Biorb Flow 15 Litre Shrimp Tank

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks Blobfish, surprisingly the plants are actually ok!
 
The LED on the BiOrb is not all that but thankfully these plants that GF chose (with a bit of help!) are low tech and low lighting plants.
 
Did have a little bit of 'melt' from the vallis, trimmed those brownish melting leaves off and seems to be doing ok so far. (touch wood!)
 
Have not added any ferts yet, just waiting to see if plants can cope.
Going to get a bottle of Tropica Premium this weekend and hopefully that should be ok to use with shrimps in that tank as well as my main tank and liven up the plants a bit.
 
Also gonna get more shrimps this weekend as well, 4 more orange methinks if they available in LFS to cheer GF up a bit 

 

[fm1978]

I've found that all the 1-2 Grow stuff is brilliant (guaranteed shrimp safe and no snails). I've never added a fertilizer or dosed CO2 ever in either of my tanks and I can't get my Banana Plant or Riccia to stop growing!
 
Might I suggest if you're quite into your shrimp keeping to get hold of a TDS meter...not expensive from ebay!? It's maybe not essential but I'm very pernickety about all my water parameters.
 
::To the spell checker person of fishforums.net - pernickety is too a word!

 

[Ch4rlie]

I've found that all the 1-2 Grow stuff is brilliant (guaranteed shrimp safe and no snails). I've never added a fertilizer or dosed CO2 ever in either of my tanks and I can't get my Banana Plant or Riccia to stop growing!
 
Might I suggest if you're quite into your shrimp keeping to get hold of a TDS meter...not expensive from ebay!? It's maybe not essential but I'm very pernickety about all my water parameters.
 
::To the spell checker person of fishforums.net - pernickety is too a word!

 
Great stuff!
1-2 grow? not heard of that one, sound good if you've never had any problems with it and your plants are flourishing by the sounds of things and especially no effects on shrimps, thats a BIG thumbs up in my book, but what do you mean no snails? I have assassin snails and GF will want nerites or bee snails soon.....
 
BTW I did see banana plant for sale in an LFS last week, was sorely tempted to get one of these but afraid buying shrimps and more Threadfin Rainbowfish took priority! 

 .....of course!
 
If LFS still have have these in stock, might just get one and see how that grows. I remember saw that on one of your threads and liked them immediately!
 
TDS meter, have always been meaning to get one of those but never got round to getting one yet.
Any recommendations of make or brands that works well?
 
And yes, pernickety is definitely a word! lol

 

[daizeUK]

He means that there will be no pest snails on the plants
I've tried 1-2-grow (staurogyne repens) the quality is very good but I struggled with the lack of roots due to using cat litter substrate.  I would use it again but would prefer to plant in sand.

 

[Ch4rlie]

So does that mean 1-2 Grow won't affect assassin snails, nerites or any other types of snails should GF decide to get some in near future?
 
Maybe am being a noob here, but don't see how it can just affect pest snails on plants but not affect assassins or other types of snails.
 
Perhaps mean pest snail eggs would be eradicated by this 1-2 Grow?
 
Sorry if these are dumb questions, wanna be sure will buy the right plant stuff other would have to return product
 
I already mistakenly bought Flourish Excel when meant to get just Flourish but was told that Tropica Premium is a good all in one liquid fert on a different thread I posted.

 

[daizeUK]

1-2-grow is safe for shrimp and snails because they don't use any nasty pesticides on the plants.  The plants are guaranteed not to have snails because they are grown in a sterile environment where there are no snails (they are grown from tissue culture rather than the usual propagation methods)

Ah.. I've just twigged where the confusion is coming from... 1-2-grow is a brand of plants, not a fert!  Look here http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/aquatic-plants-vitro-plants-c-255_552.html

 

[Ch4rlie]

Aah, that explains why I could not find any bottles of ferts or anything called 1-2 Grow! Completely thought fm was talking about a fert. 
 
Now I feel like a complete idiot!
 
I've been making silly mistakes like that this week, not happy with myself for making myself look a total fool.
 
Thanks for clearing that Daize, appreciated.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Weird! Just back from a week away due to my work. 
 
