Crazy Idea - Does It Have Any Mileage?

[CezzaXV]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post in the saltwater section! Scary!

Long story short, my boyfriend gave me some money this Valentine's to set myself up with a freshwater shrimp tank. My plan was to go as low tech as possible - with only shrimp the bioload would be close enough to non-existant to get away with limited to no filtration as long as I keep up with water changes. My plan was to have an air powered sponge filter on a timer to come on occasionally, more to create water movement than really filter anything.

Probably a crazy idea and I expect you guys to say no to be honest, but is there anything super low-tech that I could do on the salty side? I've had a look through the FAQ's but it's all scary. Please be honest - I don't mind sticking to freshwater if there's not much possible.

 

[lljdma06]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post in the saltwater section! Scary!

Long story short, my boyfriend gave me some money this Valentine's to set myself up with a freshwater shrimp tank. My plan was to go as low tech as possible - with only shrimp the bioload would be close enough to non-existant to get away with limited to no filtration as long as I keep up with water changes. My plan was to have an air powered sponge filter on a timer to come on occasionally, more to create water movement than really filter anything.

Probably a crazy idea and I expect you guys to say no to be honest, but is there anything super low-tech that I could do on the salty side? I've had a look through the FAQ's but it's all scary. Please be honest - I don't mind sticking to freshwater if there's not much possible.

Read these journals.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/378870-lljs-4g-now-55g-a-little-patch-of-sun/

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/369867-lljs-25g-i-swear-the-last-one/

Now, I'm not saying it's easy, but it's doable and less difficult if you avoid the stocking choices I made in the journals above. I was looking to do a very challenging pico, but if you stick with softies (mushrooms, etc) & shrimp & are up on your water changes, I don't see any reason why you can't have a nice pico. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me at all.

Welcome, to the salty side. If you have your head on straight & are willing to do some work, it's not nearly as difficult as it seems.

L

 

[CezzaXV]

Thanks for that. I had a look through the 2.5G journal as that's the sort of size I'd be aiming for and it looks really good! Even though a lot of the words you used are alien to me right now as I really know next to nothing about saltwater setups right now.

I'm sure this is a really noobish question here, but I see you had a powerhead and a filter and I presume a heater in that tank. Are these 100% necessary and needed to be on all of the time? Obviously the heater would need to be on to maintain the temperature, but what about the filter and powerhead? I'm trying to keep this as low tech as possible - my reason for originally going for freshwater shrimp was that the bioload is low enough that you dont really need a filter. I live with my parents right now and my dad moans about my electricity consumption enough as it is

Willing to go for fake corals etc for the moment as I've seen the prices at my local LFS for real ones lol.

Not that any of this information will be wasted if a marine setup isn't possible right now. I plan on getting a marine tank one day, even if it's not now.

 

[lljdma06]

Filter isn't absolutely necessary, but water circulation via power heads is a must in a marine tank. The live rock provide biological filtration, but the bacteria living on the rock need water circulation to survive. If you can't provide that, then I do suggest just having a freshwater tank.

L

 

[CezzaXV]

I thought as much. Tbh, a marine tank would probably be more money and effort than I ideally want to spend right now. Not a problem though, I'll stick with freshwater for now and do my research for a marine tank for the future.

 

[Donya]

What size tank is this? 2.5gal? Tank size makes a big difference for answering many questions.

Filter isn't absolutely necessary, but water circulation via power heads is a must in a marine tank.

Air-only tanks are completely possible...and not necessarily hard to set up. I'm looking at two on my desk right now LOL. 1.5gal and 3gal respectively, both using pretty much stock stuff out of the box they came in with the exception of some supplemental LEDs. I have a 0.9gal the same way in another room and have run a number of other tanks that way in the past. It really helps avoid heat buildup in small tanks while allowing a tight-fitting lid that otherwise limits cooling. The largest I would ever do air-only though would be 20gal high (which I have done too), at which point it can be a little tricky and requires a monster of a pump. I would never try something like a 50gal that way, or a really long tank even if smaller in volume (like a 20gal long), since it's challenging to get good horizontal movement without a powerhead.

My plan was to have an air powered sponge filter on a timer to come on occasionally, more to create water movement than really filter anything.

Why only occasionally? If the reason is something to do with noise or power consumption, then it doesn't sounds like a good idea, fresh or salt.

Obviously the heater would need to be on to maintain the temperature

Not always. What animals do you want and what's the room temperature like at various points around the year? Not all marine tanks need to be run at 80-84F/26-29C. In fact,M many invert-only tanks are better done a bit cooler than that and can tolerate mild, seasonal variation. Most of my tanks are invert-only and also unheated because the room temp usually doesn't drop below 70F/21C except for brief periods of time. If it looks like it's going to get colder than that in my tank room, I drop a heater in the more tropical-needing ones until things are back to normal. For my tanks with temperate inverts, I don't even bother and let them experience a seasonal rise and fall. Again, it's down to what specifically you want to keep and what the environment immediately around the tank is like.

 

[CezzaXV]

My research has led me to believe that with freshwater shrimp the bioload is sufficiently small that having a well planted tank should be sufficient to deal with the waste product, as well as water changes. I'm planning on starting off with just a few, easily available cherry shrimp to begin with before I move on to fancier and more expensive shrimp breeds. If the shrimp die, that's too bad, and if they look like they're struggling I'll move them into my main tank and forget the whole venture. I've read some horror stories, but I've also read some great success stories too with the kind of setup I'm going for. This is the marine section though so I'll stop with the freshwater chat lol.

