I love my marine land hex 5. The only negative I could come up with is that it is really easy to scratch.
I'd just use the regular 5.5 gallon tanks (about $17) and use a desk clip lamp with a daylight CFL bulb. If you leave it uncovered, you can use a small piece of Manzanita wood and have it poke out of the top - I've always thought that looks cool!
I am in the process of a similar project, but in a 3gal long/bookshelf tank from Deep Blue (5B is the model). I'd love to see what you can come up with for your shrimp. I've been trying to convince my wife to get one of the glass craftstore bowls/cookie jars/trifle dishes to keep a betta in, but it'd work much better for a shrimp tank IMO.
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