# accordztechs shrimp tank --->Picture update



## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

So for my second tank I decided on doing a shrimp tank in my JBJ 12g Nano I had laying around. It serves its purpose with lights, and a shrimp safe filtration system, and a cannopy cover. I built a stand for it, never could sell it, but never fiqured out what to put in it.

I been doing quite a bit of reading on shrimps but perhaps not enough. 

Co2: yes pressurized via powerhead reactor in the back of the tank. 3bps.
Lighting: 2x24 pc. 
Plants: needle leaf java fern, glosso
Decor: [STRIKE]some White sand[/STRIKE]....ADA aquasoil on bottom, then slate to create a raise, then black fourite sand to make a mountain and hold plants.

Kinda bit off of the design of msnnikkistars tank, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...g-rimless-blue-tiger-haven-4.html#post1136907 but I am giving her credit here =)

question: 

[STRIKE]1. Im wondering if I should put ferts like greensand, kelp meal, and bone meal under the flourite like I did in my EI 55 gallon.[/STRIKE]To late
[STRIKE]2. Should I dose EI method with nitrate, csm+b, and phosphates like I do in my other tank?[/STRIKE] I will watch the plants, if they show difficiency ill do it.
[STRIKE]3. will styrogene 49 be fine without co2?[/STRIKE]

Current Picture


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I have another question. If I'm laying down slate rocks should I put something under it? It will be on the bottom glass obviously


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

well Since no one is helping much, im going to attempt to draw in a crowd with pictures lol.

I was testing my layout. Thinking of doing it like this then flourite black sand mountain. Borderd with some styrogene. 









I dont care what anyone else says, putting both of these sands in was a PITA. Dont mind those out of place stones. Those are removed and were there to block the black sand from coming down.









Gotta clean some of that up









I broke up some more slate and actually laid it on the mountain to give the mountain some meaning. Also so the black sand wont trickle its way down to the white sand. The tank is very cloudy right now. I washed the white sand but not enough. The black sand was very clean.


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## familyman03 (Jun 16, 2010)

will the two sands become mixed over time? If not how do you plan on keeping the mound place?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

familyman03 said:


> will the two sands become mixed over time? If not how do you plan on keeping the mound place?


Im hoping they wont lol. They are seperated but only by rocks, I hope once I get the other plant between the 2 it will help hold it back.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I just did a water change


















I am NOT doing this again, but I do got to find a way to hold that mountain.


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## familyman03 (Jun 16, 2010)

If you have the patience you can wait it out and grow some moss toward the bottom end where it encroaches the white. Or you can put some on to small pieces of slate and rest it there and go from there. I imagine that once you get your plants going the roots would help hold the mountain in place. Have you figured out which shrimps you will put in there?
Jason


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I'm really liking cardinal shrimps. I like how they look almost like the salt water ones. I can easilly get cherry shrimp but they seem to plain


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

Looking good, I'd used the same Micro-Fiber towel to wax my cars! I have tons of it! In it for some plant growth!


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Jaggedfury said:


> Looking good, I'd used the same Micro-Fiber towel to wax my cars! I have tons of it! In it for some plant growth!


Ahh, im a detailer. These things are a dime a dozen lol.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I dont know why but im not feelin my mountain =/. 

Tested the ph of the water, 7.8 pretty good. Cardinals want 7-8.5 so its still in their range. 

I also bought a heater today. My 50 watt heater had a very hard time going past 77. So I bought a 75watt heater. I am going to try to keep these guys at 80 degrees.


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## guppygolucky (Nov 9, 2009)

the mountain looks good, maybe you're not feeling it yet because it hasn't been planted and "aged" yet. If you wanted a dash of color, you could place either 1 or 2 large red lava rocks or a few small ones to break the solid black.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Thanks for the opinion. Perhaps your right. Soon, if jaggedfury would get off the comp and take some pics for me:tongue:, then ill probably be planting it with some moss from him. I am probably going to do mosses only, and ditch co2 for now.

I hate that the black sand keeps getting into the white, hopefully once I put plants on the rocks then it will stop that.


