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Jake's Mr. Aqua 12gal Long/36" Shrimp Tank (pic heavy)

177K views 525 replies 84 participants last post by  somewhatshocked 
#1 · (Edited)
Whattya mean I have a problem with too many tanks? Might as well start another one up. (Let's just be glad I don't have an RO/DI filter at home or I wouldn't have a place to sleep!)

Equipment:
Mr. Aqua 12gal long (36") tank
36" Marineland Dual Bright LED fixture
Eheim Ecco 2232/Easy 35
Hydor Koralia Nano 240 (Not yet necessary)
Hydor ETH 200w in-line heater (Not yet in use)

Scape goodies:
Azoo Plant Grower Bed - Black
Lots of lace rock
C. parva
Marsilea minuta
Mosses
S. repens
Bacopa australis
[STRIKE]Hydrocotyle[/STRIKE]
Anubias nana
Anubias nana 'petite'
[STRIKE]Anubias barteri[/STRIKE]
Some other larger Anubias (Congensis, I think)

Livestock:
Painted Fire Reds
[STRIKE]Green Baubalti[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Otos[/STRIKE]
Small Horned Nerites
Ramshorns
[STRIKE]Maybe Black Tigers if Gordon gets them in for cheap? I have really great tap water for them, which should make everyone woah envious (HA!)...
[/STRIKE]
SSS+ Crystal Black Shrimp

Let's share a few pictures…

The arrival:



All the packing peanuts, the box it shipped in and all the bubble wrap used to get it here:



See my suitcases in the mix? Had to put off setting this tank up for several weeks because of travel.

Fresh out of its packaging, half way across the room from the stand it'll soon call home:



From the other side, with the dog scheming behind:



Testing out the 36" LED fixture:



It's rather bright for such a low tank, so it'll likely need to be suspended.

Bought two ZooMed light stands that extend to 39" in height. Am using a Dremel to cut out space on the back of the shelving unit. They'll be weighted down with these baskets, just from behind (was testing in the photo):



Using small black chain to hang the fixture from the hooks of the stands so it's more easily adjustable. Thinking there will be a nice amount of light without the need for CO2 if I suspend it 6-7 inches from the top of the tank, as ADA has done with his 12gal long.

To achieve the best flow possible, am crafting a 30"-32" spray bar out of Lee's rigid tubing - once I figure out how to cap the end of the tube, that is. Also using the tubing to create an intake pipe covered with a stainless steel shrimp strainer. Koralia Nano will be placed in one of the front corners to help with flow. Am aware of concerns about it making shrimp soup but many shrimpers use those powerheads without any problems - shrimp even camp out in the stream and near the intake without many problems.

While I could easily add a needle valve to my nearby 10lb cylinder, I want to keep this tank fairly low-tech with limited fert dosing - maybe half EI.

One of the many PFRs that will soon call this tank home:



Now for the rock. Since I can't really get my hands on any of the fancy stuff from ADA/ADG without spending another arm or leg, am gonna have to use what I have on-hand. Have tons of "Lace" stuff, like this:



Also have these pieces of Lace Rock in established tanks (that I'm shutting down to use as emersed rigs) that I can use:







An ample supply to create a semi-decent scape.

Have these large pieces of "Bone" Rock (and some in established tanks, as well) but I'm not such a fan of it for this setup. Not porous enough to grow as large of a bacteria farm for shrimp as Lace Rock:



Thought about ordering Manzanita from Tom Barr but not entirely sure I want to go the wood route.

Here's the problem: plants. What the heck should I use? Don't want it to look too janky. It's already going to be hit-or-miss with both red and green shrimp in the same tank.

20L plant growth setup containing DHG, S. repens, C. Parva, Anubias:



A 5.5gal with some other plants:



Should I create a few mountain groups of rock in the tank and plant Anubias around the base? Marsilea minuta in a few areas? Bacopa australis as a background plant because it gets bushy? Maybe a bit of moss behind a few of the rocks? Hoo boy, I have no idea what I'm going to do yet but am super-excited.

