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New Shrimp Keeper


CurleyJones321

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17 hours ago, richiep said:

i followed the link here and seen it but not in a full setup so please a photo would be good

OK, I went to the shop today, and taken some photo's, the small version is 1000ml, large one is 6000ml.

The last photo is the small version.

https://imgur.com/a/CSy2rZm

 

Edited by kms
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2 minutes ago, richiep said:

thanks for the update

Somehow the site tinypic what I use to upload photos keeps giving me errors, so I had to use other sites.

Normal this site allows international shipping, but not sure why this item is not available for international shipping.

 

https://www.fishmanshop.com/en/product02en/4602-up-water-dripping-buffer-l-d-026.html

Edited by kms
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That certainly looks like it would work for water changes. It is a bit fancier than the one I use which is a container with a small tap and pipe (which you don't need if it is sitting on top of the tank), so very basic and simple:

http://www.onlinereptileshop.co.uk/reptile-products/Drippers-and-Sprayers/Zoo-Med-Big-Dripper-Bd-1-3811.html#sthash.8tel5oAX.mT2DpwuR.dpbs

Some shrimp people like ProShrimp sell the tubing with an adjuster for flow rate specifically for shrimp acclimatising but that is similar price but you still need a bucket or something to put the water in and I assume you need to suck the water through to get it started.

It should be fairly easy to make one of these with an empty water canister of sufficient size, the plastic tap and some sealant, but whether the effort is worth the cost saving is down to the individual to decide I guess!

Simon 

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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8 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

That certainly looks like it would work for water changes. It is a bit fancier than the one I use which is a container with a small tap and pipe (which you don't need if it is sitting on top of the tank), so very basic and simple:

http://www.onlinereptileshop.co.uk/reptile-products/Drippers-and-Sprayers/Zoo-Med-Big-Dripper-Bd-1-3811.html#sthash.8tel5oAX.mT2DpwuR.dpbs

Some shrimp people like ProShrimp see the tubing with an adjuster for flow rate specifically for shrimp acclimatising but that is similar price but you still need a bucket or something to put the water in and I assume you need to suck the water through to get it started.

Simon 

I only got the small one because I only had a 16L tank at the time of purchased, but the larger size is large and more of a bucket, but the design is good, with the grooves to sit on the corner of the tank. The large one is 6000ml.

I came across the big dipper in a flash, didn't realize what it was, but now I do, I was just thinking why zoomed called a container a big dripper.

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The grooved bottom of yours is a much better design, so that you can sit it on the edge/corner of the tank. The big gripper has a flat bottom but I sit it on the aquarium top and thread the pipe through the aquarium feeding opening so it works for me. It may be a little precarious perched on the corner, though it would work if you are careful. As you can see the other advantage is that you can hang it as well, so if your tank is in a unit with something like a shelf above you can just put a cup hook in that and hang it over the tank, that would be another alternative?

They make 2 sizes, 2L and 4L (1US gallon). I don't think it really matters if yours is small as all you do is fill it up, come back later and put more in it if you are doing over the 1 litre. Sometimes I even have to do that with the 4L if I am doing say 5L change on Betta tank!

Simon 

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Ok so its been a few days ive aquascaped and removed all but the tiniest mineral stone from the tank. I have made 5No 10% - 15% water changes 2 at roughly 350 TDS and 3 at between 200 & 250. its just taking me a while because of well life, Jet Lag and i need to spend at least 5 hours making and temperature adjusting the water. I haven't lost any shrimp but again I'm seeing no berried one's. Water Perm's as follows:-

PH - 7.5
dKH - 4
dGH - 10
Temp - 23C
TDS - 342
NH4 - Unreadable
N02 - 0.1PPM
N03 - 30PPM
P04 - 0.5PPM

So after all that work im currently brewing up another batch of water at 200TDS aimed for because as far as my research has gone Nitrates over 20PPM are dangerous for the shrimp long term. Also im getting a Nitrite Spike even on this water change regime because i culled about 60% of my duckweed hoping A my tank would have adjusted with the increased flow from the pump & B the added Frog bit Growth would have helped.

