TheHighestCrew 10 gallon skrimp tank

[TheHighestCrew]

Hey This is going to be my update area for my shrimp tanks. Currently I only have 1 up and running but once I am moved I will fire up others.

Currently: 10 gallon soil based tank. Has about an inch of organic soil covered by maybe a half inch of fine gravel. Several river rocks to decorate. Tetra whisper in tank filter (will upgrade to a canister with sponge intake), 50 watt heater, CFL clamp light.

Stock:
Cherries
Malawa
1 African dwarf frog
2 golden apple snails
MTS


Plants:
Christmas Moss
Banana Plant

[mistahoo]

Wouldn't the frog eat some shrimp? I hate MTS with a passion. I'd rather get assassin snails to aerate the soil. You can get the ADA aquasoil at City Pets instead of waiting on ADG, they have a lot of boxes full. I think it's like $30 something a bag? Any pics of the setup?

[TheHighestCrew]

I dunno he is maybe half an inch long, bit longer with his legs out he is tiny. So far the only interaction I have witnessed is him seeing one and swimming away from it. Otherwise they ignore each other. I noticed those bags at city pets. I will change up the substrate after I finish moving. The Malawa are not the most colorful lake Sulawesi shrimp but I really enjoy them. I will try to snap photos after work.

[mistahoo]

Re: TheHighestCrew 10 gallon skrimp tank

When you change up the substrate, wait to reintroduce your livestock. It leeches out a lot of ammonia. At least my bag did. Also keep up frequent water changes. I did 50-60% water changes for a week. If I didn't have livestock I would've done 90-100%.

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[TheHighestCrew]

I have another identical 10 gallon that is empty. I wanted to go ahead and set both up when I move. The empty one can begin cycling. I will throw the ADA in the empty tank and use some filter media from one of my canisters to expedite.

Do you know about Zebra rock? I found some at a local rock supply type of store and was wondering how it would work for the tank. I want do go more Iwagumi style but don't want to ship any rock. I think these stones would be perfect so long as they won't mess up the water parameters. thoughts?

[mistahoo]

I changed out substrate, added plants, added some safe, and used cycled filter on the tank, but it still wasn't enough for the ammonia that leeched out. Lost 4 fish and most of the cherries I had. Only have 3 cherries left. I've got them in a 10g to repopulate and now I have blue velvets in the 5g. Tank was stable after a week of constant water changes.

No clue. I've never had zebra rocks. Vinegar test the rock to see if it leeches out anything? If it doesn't then it should be fine.

[mnemenoi]

Malawi's and Cherry shrimp love harder water, so the zebra rock should not matter a bit. I'd certainly look over the characteristics of Aquasoil before going that route though. It leeches Ammonia horribly for some time and will plummit your Ph. It is very good (once established and calmed down, usually 1-2 months) for soft water shrimp such as Crystal reds and Crystal blacks and all their myriad of bred varieties (King Kongs, Red Wines, ect.) as well as some of the Tiger shrimp families. With the shrimp you have I'd avoid it though. My cherries will breed in straight tap water (7.8-8.1 ph) with literally no care whatsoever and no Ph buffering substrate.

In my soft water tanks (those with a Ph reducing substrate) I avoid using any stone at all as many do leech some TDS into the water and can shift it up a bit. I myself use only RO water on those tanks and never add anything close to our tap water.

[TheHighestCrew]

I plan to do any aquasoil in an empty tank and will test safe before any stock is added. I am thinking of trying the black floramax because it is pretty cheap per bag. Just as an experiment. They had a pretty good experiment on ThePlantedTank that used every type of available aqua soil and the plants showed no notable difference in growth rate. Pretty interesting. The rocks I am looking for are geared towards my bigger 40 gallon planted tank. I want to find some relatively safe forms of rock that can be purchased locally. Once I get set up at my new place I do plan to buy a ro/di system.

On a side note I now see at least 3 berried malawis. I think I have lost one this whole time so far but I cannot get an accurate count to tell if it was a malawi or a cherry. I took some pics but they are cell phone and you cannot really see the skrimps.

[TheHighestCrew]

Here are two cell pics. Hard to see the shrimp

IMG_20121128_191853.jpg

[mnemenoi]

I have had great success using the the Eco-Complete in our 10 gallon. It is terrific for cherries and higher Ph shrimp. No nitrate spike at all, but there is a bit of leeching additives and ferts. I just recommend packing it with plants at start up and you'll be golden. We get terrific growth for anything under a 32 watt 10K Power Compact hood (it is a 2 bulb, but only one is turned on at any given time). No CO2, but do fertilize regularly with Seachem stuff (Excel, Flourish, Potassium, Nitrogen,and root tabs) and an Iodide supplement (has been contested to have no effect on FW shrimp, but we do see results)

[TheHighestCrew]

Sweet! I am gonna try a bag of the floramax black on my empty 10 gallon. It is supposed to be identical mix to eco complete, minus the water in the bag. I beleive they have it at petsmart for like 12-15 a bag which is doable. I plan to use the ADA stuff on my bigger tank when it gets redone after my move. I already use the seachem stuff so I will root tab it up and continue with the excel.

[TheHighestCrew]

The Malawas bred now I have tons of tiny little shrimp hiding in the rocks and moss. Bunch more are berried.

[armthehomeless]

Those malawas know how to do the nasty!!

[TheHighestCrew]

Yeah they do, now most of them are berried. Lots of little skrimps too. I switched up the substrate to caribsea floramax and wow what a difference. I love the black substrate makes all the shrimp stand out. My refuge bamboo shrimp has been moved to this tank.