Newbie questions to starting a tank

[Robert42]

Hi, I am a newbie to shrimp keeping and I have come here for some stability in information as to looking around the information of various fish forums vary so much. Some say RCS are easy and will thrive in the same parameters as community fish others will say a great deal more care and closer parameter adjustment. All confusing. So I am hoping to get advice that I can work with.

I have on order and should hopefully be delivered this week a custom 25cm cube tank (about 10 gal). I have a sponge filter and air pump as well as a heater.

My plan is for a planted tank for my red cherries and hopefully some tank mates but I would like them to breed.

My water is classed as ‘Moderately Hard’ GHd 9.84 pH7.25 as per suppler analysis. 

Talk of using a TDS pen. I can easily order one, but should we not be aware of what constitutes the dissolved solids or does not that matter?

Light for the new tank, 6500K or 8000K which would be best for my shrimp to stand out. I keep going on line to order one or the other and end up not ordering anything.

Substrate for both shrimp and plants. All I am sure of is I would like it as close to black as possible. The plants I intend would be Java Moss, Java Fern and Anubias nana petite possible water sprite as that can float and go in the substrate.

I welcome any suggestions and I will probably have more myself. I am in no hurry to add livestock .

Thanks 
Robert….

[Matuva]

Your PH seems a bit high. Here are the "standard" water parameters for the red cherries, though, they are very hardy and can afford a wide range of water parameters.

pH – 6.4-7.5
gH – 5-11
kH – 1-5
TDS – 100-300
Temperature – 18-26C or 64 – 80F

 

A black substrate is a good choice for the red cherries. I have them in a tank with inert black quartz, same for my orange, and they display very nicely that way.

As for the plants, some ferns, bucephalandra and carpet plants such as the Glosso, Cuba, will add a lot.