Just want to keep it simple and lush with several open areas in the front to observe the hordes of shrimp.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Jake

P.S. Should I line the back of the tank with black vinyl? Light blue? No background?
 
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#28 ·
I would try to avoid a spray bar the length of the tank, I had this on my 12 gallon long and i eventually ended up with a clear acrylic tube that looked like this

I settled with the cal aqua 13mm nano lily pipes, expensive but well worth it!

I have a white foam board as a background on mine with led's that light up the white board at night.. sets the mood for the shrimp lol

 
#29 ·
Thanks for sharing the photos. That tank is great.

Had thought about this being a potential problem but I've been using them in 20Ls for about a year and with a quick cleaning every 3-4 months, I haven't had much of an issue. Though, honestly, I tend to clean tubing that's visible every week if it's needed.

I would try to avoid a spray bar the length of the tank, I had this on my 12 gallon long and i eventually ended up with a clear acrylic tube that looked like this
 
#31 ·
No where near enough flow - even with a 2217. Tried a bunch of configurations to see what worked best. Also tried several other sets of lily pipes that I have on other tanks.

The clear hose and tubing that I've got will end up looking fairly decent, I think.

why did you use the lily pipes that wouldnt work in the ebi?
 
#33 · (Edited)
Finally Dremeled out the back of the shelving unit and placed the stands:



You like that blur? Someone had a bit too much espresso.



As you can see, it's going to hold up nicely. Just need to cut the chain to size and we'll be good to go. That's as high as the arms extend but I'm sure I'll be fine on flexibility.

There's non-slip grippy stuff beneath each stand and each of those storage baskets is filled with heavy crap like fertilizer and cans of paint.

Also put some grippy shelf liner beneath the tank.

Received my final bag of Azoo Plant Grower Bed and a bit of Marsilea minuta today so hope to get a rough scape going tonight. Anubias, C. parva, Marsilea minuta, bit of fissidens or other moss behind the rocks. May hold out to see if Gordon gets Bacopa australis in this weekend before settling on a scape.

If anyone has thoughts on plants, feel free to chime in. Not settled on these and am open.

Thanks for reading,

Jake
 
#514 ·
Finally Dremeled out the back of the shelving unit and placed the stands:



You like that blur? Someone had a bit too much espresso.



As you can see, it's going to hold up nicely. Just need to cut the chain to size and we'll be good to go. That's as high as the arms extend but I'm sure I'll be fine on flexibility.

There's non-slip grippy stuff beneath each stand and each of those storage baskets is filled with heavy crap like fertilizer and cans of paint.

Also put some grippy shelf liner beneath the tank.

Received my final bag of Azoo Plant Grower Bed and a bit of Marsilea minuta today so hope to get a rough scape going tonight. Anubias, C. parva, Marsilea minuta, bit of fissidens or other moss behind the rocks. May hold out to see if Gordon gets Bacopa australis in this weekend before settling on a scape.

If anyone has thoughts on plants, feel free to chime in. Not settled on these and am open.

Thanks for reading,

Jake
I just had a quick question. Based on this picture it looks like you used those zoomed light stands?

When you said dremel out the shelves and placed the stands... Where did you put the base of the stand? Under the tank on the shelf?
 
#35 ·
Thanks!

Stand is plenty heavy - just trying to weight the actual metal lighting stands down, as they're seated atop shelves. Have baskets on top of the stand platforms holding them down.

Going as low-tech as possible since this is a shrimp-only tank with the addition of some Otos. Lots of open space for shrimp observation. Not gonna do much with carpeting plants since Otos tend to be sneaky little buggers that stir up substrates on occasion. You should see how they're behaving in their current holding tank that's got a sand bottom.
 
#38 ·
It's similar to the stuff with holes in it but a bit thicker. Got it at Home Depot in the same section (same brand). Con-Tact manufactures it. Their version of stuff with holes in it is called Grip Liner. The stuff I used is called Grip Premium. It's a solid sheet of foamy rubber grippy stuff.
 
