75 Gallon Shrimp tank - filtration flow rate question

[dskidmore]

I'm planning to convert my 75 gallon to a shrimp tank. I'll probably go with Red Cherry Neocaridina, but I could be talked into another freshwater breeder. Leftover from my last setup, I have a ton of driftwood and some slow-growing plants.

I'm right now working on building a large sponge filter, prominent in the front of the tank, where I can view the shrimp picking food off the filter. (My old shrimp did this while in QT, and it was great for shrimp-watching. Trying to repeat this in a display tank in a way that doesn't look horrible.)

I'd link to my main tank log, but the site does some advertising, and might be considered "commercial".

I looked at several people's tank descriptions, but I didn't see a 75 gallon one, and people tended to recommend specific hardware rather than stats...

What should the flow rate of the filter be? Standard community freshwater would be around 5x or 375 GPH for my 75 gallon tank. Do RCS like it slower, faster? I'm also thinking of adding filter feeders somewhere, so I'd like to run my sponge filter with a powerhead and be able to direct some of the flow across some driftwood for them to perch on.

As far as I understand what I've been reading, RCS are not picky about pH, hardness, or temperature, as long as there are not sudden swings. I may need to do RO if I later go for bamboo shrimp, but I'm ok with tap water and Prime for now...

I need to test my nutrient levels, I think the tank is cycled again, but it will be a couple weeks before I'm confident about the new filter and have all my aquascaping done. (Don't want to put the shrimp in and then mess up their new world.)

Here's the tank at current, with all the driftwood and plants just heaped in a corner:


Here's my much better off work tank, that's too small to breed shrimp:

If the main tank shrimp do well, I may put some babies in the smaller tank. My current cleanup/fertilization crew consists of pond snails and MTS.

[AnneRiceBowl]

Lucky ducky! I am planning a 75 or 125 gallon shrimp tank, but my lack of funding (translated: lack of JOB) is keeping me from setting it up. When I do set it up, I want to add Atya gabonensis and maybe another filter feeding shrimp to the tank.

So for now, I have my 30 gallon long shrimp tank that houses Atyopsis moluccensis, snowball shrimp, Caridina japonica, and dwarf Cajun crayfish. Once upon a time, there were RCS in the tank instead of the snowballs. From experience, the RCS weren't too picky about water flow or current in the tank. I know people who have kept RCS successfully in unfiltered tanks and bowls. The water flow and current in my tank are for my A. moluccensis. My tank is filtered with an Eheim 2213, which puts out 116 gph. A little low for my tank (I really should of gotten an Eheim 2215), and it doesn't create enough current in the tank for my 12 A. moluccensis--they could be seen fighting for the weak current, and weren't doing their shrimp Tai Chi (filter feeding). So, my remedy for that was to add a Maxi-Jet 600 powerhead which puts out 160 gph flow, which made for happy filter feeders and shrimp Tai Chi 24/7.

[dskidmore]

my lack of funding is keeping me from setting it up.

Precisesly why I spent a year planning a saltwater tank, then decided NOT to invest in any hardware. Everybody has a budget line.

30 gallon long... the RCS weren't too picky about water flow... The water flow and current in my tank are for my A. moluccensis... filtered with... 116 gph. ...add... 160 gph flow, which made for happy filter feeders

So 3x flow was not enough for fileter feeders, but 9x was. Nobody's getting blown away in 9x, are they?

Maybe I will use my jumbo pump then. I've got a pump in the attic that I think does 800 GPH.

I picked up some car wash sponges last night. (Read about it on another forum.) I was planing to only use 4 across the front bottom of the tank.

800 GPH / ~96 square inches =~ 80 GPH/square inch

Does this sound reasonable, or do I need a secondary inlet to reduce the suction on those sponges?

If I'm misremembering how strong the pump is, I could recirculate some of the excess output through a secondary filter for extra clean water.

Even though I'm not adding filter feeders right away, I'd rather have everything set up right the first time.

