# shalu's 10 gallon low tech shrimp tank(07-24-2005**56k warning)



## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I converted a 10 gallon into a low tech planted tank 1.5 months ago. I want to experiment a few things with this tank.

a) No CO2. I want slow, steady growth, low maintanance. I only want to trim the plants once a month or even two months. Can I grow most demanding plants under this condition? I am using Excel initially to speed up the grow-in process and plan to stop it once the tank matures.

b) Some plants are really weedy in my Co2 enriched tank. Apart from growing too fast, they have really long internodes(see discussion in Scolley's cabomba pulcherrima thread). I want to know if I can get more compact growth in this condition.

c) I want to use cheap lights, with "wrong" color temperature. Do the plants care?

d) Would it be an algae farm? :icon_bigg 












Other stats about this tank:
plain aquarium gravel, no substrate fertilizer/additives.
2x15w screw-on CF bulbs in original incandescent light hood. 2700K(hence, the 'wrong' color temperature). $0.98 each in supermarkets.
25% weekly water change, dose N, P, K, CSM Plantex for trace. A few ml of Excel every few days. I thought I could get away with fish food only for NO3, but I measured 0 NO3(Sorry, Scolley, I know I promised no NO3 deficiency, wink, wink) today when I observed some rotala tips stunting.

Observations of the tank so far:
No plants are melting, even some demanding ones: rotala macrandra, tonina fluviatilis(week old). The macrandra is actually growing some nice red leaves.
All plants are free of any algae, except a little gravel algae and on a few anubias leaves. 
Some plants are growing smaller leaves than in CO2 enriched tanks, for example, glosso, r. macrandra, lindernia rotundifolia. Just the effect I like, to make a small tank look bigger. They are otherwise very healthy, the glosso actually has SHINY green leaves.
The internodes are very compact: r. macrandra(compare the top and lower part of the stems), cabomba furcata, sunset hygro, etc. I have to wait a little longer on this one, after all, I let NO3 dropping to zero and it is supposed to compress the internodes.

This is mainly a shrimp tank, with a few small neons:



























I will post updates here in the future.


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## fhqwhgads (Jan 18, 2005)

ooo, although i have no answer to your question, would you be willing to sell off a tiny sprig of that moss i live in palo alto ca and got to milipitas/san jose on the weekends. im talking small, like a piece the size of my thumb, or smaller.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

This is the still relatively rare "weeping moss". Sure, I can give you some, but you have to wait a bit longer, because I don't have much of that stuff yet. Why don't you join the local plant club SFBAAPS, we have "plant swaps" every month or two, where we give away/exchange plants for free. The next one would be in mid march I think. I could bring some to the plant swap.


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## fhqwhgads (Jan 18, 2005)

oh cool, but the problem with swapping plants is that i just started and i dont have many plants yet. i was going to make a moss and shrimp nano and i was looking for some nicer looking moss than java moss, like taiwan moss or your weeping moss. ill look into that, by the way where did you get those cherries, i went to the octopus' garden in berkeley and they were a bit pricey although the amanos were 6$ for 3, they were labeled algae eating shrimp but im sure they were amanos.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

fhqwhgads said:


> oh cool, but the problem with swapping plants is that i just started and i dont have many plants yet. i was going to make a moss and shrimp nano and i was looking for some nicer looking moss than java moss, like taiwan moss or your weeping moss. ill look into that, by the way where did you get those cherries, i went to the octopus' garden in berkeley and they were a bit pricey although the amanos were 6$ for 3, they were labeled algae eating shrimp but im sure they were amanos.


Well, new comers don't have to bring any plants, you can just take home free plants  Usually there are more plants than people can take, especially the more common ones. Some times people make special requests on the group mailing list for some plants before the plant swap. If you really want the moss NOW, try aquabid. I am actually expecting a shipment of mosses(Taiwan, erect, ...) from Singapore anyday now. I got my mail order cherry shrimp from a forum member here(DwarfPufferfish), you get 10% discount as a forum member(10 for $36 including shipping). Also got a few free ones from another member during SFBAAPS plant swap last time.


