Upcoming shrimp tank

[sunkenmetal]

Uneducated and some people have a hard time differentiating slow death vs. sustaining life with poor lighting.

That is why I stick with traditional light fixtures... I don't want educate

[fishman1]

are you talking about cardinal shrimp or cardinal tetras? cardinal shrimp with oebt will never work out unless you want one of them dead. Plus try sticking with a single species. If you're using aquasoil I'd recommend getting crs cbs taiwan shrimp they love low ph oebts perfer neutral but they do alright in low ph but it all depends on who your buying from and their water conditions so good luck

[Chris.d514]

Why do people talk about LEDs like they all the same?

Is there a type of LED that is better or should I stick with fluorescents for now? I have been debating on CO2 since I decided I wanted to do this tank. Still unsure about it but I keep trying to read up on it.

[mnemenoi]

I myself prefer flourescents, but its entirely up to you. C02 will lower the Ph of the water in the aquarium and can be expensive and troublesome if not done properly. I prefer to not do CO2, but that is my own opinion and there are quite a few enthusiasts on the board that enjoy it and can help guide you to the correct equipment and setup/maintanance.

[bikeguru]

Go with small T5's with a color temp of 6700 or 5500. You can go with a LED's but need to start taking pars measurements and if required dimming the led's. you start looking soon in to a led system of like
$300 or up.
If you use ADA aqua soil no CO2 is required.
I have many shrimp tanks all are 10 gallon and plants growing out of my tank. NO ferts or CO2.
Shrimp breed better too with no amenities to the water.
Let nature take his way and know your tank personality.

[Chris.d514]

Looks like fluorescents it is and still debating CO2 but that's something that can be decided later if plants aren't doing well. Still looking at shrimp requirements and types so I can have a nice mix but limit interbreeding and different water condition requirements.

[mnemenoi]

There is certainly a lot to consider. I have found our plants do fine with liquid carbon (Excel) and have never had any issues. I have found it more economical compared to a full CO2 setup, but all our tanks are very small. It depends on the type of plants you want, shrimp to be kept, lighting strength. With those factors in mind you should be able to choose just the right equipment and parameters to achieve your desired results.

[Chris.d514]

I have heard on planted tank that excel works great so I will keep that in mind. Looked at lighting at petsmart and found a t5 setup for 80 so much less than the 300 for a decent led setup mentioned earlier.

[Totenkampf]

i have a dual t5HO fixture over my 10 gallon shrimp tank and am lightly dosing with excel and ferts. i am only trying to grow low light plants in there since the tank is pretty tall compared to its volume but the shrimp seem to be doing well.

[Chris.d514]

I'm thinking that a dual T5HO should work for me since tank is fairly shallow. Just got to get the stand for it built after I get back form vacation. Think I'm going to build it with MDF around a 2x4 frame and put some lacquer on the mdf after painting it.

[Totenkampf]

Does MDF swell any with humidity or is it pretty stable?

[Chris.d514]

I think with a solid coat on protectant it should be fine.