[AnneRiceBowl]

No one's getting blown away in the tank. lol Well, except for the pencilfish, but they are soon to go to a new home--so they don't count. The A. moluccensis love the flow. When I added the powerhead, I didn't think about the total gph. I learned at a SW seminar (on water flow), that it's not necessarily the total gph, but the efficiency of the water flow. In my tank, the filter outlet is at the left side of the tank in the back corner, and the powerhead is at the right side of the tank in the front right corner, but the outflow is aimed a little towards the front glass to deflect the current just a tad--and that keeps the A. moluccensis out in the open just a bit so it's easier to watch them do their shrimp Tai Chi.

Are you talking about using sponge filters for adding a current in the tank?

[dskidmore]

I learned at a SW seminar (on water flow), that it's not necessarily the total gph, but the efficiency of the water flow.

Yeah, but it's still a useful rule of thumb. Most of us are not going to do dye tests to see what the relative currents are in diffrent parts of the tank. We depend on a total GPH number, and let the critters decide how far from the pump outlet to stand to get their prefered flow.

[badflash]

Flow does not remain contant through a filter. It degrades over time. Unless you want to be a slave to the tank and clean it out all the time, go oversize so weekly cleanings are all you need.

[dskidmore]

Flow does not remain contant through a filter. ...go oversize so weekly cleanings are all you need.

I am going oversized. Most community aquariums are only run around 5x. Are you saying 10x is not enough?

[pixl8r]

For filter feeders, no matter how good the tank filtration is, I'd always add an internal power head, just to stir things up. It sure keeps my bamboo shrimp happy. And, as the filter ages and slows, there's still microbes floating about.

[dskidmore]

My numbers were off. The pump is 1017 GPH, 13x flow. The sponges are 4x7", 4 of them, for 112 square inches, for around 10 GPH per square inch. Much more reasonable. I'll need to put together a spray bar though, as this thing produces a torrent in the tank without one.

[Cactus Bastard]

Red cherry shrimp don't specifically need large amounts of current. A lot of people on here (successfully) use sponge filters with an air pump. As long as your tank does not have any dead spots, and there isn't waste accumulating anywhere, I don't think you should spend too much time worrying about filtration rates. 1000 GPH will be plenty, even with Atyopsis in the future.

[dskidmore]

1000 GPH will be plenty, even with Atyopsis in the future.

That's what I thought. pixl8r and badflash didn't seem to understand that 10x flow is perfectly good for soft coral reef aquariums, where most of the organisms are filter feeders. I wasn't going to believe them without them presenting real numbers. They just seemed to want me to go bigger with no real specifications.

You can always get around having an "additional powerhead" if your main pump is powerful enough, and your intake and return engineered correctly. If I had a large, fragile system, I might do two pumps in parallel so that if one dies the other one keeps the whole system running at half capacity, but I'm not going to add powerheads when I can just divert some of the pump output.

Anyone doubting my plumbing credentials can read my DIY Plumbing 101 page. (Mostly someone else's first-hand knowledge, my summary and organization.) It's written concerning a reef aquarium, but many of the principals apply to any large aquarium setup. All I really needed to know about the shrimp tank was the preferred flow rate for RCS and filter feeders. (I'm suddenly realizing that there is no mention of spray bars in the 101. I'll have to fix that soon.)

Hopefully I'll have time to buy plumbing parts today or tomorrow.

[badflash]

Flow does not remain contant through a filter. ...go oversize so weekly cleanings are all you need.

I am going oversized. Most community aquariums are only run around 5x. Are you saying 10x is not enough?

I said nothing of the sort.

With filter feeders you need to have points in the tank with perches and very high flow. Total flow is not important. These guys eat the stuff that is floating in the water. If you do too good a job in overall filtration, they will have nothing to eat. The other point I was trying to make is that flow drops off over time. You are new here and we have no point of reference for you experience. What Ifound was good was normal filtration and a few elite mini's put around the tank pointed at perch rocks.

Please don't get huffy. We are not calling you names, we are just trying to help.

[dskidmore]

If you do too good a job in overall filtration, they will have nothing to eat.

A good point. A strong stream though will also stir the water around it into moving in the same direction, so the flow is not entirely of filtered water. As long as the tank's overall filtration is not too high, it should still be ok. (I'll skip the idea of recirculating some of the water back through a secondary filter.)

Please don't get huffy. We are not calling you names, we are just trying to help.

I'm sorry. I can get overly technical and frustrated with generalities sometimes.