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## greenfish (Jul 7, 2004)

Very interesting. Keep us posted roud:


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## fhqwhgads (Jan 18, 2005)

hmm, i might join, but i have yet to get my liscence and it all depends where the events are, if its close to where im going or where i live i could probably go, if not i dont think i could get anyone to drive me.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

fhqwhgads said:


> hmm, i might join, but i have yet to get my liscence and it all depends where the events are, if its close to where im going or where i live i could probably go, if not i dont think i could get anyone to drive me.


I believe that the next one will be in the East Bay (Oakland area). It gets rotated on a regular basis so that traveling won't be too much of a hassle.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Actually Eric, the last one was in Oakland, you missed it. The March one will be in San Francisco


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Wow, is that Tonina, Rotala macaranda and Cabomba pulcherrima?! That is amazing considering you're using 30w CF bulbs on a 10g. It makes me wonder if the stories about the Tonina were myths. roud:


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

NIce! So is glosso ok growing in just plain gravel? I have a bunch leftover from planting a 10 gal foreground and would love to throw some in my 29 gal with plain gravel.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Raul-7 said:


> Wow, is that Tonina, Rotala macaranda and Cabomba pulcherrima?! That is amazing considering you're using 30w CF bulbs on a 10g. It makes me wonder if the stories about the Tonina were myths. roud:


The cabomba is c. furcata, supposed to be one of the most difficult per Tropica . I just put a new Tonina sp 'Belem' stem in there couple of days ago, we will see how it fares relative to T. fluviatilis. There are still many myths in this hobby, but it depends on who you listen to. After you are on the forums for a while, you can weed it out easily, I found that Tom Barr is almost always right :icon_bigg 



supaoopa said:


> NIce! So is glosso ok growing in just plain gravel? I have a bunch leftover from planting a 10 gal foreground and would love to throw some in my 29 gal with plain gravel.


sure, you can grow anything in gravel(aged with mulm is better), or no gravel at all if one chooses to(stem plants), if water column is fertilized properly.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

So T. fluviatilis is doing well for you? You may want to try to L. inclinata too. :wink:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Raul-7 said:


> So T. fluviatilis is doing well for you? You may want to try to L. inclinata too. :wink:


Still too early to tell with T. fluviatilis, but it is not melting at all. While the T. fluviatilis in my CO2 enriched tank is already sending out new stalks. But the idea of this tank is a slow tank, so I have to be more patient.
I have many different L. inclinatas in my CO2 tank: L. inclinata, L. inc. 'green', L.inc. var 'Cuba', L.inc. var 'Pantanal'. Only the 'pantanal' is relatively slow, the rest are ABSOLUTE weeds. I am going to put a stem of 'pantanal' in the 10g once I propogate enough stems in the main tank. :icon_bigg Actually I already put a leafless 2" stub in the 10gallon hoping to see it sprouting new leaves, so far nothing, man, slow tank is really slow, LOL.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

Nice tank, the 2700k's really bring out the greens in the plants and the reds in the shrimp.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Urkevitz said:


> Nice tank, the 2700k's really bring out the greens in the plants and the reds in the shrimp.


Thanks, but I think the credit goes to the camera setting, not the bulb :icon_bigg 
Honestly, the light looks quite yellow, but I can live with it if the plants grow fine, and they do. I used the white balancing function on the camera. Basically I point the camera to a sheet of white paper lit by the aquarium light,then I press a button on the camera telling it that the object is supposed to be white, the camera calculates the color and subtract it from photos being taken.


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

This is a good experiment Shalu... I think we should be striving for "least" lighting levels, not highest. High levels , high maintenance. The only thing I really think would be a good assist in it is CO2. Even the low light tanks can benefit in small amounts. 
Never did like Excel at all when I used it in any of the small tanks I did. I dont trust it. 

