# Shrimptopia



## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

I present shrimptopia!










...... well its kinda teaser pics right now. And I only say that because they are crappy quality, no lighting, and the tank has cloudy water so you cant see anything. But anyway .........

Specs:

Tank: 20 Gallong Long

Substrate: Fluval Shrimp stratum

Filtration: (2) Sponge filters, (1) Eheim 2213, and (1) Inline filter box. The second sponge filter, canister, and inline box filter are on there way here.

Lighting: (1) Aqueon T5NO two bulb fixture.

Stock: Crystal Red Shrimp










Again sorry for the crappy cell phone quality. All I have right now. I will update as the toys come in. Let operation shrimp sexi-time commence! Also excuse the tanks below. I plan on probably geting rid of the 5G moon for a 5G rectangular. And then setting up the 10G for fire red or other shrimp.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Sweet looking shrimp tank.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Haha it looks more like a mud tank. Also here is an update with new lights. Decided to go with N.O. T5s. A nice little unit for $70 at petsmart (overpriced as hell) with two bulbs. The pictures make it look brighter then it really is. But its bright enough for moss lol. The last 1/4 of the subtrate is on the way so that will be finished monday as well as the other sponge filter. Tuesday comes the canister filter. And then sometime after that the inline box filter.










The other name for this tank will be the pimpin shrimpin. Ive always wanted to do this and had some extra $ so this is awsome. I really hope I can finally get my CRS to breed and be happy.










Please let me know what you guys think. Any suggestions, comments, anything are welcome. Im an attention whore (im a guy though) so it doesnt matter. Oh also you cant see him but there is actually 1 CRS already in there. Hes my ......... canary if you will. So far hes doing great though.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

Is there a sponge or something over the intake of that canister filter? You'll need it for the baby shrimpy!

Other than that the tank looks good ^^


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## GitMoe (Aug 30, 2010)

I spy an Otto. Tank looks nice. Any specific reason for so much filtration?


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

I was wondering that too?^^^

It should be a really nice tank when it gets up and running all the way!!!

Good Luck!
Drew


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

HolyAngel said:


> Is there a sponge or something over the intake of that canister filter? You'll need it for the baby shrimpy!
> 
> Other than that the tank looks good ^^


Actually yeah I do have a sponge for it, just havent put it on yet lol. Either im going to use a sponge or get another screen mesh prefilter for it from theshrimplab. I may also not even use this filter afterall.



GitMoe said:


> I spy an Otto. Tank looks nice. Any specific reason for so much filtration?


Hah I love ottos. I have some in all my tanks.



BoxxerBoyDrew said:


> I was wondering that too?^^^
> 
> It should be a really nice tank when it gets up and running all the way!!!
> 
> ...


Thanks and to answer your questions the reason is because this is going to be a breeding tank for CRS (Crystal Red Shrimp) and they are very picky about their water. Its also my goal to not do a water change but once a month. I just recently learned this is done in many overseas shrimp tanks.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Checked Ammonia: 0
TDS is about 170
Still need to check PH but it looks like everything is settling in nicely. I guess all the substrate and decorations from the 10G near instantly cycled the tank. Plus both the sponge filter and finnex has had a little while to get a small bacteria colony going as well. So far 3 CRS and 2 ottos apear healthy and fine.

I think I will slowly add the rest as to not cause an ammonia spike.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Great looking set up


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Well I moved all the shrimp over to this new tank and converted the 20G regular back to a normal fish tank to house my GBR, neons, and glofish that were being housed in a temp 5G. Im going to break down the 5G, and setup the 10G again later. So I will only have 1 20G, 1 20L, and one 10G. The 10G will house my PFRs once its setup. Right now they are in the new tank along with the CRS. I dont want to keep them together for the long term so the PFRs dont crowd the CRS.

Also to make sure my new shrimp home is good to go I switched the old aquaclear filter to the new tank. So right now I have the finnex, the sponge filter, and the aquaclear. I will be putting all the old media into the new eheim so it will be instantly good to go. Then will remove the aquaclear and finnex.

