JoeQ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 I suppose better late than never but as far as root tabs my favorite are Seachems, 40 tabs on Amazon is probably the best deal. As for your green dust algae, having your tank across from the window is most likely the culprit. I had the same issue which cleared after installing blackout curtains. Hillstream, ive never had sucess with 3 (I've had 2 for years, the 3rd always seems to get bullied to death) And 18" of substrate??? Did I read that wrong??? Hope I answered all your questions and good to see you back. Hope all is going well!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted June 25 Author Share Posted June 25 Lol you're not late for anything. I was debating Seachem or these https://a.co/d/0fI9Wobg The PAC ones look like they're more nutrient dense from the guaranteed analysis so maybe I can use fewer. Nilocg and Aquarium Coop's unfortunately are both in gelcap form and I don't like how the Nilocg ones float bc of that. The dust algae goes away when I turn down the lights so idk about blaming the south facing window that's 12 ft away in a house with 8 ft ceilings. It's *really* not getting any natural light. Makes it hard when I have to remove the lamp to clean it bc it's hard to see what I'm doing 😞 All the hillstream guides say 'get at least 3 bc 2 will just harass each other without a third' I suspect the siamese algae eater has already nipped the side fin of my hillstream so the old guy may already be at a disadvantage in the hillstream hierarchy if I get him assistants 😥 And yes, you read wrong...ish. English is weird. I studied linguistics so I can say that with authority lol. I meant that the substrate is 18" deep under the water, not that the thickness of the layer of substrate is 18" deep. We have the same 36 g tank, that'd be like an 'Oops! All Dirt!' tank. The Petco gets a new batch of bettas today. They're usually not out til 4ish but I sorta want to see if they get in something called a 'blue marble.' I'd like to add one to the tank so I have a 4th girl. Maybe I'll call first though. My car has no AC and the temp is supposed to be 95°, not including the humidity 🥵. Maybe swing by Wendy's and get a few of those berry frostys for the freezer and to, of course, prevent my imminent demise. They need to totally add them to the normal menu! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 (edited) On 6/25/2024 at 9:50 AM, purrmaid said: Lol you're not late for anything. I was debating Seachem or these https://a.co/d/0fI9Wobg The PAC ones look like they're more nutrient dense from the guaranteed analysis so maybe I can use fewer. Nilocg and Aquarium Coop's unfortunately are both in gelcap form and I don't like how the Nilocg ones float bc of that. The dust algae goes away when I turn down the lights so idk about blaming the south facing window that's 12 ft away in a house with 8 ft ceilings. It's *really* not getting any natural light. Makes it hard when I have to remove the lamp to clean it bc it's hard to see what I'm doing 😞 All the hillstream guides say 'get at least 3 bc 2 will just harass each other without a third' I suspect the siamese algae eater has already nipped the side fin of my hillstream so the old guy may already be at a disadvantage in the hillstream hierarchy if I get him assistants 😥 And yes, you read wrong...ish. English is weird. I studied linguistics so I can say that with authority lol. I meant that the substrate is 18" deep under the water, not that the thickness of the layer of substrate is 18" deep. We have the same 36 g tank, that'd be like an 'Oops! All Dirt!' tank. The Petco gets a new batch of bettas today. They're usually not out til 4ish but I sorta want to see if they get in something called a 'blue marble.' I'd like to add one to the tank so I have a 4th girl. Maybe I'll call first though. My car has no AC and the temp is supposed to be 95°, not including the humidity 🥵. Maybe swing by Wendy's and get a few of those berry frostys for the freezer and to, of course, prevent my imminent demise. They need to totally add them to the normal menu! Eagerly awaiting an update! Did you get the shrimp? (edit: oops, I thought you mentioned blue shrimp, but my re-read sees it was blue marble beta.......) I got 2 pairs of them, 1 pair for (2) seperate tanks yesterday but should have picked up 4 pairs. Altho at 6 bucks a shrimp that was out of my budget. As for root tabs I wouldn't get the one you linked to. They are smaller than the ad leads you to believe and crumble very easy. On your substrate, after my last post I figured you ment 18" to substrate Edited June 27 by JoeQ Noted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 I have some red cherries, yes! They've even had babies but surprise, surprise, the babies have been scarce since adding the female bettas. I picked mine up when Petco was having a sale on invertebrates and I'm keeping my eyes out for another sale. I think maybe if I have enough, the bettas statistically can't eat *every* juvenile shrimp. There should be pics of them somewhere on the thread. I called ahead and they only have 2 male blue marble bettas come in. If I had my walstad bowl ready, that would be one thing but alas, I'm still looking at thrift shops for a bowl. The internet wants around $100 for a 14-16" diameter one. I also need to find an adjustable, classic looking wall lamp that I can put on a timer and put a plant bulb in. The spot I want to put it is in a dark corner that my mom likes to work her crosswords