Shrimp Sanctuary. Need help.

[Aquatic Athlete]

Good afternoon everyone, I'm having some issues finding out the Perfect Chemistry for my water.

 

My immediate goal: Breeding Neo Shrimp population.

 

Long term goal: an attractive, lush,  peaceful tank with plenty of shrimp and a school of tiny Cory cats.

 

Current Stats:

PH: 6.5

dKH: 1

dGH: 4.5

 

It's a 29 gallon, moderately planted tank, using a Finnex Planted 24/7 SE 30" lighting system, typically on max. A 45gallon Aqueon HOB filter W/Sponge. An Aqueon 100w heater. Hopefully soon Co2, one I have a more stable water parameter.

 

Inhabitants: 6 Orange Neocaridina. (I've bought all the oranges within 70 miles that I could find..)

Adding eventually: 6 Oto cats (currently in QT after an outbreak. 15 Pygmaeus corys.

 

Main concern: My KH is low and if I use Co2, my tank could have wild swings in PH and kill things.

 

 

Where should my numbers be, how do I get them there?

VID_20171021_204457660.mp4

[TheGardenofEder]

Aim for 220 tds 7 gh and 3 kh if your tap water is already above 200 tds with out doing anything then you may want to try ro water and remineralizer. If your tds is below 200 you can easily add minerals on top of it like brightwell kh+ or ss gh kh to raise your gh and kh to your desired levels. 

[aotf]

There a couple issues with your setup that will prevent it from being a shrimp "sanctuary". They might breed as it is but your population might take longer to take off.

 

1. 15 pigmy cories might be an issue. Never having had them, I can't speak as to their appetite for shrimp but they may very well gobble up some baby shrimp. There are many who successfully breed shrimp with a couple fish in the tank, just be aware that they might slow population growth.

 

2. pH is slightly low for neos. Again, they'll likely breed, but they might be better off with something around 7.

 

3. kH and gH are too low. Grant's got some good advice, consider remineralizing your water before putting it in the tank. 

 

4. Avoid CO2 for now. It's best to start with one goal per tank. Trying to set up a high-tech shrimp breeder with fish is incredibly tricky, the only way you could make it worse is by trying to breed cards at the same time. Shrimp do not like CO2 or pH swings. Let your colony grow before trying to acclimate them to CO2 (and when you do add CO2, make sure to acclimate them slowly -- like over a couple weeks).

 

5. What temperature fluctuations do you have in the tank without the heater? Most of the time, shrimp don't need a heater. Not only are they often unnecessary, they're little time-bombs. There's always a risk the thermostat will break and your heater will just cook the entire tank over the course of a day. Unless you really need it, I would advise against it.

Best of luck!

 

 

[Aquatic Athlete]

27 minutes ago, aotf said:

There a couple issues with your setup that will prevent it from being a shrimp "sanctuary". They might breed as it is but your population might take longer to take off.

 

1. 15 pigmy cories might be an issue. Never having had them, I can't speak as to their appetite for shrimp but they may very well gobble up some baby shrimp. There are many who successfully breed shrimp with a couple fish in the tank, just be aware that they might slow population growth.

 

2. pH is slightly low for neos. Again, they'll likely breed, but they might be better off with something around 7.

 

3. kH and gH are too low. Grant's got some good advice, consider remineralizing your water before putting it in the tank. 

 

4. Avoid CO2 for now. It's best to start with one goal per tank. Trying to set up a high-tech shrimp breeder with fish is incredibly tricky, the only way you could make it worse is by trying to breed cards at the same time. Shrimp do not like CO2 or pH swings. Let your colony grow before trying to acclimate them to CO2 (and when you do add CO2, make sure to acclimate them slowly -- like over a couple weeks).

 

5. What temperature fluctuations do you have in the tank without the heater? Most of the time, shrimp don't need a heater. Not only are they often unnecessary, they're little time-bombs. There's always a risk the thermostat will break and your heater will just cook the entire tank over the course of a day. Unless you really need it, I would advise against it.

Best of luck!

 

 

1, The Cory's are a ways off, but I totally agree.

 

2,3,4 excellent! I will look into that.

 

5, my home fluctuates wildly with the outdoor conditions,  in NH the temp ranges -30° to 100°+ through the year.

 

My home ranges from 50°-80.

[Aquatic Athlete]

1 hour ago, TheGardenofEder said:

Aim for 220 tds 7 gh and 3 kh if your tap water is already above 200 tds with out doing anything then you may want to try ro water and remineralizer. If your tds is below 200 you can easily add minerals on top of it like brightwell kh+ or ss gh kh to raise your gh and kh to your desired levels. 

 Perfect! Just what I was looking for!!

[aotf]

33 minutes ago, Aquatic Athlete said:

1, The Cory's are a ways off, but I totally agree.

 

2,3,4 excellent! I will look into that.

 

5, my home fluctuates wildly with the outdoor conditions,  in NH the temp ranges -30° to 100°+ through the year.

 

My home ranges from 50°-80.

Oof, that's a big range. Not only is the low end kind of low, the high end is also a bit high. They'll probably survive in it but extended periods in the high 70s will increase your chances of bacterial infections. A fan over the water in the summer will increase evaporation and decrease temps, you can probably swing it without a chiller.

 

I'd suggest you double down on an external thermostat that will cut power to the heater if it goes overboard. I know it'll cost you a bit more upfront but losing everything to a faulty heater would be such a shame. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific recommendations (I just don't have a heater) but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

EDIT: This just happened to someone on TPT, there are examples of controllers in the thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8-general-planted-tank-discussion/1205874-tank-got-nuked-today.html#post10543378

[Aquatic Athlete]

6 hours ago, aotf said:

Oof, that's a big range. Not only is the low end kind of low, the high end is also a bit high. They'll probably survive in it but extended periods in the high 70s will increase your chances of bacterial infections. A fan over the water in the summer will increase evaporation and decrease temps, you can probably swing it without a chiller.

 

I'd suggest you double down on an external thermostat that will cut power to the heater if it goes overboard. I know it'll cost you a bit more upfront but losing everything to a faulty heater would be such a shame. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific recommendations (I just don't have a heater) but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

EDIT: This just happened to someone on TPT, there are examples of controllers in the thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8-general-planted-tank-discussion/1205874-tank-got-nuked-today.html#post10543378

 

One of the first things you learn about living here is if you don't like the weather, wait a few min. Haha we get off weather that fluxuates sometimes over the course of hours.

 

I'll definitely have to look into those. So far we've been good, but yeah I don't want to loose anyone to weather.