Crashed cycle in shrimp tank ammonia won't budge - Page 2

[xVoyagerx]

Tap is ammonia free. I do have ro but use it mainly for top offs. 50% water change dripped in won't shock the shrimp? Thanks

 

[richiep]

50% will be fine if you drip it allow for it to drip onto the heater if you have one in there,
Do it three days apart to give things time to settle in between.
You can also do what ever tests you can before each change

 

[xVoyagerx]

Got it thanks.

 

[richiep]

Something just crossed my mind you said you use ro water for top off is that in your 5g as well and if so how much

 

[xVoyagerx]

Something just crossed my mind you said you use ro water for top off is that in your 5g as well and if so how much

I only top off whatever is evaporated at the end of a week. It's usually 28 fl oz so .22 gallons for the 5g.

 

[richiep]

Is that with plane ro water

 

[xVoyagerx]

Yes 0 tds to.

 

[richiep]

OK so let me get this straight you don't do water changes you just top up with ro water once a week

 

[xVoyagerx]

I do water changes maybe every 2.5-3 weeks but only like 8% I wanna say

 

[richiep]

Over time your ro water can have an affect if you end up using more ro water than tap, this would drop you ph to ph7 your gh0 kh0 this could well account for what happened to you
It will also take out needed minerals that ro water doesn't have

 

[xVoyagerx]

Even as just top off? Aren't minerals generally left behind during evaporation? Hmmm I admit I never tested kh frequently but I monitor tds and other parameters every 2 weeks because this was my first no filter tank. Ph did tend to trend lower than my other tanks but the lowest I recorded was 7.4. tds was definitely lower but I chalked that up to the fact it was only shrimp so lower load

 

[richiep]

Minerals are left behind but need refreshing regular as this in itself causes shrimp problems.
I would seriously think of turning that tank into ro water and reminerilising with salty bee you will have far more control,or, if you stick with what you got then only use tap water, babalti will do good in both, this could very well have been the start of your problems then

 

[xVoyagerx]

Hmmm so kh depletion, followed by ph crash, then leading to bacteria crash, followed by ammonia. I think you might be right. Thanks.

 

[mattgirl]

Thank you Richie. I think you have gotten to the bottom of what is happening here.

 

[xVoyagerx]

Ok final update. Looks like almost everything is back on track. Only slight issue is slightly higher gh but I'll add a bit of ro to fix that. Thanks again everyone.

 

[mattgirl]

This is good news. Thank you for the update