J's 20gal - GBR Tank

[JCoxRocks]

When I was a freshman in college, I bought a 20 gal xtra high and of all things put two red-bellied Pacu in it. I had no idea at the time what Pacu were or that they were considered "tankbusters" due to their ability to get gigantic in no time. Of course, they got way too big, destroyed all the plastic plants, the thermometer, and constantly jumped and smacked the top of the tank, nearly jumping out on numerous occaisions. I sold them both back to the LFS and got discouraged. A close friend needed a cheering up, and I got tired of the tank, so I gave her the tank and stand.

Years later, I missed that tank, so I purchased another, brand new with a stand. For a while I tried everything from puffers to guppies, to plecos and never settled on anything I truly liked. At one time I had nothing but Bamboo Shrimp in the tank...




I planted the tank with amazon swords and java moss and left it that way for quite some time. I added some angelfish, my favorites, and hoped to begin a natural pairing tank to begin breeding angels.




Sure enough, those angels began pairing and I moved them to one of my larger tanks. This tank got neglected for quite some time. My angels began breeding in my other tanks, and I began using this tank as a grow tank for the best of the fry, which is where it stands now with some angels from a hatch nearly 6 months ago. I hadnt paid any attention to the plants or algae, only feeding the angels daily.

A few weeks ago, the light (power compact) stopped working. Some folks on this site recommended I call Catalina Aquarium to have the fixture repaired or replaced. I did, and the planted tank bug bit again. Now I'm head over heels and have spent over $1000 in the past week upgrading the lighting on all my tanks, filtration, and working to "rebuild" each of the tanks. Since this tank was where the inspiration began, I figured I would start my journals with this one. Enjoy, and please feel free to comment and suggest ideas. All opinions are welcomed!!

Here we go...

Tank: 20 Gal Xtra High
Filtration: Eheim 2236, Powerhead 201 for circulation (20gph)
Lighting: Custom Compact Flourescent - Dual 39watt 6500K bulbs (built by Catalina Aquarium)
Heater: Stealth 200 watt
Substrate: Black & Natural gravel
Hardscape: Store-bought driftwood
Ferts: Flourish Excel, Flourish Iron, Flourish tabs, Flourish liquid

Flora: Amazon Sword, Anubias Nana, Java Moss

Fauna CRS, RCS, whiptail pleco




Future plans include a trimming, a thorough glass cleaning, some RCS & CRS shrimp, relocation of the angels to a new tank, some new filtration, some new plants, and possibly some C02 either DIY or pro. Plans are for this to become a dedicated shrimp tank and the occasional grow tank for angel fry. STAY TUNED!!

J

[problemman]

This is going to be interesting to follow. Subscribed

[JCoxRocks]

I received my CRS in the mail yesterday (thanks again Moe!) And after putting them in this tank, I've decided to make it a dedicated shrimp tank. In all these years of keeping fish, I've never been as entertained as I am to watch these little guys go nuts all over the tank.

Here they are right after I took them out of the shipping box



They are a little pale in this shot, but REALLY colored up once they got used to the temp and the new tank water. I don't have a great photo of them in the tank, but they look amazing.

I cleaned up the runners from the sword and moved the angels and a couple black tetras to my 38g tank. I replanted the anubias and scraped the glass before putting the shrimp in the tank to get acclimated. (I gotta work on my photo skills. I just noticed my toe in the bottom of the photo.)



While they were getting settled, I removed the filter inflow tube and cleaned it.

Before


After



I took some pantyhose and zip-tied it over the inflow tube for the shrimp.



I did the same with the intake on the powerhead.



This is the tank as it sits now.




The water is a little cloudy from agitating all the gravel last night, but the shrimp are loving that. I still need to hook up my Eheim canister filter I just got (thanks Justlikeapill!). I also have an order of red cherry shrimp that should arrive very soon. I plan on looking into a smaller scale CO2 system for this tank... maybe a paintball tank setup. I don't see the need to spend a ton of $$$ on CO2 for this tank. That sword grows like crazy on its own. I'd rather have a moderate scape and just enjoy my new little shrimp friends doing their thing.


On a separate note, are there any photo professionals on here, or can someone point me in a direction to get some tips to photograph these tanks? I'm using a Nikon D80. I'm just not sure what setting is best, and it seems all my photos come out very yellowish. I'd love to get some tips and help if anyone has the time.

More photos when I get the canister filter installed and add the new shrimp!

J

[deleted_user_7]

In a 20 extra high that canister will make a vortex if you put the outflow at an angle lol.

Have fun, let me know how you like the filters' performance when you hook them up.

