help setting up shrimp breeding tank

[Dany08fa]

for those of you who dont know petco is having a nationwide sale on tanks right now. $1 a gallon so i picked up a 20L yesterday for only $20!

so i wanted to set up a crs/bee shrimp breeding tank. I have an already establised 2.5gal shrimp tank that has the parameters of:

ph-6.5ish
gh-4-5 (drops api test kit)
kh-1-2 (drops api test kit)
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate->5ppm

so my new tank should have the same parameters or really close. so can i expect crs to breed? if not what shrimp will readily breed as i am trying to get a colony going.

right now i only have the 20L tank and one of those Hydro sponge V bubble filters for aquariums up to 125 gallons.

i was planning on getting fluval shrimp stratum. is 2 of the 8lbs bags enough to buffer my ph in the 6.4-6.7 range? im planning on going the cheapest route is there another substrate that is cheaper?

cheap heater that works well for shrimp?
will that one bubble filter be enough? maybe i'll add another once the shrimp breed? idk....

any other things thats a must have, recomendations for a crs breeding tank? remember i want to keep things as cheap as possible but i want to have successful breeding as well.

[GeToChKn]

You shouldn't need a heater for bees, they do fine in cooler water and going with a "cheap" heater is just asking for more of a chance for it to malfunction and nuke your shrimp.

How is the water in your other tank now at the right conditions for bees? What are you using to buffer that.

Fluval stuff is ok, but a lot find it doesn't buffer long. Lots of reported no babies of bee's living in it. Others say it works fine, so it seems to be hit and miss on the batch or your water or whatever. ADA is the preferred choice for CRS/Bee's, etc.

Especially with a 20gal long, I would go with more filtration than 1 sponge filter. Those tanks are long and don't get good flow unless you have a few filters placed around. I would go with a HOB filter on the other end or the end of the tank ideally, so the HOB is blowing water across the length of the tank with the sponge filter on the other end.

[acitydweller]

best to overfilter a long tank to eliminate dead spots. a HOB would be a cheap solution. Canister would be a more elegant one. The water params of your 2.5 seem good though Bees might appreciate something lower closer to 6. I'd keep a heater in there if your ambient temperature drops pretty signnificantly. What have you in mind for lighting and plants?

[Dany08fa]

my other tanks have a ph of 6.4 because the stratum buffers it. ive only hadthe tanks going a fewmonths. the 2.5 gallon that i have some crs and rcs in right not the shrimp are healthy but not breeding. They all regualry molt, have good coloration, eat everytime i feed them and are active. i think the tank is too small and temp flucuations and swings with water changes is whats hurting me with breeding. maybe i'll need to go with 1-2 bags of fluval and 1 bag of ada soil. mixing soil cant hurt right?

i'll probably just buy an aquaclear 20 (w/ fluval prefilter sponge) to put on one side and the bubbler on the other.

lighting im just gonna use a hatlight w/ a 10watt cfl for now until i can afford a real lighting system. plants just moss and things similar. i wanna keep the tank low tech and extremely simple. i dont care how ugly the tank looks this is strictly a breeding tank. i have other high tech tanks for looks.

[GeToChKn]

Mixing substrates isn't good since they work in different ways in that they buffer and it's better if possible to stick with 1 type. In reality, if you plan on breeding and having them be prolific, I would go ADA off the start. Spend the money and do it right. FSS works for some but it's buffer runs out fast usually. ADA will burn out too eventually and have to be replaced, all buffering substrates do but ADA can last a few years at least. Your best bet to use RO water with it as well, unless your tap water is very similar in parms to what you're trying to achieve.

Breeding CRS to a prolific state takes a while of work to get the tank stable, so that the shrimp like it and keeping it stable.

