Shrimp Tank Water Parameters

I did a complete round of testing on my shrimp tank and these are the results I got:

pH---7.3
GH---8 or 140ppm
KH---9.5 or 170ppm
Ammomia--0
Nitrites---0
Nitrates---10

I know the pH and the last 3 are good but are the GH and KH in line?

 

For cherry shrimp, they all look good. Not for CRS though; they need softer water. Do you know the TDS?

 

You'll have no problems with those like Discus said would be nice to know the TDS

 

For cherry shrimp, they all look good. Not for CRS though; they need softer water. Do you know the TDS?

No, I didn't have a way to test that. The report from my water company shows very low levels of everything though.

Is CRS Crystal Red Shrimp?

My largest and reddest shrimp had the dreaded white line behind the head section. I was worried and went to the store. I came back 90 minutes later and the line was gone and she looks slightly larger. I guess she molted while I was out.

 

Yes Dch CRS is crystal red shrimp, you must have caught that shrimp just as she was moulting, I hope it all works well for you

 

No, I didn't have a way to test that.

I'm sure these are nowhere near the best out there, but I have a HM Digital TDS-4 Pocket-Size TDS Aquarium Meter I got from chewy for like $11; and I just got a HM Digital Handheld Meters TDS/Temp Meter I caught on sale from m.Drs. Foster and Smith for like $8. They both seem to work pretty good.

I usually save up several things I want/need to get and make a purchase that qualifies for free shipping.

 

Okay I got the API GH and KH kit and a TDS meter. I'm seeing readings of 7 for GH, 11 for KH, and 200 for TDS. Is the KH a little high? Two of my yellow shrimp died but the others, including 2 small babies, are doing fine.

 

Those are all fine I believe the KH can go to 15 but ide not worry with those readings in my tank

 

I wish my GH & KH readings were like yours! I have 7.4 ph with 2- 3 GH & KH. I dose equilibrium and calcium. (Well, and flourish for plants.) If I had your parameters, I wouldn't be worried!! I bet they're going to do great in your water!

 

I do think your KH is a little bit higher than I'd like to see for most shrimp, but it's by no means bad. I think you'll be completely fine with neos, but more sensitive shrimp could have issues.

 

I tested my Betta's tank and the GH was the same at 7 but the KH was 9 and the TDS only 143. I wonder what the difference is. Could it be the broken flowerpot pieces in the shrimp tank? Or possibly the driftwood piece which still has fuzz on it? The tap water after treatment has a TDS of 124.

 

TDS is a measure of everything in your water that isn't water, so that includes nitrate, prime, fertilizers, medicines, tannins (I believe), etc. I'd imagine a betta tank probably has a very low bioload and therefore a low level of nitrate in the water, so it's natural that the TDS would be lower.

 

The nitrates actually test higher in the Betta tank. There is a large Mystery snail and a Nerite in there too. There is also a Nerite in the shrimp tank.There are also a couple of metal plant weights holding things down in the shrimp tank. Everywhere I looked said they would be safe.

 

I do think your KH is a little bit higher than I'd like to see for most shrimp, but it's by no means bad. I think you'll be completely fine with neos, but more sensitive shrimp could have issues.

That's true... I have neos and amano, and they are definitely a lot easier, and less sensitive, than a lot of other types of shrimp.

 

My CRS would live in your water parameters ok but they would not breed this is why I now use RO water to keep things spot on, your in God's pocket when it comes to water out of the tap I wish I had that my TDS out of the tap is 500ish

 

lol yeah I meant to say I'm still jealous of those parameters. My TDS is like 1100+ out of the tap and 800 straight from the well.

The nice thing about OP's water is it's super close to where they need, so it with maybe a 30% cut with RO water it would be right there.

I have to use 100% remineralized RO/DI water for my shrimpies

 

Wow that is bad the good thing is you have more controll over what you want to do which is +

 

Really?! 1100?? Ack!!! That's crazy!!!

