evilguppy Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Which one you keep eye on most. Gh > ph > temp > tds. ?? As ammo,nitrite =0 nitrate 5-10> Gh and tds are kinda related Ph and kh are also related. As if i understand. What you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subtletanks91 Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Kh is what controls your gh which controls if your ph is high or lower and if you water is too hard you can't lower your ph before lowering your gh and kh. Those three are connected in that order kh gh ph. I'm not sure tds really had anything to do with those three but I could be wrong and I'm sure Bryce will chime in here. Personally I check my temperature ph and tds daily. I use tds and ph pen and use an infrared hand held thermometer. If my temperature goes above 71.5 I turn my fan on. I try to keep my tank between 65-71* my tank has dropped to 60* and my little guys were still very active as well as healthy. Bu any higher than 73 and they become frantic. I replace my nitrate absorber every 3.5 weeks so I know my nitrates are always below 10ppm if not at zero. My ammonia is always zeroed out as is my nitrites. I don't have any phosphate, copper, or any other tests but I really do want to get them so I can see what's high and how to bring it down because think me, that Spirogyra type algae, has more factors aside from light that we don't usually measure for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pika Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 When starting my tank, I checked all those values very frequently, plus ammo/NH2/NH3. Once the ammonia processing cycle matured and really stabilized itself, and I knew my plants were sucking up nitrates at a decent rate reliably, I started doing them once weekly or so. Now I actually only do most of them every other water change or so (WC every 7-10d) as long as I'm not worried about anything. Except TDS & Temp... Temp I have an old-school thermometer, and I check that daily, especially because of the crappy insulation and temp swings in my apartment. And I do check TDS every few days, mostly because it's easy with the pen, but also because I feel it gives me indirect info on how the other parameters in the tank might be doing. Any doubts or gut feelings something's changed, I bust out the, pH, GH, and KH tests, and then ammo and nitrates after that. My understanding: GH, KH, and TDS are related, as the things that make GH/KH go up are "dissolved solids" - so increasing them increases TDS KH is related to pH by the fact that the carbonates that are responsible for KH (karbonathart) are one kind of pH buffer; raising KH will raise pH, and also increase buffering. Better buffering = less pH swing. ETA: I don't know that there's one "more important" than the others. I think which you focus on is most likely a product of what your individual tank is prone too.eg. not a lot of plants? watch your nitrates if they go up from overfeeding or dead things keeping a very low KH? pH swings are more likely to arise (unless you're using a good buffering substrate, which most do) have naturally hard tap water, or tap water that varies by the day or season? watch out for your GH and KH and TDS to be climbing or dropping, making it hard for your shrimp to molt properly. also watch TDS if you love to feed your shrimp, or have messy shrimp that toss excess waste all over the place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 The two major things I test for is gh and TDS. After I set up a tank, I either will do a weekly/monthly wc, or only change when TDS is too high. Otherwise I top off with pure RO. I have an rough guide as to what TDS contains the proper amount of gh that I am looking for since I use SS and Ro. So I take that into account when I do wc. I have the other tests to troubleshoot if something goes wrong. High5's 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilguppy Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Thank for good knowledge. Yes,0Kh swing ph or lower ph a lot. I use Mr aqua active soil. When i had lost many. It was 6ph>. Now use ro + tap mix. And gh,5gh right now. I will raise to 6gh slowly over few weeks. I still get stripe behind head. I feed Bw babi,shield & mosura gravidas Twice a week.spinach whenever it's gone Stop feeding strip foods. powder form foods.makin vegan shrimps. Temp is important.but its hard to keep it low.too much electricity and myself. I keep it 74-75f :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 I'm lazy lol after my tank is cycled I Only check TDS and nitrates once a week. Don't ever test anything, else unless I see a problem. After awhile you can usually see what's wrong, but that's just me lol -Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpo Posted June 20, 2014 Report Share Posted June 20, 2014 Which one you keep eye on most. Gh > ph > temp > tds. ?? As ammo,nitrite =0 nitrate 5-10> Gh and tds are kinda related Ph and kh are also related. As if i understand. What you think? Depends on what shrimp specie you have but it's good to keep an eye on all the water parameters, here is a good read about GH, PH and KH http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/ph/113548-understanding-ph-kh-gh-home-aqauriums.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted June 20, 2014 Report Share Posted June 20, 2014 I feel there all relative and equally important when trying to achieve desired parameters. I think weekly water testing is a good habit to form but.... it is subjective Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbarbee54 Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 It is what ever works for you, each person has a way that works. I measure everything and check everything and feel everything matters from ph gh kh tds. I change water every week at 20% on every tank. I run ph meters 24/7 in all my tanks and have a tds pen for each rack. I check daily if not every other day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 What ph meters do you have, Steve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbarbee54 Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 I have milwaukee mcm120 bluelab ones and Hanna instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Where did you get them from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 to be honest i dont really test much. about the only thing i test is tds to let me know when to do a change. my tb. get up there some times too i think so far the highest they have read tds wise was 160. i try to measure out gh at 5-6 when i do ro water but try to aim for a tds of about 125-135 when i mix. and when i was away over the 4th the light got left on and when i got home the tank was at 80 lol. yeah i kinda freaked. tank light went off so it would cool down. feed them later that night and all were still there. i have not measured any parameters lately guess i should. DO NO TO WHAT I DO!!!!!!! ok so i just checked tds and its only 112. not sure what made it go down cause have not even topped off in little over a week. will check other parameters sundsay when i get home ctaylor3737 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbarbee54 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 I bought theM All from others off forums or amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpo Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Are the blue 6 in 1 meters from evilbay any good? they constantly display PH, TDS and Temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Link is here for Shrimpo's question http://www.ebay.com/itm/6in1-LCD-PH-PPM-EC-CF-TDS-Tem-Water-Tester-Hydroponic-Aquarium-Lab-Meter-Digital-/261215541358?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item3cd1a8d86e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpo Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 That's the one I am talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 I don't test much, I rely on the shrimps to tell me something is wrong. And in most cases when something goes wrong, all parameters are "perfect". For nitrate, I probably only test those tanks I have lots of shrimps in (over 10 per gallon) maybe once a month or two. I do test the TDS of the new water I'm about to pour into the tanks as I know the TDS target for my desired GH with the product I use. This way I don't need to test GH. I run a peat moss filter (an AC 70 with just peat moss bagged in panty hose) in my RO storage tank, this way the PH gets pretty low and ease the load that would have been on the substrate. I tend to choose the easier way, otherwise managing 30+ tanks would be impossible. I do this as a hobby, not to get more work ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 to be honest i dont really test much. about the only thing i test is tds to let me know when to do a change. my tb. get up there some times too i think so far the highest they have read tds wise was 160. i try to measure out gh at 5-6 when i do ro water but try to aim for a tds of about 125-135 when i mix. and when i was away over the 4th the light got left on and when i got home the tank was at 80 lol. yeah i kinda freaked. tank light went off so it would cool down. feed them later that night and all were still there. i have not measured any parameters lately guess i should. DO NO TO WHAT I DO!!!!!!! ok so i just checked tds and its only 112. not sure what made it go down cause have not even topped off in little over a week. will check other parameters sundsay when i get home I'm the same way lol, when I first get a new stock in I am worried. But if they are healthy and I do water changes I don't test for anything at all. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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