Shrimp Tank Additives

Vicki; Wow, you're trying so hard. We do not live in Seattle, but over on Whidbey Island. Our tap water is 7.8-8.2 PH, and super hard(did know the numbers but suffice to say it's practically liquid rocks). I've got a TDS meter and took readings but don't remember off hand what it was. All that being said, we have 2 tanks of shrimp, CRS in a Fluval 7G, and a 20 tall that used to be our guppy grow-out tank, until the Tangerine Tiger shrimp ate all the guppies. Both our tanks have hit the point of making way more shrimp than anything we put in can eat. We put a Syno. eupterus in the Fluval to grow a bit and he was up to 5" before we moved him to a larger tank. Shrimp population wasn't affected in the least.

I think, bottom line, don't get wrapped around the numbers. We don't test our water and have so many shrimp coming out of those 2 tanks with just good food and water changes.

Dennis & Heather
 

Loren

Well-Known Member
VickiK, I'm the other person in the universe that doesn't use Facebook. :thumbsup

I have no advice -- I have lots of low quality red cherries that came in on some plant and multiplied like crazy with no care at all. But I think I remember reading somewhere that you can get RO water at some grocery stores from machines or prebottled as drinking water? I'm not sure about this, but might be worth looking at the next time you are at a store. Don't some LFSs also sell it?

Good luck getting it all working.

Edit: I missed the part about the grocery store machine in your post. :oops:
My LFS sells RO water.

Good luck with the CRS. I tried and failed and have no desire to try again. They are really beautiful though.
 

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
@wi_fishguy - thanks for your comments and support! The Mark's Shrimp Tanks youtube guy says something similar. lol I just want them to be healthy happy CRS, right? After all of this and I killed em.... I don't think I could take it. lol

I did hear from the YouTube guy LupDiesel at Flip Aquatics. He had some good advise too -- what Colin said, basically - and asked me if I have rocks in the tank and what kind of substrate. I asked him if maybe the crushed coral was affecting things?

I'm going back to the ol store for water again - distilled. I don't even have a container to put RO water in if I could find someplace that sold it. I'll quit putting the GH KH+ in and do another massive water change this weekend.

On a really high note, my snails are having a SUPER REPLICATION PARTY in there, gobbling up the Pleco Pop. Puffy will never ever have to worry about a lack of snails for food. Ever.
upload_2017-2-8_8-8-14.png
 

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
Vicki; Wow, you're trying so hard. We do not live in Seattle, but over on Whidbey Island. Our tap water is 7.8-8.2 PH, and super hard(did know the numbers but suffice to say it's practically liquid rocks). I've got a TDS meter and took readings but don't remember off hand what it was. All that being said, we have 2 tanks of shrimp, CRS in a Fluval 7G, and a 20 tall that used to be our guppy grow-out tank, until the Tangerine Tiger shrimp ate all the guppies. Both our tanks have hit the point of making way more shrimp than anything we put in can eat. We put a Syno. eupterus in the Fluval to grow a bit and he was up to 5" before we moved him to a larger tank. Shrimp population wasn't affected in the least.

I think, bottom line, don't get wrapped around the numbers. We don't test our water and have so many shrimp coming out of those 2 tanks with just good food and water changes.

Dennis & Heather

YOUR TANGERINE TIGER SHRIMP ATE THE GUPPIES? :eek:
 

Knutsen1122

Active Member
Update: my GH KH test kit arrived yesterday and I conducted the test this morning.
KH 7
GH 9

TDS 212 <== yay! improvement!

Clearly, I need to do more waiting! This is agony!

And I will get more distilled water...!
Something in your tank is raising the tds.


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VickiK

Member with a lot to say
Something in your tank is raising the tds.


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Maybe it's all them snails? lol

I'm going to get another bag of buffering substrate and dump that in there too with the next water change. I only used one bag so the plants are hanging onto glass anyway. They could use a few kernels too. I will look on amazon right now for buffering substrate....!
 

