# Shrimp cube



## igor.kanshyn

Hi, 

I've finished my work with aquascape and placed plants into my new 8 gallon (12"x12"x12") rimless tank. 

It's a little cloudy now, but there are first photos of the 'filled with water' tank in attachment.


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## BettaBeats

what type of lighting are you using


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## aln

nice tank you got there. cant wait until ur DHG grows into a carpet


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## igor.kanshyn

BettaBeats said:


> what type of lighting are you using


Briefly, it's fluorescent, 23W 

This light is a temporarily solution. I use an ordinary reading lamp from Home Depot, but I placed into it 23W (equivalent of 100W incandescent lamp) energy saving bulb. It has _daylight_ color. So, its color temperature is 5000-6000 K, which is similar to freshwater fluorescent light.

Also I had to expand the lamp reflector. It's too small for modern energy saving bulbs. I got a round foil container from a dollar store and cut out the bottom


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## igor.kanshyn

aln said:


> nice tank you got there. cant wait until ur DHG grows into a carpet


Thank you. I really hope it will be fine and this will happen soon 
It took me several hours to separate it into clumps and plant them all. I believe I had at least one hundred of them


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## bae

Looks very nice, and you've certainly got plenty of light there! 

Btw, the vallisneria should really flourish under those conditions and may put out a lot of runners and overrun the hairgrass. So once things are settled, you may want to replace it with something less robust. I really like corkscrew val, and it does well under most conditions -- maybe too well under yours.


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## Byronicle

I like your setup, its going to look really neat when it all fills up.

btw where did you get that light and is that a pie tin foil container thing on your lamp???


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## AquaNeko

igor.kanshyn said:


> Briefly, it's fluorescent, 23W
> 
> This light is a temporarily solution. I use an ordinary reading lamp from Home Depot, but I placed into it 23W (equivalent of 100W incandescent lamp) energy saving bulb. It has _daylight_ color. So, its color temperature is 5000-6000 K, which is similar to freshwater fluorescent light.
> 
> Also I had to expand the lamp reflector. It's too small for modern energy saving bulbs. I got a round foil container from a dollar store and cut out the bottom


Can you take some pics of the lamp shade and the inside of it? I'm interested in the improvised reflector and how you mounted it.


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## igor.kanshyn

bae said:


> Btw, the vallisneria should really flourish under those conditions and may put out a lot of runners and overrun the hairgrass. So once things are settled, you may want to replace it with something less robust. I really like corkscrew val, and it does well under most conditions -- maybe too well under yours.


I will keep vallisneria in the background of the tank and will not let it occupy other space. BTW, vallisneria corkscrew is not growing very fast.

There might be a visual disbalance between rough and thick valiisneria and tiny grass. I have some ideas about improvement of the plant stock, but I decided to start from vallisneria as a hardy and reliable plant.

My main worrying here is creating a carpet from dwarf hairgrass and not having everything covered with algae


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## igor.kanshyn

Byronicle said:


> I like your setup, its going to look really neat when it all fills up.
> 
> btw where did you get that light and is that a pie tin foil container thing on your lamp???


Thank you.

I've wrote about this light above. I got a lamp in Home Depot. It's Swing-Arm Desk Lamp, Satin Chrome Finish ( $30 )

Your right, that "extension" on the lamp is made from pie foil container. I got a package with three 7" foil "plates" in dollarstore ( ~$2.5 ). Then I cut the bottom of one container and covered the lampshade. The lampshade can be easily demounted, so I did not cut container sides.


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## Zebrapl3co

Very nice. I really like the tank. But the rocks on the left looks a bit too organized ... otherwise, it's going to look pretty good.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


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## igor.kanshyn

AquaNeko said:


> Can you take some pics of the lamp shade and the inside of it? I'm interested in the improvised reflector and how you mounted it.


It's not mounted solidly. It just lays on the lampshade. I can glue it there, but it's not really necessary.
Look at the pictures.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Canister filter installed*

I've added a Fluval 104 canister filter (thanks to proud2bcanadian) to this set up yesterday. 
Look at the pictures.

Now I'm thinking about changing filter grey tubes and pipes to something more transparent like ADA uses.


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## igor.kanshyn

Zebrapl3co said:


> Very nice. I really like the tank. But the rocks on the left looks a bit too organized ... otherwise, it's going to look pretty good.


Thank you.

Your right, they are organized  They make like a ladder for viewer's sight (look) and lead it to a red stone which is focal point. They are really doing this. Unfortunately, this "ladder" doesn't look very nature 

I was doing store arrangement on air, than I redid it several times in having small amount of cloudy water in the tank. It looked different there.

Then I added water and leaned the important thing here.
First, *water "shrink" depth of aquarium*. My set up looks crowded now. I even removed one of the stones, but it's still too many stones there.
The second *color and finish of stones are important *. In clear water and with good light their differences are clearly visible.

I will not change this aquascape until my hairgrass will be mature enough. Also I think that after grass carpet covers stones, it diminishes importance of stones and covers some of my design misses


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## igor.kanshyn

*DYI CO2 added*

I've added CO2 injection yesterday night.

I've fasted a co2 output tube to a filter intake and it sucks bubble very well. Then, usually once a minute, the filter throws a groups of small and medium size bubble from output (look at the second picture)
I think co2 dissolving works great, because my DIY co2 gives about one bubble each second and they all go to the filter. Majority of co2 gas seems to be absorbed by water, because not so much are going out as visible bubbles.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Dwarf Hairgrass is growing!*

Hurrah! My Dwarf Hairgrass is definitely growing!

I have this documented on pictures  The first picture are made two days ago, the second one is made today.


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## igor.kanshyn

Dwarf Hairgrass continues to grow and starts new blades.

Look at the pictures. There are made in *three days* interval. The second picture shows a new blade.

All plants together don't look like a carpet, but I hope they will ... eventually


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## dl88dl

Your dwarf hairgrass is growing nicely and I like the DIY reflector...great idea and keep up the good work.


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## tom g

*hairgrass*

what kind of gravel do these grow best i have a patch of hairgrass and i planted it as a whole in river rock pebbles willit expand in this kind of gravel or does it have to be the same stuff as in the pic
thanks 
tom


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## igor.kanshyn

tom g said:


> what kind of gravel do these grow best i have a patch of hairgrass and i planted it as a whole in river rock pebbles willit expand in this kind of gravel or does it have to be the same stuff as in the pic
> thanks
> tom


I use Flourite Black Sand here for two reasons. 
First, it's fine and grass with its small roots can better attach itself.
Second, this sand has fertilization inside. It's more that just small black rocks 

I believe that you can use almost any gravel or subtract, it just will require more time for grass to make a carpet.
What light do you have? Light is more important.

Hairgrass that you see on the picture was not growing that way. It was planted 
I'm afraid it will require at least a month from it to make a thin carpet. I'm waiting.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Zebra Nerite Snail*

I've placed one Zebra Nerite Snail in the tank.







]

I bought three of them, but let them stay in my other tank for now.
This snail "irons" my thin grass so heavily, that I decided that one will be enough there.

You can find more images here: http://setupaquarium.shroggle.com/Zebra-Nerite-Snail


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## arinsi

i have some questions on the snails

do they reproduce at all? like pond snails
do they eat bga?
what did you mean by irons
________
box vaporizers


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## igor.kanshyn

arinsi said:


> i have some questions on the snails
> 
> do they reproduce at all? like pond snails
> do they eat bga?
> what did you mean by irons


1. I read they can be reproduced in brackish water like Amano shrimps. It's hard to do at home. Look at this article: http://www.petfish.net/articles/Invertebrates/Zebra_Nerite.php

2. I own these snails for less than a week. I can't say exactly. They definitely eat Hair algae and Green spot algae. They are majority of algae I have. 
Look at the article here: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae_eaters.php, point 7. They reefer to similar snails as good algae eaters.

