# D_S's plastic shrimp box



## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

Omg! Peeling the protective cover off of plastic screen and the like is my favorite part! I haven't a clue how you have resisted peeling them off for so long!

Setup is looking good! What is the benefit of shrimp sand? I recently got a starter colony of cherry shrimp and I have them living in a bare bottom bowl for now while I work on a tank for them, they've plenty of space and water in there with lots of plants to make o2, scrub toxins and provide hiding spaces. I have a bunch of eco-complete that I bought for 50% off when they changed their packaging from petco, I was thinking about using this but would the fertilizers be harmful to the shrimp?


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

aquarist said:


> Omg! Peeling the protective cover off of plastic screen and the like is my favorite part! I haven't a clue how you have resisted peeling them off for so long!
> 
> Setup is looking good! What is the benefit of shrimp sand? I recently got a starter colony of cherry shrimp and I have them living in a bare bottom bowl for now while I work on a tank for them, they've plenty of space and water in there with lots of plants to make o2, scrub toxins and provide hiding spaces. I have a bunch of eco-complete that I bought for 50% off when they changed their packaging from petco, I was thinking about using this but would the fertilizers be harmful to the shrimp?


i've been a huge fan of eco complete. I've used eco, flourite (? it's red), and ADA AS. 

The Eco is pretty much inert so I don't think it does anything to the shrimp. Your shrimp should be fine as long as the parameters are steady and stable.

The shrimp sand looks pretty cool in texture. It's pretty much the same size to each grain (ball shaped) and it's "suppose" to buffer PH and have some nutrients that benefit the shrimp. They also make a plant version that includes ferts.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Looking forward to this build.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Question: since I'm still under the 1 tank rule with the gf. I will be putting this up and breaking the 60p down at the same time. 

Would the fish be ok in the new tank if I filled this tank with 50% tank water and threw the cycled filter on it ?


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Down_Shift said:


> Question: since I'm still under the 1 tank rule with the gf. I will be putting this up and breaking the 60p down at the same time.
> 
> Would the fish be ok in the new tank if I filled this tank with 50% tank water and threw the cycled filter on it ?


I have done it successfully. The thing is I was using the same filter. I used as much water as I could from my old tank, ended up being about 75%. I waited a few hours before adding the last 25% but that may be hard on your tank without destroying the substrate. You should be fine if you add your filter and plants, but you may want to wait like an hour with your fish in a bucket to give you time to work. Remember that your fish are likely much more hardy than when you first buy them, I find I can be a lot more "risky" with fish I have had for a long time, especially since they don't have to acclimate to the new water, etc.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Thanks Matt. Always helpful. I just don't want to lose my cories hah.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Down_Shift said:


> Thanks Matt. Always helpful. I just don't want to lose my cories hah.


Honestly, I am not the best fish keeper so I figure if I can do it, most others can. However, you may want to wait until someone else chimes in.

The other thing you could do if you have a temporary place for the 60P is set it up on a counter or something. Drain it most of the way, refill, and it shouldn't have issues. Then you can take much more time setting the new tank up. I have done that with smaller tanks plenty of times.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*

Here it goes. Starting it up!

Peeled the front.
Loaded the shrimp sand. 

Here's what I'm thinking. 

Stones in the middle. Front left corner is left empty for almond leaves and cholla. I'll put the feeding dish there when needed.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Even though I have never done a mix of substrate and sand, the left corner is betting for some sand IMO.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*



talontsiawd said:


> Even though I have never done a mix of substrate and sand, the left corner is betting for some sand IMO.



I have some pebble rock/gravel that's brown. I might put it there. 

Right now I plan on laying almond leaves there as ground cover. And have a few pieces of cholla wood piled up. 

Here's the rocks. Suggestions very much appreciated!



















The idea is AR mini, s repens around the rocks and the middle space. 

Dhg all around and gradually mix with micro sword up to Downoi to the rocks. 

Maybe some MM and moss in the rock formation to add more details


The shrimp sand is very light. Having trouble keeping hills and the rocks from moving around

Edit here's another rock formation


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*

Finally finished swapping tanks. Spent all night. I guess going out to a bar then coming home to swap tanks wasn't a very good idea. 

Planted a crapload of chunks of dhg and micros word. 

Ar mini and I took some of the baby crypt wendtii. Some MM and blyxa as well. 


Lost my endler fry during the swap 

So shocked at the worms in the old tanks substrate. 






























