# 54ltr 'The Nook' planted shrimp CRS/CBS tank



## Lindy (7 Feb 2013)

Ok, so this is my 2nd attempt at scaping this tank. I don't want to use EI ferts, do large water changes or have to look at that pink kitty litter anymore so have opted for ADA Amazonia. Also didn't want stems again as they require alot of maintenance. What can I say, I'm lazy.
The inspiration for this tank was The Green Machines 'Riverbank' scape. Somewhere my shrimp might be happy....

54ltr 60x30x30
Beamswork LED 24''
Pressurised C02
ADA Amazonia
Redmoor rootx2 (+maybe some black lava rock that has fissidens f growing on it)
Fluval 106 external filter with full length spraybar.

Plants; Java fern 'windelov'
Java fern
Sagittaria platyphylla
Crypt. beckettii'petchii'
Vallis. americana 'mini twister'
Lilaeopsis Mauritiana
Fissidens Fontanus
Mini Pelia
Taiwan moss
Livestock; CRS and Sakura shrimp, shoal of Lampeyes.

The 2 pieces of redmoore root came from my 2 tanks. They were stacked one on top of the other, bits sawn off then restacked. They were then tied together with zip ties and then tied to a very heavy slate. In my last tank the wood moved at the slightest touch and it really annoyed me so determined not to have the same problem.

Tank as it was






Once the 2 pieces of redmoore were tied solidly I plugged any gaps at the back with some coarse filter foam. Experience has taught me that even the tiniest shrimp can shift a surprising amount of substrate and I didn't want the hill mined from underneath. The Amazonia was added and then supports made from ikea plastic food storage containers were pushed down to keep the banks. Substrate was poured into the nooks and crannies in the 'cave'. Just need to tidy substrate up now.










I think If the shrimp continue not to thrive/breed then maybe an Apisto or 2 might like the cave like feel I'm going for?
Of course now looking at it, it screams mini hairgrass cascading down the banks around the wood but that stuff is prone to filling with debris. Isn't it? Planting suggestions are welcome...
I'm also waiting for the arrival of an 8mm sheet of perspex to sit on top of the tank. Lampeyes are jumpers.
Anyway, this is how the tank looks at the mo, just done the 1st 50%wc today and will do that every day for the next week.


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## Lindy (19 Feb 2013)

planted this up a few days ago and today replaced the spray bar and intake with perspex tube.

Before perspex, just planted











After perspex









Also fitted the perspex lid so no more evaporation


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## tim (19 Feb 2013)

That's looking really nice, Perspex spraybar makes it look very tidy, good luck with the shrimp


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## Lindy (19 Feb 2013)

Thanks Tim, pleased how it looks.


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## MARKCOUSINS (19 Feb 2013)

Big improvement with the perspex spraybar you are right i would like to see some kind of hairgrass in there,looks very nice anyway.Cheers mark


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## Lindy (19 Feb 2013)

Thanks Mark, decided against hairgrass as it gets filled with debris and I will have less time to spend on the tank in the coming months so went for low maintenance plants. Was very tempting to hairgrass that hill though!


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## Lindy (26 Feb 2013)

The tank has now been running for 3 weeks and planted for 1.5 weeks  so decided to put the shrimp and fish back in today. I have had no melting of the crypts or anything else. The fissidens F on the wood is starting to grow as is the Taiwan moss. Shrimp are busy cleaning up and the Lampeyes are surprisingly relaxed.

Taiwan moss





Fissidens Fontanus











Full Tank





I've also had no algae or diatoms


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## Deano3 (26 Feb 2013)

looking good mate love the slope on the left 

Dean


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## Ady34 (26 Feb 2013)

Looking really impressive Lindy.
I like the way you've planted around the wood and left it nice and open under the main branch which will provide a great accent to all the greenery around. The larger groupings of plants are great too, and once the hydrocotle starts growing in and amongst them it will give a really natural look  The windelov fern is a belter and creates a strong focal point.
Like Dean, I also like the substrate gradients, they work really well with the hardscape and planting scheme.
A really nice, natural looking scape. Looking forward to watching it develop.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## markj (26 Feb 2013)

Hi what do you think to the beamswork unit

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## Lindy (27 Feb 2013)

I really like it. I don't get algae or diatoms, infact I think i'm going to have to get rid of my ramshorns as there is nothing for them to eat! It is well built and I've had no problems with it at all. It isn't going to grow anything super fast but then it doesn't create the problems you see with high light. My new plants are still looking healthy. I guess it depends what you want to grow?


