Help please

[jayc]

On 5/18/2020 at 10:07 AM, Able said:

as soon as I see eggs on a shrimp I put in the mesh breeder. Then I take the shrimp out when the eggs are gone and I see more newborns swimming. Am I doing this wrong?

 

Nothing wrong with that method. Many experienced shrimp keepers to that.

[Able]

It this stuff necessary also in either neo it the cardinia tank?

[Crabby]

No, that's not necessary at all for either caridina or neo shrimp. It will help with moults, but it isn't necessary. I keep neocaridina and caridina absolutely fine without anything of the sort, and I get plenty of moults and breeding. You just need to make sure that there is the right amount of GH and KH in the water, and you'll do fine. 

[Able]

Ok got the rodi water system hooked up flushed out and I’m trying to get the proper gh and tds for my cardinia tank in a 5 gallon jug.

its tough

either I’m too high on both or too low....

only adding less then half a measuring cup for 5 gallons of rodi water that has 000 tds 

[sdlTBfanUK]

The GH+ will be balanced for the caridina, just go for the TDS as that is the easiest to test anyway. Great to hear you have got the RO unit. Ifyou aim for about TDS 120 (doesn't need to be exact) that gives you a bit of room upwards! You can fie tune it later in the tank anyway as you don't have any shrimp in there yet.

Simon

[Able]

What do you mean by it will be balanced for the cardinia?

i got it to 120 ish 

[sdlTBfanUK]

It will have the right proportions of everything the shrimp need to get the water parameters perfect for the (caridinia) shrimp. Therefore if you get one parameter right you can forget the others at the start (just test the GH/KH/PH once you have the right TDS to confirn all is right in your own  mind) and the easiest one to keep checking is the TDS anyway. Once the water is in the tank there may be other stuff that will alter that balance, especially over time and any OLD water that is left from before adding the RO will be one of those. Rocks can increase PH or TDS/GH depending on the type of rock etc!

With the TDS of 120 as yu mention, the other parameters should be GH 4-5 and KH 0-1 and PH 6-6.5(ish) before it goes into the tank

Simon

[Able]

Thank you 

[Able]

Update....

I have  the new rodi system all flushed out and filling 5 gallon Poland spring jugs.

neo tanks: using salty shrimp gh-kh+

I can get the tds to 200 but the gh is only 6?

kh is 2?

why can’t I get the gh Kh higher? Without raising tds

cardinia tank: Using salty shrimp gh+

cycling at 120 tds will check gh tomorrow 

tds out of ro unit is 000

what should I be doing?

[jayc]

8 minutes ago, Able said:

neo tanks: using salty shrimp gh-kh+

I can get the tds to 200 but the gh is only 6?

kh is 2?

why can’t I get the gh Kh higher? Without raising tds

Those are fine for a Neo tank. If you use a premixed remineraliser, you are bound to what the manufacturer set.

If you want more control, you need to look at doing your own remineraliser, but that is for the more advanced shrimp keeper.

 

10 minutes ago, Able said:

cardinia tank: Using salty shrimp gh+

cycling at 120 tds will check gh tomorrow 

tds out of ro unit is 000

what should I be doing?

Aim for 120-130 TDS for a Caridina tank. 

Premix the GH+ powder into an empty bottle of water (500ml). Put in1/4 bottle of the GH+ powder, and fill the rest with RO water.

Then all you need to do is drip a little from this bottle till your water change gets to 120TDS. You have essentially made yourself a liquid concentrated remineraliser. No need to fool around with powder doses any more.

 

[Able]

What do you mean by a premixed Mineralizer?

[sdlTBfanUK]

I will try and answer this as best I can............

The commercial GH+ or GH/KH+ powder is made to create a set level of parameters and minerals that suit the shrimps requirements perfectly, to help them stay healthy and moult etc! Using RO water it will produce a certain preset ratio of TDS/GH/KH/PH, dependant on which product you use.

Think of it as if making a cake, you need certain ingredients and the right proportions of each ingredient for it to work well, too much (or too little) of something means it won't work properly?

Some people prefer to make their own mixture of minerals rather than buy the commercial products!

Hope this helps you understand?

Simon

[Able]

Like making the mixture from the powder?

[jayc]

If you purchased Salty Shrimp GH+, that is a premixed mineraliser. That means the manufacturer has premixed Calcium sulphate and Magnesium sulphate together at a ratio of around 4:1. If you want more control over the Ca:Mg ratio or if you want to make GH/KH+ you can purchase these ingredients and mix your own. 

I have a sticky post in Water Parameters, if you are ever curious of making your own remineraliser.

 

If you want a bit more control over the parameters you get from Salty Shrimp ... mix it into a plastic water bottle. Fill 1/4 or 1/3 of the bottle with SS GH+ and add RO water. Dissolve the SS GH+ and drip only as much as you need from the bottle for each water change.

[Able]

I tried that trick in the bottle and worked nicely.

Here’s the 10 gallon cardinia tank only have 5 crs and 5 cbs and one blue bolt 

The wood is buried to keep it from floating till it’s water logged.

[jayc]

6 minutes ago, Able said:

Here’s the 10 gallon cardinia tank

Nice and minimalist.

What is that substrate you are using? It's so "round".

[Nebish]

Love it! Looks great! Is that filter shrimp safe?

[Able]

Aqueon shrimp substrate 

Thank you work in sloooow progress. Looks kinda boring now

Need some ideas to make it not “minimalist “

[Nebish]

Dragon stone! ?

[Able]

That’s insane 

love it

looks like a 20-30 gallon with built in feeding area.?

Sand substrate?

i have a paper with tank stats like you under all of mine too lol

Edited May 25, 2020 by Able

[Able]

Yes filter has a fine mesh inside like the ones from shrimp king but not their brand 

[Nebish]

20gal long. Yes we did add a feeding area. Caribsea Super Naturals Sunset Gold Sand. Haha yeah I like to keep record. If not I’ll forget lol

[Able]

I usually use a dry erase marker and write it all on top left corner of each tank but wiped it off for the picture lol

Edited May 25, 2020 by Able

[Nebish]

Wife just hung this up for me yesterday

Also The adding DI to RO is good. Some say you don’t need it but it just helps. Before I switched to RO I had a TDS of 420. 10% water changes once a week for 4 weeks. Brought it to 205 TDS. Now I remineralize with shrimp king GH/kh to 205. All good!

[Crabby]

I use a website/app called ‘AquaticLog’ to keep track of everything. Really well designed and helpful.