Will probably have another update after I get a few hours of sleep. My fish and shrimps are still in the bucket. Had a bunch of orange shrimplets and a few full size green shrimp. And a few Amano.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Spent the day cleaning up. Everything seems good. Moved the rest of the fish and shrimp into the tank. No deaths so far. 

Waters still a little cloudy. 

Shrimp sand is very hard to plant in. Kicked up a cloudy mess. It also doesn't hold rocks very well. already losing some of my hill. Hopefully the roots will hold it down when they grow in. 



















Trying a new co2 setup without a solenoid. There's some threads about keeping a constant low bubble co2 injection going 24/7 to avoid ph swing and keep lower ph. 

Will try that. It's currently set it 1 bubble per ~2.5 seconds. Took an average. 


Next plan? If I have it in me, a 1.5L


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Looks good so far. The only thing I would have done differently is have all the stone match but I really like the design and layout.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

talontsiawd said:


> Looks good so far. The only thing I would have done differently is have all the stone match but I really like the design and layout.



Ya. That bothered me too. I ordered seryu from two different places. And they didn't come out looking the same !! 

If anyone knows what I have in the tank please post up!


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Very nice set up, i see potential for another tank LOL if u make a rack. But that layout is gonna be very clean looken i like that a lot.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Planted some hc. Downoi. Srepens. C parva. Done w plants now. Let's get it to fill in!
Co2 reg replacement should be in tomorrow along w root tabs and a acrylic scrubber. 

Got API tabs since I didn't want the osmo balls to get everywhere.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I like that right there.


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## Brian_Cali77 (Mar 19, 2010)

Sweet setup... following!

BTW, if the GF did away with the 1 tank rule, would you have kept the 60P up?


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## EwDeg (Feb 4, 2014)

I actually like the different looks of the rocks, but that's just me.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*



Brian_Cali77 said:


> Sweet setup... following!
> 
> BTW, if the GF did away with the 1 tank rule, would you have kept the 60P up?



Possibly. I have a few tanks (90g, 20h and 20L) set up at my parents house 15 min away. But they are primarily holding some bigger fish that outgrew my small tank. 

Gf just doesn't want the apartment looking like an aquarium again hah. It was pretty bad when she first moved in. I had 4 tanks set up in a 300sqft apartment. Of course she wanted to remodel and change up the bachelor pad. 

Im in the process of putting together a farm/qt tank in the basement closet. Cleaning out all the boxes this week. Might bother newbieplanter into building something. Designing the tank with him. I want removeable trays/pots for each plant as I want to grow some HC mats while keeping the tank bare bottom. Will be a pretty shallow tank so I can get lighting pretty close. It will be More for an experiment of growing one tray submerged and another above the waterline. Got the ok from her as long as it's not taking up space in the apartment 






EwDeg said:


> I actually like the different looks of the rocks, but that's just me.



I still haven't figured out the exact stones yet. They do have some nice textures that contrast each other.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Down_Shift said:


> Gf just doesn't want the apartment looking like an aquarium again hah. It was pretty bad when she first moved in. I had 4 tanks set up in a 300sqft apartment. Of course she wanted to remodel and change up the bachelor pad.


If you get married, by law, you legally get to own up to 75% (by volume) of the aquariums you had before you met her and up to 150% if it is in a garage and/or personal home office. That's the minimum, with consent, I have seen that number go much higher.

Seriously though, sometimes it's good to limit your tanks for time, space, and aesthetics. I swore myself down to 2 tanks and I am just about to break that rule, my new rule is one tank per room.


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## gus6464 (Dec 19, 2011)

How thick is that acylic?


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

gus6464 said:


> How thick is that acylic?



3/8"






talontsiawd said:


> If you get married, by law, you legally get to own up to 75% (by volume) of the aquariums you had before you met her and up to 150% if it is in a garage and/or personal home office. That's the minimum, with consent, I have seen that number go much higher.
> 
> Seriously though, sometimes it's good to limit your tanks for time, space, and aesthetics. I swore myself down to 2 tanks and I am just about to break that rule, my new rule is one tank per room.





Hahahha. I like your thinking. A tank in each room would be nice. But I only live in a one bedroom so that's still two tanks


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*

New pic. I was finally able to clean the tank without worrying about scratching!!



















Super impressed by the clarity of this tank. 


If anyone is looking for an acrylic scrubber. I just bought two for 1.97 each with free prime shipping. Crazy! Also picked up a new cheap regulator as I couldn't save my old azoo. 










