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After trying many different ideas to fill the holes in my dividers ( that stops babies getting through and also looks half decent and doesn't cost a fortune ) I think I have come up with a winning soulution. The main issue I had was my 3ft tank is up and running so I couldn't use silicone , I have being using my yet to be started 2ft tank to develope my inserts. I will trial the inserts for a couple of weeks on my 3ft tank and make sure babies can't get through ( holes are .25mm , I can over lap a second piece and make the holes smaller if needed )

Australia's first ever shrimp championship! All show info can be found at www.shrimpclubvictoria.com Also you can follow the club on Facebook. Now the important stuff. entries! Who's going to enter? Limited to 50 total entries so get them in fast to not miss out. Also you can nominate to auction any of your show groups off. This will be done by a silent auction.

That CRS colony in the tank stunned me! Awesome breeding newbreed! Look forward for those empty tank to be filled with the CRS! (I'm gonna copy those step by step :) )

Sorry didn't see your reply till now. I can't see any problems with your water, except that is it too soft. LOL. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, since it's easily rectified. Many aquarist would rather have water that is too soft than water that is too hard. A low GH value like you have out of the tap means that there will be little Calcium and Magnesium, which are essential for the shrimp or any crustaceans. There will be some but it's not enough. I see you have bought some Salty Shrimp GH/KH+, so that's the right step forward to rectifying that issue. Add the necessary amount to bring the TDS to about 140-150 and GH to about 5-6 slowly. Drip it in and test half way through to see if you are on target. This sounds like a likely cause, especially when you say they were fine in the initial months. The small amounts of Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) in the tank initially gets used up by the shrimp for shell development, and small water changes replenishes these minerals by a small amount, but unfortunately it's never enough. Extra Ca & Mg dosing is required to maintain appropriate levels of these minerals. But it's a fine balance. Add too much and your GH readings go too high causing a hardening of shell and eggs. Maintaining a GH level of 5 - 6 or 7 seems to be the best middle ground. From reading many people's experiences and problems, the 6th to 8th months seem to be a very common period when not enough Ca & Mg is present. Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ will raise both GH and KH, as in it's name, so keep an eye on pH as well - when KH increases, pH will too. That's why I mix my own remineraliser, with separate Ca and Mg+K (potassium) so I dose these minerals separately and can control each parameter. You'l note my own remineraliser has Potassium in it, another essential mineral, which might not be present in premixed products like Salty Shrimp. It's less likely to be bacteria. But yes, I feed Oats for the Beta Glucan source as a preventative. Additional bacterial additives are also good advice for prevention.

Where abouts in Sydney are you? The last time I checked Sydney tap water, it was high in pH, around 8.0. And TDS was 80-100ppm. But 80 - 100ppm of what? is the real question. Tap water is usually made up of chemical stuff that is not aquarium friendly - flouride, lime, Chloramine, Aluminium, copper, ammonia, chloride, nitrate, sodium, sulfates. Are you treating the water change with prime and letting it age? Or are you doing it the other way round, where you age the water and then add Prime just before adding it to the tank? Hopefully it's the former. When you run out of Prime, try Supachlor from Tech Den instead. I did a review of it in Water Parameter subforum. I find it better than Prime for Australian tap water. As for the 30% wc, that's a bit too much. You can reduce your chores by only changing 10% weekly (or better yet, 5% twice a week). 30% is too much, and too drastic of a change. Stability is the key. Match TDS, pH, temperature when you put water back in. Drip it back in slowly if necessary. Emergency water changes can be more, but your weekly wc routine needs to be smaller. Let us know what your TDS values are when you get the pen.

That's a pretty good go at it. Certainly can't say we don't take time to explain things.

Ok JayC, I'll give it a go. Salts other than Ca and Mg are constantly added to the aquarium through various sources including food and possibly leachate from rock, substrate etc. You can't measure these with GH tests and they're probably at levels too low to notice with a hygrometer or refractometer. You'll get them with an EC meter though. Various salts and organics are constantly being excreted by all the life forms in your closed system (aquarium), most especially by the invisible microbes in your biofilter - but also from the fish, shrimp, snails, plants or whatever else you keep. Some of these can be tested for, eg NH4, NO2 etc, but not all. You'll get these with an EC meter too. In short, the EC in your closed system will rise over time, independently of your known additions of minerals. You will see this as a constantly rising EC level, and manage it by changing water regularly. EC and TDS are effectively interchangeable terms. In the interests of clarity for readers, you measure EC and your device may convert that measurement to TDS - there is already excellent information regarding this right here on SKF. I choose to think in EC as it represents a direct measurement and not a variable approximation. Steffiev, don't get me wrong. Just as JayC says, changing water regularly is super important - it's everything. But so is stability... In a small tank like yours the replacement water for your changes should probably be added very slowly, like by drip feed. As you've already noted, the shrimp like to feed on biofilms in the tank, and depending on population density, may not need any other food at all. I think it's impossible to advise people on how much food to add. You need to see the tank, the population density, note the rate of accumulation of nitrogenous wastes, drop of pH and other factors. You get a feel for it over time. Cold-blooded animals like what we keep in tanks need so much less (size for size) than us warm-blooded creatures, and that may be the root of the difficulty. Your shrimp won't die of starvation if fed a bit less for a few days, but you'll see if their digestive tract is still full. I hope that all makes sense.