Hello everyone ,thank you for watching my videos and showing me so much support. If you would like to see more of my content please like and Subscribe you can also see all of my videos here. ua-cam.com/video/byKywDuv05A/v-deo.html
A very informative video showing the process of setting up a tank successfully to prevent unnecessary fatalities of your little critters. It is worth taking the time to do it correctly - it pays off in the end. Nice work. Brian Winch
Cheers Brian ,it does seem like alot of work but when its spread out time wise in reality I was spending maybe 30 minutes a week on it for 4-5 weeks. Again thank you for the kind words :)
Mark, a little tip for the glass top cover 11:01, I ordered an acrylic sheet 3-4 mm thick, and cut it the size I want to be a perfect lid for the tank, might glue an extra pvc piece on top of it as ‘handle?’ so that is easy to open and close when needed :) ty for your great videos, happy shrimping!
best start of the day for me! sitting around home waiting for my pintos so this was a very nice video to watch while doing it. very informative and comprehensive!
Marks Shrimp Tanks I'm trying to replicate this setup. Same substrate, plant, oxydator and filter. Just a different tank. Approximately how deep/many centimeters of Amazonia should I use? ;) will send you a photo when this is set up and running
I am buying a 54L tank form my pet store, I was thinking of just having a planted tank with a betta fish and some tetra, but shrimp's are looking a lot more fun the more I watch your channel..
If you go for the shrimp it will turn into an addiction soon you will want crystals and then tiawan bees and before you know it you will have 100 tanks in your house :D
I actually really love the orange eyed blue tigers, I saw them when you showed off your royal ones. Sadly I went to my local pet store, and they don't have any shrimp species at all! I held off on buying the tank until I could find a place I could purchase them. Tank's and fish are not so big in Sweden, and people near me still fail to understand tank size and goldfish.
If you have any questions feel free to ask me below Happy Shrimp Keeping. My Website ► marksshrimptanks.com/ Patreon Support ► www.patreon.com/marksshrimptanks Instagram ► instagram.com/marksshrimptanks/ Reddit ► www.reddit.com/user/MarksShrimpTanks Facebook ► facebook.com/MarksShrimpTanks/
Hi Mark. I am from Kazakhstan, a beginner shrimp breeder. I want to ask you if you have not disappointed in the soil of Akadama? P.S .: I use a translator, I don't understand English, sorry!
very informative mark thankyou for uploading the weeks you have spent doing this vid has made me realize i need to do more with my tanks currently i keep fish and would like to have shrimp i bought 9 blue dream of which 2 survive, i was so naive to shrimp keeping and this channel is a very important channel to me for learning how to handle shrimp i think they are beautiful creatures
Thank you man for all your videos I have learned so much to the point where I've started my own CRS tank cheers fish friend take care and can't wait for more
Good Morning Mark. Thanks for the video and information. I did the same setup. a question, for Crystal Red Shrimp the parameters are these? or which you recommend me. gh: 6 kh: 0 ph: 6.5-7 (substrate) TDS: 140-180 - IDEAL:? temp: 23Cº regards!
Hey Mark quick question, I'm setting up a crs tank with ada and have ordered some supplies from you already. I plan to use to water with saltyshRimp, but......in the beginning stages of cycling tank, can I get away with just using conditioned tap water, then switch to RO?
Is it an absolute must to use active soil for a cardinia tank? I have about 4 crs that were given to me. I'm not a fan of using the active soils in my tanks. Could I just use sand and mineralized my water to accommodate.
Thanks for making this video. I'm getting ready to set up a new 40 gallon breeder tank for Crystal Reds. Got a couple questions though (sorry if I missed you saying the answer in the video as I'm at work...shhh). 1. If my tap water has an extremely high TDS (as in close to 500), can I still use it or would I be better off cycling with RO? 2. Other than adding biofilm, what is the purpose of allowing the algae to grow so much? I'm not a fan of snails and don't want them in my tank (may add Oto Cats as I have those in my other tanks), but also prefer "clean looking" tanks, vs. those with algae build up. My current tank (so not balanced for CRS, but they're doing OK) doesn't have a lot of algae and the CRS seem to find quite a bit to snack on due to all the plant debris, so is it OK to not leave the light on 24/7 while cycling? I'm now in love with Subwassertang thanks to your videos. I had never heard of it before watching your videos and, at least for me, it sure looks a lot nicer than moss. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge on shrimp. I never planned on having shrimp. The six CRS I have now were "rescued" from a friend who pretty much said take them or he was flushing them as he was done with having tanks due to financial issues. I knew ZERO about them, TDS, GH or KH when I took them (he did tell me to drip acclimate them, which I did) and from your videos have learned that my community fish tank is all wrong for them (six weeks in and I'm pretty shocked they're all still surviving). All my parameters are too high for them. TDS was close to 600 (using RO to bring that down and it's now about 400 with 2-3x weekly 10% water changes), my GH was 19 (now down to 13), KH was 6 (now 3) but pH is still holding at 7.4. I keep a close eye on ammonia and nitrites and they're holding at zero with regular water changes and my nitrates are between 0 & 5 now (down from 20). I'm OK that they're not breeding as it'll be easier to move them out when the new tank is set up and cycled and your videos have really helped me plan all that while I gathered up the $ and rearranged things for another tank that I'm hoping to get it started in the next week or two. Even if my current CRS don't make it between now and when the new tank is cycled, I'm definitely hooked. Thank You!
Hello Use RO if your tap water is so high, reason for this is in new tanks the soil literally sucks the minerals out of the water, the more they suck out the shorter the life span of the soil. so use Ro . Algae makes up 70% of a shrimp diet in the wild so its good to give them what they have evolved to eat, bio film its self contains algae too. Thank you for the awesome comment by the way and I wish you all the luck in the future with your shrimp tanks, just let me know if you need anymore help. Mark
Thank you for detailed video.Is it possible to make this video available in CC so I can read subtitle in English as well? I live in USA but originally from Japan so if there was CC available with video, it helps me understand much better. My question is, you cycle the tank with instant cycle method;squeezing old sponge in the new fresh water in the tank, and water is tap up until 4th week, but after 4th week, you switch to RO water but for 1 month,you just running the filter and no ghost feeding the tank etc because you squeezed sponge in the fresh water and tank is cycled then? Also, when you switch to RO water, do you use prime as well or you use it just when using tap for 1 month? Lastly, I understood to the part you prep the RO water with remineralizer to 180 and add that water in 5th week and tank got 140 TDS reading but from that point on, you do water change 10%? And keep tank with moss in, and wait for next 3 days to make sure TDS stable before shrimp adding to the tank? When you do actual water change after shrimp in, you set the RO water to add back to the tank will be with prime? Without prime? Without stability?And Do you set that water to 140 TDS instead of 180? When you run caridina tank do you use live bacteria source like seachem stability?Lastly, after acclimating shrimp with drip, you added water that filled your container but is it because the water is from your tank and nothing would do bad to new tank?Thank you and sorry for lots of questions.If you had time to, I would like to see the write out as well under the video subscription to be able to reference.
