My First Tank

[Purpleshrimp]

Hi Everyone! I'm just starting out with my shrimp tank and I have a few questions and am hoping to get some advice about tank setup.

I bought a 3 gallon tank, white aragonite sand, reef salt (instant ocean in the orange box), some shells, and a big rock. My plan was to set up the tank today and wait for it to cycle, however now that I've got everything home, I'm not sure that this is the best course of action.

I asked the people at the fish store if the rock was ok for a brackish shrimp tank and they said yes, it is pre-cured. The rock is made of calcium carbonite if that helps anyone. It looks to me like it might have too much organic matter on it and maybe I need to scrub it and soak it first anyway? See the picture below. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Ace]

If that is live rock, when you lower the salenity much of the life it has will die. That would cause some water guality issues. Live rock may not be suitable for Opae Ula.

You may also want to avoid using red colors in their habitat since they are red and would not show so nicely against it.

Aragonite is an excellent choice. I would go ahead and fill your container with the aragonite sand and half strength sea water and cook it in direct sunlight if you have some. I used numerous reflector lamps 24 hours a day while mine was cycling and I used Fluval Cycle at day 20 when I saw algae growth.

If you have any other questions, please ask. Help is here.

[Ace]

Auto-correct!

*That would cause some water quality issues.*

[Purpleshrimp]

Thanks Ace! I specifically asked at the store and they say it is not live rock. The more I look at it though, the more I'm convinced that the red color is in the organic material. But I also think it's not worth it to try to clean it off! Hah back to the drawing board on the rock front!!!

[Ace]

Is it not a red purple coralline algea ? That coloration seems like it is just on the surface.

I used pumice. It is very porous and has tremendous surface area for bacteria.

[Mustafa]

"cured" or as they said "pre-cured" usually refers to live rock. Just an FYI. Also, Ace, you didn't need the "cycle" product at all after algae started showing up. In 13 years of breeding these shrimp the "visible algae = ready for shrimp" indicator has never failed me. Actually in most cases you can already introduce the shrimp after about a week, algae or not, but the algae growth is a 100% indicator that things are ready.

[Purpleshrimp]

I thought I would post an update. I got a new rock that I was much more comfortable with, a black lava rock. Then I let the tank cycle for about two weeks and added snails and macroalgae. The snails have been in there for a week as of today and all seems to be going well. I'm not sure that I see visible algae yet, however I'm very inexperienced in this area. So far I have been operating from an "I'll know it when I see it" standpoint and will just be patient until then. I did spot a teeny tiny almost translucent snail baby this morning, which is very exciting! I'm not sure if this would really be from my snails already or a hitchhiker from mustafa's tanks that was too small to see last week. Attached is a picture of my tank from last week when I put in the snails. It looks pretty much the same this week.

[Ace]

Nice! I am very interested to follow your story. Please, continue to post.

Mustafa: I really like your response.

[KenCotigirl]

What's with the beer and salt and pepper shakers? Planning a shrimp barbecue in the near future. Nice black lava rock. Anxious to see the tank when the shrimp arrive.

KenP

[Purpleshrimp]

Hah, I didn't even notice the things off to the side. Somehow I'm not thinking that that would be a terribly satisfying bbq. Today i see a distinctive green tinge to the surface of the water, hopefully algae isn't far behind so I can order my shrimp! My snails sure are loving the surface growth, though!!

[Mustafa]

What's with the beer and salt and pepper shakers? Planning a shrimp barbecue in the near future.

Good observational skills! Didn't notice that either when first looking at the pic. Watch...if this tank is successful some people are going to have a theory that adding beer and salt and pepper shakers in the direct vicinity of the tank is part of the reason for the success. Maybe even pouring some of that beer in the tank once in a while...

Purpleshrimp...I don't see any visible algae in your tank. When they appear they're either brown or green spots that grow bigger and bigger until they cover entire surfaces at least partially. You don't have to wait that long...as soon as you see any kind of green or brown growth on surfaces the tank is ready.

[Purpleshrimp]

Is there such a thing as waiting too long to put in the shrimp? I'm thinking of waiting another month or so to order the shrimp, will having the tank with just snails for a lot longer cause any harm?

[JennyPenny]

No, there will be no problem if you wait another month or more. Shrimp do best in a well established tank. People are more likely to experience problems if they add the shrimp too soon.

[Purpleshrimp]

Hi everyone!

I thought I would post a long overdue update to my tank! It's been about a year and a half since I got my shrimp and they are doing really well! I moved about six months after I set up the tank and that was ultimately pretty disruptive to the shrimp. It took them about six months from when I moved to see a berried female (so one year into the tank overall), and since then I've had several rounds of babies! The oldest babies are about 3/4 the size of my original shrimp now, but none of them have colored up like the originals. Is this something that happens later in their life cycle?

My macroalgae is limping along, not sure why it's so flat and staying at the bottom of my tank. Is this normal? Do you think I need a better light or something? I'm open to suggestions!

I've fed them very little every couple of months or so...mostly I forget about that so the feedings have been few and far between. They seem to do well with that and still reproduce so I must be doing something right.

[Varanus]

Some youngsters in my tank are dark red, but it does seem that they are more likely to be darker once they reach full size (i.e. only a few of my various generations of adults are light in color, whereas many of the small shrimp are lighter in color).