journal 5 partition beta tank sumped for shrimp.

[Zebra]

Hello, 

Just wanted to share a build I've been working on.

I bought this small 2ft beta tank divided into 5, and figured for the price of doing each one individually I'd have a go at plumbing my first sump.

I got an old tank I had lying around that fits under a 3ft stand perfectly, and a 3ft stand.

I cut down the stand but haven't taken a router to the one plain edge yet, meh.

Drilled a 1" hole in each section and just siliconed in a mixture of pvc and poly pipe fittings cause it was like $20 instead of 5 bulkheads for like $50.

Im just using 13mm poly irrigation pipe and droppers as the return back into the tanks, there's a ball valve on the return so Majority of the flow just recirculates through the sump keeping the water pristine for the shrimp. ?

Waiting on a proper return pump and stainless steel shrimp guards that just slip straight over the poly fittings inside the tank.

Still a work in progress, I have to figure out the best design for the sump, I'm thinking something that will help cool down the whole system etc, need to design it all before I find some 2nd hand glass to get my DIY on lol.

Any ideas welcome.

cheers

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by Zebra

[Madmerv]

Hey Zebra

The only way to cool it down, without a chiller, is to have evaporation. For that you will need maximum surface area for the water. Having the water enter the sump system through some media in a trickle system will help with that as well as giving you good biological filtration with the added oxygen in the water. There are a few youtube vids on DIY systems to get this. Once the water is in the sump proper then you are just going to have the surface area of the sump tank to play with so the addition of fans at that stage can help.

[Zebra]

Cheers man, so do you think incorporating some form of cooling design like this would help? or should I just get a chiller if I need it? 

I'm very new to sumps, this along with one other are the first I've touched, I understand filtration quite well, but yeah I've just been looking at different setups, and people have some very elaborate sumps going on hey, could you outline the most common types of sumps we use in freshwater for me please, and links with some good info.

cause I have a clean slate to work with, no baffles or anything, and I wants to design it as best possible before I get to cutting glass :)

cheers

Edited October 28, 2016 by Zebra

[Kaylenna]

I'd considered using a betta barracks for shrimp at one point - gogo targeted breeding!  The thing that got me was the total volume of water in the tanks - it just seem so small.  If I can find one that actually held +20 gallons, I might still go for that.  How much water does yours hold Zebra?

[Zebra]

Yeah that's why I sumped it :) loved the idea of bigger water volume but with such tiny "observation" decks lol

each section holds 2L and it's a 40L sump, so about 50L total but it's gonna be 50L of very clean stable water :) to start I was just going to throw 100 hob and canister filter so in the sump haha, but think I'll properly section it off too.

Looking back I wouldn't even think twice about putting shrimp in 2L of water with just a sponge filter. 

The key is pipes and drain holes 2 or 3 times larger then they need to be. :)

Edited October 28, 2016 by Zebra

[Zebra]

Ok so here are this bad boy in action. I'm so tempted to pay for premium membership if all my money and then some  didn't already go into aquarium goods lol

Ended up plumbing it into another tank I have been modifying and scaping,

All red sakuras in te main tanks, Then I have some yellows and chocs among others in the top compartments :)

meant to post This in diy lol cause it's  a diy build, Im sooo tech illiterate haha

[Zebra]

So I started off with a standard 2ft on a stand with rails for cover glass. Cost $60.

I cut the cover glass to fit down the back of the tank on an angle creating an "overhead sump" that's where the heater is then it's filled with lava rock and has emersed ferns, crypts and a ficus punica growing up the light frame.

The wood in this hardscape is diy eucalyptus I recycled from my backyard. And the rock is once again lava rock from Bunnings. 

I cut some recycled steel from an old flouro light shade with the angle grinder and drilled that into the merabu frame then lined it with a few layers of thin foam. 

Added supports to the light frame at the back to hold the extra weight. As well as angle brackets under the light frame.

The lights I bought off eBay for $13ea and wired them myself.

Then I just plumbed in a piece of pipe back to the main tank to drain the 5-bay on top. 

2 canister filters, one runs the main tank and one runs the 5 bay,

took apart old sponge filters and put them on my filter intakes to make the most safe.

This tank is also all diy ferts too lol

The leaf litter is also a diy of my own mix :) cherry guava, banksia and gum.

the 5 bay has ugly bags cause the stainless steel shrimp guards I bought off eBay had a nasty petroleum based glue so had to get a refund.

cheers

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by Zebra

[al4n]

nice idea, just be careful of that top tank as it is not properly supporting the load with that structure you built 

[Zebra]

it is properly supported or it would have fallen down, it only weighs like 7kg full :) though I did think about that when building it.