Mark, you know I like the well worked videos so I love this one. I saw special things and thoughts along the process. We have very different tanks and our experience with them creates our different "automaticed procedures" so it's great to see the game but this time from outside the field. Very inspiring, magnificent masterpiece!! :)
Thanks for another great video Mark. You're inspiring me to get crystals. I'm currently breeding cherries quite well so seem to have got some bits of the puzzle right thanks to some of your tips on feeding, plants and water changes. I'm keeping the TDs around 200 for them using primed tap water (30tds here in Edinburgh) and adding shrimp king gh+/kh+ shrimp salt. My questions are, 1. If I was to keep crystals, could I use the same water and salts but just use less salt to get the 140tds or is RO water mandatory? 2. My tap water is extremely soft but the ph is 7.2 do I have to lower it to keep and breed crystals and if so, what is the easiest way so I can still do loads of water changes. And finally, 3. Why do you use the Amazonia substrate if it leaches out the minerals. Would an Inert sub not make for a more stable environment? Sorry if I've missed the answers to these questions elsewhere. I appreciate you're really busy so thanks again for any help you can give. Paul.
Hello Paul, if you can do it with tap and lower the tds to around 140 I think you will be fine with crystals, about the Amazonia I actually use akadama now and the reason for this is it like all active substrate has a negative charge meaning it pulls positive Ions out of the water ..you can actually see this if you measure tds before and after you first setup a tank ..the tds will drop, because of this the ph also drops which is what we are after with softwater bee shrimp :)
Thanks Mark. Akadama looks interesting. Time for some experimentation to see if I can setup and maintain a stable low ph balanced system. It's amazing the difference I've seen in my cherries since following your advice. Colour, behaviour, feeding all improved. Thanks again for your entertaining sharing.
great vid. I'm looking to set up my own shrimp tank soon. i have had fresh water and salt water fish and corals for years but never had a shrimp tank. i live in the cumbrian lake district uk. the tds of my tap water is around 30.
Excellent instruction video Mark! Do you over mineralize the water in combination with active soil with all waterchanges or just during the setup period?
Hi Mark. I am from Kazakhstan, a beginner shrimp breeder. I want to ask you if you have not disappointed in the soil of Akadama? P.S .: I use a translator, I don't understand English, sorry!
I know I am asking a lot of questions,Mark. I thank you for getting to them,when you can and if you can. I just thought of another. I haven't seen any Co2 in any of your shrimp tanks. Although, I may have missed that. I dont intend to add Co2 to a minimally planted tank with mostly moss,for my shrimp. Only, I am wondering if the shrimp will be ok in a planted tank with Co2? I plan to make my cull tank my personal display tank,which will be planted. If not. I will make them a separate tank as the one I have seen in your videos. Dont want to kill my little buddies.
Hello there Mark great video, just done a TDS check and found that mine were 135 is this ok and safe for red cherry crystal shrimps, or is that why I have lost some many thanks for your work for us beginners Anita x😀
Excellent. Just goes to show that you dont actually need all these magic powders, liquids and additives to cycle a shrimp safe tank. Just a little knowledge and patience. Great video as always :)
em no I changed this soil out for akadama after a while this soil was too light for what I like, you could squash it to mud I would rather have a hard baked soil. ..the tap water question just depends on what in your water ?
Thanks so much for the video ! I wanted to keep shrimp but i'm really not ready yet, i don't even have a RO filter. I'll wait, my 20 gallons is gonna be used for something else.
Hello Mark! I really love your video! that's so nice of you.. i am currently setting up my own shrimp tanks, and it works really good. thanks for your guide. but, i am wondering what type of plants you use? i know you already talk about it in the video, but i am not very good in listening spoken english (I'm so sorry, i'll study right away). a subtitle or on-video caption might be good though.. anyway, please give me some advice of what kind of plant would be good to put in the shrimp tank, it would be really helpful. Terima Kasih (TL: "Thank you" in Indonesian)
Hello Sir ,I use all low light plants ,java fern ,java moss,trident fern,water sprite,subwassertang ,anubus..low light means its easy for me to keep :)
I want to do a heavily planted tank. Should I wait to put the plants in til afer it cycles like this? I want low light tech plants so I'm wondering if the constant light will bad for them
Hi Mark! I'm currently binge-watching your videos and I first want to thank you for making these. My question is, what is that small glass thing that you put inside the tank? It looks like it has water and air in it. What is it supposed to do? Also, do you feed your plants any fertilizer? Thanks!
You cycled with tap water and then swapped to RODI, but you didn’t mention the before/after pH level. What pH is your RO-water at and will the Amazonia buffer it even more? I want to start some shrimp only tanks, to play around with crossbreeding (Caridina). I read they like to be in pH 5.5(?), but people also say beneficial bacteria will struggle under pH 6, so I’m a bit scared using RO. Haha. I keep my Stardust SS with fish in a planted tank with soil and pH 6.5, but they are more brown than blue now. Not sure if it’s the high pH or something else. Would love to keep that awesome blue they have «out of the box». I started with 6 and have about 60 now, so I guess conditions aren’t horrible. I have some mineral balls in there and feed with «rekemat sticks» from Relicon. They seem to prefer biofilm, though.
I never measure ph anymore, the reason for the long cycle time is so some bacteria can colonies the filtration and substrate and you are correct it takes longer at a lower ph.
