# 3 Gallon Bedside Shrimp Tank



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Sharing the bedside night lamp. 










Its a cheap 3 gallon Tetra cube. I had originally housed a betta in there, but since I have a betta in my 10 gallon, I converted this one to a red cherry shrimp and otocinclus tank. The whole black theme with ikea furniture is working out great! 

The original Tetra set came with a crappy internal filter and led lighting. I've decided to upgrade the lighting to the 13W fluval lamp and Marina i25 internal filter. The water is crystal clear and the plants are growing nicely.

I really wanted to keep things simple in this tank. Not too much foliage. I have some anubias nana tied to some driftwood with black string, some anubias nana petite at the base of the driftwood, dwarf pennywort, some staurogyne repens and that's it.



















Wondering if I should do CO2 injection or stick to Flourish Comprehensive and Excel. I'm afraid the CO2 injection would be hard to control with such a small tank. I do want that dwarf pennywort to spread though....


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## Regenesis (Apr 12, 2011)

I love your tank! Looks great!

How well does the Marina i25 Internal Filter work? No problems? I'm looking for a mini internal filter and haven't had much luck.


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## oldskool559 (Aug 19, 2013)

cool tank! i got the same filter in my cherry tank..i upgraded mine with fluval sponge and bio media


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

Love the tank!

How long has it been setup? How do you sleep with all that light lol

Idk about the co2 but I do dose excel 2-3x a week in my low tech shrimp the excel hasn't seemed to affect breeding.

I've wanted to try co2 but worry about not having the home time ATM to watch over the tank like a hawk for unhappy shrimp..maybe I'm paranoid lol


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Regenesis said:


> I love your tank! Looks great!
> 
> How well does the Marina i25 Internal Filter work? No problems? I'm looking for a mini internal filter and haven't had much luck.


Thanks! The Marina i25 is an okay filter. It's got quiet operation and seems to filter the water pretty well for my 3 gallon. My gripes are that it can be a little bulky, you have to take the filter out of the water to replace the cartridge (if you hang it on the edge), and the filter cartridges are kind of expensive.

I've made modifications to my filter cartridges by cutting open the carbon filtration section and replacing it with bioballs. It's a hassle. I'm trying to think of a more economical way to develop a polishing bag around the existing frame and just change that out. Gonna have to see what ideas I come up with.

In retrospect, I should have gone for a mini HOB if that helps.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

oldskool559 said:


> cool tank! i got the same filter in my cherry tank..i upgraded mine with fluval sponge and bio media


So glad you posted. I realized that my filter has made red cherry shrimp soup out of my babies. I found a few inside the filter bag and managed to free a few, but the others seem on the brink of death. Do you mind sharing how you altered your filter media and the use of the sponge? Pictures please!! :bounce:


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

drewsuf82 said:


> Love the tank!
> 
> How long has it been setup? How do you sleep with all that light lol
> 
> ...


This recent configuration has been set up for maybe a month or so. The lights go off around 9 pm with a timer, so I'm not affected by it when I sleep.

I recently switched to pressurized co2 and was thinking about having a T intersection in the output line so I can inject co2 into my main tank (10 gallon) and this small tank. The regulator has a solenoid, so I can use a timer to turn it on and off as well (no gasing out inhabitants at night). I'm just semi hesitant since it's a small tank though. Anyone have good success with co2 injection into small nano shrimp tanks?


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## oldskool559 (Aug 19, 2013)

Asu1776 said:


> So glad you posted. I realized that my filter has made red cherry shrimp soup out of my babies. I found a few inside the filter bag and managed to free a few, but the others seem on the brink of death. Do you mind sharing how you altered your filter media and the use of the sponge? Pictures please!! :bounce:


aww poor lil guys:angel:,inside the filter there's 2 plastic guide tabs that i had to cut off to make the sponge fit.and then the sponge slide's right in.
i used the fluval edge foam and biomax renewal kit,its fits right in there.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3717760&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No
and to save my shrimp from getting sucked in,i tied on some polyfill.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

oldskool559 said:


> aww poor lil guys:angel:,inside the filter there's 2 plastic guide tabs that i had to cut off to make the sponge fit.and then the sponge slide's right in.
> i used the fluval edge foam and biomax renewal kit,its fits right in there.
> http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3717760&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No
> and to save my shrimp from getting sucked in,i tied on some polyfill.


Funny, I had never thought about swapping out the filter cartridges for a simple foam and bio bag! I already have those items at home too, so will upgrade and see how it goes. I opted for some black filtration foam by rena as a prefilter. Great ideas! Thanks oldskool559


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

oldskool559 said:


> aww poor lil guys:angel:,inside the filter there's 2 plastic guide tabs that i had to cut off to make the sponge fit.and then the sponge slide's right in.
> i used the fluval edge foam and biomax renewal kit,its fits right in there.
> http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3717760&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No
> and to save my shrimp from getting sucked in,i tied on some polyfill.


How often do you clean your polyfill? It seems my shrimps poop on it a lot, so it gets clogged in a few days.


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## Melted (Nov 22, 2013)

Asu1776 said:


> How often do you clean your polyfill? It seems my shrimps poop on it a lot, so it gets clogged in a few days.


You could try a nylon sock or something, then when you go to clean it, just flip it inside out when the filter is off so that the debris doesnt spread into the tank.


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