As I think I said in my intro, I learned about Opae Ula shrimp from Ocean Rider, but decided against getting seahorses for lots of reasons... I'm fascinated by "seahorse food" and invertebrates though! My Opae Ula tank has been started in tandem with reviving my old Biocube 29 gallon saltwater tank, which sat with a bunch of feather calurpa and not often enough top offs since 2018.
Once I decided to get Opae Ula, I stupidly started with a tank rather impulsively bought off Amazon - the Koller Products PanaView 5 Gallon. 100% would not recommend. I had added cycle/nitrifying bacteria and a bit of green algae crud from the filter and refugium area of my Biocube. I put dry coral rock that had been taking up storage space into the tank and made my second mistake: using black gravel made for African Cichlids (it was not clearly described on Amazon).
The day before my Opae Ula came in, I tested the water and realized that the PH was around 7.6. To fix this, I added Seachem Marine Buffer, which brought the PH to around 8.2 but totally scratched up and left residue on the plastic tank. I think that the scrubber thingy I used to try to wipe off the buffer also scratched the plastic. Either way, it was a waste of money to buy that first tank and the cichlid gravel.
I've since been sent Spirulina to start the shrimp off, but the first day I added a few drops of liquid phytoplankton, which clouded the water but did not seem to affect much else (the nitrifying bacteria must have worked). Copepods hitched on the filter crud that I introduced from my saltwater tank, and they loved the phytoplankton!
I really hated the plastic tank I bought off Amazon and the LED lights weren't very bright either. I ordered a frameless Aqueon 6 gallon off Petco and got sent a badly cracked aquarium (they gave me a full refund super quick). At least the Hawaiian Black Arag-Alive sand arrived quick from Bulk Reef Supply. I put it in a bucket with some brackish water and a tiny bit of nitrifying bacteria liquid to let the marine bacteria in it die off.
FINALLY got my Lifegard Full View 7 gallon tank delivered from SaltwaterAquarium earlier this week and decided to transfer the shrimp yesterday (Friday). The transfer went better than I would have hoped... these shrimp are social so seem to stay together, and I just used a small cup to gently scoop them into the new tank with the good sand (and no PH correction needed lol). I don't think that I lost a single shrimp in this transfer! I got most of the water from the old tank in, and also moved their rocks to the new tank. I've not mixed more brackish water yet, but will do so in the next few days. I may have lost a snail or two but that's ok.
I'm really happy with how the new tank looks, and I wish I would have started with it from the beginning. I think my shrimp agree, because they're crawling on the bottom (which they didn't do in the cheap POS tank) and much more lively. I'm testing the compatibility of some other macroalgae from my saltwater tank (some feather algae and some mossy looking stuff, and a tiny bit of chaeto). The big ball of brackish chaeto is from Vorteil and is doing the best. The copepod hitchhikers are still happily swimming around and my nitrates and ammonia are still all reading zero.
Tomorrow I'm getting a better light, but the cheap LED strip grow-light is working pretty good for encouraging algae growth. I've thought of adding more rock, but this arrangement lets me see everything. I guess now it's time to ignore the shrimp tank as it matures, and go fuss and putter with my saltwater Biocube
The shrimps today:
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The new setup:
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My "help" who silently judges me:
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My old setup (bleh):
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Once I decided to get Opae Ula, I stupidly started with a tank rather impulsively bought off Amazon - the Koller Products PanaView 5 Gallon. 100% would not recommend. I had added cycle/nitrifying bacteria and a bit of green algae crud from the filter and refugium area of my Biocube. I put dry coral rock that had been taking up storage space into the tank and made my second mistake: using black gravel made for African Cichlids (it was not clearly described on Amazon).
The day before my Opae Ula came in, I tested the water and realized that the PH was around 7.6. To fix this, I added Seachem Marine Buffer, which brought the PH to around 8.2 but totally scratched up and left residue on the plastic tank. I think that the scrubber thingy I used to try to wipe off the buffer also scratched the plastic. Either way, it was a waste of money to buy that first tank and the cichlid gravel.
I've since been sent Spirulina to start the shrimp off, but the first day I added a few drops of liquid phytoplankton, which clouded the water but did not seem to affect much else (the nitrifying bacteria must have worked). Copepods hitched on the filter crud that I introduced from my saltwater tank, and they loved the phytoplankton!
I really hated the plastic tank I bought off Amazon and the LED lights weren't very bright either. I ordered a frameless Aqueon 6 gallon off Petco and got sent a badly cracked aquarium (they gave me a full refund super quick). At least the Hawaiian Black Arag-Alive sand arrived quick from Bulk Reef Supply. I put it in a bucket with some brackish water and a tiny bit of nitrifying bacteria liquid to let the marine bacteria in it die off.
FINALLY got my Lifegard Full View 7 gallon tank delivered from SaltwaterAquarium earlier this week and decided to transfer the shrimp yesterday (Friday). The transfer went better than I would have hoped... these shrimp are social so seem to stay together, and I just used a small cup to gently scoop them into the new tank with the good sand (and no PH correction needed lol). I don't think that I lost a single shrimp in this transfer! I got most of the water from the old tank in, and also moved their rocks to the new tank. I've not mixed more brackish water yet, but will do so in the next few days. I may have lost a snail or two but that's ok.
I'm really happy with how the new tank looks, and I wish I would have started with it from the beginning. I think my shrimp agree, because they're crawling on the bottom (which they didn't do in the cheap POS tank) and much more lively. I'm testing the compatibility of some other macroalgae from my saltwater tank (some feather algae and some mossy looking stuff, and a tiny bit of chaeto). The big ball of brackish chaeto is from Vorteil and is doing the best. The copepod hitchhikers are still happily swimming around and my nitrates and ammonia are still all reading zero.
Tomorrow I'm getting a better light, but the cheap LED strip grow-light is working pretty good for encouraging algae growth. I've thought of adding more rock, but this arrangement lets me see everything. I guess now it's time to ignore the shrimp tank as it matures, and go fuss and putter with my saltwater Biocube
The shrimps today:
My "help" who silently judges me:
