# Filters for shrimp aquarium



## Big Dog (Nov 30, 2009)

I just started keeping frresh water shrimp a few months back. I been keeping frsh water fish for over 35 years and planted aquariums for about 5 years. My 10 gallon planted shrimp aquarium is doing real good. I have lots and lots of little babys running around. I plan to build a 90 gallon shrimp aquarium over the next few months. What would be the best filter for this? A few spong filters or a hange on filter and a spong filter? I will not be keeping any fish in the aquarium. It will be all kinds of shrimp only. Any help on this would be great. 

Thanks:razz:


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

Sponge filters are always great for shrimp tanks, because the shrimps love to climb on them and eat the microorganisms that grow on them. However, the drawback is I don't think you could ever filter a 90 gallon tank with ONLY sponge filters, no matter how many!

For that size tank, I would recommend getting a decent-sized canister filter (if you could afford it) or a couple of HOB filters (if you can't). The important thing, either way, is that you be sure to put some sort of sponge over the intakes of whichever filter you have, so that baby shrimp aren't sucked into the filters.

I said "a couple" of HOB filters because in general, it is better with HOBs to have 2 of them on a tank that large, i.e. instead of one AquaClear 100, buy two AquaClear 50's and put one at each end. It helps to more consistently mix up the water and also provides you some emergency backup, i.e. if the motor burns out on one then you haven't lost ALL of your filtration but only half of it, etc. The same principal is true regarding heaters; rather than rely on just one huge heater, instead have two smaller heaters at opposite ends of the tank. Then if one of the two heaters breaks, it is a less dire emergency than if you are only relying on one for the whole tank. I know someone who lost about $2000 worth of shrimp because the heater in the tank broke by getting stuck in the "on" (or "max") position and basically when the guy woke up one morning his tank was at something crazy like 94 degrees and all the shrimp were cooked. With two smaller heaters, even if one were to break in the on position it couldn't raise the tank temp nearly so much.

Back to the filtering issue, another option might be to get something like one AquaClear 70 (in the center of the tank) and two very large sponge filters at either end. That way you have some sponge filters in the tank for the shrimp to graze upon.

Good luck with the tank! 

P.S. -- Big Dog, also sent you a PM. Be sure to take a look.


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## Big Dog (Nov 30, 2009)

Thanks so much for all you help. I well be using 2 Aquaclear 110 filters and a large spong filter that can work up to a 75 gallon aquarium. I just went from a 90 gallon to a 120 gallon aquarium for the shrimp. I know it sounds big but I thought I would try some ogf the larger shrimp type. Like the wood shrimp and so on.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

One thing on wood shrimp, since they are filter feeders they tend to do better if introduced a while after a tank has been established; the water in a brand new tank is sometimes "too clean" for them (if that makes sense).

And as for aquascaping for them, their favorite activity is to sit right near the output flow from your HOB filters and filter the water as it pours out. So if you set up some driftwood right near the point where the filter(s) are pouring the water back into your tank, I can basically guarantee that will be the favorite "hanging out" spot for your wood shrimp once you get them.


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## Big Dog (Nov 30, 2009)

Thanks for this great info.


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## TequariumLerro (Aug 18, 2010)

Not a fan of sponge filters but are good for shimp. Hang-on clean better but will suck the newly hatched ones up. This happened with mine. 

BTW, thanks for your comment regarding my tequarium!


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## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

Just run pre-filters on your HOB intakes. That should do ya plenty.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

in addition to what people have said i think that using a sponge on the intake will clog very fast and isn't worth much of the trouble. you can buy filter caps esp for dwarf shrimp to put onto hob filters on ebay, type in "shrimp" and the lowest price first, and you should see them. the cheaper alternative is to make a sleeve with free pantyhoses that you can get at the women's shoe section at like marshals and stuff. or you can use the mesh for screen doors. it looks metal but at a close look the majority are plastic.
if you want to you can plant a carpet plant and it'll use the shrimp poo (believe me they poo alot... i can't even see it in the gravel but when i tore the tank down and washed the gravel, i had black water many times over because there was so much crap) and all you'd have to do would to change the water weekly to equate chemical levels


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## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

neilshieh said:


> in addition to what people have said i think that using a sponge on the intake will clog very fast and isn't worth much of the trouble.


On the contrary. The only time it gets really clogged is due to lack of maintenance. If you don't rinse it from time to time, sure, it will get clogged up. I squeeze mine out every couple of water changes. Haven't had an issue yet and I as mentioned, I use them in all my tanks.

The shrimp love them as well as they will swarm all over the sponge picking off the goodies that get trapped.


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