Small Planted Setup

[MaloK]

The effervescence tamed down in the following days, and shrimps started to die off, again...

So I immediately bagged 200 juveniles shrimps, it took half a day, when to my LFS who immediately took them The number of berried shrimps was pretty amazing for shrimps that young.

Since I changed the water chemistry from 120ppm GH and 70ppm KH to 80ppm GH and 70ppm KH. still 1/3 potassium.

The first thing that is appearing is molting rate reduces, the shrimps seems to be able to stretch their shells instead of being forced to molt. This (only after a month, but has been tested in another tank) reflects in a lot less early berrying of shrimps that are 3 weeks old ?!?

With reduced molting rate. A good number grow a lot bigger and poop a lot more.

This bring me to... Nitrates, that evidently followed the chore and started to creep up again... I'm currently doing daily 20% water changes to maintain it in range.

Another occurrence probably related to the change in chemistry. Is the seed shrimps population recessed a lot. I'm not really worrying about that, as they are in reality competitors and keeping the cherries well fed was making them thrive.

But when dying off, they might have contributed to an ammonia lift that turned into a nitrate spike. And they might also have a partial role in denitrification too.

So for the time being I'm changing water on regular basis. trying to bring nitrate down <10ppm. and maintain the same chemistry.

This is how it goes for it's first anniversary, and a lot of tribulations.

But I'm getting there... I want Beefy shrimps, loll.

 

[MaloK]

Pfffffffff. Now done with water changes... 4 days with same nitrate readings finally... No matter how strong your denitrification is... Too much is too much... loll.

Water still shows target hardness and alkalinity. This is the second month after bringing general hardness down 40 ppm.

I can nearly attest that it slowed down molting rate in weeks... Stay tuned because this is a confirmation test that would produce trice the same results no matter other conditions.

The colony is slowly reassessing in numbers. But much larger shrimps are making their way in numbers.

So to date I'm inducted to think. Toward the product used in "professional shrimp" keeping... Rapid reproduction seems to be the target.

I"m using Ro/Di water, that is better than commercial demineralized water and "professional" shrimp breeding mineral stuff.

And the initial parameters the product gives is ( this is all imo ) way too hard in general and way too soft in alkalinity. From initial matching GH, that have a tendency to be too high than indicated, I have to add 50 ppm of Calcium carbonate to make the water suitable for invertebrates.

The slowdown is kicking in, They will probably grow without shredding every month or less... Their shells can stretch a lot longer now for the younger even more. And my Witness shrimp alone in his tank, is at the moment the largest and oldest shrimp I ever seen in 2 molts. The first molt was so thick I though it died.

I can understand shrimp breeding product to be oriented toward "reproduction"...

But making it to this point without a notice is nearly criminal.

And I wont start with the food potency too.

 

[MaloK]

The last weeks have been well.

The water changes finally recessed to normal and it seems that my new constant nitrate level will stand around 10 ppm. Not so bad.

At this time of the year sometimes sunlight hits the tank a little while during the day. I can see them chilling everywhere.

The number of individual is still pretty high, but things seems to slow down. Since there's is nearly 10% and less visible... I'm till surprised when they come out for food.

The tank is moving to another stand next week to be able to install a second tank on top of it... And for the moment everything is presenting well.

I got my power bars and extensions, new air pump, I ordered another pack of tubing. And will probably only use a sponge filter I already have to start with. If things are not "enough" I will get an Aquaclear A600 to make everything even.

The Rack is assembled the shelves are drying, the wall is straight. It should be easy to level permanently and have something reliable.

Here's a couple shots of what's roaming in:

 

[MaloK]

This tank is making me more and more intimate with their real lives.

And like most of what's sitting on this side of the turf... Getting old is not easy.

But for them it's a matter of months. 8-12-16 is an happy normal life.

But those who makes it at 14-16 and 18, they slowly stop molding then activity... Whatever their size.

They slow down, like, waiting for the end, and vanishes.

As long as they multiply faster than they die, you're doing it right.

Their vivid shooting stars life are a remarkable.

 

[MaloK]

Once Again the Number of Shrimps is reaching melting point.

I cant target feed them again because of the crazy pileups, even dispersing the food creates waves of shrimps crashing from one side to the other of the tank.

The babies are everywhere, and I have no idea where they can find biofilm to survive in there... All the wood, the cholla, almond leaves, the plants, the glasses are scraped clean.

I have a little leftover of black beard that is still able to make it.

I thought it might be time to check out my lightning config and compare it to something... But what ? Since the light has a good range of configuration, I tried to see a good starting point I could find...

Mmmmmmmm... Where the shrimps comes from looked like a good idea... So Taiwan, China, the Korean Peninsula, and Vietnam... After a couple research and phone calls, I was able to gather that my shrimps colony has great chance to initially come from Vietnam in my region.

With the help of a little AI... Managed to create an interesting lightning profile mimicking the region that I adapted to the power of my light.

2 weeks is a little fast to report on what the change does, but the first testable sign is that Nitrate restarted to get lower. Last test is a little over 5 ppm but close.

Instead of 8 hours a 30% I now "generically" approached the 14 hours with 8 rising and falling intensity, so the total light per day moved from 10% to 12% only.

This is the current generic config for those who would be interested.

Time W R G B
06:00 to 08:00 10 10 10 10
08:00 to 10:00 20 20 20 20
10:00 to 12:00 30 30 30 30
12:00 to 14:00 45 45 45 45
14:00 to 16:00 30 30 30 30
16:00 to 18:00 20 20 20 20
18:00 to 20:00 10 10 10 10
20:00 to 05:59 0 0 0 0

Then I simply shifted the real time clock 2 hours to have the schedule stating at 8:00 so I can enjoy the tank later in the day.

I might get closer to a real day in Vietnam, if things remain stable. I will go next with matching even closer the periods length and strength of each stages. Also adjust the warmth of the light from dusk till dawn.

It's a little work when your light is as dumb as mine. But having the led light following the real daylight, gives a really better viewing experience during the day. And the tank doesn't look like the sun in your living room when the light lowers at the end of the day. I really like it, the tank always feels different throughout the day.

And it also seems to please the shrimps too. I can see them starting to take sunbaths during peek hours and having fun.

Can't get enough of the surprises coming off this one.