Tihshho

Thanks! When it comes to racks/rooms the there are a lot of things to consider in the setup besides getting the tanks, lights, filtration, scape and stocking. One key thing I've learned time and time again over the years is power is something to factor as a priority. Know your homes electrical setup in terms of what rooms go to what breaker. From there you need to then look at the breaker to find out what your power limitations are. To most, plugging in things are the norm. Most don't have an engineering background and don't find these things out until there are problems. Once you've invested into a tank rack or room without planning around power, you've put yourself into a predicament. The next thing to figure out is water. In this case it's two parts, source and drain. As we all learn over time hauling buckets gets old, so having reasonable proximity to source and drain make a major difference in terms of optimizing maintenance. The easier we can make our work flow, the easier it is to not let out tanks go in terms of skipping water changes or doing them less frequently. Why do I bring this up in terms of your filtration system comment? Well, if we set our fish racks/rooms up to have easier means of water changes, we don't need to invest heavily into filtration systems that most see as integration of multiple tanks to a filtration subsystem for ease. I'll get into filtration more later. Common sump systems exist successfully for two purposes and their spectrum of success varies as well as associated risk; purpose 1 retail or temporary holding (mainly vendors and wholesalers as they have should have allocated appropriate funds to implement this) and purpose 2 the hobbyist has the appropriate funds to set this up after accessing risks with a linked system. To be brief on risks consider the following to be variables that need to be considered: Species water requirements - linked systems will share the same parameters and limit you on what you can keep with more tanks linked. If you're say a diehard line bred guppy fanatic, this might not be an issue if that's all you're keeping. If you're looking to keep various species from different climates or water types then you have a limiting factor which means either tearing down a system you invested into or adding more tanks off the system while leaving your current systems with limited stock. Hardware redundancy - Sure a linked sump setup is great, but what happens when your return pump dies or fails? What happens when you have a heater go that was spec'd for the system? Have you purchased and tested backup pieces of hardware at the same time to plan for immediate replacement when they fail? Flow - With a central system each system would have equal flow if plumbed correctly. If your setup requires additional flow for a species or to assist in solid waste to be suspended to be pulled into the overflow for the sump to handle in between mainteanance how are you handling this? For most it's a powerhead or pump and that just adds an unexepected plug and power drain to your capped circuit. Pathogens - As I mentioned before this is a big thing to not overlook. A breakout in one tank and not sharing hardware prevents the spread of disease, parasites and pathogens. When you have systems linked you risk the introduction to everything in that system and have to mitigate this with additional particulate filtration and inline UV spec'd to the GPH of your return pump. Also, when it comes to medicating you're not longer treating a 40 or 20 gallon tank and have to now factor the additional tank volume as well as the water volume in the sump and pipes of the system and that can be a massive cost depending on the medication. Risking multiple tanks to contamination would be my sole reason not to recommend a shared filtration system with cirulated water. Over the years I've toyed with personal sump setups for breeding projects and well... there was too much risk and issues I ran into that could not justify beefing up or rebuilding the sump setup when I found a technical issue I overlooked. That said, I'm not saying it cannot be done, you just have to look at the big picture and plan before you go down this path. If you don't more and more things will come up with additional unexpected costs. In terms of heating, this has always been a challenge for me with a room full of tanks. I agree, heaters are a major power drain and load concern for a circuit when there are a series of tanks requiring different temps and heater sizes. I've tried room heating, individual tank heating, and a hybrid of the two. The best solution IME has been the hybrid approach which I'm currently working on reimplementing in my room soon. Having a room heater set to a specific temp (so tanks do not drop below a specific temperature) allows me to keep numerous species without the need of an in-tank heater being the sole source of heat. If you plan on doing this, make sure the room this is being setup in is well insulated otherwise power from a single room heater might add up as much as multiple tank heaters due to run times. You will also need to make sure the area of the room has adequate internal flow in the room to keep temperatures stable and consistent. Not putting a circulating fan in the room means there will be hot spots and tanks closer to the heater will always be the warmest than those further away. In the hybrid method, keeping the room at 75-77 means that most species I keep are ok without additional heat. For species or tanks that do (be it warmer water species, species that require temp fluxes for spawning, and most important QT) I keep heaters in those tanks to raise the temps of those tanks specifically. When it comes to heating, the source isn't the only factor in this, but containing the heat within the tank is something you also need to consider. As I said before, a well insulated room is a great start. On-top of that glass lids are my go-to for my tanks to keep the temps as stable as possible. In addition to that, having a dedicated room where there isn't a lot of external drafts (from HVAC vents for example or traffic from exterior doors opening and closing) and a door to the room allow the room not to go through fluxes in temperature. As for filtration, I've done it all. For many years I wore the rose tinted glasses of power filters were the way to go. The flow was there, the media was there, and the water clarity was there. I'm the third generation of my family in this hobby and was raised on box and sponge filters being the defacto standard. When I got into the hobby I hated the look of bulky hardware in a tank as well as how it just never clicked for me on how it was enough. I wish the realization hit me sooner as well as how air filtration works, but central air is the way to go when you have multiple tanks. Air isn't just for filtration, but you use it for additional flow, fry boxes, hatching brine, and so many more things in the room. Replacing something that could run from an outlet with a single airline will change your life in this hobby. I found that once I spent more time making my fish room functional and less about the form I had more success with various species as well as made my time of doing maintenance drop drastically. Hobbyists with a fishroom don't mind the work in most cases, but when you're spending more time cleaning and less time appreciating what you're keeping you get lost in the noise of maintenance. Take a step back from your current plans and ask yourself what you're after in terms of your setup. Are you looking to have display tanks? Are you looking for species tanks for breeding and rearing? Sure you can do both in the same tank but there will be a compromise in your success leaning one way over the other. A functional tank doesn't have to look ugly, but if you're looking to focus on breeding focus on the fish, not the aesthetics of the hardware in the tank. Set yourself up for success with the variables you have in place in terms of space, budget, electrical, and then apply those to your implementation. Making my fishroom functional means I can spend more time enjoying the fish and inverts I keep and less time doing intensive maintenance. It also made it easier to have one nice display tank where I put in additional effort rather than trying to put that same level of effort into an entire room full of tanks. Hope this was some food for thought 🙂

