Katie13’s 3g Shrimp Cube Build!

Well y’all, I finally caved. After months of only having one running tank (3.5g with a betta) and my 15 gallons on a double stand that I just never bothered to fully take down, I went out and bought a new tank! I knew I wanted my next tank to be a planted Neocaridina tank, so I ended up deciding to give the TopFin (Petsmart’s brand) 3g Shrimp and Plant Oasis a try! It actually comes with a 3g cube tank, 6500K plant light, HOB filter with intake cover sponge, and planter substrate. Was definitely a steal for only $40! I picked up a new API Freshwater Master Test Kit, Prine, and Stability while I was there too since most of my old stuff had to be trashed. Then I went to my LFS where I got a piece of Seiryu stone, a cup of tissue cultured Monte Carlo, some ferts, and a bottle of ammonia to start my fishless cycle!

Everything I got today!


3g Cube after adding background

Added substrate and seiryu stone

Got my Monte Carlo planted!

Got my lights and filter placed

Tank Currently!!

I’ve dosed my ammonia to 1ppm and added my Prime, Stability, Flourish, and Flourish Excel. I’ll check my readings in a few days and go from there. I’ll probably add either bacopa caroliniana, rotala rotundifolia green, or vallisneria torta to the back corner behind the stone as well, but I couldn’t find any I liked at my LFS. I’m super excited for this set up though, and I’m sure my 15g tanks will find themselves set up again soon as well!

 

Tank looks great! I’d say you’ll be setting up a 15 within 6 months . Just to house the hundreds of shrimp you’re going to have!. If interested in a starter group of red cherries pm me I’ve got hundreds .

 

Tank looks great! I’d say you’ll be setting up a 15 within 6 months . Just to house the hundreds of shrimp you’re going to have!. If interested in a starter group of red cherries pm me I’ve got hundreds .

Them 15s will be up within a few weeks. Then a 5g will be going up in the nursery as soon as I get the accent wall painted. Do you have pictures of the cherries? I was leaning toward going with bloody marys, but if you have some higher grade red cherries I’d be interested!

 

Well, I decided yesterday that the substrate that came in the kit just wasn’t going to cut it for what I wanted, so I ordered a bag of Aqueon plant and shrimp substrate. It got here right before I left for work, so I started making the switch as soon as I got home. I definitely feel like it was the right decision. I can’t wait for the cloudiness to go away though. Pictures of the tank now!

 

Got home from work a little while ago and decided to test my levels again just out of habit, especially after adding new substrate, and boy am I glad I did! My ammonia spiked within the almost 24hr time frame of swapping the substrate and was off the charts!! So of course I had to do a huge water change in order to bring the ammonia back down to around the 1ppm I’ve been dosing to. The lighting was terrible in the picture I took of the ammonia test, but it’s obviously 8ppm if not higher. Plus pictures of the tank currently!

 

That’s the substrate! Those plant substrates leach ammonia. I don’t use them with shrimp. I don’t know how long they will leach for but it just doesn’t seem worth it for me. I just use gravel and never have a problem growing plants. Seems everything grows in my shrimp/snail tanks. I tried sand but the shrimp poo would just sit on top of it. It always looked bad.