Hi Mark. Enjoyed your video a lot. Great info as I'm new in shrimp keeping. What filter medium do you typically use in canister filter? I've got a 250L tank that's busy cycling and would love to add a canister aswell
I’ve always had sponge filters if the round kind, starting to see the utility of the square one offered by Swiss tropical, not to mention their sponge material is superior to the polyester mostly used by industry. Can’t spell their material but it’s different and worth it to me. But switching to them soon
Hi Mark. How did the tank perform with the Amazonia powder soil? I can only find the powder type in stores, not the normal one, but never tried it so I'm curious. Thanks
It's good, just make sure you try an undergravel soil setup with it it seems to work really well, you can google asain style undergravel to get an idea :)
Hey Mark! Thank you for the video. I just had one small query. Can I mix amazonia with regular gravel? I'm making a planted aquarium and it'll prove too costly to fill a five foot tank with amazonia alone :(
Yes you can your best bet would be to put down the amazonia first and use a gravel cap on top ...if you have any kind of burring snails they will bring the amazonia to the top eventually .
Really helpful video thank you 😊 I have akadama leftover from my succulents but wondered if you recommend this soil over akadama, as you said if you could you’d just use this. Unfortunately money is an object to me lol but happy to splurge if you think it’s the best for soft water shrimp keeping.
Hi Mark, couldn't watch with the sound on, but what's the shot glass upside down for? Setting up my Crystal Red tank tonight, got a few great ideas from your video. Thanks!
Hey mark, great vid. I currently have a 20 gallon long tank with cherry red shrimp, about 10-12 dwarf crawfish, 6-7 cardinal tetras, 2 endler guppies, small amts of pond snails, a few ramshorn snails, a few small mystery snails, a handful of assassin snails. my water parameters are nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7, kh 80, gh 180. my substrate is azoo mixed with pure black sand. I have hardscape (a few larger rocks, various wood like cholla wood and driftwood) with various mosses, plants, duckweek, large duckweed, dwarf water lettuce and a small amt of red root floater and subwassertang. I've kept the right side of the tank well covered so the baby shrimp or dwarf crawfish may hide well. I want to add crystal red shrimp to it but I wanted to get your advice on preparing the tank as is to introduce crs shrimp to it. It seems my gh and kh and ph may be too high. Also, what are your thoughts on keeping those species together? Thanks in advance!
Hello ,The KH and GH amounts are they in mg/L ? ,Ok i think to get to German hardness you divide by 17.5 or or something so you kh would be roughly 5 and a gh of roughly 10 wnich isnt perfect but probably ok ..the problem with your tank isnt the water its the fish ,fish will eat anything that fits in their mouth including 1-2mm baby shrimp.
Marks Shrimp Tanks . Hey mark, it's in ppm which I think is equivalent to mg/l which I know if pretty high. I heard that one should take 20% off and replace with ro water without minerals. Is that accurate or do you have other ideas to bring kh and gh down to 0? Also, it didnt make sense to me why kh of 0 would be good since the water will be more prone to oh fluctuations. yeah I knew about the fish situation and was debating whether to sell them since they can eat the babies.
Hi Mark Anita again I am about to do the second week water change do I do exactly the same again, or is it just the 90% water change, not having to add more biofilm many thanks Anita 👍🏻
I did 4 90% water changes on this because it was the old type of amazonia ,,now I a using shrimp king soil and there is no ammonia and huge water changes are not needed.
As usual Mark top notch video manie ,im settin up a tank the noo ,for xtals im buying but dont want to get them till everything spot on,thanks to your vids.
Hey Mark, Love your channel!! I'm thinking of changing from tapwater in Neo thank to Ro water. Do you think that it is safe after using tapwater for 3 months? Thx so much for all the videos, you inspired me a lot.
Hello Glen ,Your question just depends on what is your tap water, I know from testing mines I could use it if I wanted to for all my tanks because my tap water is very clean/soft and has a low tds of just 50ppm .. the risk is a few times a year we get pipe breaks in the line and when they fix it they flush the line with chemicals to kill bacteria ..I dont want that near my tanks so thats why I use RO.
Thx, for the answer. The guy in the store told me that i dont need a tds meter. I know better now, so i ordered one. He also said that he don't belief in Ro water, so i dont go their anymore. :-) Thx again!!
Hi Mark, me again. I just ordered my crystal red shrimp and they should arrive 1/2 weeks to go in my first 12 gallon shrimp tank (I do have experience with fish year back though.) Things have been going well, I've been cycling my tank for over a month. PH @ 6.5 just got my RO setup up and running, going to switch over to shrimp salts and ro water next water change. My dwarf hair grass was doing well. I have like one or two detritus worms, at first it was a scare till I did research and found that the worms were harmless... But then a few days later I found scuds! I removed two but saw another I wasn't able to catch just yet. What should I do?! So far I removed all the plants I put in and put them in a bowl and read about a 3% bleach quarantine solution for the plants. I also heard that if I get some neon tetras they will eat the scuds in the tank. I've also heard that vacuuming the gravel can remove them. I would hate to start completely over since my shrimp need a stable aquarium to be in once them arrive. Will they be ok with the scuds? My goal is to eventually breed shrimp, I currently have a 5 gallon that I just setup but hasn't started cycling. I was hoping I could keep them in there if I cant get the acid problem under control.
I wish I could see your setups in person Mark! You have really come a long way and I worked through your channel yesterday almost all day. I am obsessed with discus, and starting up with shrimp. I just wish I could have seen your setup in person. Keep it up Mark. Much love from South Africa!!
So, I may have missed this, but do you add anything like ammonia to the tank so the cycle progresses and stays cycled? Or do you simply add the bacteria powder and squeeze the established filter sponge into the tank and let things progress as it would?
No I dont add anything ,The substrate is full of fertilizer and I think they old type used to contain ammonia but I am not sure this one does..I do squeeze old sponges in to speed things up :)
Thank you, Mark. I have another question that came up. I'm documenting my progress on a forum I'm a part of, and they asked why I would do a water change on an aquarium that's going through a fishless cycle. Admittingly, I'm not one to cycle tanks since I keep established filters on hand so I don't have to wait a month to get stock, but with shrimp I want an established aquarium with biofilm - and that means cycling properly. What are your thoughts on this, being what is your reason for changing the water every week? I was told you shouldn't change water until nitrites/nitrates become too high and you do a wc to bring the numbers down. However, I'd like to follow your vid to the letter since you know what you're doing and admittedly I am a bit hesitant to get crystal shrimp (lol...), but I also don't want to blindly follow something when I'm not certain it's necessary or the mindset behind it. Hope I'm making sense. Thanks again!