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## Lindy (27 Feb 2013)

Ah, thanks very much Ady. Its always nice to get feedback, good or bad, but good is the best! I learned alot with the last tank and hope not to get bored with this layout as quickly. The CRS seem extremely happy and have been very active since going in so fingers crossed....


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## Lindy (2 Mar 2013)

I've been trying to resist feeding the shrimp too often but they always seem to be starving and fight viciously over food even when fed every couple of days. Fed this morn with tiny bit of white pellet then couple of hours later I find a big shrimp eating a smaller one. Can shrimp kill another that is smaller and am I starving my shrimp? will do a 10%wc now that was due tomorrow..


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## Ady34 (2 Mar 2013)

Oh no.....I've seen them eat the shed shells before, but never each other.
How many do you have? I'd be surprised if they were starving in a tank of that size with the amount of plants in there. Perhaps the small shrimp had already died? I often see my large and minute shrimp hanging off each other and scrabbling about snatching food from one another when its added, but the large shrimp never attack the smaller ones. Very odd.


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## grathod (3 Mar 2013)

Can't wait to see what its like all grown in, agree with the chaps, nice gradient mate, the cave will soon find some permanent residents... Gotta say the acrylic tubes looks the biz. Can't wait to get started again once house move is out of the way. Till then I'll stick to ogling over the tanks here. I thought I'd mentioned that shrimps - cherries, crs, bees etc are very carnivorous. I've seen mine attack a mature shrimp coming to the end of its life and the group set about feasting on it whilst it was still alive. I guess it's like that in the wild. I fed them a little everyday but I guess that's why they're the clean up crew. Nothing goes to waste, it natural.


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## Lindy (3 Mar 2013)

Basil has suggested raising the tds to 150 over next couple of days on the inverts forum. I have about 11 shrimp left.


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## KeyboardWarrior (4 Mar 2013)

Nice loving looking tank the new layout or really good im hoping to start a tank with similar dimensions soon


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## Little-AL (4 Mar 2013)

Looks really nice! Will look great with the rear corners filled out  Look forward to seeing it grow out!


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## Lindy (4 Mar 2013)

Thanks guys.


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## Lindy (4 Mar 2013)

While I'm at it, any suggestions of fish for this tank? I quite like apistos and killis but unsure what would suit and be happy in this tank. Was thinking 1 or 2 fish, something a bit bigger than the lampeyes but wouldn't eat them. Would be nice if it was colourful! I'll only get something if the shrimp continue to die off. Posted in fish section but no joy.
There are some panda apistos on ebay that look nice...


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## Original (7 Mar 2013)

Nice spray bar!

I'd like one, where did you get it? should look pretty spectacular once background grows in


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## Lindy (9 Mar 2013)

The spray bar is perspex tube bought on ebay, sealed at one end and then holes drilled. From 1mtr length was enough for a spraybar and intake with spare left over.


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## Lindy (9 Mar 2013)

Ok, now I feel really stupid. I had one more shrimp than I thought that looks very similar to another so I've been counting them as the same one. Duh! So still have berried female who is keeping a very low profile while the lights are on. Managed to get a couple of pics in the 60secs she was visable so I have proof I've not cracked.









I should explain that over on the inverts forum Basil has been giving me some pointers, ie that my TDS was a little low@130. I also got some calibration fluid for my TDS pen and discovered it was over reading the tds by 20 so my actual tds was around 110! So now tds 135 gh6


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## nduli (9 Mar 2013)

Congrats Lindy....given the journey u have been through I presume you are quite happy right now


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## Ady34 (9 Mar 2013)

yep, congrats Lindy


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## Lindy (9 Mar 2013)

Thanks guys, Yes nduli I am VERY pleased lol...


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## tim (10 Mar 2013)

excellent news


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## Lindy (11 Mar 2013)

Another CRS berried this morning Found that at current tds 153 that the gh had risen to 7 so did some tests and found gh dropped to 6 at tds 147 so will try to get tank to that over next couple of days although it clearly hasn't bothered big bertha, the largest of my CRS.
Big bertha (before berried)





Well chuffed!

