Jeanine

Hurray! The LPS finally got in a shipment of plants, so I planted my 12 gallon shrimp tank yesterday(I've been cycling 2 1/2 weeks so far). This is what I planted: bacopa australis, Elecharis parvula, Hemianthus micanthemoides, pogostermon helferi, Rotala rotundifolia, marsilea hirsuta, alternanthera reineckil, hygrophilia polysperma, water sprite, cryptocoryne beckettili, and cryptocorne parva. I know that I'll probably have to do a fair amount of trimming. I wish I could figure out how to make the pictures small enough to load on here. I decided to use the picture of the tank as my profile picture.

Tank: LxWxH 16 x 14 x 14
Lighting: 2 20 watt GE Plant Aquarium florescents
substrate: GeoSystem Extra fine black gravel
Filter: HOB Aqua Clear with sponge on intake
CO2: DIY Hagen canister hooked up to a coral life wood stone below water column. (to push little bubbles back down)

I plan on stocking with Cherry shrimp in a couple weeks and I'm wondering if using Excel will harm my shrimp. (I started dosing in my larger aquarium a few days ago). Also what sort of Ferts should I be using. I am currently using Nutrafin Plant Gro Iron Enriched and 1 Plant Gro Fertilizer stick. How often should I dose Ferts?

Might I add this is the first time doing a planted shrimp tank so any advice will be appreciated!

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Philosophos

You can do shrimp and excel. I dose 8ml in to 65L of water with Yamatos just fine. Here is a post I was just reading with reference to the topic of shrimp and excel. At 40w on a 12g you'll either want one very big batch of DIY co2 and as much excel as you can safely provide every morning, or compressed CO2.

IMO compressed CO2 is cheaper long-run than DIY+excel.

-Philosophos

Jeanine

The wattage is higher than I'd like it to be, but I'm having trouble finding a better light at this time. I live in a small town with limited shopping, so I'm making due. As for The CO2, I'd love to have a proper system, but the husband thinks I've already put to much into my tanks and am going overboard as it is. I guess I could put it to him like, It's sort of like putting a lift kit and big tires on his Jeep... You can go more places... maybe he would understand that.

Philosophos

*edit* oops double post.

Philosophos

Tell him you can keep buying yeast by the lb, and excel by the bottle, or pay maybe $5-20 a year for compressed CO2 refills after the initial investment. Phrase it to him like you're trying to save money, then blame him for not thinking in a financially responsible way.

-Philosophos

bsmith

Just dont OD (2x the recommended dose) I have never seen anything kill shrim faster then an excel OD.

rjfurbank

The tank looks great! The RCS should love it.

I have a 6g tank w/ RCS and have been dosing Excel and the rest of the Seachem line of ferts (N, P, K, Flourish) and the plants and shrimp are doing fine.

Becareful regarding the levels you dose at though. I am dosing either at or slightly below the recommended dosing levels--be especially careful w/ the Excel and the Flourish (or any trace fertilizer w/ copper as this is supposed to be toxic for inverts at higher levels). I have OD'ed on Excel and ferts in the past and this has led to big die-offs.

Good luck--keep us posted on your progress!

-Roy

Jeanine

Well, thank you very much for your advice. The plants have straightened up and are mostly doing well, except the bacopa australis. It seems to be going mushy and dieing from the bottom up. I was in the pet store and noticed that alot of theirs is doing the same thing. I wonder if it will grow back up from the roots.
Soon I'm going to get a few fish to put in to help it cycle, then when I'm done treating for ich in my big tank, they'll go in there. Or should I just start right off with shrimp?

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kangshiang

Flourish Exceo should be ok with the shrimp...but don't dose too much...

Philosophos

Cycle first, don't put in RCS until NH4/NO2 have zeroed. Consider draining the tank for a dry start if you don't have any stock in there yet. Commercial culture of the right sort, or filter seeding might work.

Make sure you don't get any water with medication in it from your ich afflicted tank in to the new one; most meds have CuSO4. Bad for both plants and shrimp, long before it'll kill the fish.

If the stem is necrotic on your B. australis, clip just above the dead tissue and re-plant the ends. If there's live stem below with leaf still on it, chop the dieing tissue off that as well. Long term, dead stem segment is wasted energy for the plant, whether or not it survives.

-Philosophos