How would you set up a TB tank?

[Duff0712]

I was thinking about setting up another TB tank or redoing my current one eventually.

I was curious what you guys would do if you were setting up your own or what I should do for best results? I have some ideas but don't know what would work best. The ultimate goal is healthy breeding shrimp

This is what I was thinking:

First of all as much as I enjoy aquascaping I wanted to try a "bare" tank. Minimalistic. Flat substrate (maybe a small slope from back to front) so I can keep tabs on almost all the shrimp. I would definitely have mosses and some slower growing plants but nothing too visually impeding.

Substrate: buffering soil seems to work best.

ADA - first soil I ever used for TBs. worked great. Buffers well. I cycled stupidly with barely any water changes and it took like 2 months before there was no ammonia (of course I didn't add any shrimp at that point), but it is the only soil I've had true breeding success with. Mischling heaven. Also the best planting substrate I've seen in action.

Brightwell - I like this soil. Two of my tanks have it and it buffers well. Sadly I haven't had real good breeding success with it yet. There was one TT that had at least one shrimplet, but so far that's it. Not necessarily brightwell a fault though.

Aquavitro solum? - new gravel to me but it does buffer below 6 well. Not sure it's longevity or planted success yet.

Filtration:

Sponge/air pump - so far I've really liked the sponge and air pump combo. No top scum and low-moderate flow. Tons of oxygen.

Internal filter - I may throw in an internal filter with a spraybar. Little extra flow and better collector of particulates.

Heater - my winters get cold enough I need one. Viaaqua titanium and eheim Jagger's have served me well so far. 72 seems like a good temp. Not too cold, not too hot.

Water - RODI remin with SS GH+ a TDS of 100 gives me 4-5 GH in a fresh bucket. 110~ is 5-6GH. I figure aiming at 100-110 would be good. (API liquid tests and TDS meter)

Cycling - I figure I will prob lean towards ADA and cycle with that. I have some bacteria balls from AZOO that I could add and some probio vials. I also could use seachem stability or aquavitro seed. I figure to cycle it for at least a month. Maybe add small amounts of bacterAE to get a good film going after parameters are more in check.

Plants/scape -I plan on not doing much scaping. The idea is to be able to see everywhere. I have to have some plants tho. Mosses. Buces. Anubias. Maybe some carpeting like Monte Carlo. Still eh about the carpet tho. Might have a small pile of leaves/cones/cholla wood. I want to see everything that's going on but the shrimp need some sort of resting/getaway.

If you have had a better experience with any other products/equipment/procedures please share. I am still a total novice and welcome any advice.

-Duffy

[Lloydwang]

use old filter media. 

run the filter since day one

heated the water up to 85F while cycling

24/7 light.

instead of using as seachem direction, try to add 3x their requiremnt ammont for one time. I put whole 500 ml inside my 10 g tank.(not adding few ml per day for a week) 

add few pinch of baking soda every 3 days for first 15-20 days. it is faster to turn ammonia to NO2 with higher ph. and faster to turn NO2 to NO3 with lower PH. so ya, first 15 days with higher ph and lower ph (after water change) for next 15 days.

small water changes daily for first 7 day.

and then 80% water change after it cycled with the parameter that you wanted. 

if possible get like 4-5 air pumps in the tank. higher Oxygen means faster cycling. 

 

that's just how I cycle. everyone could have diff methods and ways. so far, this way was fastest for me.

 

[Lloydwang]

oh ya, add lots of plants too. like fobits. 

after it cycled, you can remove them back

edit: cycling ada was not fun. took around 2 months to cycle. 

[DETAquarium]

I am definitely a huge fan of simple, keep in mind though simple is always cheap. This is the concept I took in setting up my Taiwan Bee tanks. Taiwan Bees as other shrimp like consistent water parameters, so an active/buffering substrate is a must, and in my eyes RODI is a must. Outside of those two variables it is up to you, my preference is canister filters, I don't use heaters as I have a central A/C/heater therefore I just set the temp for my house and all is well.

 

One piece of advice that I have noticed time and time again, is don't do to much. What do I mean by that? SO many supplements are out there, and the directions for use are sometimes foreign or just seem like to much. So as I said above keep it simple, find 1 or 2 supplements that you can use on occasion. Again shrimp like consistency and when you start adding supplements your not familiar with at larger than suggested doses, this can cause problems quickly.

 

Hope this helps!

[Purplepanda]

Adding fish and snails also helps with the cycle instead of leaving it relatively lifeless. I would also highly recommend Microbe Lift Special Blend, they also have a new cycling product available which must be good.

 

I would wait at least a month ideally two. To avoid the tears do things slowly such as add some tester shrimp first for ten days or so and not all your prized collection in one go.

 

I use a combination of canister filters and sponges in all my TB tanks, angle the return spray bar against the back glass to reduce a strong flow and to aerate the water better.  

[Pokeshrimp]

Have you looked at the HMF? I'm planning on setting up my first TB tanks and those seem very efficient.

[Duff0712]

Have you looked at the HMF? I'm planning on setting up my first TB tanks and those seem very efficient.

I have looked into HMF filters before. It was never really clear to me on how to set them up. I think I saw you have to silicone brackets in the tank and it turned me off since I've never siliconed anything and would be afraid to mess things up. I could have read something wrong though.

-Duffy

[JamesHe]

Only corner HMF needs silicone glue. get regular one. 

 

it equals to two big 4.25" cube sponge filter.

 

You're on the right track, TB is as easy as PRL/CRS now a days. they just grow slower than PRL/CRS

[Duff0712]

Only corner HMF needs silicone glue. get regular one.

it equals to two big 4.25" cube sponge filter.

You're on the right track, TB is as easy as PRL/CRS now a days. they just grow slower than PRL/CRS

Thanks! I just need to get more confident about remineralizing and pinning down GH/TDS.

I'll have to look up the regular HMF filters. Any place in particular you'd buy from?

-Duffy

[JamesHe]

Thanks! I just need to get more confident about remineralizing and pinning down GH/TDS.

I'll have to look up the regular HMF filters. Any place in particular you'd buy from?

-Duffy

 

Swiss Tropicals

[Pokeshrimp]

Swiss tropical is where everyone recommends.

[Duff0712]

I will have to give them a look. Thanks

-Duffy

[svetilda]

I don't have any recomendations as I'm relativly new to shrimping but try to keep it simple with plants. I love planted tanks (and even my goldfish tank is planted), I really think shrimp/fish/ snail they all enjoy it. But it's hard for me to stop and not overplanted... and then I can't see my shrimp.

So, just try to keep the landscape simple.

[Duff0712]

I don't have any recomendations as I'm relativly new to shrimping but try to keep it simple with plants. I love planted tanks (and even my goldfish tank is planted), I really think shrimp/fish/ snail they all enjoy it. But it's hard for me to stop and not overplanted... and then I can't see my shrimp.

So, just try to keep the landscape simple.

 

Yeah I will definitely try haha. I shouldn't get too out of hand with plants as I don't typically use plants that get too tall. But I have a problem with wood and rocks and then not being able to see past them.

[Purplepanda]

 

 

You're on the right track, TB is as easy as PRL/CRS now a days. they just grow slower than PRL/CRS

 Surprised to hear this as I got my first TBs back in July and they were berried pretty soon after that. What really astonished me was the growth rate of the young which emerged in mid August, BKK, pandas, shadow pandas and wine and ruby reds (RKK ?). I was away for a week and they literally doubled their size, these TB young  were berried themselves within eleven to twelve weeks far faster than any shrimp I have kept before including neos and crystals. Can I just add that the BKK from this first batch of young were quite a bit slower in their growth compared to their panda siblings and they have not come into berry yet.

[Duff0712]

 Surprised to hear this as I got my first TBs back in July and they were berried pretty soon after that. What really astonished me was the growth rate of the young which emerged in mid August, BKK, pandas, shadow pandas and wine and ruby reds (RKK ?). I was away for a week and they literally doubled their size, these TB young  were berried themselves within eleven to twelve weeks far faster than any shrimp I have kept before including neos and crystals. Can I just add that the BKK from this first batch of young were quite a bit slower in their growth compared to their panda siblings and they have not come into berry yet.

I hope I will have that kind of success

[DETAquarium]

 Surprised to hear this as I got my first TBs back in July and they were berried pretty soon after that. What really astonished me was the growth rate of the young which emerged in mid August, BKK, pandas, shadow pandas and wine and ruby reds (RKK ?). I was away for a week and they literally doubled their size, these TB young  were berried themselves within eleven to twelve weeks far faster than any shrimp I have kept before including neos and crystals. Can I just add that the BKK from this first batch of young were quite a bit slower in their growth compared to their panda siblings and they have not come into berry yet.

 

Very interesting! In my experience Taiwan Bees tend to grow and breed much slower than Neos and other Caridinas. Do you feed growth enhancing foods, such as Double Speed to your shrimplets?

[Soothing Shrimp]

I'm also amazed.  My cards take forever to grow, compared to my neos.

 

What temp is your tank?

[d0pey]

The guys at blue crown taught me how they cycled their tanks with mk-breed.

I am currently cycling my third tank the same way! It usually takes about a month.

Filtration: Azoo hob

Soil: ADA Amazonia

Additives: MK breed silver/gold powder & mk breed blood diamond.

Lighting: Finnex stingray clip

1. Sprinkle silver/gold powder over an empty tank.

2. Put a layer of soil over it and repeat with silver/gold powder.

3. Repeat step 2 until your soil is at your desired level.

4. I then put some mk breed blood diamond over the soil.

5. Slowly add water to your tank to prevent heavy clouding.

6. Leave light on for two weeks.

7. Expect a good amount of bio film and algae to grow!

8. On the last week; I did about 20% water change and adjusted my TDS accordingly.

7. Check for ammonia the next day and added test shrimps for a week.

This has been the easiest way for me to cycle a tank.

(Heater helps with cycling!)

[RyeGuy411]

HMF are by far my favorite and easisr filters. I am only using them on any new task I set up.

[Duff0712]

HMF are by far my favorite and easisr filters. I am only using them on any new task I set up.

 

Sounds like they are a pretty sweet filter. I have one on its way and am excited to try it out

 

As much as I'd prefer the corner one i don't feel comfortable siliconing yet so I got a standard one.

[usgetata]

Since many of you asked about HMF & poret foam, here is a old project of mine with 6 tanks connected as one unit and divided into 10 sections & 1 sump by poret foam.

You can read about the whole project old thread from my planted tank post:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=416554

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[kaydoubleyou]

HMF are by far my favorite and easisr filters. I am only using them on any new task I set up.

I had no idea what an HMF filter was. Upon looking it up this little jem crossed my path. Totally trying this out for my next project. Thanks for the enlightenment! Http://hmf-shrimptank.blogspot.ca/?m=1

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk