Shrimp Water Parameters Explained: pH, GH, KH, and TDS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
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The Neocaridina Shrimp Handbook is 97 pages packed with information about how to keep, feed and breed Neocaridina Shrimp (including the ever-popular Red Cherry Shrimp).
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Foods:
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High-Quality Shrimp
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For high-quality Neocaridina and Caridina Shrimp across the USA and Canada, check out The Shrimp Farm - fishkeepinganswers.com/58re
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Important:
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The Neocaridna Shrimp Handbook is written by the owner of the FishKeepingAnswers TH-cam channel.
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In my next life, I wanna be one of Rich's shrimps. Sounds like they're pretty set
😂 you’d be more than welcome 😎
Before I do a water change, I tend to test the water first. If there are signs of elevated nitrites or nitrates I will prime the water and start preparing water in separate bucket.
The preparation involves conditioning the water to a specific PH (7) and a GH of 7. My tap water fluctuates a lot which is why I have decided to go through this process. Once the water is ready (after testing) I will begin the water change on the tank
Hey, thanks for sharing. It’s always nice to hear what others do 👍🏻
I love your orange rilis!! 😻 It’s pushing me to get some 🤣🫣 Great videos, thank u so much!! 🙏💕🦐
Thank you 🫶🏻
That is a great video to keep for future reference. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you! Explains why I am losing most of my cherry shrimp.. I'm on rainwater. Have just popped in some cuttlefish bone on recommendation so hoping that will raise my KH whilst not killing the rest of my fish. Bloody hell, this hobby has been a HUGE learning curve
Glad to have helped. Would love to hear if things improve 🤞🏻
I am interested too! I am on rain water and the ph is 6.4 and would naturally be soft. I added in conditioner salts. I had planned to get cherry shrimp once the tank is finished cycling but I’m thinking now I might need to consider crystal shrimp 🤔
Thank you for this concise video.
I do believe that we as fish keepers sometimes make things too complicated. Thank you for explaining the simplicity of our hobby, and potentially making it more enjoyable.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. It’s really appreciated 🫶🏻
Made my shrimps to stand at attention in a row and I told them YOU HAVE TO ADAPT !
(Most did)
Love your videos Richard!
Thank you 🙏🏻
This video was tremendously helpful thanks Richard!
Thanks for the kind feedback 👍🏻
Yet another awesome video. You keep it super real. Thank you 🙏
Thank you for your kind words and support 🫶🏻
Fantastic video mate, answered all the questions I had 👍
Glad it helped
Thank you for the insight! Great breakdown for beginners like myself.
🫶🏻
You are so knowledgable and are helping so many with your videos! Thank you so much!
Pleasure 🫶🏻
just watched 5 of your videos in a row! great content and great for the shrimp keeping community! keep up the great work!
You the man 💪🏻
Excellent explanation. Very lucid presentation of the concepts!
🙏🏻
Great video. I was going to say you should talk about making sure ammonia and other things that can kill shrimp but I feel like that's in your next video, habits to avoid (which I'll watch). Also very glad you talked about TDS the way you did. Frustrates me to no end when I see this from other fish keepers that don't understand it. Keep up the good work!
Great video explanation 💯 kept it simple and straight to the facts
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Another great video Richard. Very informative and clear. As a new shrimp keeper this makes my journey that much easier. Thank you kindly.
Thank you for your kind feedback. I am glad you are finding the videos helpful 👍🏻
I don't know if you remember me but I got my high GH down naturally by adding a lid and doing a normal 30% water change. the GH went from 17 down to 10. The lid makes a huge difference and the evaporation really can up the GH like crazy! Everything is in range so now I am just waiting for them to start breeding! :)
Hey. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully you’ll see some tiny shrimp soon 🤞🏻
Lids are super- underrated and forgotten about.
Especially with nano tanks.
Thank you very much im from the philippines i learn so many about shrimp i just wach u last night thank you
🫶🏻
Thank you. That's really handy. You gained yourself a subscriber. 😊
Welcome to the channel 🫶🏻
amazing video
Thank you 🫶🏻
This is an amazing video. Love your information, passion, and quality of delivery. I am struggling with keeping a neo's and creating a colony. This video will help me be successful with my next round. Cheers from Southern California!
