# My shrimp rack and shrimps



## jumpsmasher

Now that my shrimp rack is finally complete (for the time being) and I finally cleaned the glass on the tanks the other day so my camera can see what's inside, I thought I share some on the photos of the tanks and their inhabitants.

My shrimp rack started at the beginning of the year when I decided it was time to redo my existing shrimps tanks (2 x 23G, 1 x 10G) and switch the substrate over to ADA Aquasoil. Long story short, I was having issues with the Fluval Shrimp Stratum (low survival rates of shrimplets, etc and seeing how a few others on the net were experiencing the same issues and it was almost time to change the substrate over (1 year) and decided to switch to ADA Aquasoil as see if I would have any better luck.

I decided to take the opportunity to move the tanks to my den to see if it the temperatures would be more stable there. Than after thing about it a bit more I thought it would be neat to have a type of gravity fed "drip" system for my water changes and top-offs so I could slowly fill up the tank during water changes and automatically top off any daily evaporation unattended. I had previously picked up HOB float valve for my R/O water barrel and I thought I could used the same thing to slowly fill my tanks and keep all my tanks topped up with have to keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn't overfill (fell asleep a few things doing this in the past  ). From there the Shrimp Rack idea was born!

I started putting together my Shrimp rack at the end of March and went with a 48" x 18" medal frame rack from costco and set it up to have 3 levels for tanks and a couple of short levels for supplies and storage. The tanks consists of 3 x 10G on the bottom rack, my 2 existing 23G on to the middle level and a new 20G long, as well as the two reservoir tanks for water changes (10G) and top-offs (5G) on the top.

The 3 x 10G were to first to populate the rack at the end of March, the 20G Long was added at the end of April and than finally my existing 23G were move later in the summer. Unfortunately I didn't really document the process other than a few photos when I first set them up.



















Here is a photo of the rack today:









Current inhabitants are as follows:
20G Long: Super Tiger Shrimps
23G Left: Crystal Red Shrimps (Breeding Group)
23G Right: Taiwan Bee Shrimps (BKK, Panda's)
10G Left: APB Pure Black Line Crystal Black Shrimps
10G Center: Crystal Red Shrimps (Culls)
10G Right: Misc. (Golden Bee, low grade CRS)

Also have a few other tanks not on the rack:
33G - BTOE, OEBT, Orange Sakura Shrimps
AquaStyle 9G - Painted Fire Red, Green Shrimps
12G Long Iwagumi - TBD, currently emmersed
110G Tall Planted - Misc Live-bearers, Painted Fire Red Shrimps

Filtration system in all the tanks consist of a undergravel system which are connected to either HOB or canister filters. There is a sponge filter in each tank as well. Substrate in all the tank consist of ADA Africana and Amazonia; the depth and mixture varies in the tanks depending on my targeted parameters. I use 100% R/O water remineralize with Fluval Shrimp Supplement, Mosura MineralPlus or Bee Shrimp GH+. Tanks are kept fairly bare, usually a piece of driftwood with some moss and java fern.

Will post more details and pics about the individual tanks below...


----------



## jumpsmasher

*3 x 10G*










As my two 23G still had shrimps in them, the first 3 tanks on the rack were 3 Aqueon 10 gallon tanks I picked up during a sale at Big Al. They came with a free HOB filter and they also had a bunch of 50W heaters on sale at the same time so I ended up three tanks w/ 3 HOB filters and 3 heaters. The original plans for the three tanks as to use them as breeding and nursery tanks for my CRS shrimps. 1 for the main breeding group, 1 for the culls and one for the berried females and shrimplets.

