Nano Shrimp Tank - The addiction worsens

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Ok it seems I have developed a slight problem and soon I'm going to be living in a fish tank!
Luckily the better half is (sort of) on board with this grand scheme.

After looking into raising my own brine shrimp in the event that the discus eggs hatch, I accidentally got it in my head that I need to use one of the spare tanks that came with my trigon for shrimp! Sian has always wanted shrimp, but it's the electric bill she's umming and arring at ;D

So now I've been thinking up a plan!

The tank
10 inch cube (16ltr) or 18x10x10 (29ltr)
Both are watertight and scratch free (woo), the smaller one would give me more options of where to put it, but the larger is obviously better cause it means more critters!

Filtration:
I'll probably use the small sponge air filter - but depending on where we keep the tank could mean buying another air pump? I also have a small internal filter but not sure it would be suitable for the shrimp!

Lighting
At the moment we have a small clip on light that was with the cube - but am looking at getting a clip on LED light as they use less power? ;]

Substrate
Will either use the excess of whatever I have in the trigon - or get some sort of thing for them! As far as I understand they like dark, smoother stuff!

Decor
I have a large piece of wood that I'll chisel up into nicer smaller bits and try to attach some plants on it! And maybe build them a little slate thing (not really clear on weather slate is ok for them or not!)

Water
Possibly use RO water, if I end up keeping it on the trigon - with no heater, so a coldwater shrimp only (will test the room temperature when its all set up) I have a 100w heater spare - this will be too much for those tanks right? Don't want to fry anything!

Plants
Some low light, non CO2 plants would be preferable I think - would like to put some grass in there and mosses maybe as I read that shrimp like those!

The Shrimp!
I'm not set on any in particular, but would prefer bright colourful ones. Would need to figure out how many, water conditions etc before I made a choice - also if they breed the babies could work as live food for the discus and guppies even? (In Sians tank).

Now lets just hope nothing else distracts me! - Looking through these journals really isn't helping, so many lovely tanks

Cheers!

 

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Right, after some convincing the better half that this is a good idea I have a revised plan hehe

Tank
Going for the 29ltr tank and found a pretty decent spot for it I think! (need to think about airline though as it will potentially be sharing with her tank and is around 5-6 meters away)

Lighting
Gone for a clip on LED light that seems decent enough! Very low power so I'll have to chose plants appropriate This one

Substrate
Currently planning on going for a small bag of Unipack Black Granite Sand, as it looks to be the colour I want and is pretty cheap! - My only concern here is having never used sand I don't know how easy it is to keep clean, and in such a small tank I imagine it's pretty tough to clean it with shrimp running around too?

Plants
At the moment I'm looking at some;
Java Moss (probably pre-attached to some coconut as that looks pretty awesome - and I'm reading that coconut is a pain to DIY)
Anubias Nana - that I will attach to some wood myself
I do want some hairgrass but I'm not sure if it will grow well with only sand and quite low lighting? If not no matter but would be nice
And then I would like one more nice looking plant - I like crypts but once again not sure they'll grow in the low light, swords also.
And maybe I'll take some cuttings of the cabomba for the back of the tank.

Getting there! :]

 

[Gill]

Hair Grass will grow fine in Low Light. I have grown a Big lawn of it in the Drifting Journal.
I bought a Big Pot of pond hair grass, and it worked out cheaper. And grows To 3 Inches tall.

 

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Will get some hairgrass for sure then! Is it then possible to take cutting and grow them in a new tank?

The stand arrived yesterday and I think we've settled on a location for it

Think I will use tap water, as mine is quite decent and the breeder that I have found uses similar water! That way I'm not tied down to the RO unit if I do rehome the discus However, I really am in love with Cardinal Shrimp, and read that they're pretty fussy, so maybe RO is the way to go! Ah!
Anyway, Next step is to get the sand, so that I can start properly I'm planning on attaching some Anubias Nana (possibly Bonsai) onto that wood, as well as some moss, having the grass in the front right corner, and maybe a taller plant/mossy rock in the back right! Light still hasn't been dispatched
I also started my brine shrimp hatchery last night so might post a cheeky update on them in here as well...still shrimp right?

 

[Lindy]

You could make a lovely island scape by putting that wood in the middle. A small external filter would be a good idea if you can put a door on that unit. I have an eheim ecco 130 on a 30 cm cube and its really quiet. I shopped around and found it on zoo plus for much less. A full length spraybar provides water movement the full length of the tank and my shrimp are breeding, no airstone needed.