Ran good for over 6 years! API root tabs came in as well but I don't want to disturb the substitute again. This stuff rolls and levels out my slope too quickly. I have to push it back into a slope daily. 

Cories don't help either. They keep uprooting the sparse hc I was able to plant yesterday. 




























This weekend I'll have to recal. my ph probe as I think it's a little off. After that I'll start testing the parameters to see what I can keep for shrimp. Most likely will be simple neocar. Unless I have something special for parameters. 

Anyone have suggestions for a floating plant to help combat algae? Something that can absorb some of the nutrients? I'm thinking Riccia as it would look pretty cool as a cloud looking floater but I'm afraid it will turn into a mess.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*a plastic box- 60F tray style custom build*

Having issues with keeping co2 in the tank. As well as having to top the tank off every two days. I'm more paranoid it's a small leak but I've been looking and there isn't a leak! Must be te large water surface area and having an AC blowing about 12ft from it. 


Sat infront of the tank tonight. Here are some pics of the inhabitants. Couldn't get the green neon shrimp. I have two and they are always hiding. 























































































I won't be adding any more fish. Maybe a few more cories and oto for cleaning. But I want to get my parameters in check and get a new colony of shrimp in there.

http://youtu.be/ugoQi1J0M3c


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Down_Shift said:


> Having issues with keeping co2 in the tank. As well as having to top the tank off every two days. I'm more paranoid it's a small leak but I've been looking and there isn't a leak! Must be te large water surface area and having an AC blowing about 12ft from it.
> 
> 
> Sat infront of the tank tonight. Here are some pics of the inhabitants. Couldn't get the green neon shrimp. I have two and they are always hiding.
> ...


Yo u did a great job on that tank! I only got one addition to it, some anubias nana petite thats it. Could be cuz im an anubias freak LOL this is a old pic the anubias has started to take off. 

BTW: the water is evaporating same thing happens in my tanks too within a day u can see it, i wanna say due to havin no cover but i havent tried that exp on my tanks yet.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

It's been a month. Not much growth for the dhg. I mowed it this last cleaning so hopefully it will promote more growth. 

Had to cut down the ar mini, crypts, and some MM that was growing in the wrong direction. 

Scrubbed the tank down since I had some algae on the walls from accidentally leaving a light on. The rocks had some green tint that is not gone. 

Got the co2 on check with recal the ph probe.

Gave everything a good cleaning. 

Push the slope back together a bit. Along with putting in a few API tabs. 

I noticed the shrimp sand is raising my Tds? My old Tds average was about 160. With a fresh WC it would be around 120. 

With this setup my tank is averaging 250 and fresh vw gets it down to 220. 

Will do another small wc this weekend to slowly getting it down. 

Found a few neon green shrimp on my canister too. Sweet!

My cories both died 



Pics:


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Looks good. Slow fill in is frustrating but it will do it's thing. I like this very much.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

newbieplanter said:


> Yo u did a great job on that tank! I only got one addition to it, some anubias nana petite thats it. Could be cuz im an anubias freak LOL this is a old pic the anubias has started to take off.
> 
> BTW: the water is evaporating same thing happens in my tanks too within a day u can see it, i wanna say due to havin no cover but i havent tried that exp on my tanks yet.


Wtf is that.. java fern doing in there with the anubias? *glares* nice collection btw! I use to have a ton of anubias too, love the stuff!...Till I got one with the disease "rhizome rot" that spread and killed over half my collection :c
Nice big mess of aluminum plant above water btw. Is that moss or riccia in the outflow?


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## tricken (Jun 27, 2013)

tank looks nice, i have the same issue with pygmy corries i lose about half of what i get in 2 weeks, they are all wild caught


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

tricken said:


> tank looks nice, i have the same issue with pygmy corries i lose about half of what i get in 2 weeks, they are all wild caught



Ya. I lose half of my oto and pygmies always. Then the rest live for a while. I guess wild caught is the reason !


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

What fish is that with the clear body and pink strip?

Love the 60-F, I'm thinking of getting one too.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

FlyingHellFish said:


> What fish is that with the clear body and pink strip?
> 
> Love the 60-F, I'm thinking of getting one too.



It's a inked glass fish. 

Ya I love the look of the 60F. Just want it a little big size wise.


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

Ahh rats, those modify fish are ban over here. I thought it was natural. Does the pink strip glow or anything?