Great question,The main reason is to reduce Ammonia and Nitrates to an acceptable level as soon as possible to promote lots of micro-fauna in the tank. Micro-fauna is a food source for Shrimp and without it baby shrimp as an example will struggle. Its also a great indicator on tank health so I like to see lots of it :)
Hi mark i love shrimps i have a aquarium already but it is Apistogramma focussed So i need a another tank for them but Wich tank size should i get ? I never had shrimps before
Hello again! I think I found the culprit of what went wrong... long story short, it was most likely the driftwood I found while hiking that was poisoning the water. After visiting a new LFS yesterday I showed him a picture of my tank and he pointed out that the trees around here are toxic. Anyways, immediately removed it, and noticed the water became a lot clearer. GH and KH also went down by several points. Hopefully this will be the end of my nightmare!!
I don't know the scientific name of it, but it's those kind of trees that remains green during winter. Their leaves are needle-like. I live in the Seattle, Washingon area in USA. Anyways, I never really "disinfected" it. I was naive to think that because I found it in a stream from a river that feeds from the mountains, it would be pure enough. When I brought it home, I just merely washed it with tap water then stuck it into the tank. When I nuked the 10 gallon tank a few months ago, I sundried the bark, but didn't think much of it. I guess there were chemicals or whatever inside the wood that continued to seep into the tank when I remade my tank. But yes, lesson learned, I will never add any external sources into the tank =/ Expensive lesson :(
I have a doubt a great admirer of your channel, that you used substratum in this aquarium, graces and congratulations for your channel, excuse my English, saludos desde México
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I have 3 neocaridina tanks but after watching this video for over 10 times i think i am ready to set up my first crystal red tank!
Hello everyone ,thank you for watching my videos and showing me so much support.
If you would like to see more of my content please like and Subscribe you can also see all of my videos here.
ua-cam.com/video/byKywDuv05A/v-deo.html
Can I use Fluval Stratum Substate?
I cant see why not :)
Marks Shrimp Tanks awesome tank what are the leafs for
Hello Bradley sorry for the late reply ,UA-cam didnt tell you had ..Shrimp are detritivores so they eat decaying plant matter :)
Thanks Mark
What a great video, and info. You are great. Keep up the good work
Cheers Alen :)
A very informative video showing the process of setting up a tank successfully to prevent unnecessary fatalities of your little critters. It is worth taking the time to do it correctly - it pays off in the end.
Nice work.
Brian Winch
Cheers Brian ,it does seem like alot of work but when its spread out time wise in reality I was spending maybe 30 minutes a week on it for 4-5 weeks.
Again thank you for the kind words :)
big things have small beginnings , that is so true in my life lol. ask my wife.
lol
Omg this is great lmfao 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Best comment! 🤣🤣🤣
Best example of a step by step set up ive seen and ive watched countless !!! Perfection explained
Mark, a little tip for the glass top cover 11:01, I ordered an acrylic sheet 3-4 mm thick, and cut it the size I want to be a perfect lid for the tank, might glue an extra pvc piece on top of it as ‘handle?’ so that is easy to open and close when needed :) ty for your great videos, happy shrimping!
I think I've watched this video 3 or 4 times end to end. Great information, thank you mark.
Thank you for watching so many times :)
Lol this is my second time because I had a fish tank that crash so I sterilized it and now I’m setting it up from scratch for shrimp
Hello Mark please can you tell me why i should paint the back of my tank, or why you do it. thanks
CONGRATULATIONS Mark!! You're the (shrimp) man! This was the first video I watched to get me started in the hobby. Wishing much more success!
Thank you Jan P 😀
best start of the day for me!
sitting around home waiting for my pintos so this was a very nice video to watch while doing it.
very informative and comprehensive!
Much appreciated :)
great info, I know exactly where too come when I set mine up
Thank you LaF Festae
one of the most insightful videos about shrimp-keeping on youtube imo
Thank you very much Espen ,there are faster ways to do it but I think this way is the safest :)
Marks Shrimp Tanks I'm trying to replicate this setup. Same substrate, plant, oxydator and filter. Just a different tank. Approximately how deep/many centimeters of Amazonia should I use? ;) will send you a photo when this is set up and running
I am buying a 54L tank form my pet store, I was thinking of just having a planted tank with a betta fish and some tetra, but shrimp's are looking a lot more fun the more I watch your channel..
If you go for the shrimp it will turn into an addiction soon you will want crystals and then tiawan bees and before you know it you will have 100 tanks in your house :D
I actually really love the orange eyed blue tigers, I saw them when you showed off your royal ones. Sadly I went to my local pet store, and they don't have any shrimp species at all! I held off on buying the tank until I could find a place I could purchase them. Tank's and fish are not so big in Sweden, and people near me still fail to understand tank size and goldfish.
If you have any questions feel free to ask me below Happy Shrimp Keeping.
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Hi Mark. I am from Kazakhstan, a beginner shrimp breeder. I want to ask you if you have not disappointed in the soil of Akadama?
P.S .: I use a translator, I don't understand English, sorry!
How long has it been successfully used by you?
Excellent educational vid. Do you have a link to where you buy those clips on the top edge of the tank please?
Picked up some nice ideas of using different filtration after filling the tank up to clean the water. Great tips buddy!!
Gonna save this to my playlist and watch this in the morning 🤗🤗
Youre gonna have to be a diehard Shrimp fanatic to watch it all lol its abit long .
very informative mark thankyou for uploading the weeks you have spent doing this vid has made me realize i need to do more with my tanks currently i keep fish and would like to have shrimp i bought 9 blue dream of which 2 survive, i was so naive to shrimp keeping and this channel is a very important channel to me for learning how to handle shrimp i think they are beautiful creatures
You are more than welcome my friend,I understand fully the heartache involved in not knowing why they constantly die.:)
This is exactly what I needed, thank you Mark, great video.
Good luck :)
Thank you man for all your videos I have learned so much to the point where I've started my own CRS tank cheers fish friend take care and can't wait for more
Thank you for the nice comment Freemans :)
Thank you for taking the time to make this! Super helpful :)
Thank you :)
You can see all of my tank builds here ua-cam.com/video/YctSb4Cxq1k/v-deo.html
Good Morning Mark.
Thanks for the video and information.
