I need some help, suggestions...something....

[NickAu]

Sorry julielynn

I was just trying to correct the misinformation posted by BettaBettas

 

[julielynn47]

Oh okay sorry , I was starting to wonder what i was missing lol

 

[BettaBettas]

You obviously do not know what you are talking about

First you need to determine what hardness is best for the shrimp.
Then you need to find out how hard your tap water is
Next you need to check the bottled water ( did you know bottled water can range from 3 to 14 in PH)

Now you need to mix tap water and bottled water, let it settle then you need to test hardness again and adjust as needed to reach your target range.

Its a lot more complicated than just add a bit of this to a bit of that.

Sorry julielynn

I was just trying to correct the misinformation posted by BettaBettas

Coming from a guy with a Bunch of shrimp, and shrimp background, I didn't give misinformation. and that's a fact, take it the PM's if you want to rate all my posts disagree in all the forums btw, it spammed my Alerts "Nickau has disliked 8 comments" dude don't be so immature please, spamming me wont solve anything I mean really. Also I didn't say "Yea just mix up some randomly measured amount of hard or soft water?" you're shoving words into my mouth. Also my greatest apologies julielynn47 for this tiny off topic, thing, to come into your issue.
Nickau said:
"First you need to determine what hardness is best for the shrimp." This I answered by providing you with a link, to a website that carries this type of information. I used it with my cherry shrimp, and now I have colonies, that sadly I cant get rid of lol
"Then you need to find out how hard your tap water is" you may not be using tap, but yes you need to find this out.
And the rest is explained way more complicated than it should be, no offence to nick, but it doesn't have to be that hard.
http://www.aquariadise.com/caresheet-cherry-shrimp/
When I started shrimp, this website helped me probably more than any other. hope you read it, also is good for fish and other things! Also if you don't want to read just about cherry shrimp, they have all sorts believe me lol

 

[BettaBettas]

Keeping Red Cherry Shrimp is fairly easy for a dedicated aquarium hobbyist. Red Cherry Shrimp can be kept as long as the aquarium they are in has stable parameters, avoids harmful elements, feed them high quality food, and only contains acceptable tank mates.

Stable water parameters are very important when keeping Red Cherry Shrimp. They have a wide range of acceptable parameters such as a pH range of 6.0-7.6 and an acceptable temperature range of 65-80°F. It is far more important that the pH, temperature, and water hardness stay stable than to pinpoint a specific number. As long as they parameters are stable with in the acceptable range Cherry Red Shrimp will flourish in the aquarium.
A good filtration system and frequent water changes help aid in keeping water parameters stable. Due to the small size of Red Cherry Shrimp, a sponge filter, or power filter with a sponge pre-filter is recommended. Water changes of 20% a month is all that is necessary to keep Red Cherry Shrimp healthy....as long as you do not over feed the tank.

There are a few elements that are commonly found in an aquarium that are very harmful to Red Cherry Shrimp. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate are all very harmful. A cycled and well-maintained filtration system will eliminate Ammonia and Nitrate. Nitrate is the byproduct of the filter eliminating Ammonia and Nitrite and is removed by water changes or by growing plants.

Aquatic plants use Nitrate as a source of nitrogen and help reduce this element in the water column. While aquatic plants are good for helping eliminate Nitrate, other fertilizers used to maintain plants can kill Cherry Red Shrimp. Copper is found in many aquatic plant fertilizers contain trace amounts of copper, so it not recommended to dose fertilizers in tanks that contain Cherry Red Shrimp.

A peaceful community aquarium containing only small fish makes a good home for Red Cherry Shrimp, but almost any fish that can fit a Cherry Red Shrimp in its mouth will make a quick and tasty meal out of them. Recommended tank mates include tetras, guppies, and smaller barbs. If breeding Cherry Red Shrimp, a shrimp only tank is recommended.

Red Cherry Shrimp should never be put in a tank with other Neocaridina species to avoid cross breeding. They can be kept with Caridina species such as Amano Shrimp, Bee Shrimp and Crystal Red Shrimp. While Crystal Red and Bee Shrimp require lower pHs and temperatures than are common in the aquarium to breed, they will live just fine in most water parameters that Red Cherry Shrimp will live and breed in.
Credit : © 2016 TheShrimpFarm.com - A Division of Five Star Sellers Enterprises

 

[StevenF]

How much would you mix? Would you need a TDS meter? or is near enough good enough, Shrimp also need stable water conditions, Just doing it by eye will cause water parameters to fluctuate.

I didn't go into a lot of detail on this but use crushed coral or sea shells in your filter. Sea shells are mainly calcium carbonate with a some magnesium carbonate plus some trace elements. I only use RO water in my tank. I currently have blue dream (same family as cherry), amino, and flower shrimp in my tank.

First verify your bottled water has a PH between 6.4 and 8. if it is less than 6.4 it has too much CO2 in it and it must be allowed to outgas first.

Put the crushed coral or sea shells in the filter. These items only dissolve in acidic water. As they dissolve they push the PH up. When the PH exceeds 7 they stop dissolving. The end result of this is my RO the water hardness always stabilized at about 25ppm with a alkalinity of about 50ppm. These numbers will very a little bit depending on salinity of your fresh water source. But since I use Ro water my salinity is zero.

I have never seen any evidence of molting failure in my tank since I started adding carbonates to my filter. Also the carbonates prevent your PH from dropping keeping the PH stable. No TDS or GH meter is needed to safely use it. But you do need to verify the PH is between 6.4 and 8 so you do need a ph test kit.

Note if you have acidic water (PH below 6,typically due to high levels of dissolved CO2) The crushed coral or sea shells will dissolve a lot and you will get a much larger change in GH and KH. The interaction between very acidic water and carbonates can easily push the GH up to 300ppm and the KH to 100ppm or more. At these levels the water is essentially supper saturated with carbonates.

 

[StevenF]

As to your cloudy water issue. I have never had it but others have and theysay it typically goes away on its own. Others like you have persistent issues. My impression is no one understands persistent bacterial blooms.

In contrast many people have algae issues and there is significant evidence that a lack of one or more nutrients will cause a algae bloom. Algae does very will in now nutrient levels while aquarium plants don't do well.

Lets assume there is a critical low nutrient level present in your tank. For that to give bacteria the advantage it must also make it very hard for algae and plants to grow. This suggest to me that maybe lightly fertilizing the tank will help your plants and or algae out compete the bacteria for nutrients. And that might clear up the water. And if you keep the fertilization light you won't trigger a algae bloom.

For the fertilizer i would suggest using flourish comprehensive it contains all the nutrients plants need. with no deficiencies. If this works let everyone know. Others may benefit from the knowledge. That said it may not work. There are some elements bacteria need that plants don't and that may mean a totally different nutrient supplement might be needed.

 

[julielynn47]

I use Flourish Comprehensive, but I have not been using it as regularly as I was before I added shrimp to the tank. Maybe that is the issue, and I need to get back to using it more. I was afraid I would hurt the shrimp in some way if I used it very much. But taking out all but one mineral stone and a water change did not help. This morning it is just as cloudy as it was at this time yesterday morning.

I will try adding Flourish like I used too and see if that helps. I don't have a lot of algae in the tank anymore at all, I do have diatoms, but I know that is normal for newer tanks.

 

[julielynn47]

Flourish Comprehensive must have worked! The tank is almost completely clear now. Thanks StephenF!