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All, Thank you for all the help! Turns out, as you all said, I was over complicating it, 2.8g of Equilibrium nailed all of my parameters. Did the water change this morning and everything is exactly where I wanted it. Thank you!

Hey @nabokovfan87 Thank you for your response! I’m still lost. I understand the concepts of Gh (Equilibrium) and Kh (Alkaline Buffer), it’s getting them at the right level while staying under 100 TDS and locking my Ph to 6.7ish. I’m continuing to hammer away at the equations based on 5 gallon buckets, recent one I tested was 1g of Equilibrium, 1.5g Alkaline Buffer, and 1g Acid Buffer. This resulted in Ph: 6.0, Kh: 2, Gh: 2 and a TDS of 95. Good results but that Ph is way too low. So on the next test I tried 1g Equilibrium, 3g Alkaline Buffer, and 1g Acid Buffer. Results were: Ph: 6.35, Kh: 5, Gh: 2, and a TDS of 140. Ph still way too low and now my Kh & TDS are way high. So in my head I need to lower all chemicals. My next test will be tomorrow with: 1g Equilibrium, 1g Alkaline Buffer, and .5g Acid Buffer. I honestly have no idea how it’s going to turn out. @nabokovfan87 I will be posting a reply to our Shrimp thread in the next few days. Thank you again for all of your help!

Hello, I recently moved to a RO system and I’m struggling with getting my ratios right when remineralizing my water. I have a few questions I’m hoping someone might be able to answer. 1. Can someone attempt to do the math for me…I’ve got a notebook with 15-20 different calculations trying to reach my desired parameters and none have been right. I’m using Equilibrium, Alkaline Buffer, and Acid Buffer. I’m trying to achieve the following: Ph: 6.7, Kh: 1, Gh: 2, and a TDS <100. I’m using 5 gallon buckets. Can anyone come up with the proper dosage for each? 2. As I’m using 5 gallon buckets to mix my RO with these chemicals…Does each bucket stack multiplicatively? It’s a 30 gallon tank, I do a 10% water change weekly, which means I’m using 2 5 gallon buckets. Do I need to calculate for the 10 gallons or just get each 5 gallon to the right parameters? Does that make sense? It’s got me so confused. 3. I’m using Brightwell Florin Volcanit to soften/keep the water soft. Do I need to factor in the substrate’s buffering power when preparing my water? Or do I just get my water to the required parameters and the substrate will hold it there? This 30 gallon tank is holding a pair of Apistogramma Macmasteri. The breeder told me the parameters that they were raised in and I’m just trying to mimic that. Thank you for your help!!!

Aside from the plants I have (Red Root Floaters and Anubias Nana) any suggestions for next addition? I really want to stay away from having to use fertilizer. I’m so hesitant to do larger water changes due to the swings in parameters it may cause. Though I will acknowledge that adding water back in via drip will likely alleviate those swings. You’ve guided me in the right direction every time so i’ll move to 30% going forward. As for the RRFloaters, I purchased rings that keeps them all together at the top of the tank. That way I’m not blocking light from getting to the rest of the tank. They are growing better in the Sunkist tank for some reason, even though there are more nitrates in the Blue Dream tank. Any thoughts on why that might be? As far as her being able to molt…With my high Gh (15) I haven’t noticed any molting issues in either of the tanks. I have also been feeding the tanks Mineral Junkie by Glasgarten, I assume this is also helping with the molts. I received my egg tumbler earlier today and got it all setup. The eggs are still attached to the swimerettes (sp?) on the molt so it was pretty easy to get them setup in the tumbler. Now it’s just cross my fingers and wait. Im going to post a bunch of pictures later today.

Update 5: Community tank is doing very well. Blue Dream tank is also doing really well. Multiple berried shrimp, activity in the tank is really nice. Backed off my feedings and left them to scavenge a bit more. My only concern is a Nitrate level around 10ppm. It’s not too high but higher than I want. I’ve done 2 15% water changes and vacuumed the substrate since my last post and I can’t seem to budge the Nitrate level. I added another small batch of red root floaters to help. All other parameters are exactly where I want them. Currently very happy with this tank. Sunkist/Pumpkin Tank is also doing well. I have not had any deaths for a while now. I also backed off on my feedings and forced them to scavenge a bit more. All parameters on this tank are spot on. Again multiple berried shrimp…This where my only concern is…I had a female molt and drop her eggs. I’m not really sure why she dropped them. She was somewhat small so I can only think that she dropped due to inexperience?? I managed to recover the eggs and have them in a makeshift egg tumbler. I ordered a real egg tumbler, hopefully I can save them. Overall everything has drastically improved. I will continue posting updates as worthwhile info pops up. Thank you to all that offered their advice. A giant thank you to @nabokovfan87 for all the help and direction!!!