The Chihiros line has been popular for a while, with your experience with the 2's and the price for the pro's not being tooooo bad I just made the jump for the pro's to see how they will work out. The tuning for the pros seem to have much more options and balance to get even more to make reds and greens pop at the same time. The 2's were a game changer in the lighting world, I think the Pro's just might be offering a weeee bit more, but for the price you're right, the 2's might just be a good option. I'll report on how the pro's turn out!

I ask because I'm about to make the move to get new lights and just saw the Pro's had dropped.

@Mmiller2001 any chances you're considering going from the WRGBII to the WRGBII Pro's?

One of my relatives over there has a pond full of Peacocks it was interesting to see them from a top down view rather than your normal aquarium perspective.

I would do a drip acclimation over a few hours rather than the cup method. 1/4 - 1/8th cup of water added to bag water is decent volume to create a swing for inverts, or anything sensitive really. Do you have pictures of the tank? If shrimp are having issues molting then they are not getting a decent uptake in calcium, using a calcium based food like Dennerle mineral will solve that in terms of food uptake of nutrients. The GH and kH seem fine for water calcium content. I'm not a big fan of block style feeders, but that is just me, so I would recommend another shrimp specific food rather than a universal feeder block.

In terms of display, this isn't an issue as long as the peacocks have their own places to hide. If you're looking for this as a breeding setup, then I would recommend against it solely so that you could get the most success with spawning these species without putting stress on either of the parents as both of these species can/will raise their young and offspring. Once an apisto pair spawn, depending on the species, removing the female isn't the best idea as she tends to be the one to rear the eggs and fry. Some species more so need the male moved if the female is showing aggression protecting her young.

This is actually an interesting set of info for food for thought! I'll have to look into this more.

In my shrimp tanks I have mother pots of various crypts. Some are C. Miyoa, C. Undulata, and C. Becketti. I've got other crypts in other tanks that have shrimp, but they are not shrimp specific tanks. As for moss, I'm going to give you a PSA, becareful. Moss is great for shrimp, they will benefit. In terms of Java Moss though, it gets out of hand and will cover everything. I've even had it adhere epiphytically to Crypt and Anubias leaves in the past. I do have some Christmas moss in my shrimp tanks, but just with duckweed, I thin it out multiple times a week. If I see a floating strand of it loose in the tank I pull it before it adheres somewhere and tries to take over. Some of the best mosses to keep with shrimp that are more managable are Susswassertang and Mini Pellia. I personally have Mini Pellia, but just not in my shrimp tanks.

Just to confirm, the only other inhabitants are the Neon's and the Mystery Snail correct? What size is the tank? In terms of slowly adding water to the bag/container you're acclimating the shrimp in, how long and how much water are you adding? Shrimp from a chain LFS (not a Mom & Pop brick and mortar) have the best transition with slow acclimation via dripping. I've spent hours dripping new shrimp before and with that had minimal to no losses. I generally get my shrimp from breeders or importers, so I always drip. Early on with keeping shrimp I tried shrimp from a LFS and had similar issues to what you describe. For your tap water data for copper. Did you send out a sample or is this information provided by your municiple water provider if you're on city water? I can't speak in experience for Mystery Snails, but I would think that any trace of copper in the water capable of killing shrimp would also be capable of killing snails. You mentioned you're also mainly feeding algae wafers and Hikari Shrimp Cuisine, have you tried other foods? Ideally something that is a calcium supplement so they are getting calcium via their diet as well as through the water column?

