Leaderboard

So I have a bunch of these wild/native shrimp i caught a few months back and i have been dying to know if these were neos or caridina. Shrimp characteristics: They don't have a lot of defining characteristics but some do have white spots on their tails and red-colored antennae and some have small spots. (will be posting pics later cause its night right now) Habitat characteristics: So these shrimp were found in an area which was packed with java moss, riccardia chamedryfolia, wild swordtails, many big MTS-like snails, and freshwater crabs. This area is also connected to another site where there were wild swordtails and crabs too, and a species of halfbeak, and freshwater clams. I also live in the philippines if that would help. Thanks, Ludwiggg17

Hey folks, I’m setting up my new 5 gallon shrimp tank at the moment and I need a light. I thought I might throw my question out there for some suggestions after a few hours of failed research. My tank is 36cm wide (14”) and 24cm tall (~10”). So I can’t use a light larger than a 14”. I’m keeping mainly low to medium light plants. Does anyone have any suggestions on a particular light that would fit this box? Or any specs I would require for plants, if I go the eBay/amazon path. Cheers!

The source water (29L tank) is close enough to the readings you got except GH 1.5 higher so there may be something in this tank increasing the GH? I don't know what the parameters of your native shrimp are though? If you haven't got a TDS pen then I would recommend you to get one as they are very cheap and so much quicker/easier to use? Get from somewhere trusted though! Simon

I have a florescent tube type in my really old tank and that has 11W tube but I doubt those type are even sold these days anyway so LED I would say the 6W is plenty. I bought the 8W basically as it was only £10 more but would get 6W if I had to get another! If you suffer evaporation then you probably need some sort of glass/plastic/perspex cover otherwise you will be topping up a lot and the evaporation may affect the light above the water, but the cover will stop you losing water to evaporation (but will create condensation-pure water) and also protect the light! Hopefully the rim is just plastic and you can cut a section out carefully using a hacksaw blade or something? Simon

I use an inert sand. Plan to test how 'inert' it actually is when I have some time tomorrow. Or to start the experiment at least. Blazepelt has the same substrate and hasn't had problems as far as I'm aware. Tap is 7.2 pH, 4 GH and 1-2 KH I think, but I water change with aged water from my 29 gal. Params in there at last water change were 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, 1.0 Ammonia/ammonium (pretty safe), pH 6.4-6.6, GH 4, KH 2. Straight tap never goes into this tank. I do this because I plan to keep some native shrimp in here that prefer aged water. Figured I'd get used to doing it this way. Will soon add some crushed coral or a pH buffer similar to that. I have some cholla wood (driftwood) in the tank too, which is releasing tannins and reducing pH, but it still doesn't all make sense to me.

Ah perfect thanks a load Simon! I went to a place that was selling recently and was told by an employee that I needed a 20W + light for my tank, which confused me as most bar-lights I have access to that are above 20 watts are at least 45-60cm. My tank is actually fitted with a top rim for a lid that I do not possess. This may be a problem, but I can probably work something out. Yeah definitely still do have that problem, but it'll happen no matter what, and with the homemade lid I have I can take it off and wipe it at any time. Was considering this, but I'm open to anything. This is something I hadn't thought about, and it makes a lot of sense. Leaning towards the clip-on-back type. Now that's some good news. I have an option between a 6W or a 12W. But it's (probably) not worth it to pay extra for a 12W if I'm going to have to do as you did and reduce the light levels anyway. Thanks Simon!

I probably can't be much help as I don't know what is available in Australia, but a lot is just down to your preference. If you were thinking of one that is a light that goes from one side to the other (above post hints at that?) and rests on the side glass, then bear in mind you will probably have to keep removing it to get to the top glass (assuming you have that) every time you need to take the top off and you won't then be able to see well in the tank unless you put it back on etc! They look nice (I have a variation on this on my betta tank) but you soon get fed up with having to take it off and put it back, especially if the top fits as snug as mine so even feeding needs lifting the top - no hole in the top????? The most popular type that just sits on the back, that you have already mentioned in 'stocking a 5 gallon', comes in various Wattage and sizes. I have this type on my shrimp tank (connected to a timer) and it looks nice enough I think, and can just be left in place permanently even when doing maintenance which is helpful! A 6W is probably all you need for the shallow tank you have! Obviously the dearer ones look nicer and will probably last longer being better quality but the one I bought (dennerle) cost more than the tank, so that will need thinking over? I actually bought a 8W (same depth tank as yours) but it was so bright I had to cover one row of LEDS with electrical tape, I didn't want to blind the shrimp or give them a sun tan? The only variable with these is the thickness of the glass they fit but as you have a small tank I doubt the glass will be too think for any of them? If you get a lot of condensation on the top glass that will reduce the amount of light getting to the tank/plants etc - again, I don't know whether you have that problem in warmer climates? Simon

