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Thread: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

  1. #1
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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

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    Is the acceptable/optimum bioload measured by the nitrate level?

    Some background on my question;
    I set up a small shrimp tank (12L) 3 weeks ago and let it cycle for a week.

    Week 0 - Tank cycling with filter running, liquid bb, plants

    Week 1 - Tested for PH and Ammonia. PH is 6.5, Ammonia is 0 (or at least almost 0, the liquid test kit colour not very clear)
    Added 10 Fire shrimps and 1 Otto


    Week 2 - Tested for PH,Ammonia and Nitrate. PH is 6.8 - 7.0, Ammonia is 0 and Nitrate is 5-10ppm.
    Out of the initial 10 shrimps, 2 have passed away. The rest and the 1st Otto are active and eating well.
    Added 5 RCS and 1 Otto

    Week 3 (This week) - On average I see 1 shrimp death every 2-3 days. Have yet to run the tests this week.

    Full tank conditions are;
    12L Gex tank (30x20x20)
    Average 26-28C (Fan)
    Hailea Internal filter(Adjusted to 50L/Hr)

    As the fan increases evaporation, I topup 300-500ml per day. The water i use is from a pail of aged water water i declorinate(with declorinater) and add BB liquid which i leave to stand throughout the week.
    I also do a 15% water change once every week.


    Is the bioload too high for this size tank? I notice the Ottos eat a lot (they fight with the shrimps for the shrimp pellets/wafer algae i drop in!) and also poop a lot.
    They are also quite active, always moving around the tank to suck on the plants,tank and substrate, sometimes banging into the shrimps.

    Thinking of giving away the 2 ottos and changing the internal filter to a small cannister/HOF and hope that works

  2. #2
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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Tank size might be too small to do 15% water change weekly..

    What soil are you using?
    钱不是问题!问题是。。。我没有钱。。。
    花钱像拉屎一样简单,赚钱像吃屎一样难。。。

    http://alvinchan80.blog.fc2.com

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    I did a similar set up before but didn't do much water change. Once per month draw out some water then drip in treated and aged tap water. Kept 4 Ottos and 20 cherry shrimps in the beginning and managed to maintain for about 1 year.... then shrimp population exploded and the tank crashed.

    I notice you only cycle for 1-2 weeks? Did you test for nitrites (NO2)? Even thought got nitrate doesn't mean the nitrites are at 0.

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    RE: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Quote Originally Posted by alvinchan80 View Post
    Tank size might be too small to do 15% water change weekly..

    What soil are you using?
    Really? I will try a weekly 10% and monitor.
    I'm using aquaup shrimp substrate, those small little round black substrate type
    Sent from my RM-821_apac_singapore_293 using Board Express

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    RE: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Quote Originally Posted by davincey View Post
    I did a similar set up before but didn't do much water change. Once per month draw out some water then drip in treated and aged tap water. Kept 4 Ottos and 20 cherry shrimps in the beginning and managed to maintain for about 1 year.... then shrimp population exploded and the tank crashed.

    I notice you only cycle for 1-2 weeks? Did you test for nitrites (NO2)? Even thought got nitrate doesn't mean the nitrites are at 0.
    Nope I didn't get the no2 kit..was on a budget so I only bought ph and no3/4 and subsequently.
    Should have gotten the master test kit :banghead:

    I'm considering to give away the 2 ottos now as they are quite active, which may be stressful to the shrimps.

    Plus they really eat a lot and poop a lot.
    Everytime I disturb the substrate (when I suck up unfinished food), I notice there is a lot of otto waste

    I'm thinking of upgrading to a better hof/cannister too but the problem with filters with higher flowrate will result in a washing machine environment

    Sent from my RM-821_apac_singapore_293 using Board Express

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Do you have any plants in your tank like frogbits or hornworts? It would be good to have them in your tank.

    As those mini canisters and HOFs, they have this flow rate control build on them to control the flow rate of the output of water. You can add ceramic rings in them to aid up the water filtration which greatly benefits for your shrimps. If you find canister overpowered, get the HOFs. They have many sizes out there and definitely there will be one suits your tank

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Honestly I would feel that the NH3 and NO2 kits are more important Than pH and nitrate kits, especially for new tank setups. Like bro seudzar said, it would be good if you were to get some nitrate sponges for your tank. By nitrate sponges it refers to plants that can use nitrates extremely fast. Not only that, they can also use ammonia if present. (Not too sure about nitrites), which serve as a little bit of buffer.

