Some pics of my 3 gallon and 26.5L/7 gallon tanks

[Corucia]

I don't think I've gotten around to posting any pics of my setups so I wanted to share some shots of both my three gallon bowl (up and running for about 18 months) and my latest tank, a 26.5L/7 gallon setup (using a very large Pyrex laboratory cylinder) that's about six months old. I have about 55 shrimp in the 3gal tank (handful of juveniles as they bred about 3 months ago) and the 7gal has 100 shrimp (yet to breed). I have four miniature hermit crabs in each tank as well as 10 snails in each (some from Mustafa in the 3gal tank and Pipipi in the 7 gallon tank). I've used Zetlights on 12 hour on/off timers for each and have heating pads to keep the temps above 70 degrees during the cold winter months in the Northeast. So far, both tanks have done great albeit, I occasionally remove some of the anglehair algae as it can get overgrown. Oddly as well, while Mustafa's microalgae is doing well in the 7gal tank, it almost completely died off in the 3 gal tank (and when I reintroduced it two additional times, it died within 4-6 weeks on both occasions). Very odd as the water tests fine and salinity is right around 1.016. In any case, I hope to post more regularly going forward. Happy viewing!

[Mech]

oh wow they look great! what's the blue coral? in your tank... that looks very nice.

[Corucia]

Thanks Mech. Appreciate the kind feedback. The coral is blue ridge sea coral that I picked up from eBay. There is lots of it generally available. I found it really pops under the Zetlight as the LED lighting spectrum accentuates the blue color and mixes things up contrast-wide in the tank.

[Mech]

thanks for letting me know, my 3 tanks are barebones black sand and huge lump of ocean rock in each. adding some colour would be nice.

[KenCotigirl]

Big fan of the globe. The blue coral is very nice. Is the blue enhanced by the led. I prefer a warm light. The blue may not pop.

Ken

[Corucia]

Ken, I don't think the LED lighting inherently brightens the blue color. I actually have the blue tone LEDs in the system shut off and I'm only using the pure white LEDs and the green/red subleds. This Zetlight configuration is supposed to most closely mimic natural sunlight. Hope this helps

[Corucia]

Adding to my earlier post, here is the original 3gal shrimptank that I set up. It's similar to the other 3gal I have and it's been running for just under two years with ~40 shrimp, 5-6 snails and a couple of miniature hermit crabs.

[KenCotigirl]

Like the globe! Is that Mustafa algae. It seems to be growing everywhere.

Ken

[Corucia]

Ken, the majority of the algae is Angel hair moss from another vendor. I do have Mustafa's microalgae as well but it grows more slowly. The angle hair can become invasive if not periodically trimmed back but this is pretty easy and I don't find the shrimp have any difficulty moving around, getting stuck, etc.

As I noted earlier, Mustafa's algae is doing well in the 7gal tank (newest of my setups at 6 mos old) but less so in the 3gal setups that have been running 18-24 months. It's growth has stagnated in one tank and in the other it has almost entirely died off. Very strange as it thrived in both for over a year then stopped growing in one and died off in the other. It also died off again within 6-8 weeks when I introduced two new fresh batches to the tank. I can't put a finger on it as the water chemistry and salinity are fine (and almost identical in all tree tanks) and the lighting spectrum is the same as well. Moreover, the tank in which it died off is, interestingly, the one that's generated sussessful shrimp offspring so the population is clearly not impacted by whatever is going on. Odd.

[Mech]

I have a similar situation, I have 2 identical cubes, same water parameters, one grows a lot of green algae but the other only grows a small amount? I don't quite understand it either lol.

[jonesinfershrimp]

very nice! as for the growth, it could be a lack of nutrients in the water maybe?

[Mech]

very nice! as for the growth, it could be a lack of nutrients in the water maybe?

Possibly, there are only 6 shrimp in it at the moment :p

[Mustafa]

Ken, the majority of the algae is Angel hair moss from another vendor.

Hi Corucia! Thanks for the pictures and sharing your experiences! That "angel hair moss" is actually just hair/string algae. I could have given you that for free because I usually throw it away. I don't like it because I have actually observed shrimp get stuck in it and die (especially tiny juveniles). It's too dense.

[SuperProofer]

Corucia,

Is that tall black sea fan in your cylindrical tank real or fake? I love that lacey look, but the only real ones I could find were the more tree branchy kind. And finding any locally is downright impossible. It's like no one in Vegas has aquariums, which is ironic since the TV show "tanked" is based here. Maybe I should ask them! Lol