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

Well, looky my name is mentioned! lol

A good way to keep the mountain in place is to use small lava rocks, or even put large fluorite, then top it with whatever you want. You can also put some plastic uhh bordering to keep it in place as well


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

msnikkistar said:


> Well, looky my name is mentioned! lol
> 
> A good way to keep the mountain in place is to use small lava rocks, or even put large fluorite, then top it with whatever you want. You can also put some plastic uhh bordering to keep it in place as well


Well got to give credit somehow lol. I dont want to be attacked by shrimp lovers.

Tested my water today

Temp-82 F
Ph-7.8
ammonia-.25
nitrite-.25
nitrate-10 or 20ppm

I think the cycle process has started. Last night I took the fine filter pad out of my other tank and cut it into pieces to put in this one. Then got some ceramic media from the other tank, and a small bag of sand to help the cycle process. 

I never really cycled a tank, always used the silent cycle method and added fish little by little (I also had plants in there). So this is the first time trying to attempt a cycle. Go figure when the shrimp that I want is really expensive, cant afford to loose them.


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

Throw some plants/moss in there! lol I PMed you back!


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

For some reason my heater keeps going higher. Today was the first day it hit 82.5. The other days it was consistant, and it was only till I added the moss. I lowerd it again and we will see, its an eheim jager so it should be pretty good quality.

Got sticky fingers today.


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

Should of told you to grab a few of those super glue gel and drop it off to me also. LOL. I need some, just realize that. 

Watch your temp 82.5 is SUPER HIGH, don't over fry the Pellia. They don't like warm temp, it was in a 70 degree room temperature tank before I sold it to you. 

Tank looks good. It's all coming along. 

Is that sand really white? If it is, Back years ago, I wanted to try a scape with just white sand and Heineken bottles


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

You should of told me about the super glue, I would of traded for more moss lol. 

The sand is pretty white, but the 10k bulb makes it a bit whiter. Its like saltwater white.

As for the heater, today was the first time I saw it. I lowerd it a hour ago but it still went up. So I shut the heater down and let the cannopy open to get it to a lower temp, then ill turn the heater on a lower setting and try and calibrate it again. I never had issues with any heater before, but I never kept anything at 80 degrees.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I knew it was missing something. So I decided to chop up some of the manzanita in my 55. That was scary cause I paid some good money for it =). It has some bba on it but a quick nuke with h202 should take care of it.

Oh I put the heater there temporaraly, I wanted to see when it turns on to get the correct temps. I think it got to hot the other day cvause the fan for the cannopy wasnt on. So im trying a few things.



















Feedback please!


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

I like it. Id smother the mountain in some low grow plants and leave the sand as is. If you get cardinals, this is going to be great. IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME


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## SpankyMR2 (Nov 11, 2010)

Love it. Very nice. Wish I had that sort of talent.

Patti


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## familyman03 (Jun 16, 2010)

Looks good I like what you have done with the "sticks". What are you going to put in the white section?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

chad320 said:


> I like it. Id smother the mountain in some low grow plants and leave the sand as is. If you get cardinals, this is going to be great. IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME


Thanks, im attempting to save some money for cardinals. It sucks lol



SpankyMR2 said:


> Love it. Very nice. Wish I had that sort of talent.
> 
> Patti


I have no such talent. But between my other tank and this one I took my time and slowly figured out something lol



familyman03 said:


> Looks good I like what you have done with the "sticks". What are you going to put in the white section?


I think Ill leave the white section alone. I was trying to create a beach peir look, like the lagoon area. 

You dont know how scared I was when I cut those sticks lol.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Well I did a water test today 

Gh-4
kh-12
Ph-7.8
ammonia-.25
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-0

So I think he plants absorbed the nitrates. But there is still a little ammonia to make more nitrates. 

Kh went up from my old tank so that's probably the crushed coral

Should I dose the booster
Should I dose GSM+b


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Decided on not using the booster. Still got to do research to see if I can use csm+b


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Damn I been regulating the temp in the tank, with the lights on it raises it a degree. So the tank will sit at 81 degrees. The bad thing is that my Pelia isnt liking it. So now I have to decide if I want cardinals and ditch the pelia, or not go for cardinals and go with crs and rcs.

