Shrimp Tank Idea

Some of the rarer strains of bee shrimp in the UK will go for around £50 each.
 
I'd never consider paying that personally.  I'm just happy that I have one SSS grade CRS.

 
I'd never consider paying that personally.  I'm just happy that I have one SSS grade CRS

Click to expand...

 
Next time I go visit my friend who lives about 2 hours drive from me I will get a video of his six foot shrimp tank.
 
He has well over 500 Crystal Red Shrimp, We call it his million dollar tank,  He started with 20.

Blimey.  There is indeed a fair few quids worth in there.  That must be absolutely spectacular.
 
I'd honestly never considered using a tank that large for CRS as for one I thought they'd get lost in there and two I'd not want to produce that much RO

Okay , I have the water stats.
 
PH - 7.3
Nitrite - .25
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - .25
KH - 4
GH - 5
Phosphates - between 0 and 2.5
 
Obviously the Ammonia and Nitrite level will change after it is cycled and ready for habitation. But this is what it is at this point.   So, other than the ammonia and nitrite levels, which will change after it is cycled, will this work for shrimp?

Here are pics of what will soon be my shrimp tank. 
 
In the second pic, those little plants in the front and the one in the back corner, were pieces that were broken off my water wistera when I planted it.  I stuck them in the sand and they actually started to grow!

Okay, since my tank is on its way to being cycled...still has a way to go but it is getting there....I need to know, when it is cycled I know I could add fish, so is it alright to add shrimp right away?  It has been up and going for quite sometime now and is even getting a minor diatom bloom. I know this is normal with new tank set ups, so I am not worried about it. I had it in my 55 when I first set it up.
 
So will it be established enough to add shrimp right away, the way you could fish?   It has a lot of plants and by the time it is cycled the small ones will probably be getting big and the bigger one even bigger. I have some cholla wood, and I think I am ready to go.  Any thing else I need to have in there prior to shrimp?
 
 
And also, I have been dosing the tank with liquid C02. I had a bottle and I thought I would use it up on getting these plants to grow with no livestock in the tank. I also have some root tabs in there and I have been using the Flourish Comprehensive in it.   I don't plan on using the liquid C02 after I get shrimp. Can I use the other for the plants or is this a bad idea?   

I don't think I can use the flourish as copper is a bad thing right? Wrong?  Are the root tabs okay? I threw away the package but I bet they have copper in them as well.
 
Anyone use either of these products and not have a problem with shrimp?

You CAN stock the tank with hardy shrimps such as Red Cherry Shrimps and see how it goes, start off with a small number of them, say 6 or 8. 
 
I usually recommend a established tank thats been up and running for at least 3 months before adding shrimps, but of course this is not always feasible.
 
Personally I did add amano shrimps into a new tank thats was just cycled, theyre fine BUT i did have nitrate issues and had to do quite a few water changes to keep the levels down. Now after a few months, tank has settled somewhat and shrimps are fine, even getting berried amano shrimp as well.
 
It helps to know what signs to look out for if the shrimps are not happy, rushing around the tank, looking for 'safe' spots or even trying to climb out of the tank (thats in extreme cases) is a sure sign they are not happy in the water for whatever reasons.
 
Copper is not good for shrimps at all, or for snails either actually. Too much copper wlll likely kill them 
Having said that, shrimps and snails actually need a tiny trace amount, really minutae amount of copper for normal body growth.
 
Liquid co2 is not really recommended, personally have not used it myself, but i do add fertilisers to all my tanks and not had any issues but I do check the ingredients if there is anything potenially harmful such as copper or metals.
 
Root tabs tends to be fine, as these stay under the substrate and get consumed by the plants themselves, I use seachem flourish root tabs in all tanks btw and all my tanks have shrimps. As long as you do not disturb the substrate or move plants around too much thus exposing the root tab and debris intot he water column, should be fine.

Okay thanks!  I don't plan on using the liquid C02 when I have livestock in the tank. I had gotten it and then decided against using it in my 55 with my fish.  So I decided to use it up and hopefully help out the new plants at the start. But when it is gone, or when I put shrimp in, I will not use it anymore.  I will also stop using the Flourish liquid as it does have copper in it.  
 
It is good to know about the copper and snails.  I have to snails in my 55 and I have just started using the Flourish Comprehensive.  They don't seem to be effected by it. But you never know. I did use the root tabs in the 55 also. So maybe I guess I can go back to using what I was using before. I don't want to hurt the snails. I love watching them. For snails, they move pretty fast. LOL
 
I have been reading ( google is full of stuff lol ) that  Flourish Comprehensive is okay but the Excel is not okay.   Anyone have any thoughts on that?