3. I'm sorry, my English is not good. I meant that snails pressured grass like an iron when people iron clothes


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## igor.kanshyn

Dwarf hairgrass are spreading quite active. Almost each small bush have new blades growing near it. Look at the picture. It's day 17 now. All small blades are new.

During this grass growing time, I had to remove almost all blades that I initially planted. Some of them were rooting, other braced algae to grow on them.

It looks like I have a bacteria boom now. Water is cloudy. Not a lot, but still. I thought that this tank was cycled. I used filter media from my other tank and water parameters were stable. I might was wrong. We will see.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Some redesign is coming*

I got some new plants for this tank today. And started some *redesign*. That's right. Initial set up was not finished, but a new one has already come 
There is nothing stable in this world 

I'm not finished with the redesign today. I will bury affected dwarf hairgrass tomorrow.

Water is really cloudy. It make no sense to take pictures.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Redesign*

I've removed several stones and 
added some *eleocharis vivipara* (hairgrass), 
*Nesaea red*, 
two small stones covered with *java moss* and 
a stone with *riccia* attached.

About of a half dwarf hairgrass was replanted, so it has to start growing again.

I have *8-week old platies* and a *siamese algae eater* there. They are temporarily inhabitants. As soon water ramaters will stable I will move shrimps into this tank.

Look at more pictures here

.


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## igor.kanshyn

Tank tester:








One of the first real tank resident


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## igor.kanshyn

*Amano shrimp*

I also have *two Amano shrimps* there. They are pretty big male and female.

Female moulted after moving in and hides a lot for now. 
The male is checking out my sand usually and also digging quite big holes in it (and ruin grass root system, bastard  ).
Look at the video with him: Male Amano shrimp go over black sand


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## igor.kanshyn

*A fighter*

I watches today how my siamese algae eater bit and chased big amano shrimp quite actively.

The issue was a peace of a sinking pellet which they both were trying to eat. There is almost no algae in the tank and siamese algae eater was very serious about that piece of food 

I will move him to a fish tank tomorrow.


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## arktixan

Tank looks awesome  Excellent work.

What kind of shrimp will you be adding in the future?


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## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> Tank looks awesome  Excellent work.
> 
> What kind of shrimp will you be adding in the future?


Thank you.
I will have RCS and CRS there.


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## igor.kanshyn

About a week ago I did a 25% water change. It was in evening and my amano shrimps started swimming really active. 
Next morning I've found one of them on a carpet and even didn't find the second one. There is no more amano shrimps in that tank.


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## igor.kanshyn

*RCS and CRS*

Here some pictures of my current shrimp cube livestock


























How are you, brother?


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## igor.kanshyn

*Some tank pictures*

Full aquarium:









Front view:









Nesaea Red plant:


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## igor.kanshyn

*Some more tank photos*

Left view:









Crystal red shrimp and riccia plant:









'Display' rock with a shrimp and a nerite snail









Java moss


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## brapbrapboom

good looking tank igor. it has really matured since i last saw it!


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## igor.kanshyn

brapbrapboom said:


> good looking tank igor. it has really matured since i last saw it!


Thank you. I look at it every day and it looks like the same 

I'm waiting when my dwarf hairgrass starts actively spreading.
At the same time my vallisneria doesn't grow tall, but spreads like crazy


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## brapbrapboom

hmm.. are you using a dslr to take the pics? if so, what brand and what lens?


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## igor.kanshyn

*Canon Powershot A610*



brapbrapboom said:


> hmm.. are you using a dslr to take the pics? if so, what brand and what lens?


No, it has no reflector. It's quite old Canon Powershot A610. It has built-in lens. It's cheap and simple


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## brapbrapboom

Wow! I guess I really just have to study my dslr lol. Thanks Igor!


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## Fish_Man

nice tank it rocks!


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## igor.kanshyn

*Livestock listing*

*Current livestock:*



Code:


RCS                    - 5
CRS                    - 4
RCS (~ 8 weeks old)    - 1
RCS (~ 5 weeks old)    - 9
RCS (~ 3 weeks old)    - 21
Zebra nerite snails    - 3

Platies (8 weeks old)  - 8

Baby platies are waiting to be bigger and not eaten by fishes in my fish tank. I really hope that they will grow fast in two nearest weeks. I feed them frozen bloodworms every day.
They eat small shrimps if they can. I saw this


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## Fish_Man

I looked at the picture again. Does the tank have a filter?


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## Tropicana

in later posts 3rd page it shows a canister. so yes.


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## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> I looked at the picture again. Does the tank have a filter?


Lol, that's funny.
There are *two thick ugly tubes* on the back and they are attached to a Fluval 104 canister filter.


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## Fish_Man

ah sneaky eh?


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## igor.kanshyn

I've found one big red cherry shrimp dead in the morning 

There was no changes in the tank. Stable pH and no ammonia. Let's think that it was old and tired of life


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## igor.kanshyn

*How to make a riccia plant to pearl*

Sometimes you might think why your *riccia *plant are not pearling as pictures in internet show.
You have a high light, you add co2 and fertilize your plant. But it's still almost no O2 bubbles there.

There is nothing wrong with your plant or your aquarium conditions, your riccia produces oxygen well, it just disappears. Produced oxygen has been dissolved in a water and you don't see bubbles.

My riccia doesn't pearling a lot. At the same time I have a quite strong current from a filter in a tank. So, I've made an experiment.
I turned off the filter today morning and _voila_. In 6 hours my riccia has a lot of bubbles on it.


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## Fish_Man

cool.. my shrimps are dying off one by one each day now.... nothing has changed.... I'm probably at the end of my shrimp days..


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## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> cool.. my shrimps are dying off one by one each day now.... nothing has changed.... I'm probably at the end of my shrimp days..


This is really sad. I remember your thread. It doesn't look like it's something wrong there ... check everything again.
I wish I could help


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## Fish_Man

I'll check it again..... sigh.....


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## Zebrapl3co

Fish_Man said:


> I'll check it again..... sigh.....


Where is your thread, maybe I can look at it and see ...

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


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## Fish_Man

Zebrapl3co said:


> Where is your thread, maybe I can look at it and see ...


http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13875

Update: So far everything has been ok over the weekend from what I've seen.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Zebra nerite snail out*

I've moved my netire snails out of this tank today.
I was tired to watch them are crawling on my dwarf hairgrass like tanks through bushes and rumpling the grass. 
I will move them back, when the grass will be mature and not suffer from them.


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> I've moved my netire snails out of this tank today.
> I was tired to watch them are crawling on my dwarf hairgrass like tanks through bushes and rumpling the grass.
> I will move them back, when the grass will be mature and not suffer from them.


now you've got me thinking about getting a snail in the shrimp tank


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## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> now you've got me thinking about getting a snail in the shrimp tank


They are Ok with shrimp, but harmful for fragile plants.

Do not get apple snails, no way!


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> They are Ok with shrimp, but harmful for fragile plants.
> 
> Do not get apple snails, no way!


Ah I c.. I must make a thread on which snail should I add to my tanks. Hope to see your input in it! 

Thanks


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## igor.kanshyn

I've found another adult RCS dead today 

At the same time I have one berried shrimp now.
Look at the picture


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> I've found another adult RCS dead today
> 
> At the same time I have one berried shrimp now.
> Look at the picture


very nice!! we're in the same boat but I don't have any berried shrimp


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## Zebrapl3co

Fish_Man said:


> http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13875
> 
> Update: So far everything has been ok over the weekend from what I've seen.


