After aging the water, hooking up my canister filter to the chiller and setting the tank in place here comes the part I have been looking forward to ever since I got hold of some interesting products during Aquarama!
Apparently there were only very limited number of products available on sale from the booth I visited and I was fortunate to get my hands on some of what I believe to be quality products. (Better be for what I paid!)
Before you or my girlfriend who will eventually stumble upon this have the idea that I paid an arm and leg for it, which I swear I did not! Haha.
Ok before I yak on and bore you further here is the process of my set up and some pictures of the really nicely packaged products from RAC (Think it stands for Ryu Aqua Creator).
Soil
For the soil I chose to wash it although I was told that it isn't necessary.
It was more on my part as I wanted to challenge what I was told that RAC products have been baked in a procedure that results in well compacted soil that will not break apart so easily.
My take is that always find out whether that particular brand of soil needs to be washed before opening up that packet of soil. Not as experienced but you can always ask the good people on forums.
Normal and Powder Soil
Anyways the soil did not disappoint. I rinsed it twice with tap water and let it sit while I laid out my base layer.
Scattered the base layer of my tank with Mironeketon Mineral Powder to improve and purify my water quality and Humic Acid
So what does Humic Acid do?
I did not know either and was simply told it is a natural mineral, being ingenious I thought I could take mineral water and my tank water would be mineralised too.
But instead of being too smart (We have a dialect saying that Smart is good enough, don't act smart.) I decided to be a tad more inquisitive, only right if I am going to put that in my tank much less share it with you.
At least I would know how my future Shrimps and Shrimplets would feel towards it.
Any hows Google is your best friend here.
Basically Humic substances including the Humic Acid are known to decrease the toxicity of heavy metals to aquatic organisms, and it has been suggested that they can provide buffering protection in low pH conditions.
Some test was run but am not going to bore you with the details. You can read more if you are interested here.
After the scatter of the base layer in went the soil!
Placed an Ikea Plastic cover over the soil layer so it does not get disrupted too much when pour water into the tank.
Poured the water in and as usual I forgot to take the pictures of that, but did not think you would need to see the process of me scooping the water in. Just make a mental note patience is a virtue here if you want a nice layer of soil, especially if like me you have 2 layers (Base - Normal, Top - Powder) or if you are trying to achieve some sort of landscape tank you need to be even more gentle with the filling up of the tank.
I added B-Source or a compound of natural enzyme which improves beneficial bacteria activity a key essential to the tank's stability. (Or so I am told)
FM100 was also added as a natural fulvic mineral. Am still learning as to what this does and will share with you more when I have an answer.
Now to why I forgot to take the pictures.
Was busy prepping the canister filter.
Poured 1/2 of this nice blue bottled product into my canister filter.
Here is what it is...
Bacteria!
MN5 & BN7 (Like you can't read) o_O
Bought them because I liked how the bottle looked and was further sold on it when I learnt it is packaged to prevent UV from killing the Micro Bacteria in the bottles.
Cannot help it am a sucker for great and functional packaging. (Never mind that it could be a gimmick haha. Sucker innit?)
Ok so as much as I can be a fool there is a purpose to my madness. This 2 little bottles are few of the most important things that I personally feel would help 'kick start the bacteria growth in the tank.
BN7 is like the sh*t to me. What it says it does should already get people pick up this product for the start of your tank.
BN7 is a plant based bacteria with active microbial with active microbial enzyme yeast for quick ammonia nitirifying effect. - Pretty important to getting the tank right for a start, no more bacteria bloom I would assume.
MN5 Microbial Bacteria yeast for bacteria enhancing growth.
Along with the below product,
SMB
SMB is a water improvement bacteria of live enzyme
If I understand this correctly my tank should technically be stable really quickly, skipping the bacteria bloom phase? That is also provided that my aged water has not successfully killed all the bacteria from the products, chemicals in our tap like chlorine may kill off the good bacteria and inhibit/stump bacteria growth in the tank.
A thing I also learned when I accidentally inhaled the fine dust cloud of BN7 and MN5 is that they smelll alot like Prebiotics and Probiotics. Haha ok never mind how I know that too.
Viola! So after an exhausting 4 hours later, here is my tank starting its cycling.
Day 0 Tank Set-Up Complete
Thank you for staying through with me!
Please let me know how I may have missed anything crucial.
All the guidance is very much appreciated!
Take care and have a great night!
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