Hi All,
I'm starting a 60Lx35Dx45H shrimp tank with hopes of having a carpet of HC / Glosso.
I've been reading up the forum. I have tonnes of questions which i need answers.
Questions might be noobie to all. . .but pls kindly bear with me
Water Change:
1. What water do you change with? From the tap? Over night water from the tap?
2. During water change, do you try to suck up all the dirt? will this cause ammonia spike?
3. During water change, you suck the water from the top or at the bottom or middle?
Condition of water:
1. how do i determine if i can put my shrimps in? i understand i need to do those nitrate etc tests. what are the minimum/avaerage guides for each readings for shrimps? i see alot of different readings from different brothers here.. some having pH 7. .some pH5.5 etc
2. what temperature is most ideal if i want to see berried shrimps? I'm thinking of Fire Red as a start and eventually CRS.
3. is chiller a must for shrimps? I went equipment window shopping and i notice most of the chillers are kind of bulky. Do they have smaller chillers? Do chillers spoil easily? read from the forum that alot of brothers seems like having problems with chillers
4. if i were to use fan, water is bound to evaporate. What type of water should i top up with? with this topping of water, won't the pH etc lvl fluctuate?
5. my room is airconed during the night from say 9pm to 6am the next day. will such change in temperature affect anything?
Equipment:
1. I went to seaview over the weekend. I was looking at this external canister filter by the brand of JET. any brothers here using this brand? also, as my tank is around 100L, what are the things i should look out for in a filter? read that flow rate should be 2-3 times of the tank, meaning 200-300L/hr? does faster circling of water equates to better water quality?
2. as i will be getting a new filter how long do i have to wait before i can start dropping livestocks into it?
Flora:
1. Was thinking if i should do the DSM like Urban Aquaria bro. Which is more recommended for a newbie like me? DSM or submerge planting?
2. After reading the forum, i know its hard to achieve the best of both worlds with fauna and flora. As such, i read that ADA amazonia soil is best recommended in this case? ie, i just go to LFS and say ADA amazonia soil? are there alot of types of ADA amazonia soil? i went to seaview, they don't carry ADA soil ya?
Sorry for the long post. Hope to get some help here. Thanks!!!
Best Regards
Forgot to add. I started a shrimp tank about 2years ago. everything was well until i went overseas for two weeks.
When i'm back, i dont see anymore shrimps left. As such, i left this hobby for a couple of years until i start to visit this forum again.
As usual. . .once in the forum again. . .its hard to get out unpoisoned. ..
I will try to answer..
1. What water do you change with? From the tap? Over night water from the tap?
[Erc] tap water with water treatment like seachem prime, mix.. let it sit a while, then put into tank.
2. During water change, do you try to suck up all the dirt? will this cause ammonia spike?
[Erc] best if you can. if you do see alot of dirt on the soil or anywhere, that means you need to look at water circulation.
3. During water change, you suck the water from the top or at the bottom or middle?
[Erc] I suck water from everywhere. especially through my filter.. as a backwash.
Condition of water:
1. how do i determine if i can put my shrimps in? i understand i need to do those nitrate etc tests. what are the minimum/avaerage guides for each readings for shrimps? i see alot of different readings from different brothers here.. some having pH 7. .some pH5.5 etc
[Erc] 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 copper, 0 heavy metals if can test.. nitrates for planted tank would be 10 - 30ppm depending on other things like Co2 injection. if running without CO2 and additional fert, best to be 0 as well.
2. what temperature is most ideal if i want to see berried shrimps? I'm thinking of Fire Red as a start and eventually CRS.
[Erc] 25-27 degrees celsius.
3. is chiller a must for shrimps? I went equipment window shopping and i notice most of the chillers are kind of bulky. Do they have smaller chillers? Do chillers spoil easily? read from the forum that alot of brothers seems like having problems with chillers
[Erc] chillers are equipment. will spoil.. especially those with moving parts. alot of forummers recommend high end ones for reasons what the higher end ones are better in quality. also.. remember to get the chiller that is 1 notch higher than required..
4. if i were to use fan, water is bound to evaporate. What type of water should i top up with? with this topping of water, won't the pH etc lvl fluctuate?
[Erc] PH will not fluctuate, but TDS (total dissolved solids) will.. so after a few top ups.. please do a water change..