All three tanks were setted up the same way with an undergravel filter system hooked up the HOB filter. The first one used an old AquaClear Mini I had sitting around while the other two used the Aqueon HOB that came with the tanks. The Aqueon worked great for this purpose once I threw way the original cartridge i was able to fit my three filter media (Eheim MECHPro, BioMECH and SubstratPro) as well a 100ml pouch of Purigen. Plus the way it was designed, the output of the filter was greatly diffused and the flow diverted along the surface of the tank leaving the rest of the tanks relatively undisturbed (shrimps like lower water flow, especially shrimplets). I ended switching out my AquaClear for my spare Aqueon a few month later.

I cycled all three tanks for about a month and moved my CRS from my 20G tank into the first 10G. Shortly after that two of my females got berried and I decided to move the berried females to one of the empty 10G so they won't be brother by any of the males. By this time there was also a good layer of biofilm in the "nursery" tank so this will provide the newborn shrimps plenty of food. This also let you feed the shrimplets by themselves without them competing with the adults (who also like to eat the baby food). Another advantage of separating your berried females into another tank is that once the shrimplets are born and she is ready to breed again, you can control who they breed with by adding the select males you want to breed into the nursery tank or by moving the females and males into a 3rd tank.

The first batch of shrimplets were born at the end of May followed by a second batch a week later. In total there was 35 or so shrimplets. The shrimplets were eating well and it seemed like most if not all of them survived. Their parents however slowly started dying one by one until all of them died off - wasn't sure what killed them but might have been a bacterial infection or the summer heat.

The babies however were fine and I started moving the ones with more solid colors to the third 10 gallon tank and from there they were moved to the 23 gallon tank after it was ready.

*Parameters*
pH: 5.8 ~ 6.0
gH: 5
TDS: 160
Temp: 23 C
Filtration: DIY undergravel pipe + HOB filter, sponge filter
Substrate: ~ 1/3 ADA Africana / 2/3 ADA Amazonia

The middle 10G still house my CRS shrimplets today but now they are all young adults. They are what I refer to as my "culls" as their colors are not as solid as the ones in the breeding group.



















The first 10G was home to my Golden Bee shrimps for bit until they moved them to the 3rd 10G to make room for my recently acquired APB Pure Black Line CBS:




























Even though I been pretty happy with the three 10G so far, I am planning to replace them with a single 33G breeder with 3 partitions so it would allow me keep all of my CRS from this line in the same tank - would make make moving around shrimps for culling and breeding a lot easier.


----------



## jumpsmasher

*23G CRS Tank (Breeding Group)*










From the above CRS group that was born in late May / early June I selected best shrimps in terms of thickness and intensity of color and move them into one of the 23G. Out of the dozen of so CRS in this tank I would say there are 5-6 females with very nice colors, 2-3 okay males and a few lower quality but mature females from my culls that I just threw in there to increase my population.

Not sure if they have some Golden genes in them as their parents were just some higher (than normal) grade CRS from the LFS so they probalby do have some golden genes in them will never be consider a "pure" red line but I am mainly doing this to get some experience with line breeding and to see how far I can take them. Most of the females are now berried so I should in a month or so see how my current set up works for breeding (i.e shrimplet survivability) and if there is any improvements in color in the F2 offsprings. I am kinda learning as I go so looking forward to see what the next generation holds.

*Parameters*
pH: 5.8 ~ 6.0
gH: 5
TDS: 160
Temp: 23 C
Filtration: Eheim UnderGravel Plates + Prefilter + Eheim Canister filter
Substrate: ~ 1/3 ADA Africana / 2/3 ADA Amazonia

One of my biggest issue in my environment is the temperate, specifically heat. I am pretty sure the parents of my current CRS died off due to stress from the first heat wave of the summer. My condo gets very hot during the summer. Even after picking up a portable A/C unit the temperature in my den was still a bit warm so I added additional cooling in the form of some computer case fans. Originally I had them plugged into the timer so that they turned on when the lights were on but I found the temperature crept up at night. So in the end, I just kept the fans on 24/7 and if the temperature gets too cold the heater kicks in. Not the most power efficient way to cool the tanks but it keeps temperatures stable. One of these days I will have to build some DIY dual stage temperature controllers.



























































































One of the lower grade females:


----------



## jumpsmasher

*23G Taiwan Bee Tank*










After some early success with the CRS, I was very curious to see if it was possible to set up a taiwan bee tank. When they first hit the shrimp market they fetched very high prices and earned a reputation for being very sensitive shrimps. I kinda knew I could hit the lower pH levels with ADA Africana and with the prices dropping to fairly reasonable levels for taiwan bees I decided to take the plunge and to go for it.

