Raising Gh/kh For Shrimp

My shrimp tank is low in gh and kh.

gh: 4
kh: 1 or 2
ph: 6.4

What is a good way to increase this? I have seen lots of different info, including products and using natural methods such as limestone, shells, etc.

Right now, I have added a chicken eggshell. I also plan on feeding them some organic kale. Would bones added to the tank be okay? I have a lot of scavenged bones that I wanted to add to my fish tank ages ago, but did not because it can leech minerals into the water. Now I am thinking this may be a good thing for my shrimp.

Another concern I have is that I don't want to shock them when I do water changes. Would it be okay to do a 10% water change without altering the new water if the gh/kh is different than the tank water?

 

What type of shrimp will you be keeping? Depending on the type of shrimp you may not need to raise your GH, Kh and PH.

 

Neos and bamboo shrimp.

 

Neos and bamboo shrimp.

Yep, ok. So, I would use crushed coral or cuttlebone. Both are aquarium safe. The eggs should be ok, provided you thoroughly sterilised them. In theory bones could work as well, but I would want to make sure they were very well sterilised before adding them.

 

Do I have to worry about the difference between the parameters of new and old water?

 

Do I have to worry about the difference between the parameters of new and old water?

With shrimp tanks you really only want to do very very small water changes., say 5-10%. So that should minimise the impact of the water parameters in the tank and water from your tap.

 

Okay, I do 10% once a week so it should be fine.

Any tips for maintaining a stable gh/kh? It seems like it could be difficult to find the right amount of coral/cuttlebone/etc to get the right parameters. Then, would it reach a point where there would be too much?

 

Okay, I do 10% once a week so it should be fine.

Any tips for maintaining a stable gh/kh? It seems like it could be difficult to find the right amount of coral/cuttlebone/etc to get the right parameters. Then, would it reach a point where there would be too much?

I'd add slowly and monitor KH, GH, PH and TDS weekly. If you start to notice any value creep up too much, you can remove some of the substance you are using as a buffer.

 

I'm using Seachem Equilibrium. By dosing it into the tank slowly I have been able to raise my GH to the needed level and I can then add it to the new water in the appropriate amount so that it is equal to what is already in the tank. It is primarily calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate.