40 gallon low tech shrimp tank

[kvntran]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

Kevin

[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

[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.

[nytowl83]

looking like a nice mangrove theme

[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.

[kangshiang]

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

[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.

[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.

[kvntran]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

[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.

[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

[CL]

Great looking tank! I love the wood

[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!

[Craigthor]

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

Craig

[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