New 5 Gallon Tank For Daughter

[the_lock_man]

For the benefit of the OP, can we turn attention back to the ammonia issue - 2ppm in tap water.

Is this legal in Florida? Is this more likely to be a misindication by the test kit?

 

[Rhindon]

Thanks lock_man. I retested the tap water and looked at it in more natural light last night, and it looks like 1 ppm from the tap. We went to the LFS and got a jug of their water for tanks, did approx 30% water change, and took some media from my established tank and put it in the five gallon. Tested this morning, no ammonia, no nitrites, very little nitrates and a 7.6 PH though. Will continue to monitor.

The guppies she's looking at are supposed to only get to 1.5 inches, but they might be including tails in their calculation.

Shrimp may work, what kind and how many?

 

[the_lock_man]

Thanks lock_man. I retested the tap water and looked at it in more natural light last night, and it looks like 1 ppm from the tap. We went to the LFS and got a jug of their water for tanks, did approx 30% water change, and took some media from my established tank and put it in the five gallon. Tested this morning, no ammonia, no nitrites, very little nitrates and a 7.6 PH though. Will continue to monitor.

The guppies she's looking at are supposed to only get to 1.5 inches, but they might be including tails in their calculation.

Shrimp may work, what kind and how many?

1ppm is still way too high - worth contacting your local water company to find out what it should be, and what the legal limit is. Perhaps someone could advise whether Prime will cope with that (I've never used it)?

Shrimp are a great idea, they don't count towards your stocking limits, and do a good job of scavenging algae and left-over food. I would have said 2 or 3 red cherry shrimp would go lovely with some guppies, especially if you don't get red guppies, they'll contrast really well. Shrimp are susceptible to poor water quality though, so (A) you need to make sure that Prime is sorting the above problem, and (B) you keep on top of your regular maintenance regime.

 

[willowstwin]

red cherry shrimp are adorable little shrimp and, as said, would contrast with the red. You could easy have 5 or 6 in a 5 gallon. If she has her heart set on blue, you can even get blue shrimp

But, again as said, they are very susceptible to poor water, so you would have to check why the ammonia is so high.

 

[lilfishie]

As said cherry shrimp would be ideal, my 2 year old sister loves looking for baby shrimp 6 would be a good starting number and then your 5 guppies, should be a nice tank

 

[Rhindon]

Mentioned it to her, she's thinking about the ghost shrimp. Will those be suitable?

Also, I am getting great readings on the tank since I did the water change yesterday with the "pure" tank water from the LFS and putting in some biomax from our healthy 37 gallon tank. 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, but also 0 nitrates. How much can the biomax speed up the process and is there something "off" about 0 nitrAtes?

 

[William Hlas]

For algae eaters:
Cory catfish
Otocinclus
Snails
Plecos will grow way to large for your size of tank
Ghost shrimps

 

[Rhindon]

Would one snail be ok with some ghost shrimp in this tank?

 

[the_lock_man]

For algae eaters:
Cory catfish
Otocinclus
Snails
Plecos will grow way to large for your size of tank
Ghost shrimps

Cories don't eat algae. Otos need to be in a shoal, and need a larger tank than 5gal.

Personally, I think shrimps tick all the boxes, although if you get a huge algae problem, it's indicative of a problem in the tank, and there's only one thing that's gonna cure it - you!

 

[willowstwin]

yeah, shrimp don't eat the glass algae... just buy a magnetic glass cleaner. They're only maximum a fiver and just go over the glass once a week. Also, you'll need moss for the shrimp, so that should take up some of the algae's nutrients.

Marimo moss balls are supposed to help with absorbing the nutrients that "bad" algae likes, but to be honest, I've had to clean the glass more often since putting 6 of them in my 48litre (water parameters seem fine).

don't be so worried about the algae until you see it becoming a problem.

Willow