# New Shrimp Tank



## Boxster123 (Jul 14, 2012)

Hi guys,

I am new to this hobby. This is my setup. Currently I have 23 red cherry shrimps and 1 crystal black shrimp. I am setting it up for crystal or tiger shrimp later. I got Nematodes in my tank, probably from the plant I bought at petsmart, sigh! I know it shouldn't hurt the shrimp, but it's annoying, that's why I got 3 neon tetras in there to help eat them up.

Tank: 24"(L)x12"(D)x16"(H), 20 gal
Substrate: Akadama 2" high, 1/3 of the tank, 2/3 bare tank
Plant: Cabomba Purple, small Amazon Sword, + some misc. plant 
Product: Seachem Prime, Seachem Stability, Mosura BT-9, Borneowild GH Up, Mosura TDS Up, Mosura Rich Water
Food: Borneowild Spinach Ebi Raisu 3, Frog & Tappole Bites, New Life Spectrum Optimum Fresh H20 Flakes, Tetra Flakes, Bornewild Bebi Baby Shrimp Food
Filter: Double Sponge Filter
RO System: Puronics Micromax 6500

Current water parameters: (9 days, added old filter, biomedia from old tank, new sponge filter was added 3 days ago)
Ammonia 0.375
Nitrite 0.125
Nitrate 7.5
PH 6.6
KH 2
GH 5
TDS 144
Temp: 23.6 degree = 74.5 Fah. (no heater)

I started my tank with 20% tap water with prime, 80% RO water.

My new bought RO system's water (0 Ammonia, 6.6 PH, 0 KH, 3 GH, and 4 TDS)
Compare to Markham tap water (0.5 Ammonia, 7.8 PH, 5 KH, 7 GH, 157 TDS)

I guess my tank is still not fully cycle yet. I should wait until Ammonia and Nitrite both hit 0 before I go out and buy some expensive shrimps?

Any tip or advice is appreciated.

Derek

ps-special thanks to Mr. Bako (Tommy)


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Looks good to me..

decide on either tigers or crystals first -_-

i also would suggest a canister filter with lots of biomedia.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

welcome to the forum, fellow markhamite!

im very new to this hobby as well so i wont have much advice as im still learning most of the stuff but there are wonderful people here willing to share their expertise.

i agree with symplicity about getting a canister filter though. eheim 2213 is fantastic and inexpensive.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Welcome aboard !!

Shrimp tank doesn't need to be complicated, your tank should be fine if you have less than 10 shrimps. 

A small canister would be nice. If 2213 is too much, you can get one that AI sells for like $60, make sure it fits your tank lid though. Or even a HOB can help.

If you want to get into CRS, start with lower grade (cheaper) and gain more experience before you dive into the darker side ;-) Tiger is also a good choice.

PS: you said your RO has GH 3?! You mean 3ppm, right? If it's 3 degree, then something is wrong, as 3 degree alone will get you around 54ppm of calcium (or other 2+ ion).


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## Boxster123 (Jul 14, 2012)

randy said:


> Welcome aboard !!
> 
> Shrimp tank doesn't need to be complicated, your tank should be fine if you have less than 10 shrimps.
> 
> ...


Hi Randy,

Just double checked my RO water. The GH is 3, it took 3 drops to change from Orange to Green (API). I don't know if that is good or bad. Just find out from fellow hobbyist I over paid for my RO system.

Anyways, today I see white fizzy thing on my left over shrimp food. So first thing I do is test my water:

Ammonia 0.375
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.5
PH 6.6
KH 2
GH 6
TDS 145
Temp 75

After some internet research, it's probably bacteria growing from overfeeding. I quickly and carefully siphon it out as much as I can (removed 20% water) and dripping back RO water + BT-9 in the tank now.

All of my red cherry seems to be very active moving around the tank and almost all the female are berried. I already saw 3 shrimplets and I suppose there is more, just hard to see.

I added a bunch of duckweed + frogbits. I read if you have enough plants, you can get away with just top off. I think less water change is probably better if I can keep NH3, NO2, N03 to zero.

Derek

ps-photo taken from bottom of tank.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

When you say you added 20% ro back, did you remineralized your ro? If not, over time your water will be too soft for any shrimps. There's no need to use ro for cherry, although it doesn't hurt. But you have to keep gh and TDS steady for better result. 
I can't tell what you meant by white stuff. Bacteria infection can be identified by many symproms including cloudy body, not easily tell on cherry though. Unless you're seeing dead shrimps, I suggest don't do anything crazy.


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## Boxster123 (Jul 14, 2012)

randy said:


> When you say you added 20% ro back, did you remineralized your ro? If not, over time your water will be too soft for any shrimps. There's no need to use ro for cherry, although it doesn't hurt. But you have to keep gh and TDS steady for better result.
> I can't tell what you meant by white stuff. Bacteria infection can be identified by many symproms including cloudy body, not easily tell on cherry though. Unless you're seeing dead shrimps, I suggest don't do anything crazy.