I will take pictures again once everything is in place. It looks like crap right now lol. Hope all that made sense.


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## Ben. (Mar 29, 2011)

How many bags of shrimp stratum did you use, and the 4.4 or 8.8 bags? I'm setting up my 20 long too


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Orignally one 8.8lb for my 10G. Which was then transfered to this 20L. And I have another 4.4lb comming tomorrow. So to be safe I would say two 8.8lb bags. I may have to get another 8.8 myself. But I dont need as much because I wont be changing my water that often so the subrtate wont have a hard time buffering.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Small update: I got my additional fluval stratum today that I had to track down at the FedEx place because the driver didnt want to leave the box I guess. I added it to the tank and its cloudy lol. Also unfortunately it looks like my two berried PFRs dropped most/all their eggs. The one I can find still has a few but not nearly as many as before. I cant seem to find the other one.

I also woke up this morning to my CRS doing the happy dance and found some molt this afternoon. So I guess they are decently happy. Still cant tell if I even have any females ..... but im guessing if they are doing the happy dance there has to be right? Ive been wondering if a female PFR molts, will the CRS males still do the happy dance?

Will be getting my additional sponge filter and canister filter tomorrow. Although I should have had the sponge today, but thanks to crappy USPS tracking I didnt know it was delivered today and the apartment office is closed.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Ladies and gentlemen I give you ......... Shrimptastic Park ..... dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun ... dun dun dun, dun dun dun dunnnnn dunnnn dun dun. <--Sing the Jurrassic theme song in your head lol. But seriously Im going to pass out now.



















P.S. I DARE there to be any amommnia in this tank lol.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

That's a HOT looking shrimp tank. Love it. You're going to be able to keep MAD amounts of shrimps in there. How about more shrimp condos? Some IAL and cholla wood and you'd be good to go.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Thanks! Yep will probably get more apartment things and maybe more wood.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Just a quick update. So far ive found 2 baby fire reds on some moss and sponge filter. Hopefully there is a lot more. Also will be switching to aquasoil (new type) after I let it leech in my 10G.


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## AdamP. (Sep 30, 2005)

It looks like your tanks are right in front of a door? I hope there are no accidents..


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

haha thats in my bathroom. That door leads into the hallway and its never openend. Even if it was, it opens away from the tank.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Grats on the babies.  Hope they do alright. The way your tank is laid out has got me thinking that maybe I had the wrong idea with a carpet of HC...who knows though. Hopefully we'll see whenever my tank finishes cycling and this ammonia stops leaching. :icon_roll


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Nothing wrong with an HC carpet. Infact the shrimp will love it. Gives them plenty of surface area to pick on. And babies can hide and be safe.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Awesome. Good to know, since it's really taking off. Post some baby pics, man! Let's see those little buggers.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

They are too small for my crappy cell phone to take a good picture of lol. However I can show you my current king of the tank.










My cell camera doesnt do it justice. Its way redder then that on its red parts. This was taken only after being in my tank for a few hours.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

It does look like the ruler of the tank, look at those erect antenna, "Fear me, fear me".


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

nice looking tank. Look at that Alpha male over there. haha


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

King shrimp in the house.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Nvm it died. After this picture was taken all it did was hide in a patch of moss. Woke up this morning to find it dead being eatin by another CRS. I thought this one was going to pull through out of 3 other that arrived DOA but guess not.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Noooooooo! Not king shrimp!  Well darn. Anything wrong with the water parameters that you can think of?


