# 40 gallon low tech shrimp tank



## kvntran

Hi all,

Setting up my new 40 gallon shrimp tank. Any aquascaping suggestions or feedbacks are welcomed and appreciated.

Tank is 3.5 weeks old, and almost completely cycled.

Spec:
size: 36 x 17.5 x 15.5
substrate: 3M black quartz T grade.
light: 4 x 21 watt T5 Cadlights. 
filter: eheim 2211
wood: manzanita
rock: black lava rock.
plant: sword, hygro, grass.
shrimp: 6 low grade crystal red. 

I dosed ammonia to 5ppm everyday.

First week, the tank was rotten due to decay matter from the wood, I didn't wash them, and that was a big lesson learned.

100% water change after the first week. second week, the wood completely taken again by fungus.

third week, another 100% water change because the tank was rotten again, but great progress as far as ammonia goes, it went down from 5ppm to 1 in around 24 hours. Nitrite was hovering above 5ppm.

a few days later, I noticed nitrite started to drop a bit. I stopped dosing ammonia and did another 100% water change then added 6 test shrimps. I figured it will be safe because 6 little shrimps would produce very little waste.

I will keep you guys updated. Thank you.

Kevin


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## nytowl83

Hi Kevin

Is the wood fresh wood? That might be the problem if it is..

some folks advice to boil drift woods before dipping into the aquarium, keeps it from secreting the brownish tint and rotting. Might work with fresh wood.

the tank looks nice as it is... some java ferns/moss and anubias would be nice on the drift wood and certainly add great character

Cheers

Ben


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## kvntran

Thanks Ben,

the wood was dried dead wood. the problem was that I didn't boil or scrub them, for the first few weeks tannin leaching was bad as expected, but it's kinda stable now.

Anubia, java fern, and moss are on my list. I will probably add them next week.

Kevin


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## kali

hey kev
the wood looking real nice in the tank ..


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## johnnymax

I think some mosses on the wood my look good, but it looks great like it is.
What kind of shrimp are you adding.. I am becoming obsessed with freshwater shrimp! :icon_eek:


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## kvntran

Thanks Kali and Johnnymax for the feedback.

I already added 6 crystal red yesterday. Today I found one dead, 4 alive, and 1 unaccounted for ;(

Tested the water both ammonia and nitrite are at 0.

The 4 live shrimps climb onto the wood and to the surface as if they are trying to get some air. Is there any reason that my tank lacks oxygen?

I also notice a thin film of oil on the surface, and all I can think of is that the oil is from 3M quartz. Does anyone have any experience with 3M quartz and the oil that comes with it?


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## Luichenwai

hey wuts your ph??

I have the same substrate and im at 7.2ph.. I'm trying to get the ph to the 6.8 range... I'm actually thinking about getting a bag of ADA Amazonia soil to achieve that.. or maybe PEAT.

Do you have any issues with PH?


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## kvntran

Hi,

My pH is 7.4
Since this is a new tank, I don't know how stable the pH will be. Quartz is inert so it should not effect your pH at all.


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## CL

That's some pretty nice wood. That tank looks like a slice out of a river. Will all of these shrimp tanks popping up again, I think that I am going to have to set mine up again lol.


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## kvntran

clwatkins10 said:


> That's some pretty nice wood. That tank looks like a slice out of a river. Will all of these shrimp tanks popping up again, I think that I am going to have to set mine up again lol.


LOL setting up again? is there a reason to take it down the first time?

Thanks for your suggestion. I have some flame moss from my other tank, I will throw some on the wood.

Kevin


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## CL

kvntran said:


> LOL setting up again? is there a reason to take it down the first time?
> 
> Thanks for your suggestion. I have some flame moss from my other tank, I will throw some on the wood.
> 
> Kevin


I just took it down to set up another tank (my 30c) It's sitting empty in another room. I have everything I need except the wood.

I really think that flame moss is going to look sweet on that wood ::thumbsup:


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## kvntran

After an hour of hiking near Manzanita Trail here in Southern California I found some manzanita burls. I'm planning to add them to the tank, but don't know if they will match with the branches. Please give me some suggestion as to how to add these to this setup, I'm not too good at aquascaping. See pictures below. Thank you.

