Upgrading My Shrimp Tank

[fm1978]

okay cool what is this TDS monitor you for are they expensive? wonder if its worth me getting one was going to think about getting some shrimp today but i did a quick ammonia check on tank and i have over 5ppm >_< lol think a few of the plants have melted and died

 
I got mine from easishrimp.co.uk - I get all my shrimp things from AJ there. Good service, too! Here's the link...
 
http/easishrimp.co.uk/33-digital-tds-meter.html
 
It's a digital thermometer as well and reads in both C and F.
 
Shrimp are much more sensitive to water conditions than most fish so please definitely get all your parameters correct first and then stable before you get some. It'll be much less frustrating...trust me, been there! Ammonia at 5ppm is a huge no-no, I'm afraid!!!

 

[Zikofski]

haha thnx fm and i know 5ppm is a no no in any tank

 

[Mamashack]

I got  my TDS 3 with temp reader on eBay for £5.99 - not sure where to get the recalibration stuff from tho I'm hoping it won't need that for quite a while.
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271277774723

 

[fm1978]

That's a great buy! Good spot, Mama. Sorry if I was patronising there, Zik, wasn't my intention, just knee-jerk reaction.

 

[Mamashack]

Had an email from AJ explaining how to bring water up to snuff without harming Marvel in the process.
It involves removing him/her from the tank then doing a 20% water change with tap water made up to 400 ppm. then test after an hour and in theory should bring the TDS in the tank up by 100 ppm then when It's at the desired level acclimate Marvel back into the tank. Haven't checked the maths yet but I will.

 

[fm1978]

Good stuff, let us know how it goes! And good luck! Have you somewhere safe for marvel in the meatime?

 

[Mamashack]

I guess I could pop him into a bag with tank water in it for a couple of hours inside the polystyrene box he was delivered in. It would be dark and well insulated.
Just had to do another water change as the nitrates had gone up to 10 ppm - I can't fathom where this nitrate is coming from as I've not fed Marvel since swapping tanks - he's been eating off the moss ball most of the time. So there's no rotting food, no rotting vegetation that I can see and I'm certain one little shrimp can't produce that much ammonia to be converted eventually into nitrate! Tap water is 2.5 ppm nitrate today altho it was only 1 ppm when I filled the tank so there's another 9 ppm that has come from somewhere. Wonder if it's anything to do with the substrate. Hmmmm - curious!

 

[Mamashack]

Right I've had a look at the maths and exchanging 20% at 400 ppm would increase the TDS to 180 ppm from a starting point of 125 ppm which is my tap/tank water.
Here's my maths and if I've got it wrong I apologise - it's cos I'm tired.
I found it difficult to work in % and ppm so I worked it out in actual L and mg/L (which is the same as ppm)
To make the maths easy say the tank has 20L water.
20% would be 4L at 400mg/L = 1600mg subtotal
The remaining 80% would be 16L at 125mg/L = 2000mg subtotal
Total 3600mg/20L so that would be 180mg/L = 180 ppm.
However if I did a 20% water change each time at 400 ppm the 2nd water change would produce 224 ppm and the 3rd water change would produce 259 ppm.
My tank actually holds 19L water but the proportions and the results are the same whatever the starting quantity.
OK now my head hurts so I'm going to bed!!! lol

 

[Mamashack]

Woke up this morning with my mind buzzing with TDS figures! WAHHHHH!
Then I had a brainwave (told you I was tired last night!) if I'm removing the shrimp anyway why don't I just empty the tank of the current water at 125 ppm and just replace the whole lot with water at 250 ppm then drip acclimate him/her? Or is that too simplistic?
The Salty Shrimp was dispatched yesterday so am hoping it arrives today. I can get hold of some tubing with a roller clamp to do the drip acclimation either tonight or tomorrow. (Ask no questions and I'll tell no lies!

)
I need to look up drip acclimation again as I've never done it before - have only ever done lots of tiny water exchanges (about 10-15ml every 15 mins) to acclimate fish. My concern is keeping the dogs out of the way for the duration and stopping them from having a drink of the water and accidentally swallowing the shrimp. Might just stick with the little water changes instead now I've thought of that!
Am quite excited about the new arrivals tomorrow, but also scared of it all going belly-up again. Hopefully it's been the TDS level that's been the problem.
Still puzzled about that nitrate tho. Anyone got any ideas there?

