Shrimp Tank Substrate Question

[Hollygirl]

I'm setting up a 6 gallon for shrimp only. I'm planning on either the blue pearl or yellow shrimp. I have a black background, and wanted to go with either black sand or Eco-complete which is black. I can't find either at any of the LFS around here or at Petsmart. I have a bag of black aquarium gravel (Top Fin brand). Will that be okay? Do the shrimp thrive best in any particular kind of substrate? For plants I plan on using vals, pennywort, hornwort, java moss, and a couple of crypts.

[H3D]

That will be fine. Keep in mind that the gravel you have is not really black, but white rocks painted black. The black paint will start coming off eventually. If your cool with that then it will be fine.

[pik01]

i don't think the shrimp have any preferences when it comes to substrate, it's more for your plants.

[Hollygirl]

I forgot about that dye on the gravel wearing off :( I have more searching to do for black sand or Eco-Complete.

[msjinkzd]

ask for tahitian moon sand, or flourite onyx it might yield you more results.

[Hollygirl]

ask for tahitian moon sand, or flourite onyx it might yield you more results.
Thanks!

[crimsonmoon]

at my lfs (the good one) a 20lb bag of eco complete is $10 cheaper than a 20lb bag of tahitan moon sand. if you can find those locally i would say there would be no competetion for what i would decide. the eco complete all the way :D but its really up to you. as msjinkzd has told me, the eco complete is great because it looks really natural (iti is a mixture of tiny gravel and sand, and everything in between) and i have to agree with her! it is great

[Hollygirl]

I use Eco-Complete in my 30 gallon and the 2 29's, and I love it. Problem is none of the LFS have any in stock. I agree that it looks the absolute best. I have to see if I can get it ordered. They have it at Drs. Foster and Smith online but I can imagine that with the shipping it would probably double the cost.

[crimsonmoon]

ouch. yeah that shipping will getchya. ive never tried tahitan moon sand, but im sure it would be pretty too, im not sure that i would be willing to fork out the shipping cash for eco complete, but then again, its going to be in your tank for a while....
good luck choosing! :)

[Hollygirl]

I don't want to be hasty - LOL! You're right I'll have to look at it for quite a while. Since this is my first shrimp tank I want to be able to see the little buggers!

[infopimp]

Some of the fancy-pants shrimp like CRS like low PH and special substrates like ADA Amazonia can help with this and your plants... but this isn't a requirement as far as I know for the shrimp you listed.

[pik01]

i have used both tbm sand and eco complete and I think the eco complete grows plants better but the black sand is soooo purrrdy! The thing about black sand, for better or worse depending on your maintenance habits, is that poop is very noticeable, especially when I feed kens veggie sticks, the poop almost glows green :lipssealedsmilie:

[Hollygirl]

i have used both tbm sand and eco complete and I think the eco complete grows plants better but the black sand is soooo purrrdy! The thing about black sand, for better or worse depending on your maintenance habits, is that poop is very noticeable, especially when I feed kens veggie sticks, the poop almost glows green :lipssealedsmilie:
That's good to know! Thanks!

I bought a shallow cave that is actually for reptiles that I plan on using in the tank. I was hoping to drop the food for the shrimp on top of the cave and it would act something like a dish. I use reptile dishes in my other two invert tanks and they work pretty well.

[pik01]

hey i use a feeding dish too :) It's a small glass dish thing I found at Micheal's. It's about the diameter of a shot glass only the glass is thicker and is only about half as high. Works great and it's so easy to clean hehe.

[Hollygirl]

A feeding dish with inverts is the only way to go! It doesn't allow you to never clean, but it sure makes tank maintenance easier. My first invert "dishes" were clay saucers.

[msjinkzd]

Another thing you could look into is 3m colorquartz (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ColorQuartz/HomePage/). You can find local distributors HERE (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ColorQuartz/HomePage/Products/Buy/). The T grade is really attractive, about the consistency of sand, but heavy and vaccable. Its sold in 50lb bags for around $22-25.

[Hollygirl]

I broke down and ordered Eco-Complete from Drs. Foster and Smith. My LFS sells the 20 pound bag for $35.00, and another LFS has it for $33.00. With the shipping at Drs. Foster and Smith I paid $35.00. Now I'm thinking I should maybe use a 10 gallon for my shrimp tank. LOL! My husband says if I can figure out where to put another 10 gallon no problem, but he gets to use the 6 gallon for a Betta.

[msjinkzd]

Your husband has brilliant ideas!!

[Hollygirl]

Your husband has brilliant ideas!!
We are both addicted!

[felixpaws]

I just ordered four bags of eco-complete for my planted tank, and the shipping was really cheap. I believe I ordered it from drs. foster & smith, also, but I could be wrong. A trick to try when ordering, is to fill your shopping cart with the stuff you need, then get to the checkout, and see how much shipping is. If you don't like the price, you can empty your cart, and look elsewhere. The eco works great for ghost shrimp, and the plants grow great. Since I set up my tank in January of this year, I've already had a batch of babies, and most are berried. Also, if you want you can mix the sand, and eco. The sand should sink to the bottom, though, so I don't know if it'd work. Gravel, and eco works, though.

