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I'm building a 8 tank shrimp rack!


Aquathumb

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I am building a shrimp rack! 8 two foot tanks will each be divided in half for a total of 16 - 30x30 cm cubes, on a pine stand I have built. and a 400L sump will be built next to the stand, for a total of 800L system. I would love to hear opinions on a few things!

First and foremost this is a line breeding setup for cherry shrimp varieties. But I also want good/fast/healthy moss growth

Substrate:

So far I am considering Tahitian Moon Sand (inert crushed black glass) Benibachi shrimp soil or ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (not concerned abut having to wait out the ammonia spike) I don't plan on adding much fertilizer (unless someone can recommend a 100% shrimp safe fertilizer) Would ADA Amazonia slowly release fertilizer into the water colem for the moss's? Is this bad for shrimp? dose benibachi contain fertilizers? or anything else beneficial to shrimp that Aqua Soil dose not? again I want good moss growth but not at the expense of shrimp health.

Lighting:

I am strongly leaning towards LED lights. Up aqua Z series led lights are a consideration or perhaps led strip lights from Ebay (I don't mind a bit of DIY) and ideas here? thinking 6500 - 10k light spectrum but not sure how much wattage to put above each tank as I want good moss growth but not an insane electricity bill!

Extras:

I am thinking about adding Söchting Oxydators also. Has anyone been using these? Do you consider them worth the money? If so then one mini in each cube? ($560) or 2 big ones in the sump? ($134) I also plan on using RO water with Sulawesi 7.5. I have heard this is the best for cherry's (dean uses it so I cant be wrong :P) will this help or hinder the moss in anyway? I know RO/minerals is a bit over kill for cherry's but I want the very best environment for them.

That's all the questions for now. But I'm sure i'll have many more questions over the coming months! any info or opinions would be very appreciated

here are a few pics of the work in progress:

2013-01-11%252014.52.23.jpg2013-01-12%252014.31.52.jpg2013-01-25%252012.20.17.jpg

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very nice there aquathumb! i was very lucky indeed to have seen it! and to be honest i am rather surprised to not see any kittens with working helmets setting this rack up for you :beaten:

everything that you have written would work very very well. althought i do not feel that there is a need for RO water in regards to neocaridina.

my tap water comes out at 90 tds or 180 ec. so you just need to add in some sulawesi mix to lift the water to 150tds or 275-300ec. BAM! and the water is ready :) just make sure you do it in a drum and the water is prepared before it goes in

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Nice setup :)

I have just used the Tahitian Moon sand in a 3 foot tank for my yellow cherries. It's a pain to get clean but looks fantastic once the water settles and the yellow shrimp look amazing on it as do the reds.

I'm using RO with salty shrimp Sulawesi 7.5 to 300ec and i also have an oxydator in there as well. It's only a Newish setup and I added the yellows around 3 weeks ago.

I'm actually building a small rack with a sump for 3x 2 foot tanks for some cherry breeding and will have the Tahitian moon sand as my substrate too.

Keep us updated on your progress:)

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Ha! kitten helpers? More like saboteurs! I built a 2 foot high plywood barrier to keep them in the laundry but they have worked out how to climb it! They attack my feet every time I walk pass!

I have considered using tap water but I have not had a lot of success with it here. My yellows would not breed in it. I changed over to RO water with Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement and they where berried with in weeks. I have since run out and back to tap.. they stopped breeding again. Now I have some Sulawesi 7.5 (thanks dean) and they are at it again! the water here smells strongly of chemicals lately, I don't even drink it!

I also have Tahitian Moon sand in a few tanks and really like it but I wonder if Benibachi has anything in it that would add to my shrimps health. Would it buffer my water back down after using Sulawesi to get it to 7.5?

how about lighting? Anyone set up DIY LED's for shrimp?

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I've had the eBay led strips and grew pc and java flame ok but not to the z series standard tbh. I tried to source out where I got mine from but the seller is no longer around it seems. The led strips really depends on depth of tank, I had better results in a 14inch high tank compared to the norm 18inch high tanks.they are cheap to run tho, fairly sure mine was only 10w per strip with two on each tank.

Loving the new rack and the thought of people setting up new racks for cherries!!!

Nice one

Mick

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I have gone down the DIY LED for one of my tanks, but the goal was to grow plants really well. It was an expensive project. I recently purchased the UP AQUA PRO Z light to trial on a shallow 2 footer. Seems pretty good so far. The only thing I dont like is the spectrum of light. To my eyes it seems a bit sterile, or a bit too blue. The mosses seem to responding to it so far though.