Oh, a couple of shrimp death from a 60+ is OK. It's just nature taking it's course. I would start to worry if 5 or 6 died. Then I would say something is wrong. When you do water change, run the tap for 30 seconds first. Some times just the water sitting in those copper pipe is enough to carry some thing leathal for the shrimps.

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## Fish_Man

Zebrapl3co said:


> Oh, a couple of shrimp death from a 60+ is OK. It's just nature taking it's course. I would start to worry if 5 or 6 died. Then I would say something is wrong. When you do water change, run the table for 30 seconds first. Some times just the water sitting in those copper pipe is enought to carry some thing leathal for the shrimps.


ah! never thought of that.. I will and I'm doing a water change today too.
Thanks for the advice!

And I have to say... siphoning sand is a learning skill.. lol also not to suck up any shrimp too


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## igor.kanshyn

Zebrapl3co said:


> Oh, a couple of shrimp death from a 60+ is OK. It's just nature taking it's course. I would start to worry if 5 or 6 died. Then I would say something is wrong. When you do water change, run the table for 30 seconds first. Some times just the water sitting in those copper pipe is enought to carry some thing leathal for the shrimps.


What is "run the table for 30 seconds"?
Do you mean that we need to drain some water first to skip water that si inside house tubes?


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> What is "run the table for 30 seconds"?
> Do you mean that we need to drain some water first to skip water that si inside house tubes?


I thought he meant run the tap for 30 seconds.. I could be wrong


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## Zebrapl3co

Heh heh. Sorry, yes. I mean tap. I was really tire and sick so my spellings and grammar are even worst. It's bad as it is. I usually don't read what I type.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


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## Fish_Man

Zebrapl3co said:


> Heh heh. Sorry, yes. I mean tap. I was really tire and sick so my spellings and grammar are even worst. It's bad as it is. I usually don't read what I type.


that's ok as long as I got what you said


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## igor.kanshyn

*Berried RCS photo*

I managed to make a better shot today









Fish_Man, look at your shrimps closely, you have a lot, some of them should have eggs


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## bae

Igor, your shrimp has excellent color!

If any of you want some ramshorn snails (Planorbis spp) I got them in a range of colors. They don't eat live plant material and seldom get over 1 cm in diameter. If they're multiplying too much, you're overfeeding. ;-) You can easily crush the excess against the glass for other critters to eat. 

I don't have enough to supply a puffer keeper, but if anyone wants a dozen or so, they're free, or trade for... whatcha got?


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> I managed to make a better shot today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fish_Man, look at your shrimps closely, you have a lot, some of them should have eggs


I will have to use a magnifying glass tonight


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## igor.kanshyn

bae said:


> Igor, your shrimp has excellent color!
> 
> If any of you want some ramshorn snails (Planorbis spp) I got them in a range of colors. They don't eat live plant material and seldom get over 1 cm in diameter. If they're multiplying too much, you're overfeeding. ;-) You can easily crush the excess against the glass for other critters to eat.
> 
> I don't have enough to supply a puffer keeper, but if anyone wants a dozen or so, they're free, or trade for... whatcha got?


Thank you. It's a great offer.

What colors do you have? I saw some unreal pictures on the web.
Like this one, for instance 









Do you have those?


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## igor.kanshyn

*Moving baby platies*

I have 16 baby sunset platies born 12 days ago. They was born in a small breeding trap in a fish tank.

The Destiny of this fishes was defined in advance! They will be fishes in a shrimp tank 

As you know, it's dangerous to keep fishes in a tank where you breed shrimps. Almost any fish will eat a small shrimp if can find and get it.
At the same time, open swimming space in a shrimp tank will look empty, shrimps do not swim a lot.

So, I decided to keep fish fry with shrimps and move fry out when it will be big enough to be dangerous for shrimps.

Yesterday I move 16 baby platies into a shrimp tank. They do well together with 2.2 month platies that I still have in that tank. 
I'm planing to move this big fry in a fish tank in a week or so.

Ready to go: 









Acclimatization:









Waiting to be free:


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## arktixan

excellent 
that works good too... cuz the adult fish wont eat the young


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## bae

igor.kanshyn said:


> Thank you. It's a great offer.
> 
> What colors do you have? I saw some unreal pictures on the web.
> Like this one, for instance
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you have those?


I've got speckled ones. If I put them in softer water, they'd get whitish/bluish opaque shell deterioration like that. But IME the speckles become much less visible in the adults because the rest of the shell gets more brown pigment.

I've got several shades of red body, black bodies, several shades of shell with and without speckles, from dark brown to almost colorless. I've been experimenting with a dilute mutant form that showed up a couple of years ago in my tanks. Combined with red, I get a sort of peach color body. Combined with black, I get a sort of muddy brown-gray color. Recently I've spotted some with almost white bodies, but there's no telling what they'll look like when they get larger. All ramshorns are paler when they are small.

I'm not going about this in a very systematic way, but when I start a new tank, I sometimes toss in ramshorns all of the same color to see what I get over time.


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## igor.kanshyn

*I have a pregnant Crystal Red shrimp!*

Hurrah!
I didn't expect this. I was sure that they were too small to breed. But I was wrong!
Today after midnight I've occasionally found one pregnant CRS!

Sorry for the awful quality of picture, I did them with light off.


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## arktixan

Hurray! Congrats!


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## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> Hurray! Congrats!


Thank you.
I see that her eggs quite big. It looks like she has been having them for two weeks or so.


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## igor.kanshyn

bae said:


> I've got speckled ones. If I put them in softer water, they'd get whitish/bluish opaque shell deterioration like that. But IME the speckles become much less visible in the adults because the rest of the shell gets more brown pigment.
> ....


It's interesting that they have different body colors. How big is your ramshorns snails? I see in Internet that they can be different in size.
Do you make pictures of them?


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## ShrimpieLove

Love the shrimp cube!! 
Great pic of the pregnant shrimp, i always wondered what that looks like!


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## bae

igor.kanshyn said:


> It's interesting that they have different body colors. How big is your ramshorns snails? I see in Internet that they can be different in size.
> Do you make pictures of them?


The ones I have never get much more than about 1 cm in diameter, and that's only under ideal conditions, e.g. in a fry tank where they are heavily fed. Under more normal conditions they mostly get about half that. Mine are Planorbis sp, a European snail that doesn't eat live plant material, just algae and detritus. They are very good at cleaning plant leaves and aquarium glass. There's an unrelated snail called the Columbian ramshorn, IIRC Marisa sp, that gets as much as 5 cm in diameter and eats plants ravenously. It also has a flat spiral shell.

Unfortunately, I have only a cheap camera, so I can't take clear pictures of small things.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Pregnant Crystal Red Shrimp pictures*

There are some better pictures


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## igor.kanshyn

*Current livestock*

*Current livestock:*



Code:


RCS                    - 4
CRS                    - 4
RCS (~ 10 weeks old)   - 1
RCS (~ 7 weeks old)    - 9
RCS (~ 5 weeks old)    - 21
Platies (2 weeks old)  - 16

Platies (10 weeks old)  - 7

16 small platies are new residents.
They are in the tank for about a week and still hang out at the bottom. I saw only several of them understood that food comes from the top.

7 bigger platies are living there their last days in the tank. A week ago I've moved one of them in a fish tank and it hasn't been eaten. I hope that the other will not be less lucky


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## jamesren

Hey, nice tank set up and pictures too.


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## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> Hey, nice tank set up and pictures too.


