Setting up a King Kong tank

[Allicat]

I am really in love with the look of the King Kong shrimps. I want to set up a tank for them. I am not in a rush at all. I am doing research and seeing what I need to get to care for them properly. I'm hoping to hear from people who have successfully bred some.

What I have:

40 gallon breeder, empty/unused and new

TDS meter

pH meter

API aquarium master test kit

Indian almond leaves

From what I have been reading on this forum Amazonia is a good substrate. I'm thinking if buying that.

I also will need to buy an RO filter.

Does anyone have suggestions for lighting? I was thinking of using sponge filters but do I need more than that? Products to have on hand? Minerals?

Thanks

[Puddles]

Amazonia is a great substrate, I recommend it. For filters, a bunch of sponges might work ok. You should definitely have at least one. But I would recommend a nice canister filter if I was focusing on an expensive shrimp like bkk. I'm not sold on mineral rocks but some swear by them. I believe with the right food they get more than enough.

Lighting can be whatever, depends on your play wants. I have led spotlights on mine and love them.

I recommend ro water and salty shrimp gh+.

[randy]

ADA with RO is the most consistent combination. One thing is that if you dont have many shrimps in a big tank, they tend to be very inactive and hide all day. They feel more secured in number.

[Allicat]

Ok maybe I'll get a 20 then. And keep the 40 for something else, or someday if my colony grows large enough. Sounds good. Thanks both of you.

[ctaylor3737]

What you could do is to have some mischlings to increase your numbers at first. Check out the journal section, I have a pretty good journal about my Taiwan Bee setup. You will definitely need RO and ADA soil, there is not much a way around it. Use a few sponge filters, power filters, I don't get into canisters on shrimp tanks to much. Its good but gets expensive with many tanks. Do you have other tanks?

[Allicat]

Thanks, I will look for that journal. I only have cherries, fire reds and neon yellow neos right now. I am not doing anything special for them except lots of wood and Indian almond leaves because they are on tap water and I have a pH of 8, KH 9, and GH 7, TDS 128. The fire reds have a 29 gal, the neon yellows have a 29 gal, and the cherries have a 10 gal. I also keep fancy ranchu goldfish and bred them for a while, so I have a 50 gal and a 75 gal for those guys. So this would be my first tank that I have to mess with the water and really do a different setup. I know BKKs are difficult to keep but they are beautiful. So I'm just doing the research and prepping and not rushing it.

[JamesHe]

I love 20L, good size to keep large colony, I have couple hundreds CRS in one 20L.

 

I use 2 10W LED, I found it on eBay/Amazon, search garden waterproof ones. it only cost $10 each.

[Allicat]

The Mischlings seem really cool! I think I will do a tank with those and a couple king kongs and see what happens. Maybe I'll even do other ones. I am planning on doing a shrimp rack in the future. I'm glad I found this forum. So much useful information! Thanks Taylor's Aquatics for the journal you keep, really interesting!

[ctaylor3737]

Thanks, I will look for that journal. I only have cherries, fire reds and neon yellow neos right now. I am not doing anything special for them except lots of wood and Indian almond leaves because they are on tap water and I have a pH of 8, KH 9, and GH 7, TDS 128. The fire reds have a 29 gal, the neon yellows have a 29 gal, and the cherries have a 10 gal. I also keep fancy ranchu goldfish and bred them for a while, so I have a 50 gal and a 75 gal for those guys. So this would be my first tank that I have to mess with the water and really do a different setup. I know BKKs are difficult to keep but they are beautiful. So I'm just doing the research and prepping and not rushing it.

They are actually really easy as long as you get the water right and cycle the tank. I really don't do much extra for them but highly recommend ADA soil. Works for me.

[Allicat]

Ok, I got my shrimp rack as some of you may have seen on another thread. I am ordering Amazonia for the substrate. I am planning on buying RO water at my LFS until I get my own RO filter. I need advice on filtration. I was thinking if using two of the big double sponge filters in the 40 gal breeder, but it that enough filtration? I have seen some interesting DIY under gravel HOB filters. Any experience with what's best on this size tank?

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[Dukendabears]

I use a aquaclear hob, and oversized sponge in all my tanks

[forumsnow]

I have a eheim 2213 and dual sponge filter on my 12" cube(roughly 8 gallons), houses my taiwans . On my 12 long that houses my royal blue tgers and oebt, i have a rena xp1 along with dual sponge filter. Way over kill but it's what I had at the time. When i set up my 20 long for pinto project i will be buying a aquaclear hob as it will be on the ground under my rack so no gravity to use a canister. Plus i think a oversized aquaclear will be more than efficient.

[Doc4PC2]

I just set up a 12 Gallon Mr. Aqua low iron glass tank. The clarity is amazing, it is crystal clear.

It is long and not very tall. It is 36" long X 8 1/2" Wide X 9 1/2' Tall. The glass has a little more of

the blueish type of tint to it versus the greenish type on most tanks. The glass is very good, and

it cost $112.00 dollars, plus I put it on the Mr. Aqua Tank Mat too. I was worried that it would not

make it to me in one piece, but they packed it so well, you could have played football with it and

it would have been fine.

