jumpsmasher Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) Now that my shrimp rack is finally complete (for the time being) and I finally cleaned the glass on the tanks the other day, I thought I share some on the photos of the tanks and their inhabitants. My Shrimp Rack started at the beginning of the year when I decided it was time to redone my existing shrimps tanks at the time (2 x 20G, 1 x 10G) and switch the substrate over to ADA Aquasoil. Long story short, I was having issues with the Fluval Shrimp Stratum (low survival rates of shrimplets, etc;) and seeing how a few others on the net were experiencing the same issues and it was almost time to change the substrate over (1 year) and decided to switch to ADA Aquasoil as see if i would have any better luck. I decided to take the opportunity to move the tanks to my spare den to see if it the temperatures would be more stable there. Than I thought i would be neat to have a type of gravity fed "drip" system for my water changes and top-offs so i could slowly fill up the tank during water changes and automatically top off any daily evaporation - from there the Shrimp Rack idea was born! I started putting together my Shrimp rack at the end of March and went with a 48" x 18" medal frame rack from costco and set it up to have 3 levels for tanks and a couple of short level for supplies and storage. The tanks consists of 3 x 10G on the bottom rack, my 2 existing 20G would go on to the middle level. The top level consist of a new 20G long, as well as the two reservoir tanks for water changes (10G) and top-offs (5G). The 3 x 10G were to first to populate the rack at the end of March, the 20G Long was added a in the end of April and than finally my existing 20G were move later in the summer. Unfortunately I didn't really document the process other than a few photos when i first set them up. Here is a photo of the rack today: Current inhabitants are as follows: 20G Long: Super Tiger Shrimps 20G Left: Crystal Red Shrimps (Breeding Group) 20G Right: Taiwan Bee Shrimps (BKK, Panda's) 10G Left: APB Pure Black Line Crystal Black Shrimps 10G Center: Crystal Red Shrimps (Culls) 10G Right: Misc. (Golden Bee, low grade CRS) Other shrimp tanks NOT in the rack but includes: 33G: BTOE / OEBT 9G Eheim AquaStyle: PFR, Green Shrimps 12G Long: tbd 110G Tall: PFR Filtration system in all the tanks consist of a type of undergravel system which are connected to either HOB or canister filters. There is a sponge filter in each tank as well. Substrate in all the tank consist of ADA Africana and Amazonia, the depth and mixture varies in the tanks depending on my targeted parameters. I use 100% R/O water remineralize with Fluval Shrimp Supplement, Mosura MineralPlus or Bee Shrimp GH+. Tanks are kept fairly bare, usually a piece of driftwood with some moss and java fern. Will post more details and pics about the individual tanks below... Edited October 19, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) 3 x 10G As my two 20G still have shrimps in them, the first 3 tanks on the rack were 3 Aqueon 10 gallon tanks I picked up during a sale at Big Al. They came with a free HOB filter and they also had a bunch of 50W heaters on sale at the same time so I ended up three tanks w/ 3 HOB filters and 3 heaters. The original plans for the three tanks as to use them as breeding and nursery tanks for my CRS shrimps. 1 for the main breeding group, 1 for the culls and one for the berried females and shrimplets. All three tanks were setted up the same way with an undergravel filter system hooked up the HOB filter. The first one used an old AquaClear Mini I had sitting around while the other two used the Aqueon HOB that came with the tanks. The Aqueon worked great for this purpose once I threw way the original cartridge i was able to fit my three filter media (Eheim MECHPro, BioMECH and SubstratPro) as well a 100ml pouch of Purigen. Plus the way it was designed, the output of the filter was greatly diffused and the flow diverted along the surface of the tank leaving the rest of the tanks relatively undisturbed (shrimps like lower water flow, especially shrimplets). I ended switching out my AquaClear for my spare Aqueon a few month later. I cycled all three tanks for about a month and moved my CRS from my 20G tank into the first 10G. Shortly after that two of my females got berried and I decided to move the berried females to one of the empty 10G so they won't be brother by any of the males. By this time there was also a good layer of biofilm in the "nursery" tank so this will provide the newborn shrimps plenty of food. This also let you feed the shrimplets by themselves without them competing with the adults (who also like to eat the baby food). Another advantage of separating your berried females into another tank is that once the shrimplets are born and she is ready to breed again, you can control who they breed with by adding the select males you want to breed into the nursery tank or by moving the females and males into a 3rd tank. The first batch of shrimplets were born at the end of May followed by a second batch a week later. In total there was 35 or so shrimplets. The shrimplets were eating well and it seemed like most if not all of them survived. Their parents however slowly started dying one by one until all of them died off - wasn't sure what killed them but might have been a bacterial infection or the summer heat. The babies however were fine and I started moving the ones with more solid colors to the third 10 gallon tank and from there they were moved to the 20 gallon tank after it was ready. Parameters pH: 5.8 ~ 6.0 gH: 5 TDS: 160 Temp: 23 C Filtration: DIY undergravel pipe + HOB filter Substrate: ~ 1/3 