Look forward to updates. roud:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

*moss wall*

I took most of the weeping moss off the driftwood and made a moss wall:









I used the screen kit mesh and small suction cups from Home Depot. People usually use mesh with larger holes for that but I did not find a suitable one. It might take longer for the moss to grow out of the mesh, but I am sure it will. Will update later as it progresses.

I had a crazy idea of tying some Anubias nana 'petite' and windlov java fern to the wall, hoping to create the look of a lush tropical mountain cliff when the moss wall matures. I hope the java fern stays small without CO2, otherwise I will have to take it off later.


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## g8wayg8r (Dec 24, 2003)

It all starts with light and I guess 30-watts over a 10 gallon tank isn't bad - close to what I have. An anubias frazeri would probably do well and not care about the substrate, bulb temp or CO2. I like the leaf shape of that variety and it get a bit taller than most.


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## fhqwhgads (Jan 18, 2005)

i think san frans a bit too far for me, but if you have any extra weeping moss in the future, id be glad to buy it from you. just name a price


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Some more pics.

The Tonina fluviatilis is growing very well, although slower than in the CO2 enriched tank:









Utricularia sp. 'red', an interesting carnivorous plant:









Close-up of a Neon tetra:









A very pregnant cherry red shrimp:









I won some crystal red shrimps recently on aquabid. Here are some pics:

crystal red and cherry red:


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Hey Shalu, I missed this post. Interesting tank! Nice pics too! 

And love the new inter-nodal length on the r. macrandra! Anxious to see how this turns out. Especially since the r. macrandra looks better than in my hi-tech tank! roud: 

Looking forward to what it we all learn from it. Good luck!


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## 75sausage (May 19, 2004)

Very nice. I am going to follow this thread as I am trying a similar approach in my 10 gallon (setup 4 weeks ago. So far I only have 2 little glossos a bunch of horworth and anubia nana in there. The anubias have beard algae growing on it right now but otherwise all the plants are healthy looking and there is no other algae. I dose PMDD (greg watson) every 2 days. I am very optimistic about this tank. It will get some Hygro compacta this week and probably some corkscrew vals and I will get rid of the hornworth eventually. The tank has 10 harlequin rasboras and 3 SAEa which are getting lazy due to lack of algae.


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## jwarper (Apr 4, 2005)

This is a wonderful project setup! I am thinking of doing something similar with a 20G planted shrimp tank. Any updates? Some more pics would be nice :icon_bigg


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

holy macro, I found a pregnant Crystal red shrimp today, so excited! Forget about plants, I will update on them later 



















the mother-to-be taking a snack on behalf of the babies-to-be:









feeding frenzy:


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

Those shrimp look like salt water shrimp, very cool roud: . I will be on the hunt for those! Good luck with the babies.
-Pete


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Shalu - Apologies if I've missed this info somewhere else, but can you tell us a bit about your photogorapy equiptment please? Those pics are awesome!

And contrats on the mom to be? With all that moss and glosso, surely some of them will escape being tetra food.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Scolley, I use a Sony DSC-707. Good camera helps a lot for a non-photographer like me :icon_bigg. It has a macro mode that can focus within an inch.

It will be a LONG time before I have any excesses to get rid of :icon_bigg My Neon tetras don't seem to be interested in any cherry babies so far, even the really tiny ones. Cherry babies are popping up everywhere in the tank.


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

Are those bee shrimp? (the ones with the black and white stripes)

I'd be worried about them breeding with the crystal reds . . .


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

greenmiddlefinger said:


> Are those bee shrimp? (the ones with the black and white stripes)
> 
> I'd be worried about them breeding with the crystal reds . . .


Those are "bumble bees", which is different from Bees. but still, there might be such a possibility.


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## Keder (May 19, 2004)

What kind of moss is this?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

"weeping" moss. Funny thing is, it has changed its growth habit. It now points upwards, not weeping anymore :icon_frow


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

congradulations on the pregnant crystal.  


