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LOL ! I'm not on fire. I'm cool ... so cold in fact it's like this ... What was the original topic of this thread again? Oh yeah. I haven't participated in a thread hijack for ages ... must do more.

He can't its in his shrimp tank! lol

Hi All so after many many many many PM/Email/SMS/calls etc etc all asking similar questions about building and plumbing rack systems for shrimp, so when a friend asked me a few weeks back i decided to draw up a blue print Guideline to save me trying to explain everything over and over. So With these simple drawings you can understand the most basic way of plumbing up a system. The way i have drawn it is what works best for me and it is the way i have plumbed up all 64 tanks in my various systems now. you can modify any of the fittings and pipe to suit the size of your system but the lay out is tried and proven and works perfect. so i will start with the Over Flow (water going from tanks to sump) In the picture below you will see on the notes that i use 40mm pipe everywhere except the upstands (pipe going to bulkheads) this is to allow for the larger volume of water that passes though this pipe as its draining from every tank. The pipe that runs up the outside beside the tank with an end cap needs to have a hole drilled in the top (5mm) This pipe's purpose is as a noise reduction, if you dont have this you will get more noise in the pipes from the water. The next is the return. (water going from the sump into the tanks) For the return plumbing the pipe size is all the same, as a rule i always use the same size return pipe as the upstands used on overflow pipes. the only important thing to remember about this part of the plumbing is to make sure your corners use 2x 45 elbows to make the corner turn. If you use a 90 elbow it restricts the flow a little and makes the pump work harder than it needs to. You will notice there are 2 ball valves, one on each row of outlets before the pipe going into the individual tanks. This is to control the flow of water to each rack so it flows evenly as the first row of tanks will get more pressure from the pump than the top row, so you can reduce the pressure at the bottom to get the same pressure at the top :) Its always good to put a UV inline also as a bit of back up against any bacterial problems or algae blooms :) feel free to ask the questions on this thread so everyone can benefit from the sharing of info ;)

There has been a lot of talk lately about how to drill holes in a tank for overflows/bulkheads so I thought I better Put everyone’s mind at ease and show people how easy it really is. The first thing I do is paint the back of my tank with a few thin coats of outdoor acrylic paint. This saves me trying to add some sort of cover or back ground later. I paint a final coat once all the holes are complete. First thing to do is position where you want the hole. If you are doing multiple tanks be sure to measure the position exactly the same on every tank so it all look nice and neat. Then because I painted first I can then simply turn the hole saw bit on the paint and get a mark where the hole will go. If you are drilling the bottom of the tank or choose not to paint then you can simply get a piece of timber, cement sheet, particle board etc anything that’s strong enough to hold the drill bit in place, and pre drill a template hole and simply hold this in place when you drill each hole. Now you have the hole marked (or template drilled) you need to fit the drill bit back to the cordless drill. Where people mostly go wrong from here is they don’t set the correct drill setting. Normal drill setting for drilling everything except glass Turn the setting down to the lowest setting The lowest setting allows you to hold the drill bit and stop it spinning with no effort at all. We need to use this setting because as you get to the point where the drill bit goes through the glass, you don’t want it to grab and break the tank/glass. You want the clutch/tension of the drill to stop. This will save you everytime. Hold the drill very steady and use 1 hand on the handle and the other to stabilize the movement (hand on the tank and drill leaning against you hand for support) start the drill at full speed before touching the glass with the drill bit. Slowly lower the spinning drill bit holding it on a slight angle, onto the place the hole needs to be drilled. Not much pressure is needed at all, just enough to hold it in place and let the weight of the drill do its thing. As you start to drill into the glass you need to get about 2mm into the glass before you straighten up the drill Once you are at about 2mm deep holding the drill on a slight angle, Very slowly start to straighten up the drill until you are completely vertical. This needs to be done slow with little pressure pushing down; remember to let the drill do the work. And you should slowly start to get a complete ring on the surface of the glass. Remember you can stop at any time and continue latter simply by starting the drilling again as you did from the start. Once you have the ring in the glass that is about 2mm deep all the way around this is when you start to use just a little pressure and start to rotate the drill angle around the hole. Try to keep it even all the way around the hole and don’t just stay in one spot. Keep doing this until you feel the drill first pass through the glass on one side of the hole. This is where the drill can catch and break the glass if you don’t change the setting on the drill as explained in earlier steps. It will look like this Once you have reached this stage start the drill again off the glass and hold it on the same angle as you did at the start. Slowly with no pressure other than the weight of the drill lower the drill into the hole where you have goon through the glass already and simply rock the drill gently from left to right only. Don’t go over the top of the remaining glass holding the glass in place. All you are trying to do is work away at the edges of where it already is through the glass. Once you slowly work away at the edges of the hole only, you will eventually wear away the remaining glass holding the centre piece in place and be able to go right through. Keep the drill spinning and slowly use the edge of the drill bit to clean the edge of the hole so it’s smooth and free from sharp edges. Keep the drill running until it is removed and free from the hole. Get Your bulk head or fitting you will be using and make sure it’s a good fit and there are no glass edges left to stop the fitting going in properly. Now clean away the glass dust. I use a wet rag as it picks up all the dust easily. Then you are ready to install the tank or put on the final coat of paint. Now I also made a video to show how easy it is in real time ïŠ shouldn’t take longer than 3-4 minutes a hole If you follow these easy steps. Enjoy!!! http://youtu.be/39oogNtSriU

Thanks for sharing. By the way, not directly related to topic.but I'd like to point out that pale coloration, if comes with loss of appetite, and inactivity, is sign of trouble.

Paper towels sometime have fragrance And or anti bacterial property's

Freezing the water doesn't change its parameters. But depending on what water you freeze, as it melts it will change the parameters of the water in the tank. For example, tap water generally has a high TDS. So if you freeze tap water and add it to your shrimp tank, as the frozen water melts, it will increase the TDS of all the water in your tank. Likewise if you froze RO water, as it melted it would reduce the TDS in your tank. Hence this is why the guys have reccomended that you use aquarium water to create your frozen blocks. It will have the same parameters as the water in your tank. So it wont change anything when it melts.

hi I'm from SA and have quite a little collection. I did have nearly all the Cherries but now only have Blue Velvets, Blacks, Chocolates, a couple of Yellows and a pair of Blue Gene red Rili I am slowly decreasing my Cherry colony as my interest is now more with the others.. I also have a large colony of CRS, some CBS, Taiwan Bee and Mischlings, Golden Bees, OEBT, Tibees and have just started getting some Pinto babies coming through.