Reply With Quoteone way would be to use ph soil which generally last for 2 yrs and is only a temporary buffer.
Hello all,
I am new at this shrimps hobby and I love it.
After reading lots of experts experiences and comments, I am still a little loss for some parameters of the water conditions as I do suffer some loss of my shrimps. I want to start again and hope to get it right.
Please advise / correct the water parameters of my understanding for CRS
Ph - 6.2 to 7 (any other ways to reduce the Ph besides using CO2 ?)
CO2 - without CO2 to 2 BPS is OK
Temperature 24-26C (Ideal but can be slightly higher)
Have some plants in the tank, lights
Water change weekly for about 10%-20%
Is there any other parameters that I should take note of and what will be the standards of these parameters ?
EK
one way would be to use ph soil which generally last for 2 yrs and is only a temporary buffer.
you might wanna take note of ur filter intake as well. as generally shrimps tend to get sucked inside.
alternatively u could use a hollowed out filter sponge to insert ur filter intake valve into.
Thanks, I have the sponge on my intake valve. The loss of my shrimps were not lost but dead....
Everything so far looks good. What else is going on with the aquarium? What're your NH4/NO2/NO3 levels? What about CO2 levels? Those are the first two things that come to mind when I see dead shrimp. Unless it's just parts of them that I'm finding... then I wonder about the other fish in the aquarium. How well established is the aquarium? How much food is going in?
If you've got co2, the easiest way is to keep its level constant, and use low KH water. With a KH of 2 and 30ppm it should be possible to drop down to a steady 6.3. Otherwise, if this isn't low enough I've seen breeder logs for appistos using phosphoric, nitric or hydrochloric acid. This has made for dives down to 5.5 and lower. I've never tried using these my self. It's probably less work than figuring out DIY ferts and dosing them daily, but it might be worth reading up on first. The shrimp might not appreciate water this acidic, though. Their chitin does have some carbon in it; not sure if 5.5pH would break the bonds.
-Philosophos
I do not have a CO2 checker, I will increase my test with NH4/NO2/3 and KH. Some times I do switch off my CO2, is not 24/7, mostly a 8 - 9 hours a day with light.
Do u know of any thread of the standard of NH4/NO2/3 that I can follow ? As u mentioned that KH is 2 to 30ppm will be a standard for general guide.
Thanks
Did you acclimatise the shrimps properly?
WC with aged and dechlorinated water?
Don't give up bro!
I did an ok acclimstise, I hope (about 4 hours with about 1 drop per 2 sec, even put in air pump and fan to cool them).
WC wise, overnight water with less than recommended chemical amount to declorinate (may be is this problem) always afrid that I will over dose.do I need to measure the clorine level ?
Thanks for your support, will not give up.....hehe
also remember to provide them with lots of hiding place in the tank.. so they will not free stress in the tank and enjoy them..
Don't worry about ODing the dechlorinator. If you're using any of the common brands, even a double dose won't hurt your fish. NH4 should be very close to 0 with the odd increase to maybe the next level up from 0 on the chart. NO3 from natural sources shouldn't get above 20ppm, and many keep it more like 10ppm. If you're fertilizing and adding the NO3 your self, you can go a LOT higher. I've seen pictures of healthy discus tanks fert dosed to 40ppm and up with ferts. This is more to do with NO3 as an indicator of ambient ammonia and other biological waste from fauna than it is the true toxicity of NO3.
-Philosophos
Most of the parameters are already covered.....
if still fail, perhaps you might like to look at the metal content of the water.
Ferts and algae removers may contain high level of copper and other metals like zinc and iron.
Generally, algae removers will wipe out your tank,snail killers also.
Because they have high concentration of copper.
By a copper test kit - reading should be close to 0 also. Good Luck.
Cheers
Acit
Newbie Babie
Thanks to all advise.
I will do the total WC as there are nothing much left in the tank.....
will keep an eye on all the values. But when I check my tank last night with only some nitrate snails and otos still alive and kicking, CO2 has been turned off for more than 1 week now, I found out that the PH was 7.3 (ph pen tester).
I really wonder what happened. when I first finished conditioned the tank after Chinese new year, it was 6.5 and I add in my shrimps. do a 5-10% (about 4-6 L of water) changed of water (a normal 2ft tank) every week. Will the overnight tap water increased the PH that much ? till date, before all the 30 shrimps were dead, I did only 3 times WC and I did make a mistake by not checking the PH level after every 10% WC.
Tested my tap water last night, 7.2
EK
Hi, if you are changing water without anything in the tank to reduce pH, generally your pH will raise back to the tap level level which is 7.2 as indicated.Originally Posted by es88k
Thanks to all advise.
I will do the total WC as there are nothing much left in the tank.....
will keep an eye on all the values. But when I check my tank last night with only some nitrate snails and otos still alive and kicking, CO2 has been turned off for more than 1 week now, I found out that the PH was 7.3 (ph pen tester).
I really wonder what happened. when I first finished conditioned the tank after Chinese new year, it was 6.5 and I add in my shrimps. do a 5-10% (about 4-6 L of water) changed of water (a normal 2ft tank) every week. Will the overnight tap water increased the PH that much ? till date, before all the 30 shrimps were dead, I did only 3 times WC and I did make a mistake by not checking the PH level after every 10% WC.
Tested my tap water last night, 7.2
EK
You will probably need to have DW or those pH reducing soil.
I'm not sure whether the swing in pH was once-off that could have trigger the dying of the shrimp.
Hi nutx,
What I meant was that now, the shrimps are dead. and the water was 7.3. and that is why I want to change the water.
When there were shrimps in it, I did a 5-10% change. The question was, were 5-10% of water change make the PH increase from 6.5 to 7.3? If it will, will be more careful and add in the PH reduce chemical (is this good answer to slove the problem ? I have seen there are products that states PH6.5 for water change)
"New water" / Tap water will kill almost any fauna [maybe even some flora] in Singapore tanks.
Please treat your water with anti-chlorine, anti-choromine and keep overnight with air pump before adding water to tank.
Personally I use "Seachem" "Prime" this has proved to save a lot of shrimps for me. Hope it can do the same for you.
Cheers
Acit
Acit,
point overlooked (I just left the 3-4L of water over night, never put in anti clorine, may be that was the reason) and now noted and remembered. Thanks.
At the moment, I have some unknown brand of anti clorine from LFS, may consider the chage to Seachem Prime as I have read in another thread, is the most recommended.....
BTW, is using distilled water another good way ? I measured the PH, is about 5.5 - 6 and I am quite sure there is no clorine in it....
EK
EK
so how are u gonna get your distilled waterr?? Buy them?? I have a water purifier at home for drinking. I occasionally will used that for wAter change. Not much difference since I am adding seachem prime.
If u are you going to lower ur ph I would suggest use a driftwood. Do not use any ph buffer. Natural environment is still best for shrimps
I have the water purifier as well, it reduce the PH a little, to about 6.9, I was thinking of mixing the water from the purifier and buy some distilled water from NTUC, saw the1.5L at S$0.9 and the PH level was what I mentioned and I do not have clorine issue.
Maybe adding a drift wood is a good idea, but I suppose I have to treat it before I introduce it.....need to find the thread of how to do it or I really have no chioce but to use chemical.(struggle.....)
EK
Generally using buffers and chemicals is not recommended. [IMO]
Try using peat and stuff that into your filter.
You will need to change it every 3 - 6 months.
This is more natural way of controlling PH.
ADA Amazonia II already contain peat, this is how this substrate is able to control PH.
Good Luck!!
Cheers
Acit
Newbie
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