# what do i need to get started



## wicca27 (Oct 13, 2008)

i want to keep shrimp and dont know where to start. can some one give me basice info on what they need and what the water should be like. i dont even know how to set up a tank for them or what ones to start out with. i have a sponge filter would that work. thanks for all the help wicca


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## feiyang (Jan 27, 2007)

This is something I wrote before in email to someone... I post it here just FYI. The ideal is to get a good plant tank first, low ammonia, no2, no3, then add shrimps.

1. Substrate

You can buy the ADA aquasoil at www.adana-usa.com. The product name is Aqua Soil Amazonia. 9 liter bag is enough for 20L gallon tank. FYI, when setting up the new tank, make sure you put in water slowly, otherwise this substrate will cloud the water and takes a few days to get all cloudy dirts settle down.

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=afa_product_info&cPath=12_21&products_id=99

2. Rimless tank

2.1 ADA tank

You can buy the very beautiful rimless tank at ADA as well. Quite expensive but ADA brand is the top one in aquarium industry, similar to BMW/Benz in automobile. For a show tank at home, this is a better choice to go. It is composed with 5 pieces of glasses, rather than round edge.

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=afa_product&cPath=25_29

2.2 Miracle Baby tank

The 10 gallon tank on my desk is roughly $30, good and cheaper. It is made of glass and has round edge in front. I heard from others that Albany Aquarium still carry the stock. You may want to call them first to find out.

www.albanyaquarium.com

818 San Pablo Ave

Albany, CA 94706

(510) 525-1166

3. CO2 diffuser

Albany Aquarium might have the CO2 diffuser as well. Or you can search for CO2 diffuser on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nano-CO2-diffus...|66:4|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:200

http://cgi.ebay.com/S3-CO2-Diffuser...|66:4|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:200

Both of above are suitable for DIY CO2.

4. DIY CO2

You can use the following to setup a DIY CO2.

- Two bottles, one bottle drilled with one hole, the other drilled with two holes. I forget the diameter of the drill head. You can find the drill/drill head in Wal-mart or other hardware stores.

- Air line tubing. This is the same tubing for air bump.

- The bottle with one hole is used as CO2 generator. Put in some sugar in to cover half inch of the bottle at bottom. Then put in half tea spoon of yeast on top of the sugar. You can find the yeast in Wal-mart, or Safeway, just the regular yeast for food use. Fill up the bottles with water.

- Put in the tubing in this CO2 generator bottle, leave the tubing above the surface in the bottle so gas can escape. Then put the other end of the tubing to the bottom of the second bottle. This makes the gas travel through the water in the second bottle to clean up any alcohol in the gas.

- Another tubing comes out from the second bottle and connects to the CO2 diffuser.

- After one day or so, you should be able to see tiny bubbles come out from the diffuser. This can last for 1-2 weeks. This DIY method is good for relatively small tank, e.g. 10 gallon or 20 gallon.

5. Light fixture

Light is another important thing for plant to grow healthly. 6700K is the "color temperature" suitable for fresh water growth.

5.1 Light for 10 gallon tank

The light fixture on our 10 gallon tank is

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13637&pcatid=13637

You only need to turn on the 6700°K/10000°K bulb as the other bulb is for salt water.

Or, you can buy the single bulb fixture

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+11418&pcatid=11418

Its default bulb is for saltwater, so you need to buy another bulb - SunPaq Dual Daylight 6700°K/10000°K.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11422

5.2 Light for 20 gallon tank

The light fixtures on our 20 gallon tanks are

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209809/product.web

Both light fixtures are good for fresh water plant.

6. Driftwood

Yon can find the driftwood at http://www.manzanita.com/aqwood.htm

The Nano pack is large enough for 20L gallon tank. We boiled the driftwood for 6 hours per day, for 4 days, to get them sink eventually. Some driftwoods sink faster than others. They are the woods in the 3rd tank that has not been setup completely.

7. Plant

There are low tech plants and high tech plants. Low tech plants are mosses, java fern, anubias, they require less CO2/light/nutrition than high tech plants (most stem plants). And low tech plants grow slowly so that means less maintenance.

We used to grow stem plants and have to trim them every few weeks. Eventually we changed to slow growing plants, as you see today in out tank, most of them are Christmas moss, Peacock moss, Java fern, hairgrass. Both ADA and Albany Aquarium have many stem plants that you may be interested in.


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## bencozzy (Jun 2, 2006)

super basic set up is 10-20g tank, sponge filter, air pump, and java moss. substrate can be anything with a smaller grain size. and cherry shrimp arent picky about water as long as its cycled and cleanish.


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## redcherryshrimp (Oct 27, 2008)

I agree with bencozzy, cherry shrimp can live just about any aquarium as long as it has some plant matter, sponge filter, and is cycled. Change water once a week to keep the nitrates low and you will be fine.


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