[BreellaBlue87]

I hate the "Black" topfin stuff. It's painted with some kind of metallic grey and it wears off. I washed it 3 times before adding it to my tank, and it still rubbed off on my Corys, and it was all over the filter floss. I'm scared to disturb it half the time for fear it will turn my water metallic again...

so, long story short, if the bag isn't opened, return it.

[pik01]

topfin brand in general i've found to be subpar. I wouldn't even use their air pumps as door stops.

[crimsonmoon]

I wouldn't even use their air pumps as door stops.
:rofl:

[Hollygirl]

My Eco-Complete came in the other day so I'm going to use it in the tank. I've also decided to go with a 10 gallon rather than the 6 gallon. That 6 is just begging to house a Betta anyway. LOL!

[pik01]

sweet, can't wait to see the new setup :) I'm curious to see how the yellows or blue pearls will look on eco complete. Eventually I'm looking to get some yellows myself and I think I'll try them on black sand (still got about 15 pounds laying around after the 5.5g assassin tank)

[crimsonmoon]

woo hoo!!!! Im eager to see how it will look :D was the eco frozen?
and i hear ya on the betta, there's always room for one more! lol

[Hollygirl]

woo hoo!!!! Im eager to see how it will look :D was the eco frozen?
and i hear ya on the betta, there's always room for one more! lol
The Eco-Complete arrived just fine. I ordered from Drs. Foster and Smith and they double boxed the bag, with insulation between the two boxes. It was packaged with a lot of care. :) I have so many "toys" that I want to use for the shrimp that the 6 just wouldn't cut it. LOL!

[pik01]

ooh toys! feeding dishes? caves? logs? dw? Maybe a swing set?

[crimsonmoon]

Maybe a swing set?
ROFL pik you always crack me up lol
this tank is gonna be FLY!

[Hollygirl]

ooh toys! feeding dishes? caves? logs? dw? Maybe a swing set?
All kinds of stuff that I can't decide what to use. Then of course there will be the plants and the java moss. Disneyland for shrimp coming soon!

[crimsonmoon]

LOL!
i love it

[pik01]

you know I've toyed with the idea of having a "moss teepee" around a sponge filter. Like a moss wall but in a cone shape. Instead of smoke there would be bubbles coming out of the top (the same hole the airline would enter). The heater and the sponge filter are always the things that stick out the most to me, the most unnatural things in the tank. Stealth heaters are fairly easy to hide but sponge filters are just right in your face :(

[Hollygirl]

The Hydro filters are at least gray in color which is a plus. I've noticed in the Assassin tank the pond snails are all over it, so maybe the shrimp will enjoy it as well. I thought about trying to make it less obvious with planting vals in front of it.

[pik01]

i tried camouflaging it with plants, but I'm just no good at getting plants to grow lol. I have the Hydro filters but there's still the lift tube that screams "smoke stacks" to me =/ I call the corner where the heater and filter are placed the Industrial Corner of the tank.

[Hollygirl]

I saw some tank decor that was supposed to look like pipes. You could put those in and go for a complete industrial look - LOL! I find that the ramshorns like to crawl in that tube.

[pik01]

haha, the industrial look is not what im goin for >< And my rams also love to scoot around on the inside of those tubes. One even laid a clutch, which apparently hatched sometime in the last day: there are newborn rams still crawling around in there!

[Kashta]

Hey Pik, if the tubes bother you that much, wrap some netting around them and grow moss there.

[pik01]

Hmm, that's not a bad idea. If only I could get my moss mesh to fill in and thicken in weeks instead of months :(

[Kashta]

That is the problem. Patience, dear. :)

[pik01]

haha i'll openly admit to that one, but it's also that my low light setup means a moss wall will probably take 8+ months to even begin looking decent =/

[Kashta]

Okay.....so? Eight months from now, what are you going to be looking at instead? The same silly, obnoxious tubes you're staring at and grumbling at today. They're not going anywhere, you know that.

:duh:

You could also speed things along a little. Attach your moss to a pre-measured length of mesh and float it for a while. Scoot that around day by day so it won't shade too much below. It'll soak in a lot more light being so much closer to the surface and get established faster. It'll be fuzzy already in a month... and quite well filled in after two. Install it in place then after you won't care if the growth slows down a little. Besides, established moss grows faster than it does while it's still acclimating.

[pik01]

how dare you bring reason into this! :p

Hmm, floating would be perfect if only I didn't already have floating plants and 2 breeder traps already in my little 10g lol. I think I will do some moss stacks, though :)

Dang, that means I gotta get my hands on some more java moss...*watches his vow to cut back on spending fly out the window*

[Kashta]

Haha.. I love being a bad influence on people. ;)

[msjinkzd]

I cut the lift tubes down a bit. I also will arrange wood diagonally in front of them then anchor plants to the wood to camoflauge the sponge filter.