# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  Shrimp tank on study table :)

## sootz

Hi all,

Here is my shrimptank for sharing (current look after 1.5months), it is on my study table  :Smile: 

Equipment:
- Gex Slim 600 tank (60 x 17.5 x 30 height)
- Gex plant soil (green packaging) x 4kg
- Mosura Old sea mud & Mosura BT9 sprinkled in the substrate
- Gex Slim (L) filter (The 1 with 4 filter slots), filled with filter sponge in the inlet compartment and Biohome plus in the other compartments
- Lighting I only know is 2 feet and is ?T5?, comes in a pink box, next time I will check it out again at C328
- NO CO2 (Want to see what can be achieved without CO2)

Shrimps + Plants:
- 10? 12? rili shrimps
- 3? 5? sakura shrimps
- 3 orange shrimps
- 2 marimo mossballs
- 5 water lettuce
- Some Frogbit
- Java moss on a bridge (coconut shell)
- some unknown moss on a rock
- 1 piece of ketapang leaf left in there for ~ 1 month already
- Driftwood with cyperus haspan on it

Dosing:
- Borneowild Lush (1ml once a day)
- Borneowild Essence K (0.5ml once a day)
- Borneowild Ferrum (0.2ml alternate day)
- No Planteria powder (1/2 spoonful once every week)
- Mosura BT9 (1/2 spoonful 2? 3? times a week)
- Mosura Tonic Pro (1/2 spoonful 2? 3? times a week)
- Mosura Speciality Food (alternate day)
- Mosura Excel Flakes (1 spoonful alternate day)
- Mosura Eros (10-15 drops 2 times a month)

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## sootz

More pics  :Smile:

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## sootz

The water parameters:
- pH 7.5
- TDS: ~270
- Temperature: 26 (when on air-con) to 30 (daytime) degree Celsius
- nitrate was dropping from 120 to 80 last week I measured because of the floating plants I think
- nitrite I know is 0, KH is very low
- GH I know is not too high & not too low, details I will take note this weekend 

and I'm using seachem Prime when doing water change, 0.1+ml for 4 liter of tap water, left overnight usually.

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## venom

hi, your ph seem too high while you using soil?

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## Fujisasuke

> hi, your ph seem too high while you using soil?


Think he mentioned it in his first post, 

- Gex plant soil (green packaging) x 4kg

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## sootz

the tap water pH is like 8.5, I do a 4 liter water change weekly, also a 1.5 liter of this Alpha brand pure water ($0.60 from NTUC) straight from the bottle. No casualties when I do this, so I stick to it.

Oh and I usually will dose either BT9 or Tonic Pro after the above.

Anyway the shrimp seems happy so it is fine for me. That is why I decided to go with a driftwood rather than rockscape. Over time, I will think the pH will drop with that driftwood inside  :Smile:

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## Atham

You have many different supplements for this tank. What are those round brown balls on first picture?

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## sootz

those are Azoo max bio balls  :Smile: 

lets just say I won't be buying those again. Didn't see any effects. Still had casualties.

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## seudzar

Where do you stay? The pH of your water is really on the high side. I stay in punggol and the pH of my tank is around 6.5-7. 

I been using ntuc distilled water to do refill for my sulawesi tank. 2 bottles for $1.05.

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## Dodofish

> Where do you stay? The pH of your water is really on the high side. I stay in punggol and the pH of my tank is around 6.5-7. 
> 
> I been using ntuc distilled water to do refill for my sulawesi tank. 2 bottles for $1.05.


By any chance do you have the water parameter for Ntuc brand?

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## seudzar

One thing which I am not sure if you take note. How do you do water change? Did you do dripping back to your tank or you just pour the water straight into your tank? Since your kH is low, your pH will tend to swing which is not very good to your shrimps. The green Gex soil I used before, it will bring your pH to 6.5 but for your case I really don't understand why your pH stay at 7.5.

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## seudzar

> By any chance do you have the water parameter for Ntuc brand?


Last I measure its pH is 7 and Tds is less than 5 or even 0. Been using it for more than a year.

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## Dodofish

> the tap water pH is like 8.5, I do a 4 liter water change weekly, also a 1.5 liter of this Alpha brand pure water ($0.60 from NTUC) straight from the bottle. No casualties when I do this, so I stick to it.


Your tap water ph is very high, is your ph meter calibrated?

I ever used gex, usually ph drop to 6-6.5 depending on other media you have in your tank.

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## Dodofish

> Last I measure its pH is 7 and Tds is less than 5 or even 0. Been using it for more than a year.


