First tank.

[sjn5188]

HI, everyone i've been keeping cherries for a while now just normal reds. and now i am wanting to get into crs and cbs just lower grades to start with. I am setting up a shrimp only tank it's a 4x2x2 that will be divided in half the substrate will be Fluval stratum and it is running a 1300 l/hr canister filter. with a sponge on intake so shrimpets don't get sucked up and a spray bar on other side, it will also have two large sponge filters in it the tank has currently been running for nine months so its all seeded i will just have to slowly change the water parameters to suit cbs/crs. it will have driftwood and low light plants. i will be going through post to see if anything can be done to set my tank up better. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks Shane.

[Triggs]

Just wondering what water parameters you're wanting to change? And what they are at the moment? and what parameters you are after?

[bailey88]

Best of luck with your new tank mate you will find All the answers your looking for here enjoy

[Dean]

Welcome to Skf :cheerful:

[fishmosy]

Welcome to SKF Shane. Best of luck with your shrimp projects.

[sjn5188]

Just wondering what water parameters you're wanting to change? And what they are at the moment? and what parameters you are after?

THe ph is about 7.6 i want to get that down to about 6.5 and lower the kh but i ahvent measured that one. What would you reccomend i do?

[Loach]

Welcome to the forum!

[Triggs]

THe ph is about 7.6 i want to get that down to about 6.5 and lower the kh but i ahvent measured that one. What would you reccomend i do?

Use substrate that buffers for Shrimps, Different people here will recommend different substrates depending on what they've used and had success with. I've used Up Aqua Shrimp Sand for a few months and had good results however I don't have the experience others here do so I'd follow their recommendations on substrates over mine.

The main problem I think you will have is that, I'm assuming you're going to be setting it up in an empty tank with the seeded filters running on it. If your sponge filters have been running and seeded on the pH of 7.6 when you put the new substrate in and that buffers the pH to say 6.4 (As example) it will do so rather quickly and not slowly.

This will effect the bacteria inside the sponge filters and may cause them to do a mini cycle again as bacteria in filters don't like sudden changes in pH.

I'd personally set the tank up empty with the substrate, hook the canister and sponges up, put a few nice plants in there then fill it with treated water and let it do a bit of a cycle before adding any livestock. Once I felt it was at the point where I was happy with the parameters I'd slowly starting adding livestock a few shrimps at a time and re-test the water the day after each time I added the new shrimp to make sure I wasn't over loading the tank too fast.

Welcome to the forum too btw!

[Foxpuppet]

welcome to the forum, you are in the right place for helpful ideas on setting up etc, It may help to start a thread on that exactly though in the right forum spot like - http://www.shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/20-Water-Parameters

hope we can be of help to you!

[sjn5188]

Use substrate that buffers for Shrimps' date=' Different people here will recommend different substrates depending on what they've used and had success with. I've used Up Aqua Shrimp Sand for a few months and had good results however I don't have the experience others here do so I'd follow their recommendations on substrates over mine.

The main problem I think you will have is that, I'm assuming you're going to be setting it up in an empty tank with the seeded filters running on it. If your sponge filters have been running and seeded on the pH of 7.6 when you put the new substrate in and that buffers the pH to say 6.4 (As example) it will do so rather quickly and not slowly.

This will effect the bacteria inside the sponge filters and may cause them to do a mini cycle again as bacteria in filters don't like sudden changes in pH.

I'd personally set the tank up empty with the substrate, hook the canister and sponges up, put a few nice plants in there then fill it with treated water and let it do a bit of a cycle before adding any livestock. Once I felt it was at the point where I was happy with the parameters I'd slowly starting adding livestock a few shrimps at a time and re-test the water the day after each time I added the new shrimp to make sure I wasn't over loading the tank too fast.

Welcome to the forum too btw![/quote']

I think i may slowly lower the ph over a month or so then add my substrate and test perameters and wait abit to add shrimp.