# Shrimp Survival in HARD water



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I kept RCS in hard water and they did fine. Didn't breed but I think they were to young.


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## blacksheep998 (Jan 16, 2011)

Some of the Neocaridina species like red cherries might be able to handle that water, red cherries are cheap so if they can't then you aren't out too much cash. 

If you really want CRS though I'd get a small reverse osmosis filter and mix up a blend of something like 90% RO water and 10% tap.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

xxbenjamminxx said:


> So a few questions that I have are will shrimp survive and be healthy in water like this but just may not breed? I am not really looking to do a lot shrimp breeding so that doesnt matter to me all that much. What shrimp would be recommended?


There definitely are shrimp that are quite happy to live in that type of water. Cherry red shrimp, yellow shrimp (and any other neocaridina variety that I'm aware of) and ghost shrimp will live and breed in your water, and amano and hawaiian red shrimp will live in it, though they won't breed successfully because of brackish requirements in their breeding and/or development. You can keep relatively hardy bee shrimp varieties in your water, but they won't tend to live as long and they almost surely won't breed successfully.



> Other question is, is there a DIY way to reconsitute Distilled water with say, Baking soda, and Epsom salt to the proper levels?


Definitely, this is what I do for my tanks these days. If you have a good water quality report such that you know exactly what is in your water (if you're on a municipal supply they likely post it online and you may be able to request more specific data from them directly, if you're on a well then you'd have to pay a lab a healthy fee to do it for you) then it's entirely possible that you can simply mix X gallons of tap water with Y gallons of distilled to get a reasonable mix for most shrimp types, with X and Y depending on the volumes you need, the shrimp you want to keep, and the parameters of your tap water. 

You also can be more careful about it and mix baking soda, calcium chloride (sold at walmart along with their pool care stuff, among other places), magnesium sulfate (epsom salts), and some source of other trace elements (again, likely your tap water, but something like Seachem Flourish works well also.) You also can mail order some salt mixtures designed to reconstitute distilled water (not aquarium salt) though I'm not familiar with the available brands of this.


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## xxbenjamminxx (Aug 8, 2011)

Great thanks for the replies. I did try searching for a water report from our city (Peshtigo, WI) and couldnt find a thing about it. I am using the municipal water but may end up having it tested out at our local Culligan shop and see what its all about. Once I have it test can I rely on them numbers being fairly consistent you think even through the seasons with more and less rain?

My plan was to start with some Cherry Shrimp since they are cheaper, but would really like to just get the CRS at the same time. I have a 10g with a set of the Marineland Double Bright LEDS on it that will be my tank for them. With that light I would be ok to grow some low light plants such as Java moss, anubias and maybe a java fern or two?

Would I still have to dose the tank with plants like that? I would be dosing with dry ferts since I just ordered some.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I'd try calling the people at water and sewer to see if they have the information available, even if only for pickup. They ought to, in some form, pretty sure that there's an EPA mandate that they tell the population about the water annually. Whether it's stable or not depends on the source of the water, among other things. If it's from a river or shallow aquifer it can change dramatically over the course of a year. If it's from a deep aquifer it's less likely to change as much or as often. Again, the water and sewer folks should have data from more than one time in the year that would let you see that.

You really shouldn't need fertilizers with low light and no CO2.


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