My TDS out of the tap is like 50!!! Now I'm thinking that's crazy on my side!!! And it sounds so stupidly low to everyone else's I feel obliged to send proof! LOL

 

You lied it's 47 its deffenetly not fair

 

Are you seeing any particular issues you're worried about, dch, or just in general your water's okay? With my parameters, I'm constantly finding babies. I have babies of several ages at the moment, too. And, this morning, I see several saddled girlies. - Oh, my temp is 75°F. I don't think we mentioned temp. - The only other thing I can think of would be calcium levels ... which I'd love to know how you guys check in a Freshwater tank. Right now I send a sample with hubby to work (he works for the water department here), but I'd love to be able to test it at home.

 

I tested my Betta's tank and the GH was the same at 7 but the KH was 9 and the TDS only 143. I wonder what the difference is. Could it be the broken flowerpot pieces in the shrimp tank? Or possibly the driftwood piece which still has fuzz on it? The tap water after treatment has a TDS of 124.

I don't understand this, maybe someone else knows. How can GH7 + KH9 be only 143 TDS ? seems like the TDS or gh/kh is off by 100PPM

If GH result contains both GH& KH how can KH be higher?

 

I don't think there's a calcium test kit available to us or if there is I've never heard of, in all my shrimp tanks I make sure I feed food that as high concentrates of calcium in it, broccolI zanuchie spinach ECT and protein for that I use frozen blood worm that's all you really need to do, I was going to ask what protein he was feeding, and if he reminerils his water to keep the same perameters, although I feed only food produced for shrimp which as all the minerals and protein in I vary the diet with veg. a lot of people don't feed minerals and veg wounder why they shrimp die, the bottom line is if they don't get minerals and protein their body wount be conditioned and they can't moult which leads to death. You probably know this already Aquababy so this information is there to help other new shrimp keepers

I have just found that API DO a calcium water test kit I don't think it's any good to shrimp keepers though as we need to get calcium into its body and what's already in the water is not good enough to condition shrimp, if it were the case none of us would be using the food we do so I don't know what this kit is for.
Editing
From what I've just read it's for reef and coral setups

 

My CRS would live in your water parameters ok but they would not breed this is why I now use RO water to keep things spot on, your in God's pocket when it comes to water out of the tap I wish I had that my TDS out of the tap is 500ish

So they won't breed with my parameters? What would I need to do? I don't have RO water but I could get distilled which would do the same thing right?

Also, the temp stays at room temp because there is no heater. I was hoping I wouldn't need one. Room temp is now right at 70 or a little less. I read that the shrimp are good between 64 and 84. What is ideal? About 74? I couldn't keep it that low in the summer when room temp goes up over 85 sometimes (no A/C) but I could do it now with an adjustable heater. I saw a 25 watt adjustable one on amazon for $11-12.

AquaBaby I think calcium levels are tied in with the KH.

I don't understand this, maybe someone else knows. How can GH7 + KH9 be only 143 TDS ? seems like the TDS or gh/kh is off by 100PPM

If GH result contains both GH& KH how can KH be higher?

GH and KH are different. That's why there are 2 different test solutions.

There has to be calcium in the food? I read that many times, they need no supplemental food at all. I'm using Omega One Veggie rounds that contain kelp and spirulina as the main ingredients but have no added calcium. The Tetra Pleco Wafers I have do have added calcium but the main ingredients are wheat. There is a little algae meal thrown in and a very small amount of zucchini. The Pleco wafers contain no animal protein but the Veggie rounds do. They did eat small pieces of shaved broccolI but they didn't touch the blanched zucchinI I put in.



I do nothing to the water other than a one gallon change (33%) when the nitrates go over 10. No chemicals of any kind are added (except dechlorinator of course, not Prime).

Some of them will do nothing but pick at the plants and wood and never touch any other food that goes in.

This site says that breeding them is very easy and that water parameters are very flexible.

 

Your RCS will breed in the water perameter you have so don't worry about that, what I said is that you can put crystal reds in with them but the crystal reds wount breed until certain water parameters are met it's a very fine line to get both species to breed in the same tank and a RO unit is required. The problem is not with RCS which you have but with the crs as they are more sensitive. As you are don't worry they will breed

 

One of my Yellows was not seen in the last 2 days. Yesterday, I saw 2 of them behind a rock. Today that 4th one came out for a bit and it looked like there was a green patch behind the head that was never there before. I may have my first egg carrying female.

