TDS high GH low

[NSinvert]

So I’ve had my 10 gallon for 2 years. Recently changed out substrate to Prodibio shrimp powder. My tds is 198 but my gh is 3-4 I thought it might be my tds pen so I got a new one. Theirs only 11 point difference. I’ve had probably over 50-60 shrimp in my tank and now maybe 20 survived. I’m kinda at a loss right now but I’m not ready to give up. 

[NSinvert]

Here are the water parameters which for the life of me I can’t seem to get my ammonia and nitrate levels down. I just added Purigen about a week ago with a water change and I thought for a few days it helped but my nitrates are still high and my ammonia levels are  the same. I do about 10%~20% wc 1x a week. I use a plethora of items for shrimp not all of once of course but I feel like my shrimp are missing something but I can’t put my finger on it. I use salty shrimp and just bought some liquid gh and I’ve bought almost every brightwell shrimp aid product on the market right now. 

[madcrafted]

Ammonia readings aren't a big deal when using buffering substrates like you are. Almost all of that is in the NH4 (ammonium) form. The bigger issue is your nitrate level. You are likely overfeeding as many tend to do. We've all been there. Itchy fingers and the need to do something doesn't help matters. The best thing you can do is increase water change to 25% until you can get that nitrates down below 10 (ideally below 5). Just don't go changing more than that at one time or risk shocking the shrimp. Alternatively, you could try doing a couple 15% in one week if you like. Just do this until that nitrate test starts giving you light orange colored samples. These drop tests aren't exactly precise and only gives us a ballpark estimate to begin with. I do know when adding salty shrimp GH+ to R/O water, TDS should be closer to 85-95 ppm, so for your TDS to be that high, you either have more nitrates than you think, or something else is raising your TDS besides calcium and magnesium. TDS really means nothing without knowing what our starting base is and what we've added. If it just been food, then yeah, it's probably nitrates being generated as it gets processed from biofilter. 

 

Stop feeding the shrimp for a few days, they won't starve so don't worry. There's really no reason to be adding a bunch of liquid supplements each week to a tank with good buffering soil, good quality food that isn't too high in animal proteins and a consistent GH product. These other products are just not needed for shrimp health, at least not in the way they want you to believe they are. Just let the soil do it's job and stay on top of evaporation by topping off with RO water. As for feeding... 50 shrimp isn't a lot. 1 pad/pellet every other day is more than enough for smaller colonies like that. You'll know if they need more food as 80% of the colony will swarm that pellet and stay there until it's gone a couple hours later. If they don't, skip another day between and try again. Eventually you'll find that sweet spot for feeding your colony. As the colony expands, more food can be introduced. 

 

 

[NSinvert]

Thank you!! I’ve finally started to see the nitrates go down. I’ve gotten some floating plants to help suck up the nitrates as well. I do have a mad mix of food. I always have a hard time in what to choose. Last week I ended up buying a coffee grinder and mixing it all up. So now I just do a light sprinkle and walk away lol!