I switched my ratio around for ADA Africana / Amazonia and increase the depth of the substrate to over 5" - definitely overkill for a 23G tank but it will keep my pH level super stable.

I picked up 6 BKK including a Shadow Panda at the beginning of September and they all seem to be doing alright... well at least all 6 are still alive.. lol

They grow more slowly than regular bee shrimps and the ones I have are fairly shy during the day. They seem to only come out when the lights are off but at the same time they seem pretty content with just feeding off the biofilm in the tank.

*Parameters*
pH: ~ 4.8
gH: 4
TDS: 150
Temp: 22 C
Filtration: Eheim Undergravel plates + Prefilter + Eheim Canister filter
Substrate: ~ 2/3 ADA Africana / 1/3 ADA Amazonia (powder)

I have yet to see a berried BKK but they are pretty young and haven't really seen any females in my group - I think all of my mine are males but it might be just because they are too young to tell. I did put in a saddled female Golden Bee and couple of weekends ago and she became berried last weekend.


----------



## chinamon

wow! those look awesome!


----------



## GaryC

OMG awesome looking!


----------



## camboy012406

thanks for sharing guy


----------



## camboy012406

what are those small light brown circles?


----------



## randy

Very nice set up. That's a lot of substrate ;-)


----------



## Scotmando

Great set-up!

In this photo does your undergravel filter cover the whole bottom of the aquarium or just a small portion?

You mentioned you're using an Ehiem UG plates, do you have Model #?

And what is the grey rock looking material on the bottom below the filter?

Impressive rack you have!

Regards, Scott



jumpsmasher said:


> Filtration system in all the tanks consist of a undergravel system which are connected to either HOB or canister filters. There is a sponge filter in each tank as well. Substrate in all the tank consist of ADA Africana and Amazonia; the depth and mixture varies in the tanks depending on my targeted parameters. I use 100% R/O water remineralize with Fluval Shrimp Supplement, Mosura MineralPlus or Bee Shrimp GH+. Tanks are kept fairly bare, usually a piece of driftwood with some moss and java fern.


----------



## jumpsmasher

camboy012406 said:


> what are those small light brown circles?


Are you referring to these little balls?



jumpsmasher said:


>


If you are they are Shrimplab's Bacter House if I recall their name correctly. I think they are ceramic / clay balls that are designed for housing bacteria that shrimplets can than feed off.

The large one is an Azoo Max Bio Ball


----------



## jumpsmasher

Scotmando said:


> Great set-up!
> 
> In this photo does your undergravel filter cover the whole bottom of the aquarium or just a small portion?
> 
> You mentioned you're using an Ehiem UG plates, do you have Model #?
> 
> And what is the grey rock looking material on the bottom below the filter?
> 
> Impressive rack you have!
> 
> Regards, Scott


It covers around 5" of the back part of the tank, basically where the black lava rocks are (which is the grey rock you are referring to). They just look grey because they are covered in bacteria powder.

As for the undergravel filter I believe the model is #3451 "EHEIM Undergravel filter suction principle"


----------



## jumpsmasher

randy said:


> Very nice set up. That's a lot of substrate ;-)


Thanks Randy!

It is but I figured since I had the depth with the tank I would try it and see how it works. Will be interesting to see if it has any effect on buffering life of the substrate but so far it's done a great job keep the PH stable at 4.8


----------



## Jackson

Nice set ups!!!

So you have the ugf only under the lava rock and not under the substrate? 
I have an idea why but I still have to ask. Why?