Kevin


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## CL

They might not match the wood, but they look AWESOME.
If you ever decide that you don't want them, then I'll take 'em :hihi:


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## kvntran

Here's some more burls


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## Trallen44

If you get some agitation of the water surface, the oil will go away. Point your return from the filter more towards the surface till you get a slight ripple. The tank looks great.


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## kvntran

Trallen44 said:


> If you get some agitation of the water surface, the oil will go away. Point your return from the filter more towards the surface till you get a slight ripple. The tank looks great.


Thank you. Clwatkins10 suggested the same thing. I just did that, and it looks like the oil goes away.

Kevin


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## kvntran

Hi All,

Today, I added more wood and a burl to cover the filter intake to make it looks more natural.

I also added anubia, flame moss, val, and java fern.

Of the 6 original shrimps, one dead, one unaccounted for, and four are alive and kicking. 

Picture of tank before update









Picture of tank after update


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## Axelrodi202

Nice hardscape! But it looks like you don't have enough moss. I also think some crypt. spiralis in the back left corner would look nice.


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## nytowl83

looking like a nice mangrove theme


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## kvntran

The tank is stable now, but need to do water change around 2 times per week due to tannin leaching.

I added more wood, and 4 more crystal red.


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## kangshiang

those driftwoods are awesome..
Shirmp must be happy climbing there.....
Great home for any kind of shrimp..


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## kvntran

A small update.

The tank is quite stable now. Found many kind of algae: green spot, brown, and hair algae. I hope after the plants are grown out and established, the algae will be out-competed. Also added 8 spixi snails to fight algae.

I removed the low grade test shrimps, and added 20 SS grade 10 days ago. One died the next day, the rest are doing ok.


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## Raiden

Wow really nice tank! I can't wait to see it once all the plants grow in. This is going to be a shrimp only tank? Could I ask what you used under the black quartz? I'm just getting into live plants in my aquarium.


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## kvntran

Raiden said:


> Wow really nice tank! I can't wait to see it once all the plants grow in. This is going to be a shrimp only tank? Could I ask what you used under the black quartz? I'm just getting into live plants in my aquarium.


Thank you. Yes, it's gonna be a shrimp only tank. I already have a planted tank with fish. There's nothing under the quartz except spot treated with Seachem root tab.


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## kvntran

Hi all,

Here's another update, the plants are now grown out quite a bit, I still have many kind of algae: green spot, staghorn, hair, and brown.
19 SS crystal red are doing fine, I think there are 3 berried now, I'm excited and can't wait to see the babies.










I also setup another 40 gallon, almost identical to the first. It's now cycled, I have about 60 grade A crystal red in there now. I ran out of scaping ideas so it looks pretty much like the first one. Any suggestions or comments are appreciated.


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## kvntran

Hi all,

Another small update: 
The staghorn algae is disappearing, I think massive water change using RO kill them. There are also less green spot and hair algae. There is still no baby crystal red.










The second tank is taking shape too, for some reasons this one hardly has any algae, even though it's the same setup, the same water change schedule, and pretty much the same plants


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## CL

Great looking tank! I love the wood


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## Digsy

I'm really liking the look of all that driftwood. Most people are using it so sparingly so this is a nice change. The driftwood in both of your tanks fill the space nicely!


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## Craigthor

I liek the pics of the second tank. Seems much more natural setting.

Craig


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## kvntran

Thank you all for the comments.

clwatkins10: I love those woods too. Hey, I remember you said that you wanted the wood, do you have anything to trade for burls? at 5,484 posts you must be a veteran and have lots of stuff.

Digsy: I think people do like a lot of woods in their setup, it's just that these woods are expensive. Californians are gifted with lots of manzanita, I guess I'm lucky....hmm wait... I'm also "gifted" with lots of expensive stuff! geez cost of living here is way too high.

Craig: Yes, I started to like the second tank more too. One weird thing is that the first tank is my pet project, better wood, better filtration, better shrimps...better everything. On the second tank, I just put them together using leftover from the first project! So, I've just learned from these setups that better looking tanks maybe those that we don't tinker with them too much and let nature takes its course 

Kevin


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## problemman

i like your tank alot!!!


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## kali

kev 
you ever got those fungus and shiet took over the tank since you never soak/boil the manzanita woods?? fungus still grown more and nasty on my wood , even though i soak for a month but didnt boil ..grrrrr


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## kvntran

problemman said:


> i like your tank alot!!!


problemman,

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.


