Water conditioning for crystal red shrimps

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lucavicini

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
59
Location
Malaga, Spain
Hello,

I am about to setup a dedicated aquarium for Crystal Red Shrimps.
I will use water from a reverse osmosis filter (it's the first time that I use RO water in an aquarium).

Can you use directly the filtered water in the aquarium or do you have to condition it with additional products? The tap water in the area where I live is extremely hard (around ph8.5) therefore I would rather avoid mixing tap water with RO water.

Cheers
Luca
 
From what I've read you have to add something to the RO water.

The water won't have any of the essential trace elements you'd need for the tank.

There are Seachem products that do this I think, the name slips my mind though.

Sorry!
 
you need to remineralize the water. RO water has kh 0 gh 0, CRS needs a gh of at least 5 to molt correctly.

You need to buy a gh booster, a popular one is salty shrimp gh +, there is a seachem one call seachem equilibrium that also works.
 
I had the same problem you have. I was able to breed CRS just fine until I recently moved to an area with hard water. Instead of using pure RO water, I mixed it with my tap so I wouldn't have to purchase anything to remineralize the water. All it did was lower my GH and KH to a more reasonable level.
 
Just ordered a jar of Seachem equilibrium.

I will try as well mixing the RO water with conditioned tab water to see the results on a separate tank. Experimenting is the name of the game... :)
 
Following. Can anyone chime in on the use of mineral rock, Indian almond leaves, and cholla wood to condition the water?
 
Hello,
It's quite tricky. The tap water from my area is very hard (Ph on the 8.5 range with TDS on the 250ppm). The RO water that I get is quite pure with a TDS of 8ppm but with a Ph of 7.5.

Obviously mixing RO water with seachem equilibrium or mixing with tap water increases the Gh but does nothing to lower the Ph.

I bough this morning from my local shop "Seachem Discus Buffer" and "Seachem Neutral regulator". Mixing the 3 products (Discus Buffer, Neutral regulator and equilibrium) should give me the right parameters.

The only problem that I see is reproducibility during water changes. Since the tank is 46L, my water changes will be on the range of 10 to 12L. Dosing the chemicals for such a small amount of water is probably going to be a pain unless I use a high precision chemistry scale. Is there an easier way?

Kind Regards
Luca
 
Following. Can anyone chime in on the use of mineral rock, Indian almond leaves, and cholla wood to condition the water?

In my experience mineral rock will raise the ph while Indian almond leafs, cholla wood and alder cones will lower them. But above all find a breeder that has close water spec's to your own. Because fluctuations are the worst culprit.
 
Its all about the parameters, you want to have gh 5-6 for CRS, ph of under 7, doesn't matter if you use RO with remineralizer or RO mix with tap or tap only.

If you mix tap with ro, you still have to make sure your water has gh 5-6 as well as if you mix Ro with remineralizer. Mixing RO with remineralizer just gives you more control. Because tap tends to vary, somedays you get gh 5 somedays you get gh 3 (examples only).

You can surely use tap water only, if your tap naturally has gh of 5-6. Maybe sure you get a GH test.

Also, if the conditions of the tank is good, CRS can survive outside of their preferred gh for months before molting issues begins to show up and starts killing them.

So get a gh test!
 
Hi Aluka,

My problem if that no matter the ratio of RO to tap water that I mix, (or the amount of seachem equilibrium that I add), the Ph is going to be always above 7.3. The RO water that I use is quite pure, but still has a ph above 7. (I have both gH and kH test kits). I cannot succeed in obtain a slightly acid water and a kH in the 4-6 range without adding acid salts.

If you are telling me that setting the level of gH is more important than pH for CRS, I will give it a try.
 
It is. Low GH or too high of GH, will definitely cause death. PH is more of a getting used to thing. Of course they will be happier in 6-6.5.

I actually keep my crs in ph 7.2 because i gave up battling my ph and keeping stable parameters is better. But just be aware, they don't breed as well as if they are within ph 6-6.5. But i still have about 20-30 crs babies and 8 berried crs at the moment.

Just remember, when you introduce them and they are from much lower ph waters, drip acclimate them for longer. Normally, i drip acclimate for about 2 hours, crs from ph 6.5 to my water 7.2 i would do 4-5 hours.
 
I found a routine that I can reproduce more or less in a bucket of RO water. Using a mix of 2.5 to 1 of seachem discus buffer and neutral regulator I reach a ph of 6.5. I exceed a bit in quantities to buffer the bucket.

After this I add little by little seachem equilibrium until I reach a gH of 5. The annoying thing is that this product takes a while (and frantic agitation) to dissolve into water.

I filled a 46l tank with the solution added substrate, white sand, a log, plants and java moss. It's now only a matter of cycling the tank and waiting for a few weeks.
 
Also it is better to keep the tank for a while and let it mature and stabilize. Time allows a biofilm to grow. it is important for the Shrimp to be able to have a constant source of food which doesn't pollute your tank, like shrimp food from the store. Moss and live plants are very helpful in this as well.

These essential foods/nutrients for the shrimp only develop over time. Several months. Plants will have some little things on them for the shrimp to eat too.

Just be careful not to over feed and watch your parameters. Ammonia kills. They need good clean water but be careful and not change too often. Just do your tests and watch it.
 
Hi I use Seachem Replenish along with Prime(to be safe)in the ro I use for my shrimp tanks...I find fresh molts all the time in these setups..
 
I use RO and equilibrium and everything works out fine. I had rcs a while back but have since sold them all. Getting some more shrimp varieties soon though.
 
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