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:-) games are games but competitions deserve prizes :-) Let's see if this kicks off or fizzles out .... Kicks off and I'll give a sweet ass prize, fizzles out I pack the bee hive away , feed the 1.4 million dollar shrimp to the fish and cut my losses. This is just for fun , would like to see participation from those who don't often post. Now ..... If you are too shy to post . Hit the like button..... This action will make me get off my butt and kick this thing off.

It's time to show some my progress on pinto project. This is my own version pinto line and no other blood line involved. I just got lucky. Also getting a rilli version mischling on taiwanbee project but maybe not good to post it here.

this is the little guy from a few weeks ago growing nice and looking great

Thanks Squiggle, The tank has been planted and is being cycled. Hopefully in a few weeks it will be ready for some shrimp. Feel free to give me some planting pointers. Cheers.

Thanks...I'm sure it's a settling in period too, with the removal of the live rock. I only have a pair of maroons....just want to ensure I over react in these circumstances to ensure the least fluctuation a a possible.

Totally agree dude, AoA is awesome!

Welcome to the dark side buddy, ask heaps of questions, most of us are willing to answer anything. Cheers mick

Hey Nathan, welcome to SKF. Its funny how shrimp can grow on you, from feeders to friends!

Amazing, I actually managed to find the time to type up my entry. Instead of doing a write up for my ultimate dream set up, I thought I’d do a write up on the 2 x 4ft divided tank shrimp rack I’d like to be able to hopefully set up soon, but with an unlimited budget. I hope that's ok. The rack will be set up in our lounge room as:- The only place in the house we have room for it is in a corner of the lounge room and there’s about 4.5ft x 2.5ft of space to fit one in. The lounge room is where we all spend most of our time and watching the shrimp is definitely better than watching anything the kids or the other half watch on TV. I’d be able to keep an eye on Mr 8 & Miss 4 when I’m shrimp watching or doing any maintenance on the tanks so I can make sure they aren’t getting into mischief. As it’s going in our living area it would be nice for it to blend in with our furniture, not just be a couple of tanks on a basic metal or solid wood stand, or as the other half has said It has to be tastefully done and blend in with our other furniture’. Another thing to consider would be that the top tank isn’t so high that it’s hard to maintain, the bottom tank to low for visiting toddlers can get into it, and the filters, pumps, cords, hoses, cables etc are out of sight so young kids aren’t tempted to play with them and it looks neat and tidy. The stand will be around 210cm high x around 70cm wide x around 130-135cm long. Ideally the cabinet would be made of slightly distressed plantation acasia stained cedar walnut (see pic 1), but with a waterproof hardwearing clear lacquer top coat, so it matches our display and TV cabinet. The bottom section will be about 65-70cm high, have 2 cupboards in the middle to store the filters, pumps and buckets and things. An 8 point power board will fixed to the back of the stand for all the electronics to be plugged into. Two tall but narrow drawers (see pic 2) the same height as the cupboards (see pic), with shelves in each and on the outer side of each cupboard to store all the little things like food, minerals, nets, water conditioners etc. There will also be holes drilled in the back of the cupboards for hoses and cords and things to go through, and of course the handles on the cupboards and drawers will have to match our TV and display cabinet. Childproof locks will be kept on hand for when visiting little ones come over and become a little too inquisitive about what’s hiding in the cupboards. The first 4ft tank will sit on top of the cupboards and drawers. So we can’t see the polystyrene and very bottom of the tank there will be a piece of timber or lip running around the front and sides of the cupboard section, but the back will be solid timber for strength. There will be a frame around the tank to support the shelf for the next tank to sit on and the shelf will be around will be around 25cm higher than the actual tank itself. This will allow enough room for a light to be attached to the bottom of the shelf above. A locking hinged decorative door type panel be attached to the bottom of that shelf to hide the top of the tank, light, any holes drilled above the tank for hoses and cords to pass through, and to allow enough room to access the tank for maintenance, shrimp catching or to attach a breeder box. The sides will also have the same decorative panel with a locking hinge for the same reasons. The second tank will sit on top of the shelf with the