A Shrimp Tank Project :D

[Junneh]

If you live in sengkang I can lend you my tds meter for a couple of hours...

I appreciate ur willingness to help, thanks mate. I'll be getting a TDS meter online which will be delivered in a week or two.

Those Vallisneria will slowly absorb the kh as source of carbon. Have you consider removing the mineral wool and plant the Vallis into substrate? I not sure if those mineral wool will do any harm to shrimp or not. Anyway Vallis is a runner plant, eventually it will grow out of the pot.

Your tank look fine, I don't think you need so much water change ba. Vallis is quite a fast grower, good for absorbing nutrient too.

Haha, I sure hope those plants do their job in keeping the tank parameters stable. I don't intend to disturb the substrate as it would cloud the water again...


I just found more pregnant shrimps and REALLY minuscule baby shrimps swimming in the tank. I hope most of them have not been sucked into the HOB Filter... Speaking of which, are there any other reliable filters around? Preferably a cheaper price around 50$? The HOB seems to be malfunctioning lately & I desperately intend to swap it out soon. Should I buy any other equipment needed to improve the quality of my tank?

[14litre]

I appreciate ur willingness to help, thanks mate. I'll be getting a TDS meter online which will be delivered in a week or two.




Haha, I sure hope those plants do their job in keeping the tank parameters stable. I don't intend to disturb the substrate as it would cloud the water again...


I just found more pregnant shrimps and REALLY minuscule baby shrimps swimming in the tank. I hope most of them have not been sucked into the HOB Filter... Speaking of which, are there any other reliable filters around? Preferably a cheaper price around 50$? The HOB seems to be malfunctioning lately & I desperately intend to swap it out soon. Should I buy any other equipment needed to improve the quality of my tank?

To prevent the shrimplets from sacking into the hof, you need to put a pre-filter, either made from a stainless steel mesh or sponge.

If you are going for another hof, you might want to get this prefilter as well.

I am not using hof because the waterfall output will disrupt my substrate.

I bought an internal filter to replace it and it turned out more difficult to "block" the inlet, not possible to add any pre filter.

That left me with either a sponge filter or canister.

I was reluctant to go back to sponge filter because i wanted more filter media.

In the end I bought a hang over canister filter. There is a sponge at the inlet and this prevent the shrimplets from sucking in.

Just sharing my experience and I hope it will help you in making your decision.

[Bern C]

Haha, I sure hope those plants do their job in keeping the tank parameters stable. I don't intend to disturb the substrate as it would cloud the water again...

Oh... But if you wanna do it, you actually can. Since your tank has being establish for 2 months, most particles should be trapped by your filter and what left over are mostly bigger particles. Shouldn't cloud the water unless you disturb too much soil. The main concern will be ammonia spike if there are still ammonia remains in the soil. Just be careful when pulling the pot out.

For filter and shrimp mesh/sponge, you can try shop at seaview. They have wide range of equipments. As what UA and 14litre said, it's best to get filter that can contain more bio media and at least 3x flow/hr of your tank.

[Junneh]

Sorry for the late update. Been really busy the past few days. I've bought some mesh and to cover my filter inlet. Most of my mama shrimps are without their eggs now. I hope they did not drop their eggs but given birth to healthy shrimplets. 2 shrimps died over a span of 3 days. Reason is unknown, no visible evidence of aggression, failed molting & water parameters are as per normal.

Does anyone know where I can get my HOB Canister & preferably the model too? Been to nearby LFS but they did not have any in stock.
Also, I'm intending of introducing blue shrimps into the tank but I have no idea where to get them. I heard the cheapest grade of blue shrimps are called Blue Pearls right? Has anyone heard of them or has any idea where to buy them?

Thanks again, for all of ur assistance. ^~^

[14litre]

You may refer to this thread on some examples on hob canister.
UA posted a couple.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...tration-System

Canister (hang over type)
- Do not take additional floor space but the space behind your tank
- Less tubing for inlet, outlet
- Cannot channel the water to a Chiller, but one of our bros did it with his totto filter.

External canister
- you have more control on the inlet/outlet especially if you want to introduce lily pipe.
- Can channel to Chiller
- More variety of brand/model

Personally I am using a hang on canister and have no experience with the conventional external filter.

[Urban Aquaria]

For those compact canister filters that can be hung on the side of a tank, you can get them from the larger LFS like Seaview... so far, thats the place which stock the widest range of different filter models.

[Junneh]

Thanks all for ur advices. I'll heading down to seaview in awhile to see what type of filters are available there. So far so good, apart from 2 dead shrimps and a couple of baby shrimps who died by burrowing themselves too deep into the subtrate ==

Here's some pictures of the tank

[Bern C]

a couple of baby shrimps who died by burrowing themselves too deep into the subtrate ==

Here's some pictures of the tank

Sounds interesting. XD Didn't know they do that. Hmmm.. maybe they looking for place to hide?

Your horde of shrimps are healthy and happily eating.

[Junneh]

Sounds interesting. XD Didn't know they do that. Hmmm.. maybe they looking for place to hide?

Your horde of shrimps are healthy and happily eating.

Sadly, despite them eating happily... I've discovered more dead shrimps especially adults...not to mention they are fire reds... No idea what the hell is happening though. Most the dead shrimps have a white line around the nape of their heads. I suspect it might be molting issues but other shrimps seem to have no problems in molting. I guess it's a game of roulette as to who molts and survives?

Can anyone advise me on this?