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## kvntran

kali said:


> kev
> you ever got those fungus and shiet took over the tank since you never soak/boil the manzanita woods?? fungus still grown more and nasty on my wood , even though i soak for a month but didnt boil ..grrrrr


Kali,

On the second tank, I boiled the wood really good for 2 hours, but only 2 days later, the white fuzz and fungus still took over the whole thing. But after a few more water changes, the tank was stable faster than the first tank. I don't have much algae now. I'm sure your fungus problem will disappear soon because as bad as they look, they will disappear on their own.


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## kali

kvntran said:


> Kali,
> 
> On the second tank, I boiled the wood really good for 2 hours, but only 2 days later, the white fuzz and fungus still took over the whole thing. But after a few more water changes, the tank was stable faster than the first tank. I don't have much algae now. I'm sure your fungus problem will disappear soon because as bad as they look, they will disappear on their own.


kev 
i hope so bro ..its been a month the wood in the tank with good water movement and the fuzzy still grown out like crazy . i'll take a day off tomorrow and take it all out ..


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## speedie408

Got wood?  I'm on my own quest looking for some manzy's around here. . . sucks when you have small kids. Can't really do anything for yourself. 

Tanks are looking good.


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## kali

speedie408 said:


> sucks when you have small kids. Can't really do anything for yourself.


tell me about it !!!


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## kvntran

kali said:


> kev
> i hope so bro ..its been a month the wood in the tank with good water movement and the fuzzy still grown out like crazy . i'll take a day off tomorrow and take it all out ..


That was what I had to do with my first tank. Took them all out, wash them good, do 100% water change. Actually I had to do 2 times to rid of the fuzz. Good luck, please keep us updated.


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## kvntran

speedie408 said:


> Got wood?  I'm on my own quest looking for some manzy's around here. . . sucks when you have small kids. Can't really do anything for yourself.
> 
> Tanks are looking good.


Lots of manzy in California, but you gotta be careful because they are protected species so you can't just go around and chop them down. I have a friend who lives up on the mountain, and his backyard is littered with dead manzy.
You might also find some by hiking, but I think they are still protected dead or alive, I'm sure that it is so in public land such as parks national forests.

I'm looking forward to some small kids though, taking care of shrimps and tanks can't really have any time.....to make kids!  :icon_surp:icon_surp


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## kali

kvntran said:


> I'm looking forward to some small kids though, taking care of shrimps and tanks can't really have any time.....to make kids!  :icon_surp:icon_surp


hope your wife/GF/female friend with benefit/or whatever you got there ..dont read this , or you will never making KIdS again with them


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## kvntran

hmm... now that you mention, I'm thinking about editing my posts


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## billb

Hi Kevin,
Any updates? I like how you scaped these shrimp tanks. The high grade CRS enjoying their homes?

Bill


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## kvntran

billb said:


> Hi Kevin,
> Any updates? I like how you scaped these shrimp tanks. The high grade CRS enjoying their homes?
> 
> Bill


Bill,

The higher grade CRS seem to like their new home because there has been no death that I know of. As for breeding, SS grades are not doing as well as the lower grade I have, they do have babies, but very few survive. I think I have only around 15 from many batches that make it to young adults.
The second 40g with lower grade does much better, I started out with around 80 shrimps taken from my 10g tank, I think now I have around 200 in there. 
I really hope that you succeed in breeding those sulawesi. How's your CRS colony doing? I guess by now you should have a lot of babies already.

Kevin


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## Ravenmoon

Very pretty aquarium!


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## EdTheEdge

Awesome tank! Great scape, very good progress and a wonderful thread! Keep this one updated please!


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## mgdmirage

Wow gorgeous tank, any recent update pics?


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## kvntran

Hi all,

It has been a while since my last update, there are not much changes in the last 3 months.

Here's a picture of my 40G SS tank, taken today. Just completely trimmed the tank a few days ago, I took out all the spixi snails because they bred faster than the shrimps and after clearing out all unwanted algae they started to eat all the plants!









These are the shrimps


















On a side note, this is a picture of my 10G mix grade tank, this is my most successful tank. They are everywhere, I think there are at least 700 of them in there. Currently I have a sale thread for these shrimps in the Swap n Shop area, if interested there's a link to it in my Signature section at the bottom of this post.










