[Owlbit]

Time for my new tank, because we all know... you can't have just one.

Plans:
Tank is a Fluval Evo 5, with filter section removed.
Thin layer aragonite (for buffering) with small lava rocks on top (to hide poop).
Black lava rocks for hiding places.
Sponge filter while cycling. Will also use Oxydator.
Will transfer some items from my 2.5g tank to help 'seed' the new tank with algae and beneficial bacteria.
Will maintain same salinity 1.008-1.010.
No heater. Room temperature is between 76-80F.
When the tank has some algae growing, Bob the very hungry nerite snail who is eating everything green in the 2.5 gallon tank will be moved over. He will help continue cycling the new tank.

Still waiting to get the lava rock. Tomorrow I hope.

tank2_20190802_thumb.jpg (36.4 KiB) Viewed 12934 times

Never mind the spiky thing in front of the tank. That is to keep the cat from jumping in. I have to figure out how to make the lid more secure and fully covering the tank.

EDIT: This tank is for a future new colony of opae ula. It is not an upgrade for those living in the 2.5 gallon tank. That means, I get to have MORE shrimps.

[Vorteil]

Great looking start.

[odin]

Exciting stuff!!! I love new tank builds, I always find that the more tanks you get the better they get too as you tend to iron out previous mistakes and thoughts.

Keep us updated.

[Algae In Space]

Sponge filter while cycling. Will also use Oxydator.

Yo nice! Is that spiky looking stuff an undergravel filter???

I'd ditch the sponge filter and use live bacteria instead if you want to speed it up.

[Owlbit]

It has been a while since I last posted. That is because it took time finding and getting the lava rocks I wanted for this tank. I will call my Fluval 5 gallon tank, tank 2. I also have another tank that is less than 7x7x7 that is on my desk, which will be called tank 3. Both tank 2 and tank 3 are empty of shrimp. They are cycling using aged water from my original 2.5 gallon tank along with some filter material and rocks with algae on them. I am hoping this will help the new tanks to age quicker.

So here is the 5 gallon tank 2 Fluval. Yes there is a sponge filter running right now in it. It was just finished setting up last night. It was running with just water for a while until I got the small lava pieces as the substrate for over a week. The larger rocks I got yesterday.

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Here is tank 3 on my desk that is less than a gallon. It is a glass tank I got from amazon. Just finished setting it up today. My pretty little oxydator is in this tank. I love how cute it looks in there. And a cute pile of rocks for my future shrimps.

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tank3_20190818b_thumb.jpg (101.89 KiB) Viewed 12888 times

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I hope you enjoyed the update. For now it is just feeding the tanks and getting them all full of algae, which tank 2 is doing well with cloudy water.

I do need to find a piece of aragnoite for the desk tank though. I didn't add any aragonite sand.

[odin]

Looks great, what food are you cycling the tanks with? Also when is tank number 4 coming? :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Owlbit]

I am using the pure Hawaiian spirulina powder. Same stuff I feed my shrimps, just a ton more cause there is no shrimp so I can let the ammonia spike.

Tank 4 is actually on standby. LOL Yes, I do have another empty tank...

[Owlbit]

Tank 2 and 3 are coming along well. Tank 2 is hard to take a picture of because the light is not idea for taking pictures. I need to do something about that later. But it is growing green. Maybe not as green as the one on my desktop. Here is tank 3.

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No shrimps or snails yet since it is still being cycled/established. I am feeding tanks 3x a week with spirulina.

Anyone know what kind of algae or whatever are those brown spots on the rocks on the white rocks in front? I don't know why green algae has brown polka dots.

[Algae In Space]

Now that's what I call algae growth!

[Vorteil]

That is nice & green.