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Beginner's Guide: Build An Aquarium That WON’T Crash From The Start!

Shrimply Canadian

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Learn how to set up an aquarium that never crashes with this complete, beginner-friendly guide covering the essentials: choosing the right tank size, picking the proper filter, heater, and light, designing a stable hardscape and softscape, and preparing your water so your shrimp and fish stay healthy from day one. You’ll learn how to cycle your tank correctly, how to use dechlorinator and test kits, how to create balance with plants and flow, and how to avoid the most common beginner mistakes that cause new aquariums to fail — including adding livestock too early, overcleaning, overfeeding, and making sudden changes. Whether you’re keeping Neocaridina, Amano, Bamboo, or Vampire Shrimp, this video shows you exactly how to build a stable, long-lasting aquarium that remains clear, balanced, and stress-free for your livestock.

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:46 Equipment
10:57 Hardscape & Softscape
17:41 Water & Essential Products
22:37 Common Mistakes
26:00 Outro

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#shrimp #aquarium #shrimplycanadian #plantedaquarium #aquariumhobby #fishtank #shrimptank #fish #aquarist #aquascape #aquascaping #fishkeeping #shrimpkeeping

20 Comments

@shrimplycanadian Creator 10 months ago Pinned

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@adamwaind5057 6 months ago

My worst mistake was as a beginner to shrimp. I kept loads of fish had 36 tanks. I went to the shop and was sold bamboo shrimp but told they were amano shrimp. So I did a load of research on how to care fir amano shrimp. Every single bamboo shrimp died in less than a week. So a huge tip is to always check images and 100% guarantee you know which shrimp youre caring for.

@pannobhasa 10 months ago

This is probably the best general introduction to keeping an aquarium that I have ever seen. Excellent!

@Burkridge 9 months ago

I set up my first tank since I was a kid this summer.
Followed a bunch of advice that I found online and from what I remember my dad teaching me when I was little, set up my little 57 litre tank, let it cycle for a month, added plants gradually...
When I went to add livestock, I added 6 amano shrimp and 10 rummy nose tetras. Within 2 days, the tetra started dying. I was researching like mad to find out why. Water parameters were stable and withing a good range, they were eating (until they fell sick), the shrimp were doing okay, all the equipment was working...
I spent well over £100 on medication to try and save the rummy's but to no avail. Turned out that the batch I had bought from were all sick with Tetra disease. I was so disheartened I almost quit then and there.
Fast forward six months, and I have a lovely, thriving aquarium with amano shrimp, ember tetras, panda corys and one very skittish (but still lovely) pearl gourami next to me and I love it.

@DavidBernstein-jk3ml 10 months ago

Great video, and lots of good information. One small correction though - the rising air bubbles actually do more to oxygenate the water than the surface agitation. I know it's not the common wisdom in the hobby so I did a little looking around, and someone actually studied this in a laboratory setting! "Surface transfer and bubble transfer both contribute significantly to oxygen transfer; however, bubble transfer is the primary mode of oxygen transfer for this system at the air flow rates used." -- “Impact of Bubble and Free Surface Oxygen Transfer on Diffused Aeration Systems”, DeMoyera et. al. 2003

@S.E.C-R 6 months ago

12:05 - I wish someone would’ve told me that aqua soil lowered PH when I set my two shrimp tanks up last year. I fought and fought the PH so hard and couldn’t figure out why until I was at my fish store one day asking why and he was like oh its the substrate and explained why then said numbers didn’t matter, stability did. I was so mad because he was the one that sold it to me. But in his defense I think he assumed I knew.
I already had two very successful tanks, but I never told him they were gravel. Oh well, I know now, but one of them still has lower ph than the other and they’re both set up the exact same, they’re just different sizes, 10gal & 5 gal. The 10 had no lid at the time, but the 5 did and it had the lower PH, so I took the lid off to let it off gas but the PH never came up like I hoped it would. I still have no clue why it’s lower, unless it’s the size of the tank, but I can’t find anything that can confirm that for me. So I’m still in a small way fighting the PH but it’s a lot less stressful on me now since it’s stable and my shrimp are breeding, so they must be happy in there!

@fredjones554 10 months ago

A great tip for stability is aquaponics. Pump tank water up to a hydroponic plant bed with lava rock media that drains back to the tank. It is ridiculously stable. No water changes required, but you do need to add water as you get higher rates of evaporation. Put it in a window for the light source. Cycle the tank for 1 month. Add fish slowly. Then do nothing. I grew tomatoes seedlings.

@mikehunt42056 10 months ago (edited)

I keep my shrimp at cooler water temperatures because I can get more breeding cycles at cooler temperatures then I can get at warmer temperatures✌️

@sjoer 10 months ago

I like to add phytoplankton and photosynthetic bacteria to my tanks, let it run for about a week and observe crystal clear water!

@carlannah 1 month ago

Thank you so much for this and all your videos! I primarily watched your video because of the title, “Don’t Quit.” I said this very day that if these neocaridinas don’t make it I don’t think I can try again. I have made so many mistakes and finally thought everything was stabilized and good to go and my gh was through the roof and a couple little guys got stuck in their molts. So sad. Plenty of others molted successfully so I really don’t understand but I had to do 70% water changes on all my tanks and at least got it down to 12. Thankfully I learned to drip in the same temp water and most of the little guys survived. All of the Maker’s creatures are so precious and I thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and wisdom!

@cricketthoffman9499 2 months ago

Love this. I use an LED that fades in as a sunrise at 6am and fades out to moon light then off at 9pm. I don’t have any problems with algae. There is algae but it seems there is just enough to keep the livestock fed.

@yawg333 10 months ago

the bubbles from an air stone cause gas exchange the moment they are released from the air stone; this is fresh air and by the time it reaches the surface it has had more time to saturate the water with o2 as theres a surface on the individual bubbles. this is better than simple surface agitation at the very top. gas exchange takes place where there's agitation between water and fresh air regardless of where it occurs. air stones do it better.

@cricketthoffman9499 2 months ago

Yay! I can use manzanita. I have some left over from making perches for my bird.

@ariel.awaitss 10 months ago

You did a great job with this video. You added vital information for those just starting with this hobby. Thank you!

@GreatlakesShrimp 9 months ago

The simple approach is just what we need: facts and art in one video. This is among the most informative videos you can see on YouTube pertaining to ornamental shrimp. That being said keep it up mate!

@digitalmonqui 5 months ago

Great video - even though I've been keeping aquariums for ages, it's a great review of the basics.

@robey2516 8 months ago

I really love how deep into detail you get. I like to understand things before I get into them and this is just the kind of breakdown i love. Keep it up 👍👍