I like the look of the ecosphere, but.....

[carolynsthings]

obviously I'd like to keep the shrimp in a healthier environment.

I've been reading through the forum, but had a few questions.

What bowl (1.5-2 gallons or so) would you recommend? One that has an LED light included - or maybe an LED kit that is easy & and works well with the aforementioned bowl.

What is that branch that the ecospheres have? I really like the look of that.

Our house (AZ) in the summer can get to about 80-82 degrees inside - is this going to be too warm? If I have the tank placed where it can receive some indirect sunlight, would I be able to skip an LED light altogether? Or, is there an LED that is battery powered? (I like the idea of not having to deal with cords)

I've successfully kept a saltwater tank for 5 years (a 29g biocube) so I'm not entirely new to tanks, but I do realize a brackish tank is different.

Would adding some of my current saltwater tank water (diluted with RODI to a brackish salinity level) help speed the cycling along?

Would a small piece of live rock be beneficial or run the risk of introducing potentially unsavory inhabitants? (i.e. bristle worms)

It's usually pretty hot in AZ up until late Oct (even Nov) - are these shrimp shipped with a cooling pack?

Thank you in advance!

Any other tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated!

[Nexus6]

What size bowl really depends on how many you plan on keeping, i think the saying is 50 opaes a gallon.
You need lighting to grow the algae that they feed on, you can even use natural indirect sunlight.
The branch is black sea fan
80-82 is not ideal, i would say try and keep them at 77
You can use the water from your marine tank, but just make sure you dilute with distilled water, i keep mine at 1.010
Also make sure you dont have any nuisance hitchhikers in the water. I use prodibio to cycle tanks.
I would not risk adding live rock, get some dry rock or volcanic rocks works best
Good luck with your opaes!

[mcdaney]

What size bowl really depends on how many you plan on keeping, i think the saying is 50 opaes a gallon.
You need lighting to grow the algae that they feed on, you can even use natural indirect sunlight.
The branch is black sea fan
80-82 is not ideal, i would say try and keep them at 77
You can use the water from your marine tank, but just make sure you dilute with distilled water, i keep mine at 1.010
Also make sure you dont have any nuisance hitchhikers in the water. I use prodibio to cycle tanks.
I would not risk adding live rock, get some dry rock or volcanic rocks works best
Good luck with your opaes!

Yup I agree not to add live rocks. I experimented on a nano tank with a good-sized live rock with 5 shrimps. I think I lost one shrimp due to it I quickly transferred the 4 to another tank.
(Note: I acclimated the live rock for a few weeks, lowering the salinity bit by bit and did water changes before adding the shrimps)
Soon I realised there was a small crab and some bristle worms. I can't confirmed if they were the culprits though but it's possible.

Also, live rocks tend to have die-offs and will caused ammonia spikes if you don't monitor it properly.

Right now I sort of "killed" the live rock by soaking it in ice water, then sun-drying it. It's now in a nanotank with no shrimps yet haha. Hopefully algae grows on it.

[carolynsthings]

Thank you for the replies!

I actually have some brand new pieces of artificial LR (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef- ... ll-details ) that's made of calcium carbonate, so I think I'll use those - that'll take care of the buffer, too!

Still trying to do as much research as possible....

[Mech]

I've gone with ocean rock with mine, dead live rock mines just to buffer the PH also.

[mcdaney]

Thank you for the replies!

I actually have some brand new pieces of artificial LR (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef- ... ll-details ) that's made of calcium carbonate, so I think I'll use those - that'll take care of the buffer, too!

Still trying to do as much research as possible....

Yup that rock looks good!

Looks like my "live" rock too haha!

image.jpg (84.71 KiB) Viewed 3783 times

[carolynsthings]

Yay! That's what I'll do then. My LFS also sells aragonite sand by the pound (which is usually about 2 cups worth). I think that may be enough. I'm also leaning toward just getting a little tank (maybe 2-3 gallons) that comes with the LED light in the hood.

As for it getting fairly warm in the house, I wonder if keeping the tank in the living room where the ceiling fan can blow a breeze on it will help with the temp.... I'm sure it'll speed up the evaporation, too..... would topping off with chilled RODI water be a bad idea? (if I add it slowly)

Are there any thermometers that aren't too unsightly that I can use on the tank to help monitor the temp? My biocube can get up to 82 degrees (but it has pumps and powerheads and hot lights on it - I will usually throw RO ice cubes in the back area as top off and to cool the tank down about .5-1 degree. I've been doing this for years - my clowns are older than my daughter!

