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CRS Tank Log


Lizzy

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Just a thread where I can share photos of my CRS tank and shrimp. I got the original CRS in November ‘18 and they have been breeding fairly consistently since. 

Sorry the photos aren’t great. They’re all taken on an iPhone 6.

Please share your thoughts ?

Thanks

 

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They are very good photos!

If you want to fill us in on your tank and experiences so far I am sure there will be many people interested. It sounds like you have done really well if you only started 6 months ago?

simon

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I had crystal red shrimp years ago but never had any success with them, and they all died off over a period of about 12 months. I think a number of factors caused them to die off, the main issue being that the tank wasn’t dedicated to the shrimp. I was using pressurised co2, fertilisers etc. to grow plants in a newly setup tank. In hindsight, I was making life hard for the shrimp (and myself ?)

Things are going 100% better this time around, and I believe that’s mostly because I’ve put them in a well established, mature tank.

The tank the shrimp are in now has been running for years and has had the same ADA soil in it for at least a few years. The soil no longer buffers pH as it’s so old. I just tested the pH out of curiosity and it looks like it sits around 7.0-7.2. People would typically suggest that pH level is too high, but the shrimp seem to be flourishing so I don’t worry. 

I use 2 HOB a style filters. One is a decent size Hagen brand filter and the other is a tiny AquaOne. I could probably get rid of the smaller one.

I try to do 2x small water changes per week. I use a dechlorinator then leave the bucket of water to sit until the next water change. I use tap water and don’t have an RO unit. Pretty simple. 

I took photos of the foods I’ve been feeding. There are so many shrimp-specific foods available but mine seem to do fine on these. I took the feeding photo 5 minutes ago.

I should mention I keep RCS in the same tank and they don’t seem to bother or have any impact on the CRS.

I’m hoping the CRS population starts to take-off soon. Plenty of breeding happening and babies seem to be surviving so I can’t see why not.

Thanks for reading 

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Thanks for sharing and it is good to hear that it is going well.

I had the same issue with the PH being 7-7.5 but mine didn't seem to mind either so I left it. It does seem that if the PH increases slow enough they can adapt quite well. I see you have babies so those will be used to the higher PH.

I hate those ridiculous tests where they have 3 shades of the same colour indicating different Ph as it makes it almost impossible to tell as it depends on the light when you do the test.

You may find that you don't get an 'explosion' of crystal babies if you are using tap water, but that is my experience with tap water but maybe your tap water is better in Australia. Cherry shrimp are usually fine in tap water, even in our water here. The cherry type are much hardier and as long as the parameters aren't too off will live happily enough with Bee shrimps, as you say neither dominates the other type. Tap water is always a bit risky as the water companies can change the parameters without you knowing and if the have to do repairs to pipes/equipment etc there can be all sorts of things different in the water so just bear that in mind, especially if you have deaths - that maybe what happened before, though as you say CO2 and ferts aren't good with shrimp as well!

I think the thing to do with foods is use a variety which is what you are doing already, and after all is said in done you still feed the same amount so it means each will last longer so it isn't even money saving to just use 1 type.

As they say though, IF IS NOT BROKEN DON'T TRY AND FIX IT, so if it is fine and it looks like it is just carry on. IF you don't have success with babies, and you don't really want too many anyway just bear in mind they do better in RO remineralised water. This youtube video is very good and interesting and covers most shrimp stuff so it is worth watching even if you aren't having a problem:

https://skfaquatics.com/forum/forums/topic/14161-basics-for-shrimp-keeping-video/

 Thanks for sharing and the photos. 

Simon

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The colour chart tests suck. I don’t know of any alternatives though and I rarely check pH etc. so it doesn’t really bother me.

There are definitely risks associated with inconsistent tap water parameters. If I have dramas in the future I’ll invest in an RO filter system. So far so good though. As you said Simon, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it..

I noticed more fresh babies this morning ? I would say there are 15+ babies in the tank at the moment. 

The photos are crap but I think this is my best shrimp. The white is much brighter than the others and the colour is very solid. I hope to have a tank full of shrimp likes this eventually. 

 

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That shrimp does have stunning colour and even the other one is pretty good. The best colour one looks like a female to me. They are very good photos I think.