5. my room is airconed during the night from say 9pm to 6am the next day. will such change in temperature affect anything?
[Erc] its not the temp change that matters.. its a matter of how fast the temp change is.. as long as its like sun set and sunrise that kind of temp fluctuation, its fine. 2-3 degrees in 2 hours or something conservative like that..
Equipment:
1. I went to seaview over the weekend. I was looking at this external canister filter by the brand of JET. any brothers here using this brand? also, as my tank is around 100L, what are the things i should look out for in a filter? read that flow rate should be 2-3 times of the tank, meaning 200-300L/hr? does faster circling of water equates to better water quality?
[Erc] water filtration is determined by how much bioload you have. higher bioload you have equals larger filter equals more water flow. that said, if you have low bioload but a complex scape that causes a lot of water flow dead spots.. you should circulate water more by adding pumps or wave makers into the tank.
2. as i will be getting a new filter how long do i have to wait before i can start dropping livestocks into it?
[Erc] when ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates are stable.. be it 0 or more. stable as in stable ppm readings.
Flora:
1. Was thinking if i should do the DSM like Urban Aquaria bro. Which is more recommended for a newbie like me? DSM or submerge planting?
[Erc] it depends on what you want. for HC, it will root better when you do DSM. but DSM does not make much sense when you are using fern or nanas..
2. After reading the forum, i know its hard to achieve the best of both worlds with fauna and flora. As such, i read that ADA amazonia soil is best recommended in this case? ie, i just go to LFS and say ADA amazonia soil? are there alot of types of ADA amazonia soil? i went to seaview, they don't carry ADA soil ya?
[Erc] there are a few kinds of ADA soil.. but for ADA amazonia, there is powder and normal form. powder means its a smaller granule. walk up a bit further and you will see sun pets and aquarium.. near seaview. they have ADA amazonia.
I am balding but i am still young!
Thanks for the reply Eric. =)
For the soil, which is more recommended? powder or normal form? Which one better hold the roots?
If money is not a problem, get powder.. Haha..
I am balding but i am still young!
This thread came at the right time, I have some questions myself haha.
As for HC, it may not be the best plant for shrimp tank, myself and a few members here had our carpets ripped apart by the shrimps. (Probably didn't trim regularly enough).
With regards to siphon water from the bottom, would there be accidental incidents of siphoning out those just hatched shrimplets? I was lucky to have a batch of crs hatch this week that's may 2-3mm in size, what can I do to prevent siphoning these tiny and I mean very tiny shrimps?
You are definitely right that it can happen. to fully prevent that, attach a fine wire mesh to the siphon. But some would say... it would defeat the purpose of siphoning the water out in the first place.. since large dirt particles would not be siphoned away..Originally Posted by Ingen
Personally i do not siphon water out from the tank.. i take water from my filter outlet. my purpose is not to remove large dirt particles, in fact i circulate my tank proper to make sure larger dirt particles get filtered by the filter..
Also because i use the water from my tank to wash the toilet.. would not want dirt in there... haha.. Not sure if my advice is sound.. but thats what i do... HAHA.. don't quote me!
I am balding but i am still young!
If there is a layer of carpet plants in a tank, then its not really necessary to vacuum the substrate, just let the waste materials get decomposed by the beneficial bacteria inside the substrate and provide nutrients for the carpet plants.
To the TS, i would recommend a glosso carpet, especially if you are keeping shrimps and not injecting Co2. Although glosso is larger, it is alot easier to grow and maintain than HC in low-tech conditions... and less likely to be uprooted by shrimps.
Note that if you plan to use a 45cm height tank, you may need stronger lights to enable sufficient light to reach the substrate level for the carpet plants.
What do you mean by take water from the outlet? You just put a pipe and let it run off the outlet pipe? Sounds like a plan haha.
For filters like eheim classic series, you can detach the inlet and let water out.. for eheim 2260, there is a separate outlet near the inlet meant for back wash purposes. i use both these outlets to collect water.
I am balding but i am still young!
Hi Guys,
Which type of chiller would be appropriate for my 2ft tank? Seems like most chillers are very big. Any recommendation for compact / sufficient cooling effect for my 2ft? what is the price range / shop to patronise that i will be looking at? i don't wish to be a carrot and let people chop =))
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