Kid with a chemistry set

[Matmatmat]

Considering up until this point i only really kept hardy flowerhorns, american cichlids, fancy goldfish yada yada yada.. I never really felt the need to delve too deep into what was actually happening in my water, well nothing that couldnt be fixed with huge water change..

I got all excited after reading about everyone's water chemistry and thought I'd head down and grab some test kits don the white lab coat, got my pocket protector sorted and away I went. Ph is 6.8 gh is 4 kh is 6 . Plan was to come back on here and see if that was within an accptable range.. When I start reading about a million other factors and am left again feeling like the stupid kid eating sand and worms down the back of the playground;)

How did everybody else do it? Did you start out testing for everything? Or like me waiting for it to all turn sour before learning?

My shrimp are all happy, alive and berrying up, guess I've just been lucky?

[Dean]

Good on you for having a go mate, I think most people start by just jumping in and when something goes wrong

Then trying to learn ;) basically it's pretty simple if you

Have the basic understanding of ideal parameters. You can illuminate a bit of the work also by having certain things in place. Example. If you use a shrimp substrate they are generally made to create ideal water conditions for shrimp. So for instance benibachi soil will buffer ph and gh to the correct range.

Then there is the basics like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but again

With a good setup most of these things are self managing.

Ammonia and nitrite are only really an issue when setting up a tank and nitrates can be managed with some basic plants and moss. Kh can be illuminated by using RO water and then there is EC & TDS but again easily controlled by using mineral supplements with RO water.

The more you get into this hobby the more you learn and as your success and failures come ang go you find easier ways to do things.

[Jess]

Haha, that's pretty much what happened to me Mat. Finally bought some test kits a year after buying my fish - partially because I wanted to make sure the conditions were right for the fish, and partially because I wanted to pretend to be a scientist XD

[Matmatmat]

Cheers! I do have shrimp specific substrate which I guess is helping a lot .I have been keeping fish for years just never bothered going too deep into testing , at first I did ammonia, nitrite, nitrate ect.. But yeah the shrimp needing more I think got me interested before something disastrous happened;)

With measuring tds the test is just a number? Not actually what the solids are? How do you know even if the numbers match that it's the right things in the water? Haha other than the shrimp are alive..

I got a couple types of shrimp mineral balls in the tank , no idea what they are though;)

Is the this http://www.bossaquaria.com.au/saltyshrimp-minerals/ mineral stuff the minerals as the mineral balls?

[Dean]

yes the TDS is just total dissolved solids which can be mineral & or organic, this is why i dont bother measuring tds personally.

and yes you dont actually know what the solids are.

no the saltyshrimp minerals are used with RO water only and are measured via EC. this product contains all the essential minerals needed for the shrimp.

[Triggs]

I personally started out with one of those 'freshwater master test kit' things that come with Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and high and low pH testers with the 4 tubes.

I'm still learning myself, And I too feel like the kid eating sand and worms down the back. I'm still learning and have a feeling I will do so for awhile yet. I like to know exactly what I am doing before I start doing things.

At the moment I am just keeping Cherries and playing around with things like KH, GH, and maintaining the usual tests pH ammonia nitrates nitrites.

Soon I am going to upgrade and start checking TDS and start keeping some more sensitive shrimps (I want CBS).

I guess the choice is really up too you, And what you feel more comfortable with. You can jump in the deep end and learn to swim, Or you can paddle out of the shallows until you feel comfortable. The important thing isn't how you start it's that you persist and learn from each mistake.