Thank you James.
There is a dwarf hairgrass and CRS in the tank I got from you


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## jamesren

Sorry for the poor color of CRS, lose white part. It may cause by new tank setup which water not stable yet. Good thing is it berried, that mean your water are much stable now.


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## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> Sorry for the poor color of CRS, lose white part. It may cause by new tank setup which water not stable yet. Good thing is it berried, that mean your water are much stable now.


You right. I didn't notice that she had pale white before you wrote 
I just visited a tank with a flashlight and compared the berried female with other two shrimp I've found. She has some transparent areas instead of white ones. The difference is not big, but visible.

> Some females CRS will start to fade its white when they have reached their adulthood and ready to get pregnant. 
I've read this some time ago on a shrimp forum.

Also I saw some good comment about mineral rocks. They add some useful minerals into the water. And this makes good influence to shrimps health and make their colors better. Do you have any experience with this?

There is one more thing that I'm worried about. CRS recommended KH is 1-2. I have 6. This is my tap water and I can't change this easily. Have you tried to play with your KH?


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## igor.kanshyn

*Pregnant Cherry pictures*

There are two more pictures.


















This shrimp is hiding almost all the time.


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## jamesren

igor.kanshyn said:


> Also I saw some good comment about mineral rocks. They add some useful minerals into the water. And this makes good influence to shrimps health and make their colors better. Do you have any experience with this?
> 
> There is one more thing that I'm worried about. CRS recommended KH is 1-2. I have 6. This is my tap water and I can't change this easily. Have you tried to play with your KH?


I believe mineral rock will help. Like Mono. or something. Other thing like food, soil, lighting do effect too. But I prefer selective breeding to get good genes. Some of my shrimps have very good result without ADA soil and special food. solid white with shining red. I hope I have a good camera to shot pics.

If you inject CO2, KH will reach 6 easily. From my other tanks without CO2, Kh is 2. Both works well.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> Some of my shrimps have very good result without ADA soil and special food. solid white with shining red. I hope I have a good camera to shot pics.
> 
> If you inject CO2, KH will reach 6 easily. From my other tanks without CO2, Kh is 2. Both works well.


It will be good to see 

I have KH 6 from a tap water. CO2 should not influence on KH.
Do you use RO or bottled water?


----------



## jamesren

I think CO2 have major influence on KH. KH high is good for plant and stable ph, so don't worry.
Do you use RO or bottled water? No. I have 2 x 75 Gal. which is too big to try.


----------



## arktixan

Love the pics igor, the colour is amazing.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> I think CO2 have major influence on KH. KH high is good for plant and stable ph, so don't worry.
> Do you use RO or bottled water? No. I have 2 x 75 Gal. which is too big to try.


Pure CO2 injection doesn't change KH. It changes pH.
But some people add baking soda to their co2 mixture, you might do this. In this case KH will be increased.

It's interesting that we have so different KH from a tap water. My test kit is not so accurate, but it should show difference between 2 and 6


----------



## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> Love the pics igor, the colour is amazing.


Thank you, Jon.
This female cherry is noticeable red. Unfortunately, this is only one adult female I have left from my initial purchase. I have about 30+ babies in the tank, some of them quite red. I hope they will turn into beautiful adult cherry shrimps.


----------



## Byronicle

hey whats the red plant in your tank called? the deep red one with a bit of green on top?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Byronicle said:


> hey whats the red plant in your tank called? the deep red one with a bit of green on top?


It's _Nesaea sp. red_. New leaves are greenish, they turn red with time.


----------



## jamesren

igor.kanshyn said:


> Pure CO2 injection doesn't change KH. It changes pH.
> But some people add baking soda to their co2 mixture, you might do this. In this case KH will be increased.
> 
> It's interesting that we have so different KH from a tap water. My test kit is not so accurate, but it should show difference between 2 and 6


Let me try explain more detail here. CO2 injection add H2CO3 which lower pH, at the same time chang Ca(0H)2 -Caco3 equation to Ca(HCO3)2 which increase KH. 
My tap water is same as your KH6 but into the planted tank without co2 injection, plant extract Ca(HCO3)2 to CaCO3, then low my KH to 1-2. In my tank with CO2 injection it keep KH6 or higher. I maybe get wrong number I only measure few time since I bought test kits.
but it not critical for shrimps.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> Let me try explain more detail here. CO2 injection add H2CO3 which lower pH, at the same time chang Ca(0H)2 -Caco3 equation to Ca(HCO3)2 which increase KH.
> My tap water is same as your KH6 but into the planted tank without co2 injection, plant extract Ca(HCO3)2 to CaCO3, then low my KH to 1-2. In my tank with CO2 injection it keep KH6 or higher. I maybe get wrong number I only measure few time since I bought test kits.
> but it not critical for shrimps.


It's more complicated that I thought 

In my fish tank I have no CO2 for a week or a little more. I didn't noticed any differences in KH level in that tank. I might need to wait more or get more accurate test kit 
How fast heavy planted tank with medium light can noticeable reduce KH?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*New light*

I've bought 10in 13W 2 BULB COMPACT LIGHTHOUSE HOOD light for this aquarium. I got it yesterday and installed today.

It has 2x13W fluorescent 6500K bulbs. It's not so bright as my reading lamp with one 23W 'day light' (it's also 6500K) bulb. The difference is noticeable, but it's not so big. My riccia is still bubbling with switched off filter.

I will cut some hairgrass stems that are covered surface now and it will be better.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Blackbeard algae on a front stone*

I've been observing some blackbeard algae growing on a front stone during 3-4 weeks for now. Fortunately this stuff growing on this one stone only.
I was trying to remove it with hard kitchen sponge (that one that are used for clearing burned frypans and pots) some time ago. That algae is really hard to remove. I just rumpled it a little.

Today I got a small tweezers and gave it battle. I tore and scrabbled it. It didn't completely go away, buy the stone looks better now. I hope that pieces of algae that I tore away and didn't remove will not grow in other places.
I can post pictures, if someone interested.


----------



## Russgro

You got a Catalina hood, me too. Very nice units for their price point.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Russgro said:


> You got a Catalina hood, me too. Very nice units for their price point.


Yes. It's a good light fixture. Catalina guys do them by themselves and can be asked about different sizes. My unit becomes quite hot after several hours of working, but it's only a disadvantage I see.
It looks very neat and price was good. It was $70 including mounting legs and shipping.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*There are no eggs under Cherries belly*

I've found my big cherry shrimp quite active today. She is not hiding anymore and *she has no eggs*!

I was looking for shrimplets in the tank, but found nothing. I hope that shrimplets are very small and hiding on the bottom. It would be very sad if she just dropped the eggs.

Some pictures on this shrimp:


----------



## Fish_Man

give it some time and I'm sure you'll see a lot of them!


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> give it some time and I'm sure you'll see a lot of them!


I have access to all sides of a tank and I have been watching a tank with a flash light from all sides. There are no shrimplets 
I know they are small, but I should have find at least one


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*I've seen a shrimplet*

Ok, I've found one!
It's small (~2 mm), but it's alive and it's grazing.

For the records, they were born 16 of May, 2010.


----------



## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> Ok, I've found one!
> It's small (~2 mm), but it's alive and it's grazing.
> 
> For the records, they were born 16 of May, 2010.


ah! congratz! more will come!


----------



## arktixan

igor.kanshyn said:


> Ok, I've found one!
> It's small (~2 mm), but it's alive and it's grazing.
> 
> For the records, they were born 16 of May, 2010.


Congrats sir!! can't wait til they grow an pics surface up


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Newborn shrimp picture and video*

Thank you, guys.

Be welcome to enjoy a VIDEO: Two days old shrimp walks on a sand

and a picture of this newborn shrimp.