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Thanks MickeyG my tanks are only 12in deep but the LED will be mounted 18in above the bottom of the tank. I really like the idea of these strip lights as they are low profile and wont get in my way and about 20w per tank sounds about right to me for moss growth. How was the color?

Thank you for the input HeavyD The LED options I have looked at are not as expensive as the 5-10w cree LED builds with heat sinks ect. I have looked at flexible LED strips off ebay used for car accent lighting (12v) or GU10 sockets with 6-12w LED bulbs pluged into them. As for the UP AQUA PRO Z light that is sounding good! I actually prefer my light into the blue spectrum a bit. About 8000-10,000k range but have heard 6500k is better for plant growth. anyone know if this true for moss's?

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I think it's relevant for all plants. The main thing is that it has peaks in the blue wavelengths and in the red wavelengths. The rest of the energy can be used by plants as well, but an excess of it will cause algae growth.

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Starting to lean towards the expensive option (isn't that always the way!) the UP AQUA PRO Z seems to be designed for plant growth so I would imagine it would have the blue and red peaks whereas the led strips are designed for car lighting and probably not optimized for plant growth(lol)

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What about 6500K LED Floodlights? You could trial the different wattages to see what you need for a 2 footer?

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What about 6500K LED Floodlights? You could trial the different wattages to see what you need for a 2 footer?

I've been trialling a 20W LED floodlight 6500K over my planted tank and love it. No problems. Now my two foot twin T5 has blown I'm buying new LED floodlights to replace it.

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Looking great Aquathumb. Really invigorating seeing hobbyist creating selective breeding programs for cherries...etc.. as there's so much yet to be done for them....

In all my setup, I actually prefer a low-med light, with mosses growing slowly....ONLY last week, I had to trim the mosses out of my 12 month old tank........easier maintenance, and less occasion of disrupting the tank etc....

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That's what I like to hear. I would so love to build a 4ft CREE LED light, but when I worked out the total cost I was looking at $800-$900. I just can't justify that right now.

What size tank are you using the 20W light over? And at what height?

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I have a 20w 6500k led flood light. It was another consideration, Again I like a bit more blue in my spectrum but the main problem was the size. It will take up most of the room inside my canopy.

I have been looking into these up aqua Z's they look fantastic... someone please talk me out of spending $800 on lighting! lol

Bluebolts I am quite an aquatic plant enthusiast so I have no problem getting my hands wet trimming moss's! also selling the trimmed moss's will help to lessen the impact of this project on my budget! So im looking for good med light for fast growth maybe even a small amount of Co2... :D

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I think the thing you will find with the LED lighting is that the higher the wattage the more space it will take for heatsinking and room for active/passive cooling. The UP lighting gets away with being slimline because of the relatively low wattage, I think 2ft is something like 17 watts.

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Awsome project aquathumb ! Have you already drilled your tanks?

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I've personally found mosses to grow healthier and greener under lower watt lighting.

Also less algae issues as its hard to balance the light/n-p-k ratio in shrimp tanks since I don't like adding any fertilizers to them.

That's just my experience though, my plant growing experience is very limited so take what I say with a grain of salt.

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Heavyd: Yeah high power LEDs sure do get hot I have a 10w cree XML torch that gets a bit to hot to handle after a few mins, extremely bright tho!

17w of plant specific LED light over 50L/13gallon of water sounds about right for moss's. I'm thinking it would be around mid light which is good. I don't want to go to high because of heat / power bill, and as Triggs said nutrient imbalance that will cause algae! So I think I'v made my mind up on the up aqua Z's. I though you were meant to be talking me out of spending $800 on lights!? lol.

lachie1998: I have not drilled the tanks yet (only have one tank ready for it atm) but I have drilled many glass tanks before!

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Looking good there, it is very satisfying to build some thing like that your self, keep up posted.

I lived in Beenleigh for a couple of months some 25 years ago.

Bob

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lol, my wife didn't seem impressed when she asked how much the new lights I wanted were going to cost!

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Yes I must say I am enjoying it bob! A lot of fun so far. Lived in beenliegh for a few months, tasted the water and ran to far north QLD? hehe

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lol' date=' my wife didn't seem impressed when she asked how much the new lights I wanted were going to cost![/quote']

You always buy/do something for them before you mention things like that :-p

P.S lookin forward to following this progress. I am very jealous!

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haha yes i cleaned the house, washed the dishes and got the kids school lunches ready before she got home... I know how it works ;)

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