I am not good abt this, but is full distilled water of such parameter good for sensitive shrimps?

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## seudzar

> I am not good abt this, but is full distilled water of such parameter good for sensitive shrimps?


It is more for top up water due to evaporation and also for water change. For my sulawesi shrimps, I have to mix the minerals with the distilled water before pouring the water into the tank.

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## Atham

> those are Azoo max bio balls 
> 
> lets just say I won't be buying those again. Didn't see any effects. Still had casualties.


I see. Did you try to place a few of those balls in the filter. Maybe more effective as the water flow across it. I assume you de-chlorinate the top-up water. Some tanks may take more than a month to cycle. It will improve with time.

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## sootz

> Where do you stay? The pH of your water is really on the high side. I stay in punggol and the pH of my tank is around 6.5-7. 
> 
> I been using ntuc distilled water to do refill for my sulawesi tank. 2 bottles for $1.05.



Wow so many new posts, no email notifications over the weekend.

Anyway I stay at Serangoon. I will clean that pH meter nicely and remeasure everything again. Maybe really something wrong with the meter or the way I'm using it haha

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## sootz

> One thing which I am not sure if you take note. How do you do water change? Did you do dripping back to your tank or you just pour the water straight into your tank? Since your kH is low, your pH will tend to swing which is not very good to your shrimps. The green Gex soil I used before, it will bring your pH to 6.5 but for your case I really don't understand why your pH stay at 7.5.



I usually pour around 2 liter of aged-overnight-primed water onto the filter exit (HOF), then 1-2hrs later, the other half of water (Another 2 liter).

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## sootz

> I see. Did you try to place a few of those balls in the filter. Maybe more effective as the water flow across it. I assume you de-chlorinate the top-up water. Some tanks may take more than a month to cycle. It will improve with time.



The filter already super full of Biohome plus  :Smile:  
no space

Those balls should be something that are good-to-have but not really essential. My opinion.

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## seudzar

Okay. For a start, biohomme media especially the red one will cause your pH to increase when it is brand new. Not to worry, these effect will wear off in times and it is not a permanent effect. Second. It maybe your handling of the pH meter that's give you the wrong reading. The glass tip of the pH meter you need to wash it with distilled water after used. And the tip has to kept moist when in the cap, usually there is a moist sponge inside the cap that keeps the tip moist. If that sponge is dry, add distilled water to moist it.

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## sootz

Thanks for the tips  :Smile:

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## sootz

I just got informed that my tank is actually Gex Deskboy white 600! haha

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## bogeh711

Hey bro, time to visit your thread. I notice you are using the Sera stick-on PH indicator. Is it accurate so far?


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## sootz

I'm using 2 brands of test strips:
- JBL's 6-in-1
- Sera's 5-in-1

I just used both last Sunday (same time), Sera tells me my water pH is 7-7.5, JBL tells me it is below 6.4... lol

I do prefer JBL test strip though (x50 test strips in a box compared to Sera's 25).

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## bogeh711

Oo, no i meant the one you stick in your tank. I already bought the Sera test kit for PH, nitrate and ammonia. A little hassle to use but i've read that its more accurate than strips. Quite a cost too.


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## sootz

Oh that is Seachem pH Alert. 3 words: Don't buy it. It doesn't do anything except looks 'high-tech' in the tank....from day 1! lol

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## bogeh711

Lol, sorry my bad. I thought it was from Sera. Saw 2 types (PH and ammonia i think) at Seaview, was wondering if it's good. Lucky i didn't buy.


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## sootz

Update of tank...

Removed the water lettuce as the bushy roots were blocking water flow. Frogbits :Well done: Added 8 neon tetra last Thurs....now left 6 survivors  :Confused: Added 10 tiger shrimps last wed...now left 7 survivors, seems like tiger shrimps don't like the tank  :Sad: Cyperus haspan started growing shoots yesterdayOh and the HCs, that pic is 1 week after I planted them (cut 1cm x 1cm cubes, they came with the sponge...)

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## sootz

Shrimps pics to share

The tiger shrimp keep turning towards my phone when I tried to snap a picture of it  :Laughing:

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## bogeh711

Wow, you're having different colored tigers?  :Very Happy: 
Care to share where you got your shrimps from? Hehe, can net different types or like minimum of 5 each color?
I thought rilis and tiger needs different environment? Rilis closer to neocardina and tiger nearer to bees? Correct me if i'm wrong...
Your HC field... Did you buy quite a few and spread them around? Looks like quantity of a few packages.
Hmmm... I'm attracted to the clean white look of the tank slowly...


