# One or two quick questions



## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Today I'm setting up my 10g El Natural shrimp tank and have a few questions since this is my first EN tank. 
Can I use sand instead of gravel?
Will I need a filter? (Very n00b of me)
The tank will get about 4 hours of sunlight on good days, I'm guessing this won't be enough without a light of some sort?

The plants I will be using is guppy grass (Najas), Anacharis, duckweed with one or two crypts. Does this sound good?


Cheers.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Anachris and duckweed are weed-like, they'll grow in many conditions. The najas indica that appeared in my tank (I never bought it) kept coming back, even after I thought I'd removed it, so I found it pretty weed-like as well.

A filter promotes water circulation, so it would probably help the plants grow better. Diana's book recommends removing the filter media, just using the filter to circulate water. My el-natural 55-gallon gets around 4 hours of direct sunlight in the morning, and all of the plants are still doing fine (the single fluorescent bulb doesn't really contribute much light).

Don't know about the sand; to err on the side of caution, I'd recommend gravel over the soil.


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## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Thanks so much for the quick response. Since I don't own gravel (all my tanks use sand) I've used that and will hope for the best. The najas has an unbelievable growth rate, as does the duckweed which is why I'm using those two plants. Will the crypts get enough light to survive do you think?


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Crypts are low-light (from Diana's book, _all _submerged plants are essentially shade plants), so my guess is they'll do fine. If you think they need more light just scoop up some duckweed to increase the light levels.


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## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Just one more question for now, would the duckweed pull in enough oxygen without a filter?


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Aussie_hippie_2 said:


> Just one more question for now, would the duckweed pull in enough oxygen without a filter?


I don't think duckweed itself pulls oxygen into the water, though it absorbs nutrients from the water. That's why you need rooted submerged plants in addn to floating plants.
(I think this was one of the Q&As in Diana's book)


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## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Ohhh. OK, I was confused. So it's the rooted plants that put out the oxygen. I hope my plants will suffice for this, I imagine they will...


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## Teeleton (Jun 8, 2006)

You can always put a small airstone in the tank if the fish start gasping at the surface due to a lack of O2

Teeleton


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

If this is a shrimp-only tank, the bioload is going to be pretty small. I think you'll be fine in terms of oxygen. When you say this gets 4 hrs of light each day, what direction does the window face? If its a southern exposure, a 10 gal is a relatively small amount of water, so you'll probably have a temperature spike. A small filter or pump for water circulation would help this. Also, be sure to put a pre-filter, or some sort of small guard on to keep baby shrimp from being sucked into the filter. 

Yeah, with Najas and duckweed, you're going to probably have a lot of fast growth! 

The sand over the soil should be fine, as long as its not too deep a layer over the soil - the goal is to keep the soil from coming up into the water column, yet still allow an exchange so that oxygen gets down into the substrate (ie, you don't end up with anoxic areas). Planting heavily is the best way to keep the soil aerobic. 

That's good to have plants that will absorb the nutrients quickly, especially with inverts, as the soil may leach some metals when a setup is new, and the plants (and DOC) will help keep those amounts in check.

-Jane


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## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Thanks for all that! It does have a southern exposure, and I'm having enough trouble with the heater right now then to be worried about the sun...


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Eeek, be careful with heat and shrimp! One summer, I had a group of ghost shrimp in a 10 gal aquarium, and my little tank got really hot during the day. During a heat wave, it got so that I had to siphon off a gallon of tank water, and then swap it out with one from the fridge (it was all tank water back and forth so there were no chemistry issues) so I could do a temp decrease in only a few minutes, seeing as I was doing this 3 times per day - (morning, evening home from work, and last thing at night). One evening, I came home and all the little ghost shrimp were PINK - they'd literally cooked! I felt terrible! 

Also, the Crystal Reds need lower temps - it seems a lot of folks in tropical areas like Singapore have to use chillers on their shrimp tanks!

No wonder your heater is having difficulties. I might forego a heater altogether in that tank, rather than risk having a heater get confused and cook everything. As long as the room doesn't get too cold for YOU at night, most shrimp should be fine. Cherry shrimp are OK down into the 50's (F). 

-Jane


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## Aussie_hippie_2 (Nov 11, 2006)

Really? That's great, although I wish I knew that previously, before I bought the heater. The thermostat says 65, and this is in my bedroom so I know when it's too cold at night.

Cheers.

(P.S. Is your name Jane Upton? I finally get to meet another Upton if it is  )


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