ADA Africana / 2/3 ADA Amazonia The middle 10G still house my CRS shrimplets but now they are all young adults. They are what I refer to as my "culls" as their colors are not as solid as the ones in the breeding group. The first 10G was home to my Golden Bee shrimps for bit until they moved them to the 3rd 10G to make room for my recently acquired APB Pure Black Line CBS: Even though I been pretty happy with the three 10G so far, I am planning to replace them with a single 33G breeder with 3 partitions so it would allow me keep all of my CRS from this line in the same tank - would make make moving around shrimps for culling and breeding a lot easier. Edited October 21, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) 20G CRS Tank (Breeding Group) From the above CRS group that was born in late May / early June I selected best shrimps in terms of thickness and intensity of color and move them into one of the 20G. Out of the dozen of so CRS in this tank i would say there are 5-6 females with very nice colors, 2-3 okay males and a few lower quality but mature females from my culls that i just threw in there to increase my population. Pretty sure they have some Golden genes in them as their parents were just some higher grade CRS from the LFS so they will never be consider a "pure" red line but I am mainly doing this to get some experience with line breeding and to see how far I can take them. Most of the females are now berried so I should in a month or so see how my current set up works for breeding (i.e shrimplet survivability) and if there is any improvements in color in the F2 offsprings. Parameters pH: 5.8 ~ 6.0 gH: 5 TDS: 160 Temp: 23 C Filtration: Eheim UnderGravel Plates + Prefilter + Eheim Canister filter Substrate: ~ 1/3 ADA Africana / 2/3 ADA Amazonia One of my biggest issue in my environment is the temperate, specifically heat. I am pretty sure the parents of my current CRS died off due to stress from the first heat wave of the summer. My condo gets very hot during the summer. Even after picking up a portable A/C unit the temperature in my den was still a bit warm so I added additional cooling in the form of some computer case fans. Originally I had them plugged into the timer so that they turned on when the lights were on but I found the temperature crept up at night. So in the end, I just kept the fans on 24/7 and if the temperature gets too cold the heater kicks in. Not the most power efficient way to cool the tanks but it keeps temperatures stable. One of these days I will have to build some DIY dual stage temperature controllers. Edited October 21, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) 20G Taiwan Bee Tank After some early success with the CRS, I was very curious to see if it was possible to set up a taiwan bee tank. When they first hit the shrimp market they fetched very high prices and earned a reputation for being very sensitive shrimps. I kinda knew I could hit the lower pH levels with ADA Africana and with the prices dropping to fairly reasonable levels for taiwan bees I decided to take the plunge and to go for it. I switched my ratio around for ADA Africana / Amazonia and increase the depth of the substrate to over 5" - definitely overkill for a 20G tank but it will keep my pH level super stable. I picked up 6 BKK including a Shadow Panda at the beginning of September and they all seem to be doing alright... well at least all 6 are still alive.. lol They grow more slowly than regular bee shrimps and the ones I have are fairly shy during the day. They seem to only come out when the lights are off but at the same time they seem pretty content with just feeding off the biofilm in the tank. Parameters pH: ~ 4.8 gH: 4 TDS: 150 Temp: 22 C Filtration: Eheim Undergravel plates + Prefilter + Eheim Canister filter Substrate: ~ 2/3 ADA Africana / 1/3 ADA Amazonia (powder) I have yet to see a berried BKK but they are pretty young and haven't really seen any females in my group - I think all of my mine are males but it might be just because they are too young to tell. I did put in a saddled female Golden Bee and couple of weekends ago and she became berried last weekend. Edited October 21, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackerberry Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Oh man, I wish I can see the setup in person and see how everything works. Are you selling some of your shrimps? hb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 No that makes me want to redo mine. Nice job....new list is on it's way from Ebiken . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomuhs Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Simply amazing! Thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sierra Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Love the clean look! Can tell you put a lot of time and thought into the system. Questions: 1. I have the same rack and was wondering how do you feel it holds the weight all together? 2. Does the undergravel filter in picture 3 have any clogging problems with the substrate? 3. Could you go into more detail how your auto top off works? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 (edited) Sorry, had to rush off to work this morning before I could post more photos and go into more details about my setup. Will updated it tonight or over the weekend. Oh man, I wish I can see the setup in person and see how everything works. Are you selling some of your shrimps? hb My place is still quite a mess but if you are in downtown Calgary feel free to drop by. No shrimps for sale yet.. might be a while as I am trying to keep them happy and if that does well they will starting breeding for me and my population will grow. My goal is to have a tank full of shrimps : ) Might have some culls further down the line but not sure if any one wants those.. lol Love the clean look! Can tell you put a lot of time and thought into the system. Questions: 1. I have the same rack and was wondering how do you feel it holds the weight all together? 