70g shrimp tank

[NetMax]

Greetings, can I have your comments/advice on my setup? I haven't bought the shrimp yet. I don't know if the setup lends itself to particular species, and I also don't know what I have available in my area. I'm somewhat new to shrimp, but not to freshwater aquaria. Reading the FAQ, I have the impression that the Red Cherry shrimp might be a good candidate.

Tank is 70g. Substrate is Profile clay (looks like a red coarse sand, but it's very light).

Plants are Sagitaria subulata (appearance is between an Amazon sword and Vallesneria). It's not a fast growing plant, but should provide enough shelter for a micro-organism food supply.

Lighting is four T-12 48" fluorescent tubes (3 daylight & one plant bulb) over a glass cover on a 12 hour timer. There is also a small lamp used for transition lighting (dawn & dusk).

Primary filtration is through UGF plates under the sand (uses a cloth grill to prevent clogging), fed to a canister filter (Fluval 304) returned to the tank through a Pro60 set of biowheels. This combination will not intake anything it shouldn't, water polishes, and will provide highly effective biological filtration with reasonably low turbulence.

Secondary filtration is a conventionally installed Eheim 2213 with a spray bar return. Intakes are high (about 3" above substrate), but this filter is optional if the intakes are a hazard (or I could add a sponge pre-filter to the intake).

Well water is alkaline (8.4pH) and highly buffered (13dkH). I can use it raw (16dgH) or after the softener (0dgH) or in some mix. Due to the high buffer, I will not be lowering the pH.

If you've read this far, thanks! Any pitfalls, concerns or advice (especially in regards to the shrimp) would be highly appreciated. Also is there anything I should seed the tank with, in regards to a food supply for the shrimp (ie: daphnias, nemotodes like tubifex etc). A self-replicating food supply would be ideal. It won't replace the daily feedings, just augment it.

My intent is to have a fairly low maintenance setup (I use auto-feeders, pinch twice a day), and once I have a robust self-replicating shrimp population, I would probably investigate what other life would (could?) be compatable with them.

cheers
NetMax

[sstimac]

You will want to modify the intake strainer on your Eheim canister filter. Your little baby shrimplets will be sucked into it. One thing that I do that does require maintenance every couple of days to free up water flow is this:
pick up some foam for canister filters the cubes or sheets will work. Cut it to fit inside your intake strainer, make sure it fits well, but is not to tight. then use a toothpick jammed through the top slats of your intake strainer to hold the foam in place so that it does not get sucked into your filter.

I had a Bio-Wheel 170 on the back of my 46 bowfront. I figured that since the strainer was so far off the bottom, at least 20cm, that shrimplets wouldn't be able to get sucked into it. I was wrong. When I broke the filter down 6 weeks ago there were two shrimplets in back of the Bio-Wheel. After this I decided it was time to come up with some sort of prefilter.

More advise: Your going to face difficulties keeping plants with an UGF. Plant roots require temperatures several degrees fahrenheit higher than the water temperature. In deep gravel beds often you can acquire this naturally. But, when you use an UGF you are pulling the cooler tank water directly over the roots of your plants chilling them and impeding their growth. Hope that helped. Use the search function, see if there have been other posts like this one. If there have been similar posts you will most likely find very valuable information.

[NetMax]

Thanks for the confirmation on the pre-filtering requirements sstimac. I suspected as much. In regards to the UGF & plants, the plates are only in a 2 square foot 'grotto' at the front of the tank, and the plants are distributed throughout the tank. If neccesarily, I can replenish areas by moving plants around.

Any recommendations on shrimp species for me?

While researching cohabitants and potential natural food items, I came across Hyalella azteca. Anyone have experience with these 1/4" amphipods?
TIA
NetMax

[Neonshrimp]

Hi NetMax,

I think it is a good idea to start with Red Cherry shrimp. They seem to do well in a wider range of water conditions including temperatures. The Cherry shrimp also reproduce and grow faster than most types of shrimp. Just be ready for a tank full of shrimp when your tank has matured

[NetMax]

Thanks for the encouragement Neonshrimp. I can deal with having too many shrimp. While most people put too many species in smaller tanks, I lean more towards large species tank where a more representive and interesting behaviour can be observed.

After a few years, if I find their population is not self-levelling (as is usually the case with captive-bred creatures in species tanks), then I'll arrange their environment to be more protective and then add a suitable predator. Done properly, I should be able to level their population, though at the moment, I don't know what a good population is. Given their succeptablity to water parameters and my triple filtration, 40-50 might be a good limit?

In any case, I hope I have lots of time to figure that out. I'm starting with my expectations low. From my research, my well water may be too rich in minerals (and metals) to even maintain shrimp.

NetMax

[bpmox]

I think you are making an excellent decision to go with a large tank, my smaller shrimp tanks require much more work than my large cherry tank because it's such a solid, self-regulating entity.

Personally, I think you could drop your primary filtration. I have a 90 gallon cherry shrimp tank with a few snails and crayfish, and it stays sparkling clean just from plant absorption of wastes. I have a small powerhead in it with a sponge prefilter to protect the shrimp, but I've never cleaned it nor does it have any visible debris on it. It exists purely for water movement, the size of the tank and the plants and the sand certainly eliminates the need I have for extra bio-filtration.

I dump in a good bit of food every day, yet the sand always stays white and I never have to clean the glass for algae, it's all algae free. The hundreds of shrimp obliterate food and waste to the point that it's all finely broken down for the plants to snap up.

The spray-bar might impede your plant growth a bit however, by depleting your tanks CO2 levels. That might not even been something that's important to you though.

This is by far my favorite tank, both in looks and maintenance. You will be very pleased.

[Neonshrimp]

Hi bpmox,

What types of plants do you have in the 90 g tank? I would like to know the types of plants that would work well for a large tank since I am planing to set one up in the future. My current tanks have moss and java ferns but if you have more variety in your tank please let us know what they are. Thanks.

[sstimac]

I love my spray bar on my 46 gallon. I have it angled so that it only creates a bit of a ripple on the surface. The canister is a Fluval 304 so it is decent. I found that angling it like this does not impede plant growth all that much. I seem to have great plant growth.

[bpmox]

Neonshrimp, I'm doing the same thing... moss and ferns mainly. There was a few pieces of riccia mixed in with the moss and that has just exploded into bright green patches. It's definitely the fastest growing plant in the tank, and I like the look of it.

I have a few sags some stem plant that looks similar to foxtail, but I'm not sure what it really is. I was just going to let them float for a while and remove them if they died, but they sank/wedge in towards the back of the tank and rooted and seem to be doing well.

[Neonshrimp]

Thanks for the information . I hope my tank will mature quickly when it is set up.