I did the same setup.
a question, for Crystal Red Shrimp the parameters are these? or which you recommend me.
gh: 6
kh: 0
ph: 6.5-7 (substrate)
TDS: 140-180 - IDEAL:?
temp: 23Cº
regards!
Hey Mark quick question, I'm setting up a crs tank with ada and have ordered some supplies from you already. I plan to use to water with saltyshRimp, but......in the beginning stages of cycling tank, can I get away with just using conditioned tap water, then switch to RO?
Yes it is on the video/ use tap water on the beginning / but check with tds if to high use RO.
You can also use acrylic paint and a roller instead of spray paint. It's also a lot easier to remove via a raze blade later if needed.
The paint I used was acrylic hobby spray paint James ,I say in the video that its meant for plastics and glass ect .
Fantastic video on how to start a new shrimp tank, thank you! This will come in handy one day. =)
Thank you Inappropriate Reefer
Is it an absolute must to use active soil for a cardinia tank? I have about 4 crs that were given to me. I'm not a fan of using the active soils in my tanks. Could I just use sand and mineralized my water to accommodate.
OMG, another "Clever" video... and 45 minutes! Got my coffee and I'm ready... Hugs!
its abit to long but worth it in the end hahaha
Marks Shrimp Tanks too long? This was perfect keep up the good work Sir.
Thanks for making this video. I'm getting ready to set up a new 40 gallon breeder tank for Crystal Reds. Got a couple questions though (sorry if I missed you saying the answer in the video as I'm at work...shhh).
1. If my tap water has an extremely high TDS (as in close to 500), can I still use it or would I be better off cycling with RO?
2. Other than adding biofilm, what is the purpose of allowing the algae to grow so much? I'm not a fan of snails and don't want them in my tank (may add Oto Cats as I have those in my other tanks), but also prefer "clean looking" tanks, vs. those with algae build up. My current tank (so not balanced for CRS, but they're doing OK) doesn't have a lot of algae and the CRS seem to find quite a bit to snack on due to all the plant debris, so is it OK to not leave the light on 24/7 while cycling?
I'm now in love with Subwassertang thanks to your videos. I had never heard of it before watching your videos and, at least for me, it sure looks a lot nicer than moss. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge on shrimp. I never planned on having shrimp. The six CRS I have now were "rescued" from a friend who pretty much said take them or he was flushing them as he was done with having tanks due to financial issues. I knew ZERO about them, TDS, GH or KH when I took them (he did tell me to drip acclimate them, which I did) and from your videos have learned that my community fish tank is all wrong for them (six weeks in and I'm pretty shocked they're all still surviving). All my parameters are too high for them. TDS was close to 600 (using RO to bring that down and it's now about 400 with 2-3x weekly 10% water changes), my GH was 19 (now down to 13), KH was 6 (now 3) but pH is still holding at 7.4. I keep a close eye on ammonia and nitrites and they're holding at zero with regular water changes and my nitrates are between 0 & 5 now (down from 20). I'm OK that they're not breeding as it'll be easier to move them out when the new tank is set up and cycled and your videos have really helped me plan all that while I gathered up the $ and rearranged things for another tank that I'm hoping to get it started in the next week or two. Even if my current CRS don't make it between now and when the new tank is cycled, I'm definitely hooked. Thank You!
Hello
Use RO if your tap water is so high, reason for this is in new tanks the soil literally sucks the minerals out of the water, the more they suck out the shorter the life span of the soil. so use Ro .
Algae makes up 70% of a shrimp diet in the wild so its good to give them what they have evolved to eat, bio film its self contains algae too.
Thank you for the awesome comment by the way and I wish you all the luck in the future with your shrimp tanks, just let me know if you need anymore help.
Mark
Thank you for detailed video.Is it possible to make this video available in CC so I can read subtitle in English as well? I live in USA but originally from Japan so if there was CC available with video, it helps me understand much better. My question is, you cycle the tank with instant cycle method;squeezing old sponge in the new fresh water in the tank, and water is tap up until 4th week, but after 4th week, you switch to RO water but for 1 month,you just running the filter and no ghost feeding the tank etc because you squeezed sponge in the fresh water and tank is cycled then? Also, when you switch to RO water, do you use prime as well or you use it just when using tap for 1 month? Lastly, I understood to the part you prep the RO water with remineralizer to 180 and add that water in 5th week and tank got 140 TDS reading but from that point on, you do water change 10%? And keep tank with moss in, and wait for next 3 days to make sure TDS stable before shrimp adding to the tank? When you do actual water change after shrimp in, you set the RO water to add back to the tank will be with prime? Without prime? Without stability?And Do you set that water to 140 TDS instead of 180? When you run caridina tank do you use live bacteria source like seachem stability?Lastly, after acclimating shrimp with drip, you added water that filled your container but is it because the water is from your tank and nothing would do bad to new tank?Thank you and sorry for lots of questions.If you had time to, I would like to see the write out as well under the video subscription to be able to reference.
thumbs up for u mark. alweys enjoying my coffe to ur videos. & it has helpd me alot.
YOu are very welcome robert :)
Mark, you know I like the well worked videos so I love this one.
I saw special things and thoughts along the process. We have very different tanks and our experience with them creates our different "automaticed procedures" so it's great to see the game but this time from outside the field. Very inspiring, magnificent masterpiece!! :)
Thank you Carlos :)
Hi Mr Mark i would like to ask how often you add bacteria? So like just beginning, or each water charge ? Nice tank setup /now im doing mine....
as a shrimp food you can add tiny amounts every day, for filtration bacteria just once when you do your water change.
Thanks for another great video Mark. You're inspiring me to get crystals. I'm currently breeding cherries quite well so seem to have got some bits of the puzzle right thanks to some of your tips on feeding, plants and water changes. I'm keeping the TDs around 200 for them using primed tap water (30tds here in Edinburgh) and adding shrimp king gh+/kh+ shrimp salt. My questions are, 1. If I was to keep crystals, could I use the same water and salts but just use less salt to get the 140tds or is RO water mandatory? 2. My tap water is extremely soft but the ph is 7.2 do I have to lower it to keep and breed crystals and if so, what is the easiest way so I can still do loads of water changes. And finally, 3. Why do you use the Amazonia substrate if it leaches out the minerals. Would an Inert sub not make for a more stable environment? Sorry if I've missed the answers to these questions elsewhere. I appreciate you're really busy so thanks again for any help you can give. Paul.
