# how to do a basic shrimp set up



## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

ok so i am realy jellus of all you guys out there with the beautiful planted shrimp tanks and i want one !

i have salt water and fw but i have never done a planted tank before can any one tell me what kind of lighting filter ect i would need for this 

my plan would be basic 10 gal set up 
how does breeding then work ?
do i need to be monitoring any levles ? for example i dont test any thing in my sw tanks Sept salt now i know other people test every thing every few days is it the same with planted tanks and shrimp ?

wat substrate do i need will gravel work ?


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

you can buy shrimp specific subtrate, it helps them but for my tank i dont use it. i use fluval stratum under a very thin layer of gravel to keep the substrate in place. i use an aquaclear filter with a pre filter on it to stop shrimplets from being sucked into the filter. as far as lighting goes i have 6500k led's on my planted edge and 7300k led's on my 5.5g spec. i also use liquid ferts that i dose with a childs medical syringe. they just breed away and dont need much special care other than clean water like any other fish. the plants help keep the water clean and the sustrate helps keep the brown tea color out of the water from my driftwood (somehow). i keep the heater at 80 deg. and away it goes. hope that helps, im sure more will chime in as well.


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## Parallel (Jul 28, 2013)

Breeding shrimp is not hard. You need stable water and the right parameter though. Heavy plants are recommended. 
You only need to monitor levels when you are cycling really.. don't worry about it too much. Just make sure the water is 6.5-7 ph and a tds of around 200 with a gh of 4-7. Of course a substrate is recommend for all shrimps.. Akadama is a good substrate. It's good and easy for planting, plus it helps keep the water at 6.5 ph.

Keep it as simple as you can! Don't over complicate things, I did when I started and they started to die. But when I left them alone with correct params, they did fine. They will start to breed when they settle down, nothing special needs to be done.

As for your lighting, it depends on what kind of plants. You can't go wrong with 6500k cfl or tube full daylight spectrum lights, I think they are fine for any low-med plant.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

so im realy not looking forward to buying lights 

the spair lighting i have is 250 wat mh fixture and balast a broken verry blue 78 wat led fixture and one bulb of t5 or t8 that came with the tank i dont think any of that will work will it ?

can i use just plain gravel or will the plants benifit from sand or dirt


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## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

Scott: the MH will nuke everything if its in a small 10g haha. Just toss a t5/t8 on there. You just need something that will grow the plants basically, the shrimps themselves don't need much light. 
Unless your planning to go co2 and do an all out planted tank I wouldn't worry about the lights. The T5 should be enough or you can use the LEDS you have on your other tank as well. 

The plants will definitely benefit from substrate as opposed to sand, but like I said if your just going to keep moss and simple plants, sand would work for some of them. However if you want an "Ada Style" Planted tank I suggest you use substrate or Akadama(which someone else has mentioned) which does help with shrimps and can provide something for the plants as well.

Good luck!


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

ok thanks looks like no co2 and sand as substrate


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## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

10 gallons can look great with planted stuff, no co2 needed... etc..

Just get a 10 gallon, get a sponge filter, air pump (for sponge filter) , get some substrate like Stratum or Ada, get some driftwood... Get a light.. like t5 or something, maybe 25watts... something around there.

Then for plants get all low light fast growing stuff, like java moss, stem plants rotala species that do well in low light, Drawing a mind fart now but other low light easy to care for stuff.. make it look nice and BAM.. you will have a breeding machine.

do your weekly 25 percent water changes or whatever...

You will likely start to get planeria (little worm type things), i think there is a safe chemical you can use to fight them or just get some small fish like rasboras species.. (mind you they might eat some of the shrimp babies..) i didnt have too much bad luck with that... Just make the plants really dense. 

Keep the light on like 7 hours a day or something.

you will be growing babies in no time 

Start out with some easy shrimp like red, or painted fire, etc then work your way up to crs species... after you get it right 

if you look back in my past threads i think i started a rack journal for shrimp tanks.. gives you ideas at least


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

ok cool plan is for hang on with sponge floss and bio stars 

can you dip plants like u do coral ??


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

ok so got a few plants in a java fern a ball of java moss and a misc plant


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

nice , java ferns are great easy plants and shrimp love em


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