 

But I really like the tank. I paired it with a Penn Plax Cascade 500 Canister Filter, 3 Tom's mini canister filters, 3 sponges,

and one HMF on one side with a Tom's mini canister filter behind that, and a sponge. I am using a new Colbolt Neo-Therm

heater. This is a new heater that I have never tried before, but I have heard good things about it. So far, so good on the

heater. Because the Ehiems are the only ones I have found that keep the temp steady all of the time and are consistent.

But this ones seems to be consistent too. Keeping the temp at 72 degrees all of the time. I use the Bee Shrimp Minerals

GH+ to keep a TDS of 135 to 150, and I use RO water. My PH is 6.4, my KH is 0, my GH is 6, and I put in a Borneos Wild

Bee Ball and change it every three weeks. I am going to try the Bio Digest too and change them once a month.

 

I went with a bare bottom tank. I put the substrate in containers, and the plants in their own glass container, and a large

feeder dish with the Indian Almond leaves, Oak leaves, Mulberry leaves, and Stinging Nettles leafs in the dish. I have

a sheet of xmas moss on the top container of substrate and on one side, I have several pieces of Malaysia Drift Wood on one side.

I have a bowl of miniature alder cones in the tank, and small bowl of miniature moss balls. I have Bamboo running

across the entire tank, so they can walk along the entire tank on the bamboo. I have two pieces of Cholla wood in

it, and a small bowl of dried organic Mulberry sticks, and a couple of clear round tubes.

 

I built a sliding glass top for it and used a Danner - 4 outlet air pump for running air stones and sponges. I use a

beamworks Led light that is raised 5 inches above the tank and I can raise and lower the light as I need to for the

plants, but so far, the 5 inches above, the plants and moss seem to doing well. The light is on a timer.

 

I keep bio balls, and ceramics in the bottom on the canister filter with a sponge on top of that, two more

carb sponges on top of that, and a top layer of sponge floss to polish the water in the Penn Plax Cascade

Canister Filter. I use a Han made fry proof stainless steel intake cover on the intake.

 

The only snails I allow in my tank is Malaysia Trumpet snails as they dig in the substrate and keep it cleaner.

 

So that is my setup for my TB's. King Kongs / Pandas, Blue Bolts, Wine Reds. I only have about a dozen TB's

now, but hope to get some more when I can afford it.

[JamesHe]

for sponge filter, check out the ones from swisstropicals and angelfish plus.

 

it's the best in my opinion.

[Allicat]

Thanks everyone! I'm super excited to get this started and cycling.

[Bananariot]

ADA may be hard to get if you're on the East Coast.  Then if you dont want to pay everything including shipping, I would suggest......

azoo plant grower bed.  

 

I've had a lot of success using that substrate.

 

Tbh mischlings require about the same care as regular CRS.  TB's take a little more effort but not just more.  

 

The idea is just to keep water parameters stable and as long as you can keep it stable, you'll have success (provided you get the right params lol).

 

If you could cycle the tank for like a month to build up some biofilm, them caridinas love it that way.  Neos tolerate less biofilm more readily compared to TB's. 

[ctaylor3737]

ADA costs you the same really in shipping. There is suppliers on the east coast that carries it. Monster Aquarium in NY have it and will ship to you. There are a few others. In this hobby buying the best stuff the first time saves a lot of frustration in the long run, yea it is expensive especially for dirt lol, but it makes your tank perfect!

ADA may be hard to get if you're on the East Coast. Then if you dont want to pay everything including shipping, I would suggest......

azoo plant grower bed.

I've had a lot of success using that substrate.

Tbh mischlings require about the same care as regular CRS. TB's take a little more effort but not just more.

The idea is just to keep water parameters stable and as long as you can keep it stable, you'll have success (provided you get the right params lol).

If you could cycle the tank for like a month to build up some biofilm, them caridinas love it that way. Neos tolerate less biofilm more readily compared to TB's.

[Allicat]

I'm in California so the Amazonia isn't too hard to get, thanks for the other substrate idea though. I plan on using a seeded sponge filter and letting the tank run with the Amazonia for at least 6 weeks before the shrimp part even starts. I have some mystery snails I can move over after it's cycled to keep feeding the BBs

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[Bananariot]

ADA costs you the same really in shipping. There is suppliers on the east coast that carries it. Monster Aquarium in NY have it and will ship to you. There are a few others. In this hobby buying the best stuff the first time saves a lot of frustration in the long run, yea it is expensive especially for dirt lol, but it makes your tank perfect!

 

wat.  I go to flushing all the damn time...........and i drive past that street all the time aww yiss ghetto flushing mall for the food 

[Allicat]

My driftwood arrived today! Can't wait to get this thing going. I might get my amazonia on my check coming up.

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[Jayr_Tigley]

Following

[ctaylor3737]

wat. I go to flushing all the damn time...........and i drive past that street all the time aww yiss ghetto flushing mall for the food

Yea,check out monster. Its worth the hike. Lots of shrimp and high end equipment. They have ADA tanks and stuff to. Guys were nice and friendly and spoke good English. Went to another place around there and felt like I was in the wrong place lol. Its a really dirty neighborhood but the store is clean.