As you know, 2 orange shrimps already have passed away, and just noticed one of the surviving orange shrimp has lost its tail!!
 
The one on the left......

 

 
Anyone heard of this happening before? Shrimp seems to be ok, moving about ok and eating.....
 
Will the tail grow back again?

 

[Ch4rlie]

An update, both shrimps are still around but the tailless shrimp is hiding an awful lot and did not come out to eat the piece of algae wafer, did see him briefly when he made an appearance but went back to his hiding place.
The other shrimp munched away quite happily on algae wafer and moving around the tank pretty confidently.
 
Bad news though, assassin snail is dead!
Definitely deceased! And don't know why, stress perhaps?
 
GF a bit sad again!
 
On other hand she can't wait to go to LFS to get more shrimps and snails of her choice (Horned Nerite Snails and Red Tracked Nerite Snail is her choice at the moment), but warned her that deaths may happen again and need to keep close eye on water parameters. 
All test results good across the board so far.
 
Plants are ok, a couple of melted leaves on Vallis but thats all so far.
 
Did first water change to day with shrimps in, BiOrb Flow a bit fiddly to do water changes as not much room to move around with gravel cleaner and my hands are big so had to be ultra careful not to knock things around and stress out the shrimps.
 
Will take out the pest snails when see them and put into my main tank for my assassin snails to munch on if they catch them!

 

[DerpPH]

tsk! sorry for your losses. Hope it goes well in the future

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks Derph.

Let's hope so too things will be better after getting more shrimps and snails.

Wait and see eh!

Cheers

 

[Ch4rlie]

Bad news guys,
 
'ol Tailess Shrimp has died 

 
BUT he gave us a good clue, he was stuck between a pebble and the glass, the other 2 shrimps and assassin snail all died in same area.
 
Have taken away the pebbles from that corner of tank, replaced with a small piece of bogwood.
 
So, only the one shrimp left.

 
Not a nice experience for GF for her first tank!
 
TBH I'm a bit sad Tailless died, I wanted him to live and grow a new tail. 

 

[fm1978]

Och, that's balls... Sorry Charlie and GF!
 
And sorry for not explaining a bit better about the 1-2 Grow stuff. It's not a fertilizer, it's just a brand of plant you can buy, like daize said. You can get them in a few different places and the really nice thing about them is that they're not treated with any pesticides but are still snail free. The very last thing you want is to add plants that have been treated with a copper based anti snail stuff, it's pretty horrific if you're a snail or a shrimp!
 
Unfortunately, I learned the hard way about it after ordering plants online not giving a thought as to how they might have been treated before putting them in my tank. I lost a few of my Sakura because of that... never again!
 
Are you using a dechlor product that also detoxifies metals?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Using Nutrafin Aqua Plus de-chlorinator, no idea of this detoxifies metals or not....
 
Have been using Nutrafin on my main tank and have not had any problems with that stuff at all, although having said that there is only a wee drop left in the bottle, enough for another 3 or 4 water changes on the BiOrb and I have already just started using Seachem Prime on main tank, once Nutrafin runs out, will start using Prime on BiOrb as well.
 
Was nervous changing over to Prime for main tank even though its recommended on this site as I KNOW Nutrafin De-chlor is ok and won't harm shrimps or stocking at all. Even accidentally overdosed once and no effects.
 
Anyway, yeah, I did suspect if plants were affecting my shrimps but these plants were bought from same place as I bought for main tank planting but to be honest do not really think its the plants, its just badly placed pebbles in corner of tank I think. 
 
GF now considering giving up her tank. *Sighs*
 
Trying to encourage to go with more shrimps and different snails and its a learning experience, once we know whats good and bad then we keep doing things good ways.
 
Anyone know what can go with Orange Cherry Shrimps and not interbreed?
Not particularly keen on Amanos or Ghost Shrimps, something colourful and easy to care for like RCS. 

 

[fm1978]

Yeah, I think the Nutrafin does detoxify metals as well. It's just quite a steep learning curve is all. 
 
She can't give up just, you'll both get the hang of it, just stick in!
 
You can mix neocaridina with caridina with no risk of breeding, so you could have maybe some red or black crystals with the cherries for starters...