----------



## jumpsmasher

Jackson said:


> Nice set ups!!!
> 
> So you have the ugf only under the lava rock and not under the substrate?
> I have an idea why but I still have to ask. Why?


In the finished version there is layer of substrate over the lava racks as well. The lava rocks basically prevent the smaller granules from getting pulled into the DIY UG pipes and ensures that it won't clogged as easily - at least that is the theory. It also prevent the substrate from breaking down as quickly.. at least not as quickly as opposed to just having the substrate by itself over the UG pipes


----------



## aaronc

Beautiful setup. Thank you again for sharing. 

Btw do you find that the wire racks bow alot under the weight of the tanks?


----------



## jumpsmasher

aaronc said:


> Beautiful setup. Thank you again for sharing.
> 
> Btw do you find that the wire racks bow alot under the weight of the tanks?


It does bow a bit, I would say about 5-10mm in the middle - I think for my next rack I will going with something a little more heavy duty.


----------



## randy

jumpsmasher said:


> Thanks Randy!
> 
> It is but I figured since I had the depth with the tank I would try it and see how it works. Will be interesting to see if it has any effect on buffering life of the substrate but so far it's done a great job keep the PH stable at 4.8


Let us know if you find any difference.

I read an experiment of an Asian breeder using different amount of substrate in different tanks that were set up at the same time. His conclusion was that the advantage of more substrate doesn't show until months later by observing the breeding in different tanks. A lot of people only pay attention to the PH since that's the easiest to observe, there are a lot of other factors to be consider here. Nowadays, I judge the effect of substrate by observing how the moss grow. I find that moss grows much better in these active substrate tanks than in Akadama tanks. And when moss grows nicely, shrimps breed better and survival rate of the babies also increase.


----------



## getochkn

randy said:


> Let us know if you find any difference.
> 
> I read an experiment of an Asian breeder using different amount of substrate in different tanks that were set up at the same time. His conclusion was that the advantage of more substrate doesn't show until months later by observing the breeding in different tanks. A lot of people only pay attention to the PH since that's the easiest to observe, there are a lot of other factors to be consider here. Nowadays, I judge the effect of substrate by observing how the moss grow. I find that moss grows much better in these active substrate tanks than in Akadama tanks. And when moss grows nicely, shrimps breed better and survival rate of the babies also increase.


Have to agree with you on the moss thing, before I redid my tanks, my moss in my Netlea tank was ever growing and always needed to be trimmed. Also, the small planted tank I did with netlea is going crazy too. My substrate is almost 4" thick over my 50% UGF plate.


----------



## Zebrapl3co

Wow, nice setup. I would probably get a gorilla rack at Costco. Those are much more sturdier.
I really like your top up pump. Where did you get it. Was there problems installing it to your tank?

Thanks,

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## jumpsmasher

randy said:


> Let us know if you find any difference.
> 
> I read an experiment of an Asian breeder using different amount of substrate in different tanks that were set up at the same time. His conclusion was that the advantage of more substrate doesn't show until months later by observing the breeding in different tanks. A lot of people only pay attention to the PH since that's the easiest to observe, there are a lot of other factors to be consider here. Nowadays, I judge the effect of substrate by observing how the moss grow. I find that moss grows much better in these active substrate tanks than in Akadama tanks. And when moss grows nicely, shrimps breed better and survival rate of the babies also increase.


Funny you mention the moss - they been driving me crazy trying to keep them under control. I been looking for slower growing moss so i don't have to trim as much. I am liking the one aorund the manzanita in my 23G CRS - I believe it is taiwan / peacock moss. The other moss i have in my tanks are xmas and java moss - they grows too fast for my liking.

But will keep an eye on the survival rates of the babies.. got about 6-8 berried females in there right now... my first batch did great in one of the 10G but this will be the first time they will release babies in the 23G.