Hello Paul, if you can do it with tap and lower the tds to around 140 I think you will be fine with crystals, about the Amazonia I actually use akadama now and the reason for this is it like all active substrate has a negative charge meaning it pulls positive Ions out of the water ..you can actually see this if you measure tds before and after you first setup a tank ..the tds will drop, because of this the ph also drops which is what we are after with softwater bee shrimp :)
Thanks Mark. Akadama looks interesting. Time for some experimentation to see if I can setup and maintain a stable low ph balanced system. It's amazing the difference I've seen in my cherries since following your advice. Colour, behaviour, feeding all improved. Thanks again for your entertaining sharing.
Great video! Nice to see one end to end like this!
Thank you Mike .
great vid.
I'm looking to set up my own shrimp tank soon.
i have had fresh water and salt water fish and corals for years but never had a shrimp tank.
i live in the cumbrian lake district uk.
the tds of my tap water is around 30.
Thanks, Mark for a very informative and helpful video! I enjoyed it!
You are very welcome Brian :)
Excellent instruction video Mark! Do you over mineralize the water in combination with active soil with all waterchanges or just during the setup period?
I dont I just adjust it later in the tank
A 45 minute videos,nice :).I will have to wacth this soon when I get the time.
Long but it shows everything I do ,I think you will like it :)
Hi Mark. I am from Kazakhstan, a beginner shrimp breeder. I want to ask you if you have not disappointed in the soil of Akadama?
P.S .: I use a translator, I don't understand English, sorry!
Mark, great video I know that I am starting my own tank soon. This is going to help me out !
You are very welcome An Pok :)
Surperb video Mark, many thanks for sharing your techniques, subbed ;)
Thank you Gary its much appreciated :)
I know I am asking a lot of questions,Mark. I thank you for getting to them,when you can and if you can. I just thought of another. I haven't seen any Co2 in any of your shrimp tanks. Although, I may have missed that. I dont intend to add Co2 to a minimally planted tank with mostly moss,for my shrimp. Only, I am wondering if the shrimp will be ok in a planted tank with Co2? I plan to make my cull tank my personal display tank,which will be planted. If not. I will make them a separate tank as the one I have seen in your videos. Dont want to kill my little buddies.
I know big breeders use Co2 in tanks to lower ph but I cant really say anything else on it my friend .
Understood. ty,Sir. =)
Link To My Shrimp Tank Setup Playlist ua-cam.com/video/YctSb4Cxq1k/v-deo.html
Hello there Mark great video, just done a TDS check and found that mine were 135 is this ok and safe for red cherry crystal shrimps, or is that why I have lost some many thanks for your work for us beginners Anita x😀
135 is good ,it has to be stable though so you should watch for that when you do water changes ect :)
It,s create video . What is light power you recommend fit tank 40 ??
Excellent. Just goes to show that you dont actually need all these magic powders, liquids and additives to cycle a shrimp safe tank. Just a little knowledge and patience. Great video as always :)
I think certain powder will be beneficial like pro biotic ones but they are not cheap ...I have bluebolt babys in here now :)
Bonjour de France et un grand merci pour ce partage. Bravo. Good job.
do you still use this setup 3 years later? also if i just use tap water will the tank still succeeded
em no I changed this soil out for akadama after a while this soil was too light for what I like, you could squash it to mud I would rather have a hard baked soil. ..the tap water question just depends on what in your water ?
@@MarksShrimpTanks ill have to test it, ill get back to you on that one.
Sweet!! Can't wait to watch!
Yeah its a long one so put some time aside for it lol...try not to fall asleep :D
That was great!! Love seeing new setups with there own tips and tricks! Thanks Mark
Hi mark how are you
Caridina shrimp tank set up ada amozonia light powder. Good soil or no good soil ? Thank you
Thanks so much for the video ! I wanted to keep shrimp but i'm really not ready yet, i don't even have a RO filter. I'll wait, my 20 gallons is gonna be used for something else.
Dont forget to like the video if you found it at all useful and please come check out my store here goo.gl/fqWaZe
Use two hooks for the light so you get a straight angle
Really nice video like always Marks!
This video inspired me to start some crystal red when i'll be finished moving in my new house.
Do it my friend ,you will have no regrets :)
Hello Mark!
I really love your video! that's so nice of you..
i am currently setting up my own shrimp tanks, and it works really good. thanks for your guide.
but, i am wondering what type of plants you use? i know you already talk about it in the video, but i am not very good in listening spoken english (I'm so sorry, i'll study right away).
a subtitle or on-video caption might be good though..
anyway, please give me some advice of what kind of plant would be good to put in the shrimp tank, it would be really helpful.
Terima Kasih (TL: "Thank you" in Indonesian)
Hello Sir ,I use all low light plants ,java fern ,java moss,trident fern,water sprite,subwassertang ,anubus..low light means its easy for me to keep :)
thanks!
I want to do a heavily planted tank. Should I wait to put the plants in til afer it cycles like this? I want low light tech plants so I'm wondering if the constant light will bad for them
I would put them in before :)
Hi Mark! I'm currently binge-watching your videos and I first want to thank you for making these. My question is, what is that small glass thing that you put inside the tank? It looks like it has water and air in it. What is it supposed to do? Also, do you feed your plants any fertilizer? Thanks!
I dont use ferts at all now, this is what the glass thing is ua-cam.com/video/0QqyDKN-ABE/v-deo.html
I was looking for exactly this. Setting up first tank for crystals. Why did you choose the powder Amazonia?
believe it or not it was cheaper that the normal stuff, I think the store made a mistake.
Thanks, It's cheaper online too.
Hi Mark great informative video loving this. I use bubble wrap in the base to trickle in the water Chip
If I had bubble wrap I would have used it instead of the bag ,great tip cheers :)
My pleasure its the simple ideas that work and save us the hassle of cloudy water.
You cycled with tap water and then swapped to RODI, but you didn’t mention the before/after pH level. What pH is your RO-water at and will the Amazonia buffer it even more? I want to start some shrimp only tanks, to play around with crossbreeding (Caridina). I read they like to be in pH 5.5(?), but people also say beneficial bacteria will struggle under pH 6, so I’m a bit scared using RO. Haha. I keep my Stardust SS with fish in a planted tank with soil and pH 6.5, but they are more brown than blue now. Not sure if it’s the high pH or something else. Would love to keep that awesome blue they have «out of the box». I started with 6 and have about 60 now, so I guess conditions aren’t horrible. I have some mineral balls in there and feed with «rekemat sticks» from Relicon. They seem to prefer biofilm, though.
