank lol


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

trit0n2003 said:


> Thank you very much
> 
> I am often told that I spoil my shrimp with such a large tank lol


Nonsense! I'm sure they really enjoy all that swimming room and not getting spooked by fish .


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Put some Hydrocotyle sp. Japan on my floating Riccia mat, now its growing emersed


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Very nice tank. How much CO2 do you have injected? I always thought shrimp (especially CRS) would take badly to pressurized CO2.


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## scx (Sep 8, 2013)

trit0n2003 said:


> Put some Hydrocotyle sp. Japan on my floating Riccia mat, now its growing emersed


Hey thats an amazing tank! Im hoping to buy some of your clippings for the marsilea minuta and hydrocortyle sp japan. Im working on a low tech 4 gallon and those plants would be perfect! Do you happen to be in san diego?


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Axelrodi202 said:


> Very nice tank. How much CO2 do you have injected? I always thought shrimp (especially CRS) would take badly to pressurized CO2.



Thanks!

I'm injecting about about 1bps now. My drop checker is barely green. 

My last CRS has adapted to it quite well, sadly I lost all but 1 of my 10 while I adapted them to pure SoCal tap water. 

As for my neos, they breed like crazy and have never shown signs of stress.


Sernt ferm mer phern


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

That's very lush growth for 1 bps! I assume you don't dose much to keep the TDS down?


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Axelrodi202 said:


> That's very lush growth for 1 bps! I assume you don't dose much to keep the TDS down?


Thanks again!

Ya I dont do have to dose too much. I just use Seachem flourish and it works great with my shrimp. I also dose Osmocote Plus in substrate a few times a year.

I used to use a Micro/Macro mix from aquariumfertilizer.com, but I think it had too high of CSM+B for my shrimp and really reduced the breeding rates.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Thanks for all the info. Good to see that lush shrimp breeding tanks are possible to achieve


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Axelrodi202 said:


> Thanks for all the info. Good to see that lush shrimp breeding tanks are possible to achieve


No problem. Its all about finding the perfect balance


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

I need more CRS! My only surviving female that adapted to tap water


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Helping my super Blue Diamonds show that sapphire color with healthy feedings of Borneowild Stout and Color


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

How I imagine my shrimp when I'm culling

http://youtu.be/1IT6o-LvyfA


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

So much blueeeee


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Got some Rotala butterfly


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

I am so jealous of your tank!!! Those shrimp are freaking gorgeous. Sadly, I don't have the tank parameters for some of the more sensitive shrimp... . You should post a FTS with the new butterfly in there!


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## Dugsul808 (Jul 30, 2012)

DAMN! this tank is awsome! love the scape and the blue diamonds! keep it up!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

pewpewkittah said:


> I am so jealous of your tank!!! Those shrimp are freaking gorgeous. Sadly, I don't have the tank parameters for some of the more sensitive shrimp... . You should post a FTS with the new butterfly in there!


Thank you  And you totally could get these shrimp to survive in your tanks. Neos are pretty bullet proof IMO. I use pure SoCal tap water which is notorious for being super high GH. They thrive.



Dugsul808 said:


> DAMN! this tank is awsome! love the scape and the blue diamonds! keep it up!


Thanks! Blue is definitely my favorite color shrimp  Second would be that pure white color on the CRS.


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## Xzavier247 (Aug 9, 2014)

This tank look great!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Gave the main tank a friend 

Its going to be for extra Sapphire Blue Diamond selective breeding.


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Super sapphire


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Xmas came early lol Well, it was forced to since my T5 fixture blew out.

Setup a new 36" Finnex Planted+  Lets see how it does.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Awesome tank  I'm planning a 40b shrimp tank, too! Those shrimp are awesome!


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Things are growing more dense and compact now lol ugh


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## scx (Sep 8, 2013)

Hey, sent you a pm  
I'd love to buy some of that dense marsilea minuta from you. I need enough for a starter pack for a 20 gallon long. I'm guessing probably baseball sized?


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

Update on the tank!

Removed all the M. minuta and made the Hydrocotyle sp. Japan my foreground plant.


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## Mikeygmzmg (Mar 19, 2015)

Sick tanks! Those blue diamonds are awesome... Excellent plant selections ; )


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## trit0n2003 (Nov 19, 2010)

So I finally bought an RO unit. 

Time to get some caridina! Stay tuned 


Sernt ferm mer phern


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