CRS - Water quality

[76dragon]

What is your opinion on water for CRS Shrimp,. Is RO water a must or is it a luxury?? Does CRS like the same water as RCS?

I got 2 bags of akadama and IAL Leaves for the buffering so I should have that covered. Just wondering about the other factors??

[madehtsobi]

im running full ro water with the mosura conditioners like ultra and bioplus and choice.

i dont think its necessary and Q isnt using ro and his have bred.

[eklikewhoa]

With Akadama I read that you need to add minerals to the substrate or base layer cause it draws minerals and absorbs them.

IMO, for now I would fill your tank with tapwater and then as it cycles adjust with RO/DI.

wes is right, I use tap water for mine and there are a few babies here and there. I was slightly concerned cause he tested the tds on my water and it made me look further in to it and read on several places that my water was equivalent to toxic waste. I did a partial RO/DI water change and some of my CRS died. LoL!

[eklikewhoa]

Phung, with RO/DI you are in control of what happens but you have to remineralize the water for use.

[madehtsobi]

yours was at least double mine! lol

you can always do half tap half ro. i heard that works too...

[eklikewhoa]

That's what I did.

There are several ways to skin this cat Phung... if your pond idea works, FLOOD THE MARKET! LoL!

[76dragon]

Yea, just doing research now to I don't throw good money out the window. I can get RO water if needed, My brother is into saltwater so he has a rodi filter.

I would rather not to have to play with the water adding and mixing, etc, That would be alot of work. I thought once the AKADAMA is established , it doesn't pull out the minerals any more. I plan to add some plants to help with water quality.

[76dragon]

Once the Akadama comes in, I am thinking about soaking it in a few 5 gallon buckets for a week or 2 and hope it gets established then I can add it to the tub.

[76dragon]

I read somewhere something that said that why do we need to such clear water, when in their native land shrimp live in dirty water runoff streams, ponds.

To me aren't shrimp filter feeders??

[eklikewhoa]

I believe these are grazers. Also, these have been selective bred so much that they are no where near the quality in health as their more natural state. Plus you are talking about a body of water compared to a tub of water.


With the akadama I think you would need some sort of waste producer/mulm for it to absorb to it's full potential.

[thebaoster]

You don't need IAL for buffering IMO if you have enough akadama soil. Mine PH was 7.9 out of the tap and Akadama dropped it to 6.1 in 12 hours with 2/3 ro/di and the rest tap water. Currently it's sitting at 6.2-6.4 depending on my light. I really wish someone in Houston that sells akadama so I can get another 6 bag without paying a hefty shipping price.

[thebaoster]

Also if you planning to plant stuff add some osmocote plus capsule deep into the substrate so your plants can have some ferts.

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[Ca Nguyen]

i run 80% RODI in my crystal tank with 20% tap. no molting problem, no death, pH 6.4 at night, 7.0 during photo period. IAL is presented as an additive, not to lower pH or soften water.

i tried keeping crystals in tap before, but they all die after 2 months. it might've been due to a number of other reasons. but i'm doing everything by the book this time.

[bikeguru]

Breeding CRS, Tiger shrimps, Bumble Bee shrimps, Sri Lanka dwarf shrimps (or any other species that follow under the same requirements) are not hard at all. It is just a little time consuming when you first start and once everything is fixed, it is a breeze.
Here are some tips:

Keeping/Breeding C or B grade CRS/Tiger shrimps/Bumble Bee shrimps/Sri Lanka dwarf shrimps are much easier than higher grade since they are not as sensitive as higher grades.

However, all of the shrimps species mentioned above require slightly acidic water. pH of 6.50 to 6.90 (*sometimes 7.0*) is highly recommended. Lower grade CRS or Tiger/Bumble Bee/ Sri Lanka dwarf shrimps will still thrive and breed even at the pH of 7.0 as long as the water is soft (low amounts of calcium, magnesium, and sodium ions within the water).

Water has to be very soft (low kH and low GH of around 1 to 3).

[bikeguru]

Temperature has to be constant all year long - around 70 - 78 F (which is around 21 – 26 C). This tends to be “the” major problem in the summer time, so a cooling fan or chiller is needed to cool down your aquarium. A cooling fan set at a low power setting is sufficient enough to cool down a 20 gallon long tank as long as it is blowing on top of the water within the aquarium. Just make sure to top off the water that is being evaporated away from the fan. Higher grade CRS/Black Bee shrimp are super temperature sensitive.