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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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#9 ·
Tank: Marine Depot. $71.99 + $8 handling.

Fixture: I *think* I got it from Pet Mountain but it's been a minute. Was around a hundred bucks. Available from Ken's, Pet Mountain, Foster & Smith, Big Al's, all over. I like to buy from forum sponsors when I can, though.

Just don't ask me how much I've already sunk into the whole setup because I don't want to think about that number. Head - desk.

It's about two inches taller than I wanted it to be but I won't complain. Great tank for cheap. Provides plenty of room for substrate and lots of surface area for shrimp.

Can't wait to see what I do with it, either. Kind of overwhelmed thinking about plant options, honestly. Normally know exactly what I'm going to do with a tank before I get it but have been debating this setup for literally months. Definitely over-thinking it. Just don't want it to be janky and hope it lives up to all the other tanks I've created.
 
#10 ·
wow, thats a good price! :proud:

if i cant decide on something, or between two somethings, i can conclude that if they arent spectacular enough for me to decide on it, im not going to love it in the tank either.... sketching helps something too. or idea sounds cool though!

do you have anything else to work with? or just the rocks? you could do one with steep slopes and the rocks kind of built into the slopes.
 
#11 ·
Definitely gonna do a few slopes with rock. Will just need to spend umpteen hours toying around with arrangements to get it right. Took several days to settle on the Ebi rock arrangement and am fairly happy with it.

Just have rock to work with. Toyed with some wood but can't find anything thin enough, long enough and cheap enough to justify it.
 
#18 ·
Cool, really like the format. (obviously) If I might suggest a layout type, I would look at one rock set to the 1/4 point right, a larger set to the 2/3 point left. With the spread on this tank, a negative space near the middle might be sweet. I just subtracted a little hardscape on mine and the negative space does wonders for the look.

I didn't see the filtration set up in the initial posts (maybe I overlooked them), but I like a fairly powerful system with this tank, as dead spots can be very likely given the dimensions. It is a long run from one side to the other, for as little volume as the tank has.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for your thoughts (seriously) on the negative space. That's kind of what I'm shooting for so I have a lot of ground for shrimp observation. Really excited to have a tank that won't be overly planted.

Filtration: Eheim Ecco 2232/Easy 35. Making a 30"-32" spray bar to run across the back of the tank. Made one for a 20L that was about 28" long and it worked perfectly with the filter. Also crafted an intake from rigid tubing that's capped with a stainless steel shrimp strainer (or a sponge, if I get tired of the steel).

Gonna run a powerhead - Hydor Koralia Nano 240 to assist with any dead flow spots.

Likely sending you a PM because some 'U' tubes that I could use to connect hose with pipes would be awesome.
 
#21 ·
For what its worth, you can easily clean up the tank by doing the ADA thing (same side input-output) and not have a giant spraybar running the length. It is a bit distracting to look at. A 2234, with a koralia opposite, should easily give you solid circ, probably don't need the spraybar.

On a side note, one of the funniest (but accidentally cruel) things I ever did was put a koralia in my cube on a timer opposite the lights. I wasn't thinking. My RCS would dive into the nano when it was off to get at the goodies inside. The timer would come on and the rummies would have RCS for a night time snack. OOPS. Live feeding definitely brought out some color in the rummies.
 
#22 ·
Already have the filter so will likely be sticking with it. One of the reasons I landed on rigid tubing is that it essentially disappears when in water.

Ideally would love to do the ADA/lily thing with this tank but even the most expensive, most fancy set of pipes don't provide the right amount of flow on this tank. Tried every set I've got and no dice - even with higher powered filters.

So ended up deciding on this filter - which should be sufficient for filtration purposes of just shrimp - and a powerhead for flow. Have a tiny little Rio pump I could use if I need more flow than the Koralia will provide. (Actually use one of them with rigid tubing as a spray bar in another tank for flow)
 
#24 ·
The filter would be fine with shrimp. Let me know what you would like to do re: pipes. If you have the spraybar still on radar, I could build that instead. If you look at the old pic (first page) on the black gate I ran a side mounted spraybar at first. I think I still have that one somewhere if you want it. I didn't get the flow I was craving, but ended up with a massive filter driving it instead. (man the 404 was noisy, but it moved some water in that arrangement)
 
#25 · (Edited)
Have ten tiny Horned Nerites from mgamer that are moving into several of my tanks:



Some new Baubalti/Green shrimp:



New Taiwan Fire Reds:



Still not set on the greens. They may end up in a smaller tank on their own somewhere. Especially if I find some fancy dark shrimp of some sort that I can keep without RO water.
 
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