[acitydweller]

Something is missing in the 2.5 tank if they aren't breeding. Since the tank is small, could you not relocate it to a cooler location to see if temps are a factor?

mixing substrates wouldnt hurt. best of both worlds while keeping costs lower but you should search on FSS and its limitations. I'm of the camp of doing it right the first time and not wasting time... and shrimp lives...

[Dany08fa]

The specs i gave is the same specs my 20L will have. I dont want to use ro water cause itll be too much of a hastle. If crs dont breed then ill try a differnt species. And ill go ada if i can. $$$ issues. Lol.

The 2.5 is my only option right now. My other tanks have either wrong parameters or fish that could eat them. Thats why im trying to make a shrimp only tank.

I hope luck is on my side with crs and they will breed with the water parameters i have cause thats what theyre getting. If not guess ill have to go with easier shrimp. What shrimps will breed for sure in my parameters?

[Dany08fa]

tap water:
ph-7.4ish
kh-3 drops
gh-4 drops
tdm-n/a

i went with FSS and it is buffering my water to about 7ish overnight hopefully it'l get lower. cannot get a accurate reading with my api test kit, but the color is lighter when i compare the tap and tank water so it is buffering a little.

im doing some research about using ro water. most people use ro water to get the right kh, gh and tdm but how would using ro water benifit me if my water is already soft? do i even need it?

[sayurasem]

Originally Posted by Dany08fa

tap water:
ph-7.4ish
kh-3 drops
gh-4 drops
tdm-n/a

i went with FSS and it is buffering my water to about 7ish overnight hopefully it'l get lower. cannot get a accurate reading with my api test kit, but the color is lighter when i compare the tap and tank water so it is buffering a little.

im doing some research about using ro water. most people use ro water to get the right kh, gh and tdm but how would using ro water benifit me if my water is already soft? do i even need it?

I vote 100% RO since your title of the thread is to breed shrimps. Using RO water gives you 100% control of GH, KH, and PH and TDS. Tap water parameters seems to change over seasons depending on your water distributor.

[Dany08fa]

Ok thanks ill look into getting one. Can you recomend a certain one that isnt too expensive? I just need it for my 20gallon. And if i use ro water what else would i need? I would have you buy mineral suppliment? Anything else?

[Vincent Tran]

Originally Posted by Dany08fa

Ok thanks ill look into getting one. Can you recomend a certain one that isnt too expensive? I just need it for my 20gallon. And if i use ro water what else would i need? I would have you buy mineral suppliment? Anything else?

With RO water you only need to remineralize it with a supplement. I personally use Fluval Shrimp Mineral but I heard the BW/Mosura stuff is good too! Also, it would be worth investing in a TDS meter.

[Dany08fa]

You can adjust kh, gh anf tdm all with just fluval mineral?

[shrimpzoo]

Fluval Mineral will only adjust gH and TDS

It will NOT effect kH.

[acitydweller]

Originally Posted by Dany08fa

tap water:
ph-7.4ish
kh-3 drops
gh-4 drops
tdm-n/a

i went with FSS and it is buffering my water to about 7ish overnight hopefully it'l get lower. cannot get a accurate reading with my api test kit, but the color is lighter when i compare the tap and tank water so it is buffering a little.

im doing some research about using ro water. most people use ro water to get the right kh, gh and tdm but how would using ro water benifit me if my water is already soft? do i even need it?

Many people rely on R/O because their tap is unusable for crystals. I use NYC tap. Water comes out 6.9ph, 3gh 1kh.

My tank with FSS seems to lower the PH to 6.5.
My tank with regular aquarium gravel seems to lower the PH to 6.5.
So logically, it must be the other stuff like alder cones and IAL that's really doing the lowering in my particular case with all else being the same. I use Fluval shrimp minerals or Shirakura CA+ (whichever is in reach) to raise GH another 1 or 2 degrees and that's it. no RO here.

I would recommend using R/O if the KH goes any higher than 3. There is no way to bring that down other than dilution.

[GeToChKn]

I wouldn't even mess with kH at all with RO.