same lip to disguise the polystyrene and the same frame work, and lid for the top as the first tank with the locking hinges, hidden light and a lip on top just in case we decide to add a third tank on top. Each tank will be 4ftlongx2ftwidex1.5fthigh, made from at least 12mm starphire glass and divided into sections. The dividers will be made of glass and siliconed in when the tanks are being made. I’d like the dividers to be topped with a brace and instead of having 1-2 large pieces of glass to use as cover glass, have the cover glass divided into 4 pieces, 1 piece for each divided section of each tank. This should hopefully stop shrimp from climbing out to visit shrimp in the other sections of the tanks. Each divider will be pre drilled with 5x5cm holes for water circulation and covered with a fine ss mesh to stop the shrimp from getting though. I guess if some tiny shrimplets do get through, I’ll be able to move them back to their tank and it won’t be too much of a problem as they’ll be way too young to breed. A 6-7cm high x 1ft Perspex partition will be siliconed into each section, about 10cm from the front, to hold back the substrate and give a substrate free area for the shrimp to be fed in. A 4ft LED light will be attached to the bottom of the shelf above each tank and each light will be programmable to imitate sun or moon light and hooked up to timers so they switch on early afternoon and switch off later at night. The timers can also be switched off for those times you need to do something to one of the tanks after hours. Each section will have a twin bio sponge air filter running in it and they’ll all be connected to 1 large air pump. Each 4ft tank will run its own EHEIM professional 3e 600T filter, filled with the recommended Eheim media set. The heating element in this filter negates the need for heaters in the tanks and with the EHEIM USB Interface for the professional 3e; the filter can be adjusted and checked on from my computer. A chiller will be attached to each tank in the warmer weather as well. The filter outlets will be covered with fine filter mesh to prevent shrimp and shrimplets ending up in the filter and each section will have an Indian Almond leaf or 2 in it. One tank will be set up for our CRS, Mischy’s and Mr 8 would like to have some CBS at some stage too. Their tank will be divided into 3 sections. It will have a 1ft section on each side, one for our CRS and the other for our future CBS, and a 2ft section in the middle for our Mischy’s with some internal breeder boxes for selective breeding. In this tank I’d use Benibachi black soil to a depth of around 7-8cm. Before I added the soil I’d add some Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder to the bottom of the tank, add half of the soil, add some more Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder and then top with the rest of the soil. About a third of the substrate in the Mischy section will be topped with ADA Africana or similar so that any KK’s or panda’s will be easier to see in that area than they are on the Black soil. Benibachi bee balls will be added to their filter as well. Ideally I’d like the ph to be around 6.2, kh 0 – 1, gh 4 – 6, tds 100 – 180, and the water temperature at 23 degrees. Water added to the tank will be mineralized with Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+ to achieve the desired gh & tds and a small sprinkle of kh powder to bring the kh to >0 but <1. Each section will ideally be artfully scaped with driftwood or rock, mosses, plants and lots of bucephalandra, but with my lack of talent in that area, just to have it look nice will do. The other tank will be divided into 4 1ft sections. One section will be for keeping and breeding our best Red Cherry’s, the kids would like some Yellow Cherry’s so they would go in another section and the other 2 sections will be used for trying to breed some of those stunning Royal Blue Cherry’s or Carbon Rilli’s. I’d use cal aqua black earth substrate and add Borneowild Enlive and Benibachi mineral powder the same as I would do for the other tank and have each section nicely scaped as well. Their tank will have the ph 6.4 – 7.6, kh 0 – 10, gh 4 – 14, tds 80 – 200 and the water temperature at 23 degrees. Water to be used in their tank for top ups or water changes will be mineralized with Salty Shrimp- Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ to achieve the desired kh, gh and tds. Depending on how much space is left in the cupboards, 1-3 x 20 litre buckets of aging RO water or tap water treated with prime and with air stones bubbling away in each bucket, can be stored in there ready to be used for top ups and water changes as well. Peat in a small bag made of stockings can be kept in the bucket of water to be used in the CRS/Mischy tank to lower the ph before it’s added to their tank when or if the Benibachi soil stops lowering the ph.