Garage tank

[jasper5150]

Ok. I have a 10 gallon that I picked up last year. Been sitting in my garage collecting dust. My main 20 gallon is over run by cherry shrimp. My plan is to move 50 or 60 over to the garage tank so they can keep breeding and help to support this tanks existence. 
The problem is my garage is not heated.  It’s insulated but is still cold. My thought is to enclose it with rigid foam insulation and use a higher powered heater, 200W, to keep the temp where it needs to be (pictures included). Is this too much?
As of today, doing a leak check of the tank. Added 8 gallons of water and marked the water line with removable ink. In the interim, created the enclosure of rigid foam and put together the sponge filter setup. Also have a large clump of Java moss to put in here once I start the cycle.

I had an extra large ACO sponge filter laying around. Only thing is it’s big for the tank. So, I modified it to a shorter version. 
water and garage temp at 47 degrees. The main door doesn’t get opened often so hopefully the temp will go up. 
That’s about it for today. Will give a progress report tomorrow!
 

Edited February 21 by jasper5150
Tried to rotate photos

[TheSwissAquarist]

Nice! What kind of cherry shrimp are they? (Colour) 

[jasper5150]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:31 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Nice! What kind of cherry shrimp are they? (Colour) 

Just your standard cherries. I would like to get them to the point where they are a deep red which means I need to cull them out. New to doing that so going to be a big learning curve. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 2/18/2023 at 6:02 PM, jasper5150 said:

Just your standard cherries. I would like to get them to the point where they are a deep red which means I need to cull them out. New to doing that so going to be a big learning curve. 

Culling them by selling the “OK” ones and by putting the dirty brown shrimp into your community tank? 

[jasper5150]

Probably sell OK ones and give away the  brown guys. Want to keep a good colony of reds in my community? Have been selling off some from the community tank as a mixed “grade”. 

[jasper5150]

The tank has been running for a couple days and definitely no leaks. Took it about three hours to go from 46 degrees up to 77 degrees. The foam may be helping to retain heat. Bought a glass lid and put that on today. Also bought a large dump of Java moss the local fish shop was selling. It’s full of the good stuff from whatever tank it was in. Should help get the cycle going. Want to use this as a QT before I add my shrimp. Wondering if the Maracyn will kill off any BB that would be growing? 
I’ll add a photo later. Have my furry friend relaxing on my lap at the moment. 🐈

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/20/2023 at 7:50 PM, jasper5150 said:

I’ll add a photo later. Have my furry friend relaxing on my lap at the moment. 🐈

pls post a dog picture. 🥺🙏

[jasper5150]

Sorry, no dogs in my house.  Sometimes our cat thinks he is a dog

[jasper5150]

If I’m going to make it QT first, what are thoughts on bare bottom or substrate?

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/20/2023 at 8:01 PM, jasper5150 said:

Sorry, no dogs in my house.  Sometimes our cat thinks he is a dog

fine cat picture please?

On 2/20/2023 at 8:58 PM, jasper5150 said:

If I’m going to make it QT first, what are thoughts on bare bottom or substrate?

what fish will you be QTing? for something like corydoras a layer of sand is best, but something like a Neon Tetra wont care.

[jasper5150]

I would like to add 4 or 5 more Cherry barbs to my 20 gallon but feel they may predate my shrimp. Even though they have quite a bit of plant cover. Also would like to add more cories one add a group of endlers to the 20. Tough decisions

[Chris]

I personally feel that for a QT barebottom is best. Easier to keep after waste on the bottom of the tank and makes maintenance a little easier in what are typically new, non-planted extremely freshly cycled (and sometimes slightly overstocked) QT tanks. 

Its a bit more common in the reefing world, I think, but I've seen some people keep their QTs set up like normal tanks (complete with plants, substrate, decor, snails, etc) and just moving fish in and out. Makes them harder to catch and, if they're shy, it makes them hard to observe, but provides a more natural environment that's more stable (due to the plants consuming nitrogen and the higher surface area for bacteria to live on), and is a bit easier on the eyes. 

I think going with either one or the other is best - if you're going to go barebottom, keep it nice and clean. If you set it up like a normal tank, you can probably relax maintenance more. 

Edited February 21 by Chris

[jasper5150]

Thanks @Chris.  So far, the tank is just doing its thing on my work bench in the garage. I will leave it bare bottom and keep the Java moss in it.  Also have an old decoration I’ll add for more hiding and comfort during QT.  
I have yet to use Ich-X but have heard it stains the silicone.  Any first hand experience? Not a big deal but was curious. I will check the parameters today.  Curiosity is creeping in.  

