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Jump's Shrimping Journal


jumpsmasher

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it took me a while but I finally got my new shrimp rack up this past weekend but still got lots of work left to do to setup the individual tanks.

 

This is my 4th shrimp rack I have set up; I started thinking about it at the earlier this year when we leased out the warehouse at work where I had my last shrimp rack. The tanks on the current racks were due for a substrate change and I wanted to maximize the limited amount of space I have to fit as many tanks as possible.  I also needed more tank space for my current breeding projects.

 

I was able to secure some industrial warehouse racking from work and got some custom tanks built.

 

Rack is 4 ft. wide x 2 ft. deep by 6 1/2 ft high and consist of the following tanks;

 

3 x 20 gal (16" x 24" x 12") - divided down the middle for selective breeding 

8 x 15 gal (12" x 24" x 12")

 

plus 2 x ~18 gal reservoir tanks (18" x 24" x 11") for water changes / top-ups

 

All the shrimp tanks are rimless w/ a 1" wide eurobrace on the top.  Went the custom route as I wanted to ensure I could fit all 4 tanks on a single row as standard 15gal tanks are usually a bit wider than 12" after the trim.  I also needed a way of mounting my float valves (for my auto top-up / water change system) away from the back as the HMF filter would get in the way if i went with them.

 

Each tank will be individually filtered using a HMF filter driven by a central air pump.  My previous racks have used canister filters but I needed to fit as many tanks as possible and didn't like the idea of giving up the bottom row of tanks for canister filters.  I toyed with the idea of HOB canister filters but there would have been quite costly but in terms of power draw (and outlets) and capital costs. Decided against a sump as I wanted to flexibility to have a number of different setups and again, didn't want to give up the bottom row for a sump. 

 

Lighting is provided by LED striplights; each level has two 48" LED strips mounted on aluminium channels and attached to the underside of the plywood shelves.

 

In all my past shrimp rack I use a simple auto top-up / water change system which consist of float valves on each tank which are fed by a couple of  "reservoir" tanks.  it lets me keep the water levels of all my tanks automatically topped up as well as lets me drip in new water during water changes unattended.

 

Below are some photos after all but 1 of the tanks have been placed on the rack.  Just did a fill test on some of tanks as will as added a test fitting a HMF filter.  The 4th 15gal on the bottom row is as I still have to reorganized my power cables from my old rack to the right before setting up the final tank.

 

_B171669_zpsaa13afce.jpg

 

 

_B171674_zps12773d27.jpg

 

The next step is to set up the tanks; set up the HMF filter, add the substrate and start cycling the tanks

 

Also, still need to get the plumbing and hardware for my ATO system.

 

Plan is to consolidate all my shrimps from other two racks, then break down the old racks down and add another section to the right of the new rack with another set of identical tanks 

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Thanks all, but a long time coming..

Sweet set up! What sort of support does the eurobrace give?

Structurally, on large tanks I would say they prevent the tank from bowing and such but as such small tanks I don't think it makes much difference. The main reason i got them was to prevent shrimps from walking out of the tank - an issue on my current tanks, and to prevent water from splashing out from maintance

Looks awesome, but I am going have a ocd attack if theirs not another tank on thebottom shelf :S :{

Yes, I just have to pick up some more power bars first for both racks as the power outlet is pretty much inaccessible once the bottom tanks are in place and filled.

Hopefully they all fit! the top row has zero space, while the middle row had around 1-2mm had to try out several tanks on the second row to get them all to fit. If it doesn't fit I will have wait until the second batch of tanks are made (will go 1/4 narrower just in case).

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Love the setup. I am trying to learn and figure out the best route for my rack I plan on setting up. This will be a perfect journal for me.

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  • 1 month later...

Well been a while with the holidays and what not, but good news is most of the tanks are cycled.  I been slowly moving over shrimps from my old rack to the new tanks over the past week, starting with the middle rows; about half of my PRL culls have been moved and 95% of golden bees.  

 

Today I moved the last of my taiwan bees over to their new tanks

 

_1151696_zps023eca21.jpg

 

_1151702_zps8f656066.jpg

 

_1151719_zps45a73588.jpg

 

Will see if I can get another shot of the rack this weekend once I clean things up a bit but you see a bit of the new tank in the background of the last pic :P

 

So far so good; although it seem a lot more crowed now in the new tanks;maybe it is the change in orientation of the tanks, but I might have to set up another rack with larger tanks in the future : )

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moved some more shrimps over to the new tanks this morning; this time my PRL culls. With the new tanks i have been able to separate them in two groups based on patterns; one for mixed bands and one for hiro / no-entry.  These ones are my hiro / entry ones:

 

_1171736_zpse977885e.jpg

 

_1171800_zps4317840a.jpg

 

Doesn't seem like much but I counted close to 100 in there.  I been moving them over in small batches over the last week or so and it finally seems like i am getting close to cleaning out the old tank;  I did around 5 or 6 batches so far and by my estimate I got a few more to go until I am done. 

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Those look awesome, any pics of the rack?

 

Thanks, I took some pics of the tanks this morning but there didn't look too great with water marks on the glass creating some distortion so i will have to wait until I finish moving everything over and clean up the glass for better pics.

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Finished moving all the shrimps for middle row the other day and finally got around to cleaning the glass and taking some shots of the rack and tanks.

 

Here is the rack as it stand today:

_1201802_zpsd590dc95.jpg

 

Middle row is now fully populated
Top row probably got another week or so left before it finish cycling

Bottom row got some OEBT's in the tank on the left, haven't decided that to do with the 2nd tank and I will still waiting for the 2nd batch of tanks to get deliver to finish up the last two tanks on the right.

 

 

The Middle row is set up as follows (L to R)

PRL culls (mixed band)
PRL culls (hiro / no-entry)
Taiwan Bees
Golden Bees

 

_1201806_zps6fc7820d.jpg

 

 

PRL culls (mixed band) tank

_1201846_zpsbac20a5a.jpg

 

 

PRL culls (hiro / no-entry) tank

_1201855_zps6db40a70.jpg

 

 

Taiwan Bee tank

_1201829_zps9e1e296f.jpg

 

 

Golden Bee Tank

_1201832_zps755bc94e.jpg
(have a breeder box that is empty - was just testing it out)

 

 

and a parting shot from some of my PRL culls

_1201871_zps13705231.jpg

 

 

Still left to do:

- wait for top fow of tanks to finish cycling and transfer the shrimps over

- hook up the LED lights to a single PSU (400w) and maybe add a controller
- hook up the plumbing (float valves, water lines, etc; ) for the auto top-up / water change system - still testing out a couple of different float valves.

- shut down old rack (to the right of new rack) and extend rack with another 4ft section

- get another set of tanks from custom tank builder and set them up / finish off the bottom row 

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