[johnny313]

I need to set up a 5 gallon cube tank today! this is an emergency. I have a 40G breeder tank well established now. I need to more 5 shrimp i just purchased. I also have a 120g planted tank.

how can I set this tank up and have it running for tomorrow for these shrimp?

 

[SSS Fan]

You can use substrate and filter media from your established tanks. You can also plant some plants but probably won't be necessary with only 5 shrimp. Fill with clean treated water and presto.

 

[johnny313]

You can use substrate and filter media from your established tanks. You can also plant some plants but probably won't be necessary with only 5 shrimp. Fill with clean treated water and presto.

RO/DI would be better than water from my tanks?

 

[GeToChKn]

I would take some of the substrate and plants from the 120g planted tank, put it into the new tank, and some filter media from the 120g filter and put it into the new filter. The whole purpose of cycling is to build up the 2 kinds of beneficial bacteria on the new filter, gravel, etc. If you already have those things from a fully established tank, it can happen pretty quick. Even if you don't want to use the substrate from the old tank in the new one, then put it into a mesh bag inside the tank near the filter intake or something just to get the bacteria into the new filter. Adding water from a established tank does nothing, despite people saying they do it, the bacteria we need colonizes on surfaces, its not free floating. That's why plants, gravel and filter material from an established tank can almost instantly start up a new tank.

What kind of shrimp are you moving into there? The only thing transferring water over, is that it may help the shrimp if they are a sensitive shrimp that like "old water". Then you do a 50/50 mix of old water and new water, just so the new water has some of the micro-organism life that the shrimp like.

 

[johnny313]

blue pearls in one tank and sunkist in another tank. (actually 2 tanks )

 

[GDP]

Even if you do transfer material from an established tank into the new one it might have an ammonia and nitrite spike. But yeah transfer as much as you can into the new tank. OR if you can get your PH below 6.5 it should convert ammonia into non-toxic ammonium. Not sure if the same is true for nitrites.

 

[johnny313]

i just dont wanna kill the little guys

 

[Jorge_Burrito]

The fact that shrimp are such a small bioload is on your side. Carefully watch your parameters the first few days, but doing what other suggested I am guessing you will be perfectly fine.

 

[astrosag]

Your best bet is to move some filter media, substrate and plants from an established tank. Then add shrimp, add some food (so the bacteria don't die off), keep a tab on ammonia levels and most importantly water changes.

5 shrimp isn't really much of a bio-load like many people stated- so I think you should be ok but you do need to keep a tab on levels with frequent testing.

 

[malaybiswas]

If you just stay with shrimps in this tank for a while just add some filter bio media from an established tank, put some moss and you should ne good. Feed them scarcely for a week or two.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[GeToChKn]

Yup, shouldn't be a problem. I have 2 turtle tanks with 3 jumbo sized canister filters, so any new tanks I setup, I just scoop out a little bit of bio media from there and add the new stuff to their filter and instant cycled filter. Turtles produce huge bioloads, so I know their filters are loaded with bio-bacteria.

 

[johnny313]

how often should i do water changes? i always thought that you shouldnt do water changes when the tank was in the middle of a cycle and that it only delayed it...
whenever I cycled a tank, i always waited 2 months so i guess Im a noob at this...

 

[fresh.salty]

But if you have shrimp in the tank that you want to save you'll need to solve the ammonia problem if it shows up. Only way to know is to stay on top of it by testing.

 

[johnny313]

and what if there is ammonia in the tank when there are shrimp in it? water changes?

 

[gordonrichards]

De-chlorinate your water.

Air stone in the tank overnight to provide some surface agitation and to get rid of residual gas.

Moss is great as a plant. Keep your light on for the entire night.
This will help create bio film for your shrimp to chow down on.

Don't worry about doing water changes with 5 shrimp. Don't overfeed them.
Don't call yourself a noob.

Forget the bacteria from your filter media. It is not needed.
Your shrimp will be pooping as soon as you start feeding them. Bacteria will populate the tank as it is needed. Don't overfeed and your tank will not crash.

When you get the shrimp, let them float in the bag for at least 15 minutes. Turn off your lights during this time so they go into chill mode. Cut the bag and let the suckers out into your tank. If there are any bugs in the bag trust me, they're in with the shrimp as it is. Hydra and Planaria hitch rides all the time. You can treat your tank after they acclimate, if you see them.

If there is more then a .5 difference in ph, you'll need to acclimate the shrimp for about 30 minutes to an hour. Drip, whatever. More then 1.0, you're looking at about 1.5 to 2.0 hour acclimation.

Hope this helps.

-Gordon

 

[garfieldnfish]

I might be going out there on a limb but in a 5 gal tank with just 5 shrimp I would not even worry. If you either add a little substrate or a little of the filter material it would speed up the cycle if not actually fully cycle the tank, but even if you did not have that option I would not worry about the shrimp. 5 shrimp can easily cycle a tank without any problems as there would never be enough ammonia showing up to hurt those few shrimp in this amount of water.

 

[DKShrimporium]

Why not put a $3 breeder net into an established tank until the new tank is properly cycled...

 

[johnny313]

Why not put a $3 breeder net into an established tank until the new tank is properly cycled...

Thats a great idea, but I dont have one and nobody sells them locally. wouldnt a regular fish breeder box work? like the ones at petsmart?

 

[DKShrimporium]

Sure. Just make sure the holes/slits aren't a size that something can get past one way or another that you don't want to get past - that's why I never use breeder boxes and only breeder nets, because babies can pass the slits in the breeder boxes usually if you have babies on one side or another of the enclosure.

I've even taken plastic nets and cut the handle off and put some strips of swimming noodle foam around them to float them, to make my own breeder floating nets. Or in a pinch, a wire net with vinyl coating over the wire can be bent to hang over the side for a day or two until you can get a breeder net or breeder box. You don't want to use a wire net long term because it will possibly rust eventually.