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Natalia's Reefbowlocalypse: all good


natalia_la_loca

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I have never topped off after the first few months. Between the lid and the weekly 50-75% water changes if the salinity's rising it's doing so at an imperceptibly slow rate. Always tests out at 1.018.

 

I do aerate the water a lot at weekly change time, though. I use exam swabs to wipe away the uneaten film algae that the shrimp haven't gotten, stir up the detritus & shrimp castings from the bottom and then siphon out about half the water or until the sandbed is clean. Then drip in the new water over an hour or so (hey, it's at work so I've got the time ;) ).

 

Looking back over tank notes it looks like I set this up in early 2013... as I said earlier, no breeding but I still have the original 11 shrimp alive & kicking. Hmmmm... definitely feeling the urge to upgrade their home after reading through this thread.

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natalia_la_loca

I have never topped off after the first few months. Between the lid and the weekly 50-75% water changes if the salinity's rising it's doing so at an imperceptibly slow rate. Always tests out at 1.018.

 

I do aerate the water a lot at weekly change time, though. I use exam swabs to wipe away the uneaten film algae that the shrimp haven't gotten, stir up the detritus & shrimp castings from the bottom and then siphon out about half the water or until the sandbed is clean. Then drip in the new water over an hour or so (hey, it's at work so I've got the time ;) ).

 

Looking back over tank notes it looks like I set this up in early 2013... as I said earlier, no breeding but I still have the original 11 shrimp alive & kicking. Hmmmm... definitely feeling the urge to upgrade their home after reading through this thread.

I get the impression that people on the Petshrimp forum are doing a lot less maintenance and nutrient export than you're doing. Almost none at all in fact, and their shrimp are actively breeding even in half gallon systems. it almost seems like the less intervention the better. Do you feed them a lot?

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It's likely a combination platter of reasons:

 

1. The hermit & anemone need food much more frequently than the biofilm-scraping shrimp do. So they get fed a pellet or two every Monday/Thursday (I'm not there on weekends, God willing and Servers behaving). The more frequent feeding impacts water quality - it gets really, really yellow if I slack off for more than a couple weeks.

 

2. I putter with my reef tank - that's where my reflexes are and the only tank I've ever managed to keep running for an appreciable period of time. Shrimp Pit gets the overspill of that attention. ;)

 

3. A few other sites point out that in smaller water volumes (i.e. less than a 1/2 gallon) the shrimp's breeding may slow down or simply not happen. Mine is actually a little shy of 2 liters. I misspoke about a page back, I think.

 

4. These shrimp were all babies when I got them - split the initial order with a coworker who scooped out his ten shrimp before me. He's not used to tiny things so there was a bit of a sorting process. His died in the first couple days (copper lid on his selected tank, neither of us thought about it until they started popcorning and dying). Not too upset about getting the smaller ones - all have grown steadily and I was able to save one lone survivor out of his failed pico. But I have no idea how long it will be before they mature enough to reproduce.

 

I have a good mix of females that get saddled on a routine basis and at least three males... not going to get greedy until they have a bigger home to, erm "play" in.

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natalia_la_loca

Ah, that makes sense :) I was thinking the majano and hermit would need more external food sources than the shrimp do. I'm going to try the bare bones approach for now and see see how it goes.

 

It gets a little bit of dappled sunlight in its current location...I'll have to keep an eye on the temp to make sure it doesn't overheat.

25002827535_dbf24bc078_z_d.jpg

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natalia_la_loca

Scored a perfect lid for the shrimp bowl :wub: I'll probably still remove it for photos, but it keeps evaporation down and looks a lot nicer than a pane of glass :)

 

24656382859_b0c5a116ab_z_d.jpg

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Scored a perfect lid for the shrimp bowl :wub: I'll probably still remove it for photos, but it keeps evaporation down and looks a lot nicer than a pane of glass :)

 

24656382859_b0c5a116ab_z_d.jpg

 

 

If you did a hot glue circle around the lid it would make an almost perfect seal if thats what you're after!

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natalia_la_loca

If you did a hot glue circle around the lid it would make an almost perfect seal if thats what you're after!

 

Thanks :flower: I don't think I need a perfect seal, although it might come in handy when we refinish the floors this summer...

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natalia_la_loca

Love your shrimp bowl. This is my very simple cherry shrimp vase.

 

Thank you :flower: Your vase looks really neat. I've thought about setting up something like that...I'm really interested in super-simple planted tanks. How long have you had it set up? What kind of maintenance do you do, are the shrimp breeding in there?

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About 2 months with 4 cherry shrimp. Got them from petco. It's a piece of peace Lilly I had from from grandfather's funeral. I have a rigid airline with air valve and small airpump. I just crank up the air to get everything suspended. Then use a bit bigger airline to siphon out some water. Turn air back down to a bubble a second or so. And top off with some rodi or bottled water. I keep a hug handy for this. Literally takes 3 minutes or so. This is every other week.

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Scored a perfect lid for the shrimp bowl :wub: I'll probably still remove it for photos, but it keeps evaporation down and looks a lot nicer than a pane of glass :)

 

24656382859_b0c5a116ab_z_d.jpg

That really is perfect!
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natalia_la_loca

So all this shrimp bowling--seeing how small and simple and lovely it is--has made me think more about setting up a low-tech pico. I'm so intrigued by Brandon's reefbowl, Maritza the Vase Reef, and Reefjar's, um, reef jar.

 

I'm not going to jump into a second new project so soon after selling my tanks, but my mind keeps turning this over and over.

 

I'd really like something with a round and organic shape...a sphere like the shrimp bowl, or a totally odd shape like one of the new Cobalt Decoria blown-glass tanks:

 

decoria.jpg

 

I can't believe I'm obsessing about this already.

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natalia_la_loca

 

 

amazing ive never seen those before, link now on favs

payday soon, the curved one up top calling

There are several that I like, I would have trouble choosing. Im not sure where these are available for sale though.

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Supposedly Volcano shrimp do better in round containers. Well fed and happy they'll swim along the circular path for hours on end.

 

Given their native habitat I suspect they'd do fine in anything that can hold water. :) Those Cobalt containers look awesome and yet really familliar, but I can't place where I've seen them.

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I've never seen those Cobalt Decoria tanks for sale anywhere, though I really drooled over them when they were featured on ReefBuilders last year.

 

11043409_964221370254807_995834376540494

 

Alternatively there is the Aruliden fish bowl. Marine Depot used to carry them, but I don't see them there anymore. Can still find them elsewhere on the web. Pricey though.

glasscape_project_1%20%286%29.png

 

What I found that was really cool though was these molten glass bowls. Kinda thinking about one of these in my office with these cool volcano shrimp. But think about it as a pico! No I"m not an enabler at all!

71gedb0tRBL._SL1401_.jpg

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natalia_la_loca

Ah, then my shrimp bowl should be perfect :) it's as round as the day is long.

 

The Cobalt containers were first announced last May, I think, but I haven't seen them for sale anywhere. Granted, I haven't looked around all that much...

OMG Mirya I was totally drooling over those molten glass bowls too!!!

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I actually got my mom one of those molten glass bowls a couple years ago as a gift. They are cool but really hold very little water - even the largest may only hold about a quart.

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  • natalia_la_loca changed the title to Natalia's Reefbowlocalypse: all good

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