Have also amended plant list to include Lilaeopsis Mauritiana. Which was planted right at the start with everything else. It is growing really well with new shoots and runners.





fissidens





Tank been planted 4weeks now


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## nduli (11 Mar 2013)

just showing off now 

i'll be making a few mods this weekend to my tank i think, i am now on catch up


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## Lindy (11 Mar 2013)

> just showing off now


Ha! It could still go pear shaped!


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## Original (14 Mar 2013)

Thanks mate, I may try and make a spray-bar like yours, i found the 15mm perspex in 1m lengths for sale.

My friend is a plumber and has a pipe bender and hopefully I'm looking to have a spray-bar with no connectors! I'll see how I get on. its £8 per M posted so if i mess up, i mess up. I could bend them and sell them again if I do a good job 

P.S - won't that Sag grow like crazy? I opted for Blyxa over it, I considered it too but its growth rate put me off and large root system.


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## Lindy (15 Mar 2013)

To be honest I don't know how many of the plants will behave as have never grown any of them, I am a newbie. Just had to look at the tropica stats and try and guestimate what they will do. I handn't seen any of this particular Sag in any of the scapes I'd looked at on here and the same goes for the Lilaeopsis Mauritiana. Will be fun seeing what happens! The Lilaeopsis is spreading and looks nice. Are there any scapes on here you have seen with this Sag in them?


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## Lindy (24 Mar 2013)

Today I removed all of the crypt. Beckettii 'Petchii'. It was becoming clear that space was going to become an issue as the crypts filled out and the other plants were spreading. Also I think it looks better without it. Just spread about some of the Sagittarius P and Lilaeopsis M and found plenty of new growth in both ie runners and new plants.






I have reduced co2 for now until the shrimplets hatch and then I will drop the water level for a couple of weeks to let the spray bar provide max surface agitation/oxygen. Yes the perspex lid is ugly but it is great not having to top up daily! Surprised that even 8mm of perspex can curl so badly.


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## nduli (25 Mar 2013)

I love boraras brigittae. Can't seem to get them regularly or in enough numbers at a reasonable price. They are so small that u need to buy in volume last place I found had them at 2.50 each. Bought 10 to try initially.  7 died off within 4 weeks haven't been back there since.


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## Lindy (26 Mar 2013)

I have to say I love my lampeyes even if I do have to cover the tank. I have another berried shrimp, this time a cbs. This morn watched a crs female molt and then mate. Unfortunately it was with the lowest grade male in the tank but thats just typical isn't it . Getting really impatient waiting for these eggs to hatch


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## Lindy (10 Apr 2013)

Today I spotted several shrimplets lurking around so I'm extremely happy   . The tank seems none the worse for the co2 being off at the moment (for the shrimplets). The mums are berried again. The only down side is you find yourself staring at the tank for very long periods of time which annoys certain 2yr olds


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## nduli (10 Apr 2013)

Congrats  
I'd say the staring stops after a few weeks but it doesn't. 
Helps if you de-focus the eyes and look across the gravel. 


have counted at least 8 baby CBS so far and have 2 berried CBS and 3 berried crs now.


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## Lindy (11 Apr 2013)

Thanks nduli, congrats on your shrimplets. I've counted around 6 at one time, one is almost completely white. All my females are berried so should have the numbers up soon enough.


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## nduli (12 Apr 2013)

all white? - sounds interesting
what grades you got in there?


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## Lindy (12 Apr 2013)

Hi, not sure of the grades. The 2 photos above are of my 2 best females. The other 2 are strong coloured A grade crs and a tigertooth cbs.
One male is a miss marked no entry Hinomaru crs, one double hinomaru cbs with great white but poor black. The other 2 males are lower grade and i'm thinking of taking them out now.
Looking forward to getting a better look at the babies as they get bigger.


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## Lindy (28 May 2013)

A wee update with this tank that I hadn't thought had grown in much but was surprised when I saw the old photo. Co2 had been switched off in anticipation of crs shrimplets hatching and has been off for around 6 wks. Its back on now and has been slowly turned up to allow the shrimp to acclimatise.