Glad I could help. Thanks for taking the time to get in touch 🫶🏻
I have watched twice and made notes..... my eyes are now opened to the previous mystery of the parameters. thank you so very much, peace
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Rich, you are great, great in explaining and great in your mimics/expression which underlines perfectly what you are saying. I have learned something new today even though I have been in the hobby as long as you. Keep going strong my friend and thank you for your expertise.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It’s nice to know my work is appreciated. All the best to you and your family 🫶🏻
I have shrimp's and they're in with all of my fish inside and out but September 1st i bring them all in had 49 degrees here in Pennsylvania! I really enjoy your show it makes my days!!!
Hi. Thanks for the kind feedback. Glad you are enjoying my videos 👍🏻
Cheers!
Thanks for explaining this. Before this video I only understood about the PH and Temp. I had no idea the PH was affected by KH. According to my water it looks Neocaridina shrimp for me.
Glad to be of service 🙂
I'm just cycling my first fish tank for shrimps this is perfect.
🫶🏻
Thanks for the super informative video! I've been having issues with my shrimp colony and hear so many different things and am trying to wrap my head around it. This was really helpful!
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Richard, can you do a video about introducing Neo-caridina shrimp to an existing community tank? it seems there is very little on you-tube that discusses this, its always mostly shrimp in tanks alone for some reason.
I think this is an excellent suggestion because I've done precisely this and I'm getting so much conflicting advice re water change/don't water change. My purchased adults have all died, but I have at least 40 shrimplets of various sizes born of these poor mamas. I don't know whether to continue with r/o for water changes, leave it be, or what..no-one else seems to know either. My tank is 230 litres planted.
Huge thanks for all the amazing content you're putting out, mate! You're book will probably be super useful and interesting to read. Is it going to be available as a pdf download, too (as I'm not based in the UK unfortunately)?
This is how Brits conquered the world from their tiny little island. Blokes like this guy who know every nuance about a thing and can wax on passionately about it for hours. Thanks for the breakdown! 10/10 Great Lecture
🫶🏻
If you run your temperature at 0°C shrimp metabolism runs at 0 mph and they become eternal 😉
😂
I read mph as metabolites per hour 😂
I can’t tell if you’re a pure genius or stupid.
I have been struggling to keep shrimp for some time. After watching your video, I know now that I am keeping the wrong type of shrimp. Caridina should thrive in my local water. The parameters are just about perfect right out of the tap.
That’s great news. Would love to hear how you get on with them 🤞🏻
I really love your knowledge, you bring it so well to us. Thank you for that.
But I still wonder what plant sticks out of the water in the little aquarium where you are sitting behind you.
Greetz from Belgium
Hi. Thank you for your kind feedback. I believe that plant is Hygrophila Corymbosa 👍🏻
i like watching this video now
👍🏻
love the vids, so much info, when testing ppm, should i have my meter set at 500 or 700, cheers
I am not familar with your meter. Trying posting more about it on forum.aquariumcoop.com
I measure my ph prior to water changes to match ph and cause less stress. My neos and cardinas love my tap. I do have to do some things like lower the ph of the water since it comes out at 7.4.
Sounds like you have it sorted. Thanks for sharing 🫶🏻
Once you cycle the tank all you need is a heater and weekly water changes simple as that. That’s what I do and I never had a problem
Thank you for this video, very helpful. I added 5 Cherry shrimp to my 5 gallon tank about ten days ago. There's only one left now and I can't work out what's wrong? The parameters seem ok and all the things that should be zero were. I can only conclude that they were in poor shape when I bought them? I went to the shop a week later and the tank was full with new shrimps, so they must have sold me the dregs so to speak? I will try again... But it's quite expensive.
Sorry to hear about your loss. Don’t give up 🤞🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers On a more positive note I also bought four Amano shrimps and thought that two had perhaps died. But tonight for the first time I counted all four, alive and well. So maybe the Cherry's were indeed on their last legs when I bought them, as the parameters in the tank should be better suited for them.