My Drip Acclimater MK2 failed because the sealant didn't bond to the plastic, the way i see it i have 1 option without buying any extra materials, which is to cover the entire bottle with the sealant to form a water tight skin which i do think i may have enough for or option 2 which is to buy a drip acclimater as recommended by Simon. My mum recommends the second option encase my work leaks.

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Show us your DIY dripper. We might be able to help.

When I made mine I made sure to drill the hole one size smaller for the air tube. That way the tube has to squeeze into the hole, and along with the silicon, it's water tight. What are you using for sealant?

 

Your GH is still a tad too high. 

Edited by jayc
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Ok so basically my dripper is a 2 liter plastic milk bottle with a hole in it the same size as the tube. The tube is connected into the hole and the sealant is covering around the hole forming what i hoped a water tight seal. when i tested the dripper it leaked at this point and the sealant just eventually pealed entirely away from the bottle just leaving the tube stuck in there so id need a lot more sealant to fix this and with my engineering mind i though why not just cover up the bottle.

Good news is ive managed to convince my GF that i can spend the money on this and if i get my water conditions right with a TDS of between 200 and 250 between now and the 28th of next month i can get 10 more shrimp, the dripper will help when it comes to acclimatising... then the next month i may buy the new fish tank i want.

Any idea's pr can u share a way for me to upload a picture successfully?

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Fixing a hole that is too big is far more difficult than making a hole that is too small, slightly bigger.

Can you get another milk bottle? I used a drill bit that is slightly smaller than the tube's diameter. Don't drill into that soft plastic, instead, heat the drill bit up with fire on a stove , and melt into the plastic bottle. The air tube should be a tight fit to start off with. 

What sealant are you using? You should be using silicon. Aquarium safe silicon, or just normal silicon ... the type used in a caulking gun. 

baee3b2d-6dcd-4f25-b6d3-383901a2baeb.jpg

 

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23 minutes ago, CurleyJones321 said:

Any idea's pr can u share a way for me to upload a picture successfully?

Have you been able to post any pictures at all on this site?

It should be as simple as dragging a picture into the text area, or pasting one that you have already copied. Just be careful of the file size. 

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You are doing so well, you have reduced the TDS by 100 and Gh by 6, caution though as doing it all too quickly may be a disaster, though at least the cherry shrimp are more robust and adaptable than Bee shrimps. At least the Nitrates are also going in the right direction even if they aren't where you want them so that is also good.

I can't help much with the dripper. All I can say is that in my experience it usually ends up costing more (especially if you include labour) trying to take a short cut and, trying to SAVE money. The shop bought one would be £12 (inclusive of P&P) for a 4L (1US gallon) container so is it really worth messing around - only you can make that decision? As you state it can also make acclimating new shrimp much easier. JayC is obviously the master of DIY so that part I will leave with him. Our milk containers are pretty flimsy and cheap plastic so I'm not sure how that would work long term?

The size of the pictures is the only problem I have come across, I don't actually know what the maximum kb is but I have had problems with any over about 900kb!

I like the plan for the near future, though you should probably consider switching the new tank and the new shrimp around so you have the bigger tank before getting new shrimps?

Keep up with the great work.

Simon

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After testing my water with the supplied TDS meter which came with the zerowater, it came out 265ppm for my 16L tank, and which recently a bee shrimp gave birth to 6 babies at present, could be more, I have started to do a water change with zerowater without adding minerals in a few days intervals to reduce stress for the shrimps.

On the other hand, my turtle habitat has a TDS of over 800, I have reduce that to just over 500, and will change water bit by bit, but I was surprise that the wild neo shrimp which lives with the turtles has been alive for months, they was suppose to be food.

11 hours ago, jayc said:

Have you been able to post any pictures at all on this site?

It should be as simple as dragging a picture into the text area, or pasting one that you have already copied. Just be careful of the file size. 

 

I've had problems upload photo using the drag and drop from this site, now I always upload to www.tinypic.com , I've used this for years.

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24 minutes ago, kms said:

After testing my water with the supplied TDS meter which came with the zerowater, it came out 265ppm for my 16L tank, and which recently a bee shrimp gave birth to 6 babies at present, could be more, I have started to do a water change with zerowater without adding minerals in a few days intervals to reduce stress for the shrimps.

