[AquaDean]

Santa was good to me and brought me a new GLA 60-L tank for Christmas; it’s 60 x 30 x 36 cm and about 17 gallons. I want to set this tank up as a CRS only tank and need to work on the rest of the hardware. Suggestions from those of you that have much more experience would be helpful as this will be only me second shrimp tank (the first being a 4 gallon nano tank).

For the filter I have either an Eheim 2211 or 2213 on hand (which to use?)

I’ll need a heater, and have a Jebo 100 watt inline heater that I’m thinking of using. Never used one of these so hope it will be reliable but wanted to try to get the heater out of the tank.

I’ll do some DIY acrylic Lily pipes for the intake and outflow pipes.

I have a pressurized CO2 system that I could use, but I’m wondering if I need it in a shrimp only tank? I’m thinking mostly moss and maybe some crypts or other lower light plants.

Where I really need help is for the lights and substrate.

I’d like to use a good light fixture, but how many watts do I need?

For the substrate I’m really up in the air other than I want a dark colored one. My tap water is pH 7.5, KH 2, GH 4. The water department uses soda ash and lime to raise the pH to the 7.5 level to cut down on pipe corrosion. Once the water gets into the aquarium system the pH always drops to right around 6.5. So I guess the question is, do I need a buffering substrate like ADA Amazonia II or would some other substrate work just as well?

Cost is not a huge issue as either way I’m going to need to ship the light and the substrate in from somewhere. All of your ideas will be helpful as I want to get this tank off to a great start for the New Year. TIA

 

[husonfirst]

Great Xmas present. Let's see some pictures of the tank!

I'd go with the 2213 for filtration. How does the water's pH drop to 6.5? If you don't need the pH lowering abilities of Aquasoil, then I'd use something cheaper such as Flourite.

Also, for low light plants you don't need the CO2 and the shrimp won't need it either.

 

[F22]

eco complete for gravel?

 

[CL]

A very nice Christmas present!
GLA has an interesting looking new substrate by Azoo. It's worth checking into. Aquasoil is also good for shrimp, but you'll have to wait for it to stop leeching ammonia before you add any animals.
CO2 would be unnecessary. For lights this would be plenty, and you could probably get better results running one bulb (less chance of algae), though, I have no personal experience with T5's yet.

 

[Lnd]

I'd recommend fishneedit light, since it dont need to be fancy but still functional. Eheim 2213 would be good. or go overkill with a 2215 or 2217 =), I recommend Aquasoil or GLA new substrate to help keep the 6.5PH stable for your CRS.

 

[AquaDean]

Okay so far I've decided to go with the Eheim 2213 for the filter and just to speed things along a bit I'll set it up temporarily on an existing tank to get the media started.

I've kind of narrowed the light down to three.

Aquatic Life Dual-Lamp T5 HO Light w/two 24 watt bulbs


Catalina Aquarium SOLAR T5 HO w/two 24 watt bulbs


Fishneedit T5 HO Light w/two 24 watt bulbs


Any opinions on these would be great and should I run two 6700K bulbs or a 10K and a 6700K or what? Also wondering if it is possible on these fixtures to switch each bulb individually?

I can't explain the pH drop, I've been told that the products that the water department adds is a temporary buffer but don't understand how that could be. I do know that if I take a pH reading on tap water it is pH 7.5, if I aerate it for a couple hours it is still pH 7.5. If I treat it with a product such as pH Down to lower it I can lower the pH down to 6 or 6.5 or whatever. But if I use the water with lowered pH in a water change the pH in the tank will go way down. Where as if I just de-chlorinate my tap water and use it for a water change the tank will always end up at pH right around 6.5. Don't know why but it does.

I've though about the GLA Azoo soil but haven't heard much about it. Has anyone here used it that can give a report back on it?

Thanks,
Dean

I've got some pics ready to go including my DIY acrylic Lily pipe but haven't made enough post yet to unlock that ability.

 

[husonfirst]

You can change each bulb individually. The 10000 is a bit bluer than 6700. It's more a matter of preference. The Catalina comes with an actinic bulb which is for saltwater. They will change it out though if you make note of the bulbs you want when you place the order.

 

[AquaDean]

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Well I've decided on the Fishneedit light, mainly because it looked the best, it along with three bulbs should be here this week. I ordered one bulb each of 10,000K, 6700K, and what they call a pink bulb. Not sure which I'll be using yet so open to ideas for the right combination.

Also I decided to give the new GLA substrate a try, I ordered two bags of the darker colored one. They should be here this week also. Anybody else used this yet?

Here's a couple pictures of the tank:

Also made a DIY Lily Pipe for the tank, not perfect but it will do just fine. I'll put my how to on this in the DIY section soon.
Here's a couple pictures of it.

Hope to have everything here and ready to set this up next weekend.

 

[deleted_user_16]

lol perfect timing on the DIY^. i cant make em anymore for sale

you made em really nicely!

 

[cah925]

I bought a couple bags of the dark Azoo substrate from GLA recently. I actually put it on top of AS to make my substrate deeper. You can't tell the difference colorwise.