Zebrapl3co said:


> Wow, nice setup. I would probably get a gorilla rack at Costco. Those are much more sturdier.
> I really like your top up pump. Where did you get it. Was there problems installing it to your tank?
> 
> Thanks,


I picked somehting simiar up for my next rack project.. but it will only be 34" wide to house 30" tanks - the next one after that will be my big 48" x 24" rack project.. aiming to house 4 x 15/20G tanks per level - I think i will need some industrial level racking for that.. 

The top-device is just a float valve driven by a gravity siphon using a 1/4" R/O water line from the reservior tanks. It is similar to the ones that comes with some R/O machine for sumps but this one has a plexiglass bracket that hangs on the back of your tank.

I got mine from fish-street but you can also find them on ebay and a few other places
https://www.fish-street.com/nano_auto_water_filler?category_id=139

Installation was fairly easy, hook up the water line, making sure it is tight (use telfon tape if needed), secure to the back of the tank and adjust the height for the water level. Just make sure there is no obstruction that prevent the floating bulb from moving. Double check all your connections to make sure there are no leaks. Since I had two seperate lines going into each tank i added a ball valve on each line and connected them using a "T" to the float valve. Normally, the top-up line is always on while the Re-mineralize water is off except during water changes where i turn off the top-up line and fill the tank up with re-mineralize water.


----------



## CrystalMethShrimp

Beautiful setup, very good choice to go with the UGF when using an hob filter.

I definitely agree with you wanting to switch over to a 30 gal long with 3 partitions. It's much safer to move the shrimps around, especially the berried ones.

Yours auto top off setup looks really interesting. Hopefully you can do a tutorial on the setup up one day for everyone.

I was curious as to where you got those shallow food dishes? 
Also had trouble keeping my moss alive even though i had my lights on 10 hours/day. Do you want to sell off some of your moss?


----------



## jczernia

randy said:


> Let us know if you find any difference.
> 
> I read an experiment of an Asian breeder using different amount of substrate in different tanks that were set up at the same time. His conclusion was that the advantage of more substrate doesn't show until months later by observing the breeding in different tanks. A lot of people only pay attention to the PH since that's the easiest to observe, there are a lot of other factors to be consider here. Nowadays, I judge the effect of substrate by observing how the moss grow. I find that moss grows much better in these active substrate tanks than in Akadama tanks. And when moss grows nicely, shrimps breed better and survival rate of the babies also increase.


I'm Sorry I have to disagree I have Akadama and my moss is growing like crazy. I was lucky to get 4 more bags of it. When it comes to using HOB Filter and UGF I had nothing but problems if you ever need to take the HOB be careful not to pull out the UGF. The set up looks good


----------



## jumpsmasher

CrystalMethShrimp said:


> Beautiful setup, very good choice to go with the UGF when using an hob filter.
> 
> I definitely agree with you wanting to switch over to a 30 gal long with 3 partitions. It's much safer to move the shrimps around, especially the berried ones.
> 
> Yours auto top off setup looks really interesting. Hopefully you can do a tutorial on the setup up one day for everyone.
> 
> I was curious as to where you got those shallow food dishes?
> Also had trouble keeping my moss alive even though i had my lights on 10 hours/day. Do you want to sell off some of your moss?


When I set up my next rack I will see if I can document the top-off system better. The feeding dishes are just cheap glass petri dishes that I got off ebay. I believe they were around $20 for 10 w/ covers so effectively 20 dishes. There are much better quality ones out there like the Pyrex and NAG ones but those one cost 5-10x more.

Ya the thing with xmas moss is there is two types of growth; the slow growing and compact form when it is tied down to driftwood and the more sparse but faster growing "free" form which IMO is not very nice. you have to be rather pro active when it comes to trimming the latter as it can quickly take over a tank if left unchecked. For my nursery tank, I was rather happy with using more java fern and very little moss. And of course java moss grows fast no matter what - I am always very careful to try to keep them out of my tanks.