 

[Gill]

that peice of wood is impressive, lots of space for moss and plants to be attached.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Java Moss (probably pre-attached to some coconut as that looks pretty awesome - and I'm reading that coconut is a pain to DIY)

Coconuts are easy to prepare, if you do it in the right way. I just buy one (from the green-grocers etc). In the pointy end with 3 round circles, you'll find one is hollow and you can drill through it with a corkscrew, draining the milk from the coconut.

Once drained you need a fine toothed saw and some way of holding the coconut securely, if you haven't got a vice, you can wedge it between 2 bricks etc. and as final resort you can wrap a tea towel around your hand and hold it against the floor.

You need a fine toothed saw, because coconut shell is very hard, but you should be able to saw it in 1/2 with-out too much problem. Once it is sawn, you can either price the flesh out, or just leave it a couple of days to shrink and dry which makes removal easier. I usually put the halves out for the birds to peck at. You can also use a micro-wave to speed things up.

Once your coconut half is cleaned of flesh rub off all the fibres, and cut a V notch out from the rim, then take a round file (or a knife sharpening steel) and make the entrance hole smoother.

To fasten the Java fern and moss on just use a dab of cyanoacrylate super-glue gel.

cheers Darrel

 

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@Lindy - I'm not really that fond of island layouts personally but I'll keep it in mind when I finally get my gravel Also about the filter I have a fluval one somewhere but no idea if it actually works (came with the trigon as a spare, as did the wood!) And think it might be a bit large There must be a way of making like a DIY spraybar with an air pump though to get better movement in the water? I guess shrimp like it quite fast?

@Darrel - That's awesome thanks for writing that up for me! Will definitely give it a go then, if not for this tank then for somewhere! Also didn't know about that glue so thanks! I was planning on using some fishing line

 

[Lindy]

My spray bar is an acrylic one I made but I've no idea how you would power one effectively with air. You can buy clear acrylic tubing on eBay.

 

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Heyhey!

So - a little trouble postman as you may have already read - but tank is now planted! (forgot to take step by step photos as I wanted due to the excitement haha!)
Very happy with the LED light that I got too, doesn't show up that well on the camera though, it also has a blue only mode which looks awesome! (but the camera makes a nice big blue blur, maybe its me)

Here's what I got:

Limpopo sand - looked more interesting than the slate one, really happy with it

Christmas moss (and then some! Got loads spare so popped it on some slate thing in a spare tank to grow!)

Anubias Nana Bonsai

Planted it with the leaves emerged as I've read this will give better growth, so thought it's worth a try while there's no creatures in there! Might submerge it but then again I quite like the bits sticking out

Cryptocoryne Amicorum

Really like this one, was a pain to plant though, didn't want to stay down - hopefully that's not a bad sign for things to come! Not sure I like the one at the front but we'll see

Eleocharis Acicularis

Really hope this grows well, sure was fun to plant and trim too!

Compared to the last picture, I turned the wood basically upside down, quite prefer it this way as makes a nice cave - looks to me like some sort of den that would then sprawl out into the open
Some of the moss is tied on with plastic twisty things, some is wedged in ;] seems to be staying down nicely! - All I keep seeing when I look at the wood is Slave I ;] Now to find a fish that looks like the Fett!

Also - so far this whole setup has cost me about £40 total Not bad I don't think! I got the tank, filter, and wood practically for free with the Trigon

There are some ferts too that came with the Trigon, a sera pack with tablets and liquid and a easylife or something liquid. Will use them as it says as long as they're shrimp safe

Cheers! - will try to keep taking pictures to log growth

 

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Well - I got some guppies for Sians tank the other day, and put them in this as a means of QT and to help mature it a little. They were in there for two nights, and one of the females gave birth so now there are like 20+ fry chilling out around the wood they seem to like it! Moved the 3 adults into my 10" cube for further QT before they go into her tank Will hopefully get some more pictures soon! Busy busy, the Discus have also spawned again! And currently setting up a 30x12x20 inch breeding/grow out tank for them

Seems none of my plans come together! Still no rams, shrimp, and no planted trigon! Oh well, least the discus are pretty

Also started a little moss project on the windowsill with the leftover christmas moss to see if I can grow it on Sian hates the moss but I can tell I already need more, and different types! Got my eyes on some flame moss or weeping moss next ;] watch this space!

Hopefully will have something more interesting for you all soon!