FishBeast

Well-Known Member
Vicki; Wow, you're trying so hard. We do not live in Seattle, but over on Whidbey Island. Our tap water is 7.8-8.2 PH, and super hard(did know the numbers but suffice to say it's practically liquid rocks). I've got a TDS meter and took readings but don't remember off hand what it was. All that being said, we have 2 tanks of shrimp, CRS in a Fluval 7G, and a 20 tall that used to be our guppy grow-out tank, until the Tangerine Tiger shrimp ate all the guppies. Both our tanks have hit the point of making way more shrimp than anything we put in can eat. We put a Syno. eupterus in the Fluval to grow a bit and he was up to 5" before we moved him to a larger tank. Shrimp population wasn't affected in the least.

I think, bottom line, don't get wrapped around the numbers. We don't test our water and have so many shrimp coming out of those 2 tanks with just good food and water changes.

Dennis & Heather
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is great advice.

My TDS was 760 and the shrimp were fine. They are still doing well, even my CRS! :) I have found that if I manipulate numbers too much I have caused more harm than good. Best of luck!
 

Knutsen1122

Active Member
Maybe it's all them snails? lol

I'm going to get another bag of buffering substrate and dump that in there too with the next water change. I only used one bag so the plants are hanging onto glass anyway. They could use a few kernels too. I will look on amazon right now for buffering substrate....!

Just a suggestion, but check out discobee.com SL-Aqua soil is about the best you can get and it's only $40 shipped for an 8L bag.


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VickiK

Member with a lot to say
Just a suggestion, but check out discobee.com SL-Aqua soil is about the best you can get and it's only $40 shipped for an 8L bag.


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Oh Colin! Too late - I already bought another bag of this stuff - which is for shrimp. Dang - there's even CRS on the label - right? lol It will be here tomorrow.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VS1I0M/?tag=wafishbox-20

What I ALSO DID do this morning was this:
1) took out all the plants except the buce, anubias nana petite and a very small, narrow-leafed crypt of some kind. I'm prepared to take those out too if I have to. (I don't want to)
2) took out ALL the rocks. All of em.
3) did a 5 gallon water change with plain 0 TDS distilled water - no additives

When I left for work, my TDS was 120!
 

julzhull

Well-Known Member
@wi_fishguy - thanks for your comments and support! The Mark's Shrimp Tanks youtube guy says something similar. lol I just want them to be healthy happy CRS, right? After all of this and I killed em.... I don't think I could take it. lol

I did hear from the YouTube guy LupDiesel at Flip Aquatics. He had some good advise too -- what Colin said, basically - and asked me if I have rocks in the tank and what kind of substrate. I asked him if maybe the crushed coral was affecting things?

I'm going back to the ol store for water again - distilled. I don't even have a container to put RO water in if I could find someplace that sold it. I'll quit putting the GH KH+ in and do another massive water change this weekend.

If I'm remembering correctly why we use crushed coral in our area (because this is why I use it at home after Cory's suggestion) our water is so acidic and soft we use the crushed coral to slowly release minerals into the water and raise the PH and hardness. I have a ton of it in my guppy tank because my water is so acidic. If CRS needs super low PH and hardness then I would take out the crushed coral entirely if I were doing CRS.
 

Knutsen1122

Active Member
Yes, definitely take out all the crushed coral. If your tds is at 120, see if you can keep it stable there for a while then bring it up to 150.


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VickiK

Member with a lot to say
If I'm remembering correctly why we use crushed coral in our area (because this is why I use it at home after Cory's suggestion) our water is so acidic and soft we use the crushed coral to slowly release minerals into the water and raise the PH and hardness. I have a ton of it in my guppy tank because my water is so acidic. If CRS needs super low PH and hardness then I would take out the crushed coral entirely if I were doing CRS.