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

FlyingHellFish said:


> Ahh rats, those modify fish are ban over here. I thought it was natural. Does the pink strip glow or anything?


they glow under some lighting. My moon lights make them glow. It's kinda weird because you can't see the fish, just the stripes.

I picked them up from a distributor. They had a huge tank full of them. They are known to get sick easier and die due to all the stress of getting ink'd. Then you include all the regular shipping and stuff that happens. I had a pair that were quite hardy. The orange male I had died during the tank swap. Purple one seems to be alot less shy with the orange gone.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*DS's plastic shallow box. Now Stocking shrimp!*

Now stocked! 

Red rillis and yellow poso rabbit snails(aka the vacuum cleaners) from bandaiban. 

Was desperately in need of a cleaning crew. Now will pick up a few Pygmy cories and oto and this tank is done stock wise!

Super cool dude. 
Also picked up some blue pearls for another tank I'm working on. 



























































Bonus. Here's the second tank. Low tech experimental tank. 
Half the height. A little longer and less wide footprint. Will put up a second thread or post updates in this thread when I get it up.


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## Brian_Cali77 (Mar 19, 2010)

That's so cool how you can get any size tank with those acrylic panels. Do you get them cut somewhere professionally? And how do you silicone them together? Not that I want to do it, just curious. Probably if I had the room, I'd love to have one in a 120F or 33L dimensions!  

BTW, nice stock. I had red rilis once but accidentally CO2 nuked them all. LOL


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Brian_Cali77 said:


> That's so cool how you can get any size tank with those acrylic panels. Do you get them cut somewhere professionally? And how do you silicone them together? Not that I want to do it, just curious. Probably if I had the room, I'd love to have one in a 120F or 33L dimensions!
> 
> BTW, nice stock. I had red rilis once but accidentally CO2 nuked them all. LOL




i gotta be careful with the co2. I've been injecting a constant low low bubble count to keep ph from moving around. worried it will nuke once it empties!


Newbieplanter on here works on acrylic. luckily for the boston city people he's local! I just kind of give him dimensions and he works his magic.

The acrylic is cut to size then buffed and glue'd. The glue kinda melts the plastic together so there's no silicone. If Ike (Newbieplanter) sees this post, i'm sure he'll chime in.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

I think I just found my next livestock purchase. Those rabbit snails are AWESOME!


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Great. Like the idea of the new tank, that should be crazy shallow though, half the height of a 60F...is that even considered a tank anymore lol. Should be interesting.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Here's a video of the tank this morning. Shrimp look pretty happy. 

http://youtu.be/9e3dwtZNvus


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Woke up this morning to a fry drop. Lime green endlers. 





























And a video of my wc setup 

http://youtu.be/sIWPwZjK1No


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## Unikorn (Jun 14, 2012)

Nice! Those rabbit snails are awesome


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

I've read conflicting things on Rabbit Snails + Plants. How are yours faring? I think I may have convinced my wife, if they won't eat our plants.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

vanish said:


> I've read conflicting things on Rabbit Snails + Plants. How are yours faring? I think I may have convinced my wife, if they won't eat our plants.



So far. I haven't seen much damage to the plants. I don't have much plant mass. They do love to push the substrate around. Noticed my hill a bit smoother. They've been keeping my grounds really clean.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Did the weekly WC. Last week I had a fry drop from my lime green endlers. 14 total. No losses so far. I moved the fry to a net. They've been growing pretty good. Next plan is setting up an empty tank at my parents as a endler only tank. Afraid these guys will eat off the shrimplets.


I read up on feeding yolk. So I boiled an egg. Massed up the yolk with flake till it was finely blended. Froze little pieces of it. I drop one small piece into the breeder net daily. You can see the fry have yellow tummies. 

Since I did a WC. I figured id drop a sample into the feeding dish. Holy crap they took off with pieces to every part of the tank. Doh. 


Oh. Three berried shrimp. One looks like any day now.

Don't kind the hanging net. It's an eye sore. 













































































Here's a sneak peak on my other project. Still working out kinks. Will be getting poret foam and makin some sort of breeding project. Right now just making sure everything is able to stay put safely.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

*D_S's plastic shallow box. Now Stocking shrimp!*

Rabbit and rili sharing a pc.....













Till the rili pulls a piece off. 
























































The male endler











Saddled?