The acrylic lid has curled up despite being 8mm thick so I'm going to get a glass lid from the green machine.

The shrimp are doing well. Can you spot the white one?




The shrimp with poor colouration have now gone to another ukaps member






And the Boss lady





I have some BBA which I think is probably due to co2 going off but who knows....


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## Lindy (24 Jun 2013)

The new glass lid looks sooo much better than the perspex! Have put some hydrocotyle t japan rear left hand corner so that it can wrap around the shoulders of the wood and java fern and fill that corner providing the shrimp with some cover for when the fish go back in. Think the photos are always so bad due to lack of light....






Going to fit a light under the shelf above just for the purpose of taking a decent photo. This does not do the tank any justice at all


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## Ian Holdich (24 Jun 2013)

Looks great! Loving all the shrimp!


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## Dan walton (24 Jun 2013)

Very nice


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## Lindy (18 Aug 2013)

Got some BBA that started spreading since the co2 went off so have raised the light and hung it from the shelf above. Will remove the BBA and hope it doesn't come back! Shrimp breeding well and there have been 2 lots of new shrimplets within days of each other with a 3rd lot due to hatch any time. Came back from holiday to find the nice quality stop sign Hinomaru, that was bred in this tank, berried. but a couple more week until they hatch.There aren't many shrimp in the tank as I've been taking the lower grades out as soon as they are a good size to see quality of color.


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## nduli (18 Aug 2013)

picture tells a thousand words, come on upload some, want to see these lovely shrimp.... 

I must admit I am tempted to thin out my lower quality crs into the main tank. Sounds like its paying off for you.


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## Lindy (19 Aug 2013)

Arh its a no entry Hinomaru! Just read that last post!


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## Lindy (23 Aug 2013)

The nice cbs I came back from holiday to find berried






A couple of nice crs






Some nice ones amongst the next batch of juveniles






and you can just make out some tiny babies in the substrate. There must be 30-40 maybe more of these little guys. Plus big berthas hiding so hers are probably hatching now and the cbs due in around 2 weeks.

I'm now using the mosura product TDS UP along with the mosura mineral plus to get the desired tds 150 and gh5. Have pulled up the Lilaeopsis Mauritiana as it was getting lovely and thick in places making it difficult for the big shrimp to move through it. Have replaced it with moss meshes containing a mix of fissidens fontanus, taiwan and mini pelia for a more natural look. Next month I'm looking to introduce some new blood to the tank, maybe a couple of PRL to improve colour but really tempted by the ruby red Taiwan bees.
Ta for looking, sorry bad phone pics.





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## nduli (24 Aug 2013)

Great shots there. They are looking fantastic. Where did u get the CBS from, they look lovely.


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## Lindy (24 Aug 2013)

I got all my shrimp from the ebay seller 'craven(some number)' I just asked him for a mixed bag of crs/cbs and quality/markings. He often starts one of his listings with *WOW*.
The cbs tiger tooth had the best colouration of the blacks but she could have bred with the crs or cbs males with the Hinimaru or mosura markings. I don't even know if the nice no entry hinimaru came from a cbs mum as I've noticed broods can be mixed. There can also be a huge variation within a brood on markings and quality. I can see these things because I keep the numbers low and only have 5 breeding females and 2males in the tank at the mo. All of the females have excellent colour but are capable of producing poor coloured offspring. Non of my breeding adults are 3/4band but many of the offspring are 3/4 band good and bad colour. I've noticed quite a few white shrimp from the latest hatchings too so I will take them out but the whitest are nice looking and I've kept one in my other tank just to see how he looks as he matures.


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## RolyMo (25 Aug 2013)

Lovely looking tank and shrimp.
Can I ask what substrate you opted for?
Cheers
Roly


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## Lindy (25 Aug 2013)

It's ADA Amazonia.


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## Lindy (24 Sep 2013)




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## Lindy (24 Sep 2013)

I have really fallen in love with the Hydrocotyle verticillata and it seems to like being right under the light on my shrimp tank. Have just noticed the little star shaped flowers.