Hey whats the name of this plant in the foreground of this pic?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

This is "HC", Hemianthus callitrichoides.


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## baj (Sep 16, 2004)

shalu said:


> This is "HC", Hemianthus callitrichoides.


..... and its growing in that?? well learn new things everyday i guess...


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## Keder (May 19, 2004)

shalu said:


> "weeping" moss. Funny thing is, it has changed its growth habit. It now points upwards, not weeping anymore :icon_frow



Is that the same as mini moss that this guy has?

http://www.nature-aquarium.com/xmas.htm


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I think they are a little different. I also bought a little mini moss, need to grow it out to see how it looks. The same mosses tend to look different depending on tank conditions.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

This bumble bee is pregnant for a while, babies are due in less than 2 weeks.









Cherries in a circus act, showtime!









Here is a cherry couple "doing it", I think. The male is all charged up, but the female keeps eating her meal, like nothing is happening.









Cherries are like cockroaches at feeding time, disgusting in a good way. The neons try to steal a morsel. You can see the glosso lawn is filling in slowly, but surely, even though it is getting very little light, blocked by taller plants.









Finally the long wait is over. First batch of crystal red babies are hatched. Here is one on glass, less than 24 hours old:









blow up


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I wrapped some weeping moss around filter intake tube and the heater. Now the moss has grown in and the hardware are completely hidden:


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## yznj99 (Nov 1, 2004)

Gorgeous, I am speechless roud:


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## Lorenceo (Jan 29, 2004)

That is a fantastic tank!

I wish I could get shrimp here.. I cant even get ghost shrimp..


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Better pics of the crytal red babies, they are so cute:


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

shalu said:


> I wrapped some weeping moss around filter intake tube and the heater. Now the moss has grown in and the hardware are completely hidden:


Hey Shalu, you know I'm a nut about hiding equipment. I think that is a great innovation, as an alternative to the general "totally" obscured by plants technique. Do you have a larger pic of this? Great idea!

But how does the moss stay on? I would have thought the heater would kill the moss.  But clearly it is thriving for you. roud:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

scolley said:


> But how does the moss stay on? I would have thought the heater would kill the moss.  But clearly it is thriving for you. roud:


I used cotton threads, guess it will eventually rot away. Fishing line might be a permanent solution.

I only wrap the moss on the TOP portion of the heater, the bottom part(where the actual heating coil is) is naturally hidden by other plants :icon_bigg

Here is a picture of the right side of the tank. At the back, there is the filter intake and heater, you can actually see the top of the heater sticking up.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I had two crystal red females giving birth about 10 days ago. I could see quite a few shrimplets right after they were hatched. However, I can only find very few of them afterwards. I was not sure what was going on, maybe most of them were hiding really well in the thick vegetation, maybe my neon tetras got to them. I was hoping it was the former.

Bought a net breeder and put the third pregnant female crystal red and the bumble bee in it last night. Their babies were due anytime.









This morning, I found that the crystal red hatched half of the shrimplets already. More were on the way. It is deliverying a baby, with its rear end raised. Within seconds, a shrimplets dropped out and jumped couple of times before settling down.









Here is the baby shrimplet, dropped out of mother's belly just 10 seconds ago,









Mother and baby, can you find the baby in the picture?









I found out what happened to my shrimplets soon enough. It turned out that the slots on the side of the breeder box were wide enough for the shrimplets to craw out! And one did, before my eyes, after a little stuggle. A neon tetra got to it immediately when it went swimming! AAARGH! Those neons were out of the shrimp tank! This is officially becoming a shrimp only tank.

So far, I have found crystal reds are pretty easy to breed, although its cycle is longer than cherries.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

shalu said:


> Here is a picture of the right side of the tank. At the back, there is the filter intake and heater, you can actually see the top of the heater sticking up.


Thanks for the tips Shalu. But I'll tell you, as much as I'm all for hiding equipment where possible, I'm hard pressed to call that "showing".