#43 ·
$79 at Target. Thank goodness I made a late night run for Coke Zero (don't judge - it's my only poison outside of fine Kentucky bourbon) that evening.

The plan was to build one with similar dimensions until I realized I could really use six compartments to stash away all the tank stuff I've got.

Still have a bunch of pine, birch and birch veener to use up so I'll probably build something to house three small shrimp cubes.
 
#46 ·
Don't think it would be sturdy enough for the 60-F. The weight for my tank is distributed across nearly the entire length of the shelf. The 60-F would put all 8ish gallons of water right in the center of the shelf. It'd also likely be a bit too deep (front to back) for the unit in the sense that it would wobble.

Here's a link to it.

There are tons of options for a 24" x 12" tank, though.
 
#51 ·
Finally found a source for Bacopa australis since I can't get an answer out of the seller here on TPT. Should be here in a week to ten days.

So I think I'm going to scape this thing today, add Anubias, C. parva, Marsilea minuta and cover it with plastic wrap until I can get Bacopa added. Will give things time to settle in before flooding. Also plan to add bits of moss upon flooding.

Hope I love this tank as much in a few months as I do right now.

Will have photos later tonight or tomorrow.
 
#53 · (Edited)
So… maybe I ordered too much Azoo Plant Grower Bed.

One bag is plenty, it seems:



Will have a couple bags left over. Guess I'll need to use it in one of my grow out tanks. Have an empty 20L that's just itching to be set up as another emersed rig. MORE PLANTS!

Wishing I'd been able to get my hands on Aquasoil Amazonia Powder Type. This will look okay for what I'm going for, I suppose.

As you can see, I'm finally getting around to scaping. Have things planned out on paper. Anubias nana will definitely be in between rocks, C. parva in the front corners and in front of rocks, Marsilea minuta in the center of the tank, Bacopa australis behind the rocks and maybe in the rear center of the tank. Mosses here and there.

Have decided that I don't want to wait for a month for this thing to be perfect for shrimp. So I'm going to move a ton of rock, plants and such over from tanks that are several years old to help supply the tank with all the nom noms shrimp tend to love. Maybe even moving some substrate. So there should be a suitable amount of surface area prepped for grazing within a week or two.

Still torn on whether or not I want a background. While black vinyl looks great on my smaller tanks and in tanks that are low to the ground… I'm concerned that a background on this tank will look a bit janky. The tank is situated in a division between a living area and my kitchen and will be a major focal point in an area that's about 800sq ft in size. Have toyed with a background and it seems like three feet of black is really stark. Breaks up the flow of the living space more than I want it to.

So here's hoping that if I go without a background, it'll seem more open and natural. Hoping it won't look strange once plants grow in. Thinking it won't be too big of a deal, as I won't have much gear to hide. The spray bar will be clear, intake will be clear/will have a stainless steel shrimp strainer on it, whatever pump (I think Koralia Nano - but I have a few to pick from) I decide on will be small and black.

Now just a waiting game for the delivery of plants.
 
#57 · (Edited)
OMG. This whole scape thing is melting my brain. Didn't realize until about half way through that the tank needed to be pleasing and needed to look proportional from THREE SIDES. Head - desk.

Note: I have the light jacked up so I can get my arms into the tank with ease at the moment.

Here it is:









While the four rocks on the right look somewhat… heavy? or something… It was necessary to add that long thing that's somewhat in the middle of the tank to provide balance. Now, when entering the room, it looks great from the left. When facing it head-on, it looks pretty decent. When viewing from the right, it looks absolutely terrific.

Here's my tentative planting plan:



Mosses will go in there

I think I'm okay with the scape.
 
#60 ·
Just wanted to get the rock placed but may do some steeper sloping. This sort of stuff always settles over the course of a year, so I'd have to stack things up with lava rock beneath it all.

With the bushiness of B. australis, it's going to seem as if there's already some steep sloping. So likely won't add too much more.
 
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