Counted Sorrows

[Gill]

One of the betta cubes from Bardills. £9.99 each
15x15x13 cm

Filter - ocellaris 400 with a tap to reduce outflow.
Lighting - Led from the cunzo pico
Substrate - Unipac Black sand
Hardscape - none
Planting - Wabi Kusa from forum member. And some flame moss and one I can't remember but reminds me of chaeto.

Will be just some shrimp etc.

 

[Gill]

Not done much on this at all.
Still got the internal running on it. Until I decide what to use long term.
No heater as temp stays stable.

Will have to make a lid for it though. As dog has decided he likes the water. And emptied half of it the other day while I was in the loo.

 

[Gill]

Filter arrived and just set it up.
Went for the New Hydor nano HOB. And it is the perfect size. I like that instead of having the inlet pipework in sections. This is like a Gravel Vac, that it slides up and down to the height you need. And comes with a prefilter sponge which is just right.
The flow control is not on the outside of the Inlet so that the Hood can be smaller, and it sits to the back wall of the Inlet pipe at the right angle junction.
There is not much media included. Just a Sliver of Black Sponge to seperate the motor from the main chamber and a Slot in Insert with carbon in it. So just shoved the sponge from the Internal in it. And it still leaves room for other media options.
Still need to make a Lid, just not decided on it.
HL-200 (260lph)

Its a shame that you cant get a HOB for Under £5 anymore like you could many moons ago. And that they all start at around a tenner.

 

[Gill]

A quick pic,
Just acclimating some black shadows.
Not much scaping. As is for shrimp. And they like it a bit messy with lots of plants etc.
Got cholla Wood on order to attach buce to.

Remembered that I had the light unit from the Palu tank in the supplies. So dug that out and set that up. Cant remember what it was called and cant find it in my purchase history. It does have a few settings, Bright white LED, or White + RGB, or just RGB(which i like at night)

 

[Gill]

Acclimated for 4hrs and now busy sand sifting.

 

[Aqua360]

Acclimated for 4hrs and now busy sand sifting.

Where did you get your pandas? They look great

 

[Gill]

Where did you get your pandas? They look great

Ebay, was really impressed as you don't often get shrimp this size thru ebay.

Black Panda

 

[Aqua360]

Ebay, was really impressed as you don't often get shrimp this size thru ebay.

Black Panda

Wish I'd seen these a few days back! 😵

Usually it's best when they send juvenile-mid sizes as they have greater survivability. Did the seller advise the parameters they keep them in?

 

[Gill]

Wish I'd seen these a few days back! 😵

Usually it's best when they send juvenile-mid sizes as they have greater survivability. Did the seller advise the parameters they keep them in?

Yeah I just chanced upon these while looking for nice shrimp. And not used this seller before, so decided to give them a try. And very happy that I did. As they look great.
On arrival they were packaged very well. And cane with nice big fronds of Christmas Moss. Which I used in the HOB outflow.
They look great this morning at lights on and are busy foraging on the prefilter.

Yeah they keep them like this:
Ideal Water Parameters:
pH : 5.5-6.8
GH : 4-6
kH : 0-1
TDS: 120-140
Temp: 19-25

PH is about the same. GH is now at 8, So a little high but within tolerable levels.
I don't use a heater for this size, as the water stays at room temp. Which is fine for shrimp etc.

 

[Gill]

Noticed this afternoon that the Female Samurai has been courting one of the males.
So I caught the pair and placed them in here so that I could observe them.
Its certainly interesting to watch them with the roles reversed and the female being the colorful one and the male being the dull brown one.
Will observe them for a few days, and if no wrapping takes place with put them back in the Main tank.

 

[Gill]

No wrapping occured, so they have gone back into the main tank.
Plants arrived from Plantnoobdude so they have been added. And the Hardscape arrived aswell so that was planted up with some moss for now.

 

[Gill]

Also added some IAL to the sides of the tank for the benefit of the shrimp etc.
Have also spotted some seed shrimp and ostracods scurrying along the substrate.

 

[Wookii]

Looks good, you’ve packed a lot in there @Gill!Is that a lily on the bottom left . . . also what’s the block of cheese in the bottom corner?

 

[Gill]

Looks good, you’ve packed a lot in there @Gill!Is that a lily on the bottom left . . . also what’s the block of cheese in the bottom corner?

LOl yeah always pack in the plants.
Yep red tiger lotus, had left it floating in the main tank for a while while deciding what/where to use it. And the Cheese is a mineral block for the shrimp and snails, always use them for the shrimp health. Find that it helps with the moults etc. And You get less ring of death in the carapace.

I do need to remove the dying peice of the matt of hirsulata. And get some buce for it, to wedge into the cholla wood.

 

[plantnoobdude]

sorry to hear that some of the marsilea has died @Gill

 

[Gill]

sorry to hear that some of the marsilea has died @Gill

don't worry about it, it happens. The matt is nice and thick with root structure. So have saved me having to grow a carpet for this.

 

[plantnoobdude]

glad to hear that

 

[Gill]

Ordered buce Tuesday night and arrived this morning. As always from K2Aqua.
I got:
Cherish
Godzilla
And Catherina
X2 Snow White Anubias nana
And also some weeping moss to cover the gaps.

Might have a go at making a moss background etc to cover the back and sides of it.

 

[plantnoobdude]

k2aqua has very good plants at even better prices. but snow white needs a lot of light to actually grow, so it may struggle. though the bucephalandra will do great.

 

[Gill]

k2aqua has very good plants at even better prices. but snow white needs a lot of light to actually grow, so it may struggle. though the bucephalandra will do great.

Yeah their plants are always great quality. Yep have kept snow white a few times, this light is very good, and had done well in the past on larger nano tanks. with good results.