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Higher heights - 54L to 70L 'upgrade' rescape...

Update post-water change:

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Bumble bee shrimp arrived today, though unfortunately the inner two of the double-bags split badly down the seam inside the box and three of them found there way between the two bags and didn't survive the journey. Lack of oxygen most likely, as this also escaped from much of the inner bag...shame, as the packaging was superb, big polystyrene box with a heat pack which was still warm...

Contacted the seller to see what they say, the other 5 appear OK, time will tell.
 
All sorted - as I wanted a larger group than those surviving, they are sending me replacements for the deceased shrimp and I have ordered another 5 as well, their seller feedback is very good so I am assuming it was a one-off with the bag split, big shame either way though.

They're not graded, just Caridina cf. breviata which is fine by me, they are nice looking shrimp which is all I was looking for :)
 
Thanks Gill :)

Still unsure on fish...I'm possibly torn between a shoal of rummy nose or cardinal tetra, I always seem to end up with shy or dull fish, my wife likes the rummy nose, though she does like cherry barbs, however I'm not sure on them myself. Cardinals I know would stand out really well.

We may also add 4 or 5 panda cory, they're perhaps my/our favourite fish, I had a group of them the first time we had an aquarium in this house (the previous Juwel one), they were amazing little characters. That would be the end of it, as the stock levels would likely be max'd out at this stage.
 
No panda cory, the LFS had some lovely looking trilineatus/leopard cory (yes, they are these and not julii's) so we got 4 this morning. Amazing how active cory's are, within 10 minutes they were having a good root around the tank and have settled in nicely - even the oto's have perked up in recent days, much more active and pooing plenty so they're presumably eating well!

Not sure the shrimp like the cory, as they've all gone into hiding!
 
I'm guessing these bee shrimp are more fussy than cherry/amano as the one I know is still with me appears to have disliked the water change this evening...
 
I guess oops is one word, though I can't say I expected the water change to do anything...live and learn possibly, hope the replacements are better as they're due tomorrow...don't fancy killing those off too!
 
I killed a few CRS before i got a tds meter and found out my tds was far too low. Haven't lost any since getting salty shrimp and tds meter and I also add a supplement Aminosomething or other for shrimp well being.
 
Never struggled with amano or cherry, they bred like rabbits...
 
I have crystal red shrimp. Had problems with the amanos in the other tank after having them a year so no idea what happened. Didn't do anything different....
 
Well the second group of 8 turned up in excellent condition! No problems at all, took 2 hours to acclimatise them last night, lights and CO2 off, all went straight from the bag into picking around the tank so fingers crossed the last ones were simply weak from the bag leak issues.

The 1-2-Grow eleocharis mini is taking its time to spread, though there are finally new runners coming from nearly all the tiny clumps so two weeks in seems again to be about when growth picks up.
 
Gush Jet drop checker kit on the way, I'm pumping an almost impossible amount to count of CO2 bubbles per minute, far more than in the previous setup, yet the fish seem to have no hassles at all. Strange that others here seem to run tiny bpm's for much larger tanks but mine has always needed stupid amounts - I've never used a drop checker in ages, but if I want to ensure everything is 'right' then I figure I need to have one again.

Also got the Hydor replaced - new one (12mm/red ends/200w) fitted today, the temp is now sitting at a stable 23c. I was going to leave the heater off but it dropped a little under 20 the other day and I feel that's too low, especially with winter on the way.

Water change has so far been shrimp-friendly. I've not had a thermometer I could use in the water change bucket until last week (Gush 'J' one, lovely :) ) and I was well off with what my hand thought was the same temp. as the aquarium, thermometer read 27/28 which may well have been mostly to do with the shrimp death (as in the final one that didn't die in transit) from the first batch. So far, all 8 of the new ones are fine, didn't even bat an eyelid (do they have eyelids!?).

Growth starting slowly on the hair grass, though the ferns and crypts are doing there usual slow growing stuff :)
 
A gentle ripple from the spray bar, nothing in any way excessive and there is no water surface being 'broken'.
 
Gush Jet CO2 drop checker went on last night and was a nice shade of light green after a few hours.

It's still the same colour this morning (always find that with my aquarium, it never goes back to blue even with CO2 off for 12+ hours), so I am assuming CO2 levels are OK which is good. I'll move it around a little over the next few days just to be sure.
 
Nice shoal of neon's went in today - 6 for £5 so 12 it was.

It almost became 11 when the lights went off as one got rather skittish and jumped out of the tank, though it was lucky enough to land on a plastic bag and it was promptly dropped straight back in again - random that I happened to flick my eyes to the tank when the light went off and I saw it happen.

I have a blue AquaRay LED strip on the way from a member here - I'll have it on a timer opposite to the main lights for nighttime, so the blue strip will come on a tiny bit before the main lights go off, fingers crossed it keeps the fish a bit calmer. One of the issues with having a luminaire I guess!
 
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