Update 4: Blue Dream tank is doing great. All water parameters are where they need to be. The juvenile shrimp are growing fast and I have not seen a dead shrimp in this tank for some time. I have at least one berried female. My only concern is all the detritus on the floor of the tank. I’ll include a picture. Do I just leave it or try to keep the substrate spotless? Now to the problem… The Sunkist tank has at least one shrimp a day die. I cannot figure out why as the parameters are exactly the same as the Blue Dream tank. I’ll run through the parameters again real quick. Both Tanks as of this morning: Ph: 7.2, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: <5, Phosphate: 1, Kh: 5, Gh: 15. My Gh is higher than expected due to me adding some crushed coral in the sump to help with any molting issues. I have removed it. I have not seen any molting issues before or since…I regularly see whole molts around the tanks, none of the shrimp that have passed had a notable white line. I have treated both tanks exactly the same. I’ve done a single 10%-15% water change. The water was temp adjusted and I used prime to treat the water which was dripped back into the tanks over 4 hours. Temperature is a stable 77F (Room temperature). on @nabokovfan87 suggestion I have added 2 small Anubius nana to both tanks. Questions: The filtration/sump on each tank has fully cycled media, thus the already functioning bio filter. Parameters show that the bio filter is working. But the rest of the tank was cleaned/scrubbed to remove algae and old substrate. Because the tanks are fresh I have been feeding lightly everyday in the following manner…I add a little bit smaller than rice sized portion of Bacter AE and half that portion of Shrimp Baby to a cup with tank water, mix thoroughly and add to the tanks, dispersing everywhere. I do this to keep food readily available and also establish a good amount of Biofilm. I also add an extremely small portion of Shrimp King Complete to their feeding dish, this is removed after 3-4 hours, I rarely see either tank eating from the feeding dish. I’ve also positioned the tank light right above the uppermost driftwood to get a nice patch of algae going for them to feed on. Am I feeding too much, polluting the tank? If this were the issue wouldn’t I see an ammonia or nitrite spike? I think I’m going to purchase a copper test kit even though I am 100% sure no copper has ever touch any of my tanks. I’m at a loss, any ideas? Including a few more pics. Please ask any questions you have, it’s killing me that I can’t get the Sunkist tank running correctly.

@nabokovfan87 That is amazing! Very jealous of your setup! Giant porous stone is awesome. What kind of stone is that? You are definitely pumping a ton of air into that tank. I just turned mine up. The shrimp that passed was running around as expected. Maybe a bit more than usual which is why I thought he was searching for a female. But nothing erratic or jumpy. Tested yet another parameter on both tanks…Phosphates are at 1.0, everything I read said 1.0 is fine. So yeah, keeping my fingers crossed that everything from here is onward and upward. Had those 2 losses (1 blue dream from shipping/acclimatizing and the 1 Sunkist giving his life for the next generation:). Otherwise all parameters are steady, bio and mechanical filtration are good. I receive my order of 10 more Pumpkin/Sunkist tomorrow. I’ll put them through drip acclimation for 2 hours, get them in the tank, turn the lights off and hope everything goes well. @nabokovfan87 Thank You again for all of the help and guidance!

@nabokovfan87 Are these a good choice?

Temps are at 77F. I have heaters in there set below 77F just in case I have a strange temperature fluctuation. I’m using conditioned tap water for all water changes and top-offs. I know RO would be better but right now it’s a cost issue. I hope to get there soon. I studied the deceased shrimp for quite a while and couldn’t find anything out of order. I looked over the remaining 2 Sunkist and they look healthy. Side note / question: yesterday I noticed one of the males swimming all around the tank. Assumed he was after the female. Woke up today and a male had passed. I looked for the other 2 found them and made sure they were ok. It wasn’t until I read your reply that I really looked and my female is berried! Could the male have passed doing his thing? I do have airstones in both tanks. I keep the pump on low for minimal disturbance. I’m going to increase the air volume a bit just to be sure. I’m a bit hesitant on live plants due to the struggles they caused in my previous setup. You’ve given great advice so far, so i’ll pickup one for each tank. But I don’t want to go down the road of fertilizers, so I hope they be ok without. I’m going to spend some time looking into the Zero setup. I am keeping logs for each tank. I’ll look into journaling them. Thank you so much for all the guidance!!! I’ll continue updating. If you want any specific pictures of the tanks to see how things are setup please just ask.