I think I'd call that "so barely visible it's not worth mentioning". roud:

And BTW - those shrimp photos are, once again, nothing less than spectacular. Oh I'm sorry. Did I call those "shrimp"? I meant "tetra snacks". LOL :wink:


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Here is an update pic of the tank,









I removed some demanding plants that survived but did not exactly shrive in the tank. Tonina fluviatilis browned up when my NO3 bottomed out again, I now have a new 10gallon dedicated to toninas, that is where it belongs. Glosso continues to spread slowly but steadily. Quite a few plants thrived in the tank, including Lagarosiphon madagascariensis, h. micranthemum, stargrass, weeping moss. Most surprisingly, ludwigia arcuata, it is actually pretty red,









hm.. seems like this is my first tank ever that actually looks a little "aquascaped", rather than a purely "collectoritis" tank, although it still suffers from it somewhat


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I dunno Sha... I think you are about 2 trims and a just a hair of well considered planting away from an honest to gosh aquascape! roud: 

You are already competitive in a number of events, so watch yourself in this one. Once you raise that bar, your fans won't let you pull it back down!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

hahaha, thx Steve! 

Those cherries are breeding way too much. I think that has increased the bioload in the tank to the point where my crystal reds are frequently dropping their eggs, argggh, this did not happen in the first round. I am seriously considering baiting and moving all the cherries to other tanks, where I am sure they will manage to survive even with big fish :wink:. That way, the tank can just house the slow growing crystal reds, bumble bees and I hope to get some tigers soon. 

The first batch of crystal reds are 50 days old. Some are turning out quite nice 









The bumble bee babies are about 40 days old, they grow even slower than the crystal reds. They are cute too,


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## amber2461 (Sep 26, 2004)

Hey gorgeous shrimps you have there. roud: roud: roud:


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

Great thread, Sha. I think it's the first time I've sat down and read through it. You have some great shots in there, especially of the critters. Getting quite a selection there. 

Hmmm. I wonder if I could convince my daugther to drop all of her fish so I could make her (or is it really my :wink: ) low-tech 10g into a shrimp farm? I've got a batch of red cherry's in the mail, so I'll need to start plotting soon. Great inspiration here!

Brian.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Thanks, Marge and Brian.

Added more critters. Bought some SALTWATER Virgin nerites. Acclimated them a little too fast, some did not make it, three did and are doing great, they love eating algae and especially the green spot algae(GSA).

















Put some asian freshwater clams into the HOB filter. They are fun to watch and improves water quality,









Also got two purple apple snails









a cherry red immediately went to check it out,


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

awsome pics. I didnt know you could do that with saltwater snails. Hmmm makes me want to try turning them to freshwater.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

Nice snail there!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

skabooya said:


> awsome pics. I didnt know you could do that with saltwater snails. Hmmm makes me want to try turning them to freshwater.


Not every saltwater snail of course. The Virgin nerites are known to be able to live in freshwater, you just can't breed them in freshwater. In fact, Olive nerites and tiger nerites need brackish/saltwater to breed as well.


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## bellisb925 (Jul 3, 2004)

Sha, everything is looking great. It is hard to believe the quality of the ludwigia arcuata, and everything else for that matter, in a low tech set up. I think it would be helpful for me and others if you discuss how you are going about this low tech setup in terms of ferts.

Brian


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

shalu said:


> The Virgin nerites are known to be able to live in freshwater, you just can't breed them in freshwater.


I notice the good Dr's and Smith also add "will not tolerate high nitrate levels".

Care to comment? How's this working for you (given they don't say what constitutes high)?


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

hmmmmm Interesting. thanks for the info


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Brian, I use the same fert as high tech tank, just less, KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4 and Flourish. Right now, I settled to small amount KNO3(5-6 grains of stump remover) daily, 6 drops of Flourish daily, less than a smidgen of KH2PO4 and K2SO4 after weekly water change.

