Water Hardness Amano Shrimp

I finally got my GH and KH liquid apI test. I have very hard water but now I know, ph is 8.0-8.2, KH is 196.9, GH is over test highest value of 214.8, (chart stops at 12 drops), mine took 16 to convert color of test water. TDS in tank is 229. I changed 10% water Thursday and put RO water in. The shrimp seem better. I have had them 1 week. This test is after adding 3 gallons RO water, in 30 gallon tank. I plan to do water change with Ro water again this week. I tested RO water and it is lowest KH and GH and under the chart,(lowest chart read is 17.9, so less than that) as 1 drop turned test water to final color. RO water is 6.4 ph. My other parameters are ammonia 0-.25 (API liquid test), 0 nitites, 0 nitrates. Any advice on doing anything different than adding another 3 gallons of RO water during water change is welcomed. Thanks

 

I should also point out that shrimp are acting fairly normal since Thurs night after RO water was added that morning. But I want to promote their optimal health. Cheers to all who can lend me sound suggestions.

 

I went ahead and did another 3 gallon RO water change today, never got response to this thread, anybody on hard hard water being diluted over time with RO water??

 

I'm also keeping amano shrimps in hardwater (16dGH, 4dKH, ph= 8, TDS = 315) though I have never used RO and they're doing fine.

 

Honestly, and call me silly, but I've had shrimp in all 4 of my tanks and never bothered to check any of this or influence it aside from adding a piece of cuttlebone. They are all healthy and both of the females in my 10 gallon have eggs/are pregnant. Everyone molts ok, never had any issues except in my 30 that I don't think was well cycled enough. No clue how hard or soft the water is though.. Maybe it's time I checked.

 

I went ahead and did another 3 gallon RO water change today, never got response to this thread, anybody on hard hard water being diluted over time with RO water??

HI from over at your other post!
Thought I'd drop a quick line to reassure you again.

Honestly, it's FINE! Going from hard, hard water (London tap is just as 'bad', if not worse, than yours) gradually using RO/distilled/bottled or anything else that's got lower GH/ph is exactly what you're doing correctly, nice and slowly.

As I said, it's just a matter of keeping this 'mixture' constant when you do PWCs-and get some nice bushy plants for your Amanos, then they'll be happy shrimps.

As Tsin21 said, they are generally OK in harder water ( I actually started to lower my GH/ph for my Cherry Shrimp, rather than my Amanos, but it was just easier to mix and heat all the PWC water together for both the tanks) but in your case, as I said before, it seems that cover and feeling more comfortable in their home is what's mainly stopping them from being as active as they should be.

Hope this helps, and please don't worry-what you're doing is good-and with the plants, will be perfect!

 

Thanks everyone for your helpful info and tips! I've ordered cholla wood, and got some Java moss, and have moved larger Anubias down front by their "cave".

 

Perfect! ☺