On 2/21/2023 at 3:10 AM, Theplatymaster said:

fine cat picture please?

what fish will you be QTing? for something like corydoras a layer of sand is best, but something like a Neon Tetra wont care.

I would like to add more cories. I think they are too cute. I have some Pygmy cories in my 6 gallon.  They seem to be doing good. Been in there for a few months with a lone guppy and more cherry shrimp

[Chris]

I've definitely had ich-X stain silicone, so most of my tanks have black silicone these days to avoid that issue. I've got two tanks with clear silicone, and both had ich-X in them years ago - the silicone is still a bit blue, but not bad. Right after use, it's pretty noticeable. 

[jasper5150]

Tested the water in this tank yesterday.  With a big clump of java moss from the local fish store, hopefully full of BB, my thoughts it wouldn't take long to do its thing.  This is what I found out:

ammonia  0

Nitrite  0

Nitrate  a little more than 0

Great!! My mind has been swirling on what to QT before converting to a shrimp grow out tank.  Pygmy cories, brilliant rasboras, maybe some neon tetras.  All would be going to the 20 gallon high tank.  While doing all this, I have a bucket of water that I had sucked out of the 20 gallon tank sitting in the garage.  Still has some mulm in it from the light gravel vac I did.  I looked inside and I noticed some trails of sorts in the mulm.  Figured it was snail trails from some that may have been sucked up.  Nope!  I found a lone cherry shrimp hanging out in this bucket of 4 day old tank water, sitting in a cold garage, still alive!  Mind blown! I grabbed my instant read thermometer and tested the temp of the bucket water.  This stuff was at 46 degrees.  This shrimp is a strong little dude.  I scooped up some of the water in a plastic container and netted the survivor.  Took it over to the tank and set up a drip line to slowly get this guy acclimated to the water and to raise the temp slowly.  After an hour the temp reached close to 60 and I floated the container in the tank to get the water up to tank temp, 77 degrees.  Poured dude and the water in the tank.  Dropped in a food pellet and watched for a few minutes.  He immediately went to the sponge filter to check it out.  Before I turned in for the night, he was cruising all over the tank.  I'm hoping he makes it.  What a crazy story.  I now know how hardy these little guys are.

Before I added the shrimp to the tank, I did open and pour in the two bags of Betta bio active gravel that were in the tank staying nice and warm.  Only covers about a third of the bottom, which is fine.  Might get some light colored sand to put on the other side as a contrast so I can see the shrimp.

On 2/21/2023 at 3:10 AM, Theplatymaster said:

fine cat picture please?

what fish will you be QTing? for something like corydoras a layer of sand is best, but something like a Neon Tetra wont care.

 

Here is my furry friend 

 

 

 

[jasper5150]

Have been busy getting this tank all set up to be a dedicated red cherry shrimp breeding tank.  Purchased some live java moss, the clump in the tank was very much not alive, micro sword, hornwort and some stem plants.  Sand substrate was added.  No matter how much you rinse this stuff, it leaves the water cloudy.  Had some rocks I purchased last year but haven't used. Glued the java moss to some.  Also added 5 ramshorn snails.  I think these guys are cool.  I know they will breed and multiply but as long as I keep the excess food levels low, they should maintain a proper population.  Last addition was a finer sponge filter to remove those suspended particles the course filter can not catch.  Best part being it is the same size inside diameter as the ACO sponges and the center core of the plastic piece snaps right to the ACO one!  Now I can have the best of both worlds in the same space.  Put the finer sponge material on the top so I can just remove it easier to clean since it will need to be done more often. 

 

The rescue shrimp is doing good.  Has molted since being put in here.  I did add a Wonder Shell but it had molted before adding this.  There are two smaller shrimp in this as well.  They were found when doing a sponge squeeze from the 20 gallon.  I haven't seen them but with all the new hiding spots, hoping they are still going strong.

Tested the water after doing the set up. Ended up with a 0/0/0.  Gh and Kh were a little lower than the other tank along with the Ph.  Will check it again in a couple days. 

 

 

[jasper5150]

Well, going to hold off on the cherry shrimp. Had the opportunity to get a few endlers. They are now in this tank running through the Med Trio quarantine. Hoping they work out because I would love to have them in the 20 gallon. Also a couple shrimp stowaways. The ratio of male to female is off. Way more males than females. Hope that doesn’t cause an issue.