Steve, as you can see, I fert lightly in the above schedule. NO3 is kept at about 10ppm(most of it from food I feed daily). I now dose NO3 daily so that the amount is low but always non zero any given day, because I bottomed out NO3 a few times before stunting the plants severely. Based on my experience with my tanks(low or high tech), the measured NO3 is not all available to plants. The nitrogen from organic waste is not immediately available to plants until broken down by bacteria, that's why I have seen nitrogen difficiency sometimes even when measured NO3 is high, another reason to dose inorganic KNO3. I discussed that with Tom Barr.

One other thing, I airate 24/7 on my non-CO2 enriched tanks. I believe that way, at least plants get some CO2(3ppm) at all times, otherwise CO2 becomes a limiting factor shortly after lights get turned on. Critters are happy about the extra O2 as well. This is contrary to some other theory, where fish/critters are supposed to provide extra CO2. I don't count on that, after all, critters need O2 to breathe out CO2.

Here is an Olive nerite, not as fancy looking as the Virgin nerites, but still nice. It is becoming very popular for algae control in planted tanks.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

shalu said:


> One other thing, I airate 24/7 on my non-CO2 enriched tanks.


Thanks Shalu. Do you only put these lovely animals in your "non-CO2 enriched" tanks?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

I have the Olive nerites in my "high-tech" tank as well. The Virgin nerites are so small they are only noticeable in nano tanks.


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

Shalu,

This thread gets my vote for being the best thread on The Planted Tank. Huge congratulations from me. I love the tank.

Kyle


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Thank you, Kyle :icon_bigg


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Fender963 said:


> Shalu,
> 
> This thread gets my vote for being the best thread on The Planted Tank. Huge congratulations from me. I love the tank.
> 
> Kyle


Outstanding! Well deserved! roud: 

Does that mean it gets a six star rating?


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## hueyn (Feb 18, 2005)

Shalu,

I love this tank! Everytime I see it makes me wanna go out and get a 10G and set it up

I would love to set one up soon and can only hope to achieve similar results!

Huey


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Thx Steve for the six star. Thx Hueyn, just do it 

I have some unknown shrimps, LFS called them "red and blue" for whatever reason. I have had them for about 6 months now, they did not breed, so probably similar to amano shrimps.









It is amazing how efficient the cherries clean new plants. Throw an algae covered stem in it, 15 minutes later, the cherries give you back a completely clean one.









Not all cherries look alike. We know males do not have much red color, but even the females vary a lot in redness. Some are quite dark colored(vs red). Some do not show much red until very mature, after a few broods of youngs(in my tank, those seem to be the darker colored ones, not blood red). I seem to have some that are almost pure blood red and also show red at very young age.
Adult:









This juvenile female cherry will become a "super red". It is barely 1/2" and the ovary is not developed yet, but the red color is already quite strong.









I decided to upgrade my lighting, because I want to collect more rotala species here as I am running out of space in other tanks. I ordered some AHSupply reflectors as a first step. I want to see how high I can push the lights without CO2. Updates to come later.


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## vwboy53 (Mar 31, 2005)

Hey Shalu,
I just want to say that you have a brilliant tank. This is magnificant for a low tech tank. Just Amazing.
Oh and the Shrimp, such vibrant colours.
Congrats


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

I really enjoy what you have done with your tanks. Your threads are a lot of fun to follow. This 10g tank is terrific


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## bgssamson (Mar 16, 2004)

shalu said:


> I converted a 10 gallon into a low tech planted tank 1.5 months ago. I want to experiment a few things with this tank.
> *2x15w screw-on CF bulbs in original incandescent light hood. 2700K(hence, the 'wrong' color temperature). $0.98 each in supermarkets.*


Is this the one in walmart 10g hood? if so, are you using the same exact hood? & do you put glass top on it, did you take out the cover (the ones that protect the bulbs from getting wet or leave it open?

When I saw this post I was drooling like crazy! I wish my 10g shimpt tank is this "beautiful" Do you mind if set-up the same but the only difference is the foreground plant will be HC with some blnx japonica. I hope I get the same results.

