Water and shrimp deaths...

Originally Posted by EvolutionZ

hope TS wont mind me asking
guys, im using black gravel for my shrimps..
whenever i accidently move the gravel, the dirt or dunno what will come up.. den tank will be quite messy.. but it will be cleared without half an hour.. cause got filter..
should i remove everything and wash gravel? or change gravel?

One way is to suck up the dirt during WC. Gently stir the water just above the gravel to stir up the dirt and suck them out via the pipe. You may want to place a net at the end of the pipe to collect and gravel which you might suck up accidently.

I don;t really encourage you to wash the gravel and put them back again as you mind disturb the balance of the tank.

Just let it be, try not to disturb the gravel as far as possible, eventually the dirt will settle down into the bottom of the gravel.

My 2 cents.

[EvolutionZ]

okay.. thanks, does ADA soil have this problem too?

Ada soil will also have this problem of course.

Originally Posted by EvolutionZ

hope TS wont mind me asking
guys, im using black gravel for my shrimps..
whenever i accidently move the gravel, the dirt or dunno what will come up.. den tank will be quite messy.. but it will be cleared without half an hour.. cause got filter..
should i remove everything and wash gravel? or change gravel?

Personally, I keep a thin layer of (relatively) small white pebbles in my shrimp tank. My tank is not planted, as in the roots are not in the gravel (obviously, since it's a thin layer).

When I do water change, I stir the gravel and suck up the dirt that comes out. I bought a big piece of green plastic netting and I cut off some and tied it around the end of the hose that I place in the tank, so that no pebbles are sucked up. I use the same netting on my filter intake as well.

So far so good, no problems. I change water twice a week, and each time, a lot of dirt is sucked out. Can see after I let the pail of changed water sit for a while, can see all the dirt at the bottom. If I don't do this, I'd get crazy cases of green water.

[EvolutionZ]

thanks for advice.. today just WC.. stired up my gravel abit.. and hell lot of dirt... sucked them out.. some were sucked into my hangon filter too

Originally Posted by silane

How high was NO3 and GH? How high is NO3 and GH?

I forgot the values, only rem the color of the tetra test tip. The NO3 one was light pink (close to white) and the GH was all maroon.

My CRS have lost their whites... wonder if it could be restored...

[dzylim]

You could probably try keeping some duckweed in ur tank as they help bring down nitrates pretty fast. just throw them away when you have to many of them.

duckweed can help ar . thanks for the information , gonna 'steal' some from my uncle . haha

[EvolutionZ]

how abt riccia? same as duckweed?