How do you clean your shrimp tanks?

MXgirl · Post by **MXgirl** » Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:20 pm

Hi everybody, I'm wondering what methods of cleaning gravel everyone uses. I've had a couple *really* close calls, particularly with my cherry shrimp, with moving rocks and fake plants and then going through the frustration of putting everything back safely while they are zipping around like crazy. I've tried only a small amount of substrate, just enough to cover the bottom, but it still gets real dirty and needs to be done every week with my water change.

Anyone have any tips, tricks or suggestions? Is it necessary to clean every bit of the gravel including underneath the rocks? Anything appreciated. Thanks!

kimco · Post by **kimco** » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:29 pm

I havent done anything to clean (except the occational glass scrubbing) my shrimp only tank since day one which is almost 6 months old now and my water is still cyrstal clear and my shrimps are HAPPY!

That's the advantage of shrimps! You need not clean as often as fish tanks!

Cheers,

KG

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:14 am

A power filter, with the the intake covered with netting to keep shrimp from being sucked in, works well to keep water clean. Less particles settle in the gravel and are sucked into the filter, because of the kind of current the filter makes. Actually, you could look into an undergravel filter. Rooted plants also use waste that may build up in gravel.

But in general, I don't think you should be that concerned with keeping the gravel clean. It's always going to get dirty because shrimp are almost constantly pooping, as long as there's a food source. These wastes get dissolved in the water and can lower water quality, and that's the only problem. Of course water changes are for that problem, and having a well aged and cycled tank with beneficial bacteria is great too. The dirt on the bottom itself doesn't need to be cleaned up often at all, and cleaning under rocks isn't really necessary, to me. Silt/dirt can help sustain good bacteria in the tank.

Another possibilty is that your tank may have too many shrimp in it (how many are there?), or they're being given too much food. To me, very light feedings work well.

MXgirl · Post by **MXgirl** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:42 pm

Thank you for the info. My shrimp tanks are: 10gal with 2 female cherry shrimp (trying to get more for breeding and stocking LFS around here, but no such luck) and 3 guppy fry and 1 male guppy. 20gal. with 6 white clouds, 5 amano, and 1 bamboo shrimp.

The main attraction in my tanks are the shrimp, but I do have a few fish in each as well as well as loads of pesky snails, so thats probably where most of the waste comes from.

It's good to know that I don't have to be so meticulous in keeping the gravel clean, though! I was under the impression (thanks to an overly-enthusiastic LFS guy, I guess)that the waste would produce ammonia and all that bad stuff, and kill everything if I so much as missed one week of gravel cleaning.

And maybe I'll look into getting some more live plants, as well

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:37 am

Yeah, if is pretty well established, existing bacteria in the tank and filter can take care of the ammonia.. provided the tanks don't get overfed. Eventually there will be nitrate instead of ammonia. Not nearly as toxic, but eventually that will also build up and lower water quality too, hence the need for regular partial water changes.

Plants use nitrates to grow, though you'd need a pretty special and hard to reach balance of parameters to get it to where no water changes are ever needed while at the same time algae isn't overgrown.
But the extra plants will definitely help water quality in general. So long as they don't all just die and rot and make tons of extra rotting rubbish

Good luck with all

retardo · Post by **retardo** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:01 am

having plants in a shrimp tank (or any tank, for that matter) is highly beneficial. plants lessen the blow of ammonia and other byproducts that may otherwise be toxic. the lfs guy is right tho, excessive waste can cause an ammonia spike, so as long as you don't overfeed or introduce too many new specimens at any one time or completely tear down your tank or kill all the beneficial bacteria with meds, you should be fine. again, plants will help a lot.

i do regular water changes (2x a month), but i tend to leave the gravel alone and clean that only 1x per month. the excrement from shrimp or fish are good for the plants, like cow manure is good for agriculture. =)

MXgirl · Post by **MXgirl** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:26 am

Thanks guys, that's great news and immensely helpful info, I was starting to get an overwhelmed feeling about my tanks. They were starting to be more work then enjoyment, coupled with the worry of hurting a shrimp. I've done some research on picking out some low-light hardy plants that my shrimp will like, to start out with(the only thing I've had luck with so far is java fern and java moss). This will be fun!

Swervedriver · Post by **Swervedriver** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:44 am

I'm growing Limnophilia Sessiflora in my tank along with anubias var bartari and java ferns. I have a low light tank and a sand substrate. My plants are growing fine.

When I do a water change I suck up the waste on the sand as well but I don't move plants, driftwood or rocks. I usually just go around these objects. My shrimp love the algae that grows on rocks and that's where they poop also. So a gentle swirl to stir up the poop will allow me to suck it all up with my gravel cleaner.

Dolfan · Post by **Dolfan** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:10 am

I'm originaly an aquatic turtle owner so I borrowed ideas from that and don't use any substrate. Its bare bottom with a few scattered colored stones, a few golf balls, few fake plants and a few floating bunches of anachris. Anachris is an easy plant to take care of. The flat bottom stays really clean except fof some occassionaly brownish algae on the glass. For that I use the "Algae Mitt" made by "Python". Its a soft, meshy mitt that goes on your hand and you can scrub the walls or anything just using your hand. That way you can be real delicate around the shrimp. Its also super cheap, like $3-4.

jonathan03 · Post by **jonathan03** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:07 pm

I clean the gravel with a python. First, start with the suction turned off. Then put the tube deep in the gravel and make sure there aren't any shrimp in the tube. Then turn it on and do the needed cleaning. After all the nasty stuff has been sucked up, turn off the siphon and repeat. But obiously you need the python system to do this. It isn't easy to stop a standard siphon.

You definately need to clean the gravel sometime - especially if you have an undergravel filter. The wastes build up over time (I'm thinking in terms of 1-3 years or more) and release nitrogen into your tank. The nitrogen is unstable and quickly bonds to be either nitrate, ammonia, or nitirte. the bacteria in your tank will eventually convert the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates, but thats only if it can keep up. There can be very large spikes if your gravel isn't cleaned in a very long time.

I have had this problem in two tanks I had running for about 3 years. They had undergravel filters and the power heads lost their suction ability over time so the wastes in the middle of the tank were not being sucked up well. The siphon was not powerful enugh to suck the wastes up through the filter plate so they sat there. When I finally removed the gravel, and the filter plates, there were large spikes in the "big three" for about two weeks. I was changing the water every day to try and help but it was going off the wall.

The point is you need to suck the wates out of the gravel to avoid spikes in water quality. They might not be apraent at first, but if you have your tank up for years, you will find out the hard way.

MXgirl · Post by **MXgirl** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:32 pm

Thanks everyone. I'm down to vacuuming half the tank each week on both tanks. It may not seem like much, but it really does make a difference. I'm looking into getting a couple more live plants as well. I've heard lots of good stuff about the python, but with tanks my size, it could suck up too much too quickly I was told at the LFS. I wish they would make a smaller python!

jonathan03 · Post by **jonathan03** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:07 pm

I think the rate the the python siphons is based on how high you turn your faucet on. At least, thats what it seems to do. If you get the python started and then turn off the faucet, it still siphons but at a very slow rate. I'm not sure I agree with the lfs on this one.

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 8:37 am

If you have one or two small tanks (20g/80 liters or less) I wouldn't bother with a python. If you have more or larger tanks, it's worthwhile.