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New Shrimp Keeper


CurleyJones321

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That keg might work and you get to enjoy the contents. Not sure how you would refill it with water or clean it out, otherwise you'd have spaced out shrimps...........whooa!! 

I think (as it occurred to me anway) it may be best to not leave the filter in the water any longer than possible, but as I say, I don't actually know whether leaving it permanently in water will shorten the filter life?

I have left my gmail open if you want to send a picture and I can see and then delete one of your pics? Lunch now though so may be a bit of time lag...............

Simon

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sent now. 

I don't keep the filter in the water any more time than it really takes to filter the water (lifestyle dependent). my theory is that will extend the life of the filter and reduce any chance of smell.

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Can't a simple container and tap from the DIY shop do.

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that is a picture of my 'dripper' i cant upload, i did send another one side on showing how the sealant didn't bond to the plastic bottle but i think you can kind of see that with this one 

ill have a look for something specific when I'm there, but knowing the market available in those types of shops (because i technically work for one just in their structural engineering division), you'd be finding something like a weed killer sprayer and adapting that or something huge making it unsuitable.

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2 minutes ago, kms said:

Can't a simple container and tap from the DIY shop do.

That should work fine as long as you can get a good enough quality plastic container, but taking time to get the stuff, and pay for it, and make it, it cannot possibly be economical when it only costs £12 for a proper made product (including delivery) , though the one JayC sent proves that statement wrong, but isn't the sort of thing we get over here.

Simon

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2 minutes ago, kms said:

I surpose so, if they are available.

Basically the dripper is just what you mentioned, a container with a tap, but easier to fit together as the hole is already there and it has a water tight washer and a piece of tube. It has a handle on the top as it is meant to be hung in reptile cages I expect.

I am sure you can get all the bits separately here, or in any country, if you want to try your hand at making one. JayC container is ideal and obviously readily available in Austrtalia, and I expect USA.

Simon

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12 minutes ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Those look like they would work The dripper has a much bigger top that opens so is much easier to fill up though than those containers and again here only £12 the whole setup so you aren't saving anything, it may even cost more to make it yourself once you have all the required bits.

Simon

Just a quick search, i'm sure you can find the right parts.

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unfortunately your totals come to $21.02 (£16.07) including Shipping. The dripper i've bought came to £12.01 including shipping.

Ok so ive done another 3, 10% - 15% water changes 2 at 250TDS, 1 at 200TDS and my tank water is now at 300TDS and ive probably now run through 25 liters through the Zerowater Jug and im still not getting any TDS reading from the pre-mineralised water. However all though I'm not seeing any dead shrimp today i haven't been seeing as many shrimp even after feeding, only 1 or 2 at a time. im wondering if having brought down the TDS so quickly I've stressed them out and now need to stop for a few days to let them adjust?

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Hopefully the shrimps are just hiding but you have been doing a lot of water changes in a short time and without a dripper to slowly acclimatise. You are close to the right figures now so it probably is worth doing just one a day (20%, TDS200) and when you get the dripper it will be a lot gentler on the shrimps! Fingers crossed you haven't lost any ! !

Are the nitrate and GH figures going down as well? 

I sent back your email with shrunk photo files so you can try using those, the one I tried worked and I deleted it afterwards.

Simon

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ok this is just a check post to see if the photo's will upload.

this is the 'Drip Acclimater MK2' in its current form that failed. as you can see the pipe stayed in the hole but the sealant wasn't water tight. as I say i have purchased a purpose built 'Dripper' but i will try to find a bottle of non toxic waterproof silicone sealant at B&Q at the weekend.

20190430_193926-min - Edited.jpg

20190430_193952-min - Edited.jpg

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Great the photos work, thats a relief!

I imagine a bathroom sealant will be the best bet, if it is non toxic, not sure whether it will say that or not? Or they may actually have one specially for aquariums at B&Q which may be more pliable when set?

Simon

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Ok so i did 1 final water change at 200TDS, and am now thinking about stopping and letting the shrimp adjust for a few days until Saturday or Sunday when i do another water change at 200TDS and check my readings again.

Water Conditions:-
PH - 7.5
dKH - 4
dGH - 9
Temp - 23C
TDS - 295
NH4 - Unreadable
N02 - 0.1PPM
N03 - 10PPM
PH4 - 0.5PPM

My Nitrate levels are in the safe range although my Nitrite levels are un-changed but they are in my safe range so i feel it would be ok to leave it a few days, and let the duck weed do its job because that hasn't grown as much as im used too

so someone asked about my tank filter which is integral to the tank design. it works through 2 cotton pads that it just under the water line of the pump section so water gets through into them. below them are 50 plastic balls that apparently allow for bacteria growth as well as breaking down any larger pieces of debris. below are pictures of the design. in the pump section there is just enough room for my 50 WATT heater which does a great job at keeping the tank within 2C of 23C. the Pump is on two thirds power setting. should i turn it up further?

the Light in the tank generates what is termed as low light but thats what ive specified the plants which are all real to survive in when i was selecting them.

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That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully you will get to see more shrimps when you do less work in the tank as well. I think your tank design is similar to the 15L I started with, where everything is built into a back section. If you are leaving the next change until the weekend you should have the dripper by then so that will help everyone!

Do you still have the fish or are they in another tank?

Shrimps aren't too bothered with water movement in my experience so you can turn up the filter if you want too, but I would leave it as it has been running all along.

