Salty Shrimp TDS and GH in RO?

[viridisornatus]

Hello,

What should the TDS and GH be after adding the recommended amount of Salty Shrimp to RO water? Also does anyone know the Ca/Mg ratio of Salty Shrimp and would you add additional calcium sulphate and Epsom for bee shrimp? And while I'm at it, should Benibachi soil raise GH?

Thanks :)

[Squiggle]

The TDS depends on the pen you have & the conversion factor it uses, the recommendation from SaltyShrimp say to mix it up to an EC of 200 +/- 50, generally the TDS of your tank will be between 100-150ppm but a lot of people are having great success at around 180-200ppm, have to find what works best for you. :encouragement:

The Ca/Mg ratio should be correct when first adding the minerals(between 3-4:1) but you might want to check it later on to see if it's being depleted.

Benibachi soil shouldn't affect the GH, it should only have an effect on the PH depending on the depth you have in your tank, the deeper you have it the lower your PH will be. :victorious:

[viridisornatus]

Thanks Jay!

How does one reconcile TDS of up to 200 with advice about keeping TDS as low as possible?

[Squiggle]

I guess cause it works for some people, in my cull tank the crystals are living & breeding like........well, like shrimp, lol, & their TDS is at 260ppm. I don't know why but it seems to work very well for them, I don't monitor the TDS on that tank as much as my other programs but I was surprised to find them breeding surprisingly well & great shrimplet survival rate too, throws all the normal theories out the window. I don't get it either & I would never recommend this but I just shows that it's possible. :encouragement:

http://www.shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/showthread.php/6002-I-wish-my-normal-tanks-would-breed-as-well-as-my-cull-tanks

[viridisornatus]

Wow, very interesting. Could it have something to do with the composition of the TDS rather than TDS itself?

[Sprae]

My TDS / EC is high in my tank with mischlings too, but they are breeding and moulting really well. I'm talking about 250ppm / 400us, and I've been trying to lower this with each water change.

[Squiggle]

Wow' date=' very interesting. Could it have something to do with the composition of the TDS rather than TDS itself?[/quote']

I'm not sure how as both tanks are RO/DI water(0 TDS) with SaltyShrimp only. :confused:

[viridisornatus]

Cool. Thanks for helping me guys

[viridisornatus]

Ok so I got TDS 120 and GH 6. Does that sound right? Cheap ebay blue TDS metre and API GH.

[Squiggle]

That sounds good. :encouragement:

[viridisornatus]

Thanks Jay

[nerabbit]

I also got the same question. The tds from tap water is 88ppm. RO TDS is 4ppm. If adding the recommend dose, 20lts RO would be 58-60ppm. So if I want to reach 150ppm, at least need to double dose salty shrimp. Do not know whether the cheap ebay TDS pen wrong, or other thing wrong.

[bozzy]

RO TDS should be 0-1 i believe

[Squiggle]

If the TDS out of your RO is 4ppm then you might need to change the DI resin. You may have a problem with the cheap TDS pen & seeing as you are starting to get more expensive shrimp & more of them, it might be worth investing in a more accurate one.

[nerabbit]

The RO unit is new. The TDS should not be 0ppm on this model. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251444065067

They have another unit which the RO is 0ppm but more expensive.

[bozzy]

The RO unit is new. The TDS should not be 0ppm on this model. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251444065067

They have another unit which the RO is 0ppm but more expensive.

thats a drinking water RO. it has no di resin

[keego]

I purchased the updated model, its reducing the TDS between 0 & 0.02. Currently producing approximtely 25lts every 2 hours, very happy with it.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/230981508943?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Pertaining to TDS levels, I have 1 tank of yellows in de-chlorinated tap water TDS @ 480, pH 7.4 breeding like shrimp with hundreds of juries???????? have another tank with yellows, TDS 200, pH 7.4 & again breeding like shrimp with hundreds of juries. What I have noticed is cherries from TB tanks / lower pH take long to adjust to my tanks & I end up loosing a percentage.

[shrimpstan]

Yeah if your RO is new and your reading is around 4ppm u probably don't have post membrane DI resin so your pen is more than likely accurate as the membrane will catch 95% of pollutants but around 5% will get through leaving the remaining job for the DI resin to bring TDS reading to 0 ppm.

I have the similar issue with standard dose not being quite as high as stated by Salty Shrimp, as do I believe this is a common issue. The way I see it is the GH reading at this point is more important than the TDS reading as u will loose water due to evaporation but some of the minerals will still remain in the tank from previous WC's, which can cause a build up of GH if too much minerals are added. I don't dose double but a little more than recommended by Salty Shrimp to maintain my WP.

If you double the salty shrimp dose u will end up with GH being too high.. around 8+ degrees which is undesirable for you and your shrimp (unless you plan on only having cherry varieties). Other factors in the tank will raise ur TDS somewhat but TDS isn't the 'be all and end all' come WC time. All the factors have to come together in order to create and maintain good WP.

I would recommend measuring your GH in your tank and the GH of your remineralised RO before u drip it into the tank. Then u can start measuring things like calcium and magnesium to maintain good WP. TDS can and will generally fluctuate more than other WP.

Hope this helps :encouragement:

[nerabbit]

I checked GH is 6 from the re-mineral RO. My tank water is the same too. Maybe just keep TDS around 120ppm and GH 4-5 for WC.