I never measure ph anymore, the reason for the long cycle time is so some bacteria can colonies the filtration and substrate and you are correct it takes longer at a lower ph.
Hi Mark. Enjoyed your video a lot. Great info as I'm new in shrimp keeping. What filter medium do you typically use in canister filter? I've got a 250L tank that's busy cycling and would love to add a canister aswell
Thanks Mark.
I dont know what happened to my comment lol
thank you for a great video im in the uk and watch you all the time x
Very nice video! Just one question, can you remove the black spray paint from the aquarium?
Yes use a glass scrapper to scrap it all of if you want to :)
Thanks!
Finally had time to watch this, great video, I always learn something from your videos.
Mark, do you find Sponge filters better than canisters?
If I only had one option then yes I wold choose sponge over canister.
Hanging the lighting like that is a smart idea!
Thank you but I cant take credit for it ,I think I seen the idea years ago on how to hang pots or something ..:)
GREAT video... your best yet, I think!
Cheers:)
Hi Mark, your video is very informative. What tool do you use to drop water to aclimatate new shrimps? Is it DIY or is it sold in ebay?
Its diy, just a length of silicon tubing, air valve and airstone is all you need.
I’ve always had sponge filters if the round kind, starting to see the utility of the square one offered by Swiss tropical, not to mention their sponge material is superior to the polyester mostly used by industry. Can’t spell their material but it’s different and worth it to me. But switching to them soon
Hi Mark. How did the tank perform with the Amazonia powder soil? I can only find the powder type in stores, not the normal one, but never tried it so I'm curious. Thanks
It's good, just make sure you try an undergravel soil setup with it it seems to work really well, you can google asain style undergravel to get an idea :)
@@MarksShrimpTanks thanks for the advice!
Hey Mark! Thank you for the video. I just had one small query. Can I mix amazonia with regular gravel? I'm making a planted aquarium and it'll prove too costly to fill a five foot tank with amazonia alone :(
Yes you can your best bet would be to put down the amazonia first and use a gravel cap on top ...if you have any kind of burring snails they will bring the amazonia to the top eventually .
Will do. Thank you so much!!
I can't get algae to grow in my tank. Have checked the lighting and it is also good. Any tips?
I have my lights on 12 hrs a day ..that tank while being set up had its lights on all the time 24/7
Marks Shrimp Tanks thank you
Really helpful video thank you 😊 I have akadama leftover from my succulents but wondered if you recommend this soil over akadama, as you said if you could you’d just use this. Unfortunately money is an object to me lol but happy to splurge if you think it’s the best for soft water shrimp keeping.
I am going back to akadama in all my tanks now.
Thank you, I wish your mic was little more clear though!, appreciate the videos
I have bought a new camera since this video.:) I will also look into getting an external mic if I can :)
Hi Mark, couldn't watch with the sound on, but what's the shot glass upside down for? Setting up my Crystal Red tank tonight, got a few great ideas from your video. Thanks!
Is this what you mean ? ua-cam.com/video/0QqyDKN-ABE/v-deo.html
Hey mark, great vid. I currently have a 20 gallon long tank with cherry red shrimp, about 10-12 dwarf crawfish, 6-7 cardinal tetras, 2 endler guppies, small amts of pond snails, a few ramshorn snails, a few small mystery snails, a handful of assassin snails. my water parameters are nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7, kh 80, gh 180. my substrate is azoo mixed with pure black sand. I have hardscape (a few larger rocks, various wood like cholla wood and driftwood) with various mosses, plants, duckweek, large duckweed, dwarf water lettuce and a small amt of red root floater and subwassertang. I've kept the right side of the tank well covered so the baby shrimp or dwarf crawfish may hide well. I want to add crystal red shrimp to it but I wanted to get your advice on preparing the tank as is to introduce crs shrimp to it. It seems my gh and kh and ph may be too high. Also, what are your thoughts on keeping those species together? Thanks in advance!
Hello ,The KH and GH amounts are they in mg/L ? ,Ok i think to get to German hardness you divide by 17.5 or or something so you kh would be roughly 5 and a gh of roughly 10 wnich isnt perfect but probably ok ..the problem with your tank isnt the water its the fish ,fish will eat anything that fits in their mouth including 1-2mm baby shrimp.
Marks Shrimp Tanks . Hey mark, it's in ppm which I think is equivalent to mg/l which I know if pretty high. I heard that one should take 20% off and replace with ro water without minerals. Is that accurate or do you have other ideas to bring kh and gh down to 0? Also, it didnt make sense to me why kh of 0 would be good since the water will be more prone to oh fluctuations. yeah I knew about the fish situation and was debating whether to sell them since they can eat the babies.
ok so combined its 260 which is fine for your tank .
Vy Nguyen ka
opi
Vy Nguyen h
killer video pal, thanks for sharing friend enjoyed your video.
Cheers Tank Addiction :)
Hi Mark Anita again I am about to do the second week water change do I do exactly the same again, or is it just the 90% water change, not having to add more biofilm many thanks Anita 👍🏻
I did 4 90% water changes on this because it was the old type of amazonia ,,now I a using shrimp king soil and there is no ammonia and huge water changes are not needed.
What is the best setup for a hang on the back mechanical filter. Using a Fluval hang on back. What filter media should I use.
fine meshed sponge filter on the intake and something like seachem matrix in the compartment, if you cant get that you can use lava rockk too :)
@@MarksShrimpTanks Would a Seachem Purigen pack work in a hang on back filter (Fluval).
As usual Mark top notch video manie ,im settin up a tank the noo ,for xtals im buying but dont want to get them till everything spot on,thanks to your vids.
Thanks for watching !
Hi. What kind of moss is that? Its so pretty and fluffy. Do you sell them?
Its called subwassertang, I used to sell it but its winter here in Norway now. everything freezes.
Thanks so much. I have learned a lot.
Hey Mark, Love your channel!! I'm thinking of changing from tapwater in Neo thank to Ro water. Do you think that it is safe after using tapwater for 3 months? Thx so much for all the videos, you inspired me a lot.