I think I'm gonna stick with my freshwater tank for now, but I'm interested to hear about your "air only" tanks, Donya. What equipment do you have in them?

I'm not sure that having a marine nano tank was ever a serious suggestion. I planned on having a freshwater nano, but making it marine was more of a "HEY GUYS, WOULDNT IT BE GREAT IF?" kind of thing. Seen a few cleaner shrimp in my LFS and they're just so much more interesting and colourful than their freshwater equivalents, which was why I was asking if there's an easy way of keeping them.

 

[Donya]

I think I'm gonna stick with my freshwater tank for now, but I'm interested to hear about your "air only" tanks, Donya. What equipment do you have in them?

1.5gal: tetra water wonders acrylic tank that came with a whisper 3i filter. 1" sand, a chunk of live rock, a small supplemental LED light from IKEA, extra airstone (more aesthetic than anything else) and a larger air pump than what comes with the 3is, something rated for 20gal I think. Stuck a small plug in the only sizeable hole in the lid to stop salt spray. Animals: pair of hermits, a small grazing snail, two Nassarid snails, a neon goby, and macro (although the goby was just a PITA this week and munched half of it...so it's all scraggly and awful-looking while I type this, but I promise it has been quite nice-looking in the past and will be again in the future LOL). WC once a week.

3gal: marina somethingorother (crescent maybe?) acrylic tank that came with a 12W LED and a larger whisper filter with a motor - which I promptly ditched due to vibrations and substituted another air pump and whisper 3i. Again an IKEA light, a chunk of LR, just a dusting of sand, and extra airstone hooked up to the same pump. Had to mod the lid a bit with some plastic extensions to make it seal up better and stop salt spray. Animals: mushroom corals and a mantis shrimp. Got sloppy with the maintenance on this one the past 3 months so there are some algae issues because I can't stock snails or hermits with the mantis shrimp.

0.9gal: marina somethingorotherelse glass cube tank that came with a small LED light. Chunk of LR, 1" sand, airstone. Animals are all native to my region and temperate: a handful of eastern mud snails and 2 hermit crabs. There is an interesting population of sand-burrowing Amphipods that is visible because of the thickness of the sand. The downside to this tank is largely its lack of being sealed up well: I have to clean the lid and light pretty regularly; in the future I will probably make a custom lid that seals it up much better. The hermits also stir the sand a lot and tend to keep the water a bit cloudy as a result, so it's not the most pretty thing in the world.

The 20gals I've done air-only have been similar but with a corner box filter to store carbon and phosphate remover. No room for that in smaller tanks, but the whisper 3i filters let me run carbon at least.

I'm not sure that having a marine nano tank was ever a serious suggestion. I planned on having a freshwater nano, but making it marine was more of a "HEY GUYS, WOULDNT IT BE GREAT IF?" kind of thing. Seen a few cleaner shrimp in my LFS and they're just so much more interesting and colourful than their freshwater equivalents, which was why I was asking if there's an easy way of keeping them.

Well, most cleaners will need a pretty reasonable space just because of the feeler length. Peppermints are fine in small spaces because of their small size and short feelers, although they are major bullies in smaller environments. That actually might make them great for a shrimp-only tank since the small environment seems to make them unusually bold and conspicuous. I had some in my 1.5gal until they doubled in size and started being aggressive little snots to the hermit crabs, at which point I had to move them out - otherwise they would have been fine to stay. In larger tanks they never exhibited the same plucky behavior.

 

[lljdma06]

What size tank is this? 2.5gal? Tank size makes a big difference for answering many questions.

Filter isn't absolutely necessary, but water circulation via power heads is a must in a marine tank.

Air-only tanks are completely possible...and not necessarily hard to set up. I'm looking at two on my desk right now LOL. 1.5gal and 3gal respectively, both using pretty much stock stuff out of the box they came in with the exception of some supplemental LEDs. I have a 0.9gal the same way in another room and have run a number of other tanks that way in the past. It really helps avoid heat buildup in small tanks while allowing a tight-fitting lid that otherwise limits cooling. The largest I would ever do air-only though would be 20gal high (which I have done too), at which point it can be a little tricky and requires a monster of a pump. I would never try something like a 50gal that way, or a really long tank even if smaller in volume (like a 20gal long), since it's challenging to get good horizontal movement without a powerhead.

I still think that if you're going to run a reef long term, then power heads & LR are the direction to go, and something to store phos-remover or refugium for nutrient export. The reason I said what I said is that I think you should start out with as much as you can from the get go. Yeah, an air-only tank is a nice alternative for inverts and maybe some simple corals, but down the line, if I know how this hobby goes, the desire to upgrade is inevitable. Might as well get the equipment from the beginning. But if all that is wanted are to keep the critters that were listed in your later post, Donya, then I'm in agreement. Can't really do that with my nps pico though, but that is a much more demanding system than what the OP wants.

I tend to not heat my tanks either, but I live in Miami. Nice tropical climate. I can get away with the heat produced by the equipment and the room temperature of the house. If I do heat, I get heaters that are rated well below what the tank needs, as I'll only need to heat about 1-2 degrees anyway.