I saw some nice simple setups with mainly mini pellia on large rocks - I think I might try something like that next.



jczernia said:


> I'm Sorry I have to disagree I have Akadama and my moss is growing like crazy. I was lucky to get 4 more bags of it. When it comes to using HOB Filter and UGF I had nothing but problems if you ever need to take the HOB be careful not to pull out the UGF. The set up looks good


So far I must say I am very happy with my HOB setups. I don't really ever plan on moving the HOB's unless I breaking down the tank. The only maintenance I ever do on them is switching out the purigen every 6 months or so. I haven't tried Akadama with them yet but so far I haven't had any issues with the ADA aquasoil breaking down prematurely or any clogging issues. However, I do believe you have to be rather strategic with how you layer the substrate. I think the first layer of biological media / lava rocks than ADA Africana helps prove a bit of mechanical filtration. Africana is one of my favourite substrate - similar look to Akadama but a bit harder and with a more aggressive buffering capabilities. In tanks with both Africana and Amazonia I always position Africana on the bottom whenever possible.

I have also been very impressed with the Ehiem mechPRO media... but simple design (plastic black tubes) but they don't breakdown like old ceramic hex ones and do a great job of screening out any substrate that get by the UG. I also don't use any fine foam in the HOB's just a very small coarse sponge that I cut to cover the inlet (approx 1" x 2" x 0.5") than the following media MechPRO, BioMech, SubstratPro / Matrix, Purigen.

I think they work very well for my 10G tanks but anything bigger I used canister filters.


----------



## randy

jczernia said:


> I'm Sorry I have to disagree I have Akadama and my moss is growing like crazy. I was lucky to get 4 more bags of it. When it comes to using HOB Filter and UGF I had nothing but problems if you ever need to take the HOB be careful not to pull out the UGF. The set up looks good


No need to say sorry when disagreeing with me, I don't even agree with myself sometimes. I was just expressing my experience. Do I not like Akadama? I definitely do and half of my tanks are akadama tanks, just need to find what works for me for different applications.


----------



## MananaP

I used to have all my tanks UGF connected to canister filters, the only issue i have with the system is that it creates bubbles through time i don't know how/why but i saw many bubbles under/side of the UGF which in turn get's sucked up by my canisters & started to make sounds which i didn't like. Keep in mind i never had this problem until maybe 1 1/2-2 years the tank was set-up.


----------



## randy

I used to do UGF on almost all my shrimp tanks, my newer tanks now only get a small UGF plate (~6'x10').


----------



## getochkn

randy said:


> I used to do UGF on almost all my shrimp tanks, my newer tanks now only get a small UGF plate (~6'x10').


Wow, 6 feet by 10 feet? That's a big plate Randy. lol.

My 3 20g's all have 1 plate, 50% of the tank, powered by an HOB filter and they all seem to be doing fine with it so far. Pretty good sucking too from them. When I first setup the tanks, they always get a bit cloudy (I'm probably too impatient dumping water in and could never sit there and drip 20gal in over 5 hours or anything) and I filled the HOB's connected to the UGF mostly with floss to help clear the water and within 12-24, the tank was crystal clear and the floss was brown and full of crap, so it has to be pulling through the plate pretty good.


----------



## randy

getochkn said:


> Wow, 6 feet by 10 feet? That's a big plate Randy. lol.
> 
> My 3 20g's all have 1 plate, 50% of the tank, powered by an HOB filter and they all seem to be doing fine with it so far. Pretty good sucking too from them. When I first setup the tanks, they always get a bit cloudy (I'm probably too impatient dumping water in and could never sit there and drip 20gal in over 5 hours or anything) and I filled the HOB's connected to the UGF mostly with floss to help clear the water and within 12-24, the tank was crystal clear and the floss was brown and full of crap, so it has to be pulling through the plate pretty good.


GeToChKn, that post was written @ 6am in the morning, forgive me for the typo ;-) I meant to say 6"x10".

