Actually, as long as your substrate isn't too fine (i.e. fine sand) you can go deep if you want. I have 3 tanks that I originally set up with 2-3 inches of substrate. The tanks after that are all set up with half an inch to an inch at most. It seems to make no difference. I even have a few tanks with no substrate. The shrimp do fine in all of the tanks and breed the same. However, I would not set up tanks without substrate again as they tend to be more cloudy than the tanks with substrates due to all the "crap" sometimes going into the water column. Needless to say there is a lot of crap even in the substrate free tanks as I never change water and and never clean (except scraping algae from the front glass).
The various burrowing snail species only seem to burrow in the first 1/2 to 1 inch of the substrate. They won't go deeper. Having said that, I have not seen any anaerobic spots in my deeper substrates as there is plenty of space for airation in the gravel. It's all just a matter of taste. As for lava rock...not needed, but if you like the look of it all I can say is that it seems inert and hasn't negatively affected any of my shrimp or fish...that includes the stuff from Home Depot.
Actually, as long as your substrate isn't too fine (i.e. fine sand) you can go deep if you want. I have 3 tanks that I originally set up with 2-3 inches of substrate. The tanks after that are all set up with half an inch to an inch at most. It seems to make no difference. I even have a few tanks with no substrate. The shrimp do fine in all of the tanks and breed the same. However, I would not set up tanks without substrate again as they tend to be more cloudy than the tanks with substrates due to all the "crap" sometimes going into the water column. Needless to say there is a lot of crap even in the substrate free tanks as I never change water and and never clean (except scraping algae from the front glass).
The various burrowing snail species only seem to burrow in the first 1/2 to 1 inch of the substrate. They won't go deeper. Having said that, I have not seen any anaerobic spots in my deeper substrates as there is plenty of space for airation in the gravel. It's all just a matter of taste. As for lava rock...not needed, but if you like the look of it all I can say is that it seems inert and hasn't negatively affected any of my shrimp or fish...that includes the stuff from Home Depot.
The substrate I have in there is aragonite sand, fairly fine stuff. His do AI know if it is too fine? I meant to put in about 1/2 an inch, but it is deeper in places.
Thanks for the pics! Not to deep at all. I have about two to three times that depth in 3 of my Supershrimp/Opae ula tanks (the first three I established in San Diego). Those are some giant snails you have, by the way...they must be getting lots of food. My snails never make it to that size due to lack of food.
Mustafa wrote:Thanks for the pics! Not to deep at all. I have about two to three times that depth in 3 of my Supershrimp/Opae ula tanks (the first three I established in San Diego). Those are some giant snails you have, by the way...they must be getting lots of food. My snails never make it to that size due to lack of food.
Glad to know the depth is fine, thanks!
I got the snails at a local pet store for free, where I am sure they got lots of food. : ). I haven't fed either of the tanks since I set them up in early February, but I am sure the snails are eating biofilm,and I can see their little "bite marks" in the algae too.
I would just like to point out that, while my opae'ula have been breeding off and on since 2007, once I began to apply Mustafa's husbandry methods, they really took off. I have had more berried females and more larvae in the past six months than any other year! The shrimp seem to be breeding nonstop.
Aquarimax wrote:I would just like to point out that, while my opae'ula have been breeding off and on since 2007, once I began to apply Mustafa's husbandry methods, they really took off. I have had more berried females and more larvae in the past six months than any other year! The shrimp seem to be breeding nonstop.
Hear, hear! And no...I didn't pay him to say this (or even urge or contact him). It really works! I wish higher tech setups worked better...I could make so much more money selling filter, additives, special food...etc....but no, the MM (Mustafa's method as ken coined it.)/"Petshrimp Method" (PM) works the best *and* is the least amount of trouble/work!
