Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Invertebrates - Shrimps and Snails => Topic started by: AdyDnt on April 26, 2015, 03:29:35 PM
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After reading a few bits on this forum and seeing shrimp in our local MA centre iv started fancying some of these little crustaceans, but what sort of tank would be a good one to have, bearing in mind it really needs to be small. Our MA sells a Superfish Home 8 tank which is an 8ltr cube which is supposed to be good for shrimp/betta housing, but im unsure with it been so small. Aquael make shrimp tanks a bit larger which could be ideal sort of size but again im unsure.
Please help !!! lol :D
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I would go for a bit bigger than 8 litres simply because a tank that small is harder to keep stable. Something of 20 litres and above.
This (http://www.planetinverts.com/Invert%20Tank%20Setup.html) is a good article for setting up your first shrimp tank
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Thank you, just having a read now
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Hi,
I got bought a Superfish Home8 as a gift. It's a nice looking tank and did a fine job looking after my shrimps and nerites while I treated my main tank, however...
The pump is pretty noisy and the filter cartridges come in at 5 quid a pop. As they contain carbon you need to change them frequently (once a month is the advised rate). I just squished in some sponge that I keep in the main tank when I'm not using the Home8. Having owned the tank I certainly wouldn't keep a betta in it and I would go for a larger tank, probably around the 20l mark if I was going to use it permanently.
As the owner of an Aquanano 40 I would recommend the Aquanano 22 as an ideal shrimp tank, especially if you can get the one with the LED light!
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I have the Aquanano 22 litre which I am using now as a shrimp tank. It currently has 12 different sized shrimp in it and they have plenty of room.
The powerhead/filter is VERY powerful for such a small tank and for shrimp you will need to do what I have done which is to mock up a spray bar and even that I have covered with sponge. Having said that, it keeps the tank brilliantly clean. (The official spray bars have been out of stock since we got the tank at Christmas)
It came with an 8 watt LED light which is excellent for this size tank.
If you go for shrimp I would strongly advise that you go for a dark (black) substrate as they are very hard to see on a lightish background.
The lid is a two piece glass effort which, frankly, is a pain in the backside as there is a gap all round the edge, big enough, and the clips which hold them in place are pretty fiddly and break easily.
The tank measures 30cm x 30cm x 30 cm
Weigh up what you would spend on a tank and then go for the biggest you can fit into the space.
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Thanks ppl, I've since been looking at an Aquael classic 40, which is about 20l but there's a 22l Aqua one for sale, reduced to £45 @ P&H, the lid has broke but a piece of clear Perspex should do the trick. Maybe I should go see if it's still there
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I would definitely look at the aqua one - my quarantine tank has a lid made from perspex This tank used to be my betta's tank and the perspex lid was fine for him too.
Test the filter before starting to cycle. The filter that came with my aqua one tank was too powerful for my betta as it would have been for shrimps.
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Think i'm off to P&H tomoz then :), and i have an aqua internal 50 pump going spare at the min
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I love my Aquanano. Keep an eye on eBay and Gumtree too. I got my Aquanano 40 with cabinet, pump, 2 heaters, spare Fluval filter, a plethora of ornaments (none of which I use and intend to sell), bucket, net, siphon hose, lots of food, medications and other bits and bobs for 50 quid. I only had to buy substrate, ceramic noodles and I was sorted. The light blew soon after and I decided to go for an LED replacement, but still think it was a bargain.
When people fall out of love with fish keeping they seem to fall hard and just want rid of everything. There are some absolute bargains out there. Last week I saw someone giving away a Fluval Rio 180 with all the kit for free! It was gone before I saw it and my other half would have killed me but I had to ask if I could pick it up!
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I think iv started with MTS, my gf and I have a tank at her place, and now i want one at mine lol
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I have the one and long for another, but alas there's no persuading her!
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I'm now the proud owner of an Aquanano lol
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Ah but, which one? According to aqua one's website there are three aqua nanos - AN 30 at 22 litres, AN 40 at 55 litres and AN 60 at 100 litres. I know we have members who own the AN 40 so they'll be able to hand on everything they've learned about the tank :)
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It's on my signature 😉 it's an AN30 @ 22ltr, I've emailed them about a new lid but I'll be looking at cutting a sheet of Perspex down to size too, or even a condensation tray.
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Ooops, missed your signature :-[
Perspex does work quite well.
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I'm now trying to decide if it's worth sticking with the filter media that comes with it, carbon cartridge, ceramic cartridge and a big lump of sponge
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I'd ditch the carbon and use the space to fit in more ceramic media :)
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Yeah, maybe put another ceramic media cartridge in
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Morning Ady and congrats on the tank. Exactly the one I have for the shrimp.