 

[fm1978]

I have an idea!
 
Well, of sorts... I've no idea where the mysterious Nitrate is coming from, particularly if your tap is only 2.5ppm and you only have 1 lonely shrimp in there. That's just plain strange. However, I came across a Juwel Nitrax sponge last night I had from ages ago. I cut it up only to find 4 'tabs' inside that, presumably, do all the work. Popped half of 1 tab in my filter and Bob's yer Uncle, 0 Nitrate this afternoon.
 
So, get hold of one of these Nitrax sponges, cut it open and stick a bit of the stuff in your filter! 
 
I got my Fantasy Blues in this morning so thought I'd share with you a picture... I almost didn't believe they existed until I saw them for myself but these guys are really deep blue! They're in their own tank now and I'm going to mix them with the Painted Fire Reds to see if anything interesting happens...
 

 

[Mamashack]

Ooooh they look really deep blue! Am green with envy!!!

 Who knows with reds and blues you might get purples then I might have to have some from you since that's my favourite colour! lol
I'm suspecting the substrate might possibly be the culprit so I'm going to strip the tank right down when I empty it to do a 100% water change whilst the shrimp is out of the tank for the duration. Then I'm going to rinse the living daylights out of the gravel (again!) and keep my fingers crossed. Can't think what else it could possibly be unless it was the vallis that had almost lost a leaf and it was only hanging on by a thread. Have removed said vallis to the plant TLC tank. So there's only moss balls in there now.
I've checked the nitrate and it hasn't gone up since this morning so I'll leave it overnight and see what it's like in the morning - may leave the gravel in place if it's not gone up anymore.
Got the Salty Shrimp and cholla logs just as I was leaving for work so put one of the logs to soak in tank water and I'll pop it in soon to see if Marvel takes to it.
I'll do the water change and acclimation tomorrow - need to be clear-headed and not weary so I don't make any mistakes!

 

[Mamashack]

Wow! Guess who's coming to dinner?!? 
Marvel was straight onto the cholla log within a minute of my putting it in there!

Munch! Munch!

 

[Dandyman3]

Did the other two just disappear not to be seen again? I am just wondering I had a few days like that. No idea where my shrimp were in the hidden plants. Some say it is because of the stress the move causes so they go into 'hiding' if you like. Just wondered if you had a lot of hiding places they could be still or do you think they took the unfortunate end?
 
Them blue shrimp are looking awesome. Going to order my shrimp soon. Good luck with the accumulation. 

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks Dandyman - they are very attractive aren't they?
The general consensus seem to be that the missing ones died and were eaten as I inspected every bit of the old gravel and found no bodies.
 
Am in the process of acclimating the last remaining blue one to the newer level of TDS. The previous readings were 128 ppm and I'm gradually increasing the level in the acclimation bucket by 5 ppm every 10 mins so I've a way to go before it reaches the 245 ppm which is now in the tank.
Have to say the Salty Shrimp is very easy to mix tho the amount suggested on the tub was nowhere near enough - 3g spoon should have raised R.O. water to around 250 ± 50 and as I have some jewellers scales I was able to check how much I had to add to get my 128 up to 249 and it was 2.6 g.
AJ had said don't take the directions on the tub as gospel and to check with the TDS meter - glad I have one!
If I'm honest I don't know if this is a good rate of increase, but at this rate it's going to take about 4 hrs to achieve the full level altho I will halve the quantity of the water in the bucket when it's doubled in volume from the start so that should speed it up a bit.
 
Then when I've done it with this one I'll be starting again with the new ones when they arrive altho I'm anticipating they'll arrive with a closer TDS to the new level I'm aiming for. So hopefully theirs will be more of a pH acclimation.
 
I did make a bit of a booboo with the new water as I was concentrating on getting the TDS just right and forgot to add the dechlorinator. The filter had been running for less than a minute when I realised what I'd done. So I switched it of immediately and added the dechlorinator. Am hoping that the beneficial bacteria weren't compromised in that short time! 

 
[Note to self - add the dechlor before anything else and then it won't be forgotten!!! ]
 
Will update as there's more news!

 

[TallTree01]

Wow, they look great mama!