Shrimp water questions

[shelbyw93]

Those of you with shrimp killing tap water.... How do you get acceptable shrimp parameters? My tap water is too high in pretty much everything (pH, alkalinity, TDs). I've halved it with RODI and I am still experiencing shrimp deaths after molt. I have one Blue Velvet that has molted successfully out of my original 6. I was thinking of starting RODI and demineralizing and rebuffering but I don't know what exact products are recommended or if this would take my TDs through the roof. Will someone who can't use their tap water enlighten me on how they get their shrimp to thrive??

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[Matuva]

My tap water is almost fine, so I can use it "as is" for the Neo.

From your side, did you consider using spring water? For the caridinas, I use either rain or RO water, with 1/4 of tap water and don't add anything more

[ineke]

If you are having moulting problems it would be good to know your water parameters including your GH and also KH. The neocaridina can with stand very high TDS even though it's not recommended - I have a large colony outside in a pond with a TDS of 460 and they are thriving. However it is RO water that I use from my water changes in my breeding tanks for Caridina. 

Depending on your water parameters - that's why it would be good for you to let us know what they are- you can either continue to do water changes with RO water until you reach the TDS you want but you still need to know what the GH is as that can be a big problem with moulting issues or do a complete change to RO water with the right minerals added to get your GH / KH right.

Neos / Cherry varieties can withstand a wide range of water conditions although too way out and they might not thrive .

we use mostly salty shrimp products to remineralise our RO specifically GH/KH  for Neos and GH + for Caridinas. Although there is a very good recipe to make your own on  here.

WP's 

TDS 150 - 260

GH 4-14

kH 0-10

PH 6.5-7.5

temp 18-24. 

But the main requirement as with all shrimp is stability or very small changes only. Once acclimatised to a certain water condition try to keep the water close to that and they should thrive.

Edited April 7, 2016 by ineke

[jayc]

7 hours ago, shelbyw93 said:

I was thinking of starting RODI and demineralizing and rebuffering

That would be the way to go. You have full control over what water parameter targets to achieve.

7 hours ago, shelbyw93 said:

I don't know what exact products are recommended or if this would take my TDs through the roof.

There are lots of premixed products out there.

The shrimp specific ones are Mosura Mineral Plus Ultra, or Salty Shrimp (either GH+ or GH/KH+). Salty Shrimp product being the more popular here due to it's availability in Oz. Mosura is a little harder to find here.

You could even use Seachem Equilibrium. Note: the shrimp specific products above have more Calcium, and is slightly better in that regards.

You could even use Red Sea Coral Pro salts (used for marine tanks) if you were in a pinch and desperate.

I also have a thread in the Water Parameters subforum that shows you how to DIY your own remineralising mix from raw ingredients. It's more economical and is customised for shrimp. I think it's even better than the product you can buy since I use some potassium in my mix. 

 

Irrespective of which product you choose to use, they are all the same in regards to maintaining TDS.

You mix a little of it in your water change:

- use your TDS meter to match your target TDS

- use your pH test kit (or better, pH pen) to match your target pH.

- and drip it back into the tank slowly.

 

Alternatively, you can remove all your shrimp -

- Change your whole tank to RO water after remineralising in one big bang,

- Test TDS, pH, GH/KH etc to match your target water parameters.

- then reacclimatise the shrimp back into the tank with the new water.

 

Your TDS should not be going through the roof, since you are testing TDS at the step where you add the remineralising buffer product. Stop adding it once you reach your target TDS number. The TDS meter is your best friend at water changes (along with the pH pen).

Edited April 8, 2016 by jayc

[Foxpuppet]

Can someone explain to me the actual difference in salty shrimp gh+ vs gh/Kh+ ?

As in What effect does 1 scoop of each product have on ro/DI water?

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[ineke]

The GH/KH+ is for Neocaridina. 1 spoon to 10 litres of water gives a 6 dGh and conductance of 300 microseimens - doesn't give TDS reading on pack

Gh+ is for Bee shrimp 1 spoon to 20 litres give a 6 dh  - I take it that is GH 6 - and conductivity of 200 microseimens

Taken from my packs of each product

I use about 1/2- 3/4 of a spoon of GH + in a bucket of water to get a TDS of 150 if that helps

Edited April 14, 2016 by ineke

[Foxpuppet]

Excellent, thanks Ineke.

I've got an old 1000g container of gh+ that's about half full but it's gotten moisture in it and gone hard. I can still scrape it out but was considering getting a new one. My interest in the gh/Kh+ is that my Kh is practically 0-1 all the time and wondered if my bee shrimp could do with higher KH.

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[ineke]

My KH sits at 1 and my shrimp are fine with that. I think 2 was about the highest recommended for them but could be wrong!

[Foxpuppet]

My KH sits at 1 and my shrimp are fine with that. I think 2 was about the highest recommended for them but could be wrong!

Thanks, I think I'll persevere with the gh+ I wondered if some my shrimp shell lightness might have been due to low KH.

Also my snails seem to end up with white shells, not sure if that's related.