On the other hand, my turtle habitat has a TDS of over 800, I have reduce that to just over 500, and will change water bit by bit, but I was surprise that the wild neo shrimp which lives with the turtles has been alive for months, they was suppose to be food.

 

I've had problems upload photo using the drag and drop from this site, now I always upload to www.tinypic.com , I've used this for years.

Look forward to seeing some pictures soon.

Years ago I was putting wild type cherry shrimp in with a Betta as food but he wasn't interested so they thrived, but they made a good clean up crew. I have done the same with my new betta and it is fascinating to see him about a cm from them just watching them but never bothering them, I wonder what he is thinking?????

Try not to overdo the adjustments to the TDS in too large steps (especcially in a small tank) as that can be a disaster in itself! Hopefully the baby bee shrimps will survive but don't be too disappointed should they not do well. I used to get babies with the bee shrimps with tap water but they never survived for long, until I started the RO water, re-mineralised (or as we know it zerowater).

Also, when topping up due to evaporation make sure you use pure RO water as if you use remineralised it will gradually increase the TDS of the whole tank as evaporation is pure water leaving the minerals in the tank water.

Simon

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2 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Look forward to seeing some pictures soon.

Years ago I was putting wild type cherry shrimp in with a Betta as food but he wasn't interested so they thrived, but they made a good clean up crew. I have done the same with my new betta and it is fascinating to see him about a cm from them just watching them but never bothering them, I wonder what he is thinking?????

Try not to overdo the adjustments to the TDS in too large steps (especcially in a small tank) as that can be a disaster in itself! Hopefully the baby bee shrimps will survive but don't be too disappointed should they not do well. I used to get babies with the bee shrimps with tap water but they never survived for long, until I started the RO water, re-mineralised (or as we know it zerowater).

Also, when topping up due to evaporation make sure you use pure RO water as if you use remineralised it will gradually increase the TDS of the whole tank as evaporation is pure water leaving the minerals in the tank water.

Simon

The high TDS could be due to using zoomed turtle conditioner, I will stop using it for the shrimps, yep I will do the water change slowly for the shrimps.

 

By the way, my home tap water is TDS 080ppm

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You should get 200 - 250 Litres from each filter with your low tap water TDS.

I expect the shrimps that are wild type are much tougher than the coloured ones so I wouldn't try too hard to get the turtle tank in the 'ideal' neo range as it may be detrimental to the turtle if you change too much?

Good to hear it is all going so well.

Simon

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ok another day another 3 water changes at roughly 250 TDS... Tank TDS now at 326 obviously im not checking water perimeters right at the moment because its only been a day. ive decided im going to buy the Big dripper because another bottle of sealant i probabley will need to do an entire covering would cost another £4.03 and if im spending that taking my total for the experiment up to approximately £10 if i exclude the milk as a general cost and it may not work. The dripper costs £12 to buy specifically manufactured so im just getting that. However i am willing to try any recommendations and invest another say £5 on something and some of my time to get it to work. simply because id like to see this working and generally see this thread as a way of to help other people who may experience the same problems as me, as well as get advice from other enthusiasts and this may help other people in a more cost effective (if not time consuming) way.

This is the sealant ive used, i chose it because no where on it does it say 'toxic to aquatic life' just like when i was looking for paint when i painted some ornaments in my tank.
https://www.diy.com/departments/bostik-specific-wall-glue-moulding-glue/3549212478605_BQ.prd

unfortunatley ive tried uploading pictures from my mobile and desktop by trying to attached the file as it is, the file compressed to a smaller size and i tried to use www.tinypic.com but every URL address i tried to paste in wouldn't work. im wondering if its an admin thing because im a new member?

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10 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I wonder what he is thinking?????

He is thinking .... "I wonder if this is food".

 

1 hour ago, CurleyJones321 said:

This is the sealant ive used,

Yeah, that's not the right sealant to use. You need silicone for that job. You might be able to find a small squeeze tube for example ...