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## ren (May 19, 2010)

GDP said:


> Nvm it died. After this picture was taken all it did was hide in a patch of moss. Woke up this morning to find it dead being eatin by another CRS. I thought this one was going to pull through out of 3 other that arrived DOA but guess not.


thats one cool tank!! I love when a shrimp tank has a canister, a sponge filter,and an HOB awesome super duper bioload :bounce:.. but seriously though I hate when the shrimp you like the most looks health and moves around one day. then the next day you see it being cannibalized by another shrimp it sucks but it's going to happen good luck with the other shrimp


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

this thread is so tempting from buying 20g from petco 1 dollar/gallon sale rite now tomorrow morning 9am when they open.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Thanks guys for the kind words. Yeah it really sucked waking up to find it dead. When I first put it in, it kinda hid in the moss. Then it came out a bit for that picture. The rest of the time it was hiding until I found it dead. I really though it was just adjusting but at the same time I knew something was up. Probably just didnt want to admit it lol.

Water is perfect. 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites and maybe 5 nitrates. Hard to tell cause im almost color blind lol. But I had done a water change right after adding him. Slowly I might add. With distilled water. TDS is now 128. It was a little high @ 220 at first but nothing crazy.

Really though I think it just couldnt handle the shipping like the rest. It just didnt realize it was already dead lol. Oh well I should hopefully be getting replacements soon.

Oh FYI that hob filter is no longer on there. Its just the canister + shrimp lab prefilter (the cansiter looking one) and the two sponge filters.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Might've just been bad shipping.  Shrimp looks awfully big to be shipped safely afaik. I know my FRCS were juvies when they were shipped and I still have 9 out of the 20 left due to me being an idiot, but they're still only 2/3 the size of that shrimp you posted in the pic. Apparently juvies handle shipping much better. And you lucky dog...I have to wait til mid September to get my prefilter.  Thankfully I don't need it until then anyway.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

freph said:


> Might've just been bad shipping.  Shrimp looks awfully big to be shipped safely afaik. I know my FRCS were juvies when they were shipped and I still have 9 out of the 20 left due to me being an idiot, but they're still only 2/3 the size of that shrimp you posted in the pic. Apparently juvies handle shipping much better. And you lucky dog...I have to wait til mid September to get my prefilter.  Thankfully I don't need it until then anyway.


 
They were requested by me to be that big. Being as I requested females only. Nikki was more then accomadating of my requests and went above and beyond what most other vendors would do for someone. But yeah we agreed it probably got too hot while shipping.

This next shipment is being overnighted so should be no problems.

Also the prefilter your talking about is it: http://theshrimplab.com/store/?p=749 cause thats what I was talking about. Not the stainless prefilter (which I also have).


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

I was talking about the stainless steel one.  And yeah, summer heat sucks. Good luck with the next batch.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Ok so new 4 SSS grade were sent to me from Nikki (The Shrimp Lab) and they are outta this world in terms of quality. The white is super white, like no non white parts. The red is equally as nice. They appear very healthy and active. I think I will only add these 4 + my best other CRS back into the 20L. Everything else will stay in the 10G.

Also I switched the shrimp startum in my 20L to the aquasoil. You know they say not to rinse but let me just say dont ever just dump it in with water already in the tank. You will never see such black looking water lol. Also it has a bunch of annoying floating wood chip looking things. But its clear now after changing out the water. Gotta clean the glass though.

I will take pictures ASAP.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

New pics of ADA Aquasoil plus updates tank perameters:



















Ammonia: 1-2 PPM
PH: 6.0 or below
GH: 3
KH: 0
TDS: 179

So as you can see ive thrown a few shrimp in here already. They have been in there between 1-5 days. A big S grade for 5 days now plus a few RCS babies. The ONLY reason they are doing ok is probably because the PH is so low the amonnia isnt toxic. Only thing I can think of anyway. The one in the second picture is so active I couldnt get it to sit still long enough to get a good shot lol.

I can safely say the ADA soil is doing its PH buffering job extremely well. From tap my water is (last time I checked):

PH: 7.6
GH: 4-5
KH: 1-2
TDS: 180

Im really curious to know how low my PH really is lol. I dont know because the ph chart/solution only goes down to 6.0. So either its really 6.0 or lower then it can read. Also if you are curious all my other shrimp including the SSS are still in my 10G for now until the tank completely cycles. Although im worried it wont because as I understand it the bacteria dont operate under such low ph.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Man, your tank is looking super sweet. Clean, open and built for shrimps. Love it.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

haha thanks man. Do you think the low ph will be an issue for the cycle? Or should I add some baking soda to increase the kh some?


