Total Dissolved Solids

[mredman]

For planted tanks, do you measure Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)?

My handy little meter allows me to keep my water in check. I make a 20% water change every five days with RO water (which measures 0 TDS).

I use fertilizers, which adds to the number. Before the water change, my TDS is about 125 ppm. Afterward, it is close to 100 ppm.

How about you?

Mike

[mnemenoi]

I did in my soft water tanks, I just used distilled water and a Ph reducing substrate. Plants were not the focus though, more on some crystal blacks and later toward lower Ph blackwater fish. Mainly was at first was near 100-150ppm, later dropped it to 10-20ppm. That effectively allowed the Ph to truly fall

[morpheus]

i never paid any attention to TDS until recently when I tried a shrimp tank and it cratered pretty fast. I am so used to fish and figured fish are happy so all is well in the world. i put shrimp in and within a few weeks all were dead.

I have two planted tanks. I use tap water in each. My tap turns out is ~250 ppm. One planted tank was at around 750 ppm when the shrimp all perished. This was from water evaporating and me just topping off with more tap (which increased the TDS). the other planted tank turned out to be a whopping 1250 ppm. In both tanks the plants themselves are doing fine.

i will eventually try shrimp again and will need to go the distilled/RO method, and remineralize the water from there.

now i do keep a closer eye on TDS as it does signify when water changes may be needed. i do weekly changes in the 40-50% range in most tanks. The planted tanks can go longer since the plants take care of the chemistry for the most part.

I still use tap currently, but the tanks are generally in the 370-430 range.

[mredman]

Crystal Blacks

What are crystal blacks?

Mike

I did in my soft water tanks, I just used distilled water and a Ph reducing substrate. Plants were not the focus though, more on some crystal blacks and later toward lower Ph blackwater fish. Mainly was at first was near 100-150ppm, later dropped it to 10-20ppm. That effectively allowed the Ph to truly fall

[mredman]

It is my understanding that TDS for shrimp should be less than 150 ppm.

Mike

i never paid any attention to TDS until recently when I tried a shrimp tank and it cratered pretty fast. I am so used to fish and figured fish are happy so all is well in the world. i put shrimp in and within a few weeks all were dead.

I have two planted tanks. I use tap water in each. My tap turns out is ~250 ppm. One planted tank was at around 750 ppm when the shrimp all perished. This was from water evaporating and me just topping off with more tap (which increased the TDS). the other planted tank turned out to be a whopping 1250 ppm. In both tanks the plants themselves are doing fine.

i will eventually try shrimp again and will need to go the distilled/RO method, and remineralize the water from there.

now i do keep a closer eye on TDS as it does signify when water changes may be needed. i do weekly changes in the 40-50% range in most tanks. The planted tanks can go longer since the plants take care of the chemistry for the most part.

I still use tap currently, but the tanks are generally in the 370-430 range.

[mredman]

RO.....the way to go!

Mike

[mnemenoi]

CBS (Crystal Black shrimp), we had some SSS+ grades. Shrimp are tricky and each has their own specific requirements. Usually I group the mainly traded dwarf shrimps into 3 categories (Soft water, Caradina sp. CRS, CBS, Tigers, Tiibees, Pintos), Hard water species (Neocaradinas sp. Cherry, Yellow, snowballs, Blue velvet, many lineages), and Sulawesi (Hard water, High temp) (Caradinas from the Sulawesi lake systems). All three have general requirements and the closer to the original WC types are generally more tolerant. The further line bred they are the less tolerant they become. I had small tanks (10 gallons and under) so setting up my RO unit was a pain and opted to just buy a couple 2.5 gallon jugs of distilled water and save a few hours of my time.