Thanks!

-Brian


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Thank you, vwboy53 and Fat Guy, glad you like it.


bgssamson said:


> Is this the one in walmart 10g hood? if so, are you using the same exact hood? & do you put glass top on it, did you take out the cover (the ones that protect the bulbs from getting wet or leave it open?


Here is the fixture with bulbs:








I sawed away the rest of the hood, except the middle part to hold the lights. I think I threw away the glass cover long time ago. I know it is not the safest thing to do. It is also best to have the GFCI outlets.



bgssamson said:


> Do you mind if set-up the same but the only difference is the foreground plant will be HC with some blnx japonica. I hope I get the same results.


No, I don't mind at all, actually I am quite flattered :icon_bigg Good luck with your setup. I did have some HC in it, now I have moved it to a new tank. It will do fine if you make sure it get good light. I found that the single light strip had a tough time to cover the whole tank: the top of the tall stems in the background and the short foreground plants don't get much light. My solution is: the light strip starts the day positioned at the very back, for about 7-8 hours, when I get home, move it to the front, for another 4-5 hours. Now most everybody is happy. Longer photoperiod is not a problem in terms of algae growth when you have many shrimp in the tank.


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## bgssamson (Mar 16, 2004)

Thanks! What im planning to do it just take that two light parts & re-install it in my old 10g flouricent hood & add the extra reflector (I new it will come handy some day) that I ordered long time ago with the 55watts retro. from AH supply for my 20g. I will probably just put a small piece of glass over my light hood to be safe. Do you think it will work & not block enough lights? what is GFCI outlets?

Thanks again for inspiring us!

you're the best roud: 
-Brian


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

*one reason i joined.....*

Shalu your tank is amazing i wish i could get my 10g that im setting up atm as good as that.... its been hard for me to find good light tho.... and im not going to spend any more money on this 10g yet... but my 55g will hopefully have 5wpg so i will be able to have highlight plants.... my 10g atm was just planted today and i have 1.5 wpg on it... soon im gonna get some cherries i really like them... 

the guy at the lfs who really knew what he was talking about said that you should stay away from snails in general are there any good snails? im probably going to make my 10g very similer to yours i was actually planning on something like this and then saw yours... lol what are the chances... soon ill have some shrimp might not be cherries at first but eventually ill get some.... :icon_roll 

im probably going to get some first shrimp tommarrow or friday
i really want to get a few snails but dont know which ones are ok with my tank... i made a post on what i have in it in another forum,...

i love your tank hopefully i can get as good shrimp as you!


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Fish Newb, thanks for the compliments. What kind of snails are you thinking about getting? I got some mystery snails before, they left the plants alone, but big ramhorns did eat plants. Some species of applesnails(bridgesi) are compatible with plants. Most small snails(pond snails, MTS, etc) leave plants alone, you often get those as hitch-hikers on plants. They can become a pest as they reproduce fast and the tank may look unsightly. For algae control, nothing beats the nerite snails, with Olive nerites most commonly available.

LFS are not good at providing exact identification on snails, you might have to do some trial and error, and hopefully you can return the ones that do not work out.



bgssamson said:


> I will probably just put a small piece of glass over my light hood to be safe. Do you think it will work & not block enough lights? what is GFCI outlets?


Glass is probably ok, though personally I don't like it there. GFCI is Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, you can also get the GFCI outlet kit from Home Depot. If water causes short circuit, it will provide protection. You can find lots more info on it with Google.


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## MercuryShrimp (Sep 10, 2005)

any updates? the tank looks awesome  what is the name of the white ball looking food you feed your shrimp?


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## Jim (Apr 4, 2005)

Hi Sha,

I'm thinking about adding some nerites to my tank -- can you tell me where you bought them and how much they cost? 

Thanks,

Jim


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

MercuryShrimp said:


> any updates? the tank looks awesome  what is the name of the white ball looking food you feed your shrimp?


