Step# 4 - Some aquatic plants require strong light, fertilizers or high CO2 consumption. Luckily Crystal Red Shrimps do not require special or fanciful aquatic plants, they will thrive with simple mosses and driftwood. I do not use fertilizer in my aquarium tank, just a bit of CO2 at 2 bubbles per second. Some fertilizer can kill CRS, I rather not take the risk!
Tip# In order not to introduce any unwanted pests like snails, bugs, worms and algae into your aquarium tank, you may want to quarantine and observe your plants first. Some pro hobbyists used potassium permanganate disinfectant bath method to remove pests. I do not encourage the use of chemicals, I usually purchase my plants from reliable sources and use the quarantine and observation method.
Tip# Always wash and soaked the driftwood for at least two weeks before placing it in your tank. Driftwood contains tannic acid that will cause "brownish" water effects on your tank. Pro Hobbyists are very skeptical about using bog wood. Bog wood seems to release a kind of sap that will kill CRS.
Note# Some pro hobbyists will not recommend cycling the new tank with the presence of aquatic plants. The plants are introduced after the tank is cycled. Especially with gravel like ADA, GEX, MagicSoil etc, initial pH for these gravel can be as low as 4 which some plants may not be able to survive.
Noticed I used Amazon Swords at both ends of the tank, this helps to camouflage the ugly looking UGF pipes. Add anti-chlorine first before adding water to the tank. Next fill up the aquarium tank with water very slowly using an air hose. This is to prevent water from disturbing the gravel and the mineral rock powder.
With Magic Soil, the water looks clean even on first water top up. No dirty debris floating around. I had added a piece of driftwood with Süßwassertang plant (freshwater seaweed, in German) tied to it. You can create your own design by using different type of mosses and driftwoods.
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