# Setting up 10G tank, just planted....



## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

I am setting up my first shrimp tank. It is a 10G tank with 6 tear drop plants (HC) . Once Cycled I will introduce Crystal Red Shrimp to breed and feed my Piranhas.

My Water parameters before planting.....

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 5.0ppm (mg/L)
PH level: 8.8

I planted the tank 5 days ago with 6 tear drop plants. I use a canister filter and dosed CO2 everyday. Tank immediately turned a white cloudy color once planted. The white haze is now starting to fade.

Now I have the following Parameters...
Ammonia: 0.25-0.50 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (mg/L)
Nitrate: 0 ppm (mg/L)
PH level: 6.8

My Questions.....

1) Am I on the right track ? How far am I in cycling the tank according to my current parameteres

2) Will plants help the cycle ? How ?

3) What can I do to speed up the cycling so I can introduce Shrimp sooner

2) Will my plants survive the cycling? Should I fertilize them since I have a bare gravel substrate or will that screw up/slow down the cycling of my tank ?

Thank you,

Zbaidy


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

zbaidy said:


> I am setting up my first shrimp tank. It is a 10G tank with 6 tear drop plants (HC) . Once Cycled I will introduce Crystal Red Shrimp to breed and feed my Piranhas.
> 
> My Water parameters before planting.....
> 
> ...


Hi

If you are trying to grow *HC*, I strongly suggest lots of light (3wpg or more), full line of ferts, and pressurized co2 right off the bat. Pressurized is much better for a shrimp tank because they don't do so hot in a tank dosing Excell for it's carbon source.
Don't forget the cheap route of just going with low/moderate lighting and just throw some moss in there.

Second, I wouldn't do crystal red shrimp, but the cheaper, and heartier cherry red shrimp. Cherry reds are much less likely to die off from bad water quality, and reproduce MUCH faster. The crystal reds do look much nicer, but you want to breed and feed with them, so that is why I recommend cherry reds instead.

Please don't introduce your shrimp with any ammonia in the tank whatsoever. They don't do so well with that, especially the crystal reds.
If you want to speed up your cycle, why not introduce a pair of guppys or endlers first? They breed also, and they would make a nice snack for your P too.

Make sure your ammonia is 0. Make sure your nitrIte is 0. I don't know why you have nitrAte in the water if you just begun the cycleing process, unless you dosed it for your plants. -That would make sence.
What substrate are you using>? Some planted aquarium substrate has some ammonia present in it from the start. 
I also don't understand why your pH was so high at first. It's getting there now, but I hope it is stable. A good way to make sure it is stable is checking your KH. If it is 3 or higher you should be ok. If it is lower than 3, I would buy Seachems Equalibrium and use that to help stabalize it.

Your plants will not help cycle the tank, but they are fine in there, and you should be feeding them right away. It doesn't make sence to starve them at first or anything like that.

Hmm what is bare gravel substrate? I'm wondering how you could plant HC with regular gravel...
Can you post a pic of it please?


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## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> *Some planted aquarium substrate has some ammonia present in it from the start.
> It's getting there now, but I hope it is stable.Hmm what is bare gravel substrate? I'm wondering how you could plant HC with regular gravel...
> Can you post a pic of it please?*


Sure. Plants have gained 1" since planting them 6 days ago and are taking root nicely.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

HAH! the little budah is prety funny in there lol I like it.
Well, the Crystal reds are harder to breed, I am prettys sure they like higher pH, but not sure.
The cherries would flood that tank with babies in less than half the time.

Glad to see you have pressurized CO2 in there, but I noticed you have 0 nitrates in there already.
You are going to have to add nitrates because if you don't have them, your plants will not do well at all. They HAVE to have nitrates. A few shrimp might not do it at first... best bet is to keep checking the nitrates to see where they are at. 10-25ppm nitrate is where you need to be.

A light dose of micros, and extra iron will help keep the HC nice and green, and phosphate @ .5-2ppm will help keep green spot algea out of there.

Potassium will help your plants roots and stems strong.

Did I get everything? lol


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## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> HAH! the little budah is prety funny in there lol I like it.
> Well, the Crystal reds are harder to breed, I am prettys sure they like higher pH, but not sure.
> The cherries would flood that tank with babies in less than half the time.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your help Dippy Eggs! Always so helpful.

*Update:*
Since the last results I posted (April 7th). I have started dosing micro bacter every day as well as a fertilizer mix from my friend. So six days total of this dosing so far.

Since dosing fertilizer HC has turned noticeably darker green !

Additionally as of two days ago there are 6 guppy fry running around in the tank being fed plankton twice a day. This is purely for them to produce waste and speed things up.

Since adding the fry two days ago algae has exploded everywhere in the tank and has completely covered all surfaces. I'm thinking that this is good because Algae supplements the guppy diet and is the primary food of CRS. There will be plenty of food waiting for them when they arrive 

*You want me to start dosing:*

Micro nutrient (light dose)
iron
Potassium 
phosphate @ .5-2ppm (for algae)

Got this right ?

Also will post new water parameter results tomorow plus pics. This will be the first test since all the bacter/fertilizer dosing + guppy fry. Nervous !


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## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> HAH! the little budah is prety funny in there lol I like it.
> Well, the Crystal reds are harder to breed, I am prettys sure they like higher pH, but not sure.
> The cherries would flood that tank with babies in less than half the time.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your help Dippy Eggs! Always so helpful. I got the idea from Oliver Knott.


Above is his 5G inspirational setup. 
http://www.pbase.com/plantella/nanobudhha

*Update:*
Since the last results I posted (April 7th). I have started dosing micro bacter every day as well as a fertilizer mix from my friend. So six days total of this dosing so far.

Since dosing fertilizer HC has turned noticeably darker green !

Additionally as of two days ago there are 6 guppy fry running around in the tank being fed plankton twice a day. This is purely for them to produce waste and speed things up.

Since adding the fry two days ago algae has exploded everywhere in the tank and has completely covered all surfaces. I'm thinking that this is good because Algae supplements the guppy diet and is the primary food of CRS. There will be plenty of food waiting for them when they arrive 

*You want me to start dosing:*

Micro nutrient (light dose)
iron
Potassium 
phosphate @ .5-2ppm (for algae)

Got this right ?

Also will post new water parameter results tomorow. This will be the first test since all the bacter/fertilizer dosing + guppies fry. Nervous !


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

LOL Oliver Knott is a tremendous aquascaper. That pic is hysterical to me lol

If you have algea all over everything in the tank, it needs balanced out somehow. I suggest checking params, and going from there. I can try to help, but every algea outbreak seems to be unique to the situation, so troubleshooting is necissary on your end. Guidance is certainly helpful, that is what I'm here for 
Don't worry about the guppys and dosing. They are fine. Just don't overdose. that is crucial as well as keeping params good. You missed nitrAte in the dosing regimen. Don't add nitrate or phosphate is reading optimum levels, only when it is low. 
When you do that, you will figure out how much you need to dose, and how often in about a month of checking params.

I sugest checking co2 concentration in water, nitrates, and phosphates. IF they are all good, try cutting your micro dosing in half for a few days.

Hope that helped!-keep us posted


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