Aennedry Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Yes, I have been running to Petsmart and had the free strip tests done. But only on the tanks. Got all my test equipment in yesterday, and did the tap today. Next few days I will be doing all the tanks. So, the shrimps I have currently are RCS, with plans for Super Tigers next spring. And from my very first test, there is going to be some major adjusting to get the prams where they should be. PH 7.4-7.6 GH 16 KH 14 Ammonia .25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10-20 TDS 256 If I was keeping the African Cichlids I like, I am almost set from the tap. Shrimp...my water sucks. No wonder I was having cherry death before I started cutting my water with RO. The PH test gave me fits. High on the regular PH, low on the high PH, so... somewhere around there. The GH and KH... wow. Ran that one twice just to make sure I didn't mess up my count. I believe one of those if not both were taking down the shrimp. The TDS meter is cool. Depending on what store I buy my RO at, it has either 5 or 10 left in the water. I have a nice regular filter, just don't have an adapter for my faucet, had better get on that according to the above readings. One interesting thing I found out, when I was running around testing the TDS in anything I had in water, was that an emmersed plant I was planning on putting in my 1.5 had a TDS of 20, and I had been keeping that in tap with a splash every now and the of aquarium water. Replaced the water, and now we'll see how well the plant purifies the water. Update tomorrow with the tank prams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Wow, ammonia and nitrates in your tap? I would hesitate to keep fish in that, let alone shrimp. Okay, what I would do with that is run a hardwater cryptocoryne paradise, but that still wouldn't make your shrimp happy. My tap pH is about the same as yours and yes, when it is in that range, you basically have to run both to be sure that's where it is. I went as far as running three different brands of pH tests before I was confident that the actual value was somewhere between 7.5 and 7.8 (I am suspicious). What plant is that? It's amazing what it's done to the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aennedry Posted December 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 I do grow crypts, they do grow very well. The common name of the plant is Creeping Charlie. I am running a new test to double check the results. We'll see what happens in that cup in a weeks time. As it is, I am going to try to find an adapter for my faucet so I can use my big water filter. I have no idea why tap water has ammonia in it, isn't that something they want to keep out of drinking water? aquariumlover10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aennedry Posted December 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Okay, between fixing dinner and tending to the kitties, got the shrimp tanks tested. 5 gal - set up January. Heavily planted with crypts and an anubias. Hardscape hollow cholla log. TDS 176 PH 7.4 - 7.6 GH 11 KH 8 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 10 gal - set up September. Medium planted with crypts and an anubias. Hardscape monpani log and slate tile megalith. TDS 202 PH 7.4 - 7.6 GH 12 KH 9 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 I think things will be better in the 10 once the crypts grow some more. I have tried water wisteria and java fern, but they faded away in my tanks. I do have some java moss in a vase that I was planning on putting in the micro tank, it is growing just fine. And before when I did water changes I was a bit uneven when mixing the RO with my tap. Until the filter situation is resolved, I will be using my TDS meter to get my water to a set TDS level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumlover10 Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Everythingblooks good, I don't know about the gh,kh,or tds but other then those both tanks looks awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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