#micro aquarium

[kalikai]

Lessons learned from these sea monkeys:

Having a portrait-mode aquarium is very convenient because of its low footprint,

and it is VERY nice to look at, especially with the lava-lamp effect caused by algal photosynthesis (it's just this, all day):

Buuuuuut....

the low footprint means low surface area,

which means very poor oxygen diffusion,

which means stratification of dissolved oxygen,

which means a steep hypoxia gradient,

which means freshly-hatched sea monkeys will simply drop dead en masse if you don't manually oxygenate the tank *at least* once a day

Personally, I'm going to be doing it twice a day from now on, just to be on the safe side. I'm sick of losing entire batches of hatchlings back to back just because I had a lazy day and didn't feel like doing the manual oxygenation procedure.

In conclusion:

Landscape mode is the aquarium default for a reason.

Portrait mode aquariums look nice but require much more upkeep

Unless you have some system of automation like a regular aquarium pump or something, I guess. But I don't have that, so more work for me.

[kalikai]

Micro aquarium is now shrimp tank. Got six 'Blue Dream' shrimp and two snails. Here they are in their acclimation bucket:

And this is my zero-effort, zero-cost approach to drip acclimation:

Filled an empty mineral water bottle with aquarium water, stabbed a pinhole in the bottom, and balanced it on the edge of my coffee table. Acclimation Bucket sits below, raised up on a step stool to minimise the splashing.

Tightness of the bottle's lid is what controls the flow rate of the drips. It's like 95% tightly closed, and that's juuuust leaky enough to permit a steady flow of drips. Requires constant adjustment though, else it reaches an equilibrium point and stops dripping, so I'm sitting right in front of it playing Cassette Beasts on my Switch. Good game, good times. Here's hoping these shrimp are having a good time too.

[kalikai]

Did a water change in the little tank, and wiped down its surfaces to clean off that hazy biofilm.

Transferred the four biggest tads into the new big tank. I don't believe it's ready for them yet, but the little tank was definitely overcrowded.

Hope they enjoy it, and I hope their CO2 helps the plants get established.

[kalikai]

Added copepods and bladder snails to the big tank. Hopefully they'll help out a lot with eating all the shmutz and getting the water much more clear. 🤞

Two micro little bitty tadpoles also ended up in there. Guess they can be beta testers for the water. (alpha testers are the plants)

[kalikai]

Lesson learnt: don't give fruit to the tadpoles.

Chucked in a bit of pear and left them to it overnight. Woke up at 6am and did an emergency double water change because the water was incredibly clouded and the tads were floating up near the surface where there's higher oxygen.

Conclusion: sugars in the pear juice fuelled a bacterial bloom.

Didn't even look like the tadpoles themselves tried to eat any of it.

Their new tank has had a setback. (They're not in the new one yet though, not until I can get the plants established and the water clean, plus they haven't outgrown their existing small tank yet)

Got a little 21L tank from marketplace (+ decorations, filter, and heater)

Checked it wouldn't leak

Laid down substrate of garden dirt and then the fine/small mixed aquarium gravel that came with it, together with the decorative bit of wood and some big stones to hold down the wood and prevent it floating (in addition to my amateur aquascaping of piling the gravel over it a bit)

Planted some aquarium plant cuttings obtained from someone else on marketplace. Foxtail and elodea.

Water began getting cloudy. Foxtail began dropping needles.

Maybe running the filter will help with the water quality which will help the plants?

Ran filter overnight.

Water quality even worse in the morning + all the foxtail cuttings have dropped all of their needles

Removed pump, did partial water change; about ½-⅔, and painstakingly removed the vast majority of the shed needles. Pulled out the foxtail cuttings.

Elodea doesn't look like it's suffering too badly, so hopefully it can get itself established

Unsure why filter pump made everything so much worse. Possibly bad filter media that needs replacing, possibly the continual agitation of the water accelerated the plants' suffering. Idk

Unsure what to do next to improve the water quality. Add detritivores? Add nitrogen-cycle bacteria? Leave it alone? Aquariums are hard :( research is needed

Also there's some kind of manky biofilm growing on the original tank's walls. It's a cloudy white. Reckon I'll tip the tank's contents into a bucket, wipe down the walls with a paper towel, then tip them back.

[glyphdrift]

Oh my God, trimming the roots on frogbit is crazy.

[aquariumscience-blog]

Trimming one of the micro tanks. Glass shrimp in there enjoying the plentiful food. 

I would never dream of putting a vertebrate in a tank this size and a single shrimp is even pushing it. I have confidence that the size is appropriate for the fauna. If that changes I'll change tanks for them of course.

[aquariumscience-blog]

My planted tank glowing and growing along.

I’m enjoying the colors that are coming out. The lotus on the right is starting to take off.