help with 2.5 G shrimp tank

[OBEYtheFISH]

Can anyone tell me what a good filter would be for this size of a tank with shrimp?
It's also going to be planted

(I've never had such a small tank )
Thanks!

 

[BHead707]

i havent either. possibly a sponge filter of some kind? would keep the shrimp from being tossed around

 

[OBEYtheFISH]

Was thinking that but a sponge filter & a heater doesn't leave much room for anything else

 

[cheeky_monkey]

I have a 1.8g shrimp tank and use a homemade sponge filter. That way I could make it whatever size I wanted. You can get mini canisters but everything I looked at had too fast a flow rate for the shrimp.

 

[OBEYtheFISH]

Can you post a pic of your sponge filter?

 

[cheeky_monkey]

Yes I will take a pic for you shortly. Basically its a baby food jar (for the weight) with a piece of sponge squished inside and an air hose pushed through right to the bottom.

You don't need the jar but you need to weigh the sponge down somehow.

I've hidden it in the corner behind moss covered rocks so its not unsightly.

 

[gabysapha]

I made a sponge filter with a cleaned fish food container. I don't know what size you need per gallon, but it was just what I had lying around. I think it's working fine, the shrimp are breeding and the water never has issues. To weigh the jar down I put a layer of gravel on the bottom, and inserted the airline tubing under the gravel so that it doesnt float up.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

Yep that will work too I just used the baby food jar because it was heavy enough to not need gravel to hold it down.

 

[Penncentralfan]

I would get an internal canister filter and put it at the weakest level of water flow. A duetto or eihm will come with a large sponge in it.

 

[bs6749]

You don't need to run a filter. Just get some guppy grass and put it in the tank and make sure you have a fair amount of light available and you will be fine. Do water changes of .5 gallons every week to keep the water clean.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

You don't need to run a filter. Just get some guppy grass and put it in the tank and make sure you have a fair amount of light available and you will be fine. Do water changes of .5 gallons every week to keep the water clean.

Please explain your theory that guppy grass can replace a filter.

 

[jetajockey]

Plants oxygenate the water. I have a bowl in my kitchen that is around 1.5g and it has nothing in it but shrimp, black sand, and a few plants.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

Yes that makes sense but where is the waste going? Can that amount of planting maintain the breakdown and conversion of waste?

 

[jetajockey]

There's not a whole lot of waste in a shrimp tank, and even still, the plants consume nitrogenous waste while the solid waste usually just breaks down into mulm. In a gravel tank most of this mulm settles out of sight, but a sand tank would likely need vacuuming periodically when it becomes unsightly.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

Originally my shrimp tank had no filter and required daily vacuuming of the sand, since adding the sponge filter I've not needed to do it at all. There is a fair bit of moss and some planted and floating plants but without my filter it required a lot more maintenance to keep it looking nice.

 

[bs6749]

jetajockey hit it right on the head for me, clearly explaining why no filter is needed. You can siphon of any waste every other week if it is unsightly. A fast growing plant like guppy grass will remove nitrates and will also oxygenate the water as it grows.

 

[OBEYtheFISH]

I found a little HOB from my sisters old betta tank
I added some bio rings & some cut up filter media to catch the debris
The sponge filter would've been good but I didn't want too many things in the tank

 

[RFGymnast]

Looks great!

 

[James_in_MN]

You could use one of these.

Amazon.com: TOM Aquarium Mini Internal Filter 45gph adjustable flow: Pet Supplies

I have two of them in my 5.5g RCS tank right now. They come with a spray bar to spread the water flow out. I had it running in my 2.5 when it was my shrimp tank (before I got them a larger tank).