I agree UGF gets you clean water, the reason I don't do almost 100% coverage anymore is due to other reasons. Mainly, when things don't work out, it really gets me to wonder what can be growing under the plates. But I'm sure that's just my imagination. Also, trying to prolong the life of the substrate. Some reports I read from *some* experienced breeders is that they decided to not use UGF after a while, so at least I can say, it's not a make or break factor.


----------



## getochkn

randy said:


> GeToChKn, that post was written @ 6am in the morning, forgive me for the typo ;-) I meant to say 6"x10".
> 
> I agree UGF gets you clean water, the reason I don't do almost 100% coverage anymore is due to other reasons. Mainly, when things don't work out, it really gets me to wonder what can be growing under the plates. But I'm sure that's just my imagination. Also, trying to prolong the life of the substrate. Some reports I read from *some* experienced breeders is that they decided to not use UGF after a while, so at least I can say, it's not a make or break factor.


Everyone has their own way and method and whatever works, works. That's the most important part. You can go 1 Aquaclear filter like Ricky and have tanks full of shrimp, you can go 3 canister hooked together like other breeders and have tanks full of shrimp. You can have 100TDS water or 500TDS water. The important thing is tanks full of happy, healthy shrimp. Some feed 15 different minerals, powders, suppliments, some put in some fish food or spinach and call it done.

Best thing I learned about shrimp is go with what works for you and keep it stable and stick with it. Peoples params are all over the map on what works for them as are their tanks and water they use, everything.


----------



## MananaP

You guys are the expert hehehehe, get back at me in 2 years time when soil starts to break down.


----------



## getochkn

MananaP said:


> You guys are the expert hehehehe, get back at me in 2 years time when soil starts to break down.


Not claiming to be an expert by any means.

If I had nice water, I wouldn't worry about active soil. lol. I know it's got to be redone, there is no denying that, I have redone 1 tank once. My other thought to avoid that was a sump like system with the sump full of active soil so it's easier to change out without disturbing the tank.

My whole point was whatever works for you, go with it


----------



## camboy012406

getochkn said:


> Everyone has their own way and method and whatever works, works. That's the most important part. You can go 1 Aquaclear filter like Ricky and have tanks full of shrimp, you can go 3 canister hooked together like other breeders and have tanks full of shrimp. You can have 100TDS water or 500TDS water. The important thing is tanks full of happy, healthy shrimp. Some feed 15 different minerals, powders, suppliments, some put in some fish food or spinach and call it done.
> 
> Best thing I learned about shrimp is go with what works for you and keep it stable and stick with it. Peoples params are all over the map on what works for them as are their tanks and water they use, everything.


agree. I also bred crs before using hob filter and im not even adding some minerals on the tank.


----------



## MananaP

getochkn said:


> Not claiming to be an expert by any means.
> 
> If I had nice water, I wouldn't worry about active soil. lol. I know it's got to be redone, there is no denying that, I have redone 1 tank once. My other thought to avoid that was a sump like system with the sump full of active soil so it's easier to change out without disturbing the tank.
> 
> My whole point was whatever works for you, go with it


I'm just stating my opinion & giving you guys a heads up with this UGF system connected to canister filter. I did have & a friend that is also a breeder set-up an ADA Amazonia not using UGF & the soil lasted about 4 years without touching it.


----------



## jumpsmasher

I am still a relative n00b compared to you guys so I haven't really thought that far ahead... but there are definitely some pros and cons to each type of set up. There are many different ways of achieving the same end results which is happy shrimps. So far my goals were just to keep them alive and to get them to breed past F1's. 

I only really tried one type of setup so far and while I am pretty happy with it so far I also like to try different things. Since I was able to pick up some Akadama recently, I am planning to use them for the next series of tanks and ditching the UG for those.