Thanks Randy, I agree, sometimes doing nothing is better than doing too much. I do use BorneoWild GH up and Mosura TDS up to keep GH at 5-6 and TDS at around 150.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Didnt know you actually have shrimp in the tank already ....

Ammonia levels are bad man.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Patience is the hardest part of the hobby, most of us will lose some shrimps because of it. I have a tank for PFRs that started cycling in early March, and I only added shrimps in two days ago ;-)


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## Boxster123 (Jul 14, 2012)

*Update*

It's been 2 weeks since I set up this tank. Every shrimp lives. I count more than 10 Shrimplets now, they are getting bigger and stronger everyday. I suppose red cherry shrimp is extremely easy to breed.

I decided not to go with a canister filter. Instead, I put in a small mineral rock, a nice piece of almond leaf, a christmas moss, some more moss balls.

Now I have 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, and 7.5 Nitrate. I think it was a very good idea to dump the old filter from my fish tank to help seed here.

Also I have noticed my shrimplets like to hang out on the glass to eat the algae. I have a typical top 18" 15W light, but I also added a trouble lamp with a 13W energy saving bulb on the side where I have plants. See photos. I think it really helped the algae grow.

I can't decide between OEBT or CRS/CBS. So I set up another 10G tank below my 20G tank last night. See photo.

This tank has 3" akadama. Seeded sponge filter and media. I am going to do the same thing as last time, adding shrimp in 2 days. I have a ghost shrimp pregnant in my fish tank, I am going to dump it in and see if it will survive. I am going to add some plants tonight, since ghost shrimp has larvae stage and need infusoria.

So I finally get to meet Frank at Kim's Nature. Very nice guy, he took the time and chat with me. I told him I am new to this hobby and he compliment me on my knowledge on shrimps. I told him he's the expect and I just read the information on the internet. He told me the CRS should be keep at a PH of 5.8-6.2, contrary to what I read of the mid 6s. He recommend the medium size akadama (the largest size they carry), he said the reason is the fry like to get in undernearth the soil since medium size has bigger gaps.

For my 10G [20"(L)x10"(W)x12"(H)], with 3" high soil, it's 20x10x3=600 in3 of soil, a 14L bag I got should have 854 in3. However, I still have about half a bag left, so I guess it's the gap that is taking up the volume.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I'd like to know what Ph you get using Akadama?


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## Boxster123 (Jul 14, 2012)

matti2uude said:


> I'd like to know what Ph you get using Akadama?


My first tank I mixed 20% tap water with 80% ro water. I am getting 6.6 PH, but people said eventually it will drop.

My 2nd tank, I used 100% RO water and now I get a reading of 6.0 PH. How can I measure PH below 6.0? Because API only goes down to 6.0, do I need a PH meter?


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## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

Boxster123 said:


> My first tank I mixed 20% tap water with 80% ro water. I am getting 6.6 PH, but people said eventually it will drop.
> 
> My 2nd tank, I used 100% RO water and now I get a reading of 6.0 PH. How can I measure PH below 6.0? Because API only goes down to 6.0, do I need a PH meter?


Yup. I got one off Ebay for about $10 shipped from China. I always though my Netlea tanks were around 6 too because of the test kit until I got my meter and found out they hover around 5pH.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

getochkn said:


> Yup. I got one off Ebay for about $10 shipped from China. I always though my Netlea tanks were around 6 too because of the test kit until I got my meter and found out they hover around 5pH.


i have one of those chinese meters but they suck. it is usually off by about 0.2pH. sometimes it would even show me 8.0pH (on my cycling tank) when i know it is 5.3.

after using a Tri-Meter ($300 meter) for my hydroponics i will never use a cheap meter again. i recently picked up an Oakton pH meter and that thing is awesome. digital calibration too. its only about $90 after tax.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

I still try to go cheap on this. The $10 PH meter, the free TDS meter with my RO purchase. They all work fine. The $10 PH meter I have is actually pretty "stable", I think that's good enough for me. If I get a reading 6.5 while actual PH is 6.3, it's no big deal, as long as it always tells me it's 6.5, since I just want to maintain the stability of my water and not the "perfect parameters".

Plus, if it breaks, it's only $10 ;-)


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> I still try to go cheap on this. The $10 PH meter, the free TDS meter with my RO purchase. They all work fine. The $10 PH meter I have is actually pretty "stable", I think that's good enough for me. If I get a reading 6.5 while actual PH is 6.3, it's no big deal, as long as it always tells me it's 6.5, since I just want to maintain the stability of my water and not the "perfect parameters".
> 
> Plus, if it breaks, it's only $10 ;-)


i ordered a new tds meter as well by HM Digital. the cheapy tds meter that i have does alright but i wanted better. it never hurts to have something better. 

i have a damn 400w Lumatek digital ballast with brand new (in the box) HPS and MH bulbs sitting in my basement. need to figure out what to do with them now since my 30gal tank is taking up my hydroponic space... hmmm.....


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