Man this sucks. I paid some moola for the pelia to.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

So I tested the water again today. I havent changed any water since I started

ph8
ammonia .25ppm
nitrite 2.0 ppm
nitrate 40ppm

Holy cow!

My pelia died but it looks like its comming back in small strands. I placed some hairgrass in there to see if they would survive with 2wpg and no co2. I also threw my anubias in there, some starugene from my other tank just for fun.

It stays around 74 with the lights off, and 77 with the lights on with no heater. I guess ill run no heater but that means no cardinals =/. Oh well im broke anyways so Ill keep cheaper shrimp lol


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

This tank is still cycling. Its annoying that its been over 2 months and nitrates is still high at 30ppm. Nitrite is at 1ppm and ammonia is at .50. I'm tired of waiting lol


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

got confirmation from the paper test strips at the petstore, that my tank is cycled. Damn API test kits. lol


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

MOWR pics!!! 

Amy


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

SkyGrl said:


> MOWR pics!!!
> 
> Amy


Thanks Amy. However it looks the same. The pelia couldn't take the higher temps :/. Right now the tank houses 1 rummy nose tetra with no eyes.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

oh..lol i still demand more pics... :hihi: 
awe no eyes?! so cute! it makes me happy you kept him even though he doesnt have eyes. 

Amy


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Ok Miss. =). Pics as requested

They arent nice shots. The pelia didnt like temps above 74 degrees. This tank goes from 76 to 80 with the lights on. But somehow I got hairgrass to grow in here with no Co2 and medium light lol. 

I got some shrimp in there that I got from a local member here. Aclimated them for about 30 minutes to get their temps up (they were in cold temps).

I tried to take a picture of my rummy nose tetra with no eye. I just really shoved plants in there.




























I want your opinion since you seem interested in my tank. The white crushed coral isnt really needed because these guys dont care to much about ph. Should I plant glossostigma down there?

I got a bunch of glosso in this tank.


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## Bree (Dec 17, 2010)

The tank is looking very interesting, i have never scene one like it! Meaning awesome job!!

And i personally would add a carpet plant, they add a beautiful fresh touch the the tank!


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Thanks. Ill look into it. I may do co2 with this tank


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

This shrimp is weird, he is agressive and likes everything for himself. He is a strong shrimp though!










Just another shrimp


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Update: stay tuned.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Took out the sand.










Added some glosso









Took out all the unnecessary stuff, like grass and the other things I just threw in there. 

I then added some needle leaf java fern, some blyxa, and some more wood scraps from my other tank to make it look more like a dead tree stump that flowed into the glosso. I then planted the glosso in aquasoil. 

Its a little ruff and the blyxa needs some tweaking.










What do you guys think? I KNOW people are looking, I really want opinions.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Do those rocks change your water parameters?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

shrimpnmoss said:


> Do those rocks change your water parameters?


As far as i know,nope. Its also in my 55g and i haven't noticed anything. I stayed away from limestone and lava rock because of their affect on Ph.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I lost mu rummy nose tetra with no eyes. He was doing great and actually getting bigger and swimming like a happy fish. I lost him after the rescapr and don't know where he went. At least he lead a better life in the end.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

awe poor little guy! he had a great life at least! do you have any berried girls yet??

Amy


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

SkyGrl said:


> awe poor little guy! he had a great life at least! do you have any berried girls yet??
> 
> Amy


No berries yet. J have been adding about 20 shrimp a day from another tank. I been getting a lot of molting though


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Things are going good. Im running co2 with this tank now, had it running with a diffuser but hate the sprite look. So i finally made a reactor tonight. Ill put the diffuser in my other smaller grow tank.

I added about 15 more shrimp to, so the tank looks busy.

Its time for a crappy quality video! At 2:20ish I introduce a differnt food and my ammano dives for it, then runs and hides. I dont know why he doesnt like the azoo food. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSLTmeGS1A


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I enjoyed the video! That amano is hilarious. I have shrimp like that prefer one food over another. Must be the taste.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

sewingalot said:


> I enjoyed the video! That amano is hilarious. I have shrimp like that prefer one food over another. Must be the taste.



