NEED CRS HELP

[Jokes]

okay guys ive got a seasoned tank ready to go with plants and fluval shrimp/plant mix soil(costed me $240 for a 200l tank ? )my tank is 6.5 ph which i hear is in the range for crs,im using melbourne(vic) tap water the tds is 36 out of tap but  96ppm in my tank. i havnt added any minerals  etc, is it okay to use seacheam equilibrium to minerlize?i have seen crs like around 150-200 tds.also my water supply company says the hardness comes out at around 35 hardness but from what ive read i need it to be around 6? are the americans using another measurement for hardness like ppm or grains per gallon or ml/g ?

[sdlTBfanUK]

I expect the reading you are getting is a differnt scale of reading which usually equates to approx 18 per 1 GH and is therefore about 2 GH. It is of concern though if the water goes up 60 TDS when added to the tank, do you know why this is happening? 

It sounds a bit like you are going down the route I did when I started and it didn't work,, though your tap water MAY work (we have 1 member on here that it works for that I know of) it certainly isn't what I would use. RO water and proper GH+ shrimp minerals is what I would recommend FROM the start without a doubt, otherwise there will be too many things that could cause problems, and make it very difficult to isolate what is causig a problem. You could be heading for a lot of heartache, extra work and wasting a lot of money and time by 'taking short cuts' from the start, believe me I know, been there?

Tap water is very unreliable/changeable and every time I test the parameters of mine it has changed so it is better to start off with a blank slate and remineralise the water with a product designed specifically for shrimps, that way you know that their is the right balance/mix of things in the tank that the shrimp need.

You have a large tank and as you say it is seasoned so maybe I would try a SMALL group first (the cheapest ones you can get) just to test the water (no pun intended) if you want to stick with it as it is, but at least you shouldn't be too surprised if it doesnt work and they die off knowing it was unlikely to work anyway?

Simon

[Jokes]

I expect the reading you are getting is a differnt scale of reading which usually equates to approx 18 per 1 GH , what measurement what that be ? im confused

im guessing the the tds goes up from my tap water,(36) to (96) is becausse of the fluval subtrate

yep so my ph is good my tds is good at 90 ppm , (although i havent added minerals)my main concern is gh!

Edited May 9, 2020 by Jokes

[Jokes]

do americans measure gh in ppm?

[sdlTBfanUK]

I used to have te GH test that used the higher reading, from memory it was dGH, I think the d meaning german and I assume was ppm. I think everyone uses the GH scale, including USA!

You are probably right that the substrate may be releasing some minerals TDS, I haven't used that one myself? You may want to add a bit of GH+ to get the tds up a bit more, aim for about 120 and that should add 1GH approx! Have you done a GH test to see/check where you are?

Simon

[Jokes]

i just wanna know if my gh is safe for CRS ?IN AUSTRALIA melb VICTORIA, it says its 30-40 out of the tap, but if thats the same measurement as USA,i have no chance they say the gh should be 4-6 ???

Edited May 9, 2020 by Jokes

[jayc]

Melbourne water is fine for shrimp use. Many have used Melbourne's tap water and remineralised it a bit to increase TDS.

A low TDS means that GH will be low as well.

You have room to increase TDS a bit, but don't use Equilibrium. Use a shrimp specific remineraliser.

 

[Crabby]

Hey mate, I’m a fellow melbournian. Our tap is defs fine for shrimp. You’re using a test kit that measures in ppm, whereas most people describe GH and KH in degrees of hardness (usually with shrimp it’ll be somewhere between 2-6, depending on variety). I reckon crystals will do fine with your water, if you’re just using dechlorinated melb tap. Also geez, blowing $240 on shrimp substrate, that’s an investment. Hopefully it’ll help a lot with the plants and buffering. Anyways, good luck!

-Crabby

[beanbag]

11 hours ago, Jokes said:

do americans measure gh in ppm?

No, we use the German system of degrees GH and KH, aka dGH, where one "degree" = 18.x ppm.  (often we leave off the "d")

U should get a Reverse osmosis system to get consistent and pure water, or do what Simon does and buy a Zerowater filter.  Then buy Salty Shrimp GH+ remineralizer and add 400 mg to one gallon of water, which will give you 100 ppm or 5 dGH.