Rubbermaid Sump Ideas For 800 Gallon Shrimp Farming Tank

[fullmetal7777]

Were going to be using an 800 gallon tank specially designed for shrimp farming which we will be feeding around 4 lb's of feed a day. We figure the most cost effective way to facilitate cleaning this water is to build a large rubber made sump (at least 300 gallons). The issue is that this setup will be put in a greenhouse that is located about 1 hour away, so we don't want to have to come out here every 3 days to clean sock filters. This is a senior design project and we don't have any real world experience to know what to expect with feeding 4 pounds a day.

After looking at this post - Can I see some Rubbermaid sumps - Reef Central Online Community it looks like large rubbermaid containers are the best way to go. Were definitely going to be using the marinepure products for ammonia/nitrite, but the biggest issue is how to handle the heavier solids so that we don't have to come out here every 3 days for maintenance. The water doesn't have to be crystal clear since it will be used for shrimp farming. Do you guys have any opinions?

Thanks

 

[coralbandit]

What type of research have you done that leads to believe you should feed 4lbs. a day ?
I feed over 1,000 gallons of breeding fish and fry and don't use 4lbs a week.
I also think most shrimp will be drawn into the sump through the overflow unless you have a special overflow in mind ?
Also as a breeder [of fish] I don't see great success coming from little effort.
If every three days is too often how often do plan on checking in ? And how is the 4lbs. going to fed daily when you are not there ?

 

[fullmetal7777]

What type of research have you done that leads to believe you should feed 4lbs. a day ?
I feed over 1,000 gallons of breeding fish and fry and don't use 4lbs a week.
I also think most shrimp will be drawn into the sump through the overflow unless you have a special overflow in mind ?
Also as a breeder [of fish] I don't see great success coming from little effort.
If every three days is too often how often do plan on checking in ? And how is the 4lbs. going to fed daily when you are not there ?

So in terms of biology and actual fish farming, 100% of that has been left up to our biology expert who has devoted most of his life through research of shrimp farming and holds several patents from that. He has personally patented his shrimp farming system and we have come to him to increase yields of his system through electronics (automation). We are merely in it for improving his method of farming through electronics (such as automating feeding/parameter visualization, etc).

Though he is an expert when it comes to shrimp farming, it was mostly left to us to design the system for water recirculation/filtration. Since he is not an expert in that area and it does not take a PhD to design such a system, though it does take a LOT of planning to accomplish. So in response, I honestly cannot tell you how the feeding and biology is factualized, but that is how it is and that's what we have been told from our shrimp farming expert, and we choose to believe that based on his extensive background.

If however you do see a way to improve this method of checking parameters with electronics (seriously let me know, this is our main area of interest), please let us know, we would love to have a crack at it!

We are also looking at several different methods for automating feeding, obviously improved from our own specialized designs.

Thanks!

Edit: After reading your post, I am interested to hear more about your idea of an overflow. Since we aren't too educated when it comes to aquarium construction (aside from a couple hundred hours of aquarium research, and I don't mean disrespect from that, there 4 of us so that's easy to accomplish), what would be your idea of an aquarium overflow? We assumed putting some sort of filter as the drain would keep shrimp from entering/blocking it, but that may not be that case. I would love to hear your opinion.

Also, because I'm curious, where does the little effort come about? Were trying hard to do this right, hence why were posting this to begin with, but if we have missed anything, I would love to know. I really don't want to come up with a design that come up faulty in the end, and because we really only started researching this a couple months ago, this is the best ideas we've come up with, so hence the only point of posting this to begin with. I do agree that we are uneducated when it comes to this, but we are really trying to learn from the real pros like you and get it right on the first try! I do appreciate your opinions coralbandit and it's really getting me thinking about all the things we might be missing, thanks!

 

[Tacit Blues]

What kind of shrimp are we talking? Given the context of things I'm assuming it's not the Taiwanese Dwarf Shrimp (Red Cherry Shrimp) or any of the common small freshwater guys we usually see as aquarium hobbiests. That might help clear up some of the confusion about food amounts too, and also what size strainers and such you might need to look at.

 

[Tbox]

This sounds like an interesting project. I'm going to follow along in hopes of seeing it come to fruition.
Are you farming consumable shrimp? I agree with what was said above. Being that you're unsure of how this will all work at the beginning of the adventure, the project can't be an hour away and check in on every 3 days. That's a recipe for disaster. The first rule for success is attentiveness. Start a smaller prototype project first where you can be there to keep eyes on it at all times.
I'd like to hear from the experts shrimp guy on this thread.
Did you know BubbaGump shrimp corporation has more money than Davey Crockett?

 

[Autumnsky]

There are so many things here we don't know based on your info.

Things like does the guy you are helping out use a closed system for water presently or new water in and out to a lake or pond of some sort.

Is the 4 lbs. of food for tiny baby shrimp or larger adults. Are they growing up in this system or grown to a certain size before being placed into the system.

Baby shrimp eat less than 4-6 inch shrimp. Are they graded by size to the tanks or all sizes and ages together.

Since you mention being more focused towards the electronic and automation aspect, maybe these type things aren't too important for your project.