Shrimp Tank Update

I found a molt in the 10-gallon tank, so I hope that means that things are going well (I think I know what the difference between a molting and a dead shrimp is at this point; all the dead ghost shrimp in there turn pink -- moltings tend to be clear/translucent).

It was time to drop in another chalk feeding block to the 30-gallon tank for the mystery snails to munch on. I chipped off a tiny piece of it to throw in the 10-gallon both for food and exoskeleton building blocks. However, I'm not sure if it will do any good; I saw snails attacking it right away -- it makes me suspect/realize that there aren't as many snails in the 30-gallon and perhaps something is eating them as a form of population control.

Too Good to be True?

The CO2 to the 10-gallon tank made me 10 minutes later to work than I would have been. It's just not working as consistently as I'd like. I don't know if I need a new check valve or regulating valve, or both, but I don't trust it right now. In order to assuage my fears in the short term, I have set it to turn on a couple hours earlier so that I can check its output before I leave in the morning.

I found a happy sight when I came home today. The golden kuhlis were out and about -- or as out and about as they get, anyway. I am 100% sure I saw five of them and 99% sure I saw all six. On the other hand, I didn't spot any of the striped kuhlis right away; eventually I noticed a couple rummaging around in the mucky muck at the base of the rotala indica thicket.

Not to jinx myself, but I am as happy with the tank as I have ever been, I believe. I don't know if it's knowing that the golden kuhlis are all alive, or being complimented on the quality of renekii I brought in to Alamo Aquatics, or the lack of growth of algae on the plants or glass recently, but I'm very content with the setup right now. Which has the added benefit of giving me more time to dedicate to my new 10-gallon! Having said all that, I would not be surprised if everything goes to hell shortly.

In the meantime, to address my last lingering bugaboo about the 30-gallon, I just ordered a MagDrive 250 pump from Petsmart.com (as well as a couple bags of food in order to get to $50 so that I could get $10 off). Here's hoping it runs more quietly and is lower-maintenance than my current Rio. I'd like to run it externally, so I'll have to set up an intake for it, but that shouldn't be a huge problem (*knock on wood*).

At night, it seemed the kuhlis all came out to play. I have to assume the zodiac loach was sleeping or has very poor night vision. They were all over his "turf" in the back of the tank. I saw one of each species wrapped around the AquaClear intake, and I even saw a couple twister around each other in the rotala thicket, so that reassured me that there would probably be no problems with the species getting along with each other.

A Measureable Difference

Well, I was at the grocery store walking down an aisle I don't normally find myself in, looking for some steel bowls for what I hope will eventually be a Van de Graff machine. I didn't buy the bowls (because the price wasn't labeled), but I did see some tiny measuring spoons. This was my chance to return the 1/8 tsp I had been indefinitely borrowing from my fiancee.

I had been using half of the 1/8 teaspoon (1/16 tsp) as my standard measurement (although I'd occasionally dose a full 1/8 tsp of K2SO4 or KNO3). So let's reconcile the measurements I've been making with this new set of spoons:

• Dash = 1/8 teaspoon
  
• Pinch = 1/16 teaspoon
  
• Smidgen = 1/32 teaspoon
  

Looks like a pinch is my new baseline. It'll be nice to have these; I've already noticed that the ferts stick to the metal less readily than they did my previous plastic spoon.

Big Haul

Big trip to Fintique today. Originally, my intention was to bring the zodiac loach in, but my half-hearted attempts to corral it were futile. Thier website indicated that they had kuhli loaches (not golden) in stock, as well as algae eating shrimp that I could stock my 10-gallon with.

I was excited to see they still had plenty of kuhli loaches, so I picked up half a dozen to go with the six golden kuhlis I already had ($9). I was worried that I only saw a couple of algae eating shrimp, but once we started rummaging around in there, a few more popped up and we nabbed the only five we saw ($5). I wanted another dozen ghost shrimp for the main tank ($0.99), and also got a few new plants species for the 10-gallon tank (~$4), and some driftwood for the zodiac loach ($1.99). So for about $20, I got what I consider quite a haul.

I removed a bunch of java moss to make room for the new plants in the 10-gallon tank. The algae-eating shrimp settled right in, and I put a "pregnant" ghost shrimp I found in the 30-gallon in with them. The kuhli loaches swam around a bit to check out their new digs; I kept a close eye on the zodiac loach in case he started making too much trouble. I was surprised both that the zodiac was a bit more passive than expected (maybe he was overwhelmed?) and also that when he did posture and "attack" the kuhlis, they responded very passively, sometimes seemlingly not noticing they were supposed to be terrified.

A few hours later, they had all found hiding spaces in one part of the tank or another. I was quite surprised/worried that a couple had taken up residence near the new driftwood I added to the zodiac's cave; I guess it's extensive enough now that there's room for multiple inhabitants.

Lower is Better

Because everything had kept doing well and algae is staying down, I've decided to leave the lower-wattage bulbs in the periphery hoods. That's 14 watts in the leftmost and rightmost hoods, and 26 watt bulbs in the middle for a grand wattage total of 80 or 2.67 watts/gallon. Not as high-light, but every bit as high-tech as in the past, and hopefully low-algae, too. Hopefully that leaves enough light for everything that has come to expect/demand it (esp. glosso).

My primary goals with this lower light setup:

• Less GSA on the higher temple leaves (left)
  
• Less BGA/hybrid-monster algae on the reneikei (left)
  
• More consistent growth of the foxtail (right)
  
• Less GSA on the bacopa (right)
  
• Less BGA/hybrid-monster algae on the melon sword (left)
  

TDS --The "T" Stands for "Total"

I finally broke down and created sheets for the other two tanks. You can find them at the following URLs:

10 gallon tank:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=
p1QPGfjWYsXlC1ZucE3X7JQ&oid=2&output=image

5 gallon tank:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=
p1QPGfjWYsXlC1ZucE3X7JQ&oid=3&output=image

Remember, the 30 gallon tank:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=
p1QPGfjWYsXlC1ZucE3X7JQ&oid=1&output=image

I'll let you in on a little secret; all that changes is the "oid" number!

Also, before I go on vacation, the 30-gallon is going into blackout to get rid of some pesky BGA that popped up during my Christmas vacation. My nitrates never dropped very low, so I'm going to chalk up its prevalence to poor circulation caused by mulm-clogged intakes that weren't cleaned for two-weeks. I'm starting to lose faith in the assumption that low-nitrates are the driving factor behind BGA, because I've definitely experienced it with high nitrates; since it crops up in regions with poor circulation, and I've read that is another factor, I'll have to come up with a new theory (perhaps in areas of low circulation, nitrates are low in very local areas?).