[Rion]

I usually just set the White Balence to auto and correct in photoshop/gimp.

[ghotifish]

I just ran across this site recently and although I haven't explored it too intensely, it looks like there is a lot of great info on aquarium photography...certainly the galleries are amazing.

www.aquatic-photography.com

Carl

[JCoxRocks]

Got some RCS from epicfish this weekend.



Also set up my Eheim 2236 I purchased from ClintonSParsons.

This tank isn't done by any means, but I intend on keeping it fairly low tech. Plans are to use this as a breeding tank for CRS and RCS to populate my other tanks and otherwise entertain me as I fall asleep at night. I plan on building a custom stand for it, and adding some more CRS in the near future. Equipment wise, I'm done.

J

[JCoxRocks]

Yesterday was like Xmas at my house!!

My dog, Bella, inspecting all the new shipments...


I received about 30 RCS from Neil (fishsandwitch) and another 20 CRS from Moe! They all look great! 3 or 4 of the RCS are very big and berried females.

I also received some ADA Bee Shrimp food...


These little guys LOVE this stuff!!


That picture was taken less than 2 minutes after I dropped it in and they are all over it.

Tank is doing well, only one issue is that a lot of the sediment that I stirred around when trimming it is getting stuck to the pantyhose on both the filter intake and the intake on the powerhead. The flow has dropped drastically and I'm having to take them out and clean them every other day or two. I put the pantyhose on them to make them shrimp safe, but is there another option that wont clog, but still offer good flow? I dont want to burn up the filters or not get decent filtration.

J

[JCoxRocks]

Snapped some photos tonight of my CRS and RCS.

Oh. Hi. Didn't see you there.


These guys have REALLY colored up in the past couple of days.


Gotta have some java moss to hang out in


Not sure what it is about this piece of driftwood, but they LOVE this thing


Looks like happy hour at a local bar


My whiptail pleco hanging out, not doing much as per usual


J

[R33 GTR]

nice shrimps you got there i like a lot your brown cherry shrimps i havent found yet a brown one in my rcs colony only blue ones

[JCoxRocks]

Originally Posted by R33 GTR

nice shrimps you got there i like a lot your brown cherry shrimps i havent found yet a brown one in my rcs colony only blue ones

They are actually not that brown... just a crappy point and shoot camera. I'm looking for a good macro lens for my Nikon D80.

J

[chilled_fire]

Originally Posted by JCoxRocks

These little guys LOVE this stuff!!


That picture was taken less than 2 minutes after I dropped it in and they are all over it.

Tank is doing well, only one issue is that a lot of the sediment that I stirred around when trimming it is getting stuck to the pantyhose on both the filter intake and the intake on the powerhead. The flow has dropped drastically and I'm having to take them out and clean them every other day or two. I put the pantyhose on them to make them shrimp safe, but is there another option that wont clog, but still offer good flow? I dont want to burn up the filters or not get decent filtration.

J

NIce tank !
I used to think per shrimps natural environment that they like shallow puddles along the river.
Do, they do well in high tanks ? I was actually looking out for a long low hight tank for my shrimps.
BTW, have heard alot about the ADA shrimp food, its like a shrimp magnet, planning to get some soon

Opps, just remembered, i got the timmers was supprised to get in so early ,thanks !
havent tried it yet though

[Moe]

Looking good! You won't have any problems raising tons of shrimp in this tank.

[JCoxRocks]

Originally Posted by chilled_fire

BTW, have heard alot about the ADA shrimp food, its like a shrimp magnet, planning to get some soon

Opps, just remembered, i got the timmers was supprised to get in so early ,thanks !
havent tried it yet though

I've read that some people do not like ADA shrimp food because it has aquasoil in it. That wont hurt the shrimp, but some people are put off by the fact that the aquasoil may just be a filler. Doesnt bother me as long as the shrimp love it and doesnt hurt them. You can see they really like it. Unfortunately so do all my trumpet snails. When the lights first come on, there's a spiky ball of trumpet snails all over the food with the occaisional shrimp trying to get in the huddle.

Glad you got the timers!!

Originally Posted by Moe

Looking good! You won't have any problems raising tons of shrimp in this tank.

Thanks Moe. What temp do you keep yours at? Mine has been fluctuating quite a bit with the lights. No warmer than 74 but it got down to 69 this morning. The shrimp look AWESOME. Thanks!

J

[Moe]

Mines about the same. In the summer time some of my shrimp tanks get in the low 80's I had a two day power outage last summer, the inside temp of my house was
over 90. I never lost any crs!
As long as the temp changes slow don't worry about it.