Great video. What's the plant sticking out of your tank in the back? I have the perfect spot in one of my tanks for something like that.
Without rewatching the video, I think it is Water Sprite but grown as a floating plant 👍🏻
Can seachem equlibrium raise ma gh an kh...
My city have posted online some of the info about our tap water. It's PH is about 8,1-8,2, and the dHG is about 3,5 in the winter and 6 in the summer... Seems a bit tricky? Can I even have shrimps without doing a lot with the water? I have an aquarium with a lot of plants and a pretty big root, maybe that have any effect? Since I don't have any inhabitants yet, I haven't done any testing in that aquarium.
Richard I use the test strips and they show high gh 180 but low kh 0-40 with ph 7-7.5 in my tap water tanks, my red neocaradinas are breeding well but my yellow neocaradinas are rarely pregnant and I don't see shedding very often. I added some salty shrimp to their water, am afraid to do so again because I don't want to over salt the water (guppies, lampeyes and pygmy catfish are present too) please can you advise as I'd love to see the yellows breed xxx
Hi how can I add calcium to my shrimp diet I have high calcium and magnesium as I get water marks very easy. Wondering as my one of my shrimp have the circle through the middle of there body
Video correction? When describing ideal KH you refer to opposite species as to what is on the screen.
Thank you 👍🏻
I waited to learn what perfect TDS would be for Crystal shrimps :) How high would you recommend? 150?
you said that the Kh and Gh values must be high, but I have a little more than double your Gh and Kh values in my tap water. Do you think it could be a problem?
what if you have high gh but low kh?
Do you Gravel vac much in your tanks? One definite great tip if I could only choose one take away from your videos… is repashy food. So good!!
Lots of great take always by the way, you are the man to get me interested in keeping shrimp. 😊
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I don’t gravel vac very often. Certainly not as often as I should.
Glad you like the Repashy. It’s a shame more people don’t use it.
@@FishKeepingAnswers i hardly Vac either, just wanted to confer to double check my practice with a Master Shrimp breeder :) we have lovely Hard water for Neo's too.
@@GLP_Aquaticscareful! when you dont gravel vac detritus worms tend to skyrocket in population, currently dealing with this issue right now, overfed my breeder tank, didnt gravel vac as much as i shouldve did plenty of water changes but gravel vacuuming is what gets rid of those nasty worms, although the worms tell u, that ur ecosystem is going well and healthy their not bad for ur tank just they look ugly and nasty
What should your nitrite be?
Nitrite should be 0ppm 👍🏻
My test strips advice not to shake for higher accuracy on the results
Definitely go with the manufacturer’s instructions 👍🏻
What gravel do you use for red cherry shrimp? I’m also getting neon tetras with it!
I use all sorts in my shrimp tanks. Fluval Stratum, sand, regular gravel, alpine grit, just about anything can work 👍🏻
My ph is 7.6 7.8. GH is 9-10deg, KH 15deg. Im struggling to get KH down. Is this maybe why my shrimp are struggling? About to add a giant piece of driftwood to see what that does.
Do you ever feed hard boiled chicken eggs to your tanks at all? I have a pygmy cory / cherry shrimp tank and im thinking of trying it. I've given pieces of raw salmon before and everybody loves it. It's actually pretty cute to see the pygmies bite the piece. Any experience/warnings about eggs?
I believe hard boiled eggs make excellent food, especially for baby fish. However, feed with caution. They only need a tiny amount. Put too much in and you will pollute your water very quickly.
@FishKeepingAnswers How do I know if I should feed my shrimps more? Or less?
I have snails in the tank also. Is my understanding correct?
Snails count constant, shrimps done eating in an hour, low (less than 25-ish) nitrate and 0 or very close to 0 nitrite. You are feeding them to little
Snails count increasing fast and/or nitrite > 1 ppm. You are feeding too much
Snails count constant/slowly increasing, not done eating in 30 minutes, but done in 2-3 hours and nitrate around 50-100, - probably feeding amount is about right?
Are there other indicators I can use? And/or can you correct my ideas above or are they right?
