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pH7.6 is too high for CRS. What Salty Shrimp are you using? GH+ or GH/KH+ ? You should be aiming for pH 6.5 for CRS.

I believe something is up with your water RO water source. The ph from RO should be 7.0 and then reduced by any buffering material in your tank (it looks like you have buffering substrate? Oh should also be lower. Its either your RO water source or something in your tank or filter that is causing higher ph and kh levels

It must be very frustrating and aside from the KH I can't see anything obviously wrong. As I say you may just have to leave it running steady and consistent for a while longer IF we can't find the problem. IF we can't find the problem it would be worth setting up a small tank (especially if you have most of the stuff lying around anyway). Then when you see a female with some eggs put her in the nursery until the shrimplets hatch, then she can go back to the big tank. I have read often that they don't move around much when they are first born so if you had a small tank and got some moss and moss balls in it it would be much easier to feed them etc and keep a closer eye on them than you can practically in a huge tank! And given time for the big tank to run steadily and all is well I expect they will start breeding and the young surviving in the big tank in time! At least the adults are surviving ok now so you are on the right route! Can't give up now...................... Simon

I'll test the kh of the RO water and tank when I get back home. I believe the thing your referring to is a piece of cucumber. I will say this about the chiller. Since I've installed it I don't think it's actually ever activated due to temp because I've kept my living room cooler ever since. I'm just drawing a blank. When I moved my tank back in May there were easily 50+ in there. Now there's maybe 15, one baby. I started noticing them slowly die after the move and then the dying stopped but so did the breeding

Okay. I did 2 ph tests on the tank (about 3 inches below water line) and they read 6.4 I thought maybe the water at bottom is different so I did a reading from the output side of the chiller. It read 7.6. I did two more samples at the chiller output and they read 6.4 Maybe the two 7.6 reading I got were done in beakers that were not clean? Reading on RO water (set for over a week) 6.4-6.6 Reading on treated RO water with Gh+ 6.4-6.6 I did confirm I'm using gh only. My package of gh-kh is unopened and sealed. In the picture they're in order 3 inches from surface 1 &2 3,4 &5 from bottom of tank 6 RO 7 gh SS treated RO. I guess you can't see in picture the yellows have a slight green tint

Hi. Thanks everyone. My RO water source I believe is fine. When I check the TDS on it it's always zero or 1. I'll check the pH in my RO source this afternoon. I don't have any rocks. And I'm using salty GH only. There's nothing in my filter other than a heavy metal remover I put in a while ago because I thought trace amounts of copper was an issue, I can take it out now because I doubt it's doing anything now. There is an internal pump on the right that pulls in the water for my chiller, it also has a sponge between the grill and the propeller. I'll check my RO and double check I'm not using gh/kh. I know I have some but I'm pretty sure I'm not using it. Also the driftwood in the tank is Malaysian driftwood. Not sure if that matters. My substrate is fluval plant and shrimp stratum.

Those parameters are off target apart from the TDS, nitrite and nitrate! As JayC are you using Gh+ and not GH/KH+? Gh+ is for Caridina and Gh/Kh+ is for neocaridina. I would put on hold setting up a nursery tank as there is obviously something not right in the main tank and we now have something to go on, I suggested a nursery tank as I thought everything was fine with the main tank! I think you will get shrimplets surviving when you get the parameters right and settled down. Those sponge filters are shrimp safe type so no problems there, and it looks like you have put a sponge on the INTAKE for the fluval 306! There is no stone that I can see so I am a bit bemused why your Ph is so high if you are using RO water and Gh+? RO water is usually below 7, mine is 5.5! I can't see anything in the tank that would cause the Ph to rise like that? The Gh is only a tiny bit up but Kh is way off (using Gh/Kh+ would explain that)? With the number of shrimp in the tank you probably don't need to feed anything, there should be enough biofilm as it is lowly stocked. I would test your RO water source before SS is added, everything should be 0, then we can go from there? Simon edit - I notice that the parameters 1 may 2019 were Ph6-6.4, TDS 214,, Gh 6. It looks like you have an internal pump in the back right of the tank (electric cable), not sure what that is for but if it is a small pump is the intake for that pump covered with sponge?

Here's some pictures. I have a lot of plants and the oxygen filter. If I did a nursery tank how could I cycle it faster? Could I use water from the tank setup and use the oxygen filter to keep some of the bacteria? Any advice would help Thanks everyone

It should raise TDS. Is yours going down???! you don't need to worry about taking it out, if that is what you mean. Maybe, is there a lot of surface agitation with that one bubbler? If it's hot, more surface agitation is a good idea, since there is less dissolved oxygen in the water at higher temps. If shrimps are dying, check the temperature of the water.