# New Sulawesi Tank



## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

I’ve been working on setting up my first Sulawesi shrimp tank and have decided upon a 7.5 gallon 12” cube tank. I’m planning on cardinal shrimp at first and see how they do with my water and tank conditions. The substrate is crushed coral mixed with some fine natural gravel. I went out in my yard and found a bunch of stones of various sizes which were scrubbed and boiled to death. I also gave them the vinegar test to make sure that they would be okay for aquarium use. These formed the main aquascape along with some willow moss tucked into some of the crevices between the rocks. The little fluff of moss in the front left corner is Christmas moss tied around a stone with some mesh. I’m thinking it will form a small bush of moss in time where the shrimp will gather around looking for bits of food. I’m hoping that the mosses will do okay with the water conditions that are required for Sulawesi shrimp. I’ve never kept moss in high pH water so don’t know how it will do. 

 For filtration I’m using a Tom Rapids mini canister filter with a Zoo Med 501 sponge in one side and Eheim Substrate Pro in the other side. I’ve also drilled out the flow control area of the filter so I get maximum water flow through it. I may add some Purigen to the filter later but want to see how it works without it at first. Right now I’m using a 10 watt Marineland pre-set heater in the tank but it only keeps the tank at 75 degrees so I’ll probably make one of my nano tank heater modules and put it inline with the filter so I can adjust the temperature up to 82 or so. One cool thing I did (well at least I think it’s cool) is on the filter intake I made an acrylic intake tube that goes down under the substrate and then comes back up where I can put a sponge on the end of it to keep it from sucking up any shrimp. The tube runs right down the corner of the tank so it becomes unobtrusive and for cleaning the sponge I just have to reach in and pull it off to take it out for rinsing off. I thought that this would work and look better than having the intake held in place with suction cups and having to take it loose every time I wanted to clean the sponge. 

 My water parameters so far are:
 PH – 8.0
 Ammonia – 0
 Nitrate – 0
 Nitrite – 0
 KH – 5
 GH – 7

 Before I actually get the shrimp for the tank I plan on having the temperature at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Here are a few pictures of the set up process and how the tank looks so far:









 

 This picture shows how I bent and set up the intake tube. Note that I did use a suction cup to hold the intake to the bottom of the tank but it will be under the substrate and will not show. At first I was just going to silicone the tube into place but didn’t want to mess up the tank if this idea doesn’t work. The tube seems to but pretty locked in place with the suction cup on the bottom and one on the back outside the tank. The return is an acrylic spray bar set up so that I don’t need any suction cups holding it in the tank. One of my goals with nano sized tanks has been to keep the in the tank clutter as minimal as possible.

Here are a couple shots of the tank showing the substrate and the rocks etc. I didn’t put a lot of slope to the substrate because with shrimp tanks it becomes pretty level over time. Note that I’ve set this tank up on a ¾ inch thick board for the cycling and set up process. Once I have it all ready I’ll move it to its final location and slide it off the board. Of course I’ll drain it down for the move process so it shouldn’t be any issue moving it. That is one of the blessings of nano sized tanks; they are not that difficult to move.









 









 

So I’m I think I’m just about ready for shrimp unless you let me know of something I might be overlooking. I haven’t decided upon a light for the tank yet so will need to give some thought to that pretty soon. 

 Am I ready for Sulawesi shrimp yet? Have I overlooked or missed something? I want to try to have it right before I get the shrimp because they are quite an investment.


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## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

sweet little tank


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

Your soon to be cardinals will really appreciate those rock crevices. Looking good!


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## D'cecilia (Jun 12, 2009)

man, this thing looks great!!!!
Love those rocks!!! and i really like that filter intake idea, it is kool!
Do you plan on adding more plants or is this just goign to be totally
focused on the shrimp?

I am planning on doing something similar to this, something simple, to keep
a small colony of Crystal's.


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

Newborn shrimplets will be able to go through that sponge. It is open cell so they can climb right through the pores. Get an actual sponge filter or the sponge from one and use a pvc endcap to block the hole. 

Also you should get that tank established a couple months before you add sulawisis. It takes a while for biofilm to really build up


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

As FishSandwich suggests, I would cycle the tank for awhile to get things growing. Get a light going as it will help with the biofilm and diatoms. The tank looks very nice. The ZooMed 501 sponge makes a good, shrimplet friendly prefilter


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

He's actually been cycling the tank for three weeks according to his email to me. The dozen he's getting won't be making much of a bioload.


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

The tank has been up and running for three plus weeks but the filter was running on another tank for over six months so I'm pretty confident that it is cycled. I agree on having biofilm in the tank so I've squeezed out a couple of my intake sponges from my CRS tanks into this tank. I can see more biofilm build up each day. 

Fishsandwitch,
I have switched the intake sponge to one made for the fluval edge tanks. It is much finer mesh and fits perfectly.

I'm not sure about more plants right now they would have to be low light ones and be able to live in pH 8.0 water. Maybe some really fine leaved grassy type of crypts. It will be just a shrimp tank though I have heard that for Sulawesi shrimp I should add Sulawesi Tylo snails. We'll see.

As for light, right now I'm running a 65 watt daylight spiral florescent in a cheap 8" round clamp on reflector. This is probably way too much light for the tank but I'm hoping that it will give the moss a head start. Not sure what light I'll end up with on the tank so if you have ideas and how many watts let me know.


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

There is some1 in the swap and shop giving away some of these shrimp for free, just pay shipping, if you are interested! 

Tank is looking great btw!


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## catfishbi (Jun 10, 2008)

great looking tank, good luck with those shrimp. I had my tank ready for 6 month and waiting for planet invert to send me the shrimp, of course they never did and took my money and run away.... so I had to take the tank down..