It's very small, isn't it?


----------



## arktixan

Very small indeed!
looks very neat especially without colour.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Tank picture with a new light fixture*

Shrimp cube tank with a new light fixture


----------



## Russgro

Looking good.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Boraras brigittae/Mosquito Rasbora are new permanent inhabitant*

Thank you, Russgro.

I've bought 14 _Mosquito Rasboras_ and put them in the tank today. 14 fishes looks like a big bioload source, but they are really small, believe me. I hope they will float nicely and will not eat my shrimplets a lot.

These fishes are not fully grown now, have noticeable black ellipse spot in the middle of body and not red as this fish. 
I hope they will be better with time.

Look at the attached picture. I've put 4 weeks old platy near them. My mosquito rasboras bigger than it, but not significantly.

The interesting thing is that after half an hour I acclimatized and put them into the tank I was able to see only three fishes was floating in an open area. The rest 11 fishes scrambled somewhere between plants.


----------



## arktixan

I use to have them lil guys in my 20g years ago when i was a kid .
Once my tank gets more esthablished (plant wise) I may add a few fishes.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> I use to have them lil guys in my 20g years ago when i was a kid .
> Once my tank gets more esthablished (plant wise) I may add a few fishes.


They are cute. One of them died today. The others are spreading on the tank. 
They are not keeping school like neons, they float individually.


----------



## Fish_Man

I really like your new lighting fixture and sorry to hear that one of your fish is dead


----------



## arktixan

igor.kanshyn said:


> They are cute. One of them died today. The others are spreading on the tank.
> They are not keeping school like neons, they float individually.


all in good time, they will school eventually . Well sometimes, I noticed mine would school every once in awhile... or stay scattered/hidden


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Thank you, guys.

I feel that current from my filter is too strong for them. They are not good swimmers and the current spin some of them.
I hope they will lean how not to swim in that area. I can't reduce the current more.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*The current from a filter drags and spins them*

They just can't compete with filter. They go into the current again and again and it drags and spins them 
I didn't think that my filter would be a problem, but it's


----------



## arktixan

That def is a real kick in the pants  sorry to hear that... Is their anyway you can downgrade filters to make them better..?

I know I recommend Sponge


----------



## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> That def is a real kick in the pants  sorry to hear that... Is their anyway you can downgrade filters to make them better..?
> 
> I know I recommend Sponge


I see that some of small chilli fishes are doing good, they are floating in a middle of a tank and looks quite red. So, they are happy. There is another group of fishes that are hanging on the top and they stupidly go into the current again and again. They are whitish and they more drift than swim.

I've set the smallest filter current that I can and covered outtake lily to make a current non-direct. The current is really small now. I hope that at least active group of chillies will be fine.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

I saw at least five chillies being eating by shrimps. The active group of chillies looks fine, swim and eat good.

I've found one little platy fry in a fish tank today. I moved it to this shrimp tank. Let's say that it was born 19th of May, 2010.

I've cut my two bushes or java moss and attached co2 inline reactor. It was a real pain, it's still leaking a little and I keep it in a plastic box in the aquarium stand.

The following picture has been made two days ago before I made some last changes.


----------



## arc

Nice tank Igor!

Just wondering what you're using to cover the intake of the filter?I can't tell from the picture above I'm using a sponge but it's reduced the flow too much and causing the filter to make noises.


----------



## Jsu

They will be fine once they know where some hidng spots are. My chilies are like that too. now all 10 of them hides and swim around my background plants(which i dont know the names of) I got a NICE tiger lotus from Menagerie and they love swimming under the leaves.

PS your tank make my tank look like a shit hole and i am too shameful to post me pics up....


----------



## igor.kanshyn

arc said:


> Nice tank Igor!
> 
> Just wondering what you're using to cover the intake of the filter?I can't tell from the picture above I'm using a sponge but it's reduced the flow too much and causing the filter to make noises.


Thank you.

This is a _sleeve_ I made from a piece of *stocking*. A rectangle piece of stocking is glued on one side by silicone and secured by a rubber from newspapers  
This thing almost does not influence on filter flow, but require removing small dirt from it several times a week.

I did it for another filter intake tube and it's too big here. I definetely need to make a smaller one


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Jsu said:


> They will be fine once they know where some hidng spots are. My chilies are like that too. now all 10 of them hides and swim around my background plants(which i dont know the names of) I got a NICE tiger lotus from Menagerie and they love swimming under the leaves.
> 
> PS your tank make my tank look like a shit hole and i am too shameful to post me pics up....


Background part of the tank is planted well, but these fishes are usually hanging on top. 
I turned off the filter last night, however found three of them dead in the morning. Something definitely wrong with them or with my tank.

Don't blame yourself, any tank can be improved and owners always critically look at their aquariums. I'm sure we will like your pictures.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Crystal red shrimplets are on their way*

I was looking at my shrimp today and found that all four my CRS have no eggs under their bellies. It was one with eggs before.
I don't see any baby shrimps in the tank, but I think they are.

As I saw in Internet that crystal red shrimplets had red and white stripes like adults. I hope I will be able to distinguish them from small cherry shrimp I have as well.


----------



## Fish_Man

hope to see some pictures of CRS babies soon


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> hope to see some pictures of CRS babies soon


Thank you.
I have 29C (84 F) in the shrimp tank. It's more than it should be. I'm a little worrying about this.


----------



## jamesren

How long they have berried?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> How long they have berried?


It's hard to say. I've found that female with eggs 21 ago. Her eggs looked quite big at that moment, but they were first shrimp eggs I saw in person


----------



## jamesren

21 days are the range for hatch.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

jamesren said:


> 21 days are the range for hatch.


I still can't see any shrimplets in a tank


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Inline CO2 reactor, a new filter impeller and an air conditioner*

I've attached Aquarium CO2 Diffuser Reactor Max 80L Tank UP-401 (S) to a filter outtake tube and I can say for now that it's working good.

Two days ago I've replaced an impeller and its cover in my canister filter. The filter is not silent, but it's definitely better now.

I set up an air conditioner in that room yesterday. It's no need to place ice cubes in the tank. It's a big relief


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Photo Update*

There are some photos.
Hairgrass and even java moss have grown out of the tank. I'm planning to cut them soon.


----------



## ShrimpieLove

Wow that looks soooo nice!! Lovve it!! Is the hairgrass the really skinny tall stuff? Like how it looks !


----------



## ShrimpieLove

Also, how do you clean this tank? Im curious because I started a shrimp tank and with moss around and plants ( and hope it can look like yours someday) how do you vacuum the bottom of tbe tank without sucking up your small plants and moss or small shrimp?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Thank you.

Yes, it's really thin. There are two types of hairgrass in the tank (_eleocharis vivipara_ and _eleocharis parvula_ - small one). They have different height, but blades are similar.

I'm actually not cleaning gravel/sand now. I have done this several times before, but I got so small amount of debris, that I decided that it was just a wast of time.
I remove some dead leaves, bury move/replant plants, clean tank sides.
Shrimps _finger_ sand and eat almost everything they find


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Celestial Pearl Danio*

I bough three _Celestial Pearl Danio_ today. 








(not mine picture)

They are small and look good in a tank. They are known as one of the smallest fishes in hobby. I hope they will not make a lot of harm to shrimps. 
I purchase three fishes just to check whether they will be OK in a tank and not messing with shrimps.


----------



## BlueEL

Nice fish! Please keep us posted on how they do in a shrimp tank.

