My Noobish Shrimp Tank

[ailnaz]

Heya All,

This is my first thread. I am starting out a 2 feet shrimp tank. Water has been cycled about more than a month ago. Had also done a water change 2 days ago. Had used ADA Amazonia substrate for base.

After checking water parameters, found that :-
GH - 0
KH - 0
pH - 6.0
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 40ppm

My yamato shrimps are doing ok for about 2 weeks already (I know that they are hardy)

My question, what is the suitable water parameters for sakura / fire red shrimps?
I tried looking in the forum but could not locate any thread pertaining the issue.

Would appreciate any comments, link or answers. Thanks in advance.

Will update the pictures soon.

[darrentyl]

Looks good to go... Will be nice if you can have more bb in the tank.

[alvinchan80]

Your GH and KH is zero? Are you very sure of this reading?
Everything else looks ok..

[ailnaz]

Looks good to go... Will be nice if you can have more bb in the tank.

Thanks for the comment. Will update of any changes soon.

[ailnaz]

Your GH and KH is zero? Are you very sure of this reading?
Everything else looks ok..

Yup. I guess so. I am using the strips test kit but found out that its not very accurate after reading some post from fellow AQ members here.
Will try and perform individual test with the solutions soon.

[Jianyuan]

Are you using those 5 in 1 test stripes? Would be better to do an individual test with those kits.
0 gH will definitely cause deaths after shrimps molt.
You might want to lower then the n03 further by using floating plants like hornworts,frogbits or by doing WC.

[huizhong]

there are some bros who keep cherries/sakura/fire red with their crs at ph6.
do let us know the progress with the shrimps

[avex30]

Gh 0? not possible (unless you using those resin which will bring down gh) From our tap direct there is at least 1. KH 0 possible. I suggest if you want to test it get the right test kit strip are not accurate i'm not surprise your ph might be lower than 6 especially with the use of ada.

[ailnaz]

Are you using those 5 in 1 test stripes? Would be better to do an individual test with those kits.
0 gH will definitely cause deaths after shrimps molt.
You might want to lower then the n03 further by using floating plants like hornworts,frogbits or by doing WC.

Yup, you are correct its the 5 in 1 strips from API. And yes I learned it the hard way, had a few casualties after molting. I had frogbits and duckweed in the tank too. Its been there for a while and it gets the job done help me bring down from 60 to 40ppm of NO3 in 1 week odd. Well thanks for the explaination (now I know the cause of the shrimp death)

[ailnaz]

Gh 0? not possible (unless you using those resin which will bring down gh) From our tap direct there is at least 1. KH 0 possible. I suggest if you want to test it get the right test kit strip are not accurate i'm not surprise your ph might be lower than 6 especially with the use of ada.

Yes, I guess you are right. I did read about the strips not being accurate. Will perform individual test with solutions soon when I am back in SG. Thanks for the heads up

[Ecalyte]

40ppm nitrate is still very high..

[ailnaz]

40ppm nitrate is still very high..

Yup, I think so too... Hope to bring down soon.

[marimo]

Hi hope this will help you

after the cycle, I did a 90% WC will brought the nitrate from 30ish to 10ish, no live stock at that time
at any time you do a big WC, the nitrate should be around 20 ish , because i tested our tap water is at that range

Nitrate can be ignore for now .. its the less problem than ammonia and nitrite
You have to increase the kH and gH for fire red, other wise they will die of difficulty molting in new tank syndrome, low kh will get pH swing faster/stronger
I increase by putting mineral stone from GC, it has calcium oxide, note it may increase pH too temporarily. But your buffer medium will eventually override to the usual pH like your soil.
I also use ketapang leave to balance the pH.

My water for fire red is
FR colony - 50 ish
ph 6.5
kh 2
gh 5
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20

I think ph range 6-7 pH for cherry/sakura/fire red is fine. below 6 has some dead reported. somehow i feel 6.5 - 7pH they are more active. not sure if its just me...
I will suggest to keep them at slightly below 7 range if you just going to keep sakura/fire red. Because its easier to do pwc and top ups from tap water 7.2pH.

enjoy !

[ailnaz]

Id required for this creature.

[ailnaz]

Could anyone ID the creature above? Is it harmful to the shrimps? Just saw it in my tank earlier.

[diazman]

looks like dragonfly nymph. better remove it as shrimp can become its food

[ailnaz]

Did a little reasearch and found its a damselfly nymph. Still dont know if it will harm the shrimps.

[ailnaz]

looks like dragonfly nymph. better remove it as shrimp can become its food

Ok thanks for the pointers.

[k3nlim]

will find your shrimps and small fish getting lesser by the days

[ailnaz]

Awww... It has gone into hiding. I think its a hitchiker from the plants that I have in the tank.