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Hello Jayc, Thanks for replying. I have attached several pictures. As you can see I still have several CRS & 2 Taiwan bees. Yesterday I added Cattapa leaves & last week I added a in the filter carbon filter pad to filter whatever pollution their might be. No specific improvement still ... I will receive soon a new RO filter and will do a 50% water change to see. What do you think of all this?

I live in France :) and we do have every king of soil here; for ex: https://www.skaii-and-shrimps.fr/15-sols-techniques-cantonensis-bee-taiwan-bee They are thriving, moss has grown very much. I cannot put anything related to aquarium in my bathroom, my wife would kille me ?

Yes this is getting me insane ? ... thanks for the comments. I never heard that this soil is causing issue but who knows? Is it like the Amazonia where it seems that you need to wait at least 2 months before parameters stabilize? Anyway, I will receive soon my new RO unit, probably the old one I used was not containing all polluted materials, I don't know ... will do ammonia test also when I receive the kit. But I though high ammonia would cause high nitrite values. Let's wait & see; I will let you know how this goes.

It's in us/cm so meaning half in ppm. After remineralizing it's about 240us/cm or 170 ppm like in the tank

What are the units of 0.08? But anyway, I want to know what is the conductivity of your water AFTER mixing with salt, vs what is actually in the tank

RO water is 0.08 right out of the RO unit before adding salt. I use JBL tests and for nitrite it matches <0. 025 so cannot do better ?

nitrite should be zero - maybe there is something broken about the cycle U should dose Seachem Prime to help protect the shrimp against nitrite. I don't understand this part

I haven't, yet. That's why I was contemplating changing the substrate to fresh stuff. Any other "long term" PH reducing suggestions? I agree, it's risky. I would let the new stuff leach in a tub with a filter for a couple months before using it. Even then I reckon the shrimp would kick up a stink haha.

Thanks! Nitrite = 0.025 RO water is 0.08 I try to obtain approx the same level +- 250ms with salt Amonia I don't have a test for that > should I get one or should the nitrite levels be impacted if amonia is too high? I have done at least once a week 20% water change but nothing there for a week. I also used and still use for water changes Easy Life Easy Start & Filter Medium

What's ammonia and nitrite reading? What's the difference in conductivity reading between water in the tank vs fresh water you mixed up? Some people have had trouble with the shrimp king substrate. How many total water changes have you done since setting up the tank? When you add the leaves, they release tannins and lower the pH, so be careful. Also, 50% water change suddenly is kind of harsh. That's a nice looking tank, BTW.

Yeah, that tank is way too small. Water will just get pollute way too fast. You'd need to be changing water everyday. Ain't no one has time for that! Look for a 20L tank at a minimum, one that has a built in filter at least.

Thank you for all of your feedback! I definitely didn't do the water changes gradually.....no I don't think this tank is a good option for shrimp for a lot of reasons. Attached is an image.....you can see the substrate provided in the starter set are pretty large. Suggestions on a better choice if I were to get a different setup? Assuming I would also need to have it for some time to cycle before transitioning shrimp over?

A 4th option - Keep current tank, and buy a 2nd smaller tank. To breed higher quality shrimp in. Promise other half that this is the last tank ? Sell the shrimp you don't want to keep to help fund this 2nd tank. Have you tried anything to bring the pH down?

Can we have a picture of the whole tank? That will help us visualise what we are dealing with. Close up pictures of the shrimp too please. I have a few questions, again to help us understand your situation. Where are you located? Country/city. What sort of caridina shrimp do you have specifically? What stones do you have? What type of remineraliser are you using? Bacteria can grow in an RO unit that has not been used for a while. Are there any visual anomalies on the shrimp that can indicate a bacterial infection? Any pictures of the shrimp?

Hi @Angela, try removing the rocks slowly, one at a time. You don't need rocks in a shrimp tank.

Hello I have an issue for which I cannot the answer. I've had caridinas for a few years now, but recently built a new tank (116l) with lots of moss, tech soil (shrimp king from dennerle), roots, stones ... but unexplained deaths. Tank has been running since mid february and since then I have done weekly water changes (around 10%) I have an external filter (Eheim classic 150) & also a sponge filter with air sent in the tank for oxygen. My parameters are: PH = 6.4 GH = 5 KH = 0-1 Nitrates = 0.0025 conductivity = 250us I use RO water with remineralized salt to obtain required conductivity. I also use CO2 from time to time but it did not stop shrimps from dying :( Shrimps die one a daily basis, suddenly stopping & dying / or losing colors & dying. I have 2 possible explanations so far: my osmosis unit was bought in 2017 and since then I have stored it for several months without changing any filter and reused it > could it be that it does not work as expected and releases poisoned water (metals, bacterias ...) ? Roots: even though I washed them could they be responsible? I have no clue on determining what could be the root cause ... What other test could I do to evaluate the water quality. If you have an lead I would take? Thanks a lot!

Hello again, and update: It has been 6-7 weeks since the baby shrimps were born. Ever since my last post, things were going ok. Some other shrimp keeper advised me to keep the water changes down to 10% every 1-2 weeks. I counted a maximum of 17 shrimp babies 3 days ago, so I don't think any were lost in those two weeks . Two days ago, I put in a small amount (1/5th of a dose) of Dr Tim's Waste Away, one of those products that claims to have bacteria that eat away waste. But then over the next two days, I've lost 3 or more babies suddenly. I usually find them on their side barely moving, with nothing obviously wrong with the body or color, and the only slightly odd thing is that they have their swimmerettes sticking straight out instead of folded up like usual. Most of the adult shrimp are ok, many babies are actively grazing away, and some of the babies are very quiet (could also be pre or post molt). Well, anyways, I blame that bacterial product for now, because there isn't anything else that I did out of the ordinary. The feeding schedule alternates between boiled spinach, mulberry pellet, shrimp food pellet, and Bacter AE. Perhaps I've feed too many days in a row without a "rest day"? (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate still read zero) Any ideas what could be wrong, and how to recover?