I found a video on youtube. The adult shrimps look pretty happy in the video.








igor.kanshyn said:


> I bough three _Celestial Pearl Danio_ today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (not mine picture)
> 
> They are small and look good in a tank. They are known as one of the smallest fishes in hobby. I hope they will not make a lot of harm to shrimps.
> I purchase three fishes just to check whether they will be OK in a tank and not messing with shrimps.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

BlueEL said:


> Nice fish! Please keep us posted on how they do in a shrimp tank.
> 
> I found a video on youtube. The adult shrimps look pretty happy in the video.


It's a good video, thank you.
Fishes are doing fine for now. A current from my filter doesn't make problems for them.


----------



## arktixan

I just love that hairgrass looks amazing! and filling in nicely!
need more closeups of the shrimp


----------



## igor.kanshyn

arktixan said:


> I just love that hairgrass looks amazing! and filling in nicely!
> need more closeups of the shrimp


Thank you.

I wonder what gender of these shrimps?


----------



## Ciddian

just fantastic Igor, I am jealous!


----------



## jimmyjam

first dude looks like a male and second a female


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Thank you, Ciddian.

I think they both males


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Pregnant cherries*

I've moved two testers red cherry shrimps from 20g sulawesi aquarium back to this cube tank on last Saturday, 19th of June.

The funny part is that one of them (there were male and female) was pregnant. The 20g tank influenced to her positively 

Today I saw another cherry shrimp pregnant in the Shrimp Cube tank.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*NPK fertilization*

I've made my mix of dry fertilization and added a first doze yesterday.
No dead shrimp have found yet.


----------



## killer007

>.< how come your hairgrass grow soooo fast?
CO2?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

killer007 said:


> >.< how come your hairgrass grow soooo fast?
> CO2?


I use CO2 and I have good light there. Hairgrass (big one) grows quite fast. It's not spreading but giving baby-plants quite fast.

I forget about co2 injection for two weeks. And this made problems, my dwarf hairgrass turned brownish and became covered with algae.
I've restored CO2 and will be more accurate with fertilization. I hope this will help.


----------



## killer007

ah...nice....


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*My new white friends*










I'm sorry for quality of the picture. I took it when they were just put into the tank.


----------



## killer007

@[email protected] hard to take picuture, their body reflect the light...

give them some spinish and some clay


----------



## igor.kanshyn

killer007 said:


> @[email protected] hard to take picuture, their body reflect the light...
> 
> give them some spinish and some clay


Yes. I've added some clay. It's hard to measure how many of it I need


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*SS+ CRS pictures*


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Terrible mistake*

I've found two dead new SS crystals I got recently and one A-grade CRS that has been living in the tank for a long time.

The only problem I can find was DIY CO2 what was producing more CO2 that I need. I was added some more yeast than I did this before 
I measured my pH and it was 6.0 It's very for this tank. 
It also can be a lack of oxygen, but I have this set up for a long time and current from a filter should bring enough oxygen to a water.

I've put an air store for several hours and this increased pH to about 7.0 
Also I've replaced CO2 to a low duty bottle.

I hope the rest shrimps will be fine. I saw several CRS handing on plant and not moving.
At the same time, cherries were fine and active as usual.

Also, I've found newborn cherries yesterday night.


----------



## camboy012406

wow.. your tank is so beautiful!!!!!


----------



## camboy012406

what kind of co2 u have?? and do use some liquid ferts like flourish and f.excel?


----------



## AquaNeko

igor.kanshyn said:


> It's not mounted solidly. It just lays on the lampshade. I can glue it there, but it's not really necessary.
> Look at the pictures.


Thanks... I'm going adopt that idea to my hydroponic setup as I've got some I think 32W large CFL's in there and they're poking out the lamp reflector. Awesome reuse of stuff.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> what kind of co2 u have?? and do use some liquid ferts like flourish and f.excel?


Thank you.

I use half of a standard mixture of DIY CO2, no Excel. Excel is a replacement for CO2 injection.
I used to have Macro-nutrient fertilization that contains potassium plus ferrum. And I worked quite good.
I switch to a dry fertilization, but I can't say anything about results now.

Co2 injection and a good light are important in this set up.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

AquaNeko said:


> Thanks... I'm going adopt that idea to my hydroponic setup as I've got some I think 32W large CFL's in there and they're poking out the lamp reflector. Awesome reuse of stuff.


Yes, this should work great. My 23W lamp has been given a crazy light. I have less light now


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*SS+ grade crystal red video*

VIDEO: SS+ CRS in a shrimp cube

They have a perfect white!


----------



## Ciddian

those are stunning igor...


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Ciddian said:


> those are stunning igor...


Thank you.
I got those shrimps from Frank, they are really great!
They are more white than teeth of a movie-star


----------



## camboy012406

igor what kind of plants do u have??


----------



## Ebi-Ken

igor.kanshyn said:


> Thank you.
> I got those shrimps from Frank, they are really great!
> They are more white than teeth of a movie-star


Just a heads up Igor =) Try keeping the SS/SS+ grades you got from me separated from other shrimps. These breed out high percentile of SS/SS+ almost all SS/SS+ if you cross it with lower grades your going to degrade the grade of the CRS.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> igor what kind of plants do u have??


Foreground plant is _dwarf hairgrass_.
There are two bushes or _java moss _and one bush of _riccia_.
Center reddish plant is _nesaea red_.
Background plants are _hairgrass_, _vallisneria corkscrew_ and _stargrass_.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Jiang604 said:


> Just a heads up Igor =) Try keeping the SS/SS+ grades you got from me separated from other shrimps. These breed out high percentile of SS/SS+ almost all SS/SS+ if you cross it with lower grades your going to degrade the grade of the CRS.


Thank you, Frank. 
I have cherries and several A-grade CRS there. I'm about to pull out A-grade shrimps and find them a new home. They are not adults. But, you right, I don't need them in than tank


----------



## camboy012406

where did you bought those plants?specially the backgrounds.if u want to sell the class A csr for cheap maybe we can talk.lol


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Source of plants*



camboy012406 said:


> where did you bought those plants?specially the backgrounds.if u want to sell the class A csr for cheap maybe we can talk.lol


Stargrass has been given me by jon021 as a gift  It's good plant, but it needs frequent pruning and a high light.
Vallisneria corkscrew from Aqua Tropics store. I got it long time ago and have been growing by myself.

Nesaea red. and hairgrass from MenageriePetShop

I got Java moss and riccia from mcken
He has numerous of tanks full of plants and cherry shrimps. It's was stunning!
I has been inspired by his aquariums and decided to create my own shrimp tank.


----------



## camboy012406

I bough three Celestial Pearl Danio today. 

(not mine picture)

They are small and look good in a tank. They are known as one of the smallest fishes in hobby. I hope they will not make a lot of harm to shrimps. 
I purchase three fishes just to check whether they will be OK in a tank and not messing with shrimps

igor so hows your fish doing??? i like the fish, did they harm the shrimps??coz im planing to buy that. i like the colors


----------



## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> igor so hows your fish doing??? i like the fish, did they harm the shrimps??coz im planing to buy that. i like the colors


I had three of them. I lost one in several days after purchase. It was not looking good from a beginning. 
The rest of two is fine and active. I've moved them into a fish tank.
I leave only ottos and algae eater in a shrimp tank.

Celestial pearl danio will make harm to small shrimps, they are micro predators. They are peaceful and shy if you have one or several, but starts to be 'comfortable' if you have a good school of them 

If you are going to have expansive shrimps, it's better not to put fishes in than tank.
Otocinclus  is only a fish known as 100% safe for shrimps.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Aquarium video*

Video: Shrimp cube


----------



## bumbleboo

camboy012406 said:


> I bough three Celestial Pearl Danio today.
> 
> (not mine picture)
> 
> They are small and look good in a tank. They are known as one of the smallest fishes in hobby. I hope they will not make a lot of harm to shrimps.
> I purchase three fishes just to check whether they will be OK in a tank and not messing with shrimps


CPDs are great little fish, but they do like to be in groups of at least 6!


