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Hard Lesson Learned

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  • Hard Lesson Learned

    for anyone who is new to shrimp like me, this may be a useful lesson i learned the hard way. i am by no means an expert yet for shrimp, but passing along whatever knowledge i can at this point.

    i tried CRS maybe 2 years ago and the tank never took off. people usually say how easy they are so i was disappointed the endeavor failed. i am now trying again with blue velvet shrimp, which people still say are relatively easy. i started to notice some odd behaviors. i saw one molt, but some were laying on their sides, moving in jolting manners, swimming in erratic spurts, etc.

    i joined a FB group for shrimp, and they have been very helpful. after going through temp, ammonia, etc. they mentioned TDS was important. the seller noted his TDS when i purchased, but i honestly have never in my life owned a TDS meter. i always went off the fish behavior. if they were healthy, active, eating, etc...i figured all is well.

    get a TDS meter before purchasing your shrimp. i knew shrimp are sensitive to the things like ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. all of those were testing out at zero or close to it, so i thought my tank was perfectly fine. topping off when needed, water is clear, etc.

    but....of course there is a but...i was still losing shrimp. i only saw one or two actually dead, but have feeling more are gone in the rocks/plants. the most i have seen alive now are around 5-8 at a time out of the initial 20. its possible there are more hiding, but who knows. i know i dont have 20 anymore

    i ordered a TDS meter and it came yesterday. the seller said his tank was 340 ppm, which by the meter chart is acceptable and moderate water in regards to hardness and dissolved solids. the EPA cutoff for water is 500 ppm to get into the red. i tested a few sources:

    Distilled water -> 0 to 1 ppm
    Filtered Water from Fridge -> 217 ppm
    Tap water -> 252 ppm
    My Shrimp Tank -> 742 ppm

    turns out every time i topped off with tap water, i was raising my TDS. i was never thinking the water evaporating off left behind all its dissolved solids, so adding more tap just pushed this value higher into the danger zone. i am pretty sure that is whats causing the stress to the shrimp.

    i am now doing water changes daily to gradually lower the TDS. you can shock the shrimp lowering too quickly, just like wild spikes in other params impact fish. the flourish excel i use for the plants also raises the TDS, so i know now to essentially do a water change then add my liquid ferts to keep the TDS down. this will mean multiple water changes per week and daily meter readings to keep the water params low and very clean for the shrimp.

    another tip is to top off with distilled water, not tap. with distilled water having no dissolved solids it will lwoer the TDS if anything.

    hope this helps anyone getting into shrimp. this is probably why my voyage into CRS a few years back failed too. it does not discourage me from keeping shrimp. i will replace the lost ones in my tank eventually. i am determined to get good colonies going and graduate into other species beyond the neos.

  • #2
    Good to know...I had no idea

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    • #4
      Thanks Crush. i came across similar links when on Google. Reading more about the chemistry behind it, I can see why its important for shrimp. I am sure TDS comes into play for fish as well, just I never payed attention to it until now. it can be a good indicator for when to do water changes beyond when other params start to rise.

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      • #5
        Cool tips man. Thanks.
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        • #6
          Also found that homedepot carries testers

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          • #7
            i got my meter on amazon for like $15. pretty cheap overall.

            tds was a contributing factor i am sure, but its also very possible i jumped the gun in putting the shrimp. tank may have still bee cycling and they couldnt handle it. i will give the tank more time to cycle through before trying again.

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            • #8
              I was looking for a meter that did more than just tds but after reading reviews and so on it seems some of those "multi-meters" have issues with accuracy and fouled probs. I'd like to find a solid, consistent, hang on tank meter.

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              • #9
                Which one did you get?

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                • #10
                  Originally posted by Crush View Post
                  Which one did you get?
                  mine was a tds only meter but here is the link on amazon

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                  • #11
                    Seen a few YouTube vids of people using that same meter

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                    • #12
                      Useful information, never really thought about that either..thanks
                      30G fowlr
                      55G planted community
                      30G corner Glo tank

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                      • #13
                        tds is definitely important, but probably wasnt my sole reason for the trouble. i have two amano shrimp in a tank that was reading 1250 ppm and they have been alive for 2 years in there now no issues. molting regularly and cleaning up scraps.

                        the next thought was tank may not be fully cycled, so something else could be going haywire. the tds just didnt help matters at all.

                        my tds is now down to 475 ppm....so slowly but surely its getting into the range i would like. i wont put more shrimp in for another month or so. by then tank SHOULD be cycled, and tds under control. may rescape a little bit too adding in more plants. dont want to rush things again.

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                        • #14
                          Originally posted by Crush View Post
                          Seen a few YouTube vids of people using that same meter
                          i havent had any issues with mine at all. calibration appeared good right out fo the package. i like the auto shutoff feature incase you forget to hit the button. beyond that very easy to use and clear screen for readings

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                          • #15
                            This post is pretty much what I'm going through right now. My TDS readings have always run higher with my RCS, Red Rili, Carbon Rili, and Blue Velvet tanks (anywhere from 400 - 760). I've been lucky so far and haven't had losses -- shrimp are molting, breeding, and seem happy/active. Due to this, I've done the usual cleaning and water changes (using RO only), but haven't let the TDS numbers bother me too much since the pH, nitrite, nitrate, etc. are good (these tanks are all heavily planted and contain driftwood -- I think I naively went with the other parameters being all right).

                            Now, I'm in the process of setting up a new tank with CRS in mind. I haven't kept them before but it has been drilled in that they are very particular and TDS is a factor. In the new tank, I used Eco-Complete and RO water, a little lava rock, and then added mosses, Subwassertang, and a couple of Anubias. I'm also running a little CO2.

                            The tank has been up a little over a month and I cannot get the TDS below 410 (ideally I'd like 175). Sorry it is taking so long to get to my questions -- I've combed the Internet and it seems that planted tanks usually run higher on TDS. I initially used a but of Seachem Stability and Excel, but was told that these weren't great for RCS so I stopped (two weeks after stopping and a few water changes with 25% RO/75% distilled -- my numbers went down from 580 to 410). Have you found a way to drastically lower the TDS and do you all find that planted tanks run higher? I also wonder if the CO2 plays a part. My other parameters are pH 7, nitrate 0, nitrate 0, GH 9. I added a filter insert of Fluval peat (2 teaspoons) to the filter and some cavatappa leaves, so I'm keeping an eye on pH due to the peat and will continue with water changes. Just curious what others have experienced and done with local TDS and GH.


                            Any and all advice or experiences are greatly appreciated.

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