@Knutsen1122

Can I just bury it with more substrate? Picking out all that crushed coral is going to be a nightmare! I'm willing to do it but GEEZ.

What won't I do for these damg Crusta; Red Shrimps?!!!

Maybe picking out teeny tiny chunks of crushed coral has finally crossed the line? :rofl
 
Use a water change hose and suck it all out, it'll take a little of your other substrate but easier to sift that out later.

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VickiK

Member with a lot to say
Use a water change hose and suck it all out, it'll take a little of your other substrate but easier to sift that out later.

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Interesting you should suggest that! I have a few pretty nice water change hoses already but bought this one last week. It was super cheap on Amazon and OMG - this thing will suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. Seriously. The power in this thing is amazing. I think what you are suggesting is absoltely possible with THIS apparatus!

Genuine TERAPUMP Aquarium Cleaner Aquarium Fish Tank Gravel Sand Cleaner with Long Nozzle N Water Flow Controller - BPA Free (model: TRFTCLN)
7UGbc5pRs9X6mNUf-vfBxqn3tdC99ksKTMeR84TMpXXr5CLEBjrOgy55bmRWeQAQ5nVAHd3azTlDRJmoC0jLUL3xeIjJvwFmvmsZSoZXNCQ8V5PzNqHptu0Anj3StXgQSOy13fF6R1zFiW_Wtn5jeHs6EeMOmeHx-1Cc140IyN2Coe1Xh9NWD_avHkkUPOQ4NhX7YdtHgGrmdRtkvWH8jXaRxj8wnuvRq-JbZfP9ql_CJe1xR1SXy5qEq17ot5azLbRzhugVpeHbEfMslG0fbS73zvFMzPEvAPxE7c3HcHrA36u6D3u3k8diSsHf3Yx3hyBLbrhMPnvwvHV0vxn__hKncoraxdTn4JfLzCmb8KYHEVD7BBuLv_JuMiivh8JVSNlH2G4xs3T_LhX8ZncDVrAWNsuO9e8h2_Y6BUVeECUkTlAnx_3_1iDLhs7M5n6fAWqMrtNnKLNXKHmb_mk-_kSSVOKPSKarrJGt064GeTscJu4dx7TgX6d8jAVMEYi-bT6jzVI9hJe05Cb9WY8IZ2CLI7iv0Pte2ubYaOtwUDPG1ERCSK68Jk2WPR6JzBQfi7rdDRNg0f21HbMv4nK4qbDTynnIKHtw73L7eHiMVdr9MSVLhW6I=w1282-h722-no
 

Knutsen1122

Active Member
It doesn't matter where it is in your tank. If it's in there at all it will raise your ph.


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VickiK

Member with a lot to say
Haha sorry to be the bearer of bad news :)


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Not bad news. Any day I am closer to realizing my CRS Dream is a GOOD DAY.

Tonight, my friend, we say goodbye to the white flecks in my dark black substrate -- which I really didn't like in there anyway! It's kind of a good thing really.
 

julzhull

Well-Known Member
@wi_fishguy - thanks for your comments and support! The Mark's Shrimp Tanks youtube guy says something similar. lol I just want them to be healthy happy CRS, right? After all of this and I killed em.... I don't think I could take it. lol

I did hear from the YouTube guy LupDiesel at Flip Aquatics. He had some good advise too -- what Colin said, basically - and asked me if I have rocks in the tank and what kind of substrate. I asked him if maybe the crushed coral was affecting things?

I'm going back to the ol store for water again - distilled. I don't even have a container to put RO water in if I could find someplace that sold it. I'll quit putting the GH KH+ in and do another massive water change this weekend.

On a really high note, my snails are having a SUPER REPLICATION PARTY in there, gobbling up the Pleco Pop. Puffy will never ever have to worry about a lack of snails for food. Ever.
View attachment 3586

What's the plant in the back corner of your tank? The dark green one?
 
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