# shalu's 10 gallon shrimp tank journal



## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

*shalu's 10 gallon shrimp tank*

This tank was setup about 6 months ago. More history of the tank can be found here:










Lighting: 2x15w screw-on CF bulbs
CO2: NONE.
Aeration: 24/7
Ferts: KNO3, K2SO4, KH4PO4 and Flourish
Plants: weeping moss, stem plants keep evolving
Residents: red cherry shrimp, crystal red shrimp, bumblebee shrimp, caridina japonica, unknown shrimp, Virgin nerite snails, clams.

Ludwigia arcuata









crystal red shrimp









new born crystal red shrimplet:









red cherry:









virgin nerite:


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## cousinkenni (Jan 24, 2005)

Hey Shalu,

Nice tank! I saw that you posted it on one of the Discus sites yesterday. The ludwigia give a perfect contrast. I like non CO2 10gal tanks a lot. I recently turned all of my 10g into non CO2 and believe it or not rotala sp. green seems to grow better without it!

P.S. Just received 6 LSS discus from Gabe (wattley) yesterday. I can't believe people talk $#!+ about him. He treated my great and gave me huge healthy beautiful fish.

I took a buch of pictures this morning of them. If I can figure out how to download them I will post some later.

Ken T.


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

thanks Ken. yeah, non CO2 tanks are so little work, so much reward 

So you got LSS adults? oooh, they must be nice! I did have one LSS juv, and like most, it was juiced and got bloat and died.

I always upload my pictures to imageshack.us and post them from there. It is very easy to use and so far very reliable.


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## cousinkenni (Jan 24, 2005)

Shalu,

Not adults, babies, maybe 3 inches (huge for their age).

They are just starting to get their spots and color. They are supposedly bred in Florida w/o hormones. They certainly don't look hormone fed atleast (no crazy intense colors).

I must agree with you....... non CO2 tanks are way easier to take care of. Have to trim maybe every 2nd or 3rd week as opposed to every week with CO2. Just add some nutrients top off with water and were good to go!

Depending on how well the Lileaopsis grows in, I may enter it in a local comp this year (who knows maybe even the APC comp)

Ken T.


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## Candice (May 22, 2005)

Absolutely amazing!

It took a while, but was well worth the read. Your low light adventure has turned out magnificently!

Kudos.


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

I'm always jealous of the tank creations others (eg., Sha) post on here. The question is always, "Why can't I do that?!" I have no imagination or any idea of where to position plants for optimal effect.

In other words, great tank, Sha! I really like the red contrast of the Arcuata.


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## BudiPT (Jul 5, 2004)

Shalu, your tank is definetely amazing. You've broke the myth of poor growth in non-CO2 tank. I've been wanting to have tank with low maintenance (like pruning crazy weeds  ). This is just perfect. Do you use base fertilizer ?
I also read your post on plantedtank.net forum. You said you had HC even in this tank before ? Did it really grow well without CO2 ?
BTW, I've been thinking also to do hybrid tank. That is I may be using CO2 in initial stage so the plants mature faster, then convert to non CO2 to slow down the growth. Do you think its a good idea ?


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## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

WOW! That planted tank is breathtaking. I love the little shrimplet  Is that glosso in the foreground?


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

To heck with the tank, which is great BTW. I want the camera that took that close up of the Baby CRS.  

Looks like Glosso to me.


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## shalu (Oct 1, 2004)

Thank you Candice, richy, Budi, PlantsAndMe and Myra.



Candice said:


> It took a while, but was well worth the read. Your low light adventure has turned out magnificently!


Now I am getting greedy. I am going to upgrade my lighting soon and see if I can grow more demanding plants in it without CO2 injection.



BudiPT said:


> Do you use base fertilizer ?
> I also read your post on plantedtank.net forum. You said you had HC even in this tank before ? Did it really grow well without CO2 ?
> BTW, I've been thinking also to do hybrid tank. That is I may be using CO2 in initial stage so the plants mature faster, then convert to non CO2 to slow down the growth. Do you think its a good idea ?


I haven't used any substrate fertilizer in any of my tanks, low or high tech. I dose the water column exclusively. HC did ok without CO2(afterall it is a relative of h. miranthemoides, which is really weedy), the main thing was light. The taller plants totally blocked the light on HC, so I moved it to a new 10 gallon tonina tank I setup. Your tank will probably work fine with initial CO2 and then stop it. The main thing to watch for is don't use crazy amount of light while injecting CO2 and when CO2 stops, it creates an algae mess. But then again, with a thriving cherry shrimp population, the algae has a tough time. That's the reason I dare to experiment with higher light on my tank soon.



PlantsAndMe said:


> Is that glosso in the foreground?


Yes, it is. It is certainly not as spectacular as in high light/CO2 tank. But this is the only way to grow it without the maintanance headache. I gave up on glosso in my high tech tank after a while. Constant replanting gets old quickly.



kimbm04r said:


> I want the camera that took that close up of the Baby CRS.


It is a Sony DSC-F707. F717 is the newer model. F828 the latest 8 megapixel model.

By the way, I decided to enter this tank in the APC aquascaping contest. All my tanks so far do not have much emphasis on aquascaping, rather they are just plant farms. This is the only tank that seems to have some potential. It is great there is a non CO2 category in this contest. I started a contest journal, I hope your future comments can be made in the journal instead, so I don't have to maintain it at two places


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## aquaverde (Feb 9, 2004)

How did I miss your thread on PT? This is so impressive. That L. arcuata has beautiful color. Well-deserved congrats to you. I've been inspired anew for my shrimp tank.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Shalu you've done a great job -- I'm impressed. I would not have believed that you could accomplish that without co2.


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