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Update!











http://youtu.be/RqaylyQR9hw


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## jeffpersonn (Feb 9, 2014)

Sho nice ... I can't even keep cherry omg


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

jeffpersonn said:


> Sho nice ... I can't even keep cherry omg




thanks jeff.



had to test some lighting equipment that i'll be using for a project i'm heading out to this weekend. i'm normally too lazy to pull out a real camera and only rely on my phone for pics. figured i'd set it up to make sure it worked before leaving tomorrow morning.


here's what came out of it:










if anyone's wondering. here's how the shrimp sand looks like up close.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

If anyone is wondering:


AB800 w mini vagabond 
5d3 with 135L and tubes 

i'll be using a beauty dish and probably a large 5' octabox with the strobe. i'm more of an elinchrom guy so i had to figure out how to put this stuff together~!

(I usually don't so macro for work)


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Down_Shift said:


> Did the weekly WC. Last week I had a fry drop from my lime green endlers. 14 total. No losses so far. I moved the fry to a net. They've been growing pretty good. Next plan is setting up an empty tank at my parents as a endler only tank. Afraid these guys will eat off the shrimplets.
> 
> 
> I read up on feeding yolk. So I boiled an egg. Massed up the yolk with flake till it was finely blended. Froze little pieces of it. I drop one small piece into the breeder net daily. You can see the fry have yellow tummies.
> ...


Gotta love Twins LOL, very nice set ups everythings coming along so good! roud:


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

sponsored by the person above ^ 
lol


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## Brian_Cali77 (Mar 19, 2010)

Nice photos and camera gear. I use extension tubes for macro too. Gotta love a cheap but effective solution to a dedicated macro prime! 

BTW, I must have missed it early on, but what kind of snail is that? What does it eat? Looks cool!


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Brian_Cali77 said:


> Nice photos and camera gear. I use extension tubes for macro too. Gotta love a cheap but effective solution to a dedicated macro prime!
> 
> BTW, I must have missed it early on, but what kind of snail is that? What does it eat? Looks cool!


rabbit snail. (i think golden _Tylomelania gemmifera)_


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

swoof said:


> rabbit snail. (i think golden _Tylomelania gemmifera)_






Brian_Cali77 said:


> Nice photos and camera gear. I use extension tubes for macro too. Gotta love a cheap but effective solution to a dedicated macro prime!
> 
> BTW, I must have missed it early on, but what kind of snail is that? What does it eat? Looks cool!






Thanks dude.

I think they're common name is
Yellow poso rabbit snails. They get to be a good size and they're very active. 
One downside is they plow my substrate down. Noticed my hill way lower than the earlier pics.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Them babies about to pop!


Video too!


http://youtu.be/NkopJXhGBsg


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Baby sighting. Didn't see any babies this week. Figured id clean the feeding dish this morning. Upon pulling it out I noticed things moving!

Juve rili probably born a week or two ago. Didn't know I had a drop!

And a new born rili. 


http://youtu.be/xredZjpzmLQ


They look orange because they were grazing on a carrot I just removed.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Well. The great game of patience.... Waiting for the day my tank is filled with an army of hungry zombie shrimp. 

Nothing much going on. All females have birthed. I count about 15 babies on a daily basis and they all vary in sizes. Don't know how many I have in there but there's definitely more. A few females are ready to go at it again. So I am predicting I will have a bunch of baby shrimps running around, keep forgetting they take a whole to grow. 



















































Bought a new ph probe since my current 6 yr old probe started giving me varying readings. Even after calibration. 

Bought one from Asia on eBay. Definitely didn't get the one pictures in the sale page. 

Will be putting it on and calibrating it tomorrow. Hopefully it works and saves me about 30 bucks for a new brand name probe. 












Vs

Chinese rip off


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Waterchanged. Nothing much happening. Watching need for speed. Hopefully it's not as bad as people said it was hah. 


Cleaned out the basement closet tank. It's cycled and now I have to decide what to do.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Got a few more shrimp in the tank today. Threw in a zuchinni slice. Seems like the snails are the only ones that eat it. 



















They done how flipped it over and got stuck under. Watching then eat their way out. 






















Bonus. Closet tank is cycled!






































Idea behind this one will be splitting the tank in half w poret. Then figuring out what to play with. One side is reserved for my endlers. 

The water parameters seem more stable and friendly for some sort of card. Or very comfy neos. Well see what happens. Right now it's just growing out some trims I want to use.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Here's more of the basement storage closet tank. 

The main tank (10g )has a ac20, nano hob, and a sponge filter

The two containers have larger ball air stones. All controller from a plastic gang valve from a pump.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Bonus. 

