[opae ula related]

Hi again & thanks Odin :)

The heater I have came with the tank - I bought the shrimp smart 30 from Aquael - I have a feeling it may be OK as UK gets warmer, but might struggle in winter as the room where the tank is is unheated at night (my goldfish bowl with the rescued Opae in are in a warm 24/7 room so dont panic!)

Two other little 'concerns' (and am SO sorry to keep asking all the time but am desperately new to all this!) the goldfish bowl with the Opae in is starting to form white floaty debris bits in since I added a tablespoon of RO water to top up the evaporated water from the original sphere. They must put something in that 'sphere water to stop it clouding when they seal them? The Opae seem ok - not as active as they were but def not popcorning, so am leaving them quiet and praying I can cycle this tank in time for them.

Second thing - the algae I had in the sphere is tiny - tried to divide it into two so the new tank could start up, but its literally all but vanished even now :( I've seen some for sale at Charterhouse Aquatics - the US shrimp site says only the tiny thin stuff will survive brackish, but I doubt IT would survive a trip from USA. Should I chance some new algae in the tank to help the cycling for my poor shrimpos stuck in the bowl? Di

http://charterhouse-aquatics.com/shop/l ... rpha-algae

HI, Did you put some of your sphere water in your new tank to help cycle it?
Picture of the white floaty debris? Curious to see what it is.

[Kanuha]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the help & kind comments :)

Yes, water, some substrate & shells added from the ecosphere but only a little algae as worried the shrimp wouldnt have any food otherwise. Here's a pic of the bowl, hope you can see the bits of debris. I do know there's a moult in there as well though! Just done salinity check - 1.011 and temp is 18F - is that about right? I wish these little guys knew how hard I was trying for them!

[odin]

The salt reading is perfect, these guys do 'OK' down to 15ish degrees so I wouldn't worry about that either. I must be blind because I can't see any thing floating but I'm on my phone so that could explain it :)

[opae ula related]

The salt reading is perfect, these guys do 'OK' down to 15ish degrees so I wouldn't worry about that either. I must be blind because I can't see any thing floating but I'm on my phone so that could explain it :)

Same here. It does have a big opening so maybe cover it partially with something like a glass top or even plastic wrap so dust etc. won't get into the water.

[Kanuha]

Hi again guys

I'm probably being paranoid. I guess I'm expecting them all to keel over on me after the 'sphere fiasco! :)

My APi test kit comes tomorrow, so that will be interesting! I do usually cover the top to help stop evaporation, so I'll stiop worrying for now. The Opae seem chilled today, just grazing & having the odd flit about. The tank water bubbles have gone
now and its no longer crystal clear water - just a slight hazy 'bloom' to it, so maybe there's some movement on the algae forming front.... :geek:

[Kanuha]

Tested tank using the API this morning:

PH 8 Ammonia .25
Nitrite 5+ (hard to read accurately on my colour chart unless its me going colour blind)
Nitrate 0

Good or bad..?

[odin]

Looks good to me so far, here is how the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates will go over time.
your PH will drop which you will need to correct after a while, you can put in an calcium carbonate block, or a piece of ocean rock, coral .. i use a small glass bowl with crushed coral in it to buffer my water.

[Kanuha]

Hi Odin,

Thanks for the help - so want to get this right for them.

I had a huge chunk of rock came today - is this the stuff you're on about?

http://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/aquar ... n-rock-1kg

[odin]

yup that's spot on, i use ocean rock in my tanks to buffer and it grows algae on it nicely, rinse it off and put it into your tank, it will make your ammonia shoot up for a bit in your tank but as it lowers and your nitrites shoot up you already have the first beneficial bacteria turning that ammonia into nitrites.... just have to wait for that to then drop and nitrates raise a tiny amount.

[Kanuha]

Hi again,

Apologies for lack of update recently, been suffering from a really bad cold virus which I cant shake off, anyway here's current situation (and I know I'll get hammered for this, but just didnt know what else I could do...)

Took a test reading on the water from the sphere on Thursday. Appalled & so upset. Only the PH was Ok at 8. Here they are:

Ammonia 8.00 ppm
Nitrites 1.00 ppm
Nitrates 5.00 ppm

Shrimp werent grazing anymore & very listless. Knew I had to do something. Ordered some tetra marine safe start figuring the only chance I have of saving them now is to try to transfer to the 1/4 way cycled tank. Get a call Friday to say the safestart is way out of date and they are sending Seachem stability instead.

Friday - Seachem arrives. Add to tank exactly as prescribed. Tank Ammonia level .25 everything else nil. Waited till evening then added shrimp. AND PRAYED. Shrimp turned back to red within hour of being in tank - exploring & swimming, no popcorning, seem Ok. STILL PRAYING.

Saturday: Ammonia still at .25 but PH down to 7.4. Water slightly cloudy. Shrimp grazing and swimming gently. Seem to like perching on the sponge filter of the pat mini (filter not on since I first put the instant Ocean in last Saturday) theyre all still nice red colour. Going to LFS in a bit to get some more RO water for a 25% water change to see if I can get ammonia down & PH up.

Sorry Odin - know you'll be mad at me for this, but got no idea what else I could do? They couldnt stay in that sphere water surely??? Feeling so dispirited right now :(