[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:25 PM, Tony s said:

For neocaridina. Gh 7-9.  Kh 3-4. Ph neutral to 7.5 tds 200-250. Which can be done with a 50/50 mixture of tap and RO. Without spending $ on a supplement constantly. 

So in doing the 50/50 mixture, would using this mix each week for 10% water changes change what’s already in the tank too much? I’m trying to avoid shock & losing any more of my shrimp.

[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

On 3/12/2024 at 9:05 PM, tolstoy21 said:

I find that this is somewhat true. At times, you can expect to lose a small percentage of the new shrimp you add, especially if they are adults. But the deaths should not be excessive. I find that shrimp from US breeders acclimate much better than imported/aquarium-store shrimp. I usually don't lose many shrimp when I buy them from good breeders online.

Looking at your params, you water does seem a tad on the hard and alkaline side. Unfortunately I don't have experience keeping neocaridina shrimp in a Gh/Kh that high to offer advice.

If you do switch to RO water I would recommend using Salty Shrimp Kh/Gh+, and not mixing in your tap water (but this is just because I find it's easier to get the same results with each bucket of RO you create/mix). A 5 gallon bucket typically takes a single scoop of the product.  Mixing in your tap water would also work.  Salty Shrimp is just my preference.

As for water changes, just perform a 25% change every few days over the course of a week or so. That should be sufficient in my experience. If anything shocks shrimp, it's typically large changes in temperature more than changes in hardness (avoiding extremes of course).

Thank you for the suggestions! I was thinking about using Salty Shrimp. One question though…how do ai know what parameters should be my “goal” to work toward?

[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:50 PM, Tony s said:

 

Yeah, but I'm also thinking that it's normal for adult cherry shrimp to do that. the next generations should be good

Someone in my local aquarium group said “the shrimp you begin your tank with aren’t the shrimp that establish your colony…it’s their babies that establish your colony.” I just hope I can keep the 3 berried females happy & healthy until then!!!

[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:06 PM, Tony s said:

if this all comes from your tap. you should be very good just using tap. red cherry shrimp (neocaridina) actually prefer harder water. crystal red shrimp (caridina), not so much. Your shrimp may be adjusting to their new environment. It's not uncommon for adult shrimp to die when getting used to a new tank. now the babies usually do very well. as long as you get some babies started. you should be fine. It may not look like it. shrimp are very good at hiding. but I'm betting it won't take long and you'll have a huge colony.

Everyone keeps saying that cherry shrimp are hardy, but I’ve lost quite a few! First, I battled hydra & now I’m guessing it’s having such a small tank & trying to control any major instabilities with the 10% water changes each week. I’d prefer to do no water changes, but I have an outbreak of daphnia & ostracods so I need to keep the tank clean.

[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

As for treated, I’m referring to dechlorinated. 
 

the parameters are below:

On 3/7/2024 at 10:59 PM, Tony s said:

Do you have measurements of your tap water? Gh kh ph. That would help figure this out. 

Treated how. Softened? Could you get a gh kh ph reading before it gets treated. That gets us all the information. We’d hate to give you bad advice without knowing all the information.

and your shrimp type would be good too.

pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5.0
kH - 6
gH - 18

If I start to use RO & remineralize, I’m confused about how to do it slowly and getting the right parameters with the water I already have in the tank.

[Switching from treated tap to remineralized RO?]

I am new to the shrimp keeping hobby and have watched my 15 shrimp dwindle to 11 in a few weeks. (3 gallon tank seasoned for 2 months, shrimp introduced to tank 2nd week of Feb.). It looks to be molting issues. I am contemplating switching from my treated tap water to remineralizing RO water using Salty Shrimp. My question is, how do I go about switching? I realize I am not going do an entire tank water change, so…how much and what do I use as a stability point with each water change since my tap water in the tank already has it’s own pH, gH, and kH? 

[Cherry Shrimp Turning White]

On 2/13/2024 at 8:44 AM, Tony s said:

Looks like some under the shrimp in the picture. On dwarf sag? Possibly something going on in the tank, and not necessarily just on the shrimp? Shrimp just getting it also?

Apparently it’s normal.

[Cherry Shrimp Turning White]

On 2/13/2024 at 8:06 AM, Tony s said:

Is it a trick of the camera? All the plants look like they’re covered in white dots as well?

The buce is. I’ve seen it in other pictures. Not sure why, it was a tissue culture plant.

[Cherry Shrimp Turning White]

Any idea of why my cherry shrimp is turning white? This tank has been maturing for 2 months up until this weekend. I’ve had the shrimp since Sunday, drip acclimated them for 2 hours. I have 8 in the tank and this is the only one exhibiting the white. Only other inhabitants are ramshorn snails.

3 gallon tank 
pH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 5ppm 
Nitrites - 0 ppm
gH - 300 ppm
kH - 180 ppm

Temp - 70 degrees F

[Easy Green help please]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Correct.  There is also a "nano tank" version of easy green that uses drops instead of pumps.  You could always use the easy measure, disperse 1 pump and then split it using a pipette between the two tanks!  My nitrates stick around 20 ppm.

Thank you! I thought I had it figured out and then I started second guessing myself after receiving the conflicting information. 

[Easy Green help please]

Good afternoon. I am new to the aquarium hobby and I am in need of help with the idea of water column fertilization of aquatic plants. I have two heavily planted (3g and 5g) tanks with many water column feeding plants. I recently began using Easy Green (used API previously). Typically the nitrates in both tanks is testing at zero.

I have the large bottle, which says to dose 1 pump (1mL) per 10 gallons per week. So am I basically only doing 1/2 of that for my 5 gallon and 1/3 of it for my 3 gallon per week?
 

Someone on a FB group was telling me that 1mL is equivalent to 3ppm in a 10 gallon & that would be equivalent to 9ppm per 1ml in my 3 gallon. So one or two pumps per week should be about perfect for my 3g to hold the nitrates between 20-40ppm. That dosing seemed like a lot more than what the dosing on the back of the bottle says. Help please!

[Top Fin Shrimp & Plant Oasis 3g Cube]

Can you share a pic of your sponge filter? I’m trying one, but it keeps leaving water on the tank lid from the tiny bubbles:(

[Sponge Filter Modification?]

On 1/3/2024 at 4:55 PM, jwcarlson said:

Unfortunately, your pictures are just showing up as black boxes for me, but that might be just a me issue.

For the sponge filter, you don't need to have the uplift tube attached, it just makes it a bit more efficient.  But if that makes it too tall, you can leave it off entirely.

I tried several times on the photos:( They won’t show up.

[Sponge Filter Modification?]

I have started a 3 gallon shrimp tank to mature with snails (no shrimp yet). The original HOB filter isnt great. I recently purchased a “Nano” sized Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter for it, which has turned out to be too tall. In my excitement of ordering, I did not look closely enough at the height suggestions and I have already made cuts to the tubes, so I cannot return it. It would “just fit” in my aquarium, but it really is close to the top of the water…I should have bought a small. Since the nano has 2 strainer pieces that snap together, could I take one off and cut the coarse sponge in 1/2 and essentially make the sponge filter 1/2 the height it is? Would it affect the filtration/workings of it? Looking for solutions.