featherblue Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 New to the forum, but I've been keeping neos for 2 years now. Ive got 2 thriving colonies of neos currently, blue jelly and orange. Ive been considering trying a cardina species fir a while now, and I've fallen in live with the shadow pandas. Im searching for any experience based advice to optimize a hone for this delicate species Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielt Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 First and foremost get acquainted with a RO unit. If you don't have one get one. Get used to remineralizing the RO water. Get a TDS meter. Maintain stable and high quality water in your existing tanks. TDS and hardness are key. Once you can maintain stability over water changes, get more and more difficult shrimp. Go overboard with filtration on the high spec tanks. That means you need to get another tank(s) for your high grade shrimp. Neos don't fare well with Caridina species and the other way around. You can get away with keeping Crystal Red/Black together with Neos but higher spec Caridinas don't tolerate this well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 RO is already in my universe for my reefs. I also amend my fw tanks water mixed fromv tap water. My tap has a 5gh and 2 dkh.....I add sodium bicarbonate to increase my alk to 6 for a stable ph of 7 in my fw systems. Where can i find info on the genetics for the pandas? I realize theyre a more sensitive shrimp, but the beauty is worth the challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 the thing with panda and all tb is they are still kinda mixed. you can buy all shadow panda but will end up with a mix of shrimp from normal panda to black king kong and even the possability of reds. they are not pure so to speak. at least not that i know of. do your self a favor and get ada amazonia. it not only buffers the water but also has essential elements that the shrimp need. ( that is what other have told me) after keeping shrimp for several years i finally took the plung in tb a week ago and got mine. i set up my tank with ada amazonia in jan and cycled it. that happened pretty fast due to me using precycled sponge and hob filters. it sat empty for 2 months after it was cycled to build bio film for the shrimp. being well established really helps them and gives them a good head start. i have a journal if you want to see my tank. i use salty shrimp GH+ to remineralize. as for parameters you should aim for these ph: 5.4-6.2 gh: 4-6 kh: 0-1 tds: 100-180 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Is ada amazonia one of the shrimp sands? Ive also been reading about one called "red bee sand". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 its not really a sand but kinda round balls bigger than sand. and one of the cheaper options comaired to other shrimp sands and substrates that i have looked at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Who sells a low range ph test kit thats reliable? Ive got an Api master kit, but I've had several discrepancies with its readings below 6.8 when compared to a calibrated ph meter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielt Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 kH is bad for high spec Caridinas you need to keep it as low as possible. ADA substrate helps in that regard, Shirakura Red Bee sand is also a well established brand.Neos need kH in the range 2-4dkH and tolerate even higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Right, kh levels above 3-4 dkh seem to be detrimental to any of the bee shrimp. The reason im asking for suggestion on a good low range ph test kit is the low buffering effect of low kh. I currently add alk to my wc buckets for my neo tanks to keep them at 5-6dkh and keep my ph stable. (Had a huge issue cycling with unaltered tap water and giant ph dips as the 1-2dkh in my rap was used by my ram snail hitchhiker). Purposely keeping a tank at little to no dkh, id like to be as accurate as possible monitoring ph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielt Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 I don't do that It's a waste of time to monitor pH. Do your water changes on time, remineralize according to the species reqs and that's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 With no kh buffer, not monitoring ph is your choice. Ive dealt with ph swings before, and being able to monitor them on a new tank or a freshly stocked tank can save your critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielt Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Yup, it's a matter of perspective. My BKKs and Shadows did well from the start in fresh setups. Up until this point (2 months later), I still don't know what the pH value is. No deaths and the 3-4 berried females seem to confirm they're not doing that bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 How have you set up your shadows and bkk? Sponge or hob filter? Low ph buffering substrate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 the whole point of the buffer substrate is to hold the ph steady with no kh. that is just how it works. even with tap water the substrate will pull the ph down and keep it there till the soil comes to an end. with tap it happens faster than with ro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
featherblue Posted April 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 Thanks Wicca, that helps quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddles Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 My thought with using Amazonia and my tbs is that I rely on Amazonia to keep it stable. Even if it started to change a little bit, letting the shrimp adapt to it is vastly superior to whatever additives or chemicals I would have to add to change ph in what would be a futile battle anyways. Sent from my IPad using magic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielt Posted April 11, 2014 Report Share Posted April 11, 2014 I keep CRS/CBS with inert quartz sand. I still don't monitor pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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