ShrimpZoo's 30gal CRS/CBS/Golden Breeding Tank

[pejerrey]

Did you test it right out of the tap or you let that sit over night? Kh and Ph drops sometimes.

[shrimpzoo]

I let the tap water sit for 5 hours in a white container. Is that enough resting time?

I just came home from work and did the tests.

I'm probably going to mix my tap water with RO/distilled water for water changes. 10% tap water and 90% RO/distilled water in a laundry bucket + remineralize using fluval shrimp supplement (a few drops). Going to do small 10% water changes weekly (my WC plan).

p.s: There isn't much difference between RO/distilled water in terms of using it in a shrimp tank right? Is distilled an okay substitute for RO water? I'll probably check RONA or LOBLAWS in my area if they have RO water. If not I'll probably just have to settle for distilled as a substitute.

[shrimpzoo]

So a mini update:

- changed my sponge prefilter for a stainless steel prefilter (man was it a tight fit)




- my java moss turned yellow so ugh (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...77#post1995777)



- and now I wait for my cholla wood and will get my RO water from walmart in my two 20L water jugs to do a WC

anticipating to get shrimp (leaning towards CBS) in the month of oct!

[shrimpzoo]

Got all the RO water I needed to do a 90% WC.

gH and kH are at 1 (success!). and the TDS was measured at 44.





hopefully when I re-mineralize the tank water the gH will hit 4-6 and get a TDS of around 80-100 to match the "ideal parameters" of http://www.shrimpkeeping.com/


Also got my cholla wood today and letting it float around at the surface of my tank until it sinks (:

[diwu13]

Cool! What kinda containers are those? Never seen them before. Are they something only in Canada?

[shrimpzoo]

http://www.armyandnavy.ca/assets/ima...-Pak_large.jpg

I have no idea where they come from lol. I got them from my girlfriend to fill up on water (: hopefully that picture helps you maybe

[Blue Falcon]

your tank build looks very nice! I would personally use 100% remineralized RO water rather than a mix of tap and RO, but thats just me. I like to know that I can mix up the EXACT same parameter water each time I do a water change. Some times tap water varies.

[sayurasem]

May I know what size of the ss mesh prefilter?

[shrimpzoo]

the ss mesh prefilter is 16mm around and measures approximately 9cm vertical and 3 cm horizontal.

and I think I will just go with 100% RO remineralized for WC. Don't want to mess up my 1 kH value lol.

[diwu13]

Holy... those water pack's are $20 each @_@!!!

[shrimpzoo]

Well thank goodness I got them lent to me for free for a year XD I'll probably get my own jugs later.

Anyways, here is an update... I am DONE with the designing of my tank and creating the parameters for my future CRS.

Front View:



Side View:



Hiding Area:



Feeding Area:



Parameters are:

pH: < 6.0 (test kit doesn't measure anything lower than 6.0 so I'm going to assume it is a pH of 5.5 to 6.0 because I have netlea soil and people generally say it brings it down to 5.5)

kH: 0-2
gH: 5

temperature: 21-23C (pretty much always at 22C = 71.6F)

ammonia & nitrites: 0

nitrates: good enough

TDS is between 115 - 118... what do you guys think a good TDS measure should be? because according to http://www.shrimpkeeping.com/

TDS should be around 80-100 ): I don't see how I could keep it this low if I dose Seachem Flourish and use API root tabs to provide micro and macro nutrients (and I'm going to assume these 2 products are shrimp safe) and dose mosura mineral plus/fluval shrimp supplement for gH.

Anyways, I wanted to ask that here to avoid making a AM I READY FOR CRS thread.

I think I'm ready (: I'm just going to have to find a place to buy CRS or find someone on the forum that would be willing to ship to Canada or if there is someone nearby. Feel free to say otherwise or comment! finally happy that I'm done designing.

p.s: I will definitely take the Betta out when I get CRS lol. He is just in there to provide nutrients for my Java Moss and create some bacteria.

[diwu13]

Is it me or do your moss balls look really dusty lol?

As for your TDS, seems fine to me. If you dose ferts it does go up from the N in the ferts. So I wouldn't' really worry about that. As long as your gh ~5 stays that way, it'll be fine.

And finally... make some moss walls. You're not really utilizing your tank height at all (granted.. a 20L isnt' that tall).

[shrimpzoo]

my moss balls got fried along with my java moss a little while back ): so it isn't just you ): but! they are making a come back so they won't look that way for too long (hopefully).

and I shall looking into making a moss wall ;o! my friend does have a bunch of java moss he wanted to throw at me in the past... If I get a bunch of his moss then I'll start on working on it (: otherwise I'll probably start looking for a way to get my hands on CRS+CBS

[shrimpzoo]

Got myself a breeder box today Marina Breeder Box (Large)

http://uk.hagen.com/Aquatic/Misc.-Ac...Silicone/10943

What I have planned for it:

Will probably fill it with my black sand substrate I had in my old 10 gallon tank (just so I can easily clean and see the babies)

Will put in the pre-filter fluval sponge to be used as both a hiding spot and something to graze on (yay for dual purpose recycled material)!

and I will probably put some pieces of biomax filter insert pieces around there to provide bacterial growth and more grazing along with some java moss and maybe a marimo ball in there.

any comments suggestions or feedback is appreciated as always!

p.s: I am moving all my duckweed into the breeder box so I can remove my ugly straw border.

[shrimpzoo]

Okay my mission for making a CRS breeding tank is complete!

I got 10 CRS (S & A grade) and I had drip acclimated them for 6 hours. Man I was so scared when they were so pale (to the point they looked like ugly wild cherries) at the end of the 6 hours but when I put them into my tank... INSTANT candy cane colouration with an INSTANT feeling of relief and christmas happiness on my part

anyways, the changes I've made to the tank since last post was making a cool looking breeder box, moving rocks and marimo balls around in the 30 gal, destroyed all the duckweed (never ever gonna touch that stuff again) and replaced it with frogbit, and lastly, took my 10 gal's lighting and used it as a light source for the breeder box (:

I will post pictures in a about a week when I get my camera back (: and hope that in about 1-2 months they'll start breeding =D