Added 50 little cherry shrimps and black peat.

Went to C328 to get Flourish Excel as the supply is running low.

As usual when you make a trip there, you will want to shop around to see what you can buy, maybe this is how guys spend their money. lol.

I saw a bag of baby cherry shrimps 50 for $10. Thinking I got nothing much in my tank, so I bought it. haha. Then got a pack of Algae wafer for them to feast.

On the other hand, I had been thinking how to lower the pH in my aqua tank, always in the range of 7.5. My cousin did recommend me some solutions but abit difficult to maintain like using Reverse Osmosis water to remove the bad substances from the tap water.

So when paying for my stuffs, I spoke to the shopowner's helper, maybe son,on how to reduce tank's pH, he told me can try to use black peat in the filter instead of dosing with chemical liquids. It is safer this way and friendlier to the fishes. So i got 1 box of black peat and put into my canister filter.

This morning before leaving for work, the water had turned abit cloudy, I believe it should be caused by the black peat. Will blog again whether the peat had managed to reduce the pH and make the tank a happy place for fishes.

4 Red Cherry Shrimps Added!

Yes. Adding new species into the tank. Haha. Went to C328 and Polyart(Another aquarium shop near C328). Bought these cute little Red Cherry Shrimp from Polyart @ $0.80 each. Total of 4 shrimps, and at the point of posting this blog, one of them died. Haiz...hopefully is due to not in gd condition when purchased.

Red Cherry Shrimp.

Few of it's brothers or sisters,maybe. lol.

Another view of Red Cherry Shrimp.

Got Amazonia II soil in!

Went to C328 again last night and bought a 3 litre pack of Amazonia II soil. The substrate(soil) was put into my tank last night. Took abt 1hr to settle all the soil and re-planting.

The water was cloudy when I poured water into it. Took abt 1 night to settle down by filteration.

The water pH reduced from 7.5 to 6.5. Yay! This pH is important as it provide a suitable environment for fishes and plants to live in.
Oh ya, I did a test on my tap water, it is 7.5 pH. So kinda alkaline.

After which, this morning, i put in 6 tetra and 2 ottos. I hope they will be fine when I go home tonight.

Information about the substrate (soil) :

Amazonia II shares same characteristics with Amazonia for promoting the aquatic plant growth, but it emphasizes the water condition adjustment effect. Compared to Amazonia, Amazonia II tends to lower pH and KH, and it is recommended for the case where tap water is in alkaline.

Driftwood in tank!

Went to C328 again today, trying to get Java Moss. Unfortunately, upon enquiry with the lady boss, she said, "Forgot to order Java Moss today..."

Upon hearing that, my dear lao por, suggested we go to the other aquarium shop nearby to try our luck. And woila! They have 2 packets of Java Moss, small packet $3 each. And so we bought and then visited the shop. They are selling lotsa fishes, many kinds.
We were so attracted by the different kind of fishes they sold, when the fishes is in school (group), really really alot, like 1 fish per inch that close.

Came home and finish off things needed to settle and started to plant. Took me abt 1 hour to complete the tying.


As you can see, drift wood is abit oversize. So the top is over the water surface.

Learnt that tying the plants using the nylon string is not easy, tend to slip off by itself. Gotta try other knots, maybe I'll look for pathfinder or Linus. haha...

I am still finding the touch of aqua planting, this is my first time doing it. Not sure whether the plant will survive anot. Dosed 1 cap of seachem flourish excel after planting and changing 40% of the water. Also abit of Beneficial Bacteria.

Bought more aquarium stuffs and plants

Had been searching for the right shop to get the stuffs I need at the cheapest price until Linus saw my blog and spoke to me abt it. Wow... he told me got 2 places that are selling cheap and nice stuffs, one at Nature Aquarium opposite Thomson Medical Centre and another one at Clementi Block 328 (nickname: c328).

So, Linus jio-ed me to go together and we met at the shop at 7.30pm. He came all the way from Hougang to shop with me and gave me tips on what to get. Both of us, were like aunties in the market shopping for vegetables, as what Alice said abt us. Walk in and out.. and around the shop, looking for stuffs needed.

In the end, I got something and considered lower end on my spending, see what I got below.
1. 55W Aqua Planting Lights
2. Seachem Flourish Excel lioquid
3. JBL complete fertilizer tablets (1 box)
4. Termometer
5. Nylon String to tie the plants to drift wood
6. Timer
7. Java Fern
8. Dunno wat plant on pebbles
9. Dunno wat plant on wire mesh
10. Drift wood

*All shots taken using Canon Ixus 860 IS using auto mode and aquarium mode.

All the stuffs here except a piece of drift wood which is soaking in water.

Putting the plants temporarily inside the tank while waiting the drift wood to discharge tannine.

Some moss on pebbles. Dunno the name...

Chendol plant/Ah Pek plant.
(sci.name: Utricularia graminifolia)
'Brazilian Micro Sword'
Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis

Java Fern.