Ro water setup

[Hughes78]

Well hi I have just setup my 2ft shrimp only tank with ro water and have just read that I need to use salty shrimp mineral additive . Just not sure which to use as I will have red rilli shrimp and hopefully f3 mishlings in the tank but not sure which additive to use, so any help in this would be very helpful as I know all you shrimp encyclopaedias out there might be able to help???? Cheers Daniel

[blindfisherman]

I would more than likely go for the GH+ to get the ideal parameters for the mishlings.

Do you have substrate in there?

[Squiggle]

If you plan on keeping crystals & Taiwan bees then you're best off getting Bee Shrimp GH+, the rilis will adapt to it. :victorious:

http://www.bossaquaria.com.au/bee-shrimp-mineral-gh-230g/

[Hughes78]

Yes i have done a bit of a stuff up and used black earth premium and put benibachi super sand on top. Thanks for the fast reply and direction was only putting rillis and hopefully f3 mishlings in for now but I also have crs and CBS but don't want to stuff up the f3 lines so not sure as I'm very new to this and for a little tank it's quite costly ( glade I have done the 2 ft tank and not my 6 ft tank as I was going to do originally .

[BlueBolts]

Hi Daniel, what's the PH and TDS of the tank ATM ?

[Hughes78]

Hi ph is 6.5 not sure on tds

[Hughes78]

Hi not really sure what is happening but yesterday my ph was 6 today it is 7.6 ( using black earth premium and benibachi powder as substrate ) and my tds pen came today so I checked and it is 210 . I had some mineral rock in the tank but think it is old so took it out and with in 20 min it dropped to 190. If any one can help it would be muchly appreciated? I also have used some old white filter pad from a mature canister and some dirty water from mature canister to help cycle my tank, so not sure if this is the cause. Cheers Daniel

[BlueBolts]

Hey Daniel....

Just re-reading your thread......if you solely used RO water, and haven't re-mineralised the water, I'm surprised your TDS is at 210 .... I'm not familiar with black earth premium. A PH swing of 6 to 7.6 is HUGE....what are you using to test your PH ? perhaps test it again, and re-confirm the results.

[Hughes78]

Hi thanks for the quick reply I'm using some stuff called science products bromothymol blue ph indicator and have tested 3 times . Cheers Daniel

[Hughes78]

I had some mineral rock in there but it seams to literally disintegrate ( shatter ) but have taken out as I think it is to old ( about 1.5 yr old) but other than that just ro water .

[Hughes78]

Oh and using seachem stability to help with bacteria growth and feeding a empty tank to help with the cycling process.

[Wraithie]

Could be the rock? What fish did you keep with it previously?

[Hughes78]

Hi only shrimp some neons and bristle noses. But have taken out the rock . Retested the ph and is still around 7.6 ish

[Hughes78]

Hi i am thinking that it was definitely the rock as ph has now dropped to seven and the tds has dropped to 185 . Yeh that's getting better

[Hughes78]

Thanks heaps guys for the advice . This forum is great full of helpfull people :applause:

[chalky]

Must have been that rock mate.

I have black earth premium in two of my tanks and the ph sits at 5.8 (but that's at 15cm) and doesn't move.

Only reason I have that in there is I can't get benibachi at the moment. So will just change these to moss grow tanks when the benibachi arrives.

The salty shrimp mineral seems to be the pick here in Australia, I haven't played with it yet. Still waiting on my ro/di unit to turn up, has been on b/o, then I can set my rack up and have it running properly.

Just remember to drip acclimatize the shrimp before adding them to prevent shock and multiple death.

[Ronskitz]

Thanks heaps guys for the advice . This forum is great full of helpfull people :applause:

This is the MOST helpful forum on the net

[CNgo2006]

I don't understand how by just removing the rock the ph and tds lowered? Did you do any water changes to lower the ph and tds?

Why don't you test the rock in a container, first test the water without the rock and then put rock in container let soak for while and then test again.

[Wraithie]

Ph can be explained by the rock pushing it up, but the soil buffering it down. By removing the rock the soil is able to do its job and buffer to 6+.

[Hughes78]

Hi i tested the tds today and they are at about 300 not sure why so I have taken out the shrimp shelter that is made from a peice of slate with charcoal bamboo thinking this might be the problem and my ph is at about 7 . Not sure what is happening ? Cheers

[Hughes78]

I've done a 50 lt water change and tds have dropped to 150 hopefully they don't increase again as the only other thing it could be is the media in the canister . I am only running a course sponge , matrix and a handful of eheim pro ,carbon and purigen and two white sponges ( one from mature canister ) . So well see what happens in the morning.

[Hughes78]

Just wondering if I've done the substrate wrong , I've put the super powder on top should this go on the bottom???

[Squiggle]

You've done it the right way, the fine substrate should be on the top. :encouragement:

[Hughes78]

Ok cool but not sure why my tds are still high . Tested water from ro reading is 11 ppm but tank is around 200 done water change and dropped to 150 but still goes up to around 200 with in a couple of ours . If any one has any ideas would be appreciated . Thanks Daniel

[Squiggle]

Can you list everything that is in your tank, scape, filter media, ornaments etc?