Is my water parameter normal?

[felix00]

Have been keeping sakura/cherry for a long time but they seems to not breed and not die...

Livestock about
15-18 mosquito rasbora
1 ottos
1 bristlenose pleco
20+ sakuras/cherrys


Water Parameter as below:
NO3 -> 25
NO2 -> 0
Gh -> 7 *d
Kh -> 6*d
pH -> 6.4
Cl2 -> 0
Temp-> 26*C
Co2 -> 5 second 1 bubble for 8-10hrs
Lighting -> 8-10hrs (2ft Aquazonic t5ho 4 tube) on 2 tube at one time.
2 aquarium air diffuser in tank
Matrix canister with rainbar (media: Cotton/Biohomme/CR)
Chiller: Hailea 150A


I provide quite alot of plants from them to shelter... Rock tested with vinegar no reaction. Not real seashell. Maintenance with Mosura product.

I just did;
Give away livestock, all frogbits and sell away mini fissiden.
remove 2 satellite external breeder box
Left with;
4 mosquito rasbora
1 ottos
20+ sakuras/cherrys
Mini fissiden as base
Rocks remove. Add 1 Borneowild - MINEROCK.

New pic of tank will be uploaded this evening

Please do share your experience on this and let me know any more details that is needed.
Thanks.

[billy83]

Bro, Actually I'm quite new to shrimp keeping but from what I learnt from my mentor is that in order to let the shrimps to breed and thrive well it's always better to have a shrimp-only tank. This is to prevent adding any additional stress to them.

Another point to look out for is the period that you introduced them to the tank. They need time to get used to the water parameter so they will move from survive to thrive.

Last but not at least, it is always important to check whether you have both male and female shrimps in the tank. My ratio is 2 female to 1 male.

I might not be 100% right, hope other senior can share their inputs and knowledge too.

By the way, your water parameter looks alright to me.

Good day..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[alvinchan80]

In my opinion, try bringing down your KH.. Looks kinda high...
GH seems acceptable but better to be slightly lower..

Happy shrimping..

[felix00]

In my opinion, try bringing down your KH.. Looks kinda high...
GH seems acceptable but better to be slightly lower..

Happy shrimping..

Hi Alvin, I use purely "Life" distilled water for w/c.
Right now I couldn't find a way to lower both gH & kH without lowering my pH.
I think my pH is quite low le. I remember i have a active carbon in my hangon filter which i change monthly.
Removing that will be useful? Else one another thing i can think of is to change the substrate(SOIL!!!).

Is any other method?

[felix00]

I know what caused to increase the gH.
Is the Borneowild - MINEROCK - "It also improves photosynthesis, semiconductor action, mildly increases GH/PH and ion exchange ratio."
So should i remove the mineral rock? As i always w/c with distilled(no mineral) so i was thinking add this mineral rock to improve the water content.

For kH i not so sure what has caused it. I always think kH is on a high side.

[alvinchan80]

Hi Alvin, I use purely "Life" distilled water for w/c.
Right now I couldn't find a way to lower both gH & kH without lowering my pH.
I think my pH is quite low le. I remember i have a active carbon in my hangon filter which i change monthly.
Removing that will be useful? Else one another thing i can think of is to change the substrate(SOIL!!!).

Is any other method?

What soil are you using anyway? But the PH is fine.. Can be lower a little not an issue i guess.. Try removing the active carbon since there is no problems with the tank unless you are trying to use it suck 'bad stuffs'.. Haha..

I know what caused to increase the gH.
Is the Borneowild - MINEROCK - "It also improves photosynthesis, semiconductor action, mildly increases GH/PH and ion exchange ratio."
So should i remove the mineral rock? As i always w/c with distilled(no mineral) so i was thinking add this mineral rock to improve the water content.

For kH i not so sure what has caused it. I always think kH is on a high side.

Yes, I used minerock before and it does increase the GH over time.. But water change should bring it down every week.. Maybe you try removing it and see if there is any improvement after a month or so (4 water changes since you using distilled should drop).. But try not to use mineral plus if you want to pull down the GH and KH.. Look out for your TDS too.. Might drop as well..

The minerock will add minerals to the water column gradually.. But my past experience is that it rises my GH quite high, so after removing mine.. Seems to be better.. Hope this helps..

[felix00]

What soil are you using anyway? But the PH is fine.. Can be lower a little not an issue i guess.. Try removing the active carbon since there is no problems with the tank unless you are trying to use it suck 'bad stuffs'.. Haha..

I using GEX red packet. Ya the active carbon is to absorb any bad stuff but for now i will remove bah. The minerock mayb i knock into small piece dont put a BIG one over there.

But kH will decrease automatically when gH decrease? I don't have TDS meter so not sure about TDS reading...

[alvinchan80]

I using GEX red packet. Ya the active carbon is to absorb any bad stuff but for now i will remove bah. The minerock mayb i knock into small piece dont put a BIG one over there.

But kH will decrease automatically when gH decrease? I don't have TDS meter so not sure about TDS reading...

KH, GH, TDS should decrease since you using distilled water to water change unless you have other stuffs in your tank which is adding to those.. But of cause even feeding or dosing of powder stuff which dissolve in water also will contribute to TDS.. So just monitor lo.. Try to bring down your KH and GH first to recommended levels then maintain.. Should be ok..
PH will rely on your soil to buffer already..

[Navanod]

What material is that fake shell made of? Plastic?

[felix00]

What material is that fake shell made of? Plastic?

Yup is plastic... I bought from aquarium shop.. Shld be safe right??

[felix00]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...=photo_comment

By the way this is my new tank after removing livestock and stone... Left with this... Not sure how to upload here so paste the link here.

[Navanod]

"Should" be safe (*ahem* SMS lingo my friend).
But yes, the key word is "should". Its not a given that these decors are made of inert plastics. I had stupidly used silicon and plastics products in my tank (not from LFS) before that ended up killing eggs and sperms, and almost all breeding stopped.

I agree with Alvin that the high KH may also be somehow affecting molting, which in turn may affect breeding. When was the pH readings taken? During CO2 injection? Try taking just before the CO2 comes on. With such a high KH, it may be swinging the pH quite abit.

[felix00]

Sorry for the lingo. Will take note of it. The reading is taken during CO2 injection... The decoration was quite expensive but if still the shrimp is not breeding, I will just remove that.
Was thinking should I need to buy software to lower the GH and KH.

[Navanod]

No worries. Thanks. Apologies for the double post, think my browser was abit loony. Deleted.

Try removing that plastic shell and see if things improve, no harm anyway.
By the way, if the shell is semi-soft kind, there's a high chance it'll leach toxin. You can see if there's a white milky layer on it's surface.

What software can lower the GH and KH?!
Use MS Excel to change the formula is it?

[felix00]

Haha was going to type softwater... Haha software...