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To sump or not to sump

Joined
12 Jul 2021
Messages
33
Location
Bristol
Hi my Name Soraya fairly to to the Shrimp keeping. Trying to fight the temptation of getting 3 more tanks on a rack for red, blue & yellow shrimp but trying figure out the whole filtration & heating setup. Sump with one filter & Heater or to sponge filter and to heat each tank cheapest option on the electric bill will go a long way 😅. With sump not quite sure where I can get tanks small enough that has the fixtures 🤔 any advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi @Mrs S.Shrimply it's a good question. If you can go the sump route, more water volume = greater stability as well as a place to hide equipment and a place to house culled shrimp (if you want to maintain colour strains). However, if space is a bit limited you could create sections in a standard tank and if you wanted to hide equipment you could create a partition along the back. Something similar to an Aquaone Betta trio but if you can I'd try and go bigger and either DIY or get a custom made tank but using a similar idea (equipment in the back and dividers separating the various colour strains).
 
Hi Scarecrow thanks for the reply, I done a bit of research and came across dividing a tank but became a bit reluctant to the idea of this because of reading the shrimp can actually climb over the dividers and interbreed 😱. This also when I discovered how shrimp was getting into the back of current tank that has a built filter divided at the back but I use a canister filter.

I think a sump is what I'm more leaning to with three 40 - 50L tanks especially if I get as much success with the amount of shrimp I have to what I started with but its the plumbing I'm a bit lost on 😬😵
 
The only problem with using one filter for several tanks is that if you have any kind of problem it will affect all the tanks. Personally I think I’d go with a sponge filter in each tank
Totally agree your right. My idea behind the sump is around having one heater not multiple to reduce running cost of them but if I want different coloured shrimp that wont interbreed I guess that might have to be the sacrifice I make 😅
 
having one heater not multiple to reduce running cost
They are thermostatically controlled, so they will only use the amount of electricity needed to keep the tanks at the temperature you set them for. The total running cost will be the same.
If you do go for a sump you can use two heaters. (Two in each tank can be too ugly and hard to hide).
If you need (for instance) 200 Watts for the total water volume, you can use two 100W heaters. That way, if one fails, you still have some heating and it will take a while before the temp drops to a dangerous level, giving you time to replace the dead heater. And if one heater should stick 'on' it will take a long time for the tanks to overheat and again you can spot the problem and fix it before it becomes a disaster.
Heater failure is rare, but if you have a sump it's so easy to take this precaution against it.

For running cost, the size and number of heaters doesn't really matter as long as they are up to the job. It's a question of how much water you have (which will be a bit more with a sump) and how much warmer the water is than the room. Whatever plants and livestock you choose there will be a range of temperatures in which they will be happy. There's a lot to be said for running your tanks near the lower end of that range. Including;
lower heating costs
more oxygen can dissolve in the water, - good for livestock and biofiltration
more CO2 can dissolve in the water, - good for plants
hth
 
Hi @Mrs S.Shrimply :) shrimps are pretty hardy creatures especially the Neocardina sp. do not require any heating. I've kept them outdoors all year long and they happily propagate and actually grew bigger with better colouring than they do indoors. The better or different colouring could be from a different diet that grows naturally in outdoor environments, which I don't know. But temperature-wise they really do not mind it and easily take pretty low temperatures.
Indoors the water generally won't go below 15°C in an unheated room.

Filtering wise shrimps create a rather low bioload and don't need such a massive filtering capacity. But you might want to look into the Hamburger matten filter. And combine this with a jet airlift pump. These are actually for sale and or very easy to DIY.



Then split up the tubing of 1 air pump to run all 3 airlifts.

HMF filters are pretty sufficient and shrimps will love the sponge wall to graze upon, it will provide an extra welcome food source for them. And you also could plant the sponge wall with mosses and epiphytes to hide them away.

I guess such a setup is much easier to install it might meet your energy bill better all 3 tanks run on 1 air pump. Heating ain't really an issue but if you still want that. For a 50 litre tank, a 50-watt heater might do you can hide behind the sponge wall. 3 tanks would require a 3 x 50-watt heater. Going over one sump with 3 x 50 litres and one heater will require a stronger 150-watt heater. That will actually break about even in running costs.
 
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Sorry guys for my slow replies been busy with life duties but really appreciate everyone's feedback. I restasure I have been following and it has given me a lot lot to think about. I think my issues has been making this project of mine far to complex then needs to be going off what I've read online. My whole original plan was to breed shrimp, I started this hobby off with 145L ish tank with great success for my standards starting off with 4 to 14 to 130+ red cherry shrimp got so many now having issues counting how many I got 😂. I wanted to get more colours with out the risk of interbreeding and making the electric bill go up 😅 ( utilities companies & there aky high rates). The reason for the choice of a 50L tank was apparently 10 gallons is a good middle ground for Shrimp breeding tank but if I can replicate the success I've had so far in a 30L tank in terms of numbers I'll be one happy lady 😁.
 
Just my experience with a sump Pros and Cons

Pros
Larger volume of water = more stability
You can hide unsightly equipment in the sump out of sight.
You can use more filter media and taylor it to your needs
Use can sometimes build a chamber to house fish, fry etc away from bully’s or predation.
So much easier to clean out the media when you don’t need to undo canisters.

Cons
Floods! I’ve flooded my room probably 400 time in 6 years 🤣. You have to get the levels right in the event of a power cut….or forgetting to turn off RO unit 🤪
It’s a good idea to use a Auto Top Off to prevent evaporation and pump return chamber running down.

Just to add this might not be a issue in smaller systems but my tank and sump holds about 1,500l and CO2 is costly I think the sumps gravity feed really oxgenates the water driving out the CO2 much more efficiently than closed canisters.
 
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