1st - the lid. They cost around £15. I know because grandson #2 sat on his and had to replace it.
If you do replace it with glass, remember to get extra clips as they break pretty easily. (Even though the glass was broken when you bought it they should still have supplied you with the clips that held it in place ?)
I removed the carbon from mine and replaced it with an extra ceramic cartridge.
In front of these cartridges you will find a row of slots for the water intake.
I'm sure they are big enough for shrimp , especially baby shrimp, to get sucked into so I have pushed a piece of sponge between the wall of that and the first cartridge. It's a tight squeeze but doesn't affect the flow. There is also a slot really low down, which when you fill the tank you will see water pouring out of it. I tried to seal that off to stop babies getting in but it was too small for my fat arthritic fingers. !
I also have a piece of sponge, the same diameter as the cartridge fitted between the two ceramic ones. Again a tight fit but it goes in.
In the compartment next to the Filter/heater compartment there is a largish lump of black foam. It doesn't completely fit the space so, on the advice of Aquaone I have filled that with ceramic rings and extra sponge and some fine filter floss. It gives you extra seeded supply for if you need to set up a quick quarantine tank.
I have a strip of black sponge along the edge where the cartridges/sponges, filter etc go. I did that to stop my original tiny Endlers being able to jump the gap. I've left that too to try and stop the shrimp climbing into the filter dept
Now, all of these extras were put in place originally because I kept fish in the tank.
You may not need to go to those extremes for shrimp as their bioload is much smaller than fish.
I kept it all in as it was already there.
My water is crystal clear. In fact, so clear that it puts my larger second hand one with its Fluval 4 to shame. There are always bits floating in that tank, despite having added extra foam and filter floss to it.
I also made a mesh lid cover to keep the shrimp and snail in as there is quite a gap around the sides due to the way the glass fits to the tank.
I made (well my husband did) a perspex cover from greenhouse perspex as we thought that would work. Despite fitting all the edges with L" shape strips to strengthen it and help keep it in place (it just slipped over the top of the tank) , it still bowed to some extend, probably due to the heat from the lights and heater.
I was going to just get a piece of glass slightly oversize to fit on the top.
Hope that all helps. The water level does have to be quite high due to the position of the slots.
The filter is VERY powerful for this size tank. I have another piece of the black sponge attached to a home made spray bar.
You will have some trouble getting the correct spray bar fitment and if you do manage to locate one I would really appreciate the tip as to where you got it please. Mine is Not pretty but is effective.
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Thanks for the info, will certainly look at doing some of that stuff, I have emailed the company that makes them but no reply as yet, may ring them. I have 2 spray bars that I'm off to try, if one works I'll let you know. I do fancy celestial pearl danio's so not sure if it will be a mixed tank.
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Just received my replacement lid from a website that supplies replacement parts for aquaone tanks, the new one piece lid was an arse to fit, broke all the new clips that I ordered but luckily it came with 2 plastic runner pieces, that I had to knock on with a rubber mallet it was that snug a fit. Sealed the small slit on the back of the tank as was suggested in an earlier post, once this is cured I think I'm ready to fill with water and test the pump, hope it's a quiet pump. Then the cycling can start, woohoo
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Morning Adydnt. Glad you got a lid sorted.
Could I ask where you got the lid as the only replacment I've seen is the 2 part one like the original.
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Www.aquraium-parts.co.uk
I ordered all the bits I needed from them. The title on there site says there an aqua one replacement parts specialist
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Thanks Ady
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Still can't see it Adydnt. My screen shows it in 2 parts like it came with the tank.
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I've just looked on the website again and in the description it does say it's a 2 piece set, but I did receive a 1 piece lid that's as big as the original 2 pieces.
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Ah that would explain it. Thanks again
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Ady, did that one piece lid have the corner cutaway section?
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No it doesn't, the front edge has a semi circle cutout so you can feed your tank mates, the lid is a bit shorter than the tank so at the back there's about a cm gap so wires can come out. I've also got my adjustable spray bar fitted and it's working 😁
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Thanks for that Ady.
Where did you get an adjustable spray bar from ad my bodge one is bit big for the nan tank
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It's from Maidenhead Aquatics, their own brand I believe, suggested by Sue on another post. Costs £15 approx, I had to modify a part that came with my aqua nano tank.
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Thanks for that. I'll have a look next time I'm near one
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A drill bit and glue and its job done.
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Ok, still waiting for my tank to cycle but at the 4ppm of ammonia stage so shouldn't be too long now, but I have spotted in the tank a snail and some small, white, wormy things, are these going to be a problem ?