Biorb Flow 15 Litre Shrimp Tank

[Ch4rlie]

Update :
 
25th Sept
 
Amm - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0.50 ppm
 
This is 24 hours after dosage of 3ppm Ammonis.
============
 
This is 30 Hours after dosage of 3ppm Ammonia
 
Amm - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
 
Whoo, very very nearly there.
 
=============
Today 26th Sept
 
Amm - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm 
 
24 hours after dosage!! 

 
Have done one more dose of 3 pmm, if both tests of Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 ppm this time tomorrow, tank is READY!!!!
 
If all are as predicted, 0 and 0 by 4pm tomorrow, gonna get shrimps and maybe endlers, a bit disappointed no one answered my query earlier about that.
 
Think will post another thread for opinions on that side of things!
 
A great feeling know tank is almost ready after fishless cycling and doing everything by the book. I now have much clearer understanding about fishless cycling, its one thing reading about it and trying to understand fully and another thing in actually doing it and understanding the process in practical terms as you go along.
 
Having said that, using mature media sure helps and if tank is confirmed ready tomorrow, that means it has taken a total of 19 days, less than 3 weeks!
Thats pretty good going compared to the average 4 to 6 weeks of normal cycle without mature media. 
 
So glad! Fishy time soon 

 

 

the good thing with moss balls is you can cut them into pieces so take one from your big tank, cut it in quarters, take a quarter to the biorb.
 
 
Cut it in half again and youve got 2 nano moss balls

 

 
I have heard you can do this, but also thought if you cut the moss ball in half, you lose the nice spherical shape of the moss ball. 
 
And have read you can use thread or fishing line tied around the moss ball to form the ball shape, leave for a month or two and it will eventually regain its round shape again and then cut off the thread/fishing line..
 
Is that right?
Can this be done this way as I like the round shape of these moss balls. 
I know, I know, I'm a fussy so and so! lol

 

[daizeUK]

 
Think will post another thread for opinions on that side of things!

 
I think that's a good idea, I use the nano thread as a guide to which fish to choose for small tanks, which I'm sure you've seen already.  Judging by that then 5-6 endlers should be alright.  I don't know about the guppy/endler hybrids, I guess it depends how big they would grow.
 
I've heard it said many times that the dimensions of the tank are more important than the capacity.  Your Biorb flow is 30 cm front to back I believe?  Most species of fish seem to have a suggested minimum tank size of 45cm, even the smaller varieties.  Perhaps something to consider  
 
Then again, I saw a sign the other day in one of my LFS saying that shrimp need a minimum 20-30L tank!  Everyone seems to have there own ideas about what is acceptable
 
As for moss balls, I cut one in half and tied it back up into a smaller ball.  Whether it regains its shape and I can remove the fishing line, I have yet to find out

 

[Ch4rlie]

     

 Yaaaay!!
 
The little BiOrb is fully cycled, ammonia and nitrite are now reading a beautiful zero  

 
Have tested twice over the last 48 hours to be sure and its confirmed, fully fishless cycled 

 
Am so pleased and chuffed even though its not my tank, its the GF's tank but still.......... 

 
Have done a large water change, reduced heater temp to 24C in preparation to buying shrimps tomorrow but it depends what local LFS have in stock.........
 
By the way, have found tank has some visitors already!
yup!
Common pond snails! 5 of 'em!
 
Only trouble is GF really does not want them, she wanted nerite nails or ramshorns.
 
Really did clean the plants and checked to see if anything on the leaves and stuff but somehow missed these guys, must have been eggs that was missed.
 
But am really surprised these guys are ok, having been through the entire process of fishless cycling and me adding 3 ppm ammonia 3 times.
Wow!
Did not know they can survive such an assault of ammonia, nitrite and nitrates over the last 3 weeks, they really are tougher than you think!
 
Be a shame to get rid of them now after they survived all of that! 
 
By the way, did I tell you the tank is fully cycled now?...................

 

[TallTree01]

Good job charlie!

 

[Ch4rlie]

An update......with a couple of pics!
 
GF finally decided she wanted easy to care for shrimps that are pretty hardy and I said Red Cherry Shrimps are the hardiest really, but they come in different colours.
 
She perked up at that and decided she wanted Orange Shrimps, so we went to LFS and bought the only 4 orange shrimps that they had left.
BTW not particularly cheap for those who want to know, £5.50 each!
 
But we did see some really nice Green Sakura Shrimps SS Graded, really nice and I would have not minded them but at £15 each, had to say no. Maybe next time.
 
But anyway, here is a pic of one of the Orange Shrimps, a poser already within 10 minutes of being in the tank!
 

 
We also got another Assassin Snail (I have 2 in main tank, eggs not hatched yet!) As there are a few hitchhiking common snails which GF really does not want, once common snails gone (maybe!), will transfer Assassin to main tank and then she want Bumble Bee Snails or Pink Ramshorns.
 