Hello Glen ,Your question just depends on what is your tap water, I know from testing mines I could use it if I wanted to for all my tanks because my tap water is very clean/soft and has a low tds of just 50ppm .. the risk is a few times a year we get pipe breaks in the line and when they fix it they flush the line with chemicals to kill bacteria ..I dont want that near my tanks so thats why I use RO.
Thx, for the answer. The guy in the store told me that i dont need a tds meter. I know better now, so i ordered one. He also said that he don't belief in Ro water, so i dont go their anymore. :-) Thx again!!
You know Glen when I first started I thought the same thing but now we know different .
Marks Shrimp Tanks i
Excellent video Mark!
Thank you.
Hi Mark, me again.
I just ordered my crystal red shrimp and they should arrive 1/2 weeks to go in my first 12 gallon shrimp tank (I do have experience with fish year back though.) Things have been going well, I've been cycling my tank for over a month. PH @ 6.5 just got my RO setup up and running, going to switch over to shrimp salts and ro water next water change. My dwarf hair grass was doing well. I have like one or two detritus worms, at first it was a scare till I did research and found that the worms were harmless... But then a few days later I found scuds! I removed two but saw another I wasn't able to catch just yet.
What should I do?! So far I removed all the plants I put in and put them in a bowl and read about a 3% bleach quarantine solution for the plants.
I also heard that if I get some neon tetras they will eat the scuds in the tank. I've also heard that vacuuming the gravel can remove them. I would hate to start completely over since my shrimp need a stable aquarium to be in once them arrive. Will they be ok with the scuds?
My goal is to eventually breed shrimp, I currently have a 5 gallon that I just setup but hasn't started cycling. I was hoping I could keep them in there if I cant get the acid problem under control.
yes not much you can do one you get scuds apart from reduced feeding and maybe adding something like a small guppy.
@@MarksShrimpTanks Is it safe to keep my new shrimp in there till I can get another tank setup, then I just be very careful moving them over?
Nice job Mark!Great Video.....👍🏻👍🏻
Cheers:)
Why paint the back of the tank black
nice set up video mark , i skipped the beginning by accident and i thought you had started keeping plastic bags . peace mr Einstein. carl uk.
lol The bag didnt make it unfortunately lol
Marks Shrimp Tanks Oh No! poor poor bag. it's now in bag heaven.
I wish I could see your setups in person Mark! You have really come a long way and I worked through your channel yesterday almost all day. I am obsessed with discus, and starting up with shrimp. I just wish I could have seen your setup in person. Keep it up Mark. Much love from South Africa!!
how you grow that stuff in your glass? please explain. is it biozyme?
Its the excessive nutrients in the soil when you first start a tank ,this is why you have to cycle them .
i dont seem to able to do that =/
Evil Shrimp maybe you dont have enough light ?
im using finnex 24/7 on my 5 gallon
So, I may have missed this, but do you add anything like ammonia to the tank so the cycle progresses and stays cycled? Or do you simply add the bacteria powder and squeeze the established filter sponge into the tank and let things progress as it would?
No I dont add anything ,The substrate is full of fertilizer and I think they old type used to contain ammonia but I am not sure this one does..I do squeeze old sponges in to speed things up :)
Thank you, Mark. I have another question that came up. I'm documenting my progress on a forum I'm a part of, and they asked why I would do a water change on an aquarium that's going through a fishless cycle. Admittingly, I'm not one to cycle tanks since I keep established filters on hand so I don't have to wait a month to get stock, but with shrimp I want an established aquarium with biofilm - and that means cycling properly. What are your thoughts on this, being what is your reason for changing the water every week? I was told you shouldn't change water until nitrites/nitrates become too high and you do a wc to bring the numbers down. However, I'd like to follow your vid to the letter since you know what you're doing and admittedly I am a bit hesitant to get crystal shrimp (lol...), but I also don't want to blindly follow something when I'm not certain it's necessary or the mindset behind it. Hope I'm making sense. Thanks again!
Great question,The main reason is to reduce Ammonia and Nitrates to an acceptable level as soon as possible to promote lots of micro-fauna in the tank.
Micro-fauna is a food source for Shrimp and without it baby shrimp as an example will struggle.
Its also a great indicator on tank health so I like to see lots of it :)
Hi mark i love shrimps i have a aquarium already but it is Apistogramma focussed So i need a another tank for them but Wich tank size should i get ? I never had shrimps before
I think anything around 60 liters is fine ,thanks for watching :)
Marks Shrimp Tanks thanks for your advice your video's are amazing !! You have earned a sub 👍🏻👍🏻
Dylanke, thanks for subscribing!
Hello again! I think I found the culprit of what went wrong... long story short, it was most likely the driftwood I found while hiking that was poisoning the water. After visiting a new LFS yesterday I showed him a picture of my tank and he pointed out that the trees around here are toxic.
Anyways, immediately removed it, and noticed the water became a lot clearer. GH and KH also went down by several points. Hopefully this will be the end of my nightmare!!
What type of wood was it ? what type of tress were around where you found it ?
I don't know the scientific name of it, but it's those kind of trees that remains green during winter. Their leaves are needle-like. I live in the Seattle, Washingon area in USA.
Anyways, I never really "disinfected" it. I was naive to think that because I found it in a stream from a river that feeds from the mountains, it would be pure enough. When I brought it home, I just merely washed it with tap water then stuck it into the tank.
When I nuked the 10 gallon tank a few months ago, I sundried the bark, but didn't think much of it. I guess there were chemicals or whatever inside the wood that continued to seep into the tank when I remade my tank.
But yes, lesson learned, I will never add any external sources into the tank =/ Expensive lesson :(
ah pine trees,yeah the stuff in them is toxic,its actually use in some anti freeze products here in Norway .
Great information for this setup
Thank you my friend ,bit of a long video but hey ho if people want to watch it all they can :D
Hi Mark, do I have to use RO DI or RO water is fine
I use just RO on its own
do you remineralize your RO water with shrimp salt or do you mix RO + tap to get TDS=150ppm?
RO and Salty Shrimp my man.
Omg dude their so much steps....lol have a great day
I have a doubt a great admirer of your channel, that you used substratum in this aquarium, graces and congratulations for your channel, excuse my English, saludos desde México
Your English is fine Sergio so dont worry about than ..and thank you :)
do you have to add the purigen or is it just your preference to do it?
Just preference,you dont have to use it .
ok thanks for the help :)