Hey MananaP, in your tanks with dividers, do you only have one intake for the filter? If so, have you encountered any issues with water movement (lack of) between the different partitions by only have one intake? Do you also double up your canister filters for those tanks or use super oversized filters?


----------



## MananaP

jumpsmasher said:


> Hey MananaP, in your tanks with dividers, do you only have one intake for the filter? If so, have you encountered any issues with water movement (lack of) between the different partitions by only have one intake? Do you also double up your canister filters for those tanks or use super oversized filters?


Ok here is my honest opinion as i have tried almost every set-up for shrimp tank there is.

I have tried 2-3 canisters connected in series, they work yes BUT i have the same result as having one why not use those 1-2 other canister for better use which is set-up another tank.

I have tried connecting UGF to canister filters, as i said though in my previous post that through time when your soil starts to break down i'm not sure if this happens to all but it did happen to me. Air pockets started to build on the soil which was on the sides of the UGF in turn it gets sucked up by my canister & started to make sounds which i don't like. I removed it & replaced it with air driven the result is still the same in terms of shrimps being happy & content. The plus on having a big sponge intake is also more bacteria to grow & my shrimps like grazing on that sponge, which you will not get when it is connected to UGF.

I only use one canister/intake/outlet in all my divided tanks. I place intake in one partition, basically end to end(intake/outlet). I never have that problem because as others followed it i have an inch or so space underneath where the gravel is placed & also 2 holes which has about 3-4 inches in diameters. It is very easy to maintain if you feel like one section has lack of water flow. You can take out the sponges & clean it with tank water OR you can just use something to tap the sponges to release some of those waste that is plugging water flow. If you still need more water movement/bubbles i suggest adding sponge filter air driven in each partition.

Hope these helps, GL!

MP


----------



## Symplicity

@MP
Can you advise on AquaLiam's setup using biomedia around the UGF intake tubes. He states it has never clogged in years. Home-made UGF 1/2" pipes with 4mm hole drills, covered by Matrix biomedia.

Thinking of a new setup with

1 quarter UGF (homemade) using Liam's style powered by cannister (100% biomedia)
1 air driven sponge filter
and a second canister with 100% biomedia protected by sponged inlet.


----------



## jczernia

jumpsmasher said:


> *Parameters*
> pH: 5.8 ~ 6.0
> gH: 5
> TDS: 160
> Temp: 23 C
> Filtration: Eheim UnderGravel Plates + Prefilter + Eheim Canister filter
> Substrate: ~ 1/3 ADA Africana / 2/3 ADA Amazonia
> 
> One of my biggest issue in my environment is the temperate, specifically heat. I am pretty sure the parents of my current CRS died off due to stress from the first heat wave of the summer. My condo gets very hot during the summer. Even after picking up a portable A/C unit the temperature in my den was still a bit warm so I added additional cooling in the form of some computer case fans. Originally I had them plugged into the timer so that they turned on when the lights were on but I found the temperature crept up at night. So in the end, I just kept the fans on 24/7 and if the temperature gets too cold the heater kicks in. Not the most power efficient way to cool the tanks but it keeps temperatures stable. One of these days I will have to build some DIY dual stage temperature controllers.


To help you control your temperature look into temperature Controller STC-1000 you can find them on line and they work


----------



## MananaP

Symplicity said:


> @MP
> Can you advise on AquaLiam's setup using biomedia around the UGF intake tubes. He states it has never clogged in years. Home-made UGF 1/2" pipes with 4mm hole drills, covered by Matrix biomedia.
> 
> Thinking of a new setup with
> 
> 1 quarter UGF (homemade) using Liam's style powered by cannister (100% biomedia)
> 1 air driven sponge filter
> and a second canister with 100% biomedia protected by sponged inlet.


i"m not sure about that as i haven't used the product. I use those UGF that are readily available in pet stores which is 12x12 inches plates connected to my canister which i will never do again. You can try it & maybe in a year or so tell us your feedback. People can claim things online BUT personal experience is what it counts.


----------