Regards,
Junneh

[Urban Aquaria]

Sadly, despite them eating happily... I've discovered more dead shrimps especially adults...not to mention they are fire reds... No idea what the hell is happening though. Most the dead shrimps have a white line around the nape of their heads. I suspect it might be molting issues but other shrimps seem to have no problems in molting. I guess it's a game of roulette as to who molts and survives?

Can anyone advise me on this?

If your other parameters are okay (water is clean and GH is within reasonable range), then the only other thing you can do is perhaps add in some beneficial shrimp mineral/vitamin supplements to help improve their molting process.

Although stronger healthier shrimps may be able to molt successfully, the weaker ones may still have difficulties due to slight deficiencies, so its just a matter of giving the weaker ones additional "boost" to reduce the chances of molting issues.

[Junneh]

If your other parameters are okay (water is clean and GH is within reasonable range), then the only other thing you can do is perhaps add in some beneficial shrimp mineral/vitamin supplements to help improve their molting process.

Although stronger healthier shrimps may be able to molt successfully, the weaker ones may still have difficulties due to slight deficiencies, so its just a matter of giving the weaker ones additional "boost" to reduce the chances of molting issues.

My GH's at 4-5. I've been dosing GH Builder from up-aqua during every WC. Somehow, it doesn't seem to be helping much :l

[Urban Aquaria]

My GH's at 4-5. I've been dosing GH Builder from up-aqua during every WC. Somehow, it doesn't seem to be helping much :l

That GH builder is the one designed for shrimp tanks? In that case, then i guess you just have to let the tank mature and stabilize further, eventually it should achieve a nice balance.

Hopefully the stronger remaining shrimps will start to breed and produce hardier adapted offspring too.

[Junneh]

Haha, shrimp keeping is a fun hobby...until the tank gets screwed up to unknown reasons... Upgraded my filter to Fluval C3 in hope to handle the bio load in the tank. Checked parameters of the water and all seems normal... However, there have been a handful of dead shrimps for the past few days... Probably more than 10 shrimps, mostly consisting of adults and a few juveniles. I have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on with my tank and I'm close to my wits end. Witnessed some shrimps twitching as if its suffocating and died minutes later. Other dead shrimps have a distinct white line around their necks. I'm so close to giving up this hobby to avoid killing more innocent shrimps. Lol.

Population in the tank is still pretty healthy, with some berried mamas and shrimplets swimming around. Can anyone please give me advice on this issue please? I'm desperate for advice & help T-T

[Bern C]

Did your water parameter like temp. fluctuate?? Do you still do frequent water change?
=D I think it's not a bad idea to have a log book to record the water parameter, the date & numbers of casualties, what you do to the tank etc. Maybe from this data you might find a trend or clues.

[Junneh]

Did your water parameter like temp. fluctuate?? Do you still do frequent water change?
=D I think it's not a bad idea to have a log book to record the water parameter, the date & numbers of casualties, what you do to the tank etc. Maybe from this data you might find a trend or clues.

So far, I've conducted once weekly WC 20%. I usually dose a small amount of GH Builder for shrimps for supplements of minerals. Done all tests for ammonia, gh, nitrate, nitrite, ph..the readings are somewhat the same. The temp usually stays at 28-30C. I'm afraid the temp might be too warm for them thus I might be throwing ice cubes once or twice per day to cool the water.

[Dscheng]

Saw your post on the water parameters

Ammonium: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
PH: 6.5
GH: 3-4
KH: unknown (Important)
TDS: unknown (Important)
Temp: unknown (Important)

There 3 reading is very important for shrimp tank. Based on the picture, seem like your tank height is quite high? Is your filter strong enough? No harm adding one air stone to improve the water oxygen.

[Junneh]

Saw your post on the water parameters

Ammonium: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
PH: 6.5
GH: 3-4
KH: unknown (Important)
TDS: unknown (Important)
Temp: unknown (Important)

There 3 reading is very important for shrimp tank. Based on the picture, seem like your tank height is quite high? Is your filter strong enough? No harm adding one air stone to improve the water oxygen.

Hello, I do have a thermometer to measure the temperature now. I've ordered a TDS meter but has yet to arrive. I'm a little out of budget now so I can't afford the KH tester.

New equipments: Fluval C3 HOB. its max cap is 50 US Gal/190L.

Currently I have 2 filters operating. 1 for bio media, the other is equipped with sponge to trap/remove dirt/food particles.

[Junneh]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I do have an air pump running at the back of the tank too.

[Bern C]

So far, I've conducted once weekly WC 20%. I usually dose a small amount of GH Builder for shrimps for supplements of minerals. Done all tests for ammonia, gh, nitrate, nitrite, ph..the readings are somewhat the same. The temp usually stays at 28-30C. I'm afraid the temp might be too warm for them thus I might be throwing ice cubes once or twice per day to cool the water.

I don't think it's a good idea to throw in ice as it's very hard to regulate the temp. with ice. Worst case, it might kill or stress your shrimps. You might wanna try a aquarium fan. I read about people keeping RCS at 30C but just that need to worry about the O2 level but since you have airstone shouldn't be a problem. Not sure about anything above 30C. Also at higher temp. RCS will grow and reproduce faster which might lead to premature molting.

[Jimmy]

My tank temperature can goes up till 32°C, especially with recent hot days. No fan used and all RCS still good, of coz don't just see temperature alone. Many other parameters play a part to their well being too.

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