----------



## bumbleboo

igor.kanshyn said:


> Video: Shrimp cube


Igor, that's a beautiful tank! Where did you get your dwarf hairgrass?


----------



## igor.kanshyn

bumbleboo said:


> CPDs are great little fish, but they do like to be in groups of at least 6!


That's right. There was three testing fishes. I thought of they were fine and did not scary shrimps I would get more.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

bumbleboo said:


> Igor, that's a beautiful tank! Where did you get your dwarf hairgrass?


Thank you.
I got it from James and from Menagerie. PJ's Pets on Lawrence and Young often have some on sale.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Photos. Berried SS+ grade crystal red shrimp*

I thought I she lost her eggs, but she still have them, ... or it might be another shrimp 

Some photos are following


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*I've seen six SS+ CRS today*

There are good news in this tank today.

I've redone my riccia pad and seen *six *SS+ grade crystal red shrimps.
I thought that I had less. I'm glad to find so many of them


----------



## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> There are good news in this tank today.
> 
> I've redone my riccia pad and seen *six *SS+ grade crystal red shrimps.
> I thought that I had less. I'm glad to find so many of them


Amazing! Congratz!

Thanks again for the two CRS but the bigger one died  
The little one is still doing well! Not really sure why the big one died tho.


----------



## igor.kanshyn

Fish_Man said:


> Amazing! Congratz!
> 
> Thanks again for the two CRS but the bigger one died
> The little one is still doing well! Not really sure why the big one died tho.


I'm really sorry to hear that. 
I still have shrimps and fishes dying from time to time and I usually have no clue what the problem is 

It's extremely sad when they are dying


----------



## igor.kanshyn

*Some first photos of this tank*

Sometimes it is good to recall the past 

Some first photos of this tank:


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## arinsi

LOL
pasta as markers
very nice


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## igor.kanshyn

arinsi said:


> LOL
> pasta as markers
> very nice


That pasta looks like my vallisneria corkscrew I put in there


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## igor.kanshyn

*CO2 measuring*

I'm using CO2 drop-checker for some time now. Previously I had shrimps died because of excessive CO2 in the water.

I've made pictures that show different in colors or drop-checker mixture. I'm sorry for the poor picture's quality.

Blue. Not enough CO2:








Green. Enough CO2:


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## camboy012406

what happen to yor previous tank ??


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## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> what happen to yor previous tank ??


Nothing bad, I guess. I still have it 
Why do you ask?


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## BettaBeats

what colour does the drop checker change if there is TOO much CO2?


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## igor.kanshyn

BettaBeats said:


> what colour does the drop checker change if there is TOO much CO2?


It will be *yellow*. I have no pictures, I'm sorry.
As a matter of fact, it will not be bright yellow, it will be like a lime. If you see that your green is some kinda yellow, this is it


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## igor.kanshyn

*Seven SS+ CRS*

In about a month ago I saw seven SS+ grade crystal red shrimps in the tank. Today I was able to find all seven creatures again.

Unfortunately, there is no babies, but alive shrimps are also good!


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## igor.kanshyn

*New food video*

Video: Crystal Red and cherry shrimps eat Ebi Dama food


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## igor.kanshyn

*They are mating!*

Yes! After just several days of feeding Ebi Dama they are mating.

My two CRS males are floating like crazy all over a tank


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## camboy012406

Thats a good news


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## Beijing08

Excellent news Igor!


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## igor.kanshyn

Thanks 

Also I did a several water changes last days. Before that I found that my nitrates are very high (40-80ppm). 
That was a result of PKN fertilization I use, but I didn't change water as frequent as it required. I stopped adding Macro-nutritions and will try to find out how much nitrates my plants use.


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## igor.kanshyn

*and nothing appears ...*

Ok, I can't check all my shrimps, but it looks like there is no berried females.
It's odd ...

I'm thinking about moving them to a tank with yellow shrimps. I can lower pH and temperature there. 
I don't use CO2 injection and fertilization there.
But yellow shrimps will eat all fancy CRS food


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## igor.kanshyn

*Berried Female!*

YES! I got it. I have one berried SS+ CRS!

Let's see how it will going ....


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## Fish_Man

igor.kanshyn said:


> YES! I got it. I have one berried SS+ CRS!
> 
> Let's see how it will going ....


congratz!


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## camboy012406

thats a freaking good news igor. can you post the pic? I just wanted to see it.


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## igor.kanshyn

I still have two berried SS+ CRS females. I've found the first one 25 days ago. Her eggs should hatch soon ...


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## jimmyjam

sweet man.. post some pics !!


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## camboy012406

hows the eggs? any ss shrimplets?


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## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> hows the eggs? any ss shrimplets?


Need to grab a flashlight and crawl around the tank


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## igor.kanshyn

I see that one of the big females doesn't have eggs. But it's still no CRS shrimplets. Damn!

They should be noticeable different from cherry shrimplets, right?


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## igor.kanshyn

*YES! CRS baby is here!*

Just found one CRS baby shrimp!


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## PACMAN

igor.kanshyn said:


> just found one crs baby shrimp!


woooohoooo!


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## igor.kanshyn

PACMAN said:


> woooohoooo!


Yes, I'm very excited! It was very small.
I have a picture. I did it with a flashlight. The picture is not so good. But it can used as a proof 

And I still has one berried shrimp.


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## igor.kanshyn

*CRS baby shrimp is alive!*

I saw a baby crystal red again. It's a little bigger, but still small.

It's great. I thought they were not survive, but they are!


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## camboy012406

maybe thats a new batch of shrimps


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## igor.kanshyn

camboy012406 said:


> maybe thats a new batch of shrimps


No, it's quite big.


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## Tark77

Igor, with you being a master of Shrimp, can you offer your best advice for creating the best environment for shrimp?

I am starting a 10 gallon tank now, which will be filled with mosses and maybe some other plants. I have Azoo plant growers substrate, AC 20 filter w/foam protector. 

I am looking to add on Cardina species and on Neocardina species.

I am no expert when it comes to shrimp. Can you offer any advice?


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## igor.kanshyn

Tark77 said:


> Igor, with you being a master of Shrimp, can you offer your best advice for creating the best environment for shrimp?
> 
> I am starting a 10 gallon tank now, which will be filled with mosses and maybe some other plants. I have Azoo plant growers substrate, AC 20 filter w/foam protector.
> 
> I am looking to add on Cardina species and on Neocardina species.
> 
> I am no expert when it comes to shrimp. Can you offer any advice?


Unfortunately, I not an expert too. However, I read a lot internet pages 

As I see from your Azoo plant growers substrate, you tank will have a good environment for crystal red/black shrimps and tiger shrimps. Azoo substrate should lower pH. Check you pH, BTW.

Good shrimps tank should have a lot of nature food, it can be densely planted or just have a lot of algae growing in it. What way to select if up to you and up to your light 

I have very basic advises here: How to keep dwarf freshwater shrimps, but I'm sure you know this.

Do not being in a hurry with putting shrimp in it, let it cycle. 
Be careful, but constant with water changes. 10-15% every week will be good.


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## Tark77

I have a larger high tech tank, which I change 50% of the water weekly. Do you advise against this with a shrimp tank? Should I stick to 10-15%?


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## igor.kanshyn

Tark77 said:


> I have a larger high tech tank, which I change 50% of the water weekly. Do you advise against this with a shrimp tank? Should I stick to 10-15%?


