[ihrtne]

Hello all!

I've been lurking on shrimp forums for quite a while since I decided I would try my hand at Opae Ula. Due to a relatively busy college schedule, I don't have a lot of time to spend on pets, but raising shrimp seemed to be perfect for my current situation.

Right now I have most of the supplies waiting for me in the mail room when I get back to campus, such as:

• a 2.5 gallon Anchor Hocking glass jar (I ordered this off Amazon but found one at the local grocery store to check size and it is surprisingly large)
• a bunch of supplies for the lighting system I intend to use

I also went to my local pet store and bought 15 pounds of crushed coral gravel (which I will be flying with me down to my school campus in two weeks... ) along with some aquarium decorations and Instant Ocean sea salt.

The two week wait until I get back to campus has been agonizing, so I've been killing time by obsessively planning out my tank setup heheh. Thus, I've run into a few areas where I'm a little uncertain/would like some clarification. I will hopefully be able to post pictures once I am in proximity of my tank supplies.

1. My school is unfortunately not within walking distance of most stores so I don't know if I will be able to obtain RO or distilled water. That being said, our chemistry department provides deionized (DI) water on tap. I think it would work out but I'm worried that the total lack of minerals would become some sort of issue. Should I try to get RO water or do you guys suppose DI water would work?
2. I understand that I should probably rinse the tank and the substrate before assembling everything, but I worry a bit (maybe a lot) about there being bad contaminants that'll kill whatever I put into the tank. Would boiling the substrate and the decor be too excessive?
3. My room doesn't get very good natural light at all so I'm planning to set up my own lighting system. What I have currently in mind are 12 RGBW LEDs that I'll program to simulate a natural light cycle; I'll punch holes in the lid of my jar, and stick the LEDs in the holes. From what I've read in my lurking, too much direct light can have negative effects, so would having the LEDs directly shining on the tank be bad for the shrimp? Should I try to get some sort of light-diffusing cover for the lights?
4. There's a pet store a few miles from my school that sells nerite snails and cerith snails (Cerithium sp.). I'm aware that nerite snails can survive in brackish water tanks, but I've never heard of cerith snails. They seem smaller so they'd be preferred. Does anyone have experience with this species of snail?

Here's to hoping my tank cycles smoothly and becomes a proper shrimp environment!

[odin]

Hey there @ihrtne and welcome to our Opae ula forum! You are going to be in for a real treat owning this shrimp species that's for sure. The supplies you have so far seem absolutely fine and I'm sure you will have a great setup that's healthy and ready in no time. To answer your questions;

1. DI water is absolutely fine to use so go ahead!

2. You can wash your substrate and items that will go into the tank for sure and its advised because some substrates will contain alot of dust/particles from bagging/production so a rinse prior in DI water (in your case) will remove this debris and help make your tank water become clearer quicker. You can boil items if you wish but i never have, but then again i bought the items new from fish stores so i know they are fish safe and haven't been anywhere they shouldn't of (or in contact with). Boil away if you have the time and space etc.

3. Try the LED approach and see how it goes, i don't see an issue with it myself. I would use a timer so they get at least 12 hours darkness (you can buy them pretty cheap), You wont know if the LED lights are too bright until you have shrimp so if they are constantly hiding and seem unhappy then you know you may need to tone the brightness down. Take a look at this post here ( viewtopic.php?f=3&t=139&hilit=film ) with regards using window tinting film to help defuse/reduce the brightness which has worked for me in the past.

4. With Snails ive only ever owned Zebra and Thorned Zebra Netrites so im not sure about the Cerith snails, If you want smaller snails id highly advise looking into the Thorned Zebra nerites as they stay around a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the size of normal Zebra Nerites. Here is what they look like: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=horne ... 4Q_AUIBigB

I hope that helps a little and if you have any other questions then just ask away, we are all here to help and we have a lot of highly successful breeders here too!

[ihrtne]

Thanks Odin! Your responses were very helpful. I will post an update once I start putting my tank together. :happy:

[odin]

I forgot to mention, don't worry about the lack of minerals in the DI water, when you mix the marine salt in with it then all that is needed will be in the brackish water mix you are making.

[opae ula related]

Welcome ihetne! What school you going to?

[ihrtne]

Welcome ihetne! What school you going to?

Thanks opae ula related! I go to one of the claremont colleges (the "5c's")!

[opae ula related]

Awesome, you will be the coolest in school

[caine]

Just as a note, Deionised water (DI) is actually even more pure than RO. RO typically goes through a sediment filter, then carbon filter, then the actual reverse osmosis membrane. DI takes it an additional step with the DI resin filter.

[odin]

I doubt you world get issues but you could always add some rain water to the tank if you are worried.


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[opae ula related]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain

What do you think of Acid rain?