There can't be anything wrong if you are getting babies and they survive to adulthood. When I tried tap water with crystal shrimps I would get a few babies but they died within a few weeks unfortunately. I now use a zerowater filter jug to filter the tapwater and that produces RO water.

Shrimps are prolific breeders so by using tap water you may even have the advantage of not getting 'too many babies' which is the usual problem..............

Simon

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Cheers for the feedback Simon. 

I can’t say why they’re breeding and surviving, I’m just glad that they are ? This is the most babies I’ve seen since November.

I’m excited as I have shrimp at all different ages now, which indicates the population is growing. This photo shows an adult and two younger shrimp together. 

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Another great photo. I can see you have the whole range of sizes, and some red cherry. The red cherry don't look to be adults yet so I assume they are breeding well also?

Keep it up and you might need a bigger tank....................... always good to hear of a success story!

Simon

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  • 1 month later...

It’s been a while..

I moved RCS into the CRS tank as they were dying at a rate of knots in my 30c. Ive recently moved them back to the 30c and they’re now thriving. Tank mustn’t have been mature enough for their liking. 

Im picking up 4 SSS PRL crystals on the weekend. I hope this will bring up the overall quality of my colony. Fingers crossed they all survive.. I bought some benibachi bee max the other day to try to give them every chance to survive. 

Otherwise, the CRS are still breeding (has slowed a bit in the last month). I counted 8  shrimplets this morn. I removed the bulk of plants in their tank yesterday to make it easier to clean and to see the shrimp. I thought I only had 4 or so babies as the rest were well hidden in the plants. 

Lizzy 

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Edited by Lizzy
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Always good to hear everything is going well and that the cherry shrimp are now doing better in their tank. The colour of the crystals is really good as well so it will be interesting to see what adding PRL will do. My first 'attempt' at bee shrimp was with 5PRL and 5PBL, they never did very well and died off in about 6 months but I was using tap water and it was my first attempt but I appreciate why you like and want PRL as the colour and consistency/clarity of colour does make them that bit extra special.   

I think it is natural for babies to hide a lot for security.

Simon

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Picked up 4 new shrimp on the weekend. They were advertised as SSS and I’m happy with them. I was only able to photograph one of the juvies as the other’s were avoiding me. The largest of the SSS has beautiful colours. I’ll try to get some more photos of them all. Day 3 in my tank and they haven’t carked it, so that’s a good sign. 

Threw in a couple other photos of random shrimp. Hope you guys enjoy. 

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SSS shrimp will be a nice boost to your stock.

 

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More great photos! You must have the full set of RCS patterns now? It is more interesting when they aren't all the same grade/pattern.

Simon

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  • 1 month later...

So I’m jumping in and buying an RODI system. Not sure if we can fit an under-sink system in the laundry cupboard so I’m leaning towards a portable variant. Either of these two (I think one is just smaller?

https://www.filtersystemsaustralia.com.au/reverse-osmosis-water-filter/aquarium-systems/portable-reverse-osmosis-aquarium-water-filter-with-di-resin-0-tds-1-70di-872.html

or

https://www.filtersystemsaustralia.com.au/reverse-osmosis-water-filter/aquarium-systems/portable-reverse-osmosis-aquarium-water-filter-with-di-resin-0-tds-1-70di.html

I know I need to then remineralise the  water. What parameters am I aiming for, for max shrimp happiness? ?I’ll buy a TDS pen at the same time. 

Can I just add the powder to the bucket of RO water and do the WC immediately? Or does it need to sit for a period of time? 

I’ve no idea about this stuff, sorry. Thanks in advance!

 

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1 hour ago, Lizzy said:

I know I need to then remineralise the  water.

Correct. Have you got the remineraliser yet? Looking back at the pics of your shrimps, you have CRS, so you will need a GH+ remineraliser. 

 

1 hour ago, Lizzy said:

What parameters am I aiming for, for max shrimp happiness? ?I’ll buy a TDS pen at the same time. 

You are aiming to remineralise to 150 TDS for CRS.

 

1 hour ago, Lizzy said:

Can I just add the powder to the bucket of RO water and do the WC immediately? Or does it need to sit for a period of time?

