Not sure how title this. Looking for insight

nawilson89 · Jul 15, 2014

Would this be possible?

I want to take a 10g tank with a bit of LR and add tons of Macro algae and sea grasses. With this planted tank i want to have loads of pods and dose with phytoplankton. Add Peppermint Shrimp to live and breed, and then live brine. Artemia eat phytoplankton... im hoping in this environment the phytoplanton would live and breed too. Would the artemia also be able to continue to live and breed in a tank like this?

nawilson89 · Jul 15, 2014

G_Sanab922 · Jul 15, 2014

Sounds pretty cool. I think the hardest would be the live brine

Gabriel

EricB · Jul 16, 2014

what about breeding sexy shrimp?

nawilson89 · Jul 16, 2014

EricB said:
what about breeding sexy shrimp?

That's an excellent suggestion!

And i was thinking Mysid shrimp instead of Brine.

G_Sanab922 · Jul 16, 2014

Breeding sexy shrimp sure would be pretty awesome! How difficult is that though?

Gabriel

ReefMadScientist · Jul 16, 2014

I've almost done something like this. I was going to put the 10g extra refugium on a stand, higher than my sump, and just pump water into the 10g. I was then going to drill a hole in the side of the 10g to have it drain to the return section of the main sump using gravity. This will prevent any pump failures and won't have to worry about your 10g over flowing.

nawilson89 · Jul 16, 2014

G_Sanab922 said:
Breeding sexy shrimp sure would be pretty awesome! How difficult is that though?
Gabriel

No idea. Would be looking into it. This is just a plan for the future.

ReefMadScientist said:
I've almost done something like this. I was going to put the 10g extra refugium on a stand, higher than my sump, and just pump water into the 10g. I was then going to drill a hole in the side of the 10g to have it drain to the return section of the main sump using gravity. This will prevent any pump failures and won't have to worry about your 10g over flowing.

I see what you're saying it seems amazing. My build would be a stand alone tank though. Nothing hooked up to any other tank.

NobleSun27 · Jul 16, 2014

I have read that it is pretty difficult because of the size of the babies and the fact that even low flow could knock them against the glass and damage them (sexy shrimp). I really like the idea of the little ecosystem up top. I think the trick to get everything to live in sync is finding that perfect balance on how much phyto your adding and how many artemia are in there as well as well as something to keep there population down, if you have to many pods they will eat all the phyto and the list continues. So balance is key to this and adding the right animals to create a small ecosystem so you don't have to keep adding things. It will be hard to find that balance but I do think its possible. First thing though is a 10 gallon might be to small to keep that balance, you might want to take it a step up. This is making me want to set my 55 up like this. Well Good luck on this remember balance is key and keeping the right organisms in the right quantity creating an almost self sufficient ecosystem. Awesome. Maybe start your own continuous phyto culture right above the tank so it can added at anytime or whenever needed.

NobleSun27 · Jul 16, 2014

oh and you would probably have to do constant water changes so your phyto doesn't crash the tank.

nawilson89 · Jul 16, 2014

NobleSun27 said:
I have read that it is pretty difficult because of the size of the babies and the fact that even low flow could knock them against the glass and damage them (sexy shrimp). I really like the idea of the little ecosystem up top. I think the trick to get everything to live in sync is finding that perfect balance on how much phyto your adding and how many artemia are in there as well as well as something to keep there population down, if you have to many pods they will eat all the phyto and the list continues. So balance is key to this and adding the right animals to create a small ecosystem so you don't have to keep adding things. It will be hard to find that balance but I do think its possible. First thing though is a 10 gallon might be to small to keep that balance, you might want to take it a step up. This is making me want to set my 55 up like this. Well Good luck on this remember balance is key and keeping the right organisms in the right quantity creating an almost self sufficient ecosystem. Awesome. Maybe start your own continuous phyto culture right above the tank so it can added at anytime or whenever needed.

As much as i would love to do a larger tank, I am unable to do so. My current system is 29g and the only spare i have atm is a 10g. (Also I rent a room and the next place i get would be a small apartment so im fighting for room as it is)

Also the tank would house a small goby and a swales basslet to keep everything in check.