Project Orange

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XanAvaloni

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Nov 13, 2009
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Missed the earlier incident report apparently....what kind of shrimp are these? Amanos? I know some others go through the fresh-to-salt-to-fresh-again cycle but those are the only ones I can think of off the bat.

good luck indeed, I've read some reports from people who have replicated the conditions amanos need and decided promptly to stick with cherries. And--someday!--tigers again. :)
 

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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The earlier incident involved me accidentally almost draining the original tank empty. Youchers!

These are Caridina cf. Propinqua. Otherwise known as Sunkinst Orange or Mandarin shrimp. They have similar traits as the Japonica (Amano).

Half the fun of projects like these are the challenges. This is where we learn and I'm sure hoping to learn a ton.
 

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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Check of the tank today reveals (6) berried females now. The other three have about as many eggs as the first one. My first thought was that they started dropping eggs. But then I found the others still holding a ton.

Starting to work on my salinity formulas.
 

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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Starting to formulate my salt mixes for the breeding tanks. Will start with 1/4 salt to 1/2 gallon of water and go from there. Breeding tanks are just shy of a gallon which should be good.

Have almost all the necessary components for growing the Phytoplankton. I have four specimens that I'm ready to start growing. I'm just waiting on the Micro Algae Glow to come in and I'll be good. Specimens are sitting in a dark, cool spot waiting.

All (6) females still carrying. A couple of the ones that had smaller amount of eggs looks like they dropped some. Should have a fair amount of zoe to work with still.
 

carpenter547

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Aug 11, 2010
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now that would be telling
ok being very simplistic here :) for small brack tanks i have found the best way to mix my water is a gallon at a time i just use a funnel and an old milk jug *well rinsed* i use an airstone to make sure the mixing and aeration is going on in the jug.

i just walk down to the ro water vending machine with the premeasured amount of salt in the bottom of it drop in my 15 cents and let it fill up *the water here comes out very warm* then i set the container in the back of my truck and drive home with a little more gas brake action and harder turns. this mostly mixes up all the salt for me. then i get home drop in air stone and return in about 2 hours. take out air stone wait and check for complete absorbtion.

sorry if you already know this but some times people don't know.
 

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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sorry if you already know this but some times people don't know.
Not at all. I'm in uncharted territory actually. Haven't played with salt before.

I have 2 gallons of medium made up.

The first should be close to sea water at 35PPM ~ 1.026
(mix was 1/4cup + 1tbsp salt to 1/2 gallon water)

The second will be my upper limit on brackish side at 17PPM ~ 1.012
(mix was 3tbsp salt to 1/2 gallon water)

Now I'm not familiar with making salt/brackish water so these numbers may be a bit skewed because doesn't temperature play a factor in this?

Once the Micro Algae Grow arrives, I will aerate for 24hrs and retest.
 

carpenter547

The Desert Punk
Aug 11, 2010
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now that would be telling
temperature as far as i know affects the readings from your hydrometer.

i think insta reef states that 1/2 cup salt is for one gallon of water. i dunno i normally use 3/4's of a cup for my 5 gallon fillups and my hydrometer says it is at about 1.008 - 1.010 my fish and set up aren't picky but then again my tank is still like at 82 degrees. my tank only has violet goby ghost shrimp and mollies in it and all of them are happy with more brackish than fresh and less salt than brine :) so lotsa play.

the reason i sugested using ro from aquavender is that it is totally clean of chemicals and soft *i believe* so your ph and minerals etc come from the salt mix that you are using rather than the water so there is less flux in it which in theory will reduce stress.

my hydromete is just the insta reef one *it was about the cheapest that started with 1.000* before that i had to use one that started as sea water so i just mixed a gallon of salt level water and poured it in with another gallon of fresh water *2 gallon water changes a week in my old 10 gal*
 

James0816

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Feb 14, 2007
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so your ph and minerals etc come from the salt mix that you are using rather than the water so there is less flux in it which in theory will reduce stress.
This is the one thing about my water is that it is already very low pH and soft.

The Instant Ocean instructions is definately where I started. Since I was trying to target the salinity, I had to calculate for 1/2 gallon. It actually went quicker than I was expecting to be honest. Thought it was going to take a while to hit my initial numbers. Now if comes down to drawing down the salinity, that may take a little more work. But I think with using tablespoons and teaspoons, I might be able to dial in the lower numbers pretty quickly.
 
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