New at this

[Cosmo]

Hi, just setting up my first shrimp tank. Checking water chemistry daily during tank cycling. Kh seems a bit lower than it should be but all else is progressing.

[jayc]

Welcome Cosmo.

What KH reading are you getting? And what are you keeping in the tank?

We can confirm if it is ok or if it is a concern.

 

[Cosmo]

Getting the tank set up for neos, probably cherry shrimp. Its a 10 gallon tank that been cycling for about a week. gh and kh are at about 120ppm but added some moss and cholla wood today so will read again tomorrow. ph is 7.8 and tds is 95. No shrimp in the tank yet,

[sdlTBfanUK]

, Well done for looking into everything BEFORE you get your shrimps, most of  us are not that patient or well organised!

From those parameters I am assuming you are using tap water (dechlorinated), and that should be fine with cherry/neocaridina shrimp. Your TDS is a bit low and the KH a bit high, as is the PH. As long as you acclimate any shrimps properly though (drip over many hours) I would think they will manage to live in that water. I would get some Indian  Almond leaves to help.

Just to be double sure, do the full set of water parameters again around midday to double check the readings. If you are using strips then they obviously jump in steps so it can be difficult to be precise?

Personally I would give it a go as you are as it will be very easy and cheap, but bear in mind tap water parameters can change at any time. If you would rather play safer, or if it doesn't seem to be working with the tap water, you do have the easy (cheap and widely available in USA) option of using a zerowater filter jug (produces RO alternative water, tds/GH/KH 000, will lower PH also) and reminerlise with shrimp products. It will obviosly cost a bit more and take a bit more work, but that will be for you to decide. I use tapwater with my neocaridina and they are fine but our water is probably a lot different to yours.

Simon

[Cosmo]

Thanks Simon and jayc!

Here are today's readings:

ph - 7.6-7.8;  gh - 120ppm;   kh - 120ppm;   ammonia - 0ppm;  nitrite - 0ppm;  nitrate - 0ppm and TDS - 121

 

I will try the zerowater filter but I want to give the tank to the end of the week to get more bacteria built up. Almond leaves are on order.

 

 

[jayc]

1 hour ago, Cosmo said:

gh - 120ppm;   kh - 120ppm

I'd prefer GH and KH to be lower for a shrimp tank personally. As Simon has said, Indian Almond leaves might help reduce slowly.

So definitely no need to add anything that will raise KH at this point in time. Certainly not until you use RO or rainwater.

 

[sdlTBfanUK]

The KH being about 7 is the main problem as the recommended range is 2 - 4 (36 - 72 on your test kit). GH is also 7 and that range should be 4 - 6 so thats a little over but not anything I would worry too much about, the shrimps should adjust to that with careful acclimarising.

Of coarse if you do go the RO + shrimp minerals, all the parameters will be in sync, which should make things easier and more consistent! All you will need to do when preparing the new water is mix to a TDS of 160-180 and you won't need to test the others very often as the mineral mixture is perfectly balanced for the shrimps requirements. With cherry shrimp you will want GH/KH+!

WHEN you do get shrimp thy should be drip acclimated over several hours.

Simon

[Cosmo]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I though neocardinia liked gh between 4 and 8 and kh between 3 and 10? at least that was what I found online

[jayc]

1 hour ago, Cosmo said:

neocardinia liked gh between 4 and 8 and kh between 3 and 10

Those are the extremities of the range where they will survive. You don't want to be near those extremes.

Lifespan will be greatly reduced.

 

Keeping it to the ranges we suggest will mean the shrimp are living in a more tolerable conditions. It also means you leave room for swings either way with enough time to catch it and correct it.

 

It's like saying "Humans like 10deg C to 50deg C." That statement is correct and incorrect at the same time.

Yeah, we might survive in those temperatures, but we certainly prefer it to be 20-26deg C. I certainly don't like 50Deg C temps.

 

Likewise with shrimp. 

When GH is too high, the excessive calcium content will make moulting more difficult, and the shrimp expends too much energy trying to shed their old shells. This is a number one cause of deaths apart from bacterial infection.

The high calcium content also makes the eggs harder and males trying to fertilise eggs becomes an issue.

When GH is at the opposite spectrum of the scale and is too low, their shells are not going to be strong enough and you might get deformities. 

 

KH impacts your water parameter like pH. When KH is too high, your pH increases. When KH is too low, pH drops. The key to to maintain stability wit your water parameter. Just enough KH to get the right pH reading with out it swinging wildly in a short amount of time. Settling on a value of 2-4 dGH for KH is the Goldilocks number. Just enough to get pH to the right value, not too much and not too little.

 

Keeping water parameters at the extreme ends of their tolerance will also result in a stressed shrimp, leading to lower immunity and increased possibility of catching diseases.

[Cosmo]

ok, that is the BEST ANSWER I've ever seen! Thank You! is there an article post explaining this? If not, there should be.

Thank you so much for your time answering these questions.

[jayc]

2 hours ago, Cosmo said:

ok, that is the BEST ANSWER I've ever seen! Thank You! is there an article post explaining this? If not, there should be.

Thank you so much for your time answering these questions.

Thank you. ?

 

There are a lot of useful information in the "Article" tab. https://skfaquatics.com/forum/articles/

There are also a lot of useful posts that have been pinned (sticky) within each topic in the forums.

I would suggest starting there.