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## sootz

The hc is 1 big piece on sponge from C328. I cut into half and tried to put onto the substrate. Those that have tried before would have rolled your eyes by now lol After some googling, I then cut them into small cubes...

the tiger shrimps are from C328, those 10 in 1 bag kind.

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## bogeh711

Ooo... I thought they always sell same colored types shrimps together. Didn't know got mix types. Always wanted to check out the shrimps there but sooooo cramp and busy. Checked a couple of bags and others will come, check 2 more, auntie or uncle will move in/out. Sighz, really shop at C328 have to "fast fight fast finish"(速战速决)...
That's why i'm abit regretted buying those green shrimps... Look so colorless, sighz.


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## sootz

Like half a year ago when I just started with a small plastic turtle tank lol, I bought a bag of tiger shrimps from C328...because I wanted to start with cheap shrimps. Until now, I still think those tiger shrimps are the most beautiful shrimps I have kept so far (erm...they are all in shrimp heaven long time ago...lesson learnt: don't play with 3 liter tank -> self-handicap). After molting, some of them their colours changed, become red colour tiger shrimps.

I also bought those green shrimps long time before too. They run around like cockcroaches! and they seldom swim lol I don't like that. And yes the colour not nice. To me those green shrimps means ?wild shrimps? no colour...

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## bogeh711

Hahah, and i thought like cherries are the cheapest yet. Huh? After molted will change color? Damn, crash my dream of having colorful tigers around...
Yeah the green shrimp is like... Spoiling my tank view, however, still wondering why the bag of green shrimp have 2 significantly different looking shrimp, really felt cheated. I'd post some pics in awhile on my thread. Maybe you can take a look.


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## sootz

New makeover, new photos to share


Just came back from C328, threw away the driftwood & HC. They withered after 8 days of holidays...

New additions:
- New mini driftwood with 3 cyperus Haspan (Yeah can't get enough of it!)
- A carpet plant on mesh
- A furry plant...
- A red leaf plant...
- A circle? shaped leaf plant...
- 10 x golden back yellow shrimps

as you can see, I don't know what plants I bought back, so if anybody viewing can ID them, please reply in this thread thanks!  :Smile:

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## sootz

And reused the water plants from the shrimp packages...

1 of the shrimps is pregnant <- Free gift  :Razz: 



Oh and after 8 days, no shrimps dead, 1 neon tetra died 2 days after I came home. The 1 week old dried ketapang leaf got devoured until bare.

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## bogeh711

Wahhh... Free preggies, mine till now no "seeds"...

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## sootz

New breeder box. Bought to keep the pregnant mother shrimp in it. But when I came home from with the breeder box, I found the shrimp with only 2 eggs zzzz

1 day later, I found a super small baby shrimp. Put it inside the breeder box, but the baby shrimp is too small to keep in the netting, so...see how.


New additions:
- Breeder box (15 cm x 15 cm x ? height) with hornwort + 3 shrimps inside
- Vietnam? fissidens on rock
- 2 x Petite Nana on rock

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## sootz

Update Oct 2013:

New look, new plants, got rid of some plants

- driftwood 'tree', some nana on a wood + java moss? below
- 2 x fissidens 'hamburgers' <- Love them!
- 1 red leaf crypt?
- 1 green erm...plant lol

and lots of seed shrimps that come along with them zzzzz thinking of buying the gush catch pen, but very ex...think about it first

Added 3 erasers on the hang on filter. Masterstroke! it allows me to fill water up to (near) the brim, and the unexpected bonus is, no more noise from the filter! cheapskate but it works! lol

Added 2 x 2 suction cups on the water surface with white lines (those they use to tie up aquatic plants I think). To prevent frogbits from going near the filter outlet.

Lots of brown algae, need to do some maintenance this coming Wed...

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## sootz

Update:

Finally got pregnant shrimps: 2 rili + 3?4? orange shrimps, but I googled that orange shrimps need brackish water conditions to successfully get baby shrimps.

I think is either due to:
- on aircon when I was home on leave, or Nov weather cooling
- or the fact that I bought this package of freshwater clams and these turned into delicious shrimp food, which in turn induce mating

Will upload some photos soon  :Smile:

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## bogeh711

I believe it's the cool weather... My cherry has been breeding non-stop due to the cool season, have already added a 2nd tank  :Smile:

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## sootz

last post from me here. Some photos I took yesterday to share.

This forum tags all photos previously uploaded by a user to that user and gives 1 user 3MB of attachment size (hello stone age). When u clear your previous uploads, all the uploaded photos you did are gone from the forum threads. smart. bye failed system

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