in when she visits, and then complain it's dark...mind you there are 2 other lamps in the room besides the overhead fan light and they're both next to chairs... Anyway, an excuse to put a fish bowl there lol. I used to actually keep an old biowheel acrylic all-in-one tank of not-kois on that table in college. They lived for years considering I was an idiot then lol. I think I had fake plants and petrified coral or something like that. Amazing the poor things' fins weren't scratched up and they tolerated such a small tank. It couldn't have been more than 10 gallons for even small goldfish. There's a lot more resources on fish keeping out there now though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Walmart, you can get a jar for cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted June 27 Author Share Posted June 27 Going for a bowl. I have a 3.5 gallon one but that's small for anything. A 14" bowl holds around 5 gallons and a 16" holds around 8, depending on the water level, of course. I want it big enough for lots of plants and a cool piece of wood. I have a mini heater already that I can hide behind said wood, not that I need it rn. So hot 🔥 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 I've been looking at root tabs more and it's occurred to me, 'why can't we use pond tabs?' They come much cheaper. I've looked at the guaranteed analysis of a few and noticed they have higher amounts of copper which can be bad for shrimp...but if it's in the substrate, maybe it's okay?? Plants need copper, and so do shrimp, they just don't like it in the water column they like to eat it. Anyway has anyone tried pond tabs? Got any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) On 6/28/2024 at 8:08 PM, purrmaid said: I've been looking at root tabs more and it's occurred to me, 'why can't we use pond tabs?' They come much cheaper. I've looked at the guaranteed analysis of a few and noticed they have higher amounts of copper which can be bad for shrimp...but if it's in the substrate, maybe it's okay?? Plants need copper, and so do shrimp, they just don't like it in the water column they like to eat it. Anyway has anyone tried pond tabs? Got any advice? You'll probably be better off posting this in the main forum. I wouldn't use pond tabs in an aquarium because some plants are copper sensative, also water volume. Ponds are usually hundred(S) to thousands of gallons. Aquariums tend to be (on average) 20 ~ 100 gallons. Edited June 29 by JoeQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted August 9 Author Share Posted August 9 I should probably make a new thread but it's easier to keep this together--I set up a shrimp tank! I had an Aqueon 5gal acrylic bowfront in my garage so I cleaned it up, added leftover controsoil, the spiderwood from my quarantine tank, some media, water, and plants from the 35 gal, and here we are, a new tank for only the cost of a power strip that I still need to get, and a new Pawfly submersible led light that just came in. The original lights were broken and dinky anyway. This light has a day sim setting so that was nifty. I don't think it's terribly bright so that will be interesting to see what survives. So far it hasn't fully cycled so I'm checking 2x a day bc unfortunately the store I ordered shrimp from had them here in 5 days, not the predicted 12-16 days. I've had ammonia spike to 0.5ppm and nitrates to 40 so doing daily changes and pulling the water from my 36 gal tank with the idea that that water will already be full of good bacteria. So, any recommendations for keeping a nano tank? It may not be permanent bc the goal is to basically use it as a breeding/growout tank and then add these guys back into my 36 gal at such high populations that fish eating the babies and snailsfilling the same niche can't compete. I need a slimmer couch if it's actually going to be shown off. This is the same spot I want to do a walstad betta bowl someday too so idk. Could still use it for a betta after the shrimp project is achieved. Also, any recommendations for a low light stem plant that can hide those cords? I jave a couple stems of cabomba in there, a sprig of pennywort, some little clover, and some ludwigia that may just die. I broke some root tabs in there so they're not completely starved. I think the giant anubias, christmas moss, frogbit, african and java ferns will probably be fine but those won't hide the cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted August 14 Author Share Posted August 14 So water parameters are improving, slowly. Besides the root tabs, I haven't done any easy green but if memory serves this is a lighting related issue. I currently have it on the light's day sim but I think I can program it to have a longer 'full light' period. There's also a layer of floating frogbit blocking light but idk if the trade off is good. That frogbit is keeping the nitrates lower 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purrmaid Posted August 19 Author Share Posted August 19 Last night my nitrates were only 5ppm, gh was 4 and kh 1 so I added 0.5ml easy green and 1/2 teaspoon of aragonite sand in a little stocking on top of the filter. I have some baked and powdered eggshells somewhere that could add calcium but idk how much 🤔 I'm feeding a single shrimpee stick per day and that's supposed to have the calcium they need but I've found at least one dead from that white ring molting issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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