 

HI NYFishguy iam by far no expert on water composition, I do know to my cost that certain stones leech carbonates into the water which sent my GH sky high to11 that for CRS is not good as they stop breeding and to get that back down I had to do pure RO water changes over a few weeks and by lowering my tds to 140 brought down the gh to 6 my KH stayed stable at 2 during this time since then I've stables this one tank to TDS130 GH5 KH2 by using Ro water. It also appears to me that everyone's water around the world is different this is why they use buffers to play about with perameters

 

You probably know this already Aquababy so this information is there to help other new shrimp keepers

I'll take all the info I can get!! I've not been in fishkeeping long and have only had shrimp since July!! I think I'm pretty new I just read - a lot!! - and try to research. Hubby thinks I'm weird for as much studying as I do for "just fish." (I'll tell on myself as to how nerdy I am: I've always loved learning and reading. When I was a child, I read my parents set of encyclopedias. Loved It! My mom got me a subscription for 'children encyclopedias' and I couldn't hardly wait for the next one to arrive!)

There's a lot of variety of food I put in my (community) tank, but my shrimp "staples" are glasgarten products: bacter ae, shrimp dinner, and shrimp baby. My RCS don't get much of the shrimp dinner, as an amano can, and does, literally grab a whole piece and swim off with it to greedily consume the piece all by himself. So, I count out 9 pieces of the shrimp dinner, that gives 7 to the amano and 2 for everyone else. Usually the bn pleco finds one and claims it and the guppies and WCMM find the other. But, sometimes, one gets down in the decor, and the RCS are all over it. The shrimp baby is small, though. The RCS easily claim the majority of it. The bacter ae is a powder. I dissolve it in water before I put it in the tank; otherwise the guppies just eat the clumps. All the shrimp seem to not just graze but actively eat when I add it. It brings out the tiny babies, too.

I also feed peas, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and other kinds of veggies but those 4 are the easiest to fund in my town on a regular basis.

Plus, bits of food the fish might miss are grabbed up by the shrimp.

Because of my soft water, I add repashy nod and I have cuttlebone in the tank. But, I was doing this before my shrimp... for snails. But, I figure it can't hurt!!

I have tons and tons of cover for the shrimp, which also gives a lot of surface area for grazing. I didn't add RCS until my tank was up and stable for 10 months. I was aiming for 1 year, but they went on sale for 1/2 off. LOL

 

HI NYFishguy iam by far no expert on water composition, I do know to my cost that certain stones leech carbonates into the water which sent my GH sky high to11 that for CRS is not good as they stop breeding and to get that back down I had to do pure RO water changes over a few weeks and by lowering my tds to 140 brought down the gh to 6 my KH stayed stable at 2 during this time since then I've stables this one tank to TDS130 GH5 KH2 by using Ro water. It also appears to me that everyone's water around the world is different this is why they use buffers to play about with perameters

I did some more research and found that GH test won't pick up everything the KH test does but GH will include certain KH minerals.

 

So, is TDS supposed to be equal to GH+KH? (in ppm) Mine certainly isn't. The TDS is much lower than the total of those two. Converting and adding GH and KH together gives about 320 but the TDS meter says right at 200. Are some things measured by both tests so adding the two readings would be doubling down to a degree?

 

Tbh? Ive been reading this thread because I also want to start a shrimp tank...and now my brain is ready to explode!
I'm so confused...
Edit. RCS shrimp...for now

 

No it dosnt work like that what you got is perfect for cherries they will breed, keep doing the same and you'll be ok, it's can get complicated especially for new shrimp keepers if you try and take in to much, so I'll simplify what you need for cherries.

TDS 180 to 300 but I've bred them in higher
GH minimum 6 and up to and up to 10 but I've seen it 15 lower than 6 can result in moulting issues
KH you'll probly find that will be 2 to 4
Keep to this and you wount go far wrong
You may find others putting here what their water is for cherries and having success so you'll find there's room to move things around and you'll be ok. Iam sorry things got complicated with some of the questions but they wernt directed at at you on how to keep cherries, if your unsure on anything please come back here there's always someone about.

 

No it dosnt work like that what you got is perfect for cherries they will breed, keep doing the same and you'll be ok, it's can get complicated especially for new shrimp keepers if you try and take in to much, so I'll simplify what you need for cherries.