Cheers

[revolutionhope]

Looks great@Zebra - I'm closely following your native zeb progress and cheering you on at every step! :-) Please do keep the updates coming..

Can i ask what you know about using eucalyptus leaf litter or wood? I seem to remember@fishmosy saying one of his students did a trial involving eucalyptus leaves and shrimp and found that they didn't eat them but I'm a bit vague about it.

Is it possible eucalyptus could have a negative effect on the nitrifying bacteria or other beneficials also? (Not a scientist just a random thought!)

[emoji111] [emoji173]

Will

[fishmosy]

Yes eucalyptus leaves contain little oil 'glands' that are used by the tree to stop their leaves being eaten by herbivores such as insects. The oil in these glands is not reabsorbed by the tree when the leaf dies or senesces, so the oils are still there when the leaf drops to the ground and/or into water. This is why when you crush a dry eucalypt leaf, it still smells like a eucalpyt leaf.

Our research indicates that shrimp (Paratya) do not eat the eucalpyt leaves, and this is most likely because of the chemicals in the leaves. When we made a chemical extract of the eucalpyt leaves and coated it onto a spinach leaf, the shrimp did not eat the treated spinach, but ate the control spinach that didnt have the extract. 

Other studies that have tested if eucalyptus leaves are eaten by other shrimp in South America where eucalypts have been introduced have also found they do not eat the eucalypt leaves. Interestingly some aquatic insect larvae in Australia have evolved methods of using the leaves without rupturing the oil glands. They basically eat around the glands. 

The reason why the herbivores (ie. Insects) avoid eating leaves that are protected by chemicals is because it reduces their performance. For example, it might slow down their growth, make them produce less young or even cause them to be infertile. So it makes sense for them to eat something else, even if that something else is less nutritious. Now this is important when it comes to thinking about what happens when aquatic organisms eat the leaves that fall from trees growing along the edge of waterways, aka riparian vegetation. Firstly the chemicals generally arent re-absorbed by the tree, they remain in the leaves when they die. Secondly, those chemicals are likely to do the same thing to shrimp and aquatic insects that eat the leaves as what they do to terrestrial insects that try to eat the leaf when it is alive. Hence it is not a good idea to use any leaf from a tree that produces a strong chemical defence to feed your shrimp. There are many alternatives which have been tested and are known to be safe in aquariums. You'll notice that most of these leaves come from trees that do not produce chemicals to deter herbivores as their primary defence, instead relying on other primary defences such as little hairs (think stinging nettle) or other methods of outwitting herbivores, such as fast growth and quick maturity and flowering (think spinach). Mulberry leaves are a favourite of mine, and I highly recommend them. 

My understanding is that the oils produced by eucalypts can kill bacteria in some situations, but I'm not aware of any information regarding if or how this may occur in aquariums. I suggest always play it safe, and if in doubt, leave it out.

@Zebra I'm interested to know what the Banksia leaves are like. I would have thought they were very tough, so not really suited for shrimp. 

Edited November 28, 2016 by fishmosy

[Zebra]

Nice write up @fishmosy 

Also eucalypts or as they are known over seas "water guzzling aliens" have a very strong capillary action in their wood, so strong it actually draws trace amounts of metals even gold from the ground up into the wood and leaves. There's a nice Ficus Pumila (creeping fig) growing up the light frame now and the leaves from it dry and fall into the tank naturally now, I was going to take them out to start cause I've read they are poisonous to pets but the shrimp eat them like crazy so. 

The eucalypt and banksia leaves are just for smaller organisms to feed on creating biofilm etc and a more natural look, the Bankia leaves last a long time too which is good. I don't think there's really any eacayptus leaves in the tank anymore but the wood is still eucalypt.

I used eucalypts to start only for their anti bacterial properties, especially with my zebras, but yeah all this has just been my theories haha they are not my favourite leaf from my trials though. I like cherry guava leaves best for shrimp and their look. :)

 

Built a diy light for the top tank out of spare glass and recycled LED strips :) And got the sump I'm going to use installed under the whole thing, I'm going to start a photobucket account or something so I can post links to all these build pics :) it's looking pretty dope now, getting a little bit out of hand though haha still haven the gotten a refund or replacement for those mesh shrimp guards so it's a little bit ghetto ATM 

Just cutting and glueing the glass for the sump baffles now.