Preparing for the cherry shrimp

• pH:
• Temp:
• KH: 5
• GH:
• NH4: 0
• NO2:
• NO3: 10-20 after dose
• PO4: 1.25 after dose
• Iron:
• Dosing: 40 mL KNO3 (10 ppm), 20 mL KH2PO4 (1 ppm)
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio: 10:1 = 10

Notes:
50% water change:
25 mL Amquel+
5 tsp Equilibrium
0.5 tsp Epsom salts
2.5 tsp baking soda

I pruned back a lot of the stargrass. It had grown so dense that the bottoms were rotting, so I cut and replanted a lot of the tops.

For the water change, I dosed 5 tsp of Equilibrium, instead of the usual 6 tsp, and added 0.5 tsp of epsom salts. I was also very aggressive in vacuuming the gravel during the water change.

The water looks pretty clear today. There's no sign of the "brown sludge" algae so far.

In preparation for getting my cherry shrimp, I've cut a spare AquaClear filter sponge to size and after cutting an X into the sponge, I jammed it over the filter intakes of my AquaClear and Eheim filters. The shrimp are so small that they tend to get sucked up into the filters. It doesn't seem to be affecting the flow rate too much.

I also found a good resource on shrimp: www.petshrimp.com.

The dwarf gourami hasn't been looking so good. It's probably due to the CO2 levels. I don't know if it's going to make it, but we'll see. I went out and got an air pump and another timer. I then set the timer so that the air pump is running at night. I was thinking of just turning off the CO2 at night using the solenoid, but I've found that the solenoid sometimes doesn't work (it sometimes seems to "jam" in the off position until you toggle the power several times) and if the CO2 is not constantly pumping, the water will backflow to the check valve, and I've had the check valve fail after prolonged contact with the water. So, instead, I've settled on this more complicated method.

I also went out and purchased diatomaceous earth from a pool supply store for the diatom filter I'm going to receive next week. It was $10 for 25 pounds, a lifetime supply, but much cheaper than purchasing it from an aquarium retailer ($10-15 for 5 pounds).