smm333 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 I have a 20 long shrimp tank that I stocked with shrimp in late December. I've been terrified to do a water change because it's the 1st tank I did with remineralize ro water. I finally did it today! I only switched out maybe 20%. The tank is well planted and only has 13 shrimp, 3 mystery snails and some tiny ramshorn and bladder snails. At least 2 shrimp are berried and at least 2 are saddled, so I wanted to do a water change before babies arrive. That's a whole new level of stress, lol! Is it obvious I'm a shrimp newbie? 🤣 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 It's definitely important for shrimp to have water changes regularly. There is a lot of conflicting information on this topic and I don't want to skew your results with my opinions. I would encourage you to check out the video above and watch many more of his videos. it's a great resource. There are plenty of people here that can guide you through the process. The safest way is going to be to prep water in such a way that you match the tank as best you can. Keep in mind that the tank is going to be slowly building up in KH/GH due to evaporation. Plants and shrimp will also use up minerals so there is some loss there as well. Having a good maintenance system as shown in the video keeps things stable, which does give you what shrimp need.... Stability. Best of luck. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smm333 Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 On 2/7/2023 at 8:31 PM, nabokovfan87 said: It's definitely important for shrimp to have water changes regularly. There is a lot of conflicting information on this topic and I don't want to skew your results with my opinions. I would encourage you to check out the video above and watch many more of his videos. it's a great resource. There are plenty of people here that can guide you through the process. The safest way is going to be to prep water in such a way that you match the tank as best you can. Keep in mind that the tank is going to be slowly building up in KH/GH due to evaporation. Plants and shrimp will also use up minerals so there is some loss there as well. Having a good maintenance system as shown in the video keeps things stable, which does give you what shrimp need.... Stability. Best of luck. I watched so many videos to get myself confident. I also emailed questions to flip aquatics where I bought the shrimp! After remineralizing my fresh ro water and testing that and my tank water several times, I feel like it should be good for now. Parameters are good, the water was the same room temperature, all looks well. I'm really enjoying my little shrimp. I want to do more shrimp tanks eventually! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procrypsis Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 (edited) Don't stress water changes. Ensure the water you add is within parameters before adding. I drip the water in (small stream is okay too) just to be sure there isn't a big shock to the shrimp. They are tougher than Caridina and can withstand minor fluctuations. My tanks run ~250-300 um and the water I add is usually lower, ~200 um. I tend to do more frequent, but smaller volume changes of ~10% weekly. If it is longer than that, I will do ~20%. Edited February 8, 2023 by Procrypsis 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 I would not fret over it. In my experience, shrimp have been a a lot hardier than everyone wants to let you believe. I don't need to remineralize my neocaridina tanks, I just use my tap water. All my shrimp tanks get a 10-20% change every two or three weeks. My caridina tanks that I do remineralize, I mix a batch of water up a day or two before I'm doing the water change getting it to the correct TDS. I will top off the tank with RO water before I start to be sure that the tank water is as close to the correct TDS and parameters before I pull water out. Siphon out what I need to and pour the new water back in. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOtrees Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Why don’t you post your source water parameters, and folks can recommend whether you need to be “making” water? Unless your water is not suitable (eg water softener?), tap will likely be fine, and makes it WAY easier to do regular water changes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smm333 Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 On 2/8/2023 at 7:21 AM, TOtrees said: Why don’t you post your source water parameters, and folks can recommend whether you need to be “making” water? Unless your water is not suitable (eg water softener?), tap will likely be fine, and makes it WAY easier to do regular water changes. My water is super soft well water. I never had luck with neocaradina shrimp and I really want them, so I just got salty shrimp gh/kh and add it to ro water. It's been successful and it's not difficult to do. The tank is only 20 gallons and between the sand, driftwood, matten filter and plants it took about 15 or 16 gallons to fill when I set it up. A 20% water change isn't that much water. I don't mind making water. Maintenance on my tanks is my zen time. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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