Thanks. The food is just some goldfish pallet food . I have been neglecting the tank totally for quite a while due to other interests, it is now totally covered in duckweed :icon_frow 



Jim said:


> I'm thinking about adding some nerites to my tank -- can you tell me where you bought them and how much they cost?


you mean nitrAte :tongue: see here:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17766


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## Jim (Apr 4, 2005)

you mean nitrAte :tongue: see here:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17766[/QUOTE]

Sha,

No, I'm good on the ferts. I was talking where to get the nerite snails you have in your tank  

Jim


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

Jim, sorry, misread it, haha. I got the Virgin nerite from floridapets.com
http://floridapets.tripod.com/snails.htm


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

i had found a nice sight with a varry of snails all plant safe the guy had some really nice varieties of blue and purple apple snails and some other rarer smaller snails but i had a problem with firefox and had to reinstall it so i lost link... il have to find it they were a little pricy but shipping wasnt too bad and they were beautifull i would never trust my lfs with snails lmao they got tons of them all look like plant eaters none are in planted tanks go figure...

fish newb


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## aanderson09 (Aug 7, 2005)

what's the filter that you have on the tank?


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## Faust2001 (Jul 29, 2005)

shalu said:


> Jim, sorry, misread it, haha. I got the Virgin nerite from floridapets.com
> http://floridapets.tripod.com/snails.htm


Shalu,

Did you have to acclimate them to freshwater (and how?) or were they already acclimated?


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

aanderson09 said:


> what's the filter that you have on the tank?


It is a whisper junior.



Faust2001 said:


> Shalu,
> Did you have to acclimate them to freshwater (and how?) or were they already acclimated?


They came in saltwater. I added freshwater over a week, lost some during the process. Still have some in full saltwater.


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## ja__ (Oct 2, 2005)

hey shalu

thats the best ting i 3ver saw you truly inspired me with this tank:hihi: 

btw we need updates


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

I'll second that. Thanks to Ja for bringing this thread to page 1. Just spent 45 entranced minutes reading through it. Now, I just have to try a shrimp shack! Totally cool Shalu!


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## TAF CAF (Jan 12, 2006)

REALLY great pics of the tank and shrimp.

Question: What is the white band stuff in the back right wraped around and for???


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## Defchilde (Jul 12, 2005)

I read somewhere that Shalu was visiting China....

Shalu, are you back?


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## Wezsh0T (Jan 14, 2004)

Hi...just curious...I started experimenting with a moss wall made of window screen material as well. Was the moss able to form a good wall with the small holes? Great tank btw!


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## jimmydrsv (Apr 8, 2005)

Sha Lu!!! We miss you!

If anyone hasn't seen it yet, definately check his other tanks out. This one is my favorite:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11359


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## joestreich (Mar 24, 2005)

man, those are incredible pics. cant wait for some updates


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

i just read that shalu was in china too... =( no updates for a while and from what i cas see hes not back this is his last log in time Last Activity: 12-01-2005 11:12 PM 

we will be waiting :icon_roll 

-=- fish newb -=-


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Geezz... shalu's used to be everywhere when I started off and he's been a great addition as well as a worthy teach to the forum. Shaluuu..... where are youuuu?


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## ja__ (Oct 2, 2005)

Still no activity almost 5 months gone now 

Cmon Shalu!


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## leonpetty (Jul 13, 2006)

Are those dark shrimp in the background ninja shrimp? Or just dark crystal reds?


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## leonpetty (Jul 13, 2006)

Hah! Looks like I'm a little behind on my reply


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I'll join the chorus...

Come back Shalu. We miss you! If you don't return it would be a big loss to this community.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

yeah i miss shalu too! this is one of those tanks that inspired me to become planted!! i heard shalu's in japan somewhere..... maybe we should track shalu down :hihi: lol that would be funny!

- fish newb -


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok I know shalu is gone, but could someone else answer this for me?

Will a freshwater clam live in a filter to let it filter feed?


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