I got a USB microscope for Christmas, which is amazing for checking out critters in my shrimp tank. I have a zebra nerite which I filmed sliding around munching algae at 200X magnification. It clearly has a small snail riding on its shell, next to its mouth. It is not visible to the naked eye, well, not my naked eye anyway. It's shell is conical and it is tranparent with yellow areas. I would love to know what it is. I have attached a video below. It shows the nerite's mouth and the parasite to the right. Please excuse the quality. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pgUe4ZYFzezt_vgE6SPjDq20c8XAsmCD/view?usp=sharing

As crabby states, it looks like a trumpet snail but must be fairly newly born and may have got into the tank on a plant? Great video of the mouth of the bigger snail! Simon

Got some interesting test results today. Low ammonia, nitrite spike and nitrate is appearing. GH is 5.5 and KH 1.5, which is weird. And my pH is the weirdest - it was 7.4 two days ago, and is 6.2 today. And the 7.4 was measured AFTER my last water change. Is this seriously all the work of ammonia?!

If it’s actually a snail, then it looks like a Malaysian trumpet snail, but I think you’d be able to see that normally. My Malaysian trumpet babies aren’t that small. Either way cool discovery!

Just to add some info here. Starting with shrimp related lights. We had an ISTA LED 26cm. It was cheap and acted like it. There was a constant hum coming from the light when on and the output was disappointing. Not a light i would recommend. It was soon replaced with a Chihiros A series 36cm. Good dimmable light that has a bright white (not soft yellow) and on a 25cm high tank needed to be run at about half power. On my display 45x27x30h i have a no name 45cm LED with just 10 LED's in it. It came with the tank and looks to be about 5 yo. There is a much warmer white (yellowish) and it will maintain the growth of carpet plants at 30cm. When i want to boost the carpet growth i also put on another 45cm Led from Ming-Kong industries that came with a tank i got second hand. It has about 120 much smaller LED's but as you might imagine has a pretty impressive output. Neither has a dimmer so i just light swap as needed. There is a Zetlight mini LED with a pendant stand and 3 LED's. Not dimmable and sitting on my daughters 36cm Beta tank. This light was a bit more expensive and looks great. I think it would be perfect on a 25cm cube display tank. Only drawback is it's not dimmable so tank selection needs to be spot on for the plants to thrive. On to bigger tanks that are not shrimp related. Our 90x35x45h planted tank was running T5's, that were a couple of years old. The carpet plants, MC and Mini Hair grass, were struggling so when the tubes gave up some MMLED tubes were installed. There is a 6800k XB2 with 90deg lenses for the carpet and a sunset/sunrise 120deg lens for the taller plants and fish colour. It is not as bright white, because of the colour LED's i would say, but the carpet is responding much better and the colour adjustment, program-ability and other control you have is great. The outdoor 6 foot tank has 2 30w 6500k LED spotlights. 120deg lens. They are hanging on adjustable mounts and are about 15cm from the top of the tank. Because this tank is outside and gets plenty of reflected light they are really there for viewing purposes but during the winter months they throw out enough light to keep low light plants happy. If i was going to go for some more demanding plants then 3 to 4 of them would be needed. Last is a 90x30x40H tetra tank. It had T8 tubes but they just gave out this week and i have ordered a MMLED Chihiros replacement. It is a new LED that MMLED is bringing out and is more of a budget line to compete with the Chinese Chihiros lights but with Aussie workmanship and MMLED's warranty. With shipping it is about 50% more expensive that the cheapest i could find but you have the ability to customize them on ordering and all the specs on the LED's is available so you know what you are getting. I went with the RGB style because there is no demanding plants in this tank and i wanted some colour to make the tetra's pop a bit. I was immediately emailed by Fred and told that this light would not be as bright as an A series light so we will see what it looks like when it arrives. In the next couple of nights i will take some photo's and put them up so the colours of each can be compared.