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Hi guys to update,
    I have changed the internal filter to a GEX slim S HOF (the one with the disposable cartidges).
    So far so good, no deaths since last friday and the cartidges look like they have accumulated a fair amount of smuck. The previous internal filter didn't seem to be working so well as I have noticed that the water output is a bit dirty (I stuck a small piece of wool into the spray skimmer and the wool turned entirely brown after a few mins).

    Haven't managed to test NO2 but i just tested for Nitrate yesterday and it was 10-20ppm which seems a tab high.
    I'm looking to introduce another piece of moss on DW asap to hopefully reduce the nitrate and provide some more flora space for the shrimps.


    I am also probably giving away my 2 otos as they are contributing significantly on the bioload, fighting with the shrimps for space and food

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Try get some frogbits... It will help too.

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Quote Originally Posted by seudzar View Post
    Try get some frogbits... It will help too.
    Quote Originally Posted by seudzar View Post
    Do you have any plants in your tank like frogbits or hornworts? It would be good to have them in your tank.

    As those mini canisters and HOFs, they have this flow rate control build on them to control the flow rate of the output of water. You can add ceramic rings in them to aid up the water filtration which greatly benefits for your shrimps. If you find canister overpowered, get the HOFs. They have many sizes out there and definitely there will be one suits your tank

    Haven't thought about the plants but I am cooling the tank with a fan so the frogbits will be flying around haha
    Will try to see if LFS sell them in small quantities to try

    The Gex filter has a little space available for ceramic rings, will drop by LFS to see if i can buy a small packet of the smaller ring types, thanks for the heads up.

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    I was using Gex slim filter before. This is what I do. I did not use the filter pad that came along with the filter, instead. I put a sponge at the inlet of the filter. It is not the sponge that comes along with the filter, it is those finer sponge type like those air sponge filter type. This sponge will act as the first layer of filter which suppose to filter often small particles. Then in the filter compartment. I just fill it up all with bio medias like biohome medias and seachem matrix, then just at the output of the outlet, I put fine filter wool to filter off whatever the finer particles that the sponge could not trap.

    However, by doing my method, I need to clean the sponge at the inlet like every 2 weeks or so depends on your bioload and replace the filter wool once it gets clog up.

    Wonder if you can visualize how it looks like or not.. Hehehe

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Quote Originally Posted by seudzar View Post
    I was using Gex slim filter before. This is what I do. I did not use the filter pad that came along with the filter, instead. I put a sponge at the inlet of the filter. It is not the sponge that comes along with the filter, it is those finer sponge type like those air sponge filter type. This sponge will act as the first layer of filter which suppose to filter often small particles. Then in the filter compartment. I just fill it up all with bio medias like biohome medias and seachem matrix, then just at the output of the outlet, I put fine filter wool to filter off whatever the finer particles that the sponge could not trap.

    However, by doing my method, I need to clean the sponge at the inlet like every 2 weeks or so depends on your bioload and replace the filter wool once it gets clog up.

    Wonder if you can visualize how it looks like or not.. Hehehe
    Hi Bro,
    I totally understand what you mean

    I'm using the Slim S model which has 2 filter pad slots. I had initially intend to only lay some extra biomedia between the pads and inlet area but your idea seems like a good one too.

    This could be my future setup
    Inlet > Sponge > 1 netbag of Biohome plus + 1 netbag of another media(carbon?) > Filter wool

    To be honest i was a little skeptical of the 2 little filter pads provided by GEX but after letting it run for almost a week, i can see the amount of smuck stuck between the filter pads. Water seems to be slightly clearer too so they should be doing their job.

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Oh.. Forgot to mention. If you were to use biohomme bio media. Take note. The brand new media will cause a pH increase in your tank and will maintain at 7-7.5. So don't be shock. It will take some times for the pH to wear out. Once it wear out. It will become inert.

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    This pH increasing characteristic of Biohomme...is it only for the red version? Or both red and grey?
    I'm guessing the grey may not be as alkaline, but its just a wild guess

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Navanod, both version will cause an increase pH to 7.5, but the red one will affects more but these are only temporary effect and will wear off.

    However depends on the amount of biohomme material used, they will generally affect the pH but like say if your biohomme media is only 10% of your water, the affect will be quite minimum.

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    Re: Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Thanks for the information seudzar. I had only used the red version and only in token quantities so can't really see any real impacts on pH.

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    Too high bioload for a small shrimp tank?

    Welcome Navanod...!

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