Haha yea that amano cracked me up to. IM wondering if i put a big algae wafer in there if he will take it to?

One of my snow ball shrimps runs and hides with the square food


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I tried to catch another video of my amano's fighting over food. They kept stealing it from eachother haha.

I decided to snap a few pictures.


































growth shot 10 days. only recently I added co2.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I added some starogene from my other tank, when I put them in there was alot of brown on them. These guys cleaned them up in one night!


















At night time the shimps love to stay on the back wall, but as soon as the lights come on they are everywhere else.









So what do you guys think about the starogene? I could add more, but I was to lazy to grab them.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)




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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

10 prior days...then maybe 10 more days later...to current























The glosso is filling in!


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

wow! what a difference 10 days makes!!! you must be so proud! this is an awesome tank!! in another 10days its going to be even more AWESOME!!!!

Amy


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

SkyGrl said:


> wow! what a difference 10 days makes!!! you must be so proud! this is an awesome tank!! in another 10days its going to be even more AWESOME!!!!
> 
> Amy


Amy, your right!

I turned on my other bulb to make it 4wpg with PC bulbs. Look at my blyxa!












Time lapse 6 days ago. Last 5 days I have used 4wpg. And I did a big trim on the glosso to make it spread. Glosso loves high light


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I tested the water today

ammonia 0
nitrate 20
nitrite 0

Shrimp are swimming happily with no deaths. Switched to Prime from Amquel, and noticed no more deaths.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Small update. The glosso looks shabby, I let a moss grow inside of it and it just coverd it all and hurt a lot of the glosso. Its ok, it will grow back.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Tank is going bye bye. It will be missed.


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## matty26 (Feb 25, 2011)

why!?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

matty26 said:


> why!?


I sold it to alyssa on this website. I needed money plus I wanted to concentrate on my other tank. But me and her havent found a day to meet up or for a delivery so today I decided to do a super cleaning and trimming.

A shot from a few days ago. Ugly! It was so depressing to look at lol. 









Cleaned up for the new owner. Got rid of a lot of crap, and a lot of poop. I trimmed the fern and tried to get this moss out of the tank, its a mossy weed I think its called creep moss or something, I hate that stuff. Shrimp love it.



















There is a mixture of wilds in here that are putting out some really deep yellow shrimp. I see more and more yellow shrimp every day.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Here is a picture from previous days. This is a dark wild, but right behind it is a beautiful yellow =)


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Oh wow! It is so pretty!

I almost have it's spot carved out, lol! 

I need to hit up JoJos tomorrow or the next day - maybe i can meet you somewhere near your place? I can bring that BN pleco if you want at the same time!


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Oh wow! It is so pretty!

I almost have it's spot carved out, lol! 

I need to hit up JoJos tomorrow or the next day - maybe i can meet you somewhere near your place? I can bring that BN pleco if you want at the same time!


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Alyssa said:


> Oh wow! It is so pretty!
> 
> I almost have it's spot carved out, lol!
> 
> I need to hit up JoJos tomorrow or the next day - maybe i can meet you somewhere near your place? I can bring that BN pleco if you want at the same time!


Cool. I can always meet you at jojos. But if you were to get the tank, can your car carry the stand? Its a little tall....

I have to sell some plants to exotic and jojo tomorrow. Seeing who wants my goods lol. I am not sure if I would go on saterday since its Christmas Eve. But I can always do something.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Alyssa said:


> Oh wow! It is so pretty!
> 
> I almost have it's spot carved out, lol!
> 
> I need to hit up JoJos tomorrow or the next day - maybe i can meet you somewhere near your place? I can bring that BN pleco if you want at the same time!


I went there today. The sale for the tank is still going on. Just to let you know.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I was satisfied with the scape but I wasnt plesed. So since I have time to rescape I did. Its not a full rescape. But I pulled out one of the big long rocks that was supposed to give my mountain a lift and a seperation from the glosso. 

I wanted more of a "defined" area for the glosso and a cliff like effect. This also enables me to have more glosso in the foreground. So I am happy with this for now. Lets see how long I get to enjoy it for haha. Hopefully the new owner enjoys it to.


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