My garage setup for shrimp

[wskurdahl]

So I have converted my garage into a big shrimp breeding room and figured you guys would like to see some pictures.

These tubs are each 155gals


To hold up the tanks and tubs I bought some used pallet racks, each level can support 4000lbs so I don't have to worry about weight. Plus they are super easy to set up. I put 2x4's every 8-10 inches to support the weight of the tubs and then put some particle board over the top.












I am using a central filter, one big air pump and a bunch of sponge filters


The airpump goes ontop of that shelve and then connects to the PVC pipe which goes around the room (you can see it in some of the other pictures)


Each tank or tub is drilled and has the following bulkhead and drainage system



For the glass I used this really cool glass hole saw, I used a wood hole saw to the do plastic.


To cut down on moisture I put plastic over each of the tubs. You can see the bulkhead/drainage setup on them also.



I have 20 or so 20gal longs that I am moving from my house into the garage. I built this rack out of 2x4s and screws



The tubs on the bottom have used aquasoil (from my 120gal) and RO water. The top tubs have coarse sand and I used the waste water from the RO system (about 750ppm or so TDS). Anyone know if cherry's, yellow, snowballs, blue pearls, or other hardwater species would have a problem with that lvl of TDS? My normal tap is like 520 or so and they do fine in that so I would think they should be fine. I will be using shop lights with daylight bulbs over each of the tanks and tubs.

Currently I am planning on putting the following species of shrimp in the tubs

1 Cherry
2 Minami (or whatever you wanta call them)
3 Snowball
4 Yellows
5 Blue pearl
6 Tigers
7 Crystal Red Shrimp (probably A-C grades)
8 Green Shrimp
9 ???
10 ???

I might do Crystal black shrimp, blue tigers, sri lankas, or malayas in the other 2 tubs.

I should have the 10 tubs, 20 20gals, and eventually up to maybe 30 40gal tanks.

I welcome any and all suggestions.

[wskurdahl]

Also I had the an epoxy finish put on the garage floor so I could keep it clean. I insulated the garage door. I had a window air conditioner installed and a garage service door installed. Bill Southern was kind enough to come over and help me install 2 20amp circuit into the garage to supply any power I would need (like for the air conditioner). The air pump is on its own 15amp circuit that was already in my garage just encase the other ones failed. I am hoping to convince Bill to come back and help my install a hose bib in there at some point (just have to tee off a line already in the wall).

[Mustafa]

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[wskurdahl]

Thanks, so do you happen to know of any problems with using RO wastewater for the hard water shrimp? i hate wasting all that water.

[Terran]

I think we have a disease....cause all I could think while looking at those pictures was "Hmm good idea, I need to do that".....

Nice setup and thanks for the pictures

[southerndesert]

Coming along nicely Will! I'll have to stop by next time I'm up your way to see it again.

Bill

[Guba]

Definately a sweet set up!! Where did you find a hole saw for glass? I work with glass when I'm fixing one of my tanks or cutting a top for one of my tanks and the only glass drills I've come across were small in diameter. When you drilled the glass was it wet? Glass dust is VERY hazardous to your health! (just a word of caution). I'm also curious how much amperage/watts are used by the air pump? Have you given any thought about water changes? Do you have a set up to change a large volume of water without stressing the shrimp? My preference for lighting is kitchen and bath, it seems to give good color and it grows duckweed like, a weed. You didn't mention how you heat them. Do you have to worry about that where you live?

[wskurdahl]

I got my diamond hole saw here

http://www.diamond-drill-bit-and-tool.c ... l/MAIN.htm

You have to drill wet or the bit gets to hot and destroys it. The first tank I had a hose running over it the whole time, then I grabbed a 40gal tank and filled it up with water and then submerged the 20gal's into it....worked really well.

The setup I have will allow me to open the ball valves and drain the water out and then just fill it up via a pump (for RO) or the hose.

I don't think I need to worry much about heating them here...but I will know more in the winter. Currently I just have to keep them cool enough . Ya lighting is shoplights with daylight bulbs in them

not sure how much power the air pump uses....its almost silent though and thats always good. It says on it but kinda hard to get access to right now as its up and running

[wskurdahl]

found the detail of the pump online...

AV-50 HIGH VOLUME AIR PUMP:
This will bridge the gap between smaller air pumps and the large blowers. This is excellent for use as a pond air pump or for multiple tank setups. Will pump down up to 10 feet. Only 40 watts of power to run and comes with a 12 outlet manifold. Pumps 50L/min or 2900 c in/ m.

[Mustafa]

Thanks, so do you happen to know of any problems with using RO wastewater for the hard water shrimp? i hate wasting all that water.

I don't see why it shouldn't work as long as you do not have anything "bad" in your water to begin with that could be concentrated by the RO membrane in your wastewater. In the end you'll just have to try and see how it works.

[Mustafa]

I don't think I need to worry much about heating them here...but I will know more in the winter. Currently I just have to keep them cool enough .

You definitely have to worry about heating in the winter in Arizona. I lived in Tucson for 5 years and as you know nights can be literally freezing cold in the winter and days aren't all that warm (relatively speaking of course compared to the parts of the country stuck in snow) in December/January either. The water temperature in your tanks could drop into the lower 60s and maybe upper 50s for periods of time. That won't kill your shrimp but they won't reproduce either at that point. It's best to keep the temps in the 70s at all times (lower to mid 80s is ok too for most species).

[Guba]

AV-50 HIGH VOLUME AIR PUMP

You have to drill wet or the bit gets to hot and destroys it

Thanks for all the info. The only crucial bit of advice that I can offer, earned by experience no less, is to have either a spare air pump of the same capacity( or make) on hand. Or enough parts on hand to rebuild your air pump. If I aquire anymore tanks (not that I'm looking, but they seem to find me and I can't resist), I may have to go to that type of air pump.

[wskurdahl]

luckily, sort of, my garage faces south so it warms up nicely during the day. I think if I need to heat it I will end up getting a space heater or something. Am I correct that it would be the most efficient way to heat the tanks?

Thats a good idea with the air pump, I was thinking of upgrading to a larger one once I get more of the tanks going so I can always keep the other one around.

[Guba]

If you have a lot of tanks, a space heater is a good investment. If your garage floor isn't isolated from the ground by another floor beneath( and it probably isn't), I would put any tanks/tubs that sit on the floor on top of styrofoam insulation. The ground will just soak up the heat. I don't know Arizona very well, but if you get a lot of sun you might want to look into solar heating. I've discovered that pulling back the curtains in a few rooms during winter when the sun is shining can really cut back on my heating bill.

[pixl8r]

Even if there your garage floor is a suspended concrete slab (there's a room under the garage), I would put hard foam sheet under your tanks. That way there's even heat dissipation. Concrete can suck heat/radiate cold very efficiently. I would also look at possibly wrapping some type of flexible insulator around your tubs, again, just to keep them consistant.

You may find that some tanks/tubs get will tend to be hotter/colder, depending where each tub is located. If you can keep them as uniform as possible, then it's less work to customize the heating/cooling needs of each tub.

BTW, I am very jealous. My aquarium room is no where near the size of your setup. It's only a room 12" x 11". The only benefit I have is that it is located in a finished basement.

Good luck!