I will clean the other 40g lower grade tank, and take some picture when I have some time.


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## CL

The picture doesn't work 
Edit: There it is! Wow, that looks great. Those shrimp are awesome.


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## Ravenmoon

That aquarium looks great! Makes me totally want to set up a large shrimp aquarium as well. Are the crystal reds very difficult to keep alive and breed? I've only had experience with red cherry shrimp.


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## billb

kvntran said:


> I really hope that you succeed in breeding those sulawesi. How's your CRS colony doing? I guess by now you should have a lot of babies already.
> 
> Kevin


Hey Kevin, I am hoping to see a next generation of cardinals - we will see.

The CRS I got from you are exceptional! These guys are very healthy and breed in my 90gallon with just tap water. As you suggested, there are some higher grade offspring that pop up. I could never catch them but it is fun to see the range of color patterns in the tank. I love watching those guys!


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## kvntran

Ravenmoon said:


> That aquarium looks great! Makes me totally want to set up a large shrimp aquarium as well. Are the crystal reds very difficult to keep alive and breed? I've only had experience with red cherry shrimp.


Ravemoon,

Thanks, I think you should try these CRS, they are quite easy to keep, the key is not to overfeed and keep water clean by changing water regularly.

Kevin


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## kvntran

billb said:


> Hey Kevin, I am hoping to see a next generation of cardinals - we will see.
> 
> The CRS I got from you are exceptional! These guys are very healthy and breed in my 90gallon with just tap water. As you suggested, there are some higher grade offspring that pop up. I could never catch them but it is fun to see the range of color patterns in the tank. I love watching those guys!



Bill, 
Hopefully by the time you got Sulawesi babies, I do have enough SS, SSS grade babies to trade with you.
I like your system especially the plumbing, very well planned and professionally installed.

Kevin


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## leo1234

your tank look very nice and shrimp also i might just get a few crystals


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## kvntran

leo1234 said:


> your tank look very nice and shrimp also i might just get a few crystals


Thanks, your shrimps will be on their way Monday.

Kevin


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## Spork

If you get some Purigen to put in your filter, it will remove the tanins out of your water. That is if you want them out and make your water clear and not tea colored.

Tank looks great.


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## kvntran

Spork said:


> If you get some Purigen to put in your filter, it will remove the tanins out of your water. That is if you want them out and make your water clear and not tea colored.
> 
> Tank looks great.


Spork,

Thanks, I don't like tea color when it gets too dark, but I'm ok with a slight tint, a bit of tannin can help to keep the ph a bit lower than 7.0 though.

Kevin


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## kvntran

This is the latest picture of the second 40G tank.


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## lauraleellbp

Plants are growing in nicely.

Is the haze from tannins, or is Green Water starting up?


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## kvntran

lauraleellbp said:


> Plants are growing in nicely.
> 
> Is the haze from tannins, or is Green Water starting up?


The haze is not green water, it's just algae on the glass. I'm a bit behind on scraping algae off the glass.

Kevin


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## kwheeler91

just to put in my two cents, anyone hesitating to keep these shrimp is missing out. they are really nice. just do what you would do to expect to keep any other dwarf shrimp alive: lots of plants, particulay fast growers like stems and java moss and some floaters, do a weekly water change, and your good to go


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## adrianng1996

wow! awesome tank man! i have my first berried CRS in a small temporary 3g for now  due to their other tank havin ammonia spike by amazonia...


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## VadimShevchuk

Nice tanks and great DW. I think you should add some vals to either one of the tanks.


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## kwheeler91

i dont think its the ph. i had my ph go up to almost my 8 without me knowing it and my crystals were still breeding while my fish started dying


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## kvntran

adrianng1996 said:


> wow! awesome tank man! i have my first berried CRS in a small temporary 3g for now due to their other tank havin ammonia spike by amazonia...


Thanks adrianng1996, so you add amazonia after having all the shrimps? I've heard that people do this too, but they would add just a small scoop of amazonia a day to avoid ammonia spike.



VadimShevchuk said:


> Nice tanks and great DW. I think you should add some vals to either one of the tanks.