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

naw low ph is great..


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Very good looking set up


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Thanks! I also just squeezed out a bunch of mulm bacteria from my 20G filter pads. Its all over the substrate and filters now. Should hopefully jumpstart it pretty good. Im still worried about the low PH having an impact on the cycling process though.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

I found that Seachem Stability is actually doing my tank a lot of good. I dosed the whole bottle over the course of a week and the shrimp are fine...doing great actually. Might be because the cycle is coming along and the HC growing/pH detoxifiying most of the ammonia but it was a good source of peace of mind, haha. Good luck with your tank and new shrimp bro!


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

I tried stability. It didnt work for me, but there could be a lot of reasons for that. FYI the crystals are all still alive and well as of this morning. Ammonia is still around 1.5ppm. Havent bothered testing nitries yet.

Probably going to squeeze the pads again from the other tank into this one. Hopefully it wont take too much longer to cycle.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

It looks really nice and I hope they make it thru the cycle, good luck.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

I'd be more than happy to relieve you of some of your F1s if they start breeding. :hihi: Good luck with the cycling phase...hopefully that low pH will help you out with the ammonia leaching.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

ammonia has gone down to about .50 ppm from what I can tell. I hate color matching stuff. Its deffinately way lower then it used to be though. No nitrites interestingly enough.

All crystals still alive in there and threw it my 2 SSS crs last night. Two of the others ended up dieing for some reason but im happy with 2 for now. Woke up this morning and those two are doing great in the big tank.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

This will be so fun to watch you get a good colony going and seeing them grow. Really cool tank! Hope your shrimp do well for you now and no more shrimpie deaths!


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Yikes....sorry to hear about the SSS shrimps man. Hopefully you have a stable tank cycle.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

freph said:


> Yikes....sorry to hear about the SSS shrimps man. Hopefully you have a stable tank cycle.


They died in my already cycled 10g. Not the 20. Not sure why but they are both doing fine in the 20g now. Also did a rescape sorta. Looks like ass now but once the moss grows in it should be nice.

Also added some neons to help eat the worms and little critters in the tank. Keeping a close eye on them to make sure they dont mess with the shrimp.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

I noticed I have some nematodes in my tank as well (and maybe a couple of planaria....but I'm not certain and I haven't seen them since I put the corys/espeis in) that I see from time to time. They mainly get stuck to the sponge filter and get slowly devoured by the shrimp that hang out on it. Hah.  Digging that moss wood idea in the making. It'll look great covered.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

I just hope it holds as its fake resin wood. So not sure if moss can attach to something like that.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That moss is going wild in there.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Well I finally noticed some saddled CRS. It looks like changing to aquasoil was a good call. I woke up this morning to the sexy dance so I hope to see some berried CRS soon.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Woot for sexy shrimp dancing. lol...GL with the berries..


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

I wish my cherries would start sexy dancing already.  Btw post pictures of baby cherries!


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Ok so long time no update. I just had to tear down everything in this tank as moss was growing out of control and to make matters worse I somehow got hydra ( I think) and tried to kill them off with dewormer with no sucess. So I removed everything out of the tank and will retreat one more time.

In other news my CRS population has EXPLODED. Didnt realize how much until I removed all the moss lol. I didnt even do a really good job of making sure there were no trapped babies in the moss. Didnt want to risk getting the hydra back in the tank. Most are low grade Cs. Once I get enough I will cull and start selectively breeding.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Latest pics:


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

My Best CRS:


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Nice! But I see everything from C - SSS grade in that tank lol


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> Nice! But I see everything from C - SSS grade in that tank lol


yeah, lol. Its kinda my 'other' tank right now till the new 20 is setup and done. Interestingly enough I had what im 99% sure were SS+ - SSS babies from im guessing an SSS father and a SS mother. Sadly they didnt make it for whatever reason.


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