journal BossAquaria Shrimp Lab :)

[Jag Aquatics]

Great job Dean. This will definitely be inspirational thread for me and many more.

Keep up the good work and waiting for the next update...

[SUSS8]

I just went thru this thread and the whole time i was just like :O ...this is just amazing this really is BOSS!! lol

Muss Likes This :encouragement:

[northboy]

Dean,

What are the sieves/caps called and where did you get them? also do they have various sized screens in them.

TA Bob

[Dean]

so i have now automated the system and added a UV sterilizer and thought i would share how i did this.

what i have done is made it so that the tanks are doing a constant water change every hour of every day constantly.

each side of the room has its own 1050ltr water tank.

the cherry side of the room runs RO water with the saltyshrimp Sulawesi Mineral 7.5 and the other side of the room for crystals etc runs

RO water with Saltyshrimp bee shrimp mineral GH+

both sides are producing crazy amounts of shrimp.

first thing i did was to add another 6 bags of noodles to the sump just to help with the higher flow rates

of the automated system & i think there can never be to much media in the sumps.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]828[/ATTACH]

this is them in the sump with the other stuff already in there

[ATTACH=CONFIG]833[/ATTACH]

the RO unit

[ATTACH=CONFIG]834[/ATTACH]

the 1050ltr tanks on blocks to save adding a pump.

to be continued

[BlueBolts]

LOL.....all my tanks combine is equivalent to 50% of one of your water tank ! Awesome setup, awesome system.....

Northboy, I think Aquotix's online store sells those sieves/caps.....remember bumping into it a few days ago.

[Guest Benny]

Overwhelming amount of water in your system Dean :encouragement:

[Loach]

Nice setup Dean! Now for the individual tank pics :p

[Sprae]

Man your single water splash probably overfills my nano tank! Can't wait to see more photos :applause:

[emboli]

I bet it feels like a kid in Disneyland being in that room ha ha!

[HexaD]

very inspirational, awesome stuff Dean!

[fishmosy]

Great to see the update Dean.

There are some articles in one of the issues of Amazonas magazine describing how the Indonesians are growing shrimp in large tanks with either constant inflow of water or large exchanges of water. As in any situation growing animals under high densities, more water exchange equals reduced accumulation of wastes, hormones ect, which means better growth, higher survival, more production, ect ect.

As a tip for our newer/ less experienced members, look closely at what guys like Dean are doing and you'll realise the things they do are advantageous, arising out of experience, and are solutions to problems that you might not even have considered. There are at least three great tips in Deans last post, 1) water changes are key 2) gravity is your friend 3) more filter media is good. Shrimp literally live and die by the bacteria on media.

[doctr-dan]

So your moving away from top up only Dean?

[Foxpuppet]

a constantly changing water source is actually as close to the shrimps home as you could get considering they come from rivers/creeks etc where the water is always changing. love this idea... Dean maybe you could get into aquaculture with the waste water!

[NoGi]

Looking really good mate. Now you just need a fish eye lens shot of the whole room

[Heavyd]

How cool is this setup? Dean, do your shrimp know what a good life they have?

They must be really hard to catch for sales: "I don't want to leave here!"

[Dean]

So your moving away from top up only Dean?

only on the system tanks mate, my 6x2x2 KK RW Panda tank is still topup only.

thanks everyone, i enjoy reading all the comments from you guys.

yes the idea behind the constant water change came about when earlier this year i lost between 1500-2000 shrimp.

it got me thinking about best possible way to reduce chances or bacteria and nitrate problems as the system is all running off sumps

so if there is a problem in one tank it soon spreads to every tank.

with the constant water change of 1050ltr every 30 days which is a little under half the volume of water for each side of the room, the nitrates which were at a constant 10-15 have been reduced to <5 which is perfect. It also saves me a lot of time having to do top ups etc as there is approximately 15-20 ltr a day evaporation.

@ HeavyD

i dont think they know any better mate, but im sure they are not happy when they leave :)

[Gbang]

so awesome so awesome!

[Dean]

So the following is about the automated water system and UV i added,

from the 2 separate water tanks i have hard plumbed each to its own sump, as 1 sump is used for each side of the room.

on the water tanks there are ball valves (see last pic in previous post) and then another ball valve just before entering each sump.

this means i can turn the flow off at the water tank or just before the sump.

The reason for this is that the white irrigation line above the ball valve is connected to the float switch inside the sump which controls the water level to keep the sump always full.

and also if i decide to flush through some larger volumes of water i can just open the ball valve to let if flow faster.

i also have a irrigation line connected to the main water line that pumps water into the room/tanks. this line is what continually pumps water out of the sump which completes the top up and removal of water, creating a constant water change.

low water before float switch turned on

full water after float turn on

i also hard plumbed a line to each sump for fast large volume water changes if it is needed for some reason.

these are the 2 pipes on the left. they also have a ball valve on them. the water is always pressurized to them so i just need to open the valve and the water goes to the drain.

after all of this was done i added a large UV filter to each sump just for the added protection against bacterial outbreaks as i already lost many many shrimp at the start of the year to this..

all the needed parts

i started by connecting the fittings to make it work with conduit, and reducers to bring it back to 25mm fittings which is the size of all my plumbing.

i then had to try and find somewhere to put it as there is very little space under the floor and each section

with out a sump is only 40cmx40cm wide so placement is important.

didnt fit here...

perfect fit

i then had to work out where to cut into the existing plumbing.

original

cut off

reconfigured to new direction

all finished

after letting it run for a week i tested the water parameters to make sure everything is running smooth

and it was perfect.

EC reading

As the water is always changing, new for old. i no longer need to test for anything in the water.

the only thing i monitor is the EC but only when i fill up the water tanks and ad the SaltyShrimp minerals.

there is never ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or PH problems because the water is always changing.

after 14 months now of using the Benibachi soil i am still getting PH readings of 5.7-5.9. using RO water and saltyshrimp minerals only...

no other soil comes close :)

[Trav80]

Every time you update this mate it blows my mind. Well done. I think everyone on this forum dreams of having a setup like this one day. I sure as hell know that I do.

[Dean]

thanks mate.. im sure you will love the next update even more then :) adding a few more tanks to the room :victorious:

[Sprae]

Amazing work mate! Can't wait till you show the tanks with shrimps!

[Trav80]

Did you extend the room or stick a rack up the middle? Damn, can't wait to see the next update :) I you need a hand just ask, can be paid in TB's :p

[Dean]

@sprae. not much to see mate :) i prefer to show pics of a nice shrimp than a tank of shrimp....

@Trav, yes 2 more rows up the middle with another 24 tanks if i get a break over xmas to build it..

paid in TB's??? dont under sell your worth mate :) aim high lol will let you know if i do mate, but most of my shrimp room work is middle of the night to early morning.

[jrc693]

Hi Dean,

Was just wondering, what does the UV do exactly?

[Trav80]

Nice work, night/morning is the best time to do that kind of thing. No one bugging you and your free to take your time :) if you need a hand you just gotta call ;)