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possible new tank for me

Discussion in 'Aquatic Plants & Planted Tanks' started by manta975, Mar 24, 2011.

  1. manta975

    manta975 Thread Starter New Member

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    i was thinking of blowing about $150 for a fluval ebi set up for shrimp and plants.

    my set up i was thinking about would be all the standard stuff they give you except maybe the substrate to be better suited for plants and i will most likely buy an extra 13 watt cfl.

    That $110 for the extra light and the tank itself on amazon. and then spend about $30-$50 on plants and the shrimp

    for the species in the tank i was thinking of two types of set ups. One would be a dwarf orange crayfish and maybe a few cheep shrimp (as the will most likely eat a few of them).Or one with just shrimp and like 2-3 male endlers(will they fight even tho there is no female, will they peck at he shrimp?)

    As for plants i dont want to use co2 so anything needing lots of co2 is out but i will have pretty high light at 2.6 watts per gallon (2: 13 watt cfl bulbs on a 7.9 gallon tank) i would ideally have hair grass carpeting back left corner and have it come up about 2/3 the way to the front. some Anubis Nana(i believe they grow on rocks and wood) up in the front and then a some type of moss covering a piece of wood in the center and maybe some type of leafy plant on the wood too.

    From what i can tell all these but the hair grass are low-medium light plants and are fairly hardy.i am not sure if all these plants would need added co2 other than from the animals.

    If anything seems not right or you have some other plant suggestion that would be nice, and just tell me if this system seems like it would work.(would be willing to spend more but not enough for a co2 system)
     
    manta975, Mar 24, 2011
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  2. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Sounds nice, but way expensive!
    If I were you (which I'm not) I'd take the standard 10 gallon aquarium route or quite possibly something like these:
    http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/ ... 1301239749
    http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... d=11164161
    http://www.petstore.com/Tetra_10_Gallon ... KI-vi.html (I've seen these way cheaper on Ebay).

    why?
    A) it's cheaper
    B) the 10g route gives you much more room for a nice colony and a better working area for plants and room for a heater (if needed), and the "kits" come with led lighting
    C) more water = easier to keep stable
    D) If you wanted (which I know you don't) you could easily do a cheap diy or even storebought co2 such as the jungle labs fizz factory, heck at that small of a tank you could probably affordably do flourish line if even needed.
    E) more room for various filtration options, you could do a simple sponge or a standard filter with a prefilter over the intake.

    As for SUBSTRATE I'd do something to make the shrimp/crayfish pop...probably something like black eco-complete planted or quite possibly some black tahitian moon sand.


    ..just sayin.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Mar 25, 2011
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  3. manta975

    manta975 Thread Starter New Member

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    well i am going to stick with this tank. I am one of those people who when they want something only something much better will sway me to change lol.what would you say is the best black substrate for a planted tank? i hear lots of people like the eco complete and the Tahitian moon

    Also i am probably going to go the shrimp tank, with blue Perl shrimp and some type of bee shrimp(since they are different species and wont inter breed)
     
    manta975, Mar 25, 2011
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  4. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    No worries, if your a top of the line sorta person you may want to check out ada tanks--> US Distributor of Takashi Amano's line of products

    Eco-complete or tahitian moon...depends if you want fine grain like sand or a bit bigger like potting soil.

    eco-complete has extra stuff targeted at plants and NEITHER will muck with your water parameters or become murky when agitating (like when siphoning-partials)..and that's always a good thing!

    Caribbean Tahitian Moon Substrate Review

    and finally some shrimp stores in case you're interested:
    http://www.aquatic-store.com/en-us/dept_307.html
    http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/shrimp/blu ... shrimp.php
     
    MOD_Dawn, Mar 25, 2011
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  5. manta975

    manta975 Thread Starter New Member

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    not a top of the line when the price is outrageous lol but i generally get the best i can

    didn't know this but i already have the Tahitian moon it isn't called that on the bag i guess but the pictures on the forum post look exactly the same but it only come in like a 20lb bag where i am does eco complete come in a smaller size?
     
    manta975, Mar 25, 2011
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  6. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    no, the smallest you can get either in is a 20lb bag.
    and if it's tahitian moon the bag should say so..if it looks exactly the same I know theirs some sort of construction sand that's black that I've heard of people using too.
     
    MOD_Dawn, Mar 25, 2011
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  7. manta975

    manta975 Thread Starter New Member

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    i guess i will get another 20 lb bog of this stuf and put the extra in my 30 tall if there is enough if not in my 3 gallon. and i dont think so look at the pictures on that forum post you showed me maybe in small print somewhere it says that but not anywhere i noticed.
     
    manta975, Mar 26, 2011
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