# Crystal Red Shrimp and Co2



## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

People are just wary of using CO2 in CRS tanks because you run the risk of gasing them but a lot of people do use CO2 because it helps regulate PH. The thing people are more cautious about though is fert dosing in planted tanks. its harder to keep CRS in planted tanks where people dose ferts because it swings your TDS. So you can run CO2 just be careful with dosing if you plan on it but also just because you use co2 doesn't mean you have to dose.


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## Shrimpressions (Jun 26, 2015)

Thanks for the reply  I was actually going to start dosing Tropica Premium Fertiliser once I installed the co2 kit, as it doesn't contain nitrates and phosphates and the copper amount is very low so it's shrimp safe. I was more concerned about how much co2 to dose in the tank without gassing the shrimp or raising kh too much . Do you think 6 bubbles per minute (1 bubble per 10 seconds)  would be good for a 60l tank?


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

Shrimpressions said:


> Thanks for the reply  I was actually going to start dosing Tropica Premium Fertiliser once I installed the co2 kit, as it doesn't contain nitrates and phosphates and the copper amount is very low so it's shrimp safe. I was more concerned about how much co2 to dose in the tank without gassing the shrimp or raising kh too much . Do you think 6 bubbles per minute (1 bubble per 10 seconds) would be good for a 60l tank?


Injecting CO2 will NOT alter the KH only pH. The KH of the solution in the drop checker should not reflect that of the water, it is calibrated so that a certain colour will be shown at a certain CO2 concentration in the water. Google on how CO2 drop checkers work. 

I do not agree with inthepacific. Given the high light you have now it is safe to assume your plants are CO2 limited. The moment you inject CO2 your plants will become limited in other macronutrients N, P...Thus, when injecting plenty CO2 under high light you need to dose, not dosing will result in plants being unhealthy -> promote algae growth.

High light, good CO2, low biomass and ferts without nitrates or phosphates does not sound good to me. You can reduce the change in TDS by smaller doses every day or twice per day.

As for CO2 start slow, watch your shrimp if they are running around or hanging at the surface reduce, if not increase. Your shrimps will be able to adapt to higher CO2 levels but need time. The drop checker is good for a ballpark, fauna is a better indicator at what your tank needs.


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## Shrimpressions (Jun 26, 2015)

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes I agree that I would need to start dosing ferts, which is ok for me as long as I don't dose copper which dangerous for shrimp. I guess I'll start with low levels of co2 and take it from there.


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## flippydoo (Aug 19, 2013)

Is there a good Micro mix that doesn't contain copper? I use CSM+B and then Iron separately but I know CSM has a fair bit of copper in it.


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## Shrimpressions (Jun 26, 2015)

Well, personally I was going to use Tropica Premium Fertiliser, since the amount of copper it contains is very low ( I emailed the manufacturer and they assured me that they've tested it with shrimp and it's 100% safe ) . I also asked on a dedicated shrimp group board and they told me that it's shrimp safe


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