All mine are at what you said but what about nitrate mine is 40 and my nitrite is 1
should i pour milk into my tank ? what is some good ways of adding KH
If that’s a serious question, then the answer is no.
If you’re being foolish, I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to feel the algorithm a little for me 🙏🏻
Great video as always Richard!
Hoping you (or somebody in the comments can help me)
I have some detritus worms in my tank which isn’t an issue, but the last few days I’ve noticed a super silver looking worm slightly thicker, but similar in appearance to the detritus worms but like metallic silver swimming up to the surface of the water. Once it goes up to the surface it’s stays there (at which point I’ve taken them out). The head is quite large but when I look up planaria, it doesn’t look anything like that. Almost like a silver detritus worm that resembles a sperm, almost like a worm that’s got it’s head caught up in something that’s made it a bit more circular in appearance and swimming to the surface trying to get it off!
Do you have any idea what this is?
Hi. Thanks for the kind feedback.
As for your silver worm, I would suggest taking a picture and ask on this forum 👉🏻 forum.aquariumcoop.com/ it’s a great place to share and get help 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers thanks! Unfortunately I can never seem to snap a photo in time of it in the water, after I took it out it completely looked different! Will keep an eye out for it!
If KH is just a buffer why would some shrimp want less of it?
When is having a smaller trash bin ever better than having a bigger one?
I must be stupid cuz ive been keeping fish for years but cant seem to wrap my head around PH, GH, and KH.
My water ph is 8.2 I have to use RO
Such a great video!
Question,
I ordered 20 shrimp off ebay. 17 arrived healthy. It's an only shrimp tank that is cycled and planted.
Over the span of a few weeks, shrimp kept dying...to date I am left with 1 cherry shrimp.
I have heard numerous ways of acclimating them including drip method, plop and drop, and floating them.
I ended up floating the bag for a few hrs before releasing them(not using the same shipping water).
Shrimp were very alert moving around. Looked very healthy.
I have yet to figure out what I did wrong. Stress of shipping or my parameters were off.
PH is around 7.5
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrates 0
GH 4
KH 8
I use a mix of RO and tap as it works better for my other aquariums and fish.
I do have equilibrium on hand if I need to raise GH.
I have been told to use plain RO an add shrimp minerals.
What are your thoughts?
Sorry you lost your shrimp. It is hard to say what went wrong. On the face of it everything looks good 🤷🏻♂️
I had the same problem with an ebay seller (they weren't interested in helping me problem solve despite everything fine from my side, just "they died in your tank, too bad"), so I suspect it was bad husbandry on their side. Genetics or the way they were raised or something.
@lalaithan I have been told ebay gets their shrimp cheap and not good health. The seller did give me a refund for 3 DOA but other than that, blamed shipping for the cause of death for the others.
No way of telling what’s happened to that box between the breeder and you unfortunately.
I’m lucky to have a few LFS that have shrimp, and I buy from them.
I bought a shrimp . . . . now I know that my water has high GH . . . . and I don't know what kind of shrimp I bought . . . . then I just searched it . . . . fire reds are neocaridina . . . . hew now I'm at peace
Can i ask u some Questions?
I use RO water, my LFS adds the minerals ...my KH is 2..my GH is 16......isn't that high for RO water? I have neocaridina....I've lost 5 in the past few days....but, I also see shrimplets 💙 ...I have them in a 8g BioOrb Classic ( big and round)...temp is 74⁰
Hi. My first question is, why are you using RO water rather than your regular tap water?
@@FishKeepingAnswers well, my ph is 8.4...KH is 10, GH is 12 out of the tap. .. I do have well water... My plants are doing better and doing research on TH-cam.I just thought RO water would be better for all of my tanks
Any ideas why my fresh fluval tank with RO water would constantly increase in PH?
What substrate and rocks do you have? What did you use to remineralise the RO water?
@@FishKeepingAnswers I’ve used fluval stratum, no rocks just some driftwood and mosses also some Alder cones and catappa leaves.
@@FishKeepingAnswers remineralised with salty shrimp. 👍🏼
Sounds like everything is as it should be. I have never used salty shrimp. I would try posting on forum.aquariumcoop.com.
