Entry 3: The shrimp have arrived!
27/10/2025
It has been almost two months since my last entry and the jar has changed a lot in that time.
Having done a little more reading about plants and dirted tanks, I now better understand
the mistakes I made. The high amoina was most definitely coming from the soil (duh).
I began doing large water changes to keep them at manageable levels while still leaving
Enough for the plants and bacteria to consume.
Speaking of plants, the hornwort took off like crazy! its been growing multiple centermetres a day
and has even grown roots, which I heard was unusual for most varieties.
A couple weeks ago, I replaced the baccopa and ambulia with some java moss, variagated lime rush
(Acorus gramineus var. variegatus)
and some Lilaeopsis, hoping the root-feeding plants will take advantage of nutritious substrate.
The rush was a big pain to get planted, but I really like how the stiff leaves of the rush stand proud of the water line.
Two weeks later, the nutrient levels had stabilised at zero (yay!). On the topic of nutritrent testing,
I've notced the api amonia liquid text to be a bit inaccurate when levels are between 0ppm and 0.25ppm.
A bright yellow colour should indicat zero amonia, but mine always come out a little green. To
show what I mean, here a comparasion photo of amonia level in the jar (left) vs amonia levels
in bottled water (right). Neither are bright yellow. I think I'll run a control when testing
amonia from now on.
I left it one more week, then is was finally shrimp time!
I purchased 4 low grade cherry shrimp from a local aquarium shop and added them to the jar just yesterday.
I originally wanted red or yellow shrimp, but they blue ones were the most vibrant. I think I
have two males and two females, plus a fifth baby shrimp also snuck its way in. I wasn't the
only hitch hicker, there are few seed shrimp peppered about too.
I've had the shrimp for about a week now. In that thime two of them actually shed. The shrimp
are far less active in the unheated jar compared to the aquarium store, but they seem healthy.
Until just today, a third ship had trouble shedding and died :(
Hopefully this is not an omen of things to come. I'm not sure what I'll do with the jar if this
prodject fails. It's been three months in the making. I hope I can keep the shrimp around for
at least that long.
Entry 2: My plants died...
30/08/2025
The bocopa and the ambulia melted off from the root. I have no idea why. It was already
happening at the time of my last entry, but I was in denial, hoping they’d somehow come back.
The very tips of each stem were still stiff and green, so before throwing the plants away, I
chopped off the good bits and through them back into the jar. Hopefully, they’ll grow back.
By a stroke of luck, there was another similar looking plant bundled in with the ambulia.
I think it’s hornwort, and it’s doing quite well. Still, I’ll have to have add more plants
to the shopping list.
Now, an update on the nitrogen cycle. It is well underway, and perhaps would be near
completion were it not for the dying plants. According to a water test I did this morning,
nitrates are present, implying the growth of both ammonia and nitrite oxidising bacteria.
However, the ammonia is still very high (likely thanks to the rotting plants) so I’ll have
to wait a little longer for more microbes to grow.
Entry 1: Bacteria, please please please grow!
22/08/2025
Three ago, I was struck by divine aquatic inspiration. I needed a Walsted shrimp jar!
The Walsted method is a low tech approach to aquarium keeping popularised by
Dianna Walsted. It’s a low tech method, that relies on heavy
planting and thick, natural substrate to keep the water clean.
So that night I ran down to kmart and picked up 5.6L jar for $12. Not bad, and just big enough to
support a few red cherry shrimp (in theory). I set it up immediately, using garden soil capped with
potting sand for substrate, plus a cutting of devil’s ivy.
When setting up a new aquarium, adding animals right away is generally not advised. Its best to let the
tank cycle first, that is, to
wait for a healthy community of microbes to grow that will help keep nitrogenous waste to a minimum.
Two weeks later and no sign that the cycle had begun. My tests showed the jar contained a moderate
amount of ammonia, but no nitrite or nitrate. This is only my second time setting up an aquarium so
maybe I was being impatient, but I felt some nitrifying microbes should have grown! There was a
biofilm on the surface which at least meant I hadn’t fucked up horribly and killed them all.
In an attempt to get the cycle started faster, I went and bought a bottle of Seachem stability. The
efficacy of bacteria-in-a-bottle products like this are questionable, but I’ve had good luck in the past.
I also finally got some plants! A bunch each of ambulia and bacopa. I think I want one more fast
growing plant, perhaps pearl weed if I can find some.
It’s been five days since adding the plants using the stability and still no sign of that good bacteria.
I’ll just have to pray.
Shrimp Jararium Log