I’ve removed all Endlers just in case. Thank you!

Update 3: The community tank is thriving! Everyone is doing well. The 2 Shrimp tanks are doing ok. The tanks are Fluval Flex 15’s. One is white and the other is black. The white tank is doing well, I used cycled media to get the tank up and running. After a few days of running the system with Endler’s, I removed them and added 12 Blue Dream Shrimp. Shrimp range in size from basically newborn to full grown. These Shrimp were added 6/8. I had 1 immediate loss but none after that. The tank seems to be doing ok. Because it’s a “fresh” tank I’ve been adding Glasgarten “Shrimp baby” & “Bacter AE” almost daily as I wait for a good amount of Biofilm/algae to setup. Every 2-3 days I’ve been adding Shrimp King “Complete” into a feeding dish. All inhabitants are grazing constantly and occasionally visiting the feeding dish. White Tank Parameters: Ph: 7.2, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: < 5ppm, Kh: 4, Gh: 12, TDS: 330 which is a bit high so I’m doing a 10% water change and dripping fresh water (shrimp tank plus water conditioner and temperature adjusted) back in slowly. The black tank is concerning, I again used cycled media to get the tank up and running. Ran the tank with a few Endlers and my 3 remaining Orange Sunkist Shrimp while I waited to buy more Sunkist Shrimp. Shrimp are all adults. These Shrimp were added roughly 6/6. The tank seems to be doing ok. Because it’s a “fresh” tank I’ve been adding Glasgarten “Bacter AE” every 2 days as I wait for a good amount of Biofilm to setup. Every 2-3 days I’ve been adding Shrimp King “Complete” into a feeding dish. All inhabitants are grazing constantly and occasionally visiting the feeding dish. Black Tank Parameters: Ph: 7.1, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: < 5ppm, Kh: 4, Gh: 12, TDS: 227 which is lower than the white tank and I’m not sure why as both are setup exactly the same. Perhaps the additional shrimp in the white tank adding to overall TDS. I added small bags of crushed coral into the sump section of each tank to add minerals and stabilize any Ph fluctuations. I also have some Red Root Floaters in each tank to suck up any Nitrates. I added small clumps of moss to each tank for some living plants for any babies to hide in. I’ve noticed molts on both tanks. I’ve not seen any white line issues. Questions/Concerns: I had a Sunkist Shrimp die in the black tank last night. I have no idea why. No white line. No parameters fluctuated wildly. It was big but definitely not full grown, so age was not a factor. Any ideas or questions that might lead to ideas… I have 10 Orange Pumpkin shrimp arriving tomorrow and I’m concerned for their safety if a shrimp just died in that tank. Do I need to worry about Calcium or Phosphate levels at all? Based on the photos included, do I need to add anything or make any adjustments. I designed each tank with hiding places as a top priority. There will be no tank mates, only shrimp. I looked into RO systems but they are a bit too pricey. Any alternatives? Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated! Thank You!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Thank you. i’ll be using the drip method moving forward.

Update: I cleaned up and refreshed my 20 gallon tank. Moved all community fish to the 20. I broke down the first 15 gallon tank. everything removed & discarded. Kept all equipment (pumps, physical & biological filtration). Cleaned tank itself with hydrogen peroxide, every nook and cranny. Returned the lightly cleaned but definitely not dead filter pumps and media. Added fresh rinsed black sand. Installed a large piece of driftwood, rocks, shrimp hides, and a bunch of fake plants. I wanted to go for the more sterile, clean approach this time. So, new 15 is setup and running for a day or two now. Ph: 7, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: <20, Gh: 12, Kh: 3, TDS: 237, Temp: 78F to help the bio filter get going again. As suggested I tested my water direct from Tap and 24 hours after. Gh & Kh didn’t move. Ph dropped .2 in the 24 hour water. The only thing that worried me was my high Gh. I have added a large piece of driftwood, 5 medium Catappa leaves in the filter, i’ll move them into tank when they are soft and don’t float. Is 12 too high to successfully raise shrimp? As of early this morning I returned my 1 remaining Blue shrimp and my 3 Chili Rasbora to this newly setup 15. I’ll post updates and pics in the next few days. Thank you again!

Nabokov, what an amazing post! Thank you for all of your insights. I read through that post a dozen times, great info. you’ve definitely helped me decide to rework everything! I’m going to move all of my fish, amano’s, and snails to a freshly setup & cycled 20 gallon. That can be my community tank. I’ll then strip both of the 15’s and build each tank specifically for shrimp as you described. This will take a few days, i’ll keep you updated! thank you again! Great post