First Shrimp Tank Build

[Keybler]

Hello, Starting to build my first shrimp tank.

To start with I have a 15gallon tank with a marineland 30 gallon hob filter 30 gallon 78 degree heater and a small power head.

I already know I need a hood with a medium level light, gravel of some type driftwood. So just a few questions to get me up to the point where I can cycle my tank I need a gravel. Having trouble finding what is prefered to what I can find at my lfs's

I've been looking in the seachem brand of flourite? I've read not to use sand, so what do you guys think?

Also I need to find a sponge and cut it for the intake of my hob filter. does anyone know what type of sponge exactly I should look to buy? the guys at the lfs showed me a few and they where either way to big, or the sponge holes where really big.

I would like a colony of rcs or something along those lines, and maybe a few snails.

Thanks for anyhelp.

 

[hippy guy]

Rcs breed pretty well. You can get good deals on here. Jetajockey might have some..

 

[Keybler]

Rcs breed pretty well. You can get good deals on here. Jetajockey might have some..

Finding the shrimp doesn't seem to be the hard part. I just want to do the tank setup right, the first go around and not throw money away like I did on my 55gallon. I need gravel before I start to fill it, I also need to get a new biowheel or biomax for my hob.

 

[jetajockey]

I use aquaclear sponge filter inserts over my intakes.

 

[Aspencer]

In my experience, I have no sponges on my intakes.

I have Aquaclear 30's, two of them, and when I clean out the filters every two weeks, each one on a rotating schedule, I find shrimp in there and just put them back in the tank...each filter seems like a nice nursery...hehe...

Getting sucked up is not harmful since they do not go through the turbines and they can feed on the sponges.

Maybe I am wrong so please enlighten me.

 

[Keybler]

i'll look into the aqua clear sponges, they seem cheap.

What should I run in my filter? I can fit 2 rite size b cartiages. I was thinking of throwing some biomax I have into the first area and then a cartiage in the second area just to keep the biomax in place. I Already have this stuff, and the aqua clear sponge is 4-5 bucks, so all in all would that filter setup be ok?

 

[jetajockey]

My shrimp are always camped on the sponge over the intake eating stuff of of it. The other benefit is during maintenance I just slip the sponge off, squeeze it out in some water, and put it back on. I haven't taken that canister filter apart in several months.

If it sucks them up but doesn't do any damage I guess it'd be okay, I don't know.

 

[hippy guy]

The ac sponge inserts that slip over the intake...how is that? Does is slow water down at all?

 

[Keybler]

Im wondering that also? Can you put a ratio on the water flow with and without the sponge?

thanks

 

[jetajockey]

I use it on almost all of the tanks that I have a canister filter on. It doesn't seem to affect the flow much at all if the tank is relatively clean. I do WC's every 3-4 days on the tanks though so it really doesn't have much time to build up a good layer of gunk, plus the shrimp tank is nothing but shrimp and BN plecos so there isn't a ton of waste.

Those sponges have large pores and I have not noticed a big difference in flow with/without them, if they are kept clean. They need to be replaced every few months as they begin to deteriorate.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Hey Keybler,

I've been breeding shrimp for many years now, I can probably help. I first suggest to take the power head out and just run the filter. They don't like too much water current, they will end up hiding in dead spots behind rocks and such.

I highly suggest you put a sponge insert or a nylon stocking over the intake. That's enough said on that part.

I suggest getting some kind of floating or bushy plant, that's always low light for ease. They will benefit a ton from live plants.

 

[Aspencer]

I originally had bigger ones that slipped over the intake...I thought that all the filtration was done with that sponge so what was the sponge in the filter for??? I took them off.

 

[Keybler]

apsencer.. the sponge on the intake is to protect the shrimp from being sucked it. the sponge in your filter is for filtering(i'm sure someone can put that in better terms). The sponge gives a surface for more bio media to grow.

Fishcrazy.. Thought about the powerhead and already removed it. I intend to get a big diftwood and grow java moss on the surface with a few moss balls and maybe 1 plant like java ferns. all slow growing medium to low light. I still havn't picked a hood but it will have plant bulbs. I'm thinking of seachem dark for gravel. and i've figured I can put one carbon filter in, and then fill everything behind it with biomax.

Also I have a stable water of 7.5 6 degrees of gh & kh. not sure what shriimp I want yet, but thinking crs or rcs, also some snails.

thanks

 

[Keybler]

I don't think my tank is going to cycle so this weekend i'm getting gravel and a big diftwood just to start the tank.

I currently used water out of my main tank, and even put a part of the main tank filter in my shrimp tank. I also moved 4 platys over to keep the water in good shape.

I'm having trouble finding a good hood with lights. I want something half way nice, around 50 dollar limit. Looked at these marineland led hoods, but need to research more.

Also I found a place online selling online clams, and I really like the idea of them, the question is will the shrimp harm the clam?

Thanks

 

[hippy guy]

Caralife makes cheap t5 strips ( 50 for a 24 in. Doule fixture)

 

[hippy guy]

*coralife
Also clams are. A no go, id say, there strickly filter feeders, and it be difficult to give the the neccisary space, sand dept, and food they require