poodlesticks Posted April 19, 2016 Report Share Posted April 19, 2016 I am new to this forum and very new to the shrimp hobby and am wanting to start with a red cherry shrimp tank. I have a 20L tank, gravel substrate, spongefilter and going to be ordering some java fern and java moss as well. My question is regarding my water. I have RO water but I want to use tap water. My tap water has a ph of 7.6 and is quite hard. The TDS is around 330 straight from the tap. Is the TDS too high for the shrimp? I have a kh and gh test kit ordered but its not here yet. For now I just want to keep it simple and just use the tap water instead of the RO and all of the other steps that go with that. Later, I would like some CRS, but just want to ease into the hobby with the cherries. Thanks for any and all help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wygglz Posted April 20, 2016 Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 Welcome to the group! You'll find many conversations on tap vs. RO. In a nutshell, the parmeters you've given look fine. Tap works for some and not others. Likewise, the parameters may match exactly from a successful tap tank and an unsuccessful one. There can be unknowns in tap such as copper from old pipes, or higher concentrations of chemicals that may change seasonally. Is your tap water from a well, which may contain different parameters, or "city water" which had different additives. So to sum it up simply, you can try it. It if works, fantastic! If not, try RO with remineralizer. We have members who use one, the other, or combinations. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlesticks Posted April 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 Thank you Wygglz. I will just try it with the tap water and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
35ppt Posted April 21, 2016 Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 Great advice from Wygglz. Many people seem to do fine with tap and neos. Some people use part tap/RO. Hopefully the gh/kh will tell us more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlesticks Posted April 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 The kh/gh are pretty high. They were 20 drops for the gh and 16 for the kh. Thanks for the help 35ppt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShrimpP Posted April 21, 2016 Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 I don't know what all extremes (water parameters) everyone has kept Neos in, but from those numbers (dGH/dKH), you'd need to use almost 3/4 R/O water to 1/4 tap to get the levels in known safe range. According to this, RCS params are; PH: 6.4–7.6, KH: 2–5, GH: 6–8, TDS: 80 – 200 Water temp: 69-74F http://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/17030569-shrimp-water-parameters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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