I succumbed

[MaloK]

Water is good, with 1/3 water change ever 3 days. There's no more nitrate on the readings.

I oops, dropped by error a couple baby cherries in the tank when I harvest seeds shrimps... And while they drawn Big's attention, they are able to escape him easily and it keeps him occupied for good periods.

I saw him trying to catch them. the shrimp put her flasher right and makes a quick left. Big goes straight trough. Loll.

With all these water changes it's impossible to maintain any level of tannins and botanicals depletes really fast. And I don't want to waste my beautiful Catappa Leaves just for tannins.

I got my hand on a little box of Greenwaterfarm Concentrated Indian Almond Leaf Powder and gave it a try... The reviews are very positive... Concentrated is the word, this is very strong. A tiny bit immediately gave the same effect a 8" leaf does, And my fingers will be terracotta colored for the next couple days. I have to find a more suitable container and be able to distribute without touching it. The powder is so fine it dissolve completely and leaves no dust or turbidity in the water, But it stains skin like nobodies business.

That 25g box will last hundreds of water changes and I can now maintain the same level of tannins I want uniformly, very pleased of the results.

 

[MaloK]

This thread needs an update, for a long time...

I'm pretty sad to announce that Big died the next day of the same water change that decimated my shrimp tank. Big received a 75% water change, he and all the shrimps with him died during the night. the shrimp tank received a 25% water change the same day and started to to have inexplicable sudden death. I saved the shrimp tank with bottled water.

It's a little hard to accept since he was eating seed shrimps and a bunch of pellets per day, his fins where pretty good looking and he was actively trying to outsmart little cherry shrimps living with him...

So, this will be the last post on this thread for me.

This tank is ridden with snails and I'm dismantling it completely to replace the filtration system with a Matten filter, replace the substrate and peroxide all plants.

I was supposed to have the Kit I concocted today... But instead I received a "T-Shirt" not even addressed to me and Intelcom called it a day...

Ridiculous.

Thanks to the few that reads my lucubrations. Will start another journal when the tank is back online.