Great place for answers to such situations 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers I’ll try a few water changes and give it a few more weeks..🤞🏼 Many thanks for your help and keep up the great videos. 👍🏼
Why do Cardinia shrimp like a low KH if they like stability
There is lies the challenge 🤔
@@FishKeepingAnswers Definitly a challenge 🤣
Great information but i have a problem and i think your the guy to ask. Is there pens to check ph / kh with or something besides color charts cause im color blind and can read them correctly. Thanks for sharing. ✌️👍💗💯
Hi. I believe one manufacturer has an app that reads the results but I am sorry to say I can’t remember who it is. I would try googling ‘aquarium test kit app results’ or some variation. Sorry I can’t be more helpful 😕
Ok thanks
If I remember correctly there is company called Hanna, they make high end test equipment. But they are expensive because it's professional equipment.
i made the mistake of putting shrimp with corydora......i go into look and just see a tiny bit of shrimp tail.
😞
Can caridina thrive in 30 deg.celcius?
In my opinion that is too hot for them to thrive. They may survive, but thrive? Unlikely.
Thank you🙂
Any tips on reducing GH?
Either use RO water (which is expensive and a hassle) or plant lots and lots of live plants as they absorb calcium and magnesium as they grow 👍🏻
@@FishKeepingAnswers thank you 😀
@@JustACatLoveri use distilled water which has the same GH and KH which is none, as well as Neutral Ph (7) and its cheaper, unless your local aquarium shop sells RO water, which mine does for .29 cents per gallon which is cheaper than the distilled water i buy at my local grocery store but the store is a bit further than the grocery store and you bring your own jugs
if you use distilled or RO water I recommend Equilibrium for all your basic aquarium minerals, which adds gh to your distilled or RO water, Alkaline Buffer for your KH, and Acid Buffer for the PH and to reduce and keep it neutral for kh and ph theres plenty of videos as well
@@xeno5342 thanks for the info. Did not know that can use distilled
My shrimp tanks water became algae green water is it ok for the shrimp
Definitely 👍🏻
Thank u 💗💗
your shrimp probably love it! Shrimp love algae since thats all they eat
@@xeno5342 Thank u ❤️
Im happy my shrimp give birth today😊
🥳
my shrimp always die. other thing like fish snail, mikro bug looks fine
Maybe the shrimp do like your water structure. What shrimp were you keeping?
@@FishKeepingAnswers seller said its cherry shrimp. the last time i add 10, i think 2 survive the rest is gone. its 30x30x20cm, aquarium full of plant, high substrate mud+sand. 3 guppy, countless snail+ swimming white dot (bug?)
It would be helpful to show you using the tests instead of just talking about it.
I know how you mean. However, when I have shown that kind of footage before, the analytics shows viewers just drop off 😕
Stick the litmus paper in the water (test strip) compare it to the guide on whatever box it came in. If it's a fluid test, you collect water in the vile, put the test fluid in, flip it around to mix it, then compare the to the guide. Then adjust your water accordingly.
Battery less soil pH testers are cheap as.
Do you add Co2 in your tanks with neocaridina shrimp and live plants? I want to enhance the growth of my plants by adding some co2 but I'm not sure if I need to or if I even can without hurting my shrimp. My PH is between 7 - 7.5 and KH is 5, we have relatively soft tapwater here around 8 GH.
Hi. There is a huge myth on the internet at the moment that CO2 is the answer to a planted tank. Will plants grow quicker with CO2? Yes, but only if sufficient additional light and fertiliser is added. Unless you are growing high end plants with top notch lights, then CO2 will just prove to be an added distraction! With that said CO2 won’t actually hurt your shrimp. Hope that little rant helps 😎
with co2 injections, turn off at night or when aquarium light isnt on of course, since plants cant use co2 without light, but make sure there isnt too much co2 cause thats co2 poisoning make sure you got an air stone or a sponge filter to ensure your fish don’t suffocate some tanks it isnt required but i prefer to be safe than sorry
@@FishKeepingAnswers Thanks!
@@xeno5342 Thanks!