Shrimp water changing method discussion

[fishmosy]

Do you know whats in the mineral mix? If plants are using it, some would have to be fertiliser?

Do you run high densities/numbers of shrimp? If you do, it may explain why there is no build up, as i bet the shrimp would be using it up. It has a lot of similarities with how marine keepers have to supplement their water to keep up with the growth of corals, even in massive aquaria.

[Dean]

yes i know whats in the mineral mix :) no fertilizer mate!

there are a few shrimp in the system lol.

[lachie1998]

would some spring water be better? it should have no chlorine ect..

[Dean]

RO water or clean rain water is best to use with the saltyshrimp bee shrimp mineral GH+ :)

[lachie1998]

can you get RO water from the shops? and i dont have and saltyshrimp gh+:cower:

[Dean]

what do you want the water for then? most aquarium shops that sell marine fish have RO water for sale.

[lachie1998]

for my planted cube with my crs and cbs

sorry i should of said that somewere

[Loach]

He means you need salty shrimp minerals ;)

Im serious you do :stupid:

[Dean]

you can not use RO/rain water for shrimp with out adding minerals back to the water. the shrimp will die.

if your using tap water just be sure to use a De-chlorination product first.

[lachie1998]

so does tap water still contain the minerals?

i shall get some saltyshrimp latter down the track when i get more serious:D

[Loach]

so does tap water still contain the minerals?

i shall get some saltyshrimp latter down the track when i get more serious:D

Yea, tap contains minerals, RO, Distilled and Rainwwater are stripped of these minerals hence people add back minerals through tap water or a mineral supplement like Saltyshrimp. Saltyshrimp is actually pretty cheap at $35 for about 1500L of water ;)

[fishmosy]

Nice Dean, certainly makes alot of sense about not doing water changes, and top ups with minerals, now i have a better idea of your system. Probably more prone to increasing tds in a smaller tank.

This interests me alot as I'm doing my PhD on sea urchin aquaculture; the way in which sea urchins strip seawater of calcium carbonate, particularly in the high densities suitable for aquaculture, shares some similarilities with how shrmp in our tanks use minerals from the water to grow their skeleton.

[Dean]

i would have to agree about smaller tanks and the need for small water changes sometimes. but i dont have any so can not comment with 100% certainty.my smallest tank is a 4x2x2 and it has not had a water change for about a year now. i just do top ups but it also doesn't have the mineral additives ads its a tap water tank. i use rain water for 4 top ups and tap for 1 and do this always. the PhD sound like you would have a much better understanding of this than most. i am only speaking from experience with my tanks/system and as we all know with shrimp keeping, what works for one person doesn't always work for another.

Nice Dean, certainly makes alot of sense about not doing water changes, and top ups with minerals, now i have a better idea of your system. Probably more prone to increasing tds in a smaller tank. This interests me alot as I'm doing my PhD on sea urchin aquaculture; the way in which sea urchins strip seawater of calcium carbonate, particularly in the high densities suitable for aquaculture, shares some similarilities with how shrmp in our tanks use minerals from the water to grow their skeleton.

[Loach]

Your smallest tank is twice the size of my Big tank!!

Dayum, i need a 6x2 lol

[lachie1998]

im adding half spring water and half tap water to add the minerals back into the system, sound good?

[matblack]

I use ro water for top ups (evaporation ) and if i want to lower my tds i use ro and take a bit of tankwater out .water change rare but if i do i remineralize the water with mosura mineral plus to the same tds or lower by 10-20 points

As i top up i allways do this slowly with airline and clamp ,to drip in slowly .I just got some bee shrimp mineral from Dean and will give it a go

[fishmosy]

I always say keeping aquariums is more art than science. I bet even if i took over looking after someone elses tank/system, doing the same things they do, that i wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they are. All the little tweaks that one can do knowing their own tank/system makes a huge difference.

Oh and if you are interested in some of the work i do with sea urchins, my first paper can be found here

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0028054

Shameless plug...:barbershop_quartet_