50% WC change looks scary for shrimps with for your substrate. Imagine, that at the end of a week your pH will be, for instance, 6.5. Then after WC it will be fast changed to (6.5+7.6)/2= ~ 7.0
6.5 -> 7.0 is a huge jump for 10-20 minutes procedure.

If you do 50% because of fertilization, just add less nutrients and change less water, or change it often ...


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## Tark77

it wouldn't be effected like that because I use RO water, or a mix of tap and RO. Generally, the water that i'm putting into my tank has a ph of 6.8 and a TDS of 65ppm...at least, thats what I am for. 

Thanks for the advice Igor...your a big help!


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## camboy012406

igor hows your ss crs doing? any shrinplets yet?


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## igor.kanshyn

I moved my berried SSS CRS into a tank with Fluval Stratum substrate.

I hope this wasn't stressed her very much. 
Let's see how babies will survive in lower pH.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Couple of new shrimps*

I've added two new SSS crystal red shrimps to this tank a week ago.

Look at the picture during acclimatization.


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## BlueEL

did they get their white color back?


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## igor.kanshyn

BlueEL said:


> did they get their white color back?


Yes, they are perfect now.


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## alexxa

are you using co2?


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## igor.kanshyn

alexxa said:


> are you using co2?


Yes, I use DIY CO2.

And I bought CO2 tank with regulator just today! It will be better soon


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## alexxa

Is that flourite black?
Did you add any root fert?


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## igor.kanshyn

alexxa said:


> Is that flourite black?
> Did you add any root fert?


It's a Flourite Black *Sand*.
No, I haven't used root fertilization and fertilized according to EI.


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## alexxa

igor.kanshyn said:


> It's a Flourite Black *Sand*.
> No, I haven't used root fertilization and fertilized according to EI.


What is EI?
'cause I have flourtie black, and I am not sure if i should add root fert or not
thank you


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## igor.kanshyn

*Too much CO2*

I messed up with CO2 injection today. It was high level of injection during 4 hours.

In a result I have a dead otto, a dozen of dead kribensis and a hundred of dead cherry shrimps. Some of the cherry shrimps are still moving, I hope they will survive that.


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## igor.kanshyn

alexxa said:


> What is EI?
> 'cause I have flourtie black, and I am not sure if i should add root fert or not
> thank you


EI is Estimated Index. Look here: http://www.abaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2
It's one of the ways to fertilize aquarium.


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## tranceaddict

sweet little cube bud


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## Ciddian

Holy Crow igor I am so sorry about the OD D:


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## igor.kanshyn

*Thank you guys!*

And thank you for offers of free cherry shrimp to restore my population there 

I used to give free cherry shrimps from that shrimp cube tank. I hope in a month or so, I will be able to restore that tradition


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## igor.kanshyn

*Updated photo*



It's today's photo.


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## Riceburner

nice lush tank. Sucks about the die off.


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## Fish_Man

Still an awesome cube!


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## laurahmm

Sorry to hear about your shrimps Igor. =/ I feel your pain...


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## igor.kanshyn

laurahmm said:


> Sorry to hear about your shrimps Igor. =/ I feel your pain...


Thank you. 
In my case, it's clear who is a stupid one who did that


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## 03pilot

I am so sorry to hear about your loss!! Was it the DIY or your new CO2 system? If you don't mind...please share what went wrong. I thought we could all learn something from your experience. If you don't want to talk about it...I fully understand!


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## igor.kanshyn

03pilot said:


> I am so sorry to hear about your loss!! Was it the DIY or your new CO2 system? If you don't mind...please share what went wrong. I thought we could all learn something from your experience. If you don't want to talk about it...I fully understand!


I've upgraded my DIY CO2 to a pressured one. I've got a used CO2 tank, regulator, solenoid, needle valved, bubble counter ... all the stuff. CO2 injection was working fine for about 2 month, but then it started giving less gas.

So, at that remarkable morning, I tuned my needle valve and decided to check its output later when the light will be on. In fact, I've increased co2 injection to like 2 bubble per second. I forgot that I needed to look at it.
It has worked 4 hours in that state. That was enough to kill all fish and lots of shrimps there


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## 03pilot

Just one mistake.  Now I think of it, I could have easily done the same thing when I first got my Co2 system. I was adjusting the valve all the time. I consider myself lucky.

With your expertise, I am sure you will have your shrimp colony back in no time!!


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## igor.kanshyn

03pilot said:


> Just one mistake.  Now I think of it, I could have easily done the same thing when I first got my Co2 system. I was adjusting the valve all the time. I consider myself lucky.
> 
> With your expertise, I am sure you will have your shrimp colony back in no time!!


Yes, it's easy to fuck up there 

Note that it also depends on a size of a tank and capacity of co2 diffuser/reactor.


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## alexxa

igor.kanshyn said:


> It's today's photo.


where did u get this light from?


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## igor.kanshyn

alexxa said:


> where did u get this light from?


It's from http://www.catalinaaquarium.com, they ship to Canada.


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## arktixan

Awesome lookin tank Igor, looking really good, since the last time I saw it! ha!

One day, i'll make my way over... an scoop some grass


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## cb1021

Igor I noticed on your site that you are using zoomed 501s for few tanks in your shrimp condo.....do you know the cheapest place for me to buy them? Or where are you sourcing yours from....

Thx


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## igor.kanshyn

cb1021 said:


> Igor I noticed on your site that you are using zoomed 501s for few tanks in your shrimp condo.....do you know the cheapest place for me to buy them? Or where are you sourcing yours from....
> 
> Thx


I use _Rapids Mini Canister C-80_ filters. They are similar. 
The only place you can get them is here: http://www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Fil...ini-Canister-C-80_9902081_102.html?tc=default


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## alexxa

igor.kanshyn said:


> I use _Rapids Mini Canister C-80_ filters. They are similar.
> The only place you can get them is here: http://www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Fil...ini-Canister-C-80_9902081_102.html?tc=default


i am thinking of buying this filter but i want to use those glass lily inflow outflow pipe . What is the pipe diameter size?


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## igor.kanshyn

alexxa said:


> i am thinking of buying this filter but i want to use those glass lily inflow outflow pipe . What is the pipe diameter size?


External diameter of rigid plastic tubes is 1/2" there.

I have an universal solution for any connection like that. Go to Rona store with both tubes/house you need to connect and find a matching transparent plastic tube in their plumbing section. Then buy a foot of the tube.


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## igor.kanshyn

*Updated pictures*











and some extra pictures here: Shrimp Cube pictures >> 

I will cut that big red plant soon


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## igor.kanshyn

*New Video*

Hi,


There is a new video with this tank:


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## Stephen

Great looking tank, 
Is that lighting fixture the one with the two bulbs? In the video it looks like yours had a straight tube as well.


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## igor.kanshyn

Stephen said:


> Great looking tank,
> Is that lighting fixture the one with the two bulbs? In the video it looks like yours had a straight tube as well.


Thank you.
It has two 13W bulbs.

Those bulbs are like this one


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## Beijing08

nice willow moss there Igor =)


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## igor.kanshyn

Beijing08 said:


> nice willow moss there Igor =)


Thank you!
It's really a stunning plant and it has amazing brilliant green color.

I will post a video with it itself, I hope I have decent one.
And I'm planing *to sell *some. I have *two good portions available*. Will post a sell thread shortly


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## igor.kanshyn

*Willow moss*

And there is a video with this center green plant.



I'm selling this moss. Look here: http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26004


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## Alexpatrascu

It looks great buddy, congratz again !!!


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## igor.kanshyn

Thank you.

I have some staghorn algae growing in hairgrass. So hard to remove ... spent lots of time doing that


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