TDS 180 to 300 but I've bred them in higher
GH minimum 6 and up to and up to 10 but I've seen it 15 lower than 6 can result in moulting issues
KH you'll probly find that will be 2 to 4
Keep to this and you wount go far wrong
You may find others putting here what their water is for cherries and having success so you'll find there's room to move things around and you'll be ok. Iam sorry things got complicated with some of the questions but they wernt directed at at you on how to keep cherries, if your unsure on anything please come back here there's always someone about.

Useful info! And thanks! And also sorry to Dch48. I didnt mean to hijack your thread, just add to it. I hope all the comments helped anyone looking to have a shrimp tank.

 

No it dosnt work like that what you got is perfect for cherries they will breed, keep doing the same and you'll be ok, it's can get complicated especially for new shrimp keepers if you try and take in to much, so I'll simplify what you need for cherries.

TDS 180 to 300 but I've bred them in higher
GH minimum 6 and up to and up to 10 but I've seen it 15 lower than 6 can result in moulting issues
KH you'll probly find that will be 2 to 4
Keep to this and you wount go far wrong
You may find others putting here what their water is for cherries and having success so you'll find there's room to move things around and you'll be ok. Iam sorry things got complicated with some of the questions but they wernt directed at at you on how to keep cherries, if your unsure on anything please come back here there's always someone about.

GH is 7 and KH is 9-10

 

The only way to reduce the KH is with RO water or chemicals and you don't want to go down that road, the key with shrimp is consistency and if that's what your water is go with it as long as you acclimitise the shrimp you'll be ok even with that reading, reading back you've already got shrimp happy in the tank and you may think one as eggs, that means it's working for you so don't try and change anything keep to your normal routine,

 

Maybe it's not going that well though. It appears that I only have 2 or 3 of the blue velvets and 1 or 2 of the cherries left out of the 6 of each that I started with a month ago. I had 6 yellows to start with and 10 days later there are 4 (I did find 2 of them dead). It appears that the one yellow does not have eggs after all. One thing I'm seeming to see is that every time I add a pinch of Bacter AE, another shrimp or 2 go missing. It also seems to lessen the filter flow and I have small white worms on the sides of the tank. I may be done with using that stuff. I only use a very small piece on the end of the scoop they give you. Not the scoop end, the handle. I mix it up in a small cup of water from the tank and then pour it back in. Three days ago, I was seeing 4 red, 3 blue and the 4 yellows. I added a very small bit of Bacter and for the last 2 days, I'm only seeing the 4 yellows, 2 blues, and one red. I know one of the yellows successfully molted because I saw the shell hanging in the moss and it was too big to be from either of the other 2 colors. Maybe my stock of reds and blues was not very good but I don't know what's happening. The water quality is great and they have enough food. The plants are growing and looking good. The only other thing is the lack of a heater. The temp has been sitting at 70 all the time. Maybe it should be a bit higher which would mean getting a heater.

 

Dch48 the only other thing I 've see at the moment is your water change ide advise on 20% on a weekley basis, you shouldn't really leave your nitraits go up at all, how much and how often ar you feeding Bactor as you may be overdosing your tank as you've not many shrimp in there

Dch48 remember shrimp will hide a lot and if there's an overdose of anything there would be dead bodies which your not finding, before they moult they will hide

 

I have a nice sized bright gold mystery snail, and he is capable of hiding from me during the day even it a little 10 gallon aquarium so not seeing a shrimp here and there would not surprise me.

 

Bactor ae wount slow your filter down so it may need cleaning, and the white worms are probly detritus a sure sign of over feeding post a picture

 

Dch48 to help you get things right let's start again
Tell me all your water perameters how often you do a water change as in how may weeks go by before you do it, your feeding program what you feed how often you feed, how is your water temperature managed and a pic of your tank once ive got that I'll be able to give you advise

Dch48 here's two photos taken 5 minutes apart of the same tank to show you how well shrimp hide. The first picture shows almost no shrimp and there ar anything from 500 upwards in that tank, then I add food

 

Dch48 here's two photos taken 5 minutes apart of the same tank to show you how well shrimp hide. The first picture shows almost no shrimp and there ar anything from 500 upwards in that tank, then I add food

Amazing! What a beautiful tank! And they sure know feeding time, don't they? Lol