1190535.jpg

 

(BTW - That image was just copied from an online supermarket, and pasted directly into the text editor. )

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@CurleyJones321  Before you commit to purchasing the dripper ... I have another DIY suggestion. Does you local supermarkets have these spring water bottles pictured below? Our supermarkets in Aus stock these which come with a handy tap that you can open just enough to let water drip. Peats Ridge Springs Reviews - ProductReview.com.au

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1 hour ago, jayc said:

@CurleyJones321  Before you commit to purchasing the dripper ... I have another DIY suggestion. Does you local supermarkets have these spring water bottles pictured below? Our supermarkets in Aus stock these which come with a handy tap that you can open just enough to let water drip. Peats Ridge Springs Reviews - ProductReview.com.au

Unfortunately in general everything is much smaller here than Australia and USA and that looks like it is meant to go into the fridge and makes a lot of sense in hot countrys, and I am sure it would work well as a dripper, but we don't get stuff like that here in the UK generally, and I have never seen it, and just checked my supermarket website and alas not there.

Even if it were available here, as I say, everything is smaller and it would probably pretty much fill our normal fridge size, or use up a lot of kitchen worktop space. We actually have generally the 'average' smallest houses in europe, let alone USA or Australia which are vast in comparison. THINK SMALL! Or they would say COZY when selling a property!

Simon

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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11 hours ago, CurleyJones321 said:

ok another day another 3 water changes at roughly 250 TDS... Tank TDS now at 326 obviously im not checking water perimeters right at the moment because its only been a day. ive decided im going to buy the Big dripper because another bottle of sealant i probabley will need to do an entire covering would cost another £4.03 and if im spending that taking my total for the experiment up to approximately £10 if i exclude the milk as a general cost and it may not work. The dripper costs £12 to buy specifically manufactured so im just getting that. However i am willing to try any recommendations and invest another say £5 on something and some of my time to get it to work. simply because id like to see this working and generally see this thread as a way of to help other people who may experience the same problems as me, as well as get advice from other enthusiasts and this may help other people in a more cost effective (if not time consuming) way.

This is the sealant ive used, i chose it because no where on it does it say 'toxic to aquatic life' just like when i was looking for paint when i painted some ornaments in my tank.
https://www.diy.com/departments/bostik-specific-wall-glue-moulding-glue/3549212478605_BQ.prd

unfortunatley ive tried uploading pictures from my mobile and desktop by trying to attached the file as it is, the file compressed to a smaller size and i tried to use www.tinypic.com but every URL address i tried to paste in wouldn't work. im wondering if its an admin thing because im a new member?

If you want to email me a picture or 2 and I will see if I can upload them as a test, but I am not very tech savvy so I probably won't be able to tell you why it doesn't work if I can't upload them either?

[email protected]

I think you have done enough posts that we can discount that as a problem!

Hope you are managing to get the Nitrates under control.

KMS brought up something regarding the Zerowater. I filter then store in another container, bucket etc to carry. I don't KEEP water in the filter, and had wondered, still don't know though, whether keeping water in the jug MAY reduce the life of the filter. I had thought about this in the passed but then dismissed it anyway as I don't keep water in the jug beyond filtering!

Simon

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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52 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

we don't get stuff like that here in the UK

That's too bad, cause it's so easy to turn it into a dripper. 

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12 minutes ago, jayc said:

That's too bad, cause it's so easy to turn it into a dripper. 

That looks perfect for the job and being horizontal rather than vertical would make it quite stable and easy to position as well. Definitely looks a great idea for those lucky enough to be able to get these. I assume it is cheap as well if it only has water in it.

Simon 

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1 hour ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I assume it is cheap as well if it only has water in it.

$4 Australian dollars.

You're paying for the water, the container is essentially free. It holds 10 or 12 litres.

You just need to cut a hole at the top to add your change water, and adjust the tap to let it drip slowly. Even has a convenient handle. 

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unfortunately Simon is right we dont have anything like that with water... but my local brewery does these

https://www.hogsback.co.uk/product/hogstar-5-litre-mini-keg/ 

i'll go back to the hardware store at the weekend and ill make a judgement on waterproof silicone sealant they have available.

i don't know why my pictures aren't working maybe its my anti-virus i don't know.

with regards to the zerowater filter... what im doing is im using the filter section to filter 2 liters into the jug section, putting the filter into another jug to get the residual water, remineralising the water in the jug & leaving to temperature adjust untill within 3 degree's Celcius of the tank water.

 

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