My 3rd DIY Opae Ula tank

[ryangiggs]

This is my 3rd attemp in DIYing my own tank... the first 2 are smaller tanks with little decorations... after those 2 tanks seems to be doing very well... decided to custom made a crystal tank to fit one corner of my TV console... This will be my 7th tank in total... the rest are all bought from stores...

Tank size: 45cm(W) x 25cm(H) x 15cm(D)
Salinity: abt 15-17 ppt

Will do a proper cycling this time... Lights on max intensity for 12hrs a day... will reduce if the intensity is too strong for the moss ball... Biodigest on the 1st day... will dose another round next week...

How many shrimps to start off the colony after cycling for such tank volume?

[mike.d]

That's about a 5 gallon tank, so you could probably start with anything less than 50 shrimp. If you go too few they'll all hide and you won't see them.

You might even be able to start with 100, but my guess is that's pushing it. I dumped 65 in my 10-gallon and haven't had any issues.

I'm talking about starting stock. As your tank matures and your shrimp reproduce, it will be able to house way more than 100.

[Varanus]

That said, I started with 20 in a five gallon tank and had no issues with them hiding. Supershrimp tend to be very outgoing.

[ryangiggs]

Finally seeing some biofilm forming on the surface of the water... as well as some small little dead flies on it... the light seems to attracts insects... my other smaller tanks have proper cover so no such problem...

and the water seems to evaporate quite fast... i need to top up 500ml in less than 1 week!

I think i will dump in 20 shrimps to start off... and maybe another 20 in another month time...

Meanwhile i am already planning another tank... this time will be twice longer than this... will be another custom tank 90cm(W) x 15cm(D) x 30cm(H)... waiting for the lights and some sea shells/coral decorations to arrive...

[Varanus]

Yeah, you may want to add a good top if you want to avoid rapid evaporation, as well as offer some protection from potential contamination.

[Mustafa]

How is this tank doing?

[ryangiggs]

Have not been browsing this forum lately...

some updates on my tanks...

I have since made another few more tanks for my home and office... the biggest is a custom tank 90cm x 30xm x 15cm...

Went for a 2 weeks holiday in december and came back to find a few of my tanks having berried females... the 90cm tank had the most berried females... i counted at least 8... some of them have since release the larvaes... I suspect that the sustained cooler weather in december trigger the breeding... even my office tank had a few berried... too coincident since most of the tanks are 1st time having berried females...

Here are some of the photos i took... managed to capture one female about to release the larvae...

[luyisamor]

Hi.

How do you maintain the crystal clear water in the tank after some time? My algae start to build up at the glass. I do not have any snail in my tank.

Thanks.

[ryangiggs]

Hi.

How do you maintain the crystal clear water in the tank after some time? My algae start to build up at the glass. I do not have any snail in my tank.

Thanks.

You will need nerite snails to clean the glass... they did excellent job in cleaning the algae off the glass... all my opae tanks got at least 1 horned nerite snails in it... for small tanks 1 will do...

Those snails that petshrimp sells does not clean the algae off the glass very well... and they multiplies very quickly and may get unsightly... no offense to petshrimp... but they are good in clearing off excess food you throw into the tank...

[Dch48]

Hi.

How do you maintain the crystal clear water in the tank after some time? My algae start to build up at the glass. I do not have any snail in my tank.

Thanks.

You will need nerite snails to clean the glass... they did excellent job in cleaning the algae off the glass... all my opae tanks got at least 1 horned nerite snails in it... for small tanks 1 will do...

Those snails that petshrimp sells does not clean the algae off the glass very well... and they multiplies very quickly and may get unsightly... no offense to petshrimp... but they are good in clearing off excess food you throw into the tank...

I prefer the Nerites myself but the other ones do keep the substrate loosened up and prevent the formation of any gas pockets, especially in sand. With regular sized aquarium gravel that is usually not a problem.

[Rex113]

Nice tank, lots of berried shrimp.

[Mustafa]

Those snails that petshrimp sells does not clean the algae off the glass very well... and they multiplies very quickly and may get unsightly... no offense to petshrimp... but they are good in clearing off excess food you throw into the tank...

No offense taken. However, it's important to understand why some snails are better than others. The snails sold here on this website are an "indicator spcecies" for how well your tank is doing. If the snails are reproducing like crazy and appear everywhere (and usually that comes with algae growing all over the place too), then it means that you have been feeding way too much (or your substrate and decoration already came full of organics) and that you need to stop feeding until the snails are not as visible anymore and the algae disappears almost entirely from most surfaces.

If you have a nerite in your tank then it will simply eat all visible algae and you won't know if you are overfeeding or not as easily. Your tank will look clean...the nerites don't reproduce anyway, so you won't know if you're feeding too much by looking at their reproduction, and your shrimp will look bleached out and won't fully color up...ever, even if they are reproducing. You may even lose some of them at some point.

These Brackish Water Snails are not there for keeping your glass spotless, they are there to make sure that your tank is kept at an optimum nutrient level for the shrimp.