2. Does the undergravel filter in picture 3 have any clogging problems with the substrate? 3. Could you go into more detail how your auto top off works? Thanks 1. The rack is alright but not great. Even with a piece of particle board it still bows quite a bit in the middle. If I was to do it again I would go with more heavier duty warehouse type racking. 2. So far it has been pretty good - haven't experience much in terms of clogging. The undergravel system consists of several layers to prevent this. The pipes are first covered up with crushed lava rocks and biological filter media (Eheim Substrat Pro / hex nodes). For my ADA aquasoil I use a colander to separate the finer granules from the larger ones. I than use the larger granules on top of the lava rocks, than the finer granules and finally if they are available the powder one. For tanks with both ADA Africana and Amazonia, I use the Africana over the undergravel filter as it is harder than Amazonia and doesn't break down as easily. I also remove any fine filter foam or floss from my filter - I find that mechanical filtration is not as important once the water get to the HOB or Canister filter. For my two 20G tanks in the middle I use Eheim undergravel plates that are designed to work with their canister filters (no really necessarily but it was an impulse buy). For those two tanks the water is filter through a prefilter unit before they hit the canister filter and all of my mechanical filter media (Eheim MECHpro + bioMECH) are placed in those units. That being said, it depends on the substrate - when I used Fluval Shrimp Stratum in my previous setups it broke down more easily so after a while it was just a big layer of muck. 3. The auto top-off system is rather simple and crude. I used standard 1/4" R/O tubing to run a gravity siphon from both reservoir tanks to each tank - both lines have a ball valve for shut-off and flow control and both lines connect to a single a float valve on each of the tank. I consider using standard PVC piping - it would have made for a cleaner look but it was overkill for my flow rate. Because it is on the top level, the 20G long is not hooked up to this system. For that tank I just manually drip water from a buffering cup every other day for top-off. For water changes for that tank, I salvage an air driven intake pipe from my external breeder box to slowly move water from the adjacent tank Edited October 21, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackerberry Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 Awesome, I work downtown close to the Ctrain and Centre street. PM me your address if it's ok, might have time to swing by. Just wanted to see how to top off works and I might be interested with the culls . Thanks Bro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykit Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Awesome write up and very nice build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidbro Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Amazing tanks. Stunning set up interiors. What surprises me is how low your getting the PH on our city water for some of your tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 (edited) Thanks for taking the time to do the write ups, they are very informative. Where did you get your feeding dishes from? Ron Edited October 21, 2012 by Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackerberry Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Very informative. Thanks for the info. hb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted October 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 (edited) Amazing tanks. Stunning set up interiors. What surprises me is how low your getting the PH on our city water for some of your tanks. Thanks Skidbro, I actually don't use tap tap water, all of the water in my tanks are 100% R/O water which are than remineralize with mineral products designed for shrimps tanks. But R/O water can be easily buffered so it really is dependent on what you have in your tank that will buffer the pH. In my case I use a mixture of ADA Amazonia & Africana Aquasoil to achieve the target pH I want. They are an active buffering substrate and will lower the pH of the water. I find an active buffering substrate is really one of the key component for higher grade shrimps that require lower pH. They cost a premium and need to be replaced after they lose their buffering ability but they have made a big difference in my current setups compared to the the previous substrate / gravel that I used Thanks for taking the time to do the write ups, they are very informative. Where did you get your feeding dishes from? Ron I got the feeding dishes off ebay - they were sold as cheap glass petri dishes. I think i got 10 of them (w/ covers) for around $20. They are made out really thin glass but it works well enuf. The nicer Pyrex ones are around $6 each BTW, I took out the gravel and undergravel pipe on my BTOE tank today. The pH was creping to high for my liking and the OEBTs seemed pretty stressed so took both of them out and went about separating the gravel from the sand - was a bit PITA it was either that or set up another tank... I really wish ADA made an aquasoil that buffers the water at pH 7... lol Edited October 21, 2012 by jumpsmasher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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