# First natural tank



## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

Hello everyone,

I have been doing some reading and finally decided to try out a NPT for a 2 gallon shrimp tank. So far I have gotten miracle grow organic potting soil and a bag of calcium carbonate. My main question is how much calcium carbonate should I add? The pH of my water out of the tap is about 6.5 +/- 1 and I have read if your pH is under 7 you should add some.

I was also wondering what steps I should take before adding the soil. I have read some people just put the soil in the tank and others soak it and then add it. I currently have some duckweed, fissidens and java moss ready to go in the tank...will this be able to survive the "dirting". Thanks again.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Hell, and welcome to APC!

I suggest that you soak and drain the potting soil several times before using it in the tank.

Sprinkle a thin layer of calcuim carbonate on the bottom of the tank before you add the soil. You should be able to see areas of glass through the dust--think of heavily salted food and you will get the idea.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

Hi Thank you for the reply and welcome!

I purchased the larger rocks of calcium carbonate like you would use in a salt water aquarium...will this work or no? I will definitely give it a good rinse a couple times and run it through a window screen. thanks for the advice.

edit

Also can you rinse the dirt with tap water or should it be treated first?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Yes, tap water is fine for the rinse.

How large are your calcium carbonate rocks? Could you break them up? If you can't get them small enough to put under the soil, maybe just a few lumps in your filter would work.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

The rocks are the ones you would use for a substrate so they are fairly small and will fit in the substrate. I am going dirt the tank tonight so Ill probably just spread some across the bottom and hope for the best.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

That will work.


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

I recently set up a 75 gallon npt, and one thing I think you should take into consideration is that dirt can release quite a bit of ammonia at first.  Keep an eye on it and be prepared to do pretty regular water changes at first.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

Update...

So the tank has been dirted and I added some calcium carbonate under the dirt layer. I just purchased a new low ph test for a drop checker on another tank since I was running low and decided to test out the new tank with this test. The test didnt even think about changing from bright blue...which means 7.6 ph? I just tested my tap water as well and it came out to about 6.6-6.8. Will this balance out as the soil decomposses or am I going to have to rip everything out and start over???

edit

I have a high ph saltwater test kit that I just used and it is telling me its lower than 7.4? What gives?


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

Unless you are stocking very sensitive shrimp I wouldn't stress ph too much unless it is extreme. If your water is very soft you might look into a GH booster like seachem equalization, but only if you notice symptoms of calcium or potassium deficiencies (holes in leaves or odd twisting). Everything sound like it is ready to go though. I wish my water was 6.6-7.5. The tap here is 8.5, high bicarbonate hardness, but nothing useful like calcium of potassium.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

Jark said:


> Unless you are stocking very sensitive shrimp I wouldn't stress ph too much unless it is extreme. If your water is very soft you might look into a GH booster like seachem equalization, but only if you notice symptoms of calcium or potassium deficiencies (holes in leaves or odd twisting). Everything sound like it is ready to go though. I wish my water was 6.6-7.5. The tap here is 8.5, high bicarbonate hardness, but nothing useful like calcium of potassium.


Hmm interesting you mention holes and twisting...

I have a high tech tank that I have had problems with new anubias leaves being crinkled and recently with my c undulata getting holes in it. I may have to look into doing something about that...

Will I have the same problem in this tank or will the calcium carbonate balance that out? Are there any shrimp supplements that they make for this?


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

I would just get the tank going and see if you have problems down the line and worry about it then. 

For later, check out the fertilizer section in the forums. There are some stickies of what different holes, coloration, and deformities can indicate. 

Check out your tap water details. The city or water company should release a water report about once a year or more. It will have details on Mg, K, Ca,..... I found it helpful. 

I' not sure about pure calcium carbonate, as I haven't used it. I have used crushed corral (which I guess is mostly calcium carbonate) and in my case the little I had under the soil didn't break down fast enough to keep up with the plants demands. The tank was very packs and vals seem to need a little extra calcium. Seachem equilibrium or Tom Barr's GH booster helped out for me.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

I checked around the web and it seems my town does not list all its parameters http://www.northkingstown.org/sites/northkingstown.org/files/pdf-attachments/CCR 2011 final (2).pdf . I believe what I am using is crushed coral as well unfortunately it doesnt seem its going to help much. Would I be able to test Mg and Ca using a salt water kit?

edit

I was just reading your 55 g thread... How is your HC doing? I just planted a bunch in this tank that I had in a emersed set up for a while. I am planning on at least using half doses of excel daily (i have read cherries can handle excel ok). How much light do you think would be appropriate over a 2 gallon? Right now I just have the standard led light that comes with the evolve but its pretty wimpy. I was thinking around a 10w CFL but Im not sure if thats too much. My tank pretty much gets indirect light all day as its near a window.


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

I'm not sure about the evolve tank. I had run across some threads a few days ago where people were liking them for low light tanks. Search around this forum or theplantedtank forums you might find a group of people trying them if you haven't already.

See if you can find other people using the evolve tank and see if they needed extra light. I would say 10-13w spiral bulb would be enough for a 2 gallon depending on how high above the tank you have the light. Over my 5g tank I have a 10W bulb that is a few inches over the water. It also gets some light from the room which have bright lab lighting and a little from a window with the shades mostly closed.

The 55g has been retired. After the drystart and I flooded the tank the HC didn't do well. It eventually died out, but the marsilea took over and replaced it. If you want a foreground plant for low light/tech tanks look into marsilea. It starts out very slow but once it the main runners branch it goes exponential. I will grow under things that you will have no idea how it is getting any light.


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## Qwedfg (Jun 17, 2012)

Thanks for the reply! Too bad about your 55 it was really nice. I will definitely look into marsilea if this hc doesnt grow. I split it up into small portions and spread it all over my substrate. I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself as I was able to do it with my tank flooded! I found this thread http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/6978-HC-Surviving-Without-Compressed-CO2 where someone had great success with HC with 15w lighting, AS substrate and 1 mL of Excel every other day. I just went out and bought a 15w CFL that is about 3-4 inches above my water line (I bought a 10w as well just incase I start seeing algae). I have been dosing 6 drops of excel per day for the last couple days. Hopefully it will work out.


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