Setting up freshwater (Benibachi) shrimp tank: Equipments

Setting up a freshwater shrimp tank start with getting the right equipments. I'll share the thought that cross my mind when I am on equipment selection for my shrimp tank. For this tank, I planned to raise a higher grade shrimp (Black King Kong, Wine Red, Pure red line .. etc), so, I chooses the substrate specially for shrimp from Benibachi. Full text in read more.

Preview of the equipments chosen for 2 feet tank. 

Find out full text in read more

Equipments Selection
Tank/Aquarium choice:
Considering the limited space I have in my condominium, I decided to go for a 2 feet tank. The 2 feet tank can be placed beside my TV at the living room. I can resuse the existing TV cabinet as the tank stand.

Substrate & Additives
Benibachi brand itself is famous of its' shrimps products and live shrimps. Moreover, it's easier to obtained in Penang. At least 2 local fish shop in Penang carry Benibachi product. The Benibachi black Soil is chosen as substrate. Benibachi black soil claimed to maintain the water PH 6.0 +- 0.5. Beside Benibachi, there's range of substrate to choose from for a freshwater tank. Here's the link to the list of popular shrimp substrate in the market. My first shrimp tanks is using the ADA amazonia soil and it managed to maintain PH 6.5 - 7.0 and provide nutrients for fresh water plants to grow. The CRS and CBS is living happily without any additive and manage to reproduce

Beside susbtrate, I also got Benibachi Bee Max and Benibachi Bee3 as an additive to promote bacteria growth which later will turn into shrimp food.

Lighting:
Tank with low light (1.5 watt per gallon) has less algae growth and do not need CO2 injection. The low lights tank can be planted with low light plants such as moss and anubias. LED light is becoming popular and I came across the Dophin LED 655 lights (18 Watt) which is design for 2 feet tank. It's come with a reasonable at the local fish store.

Chiller:
Weather at my place stay between 28-32 Celsius throughout the year. High grade shrimps needed a temperature 23-25 Celsius to strive in. I got a choice between Hailea HS-28a and Resun CL 650. My final decision go to Hailea HS-28a to chill my 2 feet tank down. To find out why, check my comparison here

Filter:
External filter is chosen as it can fit more filter medium and it can become the pump for my chiller. I got a Eheim classic 350 canister filter (Eheim 2215) to power the 2ft tank (86 litre). It has a flow rate of 600l/s

Cost
Here's the listed prices for the equipment I get.

• 2 feet tank - RM 120
• Benibachi black soil - RM 98
• Benibachi black soil powder - RM 114
• Benibachi bee max - RM68
• Benibachi Bee3 - RM 45
• Dophin LED light - RM 120
• Chiller - RM 950
• Eheim canister filter 2215 with filter - RM 430

Total cost - RM 2065

Next, it's time to put everything in, check this set-up steps
Part 2 : Setting up freshwater (Benibachi) shrimp tank: Set-up