New NPT Shrimp Tanks - Page 2 - El Natural

davemonkey · 06-02-2009, 07:56 PM

Nice bowls, and beautiful shrimp.

This is WAAYYYY off topic, but what kind of tree is that outside your window? I really like the light color of the bark. It's not a white oak is it?

-Dave

cell · 06-14-2009, 05:32 PM

What is the plant that grows emerged? And how much potting soil did you put in? I'm impressed that you managed to grow emerged plant in a mini tank!

dwalstad · 06-15-2009, 04:04 PM

Plants growing emergent are Rotalia rotundifolia and Bacopa monnieri.

I used two cups of Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting mix covered with about 1 cup of pool filter sand.

Intense light is what counts. The 13 watts of ordinary, desklamp CFL over the two bowls plus window light has apparently kicked these two species into "high gear".

However, all plants are growing like crazy!

clearleaf · 06-15-2009, 04:15 PM

Well that's good news! Can I ask how did the shrimp eggs fare?

dwalstad · 06-16-2009, 06:09 AM

I'm still waiting for babies. It apparently takes 30-45 days. I have a couple other females carrying eggs now.

Here's a great website for shrimp.

http://http://www.planetinverts.com/Red%20Cherry%20Shrimp.html

brenmuk · 07-27-2009, 02:49 AM

Any update on the shrimp tanks? I am thinking of setting up a small tank for cherry shrimps but might just use some large jars set up as NPT's.

dwalstad · 07-27-2009, 04:15 PM

Thanks for asking. My two shrimp bowls are doing great! These shrimp bowls have provided me with so much entertainment for so little space and so little cost. I just gave away several juvenile shrimp to other hobbyists in the local aquarium plant club. The female shrimp are all carrying another load of eggs, so I don't know where this will end...

In the future, I'm planning to set up a new 1 gal bowl for some new plant species and Bumble Bee shrimp, which are more demanding than Red Cherry Shrimp.

Again, I would caution anyone wanting to raise shrimp to be careful about metal toxicity. This is what will kill them. I only use "aged aquarium water" from my other tanks to set up shrimp bowls. There are other ways to avoid metal toxicity, but this is what's convenient for me.

Tu13es · 08-02-2009, 05:32 PM

Wow, these tanks look pretty cool. I'm wondering if I could do something similar but place them in or near a window in lieu of having to run lights over them?

I have a few 2-3gal hex tanks that are sitting unused, as well as some Miracle Grow's Organic Choice in the garage and plenty of plants I could grab trimming from.

Have you done any water changes yet? I'd ask if you've run into any issues but I guess you pretty much have this NPT thing down. :P

dwalstad · 08-02-2009, 05:49 PM

I haven't had to do any water changes in the shrimp tanks. I do prune the plants, because they're growing like crazy.

I'm not sure that window light by itself would be enough to maintain these bowls. You get so much better plant growth with artificial lighting. And the more the plant growth, the healthier the environment for shrimp.

For the two bowls, I'm now using a 8.5" diameter clamp light with a 13 watt screw-in CFL (GE Bright White). Both came from the Home Depot store and cost less than $15 total. In my opinion, the clamp light is a perfect reflector; it maximizes the output from the 13 watt bulb. For one bowl, a 10 watt CFL would probably work fine. Here's photo of a clamp light with screw-in bulb.

Tu13es · 08-02-2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwalstad

I haven't had to do any water changes in the shrimp tanks. I do prune the plants, because they're growing like crazy.

I'm not sure that window light by itself would be enough to maintain these bowls. You get so much better plant growth with artificial lighting. And the more the plant growth, the healthier the environment for shrimp.

For the two bowls, I'm now using a 8.5" diameter clamp light with a 13 watt screw-in CFL (GE Bright White). Both came from the Home Depot store and cost less than $15 total. In my opinion, the clamp light is a perfect reflector; it maximizes the output from the 13 watt bulb. For one bowl, a 10 watt CFL would probably work fine. Here's photo of a clamp light with screw-in bulb.

Very cool. I assume you have to start the tank pretty heavily planted to provide adequate oxygen for the shrimp? Any specific plants you used, or mostly just stuff that does well with low light/CO2?

I'm really liking the idea of this sort of setup. Cheap AND easy!