GH+KH Test Help

[poodlesticks]

I got my GH+KH test kit today and it was off the chart for my tap water.  I was wanting use tap water for cherry shrimp and would like to know if this water would be ok.  I posted on here last night about it and got help from Wygglz, but my test kit came today and decided to post a new topic with the new data. The parameters are: PH 7.6, GH 16 drops, GH 20 drops and TDS of around 330.  I also have ro water and tested it as well.  The parameters for it are:  PH 6.8, GH 3 drops, KH 3 drops and TDS of around 53.  I want to have crystal reds and blacks later and was wondering how the ro water parameters look for those shrimp.  Would I still need to use substrate like ADA Amazonia?  That is down the road but I am just trying to get a head start on it.  Thanks for any and all help.

[PlantDude]

Your tap parameters are higher than the recommended. Maybe mix some RO water to get that sweet spot. One thing to keep in mind, cherry shrimp or neos in general, is that they can tolerate a wide range of parameters. I've kept neos in parameters like yours and they were fine(I keep them in tibee parameters now) . Hopefully @Soothing Shrimp can chime in with more info.

 

The RO water GH is a tad low and the KH is a bit high, TDS is low. The important thing is consistency and stability in your shrimp tanks. If you can maintain that balance your shrimp will do well.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Plantdude is correct.  Neos are incredibly adaptable.

 

I've received them from gh 20+ and tds 1000+!!!  I dont recommend it though. Lol

 

My personal experience found my neos did best with gh 6-9 and tds 300ish.