 
Tank doing ok, no problems so far, Vallis plants going slightly off colour but hopefully will bounce back after a while, just trimming off brownish leaves as they appear.
 
Will add ferts in due course.
 
And we hope to get another 4 orange shrimps at a later date to fill the wee tank. Happy Days!! 

 

[daizeUK]

Very nice!  I like the orange shrimps

 

[Bunchbro84]

Very nice indeed for shrimp. What are you going to feed them, just wondering because
I am new and not a critic.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Very nice indeed for shrimp. What are you going to feed them, just wondering because
I am new and not a critic.

 
I normally feed shrimps Hikari Shrimp Cuisine pellets, Hikari Algae Wafer (very small amount), shelled peas, and as a very occasional treat frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp.
 
I find the shrimps just go potty for algae wafers and sometimes fight over for that! 
 
If you are interested in having shrimps, you will find most people will recommend Red Cherry Shrimps as they have a wide range of tolerance for water parameters as long as these parameters stays steady and will breed fairly easily (main tank RCS has already bred a few shrimps!) as long as nothing spooks them like sudden knocks against tank, closing cabinet door too hard will make the females drop her eggs and also having semi aggressive/predatory fish will discourage shrimps from breeding.
 
Orange and Yellow Cherry Shrimps are a variant of Red Cherry Shrimps, more expensive to purchase but I like them! Would not really recommend mixing different variants of cherry shrimps in one tank as they will interbreed, means the shrimplets will generally be a dull brown colour.
 
A few tips for you! 

 

[fm1978]

Good thread, Charlie!
 
And congrats on the speedy cycle, too. Having some mature media is a total god-send when you're starting a new tank. I think the reason behind keeping the level of Ammonia a bit lower in a nano tank is that the bio-load (when stocked) will eventually be very low - with shrimp only it would be especially low. So, if you encourage your bacteria to grow and process a larger proportion, 3ppm, of Ammonia and then stock with critters that might only ever produce 1ppm (over a given time period) then some of that bacteria may starve as it was used to getting a much higher amount over that same time period. Perhaps TTA can comment, I'd quite like to know myself! If that is true then you may just have to look out for the matured bacteria then getting used to a reduced amount of waste and any imbalances that might result - if any at all...
 
Your wee Orange Cherries are pretty adorable, aren't they?! I've become a huge fan of shrimp really quickly...I just can't get enough of them and I love looking at new and different ones all the time. Just seen a new variety at the place I normally get my shrimp called Opae ula, Red Hawaiian Shrimp, also known as super-shrimp. They can tolerate huge changes in temperatures and salinity as well as going without food for months! I thought they were fascinating so I just had to mention them! 

 
Keep us updated on your cherries' progress!

 

[fm1978]

Meant to say, Charlie, it's not recommended to feed shrimp a high protein diet, so try to keep the bloodworm and brine shrimp down to a minimum.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yeah, that's a very occasional treat. Very rare they will get that. Once a month if that!

Just heard from GF just now, 2 orange shrimps found dead!

Oh carp!

Water test was:

Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate- 40 ppm
PH - 7.4

Nothing out of ordinary at all, nitrate does average 20 to 40 ppm since it's 40 straight from tap anyway!

May put down to stress of move and possibly water difference from lfs but was acclimatised as usual way.

GF sad!

I'm not at home unfortunately, away at work this week until Friday! Wish could be there!

 

[fm1978]

Oh dear, sorry to hear that.
 
I've found that some of the varieties of Cherries just aren't as hardy as I once thought... My initial thoughts for these types of deaths are down to the transportation and water parameter changes from tank to tank. Slow acclimation will help but it's just not always going to guarantee a perfectly safe transition.
 
Recently got 6 blue Cherries myself and I have had 2 deaths so far despite the tank being setup for shrimp only - all water params down to a tea even as far as the TDS. There's Black Crystals, Amanos, Sakura shrimplets and Pure Red Lines in there and still the blue Cherries couldn't cope with being introduced to the tank...so, I do feel for you!

 

[daizeUK]

Aww nuts.. sorry to hear about the shrimp.
 
That's bad news for me too, I was hoping to get blue cherries... and my TDS is far from ideal

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks for that fm.

Promised the GF we will get 4 more Orange shrimps if in stock at lfs.

So hopefully she will cheer up a bit at that news!

This is her very first tank and I was really really hoping this would not happen.

As fm said, you can prepare everything to the nth degree but still these things happen,

Thanks diaze.

Yeah, I was hoping to get blue shrimps one day too.

Well, we all learn from this.

Orange Shrimps, has been a short acquaintance but you did put a smile on our faces albeit all too briefly. Enjoy your fishy heaven!

Thanks guys

 

[Blobfish]

Sorry about the shrimp but these things happen sadly.  How are the plants doing?