So much to think about, but I'm really excited! I want to hurry up and get started!

So.... get tank set up with brackish water, calcium carb rock, sand, and light. Would throwing a few pellets of fish food help speed up the cycling process? I'm sure I've probably read this somewhere, but how long should I wait before adding a piece of the brackish chaeto sold in the store and some snails?

Also, is the heat in AZ going to be a problem with shipping? Do they put an ice pack in the box during the summer?

[KenCotigirl]

82 deg is not too high. I like all the nooks and crannies in the artificial rock. Mustafa should chime on shipping in the summer. It may not be a issue.

Ken

[Nexus6]

Yay! That's what I'll do then. My LFS also sells aragonite sand by the pound (which is usually about 2 cups worth). I think that may be enough. I'm also leaning toward just getting a little tank (maybe 2-3 gallons) that comes with the LED light in the hood.

As for it getting fairly warm in the house, I wonder if keeping the tank in the living room where the ceiling fan can blow a breeze on it will help with the temp.... I'm sure it'll speed up the evaporation, too..... would topping off with chilled RODI water be a bad idea? (if I add it slowly)

Are there any thermometers that aren't too unsightly that I can use on the tank to help monitor the temp? My biocube can get up to 82 degrees (but it has pumps and powerheads and hot lights on it - I will usually throw RO ice cubes in the back area as top off and to cool the tank down about .5-1 degree. I've been doing this for years - my clowns are older than my daughter!

So much to think about, but I'm really excited! I want to hurry up and get started!

So.... get tank set up with brackish water, calcium carb rock, sand, and light. Would throwing a few pellets of fish food help speed up the cycling process? I'm sure I've probably read this somewhere, but how long should I wait before adding a piece of the brackish chaeto sold in the store and some snails?

Also, is the heat in AZ going to be a problem with shipping? Do they put an ice pack in the box during the summer?

I wouldnt use chilled water to top off, they dont like sudden changes in temp. Use a fan to blow air on surface of water for an evaporative cooling effect, this usually drops temp 3-4 degrees. I would get this digital thermometer, i use it on all my tanks: http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Aquarium- ... r+aquarium

also i use this as well: http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Lasergri ... hermometer

when cycling make sure you start out with ammonia or fish food, i made a mistake once of cycling a tank with pure DI water and no source of ammonia, month later checked levels and everything looked good. then i put shrimp in which they started the ammonia process and subsequently started a cycle. Beginner mistake. Also, you can use Prodibio startup or tetra safestart plus <--this one has lots of white floaty things in it that eventually go away but looks unsightly at first. These will help boost the cycle. i try not to keep any plants in a brackish tank, the opaes dont really need it and it can cause additional problems, like algae, well at least for me.. snails are great, but some get pretty huge hehe. And honestly, 82 degrees probably wont kill them, but will be uncomfortable for them and can affect their longevity and breeding.

[Mech]

you will know when your tank is cycled because the test kit will show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and very very low nitrates.

[carolynsthings]

Thank you for all the input so far, guys!


Do you think this light would be adequate over a 1.5-3 gallon tank?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GR2 ... PV1D59H5I6

[carolynsthings]

Does anyone know if the light in this setup would be adequate? also, does anyone own this particular tank? If so, is the filter cord separate from the light unit? (so I can remove it altogether)

Thanks again

[hardware_failure]

Does anyone know if the light in this setup would be adequate? also, does anyone own this particular tank? If so, is the filter cord separate from the light unit? (so I can remove it altogether)

Thanks again

There is a reviewer on that product page that says that this does not work properly with a timer... that the "modes" (all lights, just white or just blue) get messed up and randomly get chosen when the timer clicks on. That would be a deal breaker for me for sure.

This one looks a little better:
http://www.amazon.com/LEMONBEST-power-A ... 00KLY9UO2/
One reviewer said that the mode selector just flashes between colors which would be kinda stupid, but wouldnt be an issue if you always used all the LEDs.

To what particular tank are you referring about the cords etc? (I didnt see a link)

[Mech]

these look ok for a low tech setup

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Light-HIGH- ... 1c5263c1bf

[hardware_failure]

these look ok for a low tech setup

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Light-HIGH- ... 1c5263c1bf

I have a very similar light on my first box (only 2 liters) that is 25 LED vs 72.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DEE-20L- ... 29129.html
Im actually very impressed with it thus far.

Keep in mind that the free ePacket shipping from china typically takes at least a good 2 weeks to arrive to the US.