You are so close now that I would probably just do one 20% water change a week. Topping up with RO water not mineralised.

I don't know whether this will help but I use a version of it to work out what TDS I need to make the new water to get the tank to the TDS I want. ie last week I forgot to top up the tank all week, so I actually had to make water TDS 067 to get it back to the 160 I aim for, but with the dripper adding it slowly it didn't matter. You have to change the blue figures for your specifics. To be accurate you need to put the actual water number in the tank, ie my 15L tank had 12L of water, so not the 15L the tank is said to be? Ask if you want any further info on it.

 

Simon

Edited by sdlTBfanUK
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the fish are still in the tank, i do have a spare 16L Hexagonal tank but id need to get another filter from my LFS to set it up.

you you send me that already but its gone out the window since i went away because my TDS just went haywire i didn't fill it on.

how did you compress those images, i've not exactly got a slow computer it runs high spec games comfortably but i am operating windows 7 simply because i thinks its the best operating system. I'd assume it to be able to compress a file the same way you did?

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If you keep that spreadsheet it will help when you set up the new tank. I did my shrimp tank this morning and I always use it?

To shrink the pictures I was (always am) on my google chrome book, I just opened them, clicked edit and it came out with a size of 3000 x 3000 ish which I just changed to 1500 x 1500 size, saved and sent back. You can always send to me any pictures you want the same done too if you want, it is so very easy on this thing, and then I can send them back. 

Hope the dripper arrives for the bank holiday.

Simon

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So the Dripper arrived and after you told me  you re-sized the picture to 1500 x 1500 pixels i found this website to do that:-

https://www.reduceimages.com/final_image.php?image=79a463361a

as you can see this is purpose built and it holds just under 4 liters of water. the only problem is that the hole for the outlet of water is about 25mm (1 Inch) higher than the bottom of the bottle, which means probabley about half a liter remains in the bottle. I recon i can do better if i can find a sealant that works. The device did come with 2 drip valves but I'm taking it as using one of those in my 'Redneck/Cowboy' Dripper would be cheating.

20190502_133223-min.jpg

20190502_133244-min.jpg

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8 hours ago, CurleyJones321 said:

using one of those in my 'Redneck/Cowboy' Dripper would be cheating.

Why would it be cheating? Just use it.

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As JayC says, why not use it for your own home made one.

I put the lid on the top of the aquarium to prop up the back of the container so it is higher at the back and then all but about an egg cup full comes out which I just pour in to the tank

Simon

ps I sent the photos back before I read this and saw you had worked out how to get the photos uploaded.

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Pic of dripper filling Bertie the betta tank that I have just done!

IMG_20190503_103448.thumb.jpg.95189e7e5b716491473fa50eb6432dad.jpg

Hope this makes it clearer?

Simon

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Ok so i didn't manage to get to B&Q (the hardware store) because of well life, however i did manage to get waterproof silicone bathroom sealant that is non toxic from a supermarket, they were £7 per bottle, but i checked their website and a bottle from them would cost £4.97. i have not however been able to make the Drip Acclimator Mk3 as i am waiting for the flow regulator i got from Amazon as they are apparently coming from China. This could however as noted before be optional and i could close the pipe down with a lighter to make work, i'll do this when i have the time.

so i left the tank until yesterday when i checked TDS and it had gone up to 320 so i did 2No 10% - 15% water changes at 0TDS as recommended over the last couple of days using the specifically made Dripper set to 2 - 3 drips per second. i have now checked my water perimeters and they are as follows:-

PH - 7
dKH - 4
dGH - 8
Temperature - 22C
TDS - 281
NH4 - Unreadable
N02 - Unreadable
N03 - 15PPM
P04 - 0.5PPM

As i see it i can leave the tank a couple of days even with this level of Nitrate because its still below the threshold i have set, so come Wednesday or Thursday I'll know what to do. I will then do my next water change at 200TDS.
My coverage of Duckweed isnt spreading as quick as it has previously so that is telling me my tank is maturing and i can start to remove it, although I'm going to keep a bit for the set up of the next tank.
Although i haven't seen any dead shrimp im still only seeing 3 - 5 adult shrimp at any one time. Note i said adult, because i checked today and i noticed tiny 2mm - 3mm shrimp, see photo attached.  The berried shrimp must be hiding in the plants. I have only counted 2 baby's at 1 time but my theory is id have a couple of dozen right? my girlfriend is elated with this news as she is now determined i don't need to buy more.

59406066_284916429077809_3955712704076840960_n.jpg

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11 minutes ago, CurleyJones321 said:

my girlfriend is elated with this news as she is now determined i don't need to buy more.

LOL. I'm sure you will come up with another reason to get more. 

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I am delighted that it is all gong so well and you have babies. They will hide naturally when they are young so you won't really know how many babies there are for a while. The parameters are closer than ever and probably now you can just make the new water at the 200 you state, but they are all at the upper 'acceptable' range now. It should also be much easier as you don't need to keep checking ALL the parameters so often, just use the TDS meter to give you an idea of whats happening and do the others once a week for a few weeks and then once a fortnight should be fine.

You probably can hold off getting any new shrimps until you get the new tank settled in, especially as you don't know how many shrimplets you already have and it is a small tank.

The tap on the dripper is a bit awkward to regulate but I would try to slow down the drips to one per second on such a small tank, doesn't sound much I know but that is still 60/minute...................

It is also great to here you are getting on top of the duckweed as well.

Simon

 

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