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## Lindy (17 Oct 2013)

Have made a few changes. Took out the mini twisted vallis. Put in more wood, mini java fern, unknown moss, round pelia and some oak leaves. Hygrophila pinnatifida has also been added. Trimmed out a fair bit of the java fern with the split ends(name?). Trimmed the fissidens fontanus right back and my coral pelia is finally starting to recover from the pillage for Ady's tank. Image shack has changed a bit so apologies if the photos are bad sizes. Ok, they are massive. Back to the drawing board...

Below are pics of my shrimp going crazy for stinging nettle


















coral pelia finally starting to grow back!


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## Lindy (16 Nov 2013)

Was doing my weekly maintenance on this tank today and thought I'd share. First time on tapatalk thing so this may be incomplete, no photos etc.


I disconnect filter and replace floss and rinse out bag of charcoal. I have a bucket with 5litres marked on it so empty filter into that. Use the filters outlet hose to empty tank water into bucket up to 5l mark. 







Once I've reconnected the filter I leave it running.
As you can see this gets lots of air into the tank.
I then make up my 5l of water to go into tank. I add dechlorinator and then a small amount of ferts. I then add mosura mineral plus to get the gh to 5. I then add mosura tds up to get the tds to 160. The new water is added to the tank through co2 tubing which is quite narrow so is slow to go in.



I hope this works!


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## RolyMo (19 Nov 2013)

Love that tank, the position and the flight of fancy that one day you might mistakenly connect a bottle of whiskey to the tank giving the shrimp a once in a lifetime treat.


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## steveno (19 Nov 2013)

Really lovely looking tank, heathy and good coloured shrimp, do I see some SSS grades in there.

Thank you uploading photos of your maintenance routine, really very useful and informative, particularly for a complete beginner like me self. 

Hope you don't mind me saying, I noticed that your using both mosura mineral plus and mosura TDS up to get to the correct levels. Just wondering are you TDS plus to top off only as well as mineral plus gets you to the right GH levels .  

I wonder why its not the same for me as prevouisly chatted i am only using mosura mineral plus but the ultra version, it has raise my TDS level but hasn't really improved my GH levels. So I've purchased both a new GH testing kit as I think the one I brought the other day has been on shelf for some time so may have gone off and also brought some bee shrimp GH+.


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## Lindy (19 Nov 2013)

I use tds up to increase my tds. It doesn't raise gh. I use mosura mineral plus ultra to achieve gh5 but have to the use tds to raise the tds further as it is only 110 with M mineral plus.


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## Lindy (19 Nov 2013)

RolyMo said:


> connect a bottle of whiskey to the tank giving the shrimp a once in a lifetime treat


 I think that would be the end of them although maybe whisky pickled shrimp would taste good? Bit of an expensive snack though.


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## Lindy (17 Dec 2013)

A wee update, have added some brown crypts as a bit of contrast to the green of everything else. I'm clearing out all of the crystal shrimp so that it will be the prl/panda hybrids and taiwan bees only.
Finally got around to cleaning the spraybar 





One of the hybrids




Crs




Cheers for looking.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## James D (18 Dec 2013)

That looks really nice, a shrimp paradise!

Seems like that LED gets a thumbs up as well?


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## Lindy (18 Dec 2013)

I'm happy with it. You can get a newer model with no blues and at 6500k instead of 10000k. They also do a double lumen one too.


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## steveno (18 Dec 2013)

Looking very crisp...


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## Lindy (18 Dec 2013)

Thanks, the photo came out crap lol...

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## K H (7 Aug 2014)

Hi Idcgroomer, I know this thread was posted long ago but may I know what was the LED Colour Temp you used? Is it 10000k? Because I am thinking of getting Beamswork Power LED 400 which uses 10000k LEDs.[DOUBLEPOST=1407409902][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, is there any problems with the moss and java ferns when using such bright light and at 10000k?


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## Lindy (6 Sep 2014)

Sorry I never noticed this question.  The 10000k lights are a bit white for me and while they appear very bright they do tend to look a little stark. Ferns and moss grew fine. You've probably made your choice by now but I'm a huge fan of the aquabars by tmc, especially now you can get them in colour plus.


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## Bhu (6 Sep 2014)

What spray bar is that? Looks like glass! Way better look than my eheim green one with the words all over it!

Fantastic shrimp tank!


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## Lindy (6 Sep 2014)

Bhu it is clear acrylic from ebay. Just cut to length and drill holes.


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