Feeding time. Wish they crowded more!










And the babies are growing up at a good pace.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Impulsive thing today. Carbons!! 14 total. 


Put them in the basement tank. Threw two endler babies in for fun too. Waiting for te dividers to keep the endlers in one side.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Don't think I've been cooking my zuchinni long enough. Shrimp went crazy on it after it sat in the tank and softened up.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Water change day today. And cleaned up the main tank. Poret should be here end of the week. Will use it as a divider for the basement tank. Then that breeder net will be gone since the endlers will finally be rehomed to the basement tank!








































And more babies coming!
The babies from last drop have grown a good size.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Feeding time.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

That time of the week again. Feeding time!


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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

Some cool looking shrimp!


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## Xzavier247 (Aug 9, 2014)

Subbed. Looking nice!


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## alemao420 (Jul 12, 2013)

Those are some serious macros you've got sir.

Props for the tank and pics


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

alemao420 said:


> Those are some serious macros you've got sir.
> 
> Props for the tank and pics



Thanks guys. 

It's all from my iphone5s!


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

So I've been using a piece of filter hose to aim the food into the feeding dish. I've also noticed if I turn off the filter the shrimp find the food way easier. And they seem to come out into the open when the flow is turned off. 

I also started vacuuming the leftover food (turns into powder) with a turkey baster. My tank controller turns the filter back in after 1.5 hours. So I clean up left over food before it gets blown everywhere. Seems like more shrimp want to come out if I use this method. 


wC last night. 


Molting


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Before the overhaul












Quick update

Ordered another bag of shrimpsand to try to redo a slope and replenish some of the substrate I dumped out. Pulled all my dhg!


Replaced with Monte Carlo. 











I'll update again once it starts to fill in

Counted about 50 baby shrimp today. 
I've noticed my berried females tend to like darker areas. So I put in more cholla as well as some experimental acrylic box shelters that my friend made for me. 




















I also borrowed his par meter. 








That's from the substrate, center of tank. Highest point. 


Light drops off at the sides and front/back of the tank.









Should still be plenty of light to grow anything! But also pretty much explains why my Amano and berried shrimp are always dashing under the shadows of plants/rocks when the lights are on. 













I had the lights down to 3 hours since starting the tank as it had very minimal plants. Now that things are growing I brought it up to about 5 hours of full light and 2 hours 1 before 1 after with just the planted+.
Turned up my co2 a little bit also. 
Let's see if it causes an algae outbreak?


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## Projectp (Oct 7, 2013)

Lookin good! Who made those shelters, I need one!


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Moved carbons to a net until my friend builds me a new nano shelf tank. 

They did great for a month and were breeding but suddenly had a die off. Brought them up to the main tank so I can watch them regularly. 

Also got the star ceramic shelters.

Going to see if the shrimp prefer the ceramic vs acrylic shelters.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Update! Everything's cool. Starting doing some light kno3 dosing. Man the plants love it.


Have 5 orange tigers in the net. Observation period. Making sure are ok with the water parsmeters before letting them roam the tank.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Tigers are out and doing fine. 

Added a nice looking baby pleco to help with algae on the hard to reach glass areas. Seems to be working.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Figured I should give a much needed update.

I rescaped the tank with a goal of keeping it more open for shrimp breeding.
Got rid of all the plants and started fresh. Most of them were sold off or moved to my 20G long.


New stock:
CRS
Tangerine Tigers
Red Rilli
Amanos
Calico x Super Red Juve Plecos
Pgymy Cories

Gonna be adding a bunch of other Card. sp. to get a mixing pot going!
In a few weeks once my cube cycles, I'll be moving all the rilli to the cube and introducing some bloody mary's in the tank instead. The rillis are starting to get dull from the vibrant colors of the tigers and crs :hihi:


I'm going to remove all the MM in the back right corner and I will be putting a few longer stems of Mangrove for some pop out of the top of the tank. Not sure if I'll like it or not.





























[URL=http://s46.photobucket.com/user/wanmatt/media/8492A256-C947-4B15-B3F3-F81AC9C066E7_zpsq4u7hd7w.jpg.html]
[IMG]http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/wanmatt/8492A256-C947-4B15-B3F3-F81AC9C066E7_zpsq4u7hd7w.jpg[/URL]




Random pic of the tank from my "tank cam" while I was away on a trip.
It streams to my homeserver and out to my iphone.


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