No you don't have to wait to use the remineralised RO water. But at the same time, don't dump the whole bucket of water into the tank at once. 

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35 minutes ago, jayc said:

Have you got the remineraliser yet? Looking back at the pics of your shrimps, you have CRS, so you will need a GH+ remineraliser. 

A friend gave me Salty Shrimp GH+. Does this stuff “go off”? The container appears to be quite old. 

38 minutes ago, jayc said:

You are aiming to remineralise to 150 TDS for CRS.

How do I adjust TDS? Will the RO system have an adjuster or something?

39 minutes ago, jayc said:

No you don't have to wait to use the remineralised RO water. But at the same time, don't dump the whole bucket of water into the tank at once. 

I never dump whole buckets into the tank when doing changes, but do you mean the RO water needs to be drip fed?

Thanks for your help. You’re a legend.

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You basically do as you have been doing just with the new (RO) water instead of tap water! 

The RO water will be 000 so you just keep adding a bit of GH+ until the TDS is near 150 (doesn't have to be exact)! You should be fine with the GH+ you were given, but if it looks old, personally I would buy a new one, (I use a liquid one which is also easier) it's not that expensive and lasts a long time anyway. The PH will almost certainly be lower with the RO water but if you don't do a large water change but just substitute the new water into your normal routine it will VERY slowly bring the PH down a bit which is I guess what you want anyway longer term.

Simon

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2 hours ago, Lizzy said:

Does this stuff “go off”?

No! It's like salt. Does salt go off?

Unless moisture and water has got into the container, it should last until the container disintegrates.

 

2 hours ago, Lizzy said:

How do I adjust TDS?

Add a bit of Salty Shrimp GH+ into the RO water (go slow), stir it in, until  it reaches 150 TDS. Keep measuring with the TDS meter you are getting. Doesn't have to be exactly 150 as Simon said. 

 

2 hours ago, Lizzy said:

but do you mean the RO water needs to be drip fed?

If you have the tools for it and the patience, that is the best way. Or if you are like me, impatient, I add 25% of the new change water back into the tank every 20-30 minutes. So over the span of 2hours or so.

Edited by jayc
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Thanks so much for all the info guys. I’m very appreciative! 

I’ll update once I get the RO going. Fingers crossed I don’t kill them all ? I’m really hoping this will encourage more breeding. In saying that, I have 3 berried as of the last week, which is pretty exciting. 

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Bought an RO DI unit from FSA. Free postage and it arrived in 2 days. Very happy. The TDS pen arrived today so I got busy.

For reference, I’m about 2 hours North of Sydney.

Tap water: TDS 155-157. PH 7-7.2

RO water: TDS 0-1 (Remineralised to 150). PH 6.6

CRS tank water: TDS 198. PH 7-7.2

I siphoned a vey small amount of tank water and am in the process of drip feeding the RO water into the tank. I’ll do this method during water changes until the tank water PH is at 6.6 I guess. 

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Also found new born shrimplets yesterday and two more berried females. I haven’t seen any berried in about a month so I’m happy.

Edited by Lizzy
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Springs here, so maybe the shrimp are more active for breeding?

Hope you are collecting the waste RO water for watering your plants.

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Fantastic photos and great that the RO water unit and pen arrived so promptly! It is always exciting when you get a batch of shrimplets - something I am looking forward too!

Simon

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  • 4 weeks later...

A small update. I have more shrimplets than I can count and numerous berried females too, which is great. I can see shrimplets of all sizes too, which indicates they're surviving nicely. Super stoked to see the population finally taking off.

I imagine switching to RO water has been partly, if not totally, responsible for the uprated breeding and shrimplet survival. The pH has slowly dropped to around 6.8 since I started using it instead of tapwater. I'd also give some of the credit to the warmer weather with the change of season, but I've been here before and never had more than a couple berried at any time, and never had large numbers of babies.

I realised I hadn't put a tank photo up recently. I cleaned it out months ago to make it easier to see the shrimp. This tank is really ugly, but its practical and the shrimp like it. I even leave the algae build-up on the rear glass in case they get something out of it haha.

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    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
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