Experimenting is something I enjoy, but I figured I'd start with a baseline rather than starting from scratch. My main concern with a solar charged powerbank is two fold: Having it protected from the elements Allowing it to have adequate airflow for cooling and/or not overheating due to being stored in an enclosure that gets saturated with outdoor temps Going with a solar setup with a battery backup is pretty straight forward in terms of design, the issue is getting the design to work with spacial and environmental constraints. Most 'cheap' power banks that could run a USB pump generally get hot during charging and even some during discharge. Batteries generally hate to get heat saturated and generally die prematurely if not allowed adequate cooling. Batteries that handle larger heat soak generally increase on a base cost drastically, which would theoretically mean it would be 'cheaper' to get an exterior GFCI drop installed to handle power. At this point I think I'm more so focused on direct solar to cover circulation during the day, at night the temp drop should be adequate enough that additional flow for O2 isn't as dire.

Any neocardinia species is a great start for a shrimp tank. Starting with around 10-12 allows you to get a good gender ratio and prepare you for any die off just incase of any issues from either the source or due to transition to your water params. Ideally, if you can find them local go that route. Otherwise there are a ton of reliable online vendors to order shrimp through. Being you have hardwater, this will actually benefit you with neo's. Best thing to do is setup the tank and allow it to not only cycle, but become established with biofilm. Todo this and promote the best success, let the tank run for a few months prior to adding the shrimp. By a few months, I mean a few months post cycle. Lightly ghost feeding the tank or a weekly dose of BacterAE will get you where you need to be biofilm wise. IME to get the best yield for babies, be sure to have dense folliage as well as rockwork. Rock work IME is key to allow molting shrimp to hide. They tend to go between the gaps of my lava rock piles post molt rather than hide in dense mother crypts in the tank. Why? I'm not too sure, but it seems to work. In terms of filtration, over filtration with sponges have provided me the most success. Running dual sponges mean I can alternate cleaning them without impacting the tank too much. Not only that, but the additional surface area of dual sponges add a ton of area for biofilm for the shrimp to graze. In terms of feeding, outside of biofilm, be sure to get a quality food. Personally, I stick to the Dennerle Shrimp King line of foods. They have provided the most success for me and allow me to rotate options of foods throughout the week. If I notice an issue with color quality in offspring (even though I do cull) or have issues with molting, I'm able to offset the issues with offering the correct food while working on adjusting water params.

So with many of you doing tubbing, have any of you gone with a solar solution for either powering airpumps or pumps? I believe I've seen a few folks using solar fountains, but trying to see what everyone has used so far and had success with. The location of my tubs currently doesn't have access for power, and ideally I'd like to get some circulation to keep up with O2 levels on hot days. Tubs are placed where they get the least amount of direct sun during the day and get decent shading. Shade or not, when the summer starts to get in the upper 90's it's going to be a challenge to keep up with the O2 levels without some form of circulation.

Tractor Supply is a great source for totes, they generally are referred to as live stock troughs.

Well not a great update today. Sometime between last night and this morning something in the fishroom tripped a breaker and my heat system and air system were killed for an unknown amount of time. Came down to tanks that usually are in the high 70's or low 80's at 70 for the higher tanks and 68 for the lower tanks. For the shrimp and plants, everything was normal as I kept them in the mid 70's. Tanks with fish were a mix of OK and struggling. The 40 with the Daisy's, a school of Sterbai's and my lone Panda garra seemed fined and dandy. QT with the Koi Medaka's were fine. Ancistrus 40B was fine as well as the one 10 gallon rearing babies. The Apisto's were a little sluggish, but fins were open. Apistodoras seemed sluggish and struggling slightly. The main concern out of all the species were the Whiptails. All of them were panting at the bottom of the tank. The male who was guarding eggs had actually abandoned them. More so concerned about the parents over the eggs. The fry on the other hand went through and seemed to have a large loss between the first clutch and the second. Both breeder boxes lost around 30-40% of the fry... This is dissapointing. Spent a good bit of time today trying to figure out what tripped the breaker, and I'm not sure what it is yet. The only new electrical items I've added (replaced older items) were my new ACO heaters. Can't say for sure they are the cause, but I'm going to be checking on everything further later today.