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

running a filter on an empty tank is NOT cycling. All those bacteria from the 6month old filter are dead by now because they have nothing to eat. Besides which when I say established I dont mean cycled...a tank for sulawisis should be cycled and running with some other kind of livestock for months before you add the sulawisis.

Hopefully you have had some fish in there for the 3 weeks but I dont see any in the pics.


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## alohamonte (Jul 25, 2006)

To stabilize or mature this tank faster, add more plants/moss and add some bioload with something harmless to shrimp like otos or nerite snails. Good luck.


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

How did you make that intake tube?


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## Green024 (Sep 19, 2009)

Here is his thread on how he makes his in and outputs out from acrylic rods.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/99443-diy-lily-pipe-nano-tank.html


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## bploeg (Sep 20, 2004)

Inspiring! I love the look of this tank!

Is this the same 1ft cube in your signature? 

That powercord right next to the tank makes me nervous man! I KNOW I would make a mistake sooner or later :redface:


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

catfishbi said:


> great looking tank, good luck with those shrimp. I had my tank ready for 6 month and waiting for planet invert to send me the shrimp, of course they never did and took my money and run away.... so I had to take the tank down..


 
You too!


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

catfishbi said:


> great looking tank, good luck with those shrimp. I had my tank ready for 6 month and waiting for planet invert to send me the shrimp, of course they never did and took my money and run away.... so I had to take the tank down..


That is just not right in a hobby atmosphere on any level I'll put planet invert on my be sure to avoid list.
If I get my Sulawesi off the ground and producing shrimplets I'll be sure you get some if you still want them. :icon_smil


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

Pretty sure Ryan Wood sold the website to alpha pro breeders... but just hearing that name gives me the heebiejeebies.


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## catfishbi (Jun 10, 2008)

I will NEVER trust that site doesn't matter who owns it .....


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

AquaDean said:


> If I get my Sulawesi off the ground and producing shrimplets I'll be sure you get some if you still want them. :icon_smil


Put me on the list for the 2nd or 3rd generation.

By they I should have a tank cycled and waiting.


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

Here are a couple shots of the tank from the back so you can see whats going on back there. Angles are kind of weird in the pictures but I didn't have a lot of room to get the shots. 




















You'll see that the intake has a set of Eheim double quick disconnects then goes into the filter and from the exit of the filter it goes into the bottom of the DIY heater module and from there back into the spray bar. The valve with the blue on the way to the spray bar is just for flow control. At some point in time I'll probably add a second set of double disconnects to the output side of the filter to make cleaning a little easier. Right now I have to take the filter, heater module,and spray bar with the filter for cleaning. Also looks like I'm going to have to replace the one hose from the top of the heater module to the bottom of the blue flow control valve, it is pinching off a little on each end.


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

I really like your custom acrylic pipes you made for it. So awesome!


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## HOLLYWOOD (May 12, 2007)

Thanks for the intake thread.... really enjoyed that. Now as for your tank I would highly recommend reading this thread:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/s...cardinals-redlines-harlequins-oh-my-12-a.html

Best success comes from a tank that has been fully cycled and*MATURED.*


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

Well the first Sulawesi Cardinals arrived earlier this week thanks to Aelysa and they are fantastic to say the least. They came in blue which I found is a stress color and within 10 minutes (after acclimating them over 3+ hours) of releasing them into the tank they all got there real colors back. These are incredible little creatures and so far are doing great. They are voracious eaters especially when the tank light is off and I watch with room lighting only.This makes me think that I should use lower light on the tank. The water parameters have stayed rock solid as I figured they would, so everything is going well so far. I'll post some pictures and a video this weekend and plan on continued success with this tank. 

Thanks to Aelysa for the perfect shipment of shrimp.


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## catfishbi (Jun 10, 2008)

My tank is on the way too


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

Looking forward to seeing berried ones soon


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

Here are some pictures of the newly aquired shrimp sorry about the quality but it's the best camera I've got. There is also a link to a short video I shot but again the lighting isn't the best.






































YouTube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVLjRDi3mm4


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## msnikkistar (Mar 23, 2010)

Aww, they are so cute Dean.


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

Dean, after watching your video I think you should have a berried shrimp in there if that video was from last night. Look for the solid colored cardinals, those are the females.


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

Aelysa,
So are these about as big as these shrimp get? They are already mature? If so I'll take some really close looks at the solid colored ones.


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

They are adults, but they do get a bit bigger. The males are a little more clear, like RCS.
Sometimes the females only have a small clutch of eggs, similar to a single line of eggs, and other times they have so many they are hanging out of the swimmerettes.


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## VincentK (Dec 16, 2009)

I lol'd at watching their little white arms move like that.


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## AquaDean (Nov 20, 2009)

Saw evidence of my first molting today. Could berried be on the way? Crossing my fingers cause I've heard that these can have troubles after molting.


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## catfishbi (Jun 10, 2008)

Up date up date!!!!


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## ZID ZULANDER (Apr 15, 2008)

I have ones that are not solid color that are berried. When you mean solid you mean no spots?



aelysa said:


> Dean, after watching your video I think you should have a berried shrimp in there if that video was from last night. Look for the solid colored cardinals, those are the females.


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## ZID ZULANDER (Apr 15, 2008)

I have also noticed that when I turn the lights on they shrimp are blue. I think its a night time thing for them. Couple of shots of my guys...


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## jules2k (Aug 19, 2009)

Those are real purdy Mark, why the purdiest shrimps are the hardest to keep?


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

ZID ZULANDER said:


> I have ones that are not solid color that are berried. When you mean solid you mean no spots?


I mean like how female cherry shrimp have more solid coloring instead of clear.


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