Thanks, I do have vals in there, there are not too many of them though, I'm sure they soon will creep all over the place.




kwheeler91 said:


> i dont think its the ph. i had my ph go up to almost my 8 without me knowing it and my crystals were still breeding while my fish started dying


I also find this to be true, pH is not as important as long as you don't shock them. I know for sure though that they prefer ph below 7.00


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## adrianng1996

oh...lol....i didnt know that....the guy at the fish shop just asked me do take out about 80% of the water,and then add the amazonia and just add the water but dont let the water blow right onto the soil...


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## kvntran

Here's an update of the first 40G tank, picture taken today









Kevin


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## adrianng1996

whats your water temp?


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## kvntran

adrianng1996 said:


> whats your water temp?


Hi adrianng,

The temp is around 72.

Kevin


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## kvntran

Hi all,

It has been awhile since my last update.

For the first 40G SS tank, I have been struggling with keeping the babies survive to adulthood. However, lately I see a lot more teenagers in this tank, that's a good sign so far.

Here's a picture taken 10 minutes ago









The second 40G is doing much better, I have a lot more teenagers in this tank than the other 40G. But... last week, I had a failed air pump + a clogged filter + water change after the light out (cannot see the failed pump and filter) = disaster. I woke up the next morning finding I lost around 70% of them...ouch! Lesson learned, DO NOT change water in the dark 

Here's a picture of this 40G tank









Kevin


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## Madfish

Oh man that sucks that you lost that many.


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## kvntran

Madfish said:


> Oh man that sucks that you lost that many.


Yeah I know. I counted the deaths and got so sick after I counted pass 500 I stopped counting. ;(


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## Frogmanx82

What is the issue with a water change after lights out?


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## kvntran

Frogmanx82 said:


> Have you thought about mixing in some other shrimp?


Hi,
Yeah I did, I have another tank with mixed shrimps and small fish. For these two tanks, I just want crystal red shrimps. Thanks for your suggestion on doing medium tech with ferts.

Kevin


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## Frogmanx82

Well, I deleted that suggestion on the medium tech thing as it seems you have pretty good growth. I made that comment before getting to the end of the thread.

Still, looking at what you have, it seems you would need some root tabs or something. Are you adding nothing?


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## kvntran

Frogmanx82 said:


> Well, I deleted that suggestion on the medium tech thing as it seems you have pretty good growth. I made that comment before getting to the end of the thread.
> 
> Still, looking at what you have, it seems you would need some root tabs or something. Are you adding nothing?


I use no ferts, some plants show sign of deficiency, I choose not to dose because don't have good result with baby shrimps using ferts.

Kevin


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## adrianng1996

how do you get your moss to grow so thick and bushy? i like it


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## adrianng1996

oh btw...im gonna try breeding CRS in my 5.5g nano with 2 HOB filters...temp quite high though...about 26/27C...think it will work? i have a fren breed SSS and SS grades in his tank with 26/27C temps...


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## fiftyfiveG

Awesome tanks!!! Dep Wa bro ui!

Could you explain the tank setup? CO2? Nutritient schedule? Light schedule? How many WPG? I'm setting up a 30 gallon tank with soilmaster select and cap it with Flourite. Current light is the stock CF light that come with this tank. I think its about 24w. 

Keep up the good work.


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## kvntran

adrianng1996 said:


> oh btw...im gonna try breeding CRS in my 5.5g nano with 2 HOB filters...temp quite high though...about 26/27C...think it will work? i have a fren breed SSS and SS grades in his tank with 26/27C temps...


Yeah I think the temp is a bit high. I keep mine in around 72F
CRS can handle a bit higher than 80, but I'm sure that they don't like it.



adrianng1996 said:


> how do you get your moss to grow so thick and bushy? i like it


It took a year for it to get to that size, and the larger they get, the faster they grow because they get closer to the light.



fiftyfiveG said:


> Awesome tanks!!! Dep Wa bro ui!
> 
> Could you explain the tank setup? CO2? Nutritient schedule? Light schedule? How many WPG? I'm setting up a 30 gallon tank with soilmaster select and cap it with Flourite. Current light is the stock CF light that come with this tank. I think its about 24w.
> 
> Keep up the good work.


The very first post described the setup. Light is on 11 hours/day.
24W is too low for plants with your tank size, but low light is ok for shrimps.


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## adrianng1996

btw,isnt eheim 2211 too underfilter for a 40g tank? how much water changes do you do?


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