# how to raise GH?



## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

I have a 5 gallon shrimp tank. I got 5 red cherries a few weeks ago.
2 of them came berried but one died soon after.
Luckily a few shrimplet hatched and growing steadily. I spot at least 6 survived.
A few days ago other one died after molting, I suspects. I saw a molt next to it's dead body and the body was very soft.
I suspects my water is too soft because of water softener.

Here is my water parameters
pH: 7.6
Ammonia & Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 (roughly, always have a hard time reading the color)
GH: 1 (I read it's typical to have this lower than KH when using water softener)
KH: 4

Does GH, KH, or both more important for the health of shrimp.
I've read with high calcium diet alone is enough to keep shrimp health. I do feed them crab cuisine every other day. They don't show much interested but they are usually gone the next day. Not sure if they were all eaten or just dissolved.

How do I raise GH if it's necessary?


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Crab cruisine may not be the right diet for them.

Do you have another source of water that doesn't go through the water softener? i.e. a bathroom faucet or even an outside faucet? If you do, you might try checking those parameters first.

Otherwise, you can get GH+ remineralizers. Seachem Equilibrium is one, although it has high TDS to GH, it would work. The GH should be in the 6-8 range for Neos. It can be higher without issues, but you generally don't want it lower.


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

NilocG has a good gh booster as well. I really like the Salty Shrimp GH+ because it dissolves super fast and the tds is lower with it than any other gh booster I have used.


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## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> Crab cruisine may not be the right diet for them.
> 
> Do you have another source of water that doesn't go through the water softener? i.e. a bathroom faucet or even an outside faucet? If you do, you might try checking those parameters first.
> 
> Otherwise, you can get GH+ remineralizers. Seachem Equilibrium is one, although it has high TDS to GH, it would work. The GH should be in the 6-8 range for Neos. It can be higher without issues, but you generally don't want it lower.


Crab cuisine is advertised for shrimps and crabs and I've read many people say their shrimps love it.
I do have source for non-softened water but it's outside the house. I'm not sure how safe it is to use them because lawn chemical.

Bump:


clownplanted said:


> NilocG has a good gh booster as well. I really like the Salty Shrimp GH+ because it dissolves super fast and the tds is lower with it than any other gh booster I have used.


Thanks for the info. I'll check them out.


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

viodea said:


> Crab cuisine is advertised for shrimps and crabs and I've read many people say their shrimps love it.
> I do have source for non-softened water but it's outside the house. I'm not sure how safe it is to use them because lawn chemical.
> 
> Bump:
> ...


GH Booster | NilocG Aquatics
https://www.amazon.com/Salty-Shrimp...id=1504926178&sr=8-1&keywords=salty+shrimp+gh

I use NilocG GH Booster for my high tech 60 gallon tank with tons of plants. I use the Salty Shrimp GH+ for my CRS tank.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

viodea said:


> Crab cuisine is advertised for shrimps and crabs and I've read many people say their shrimps love it.
> I do have source for non-softened water but it's outside the house. I'm not sure how safe it is to use them because lawn chemical.


To be clear, just because a product is advertised for something, doesn't mean it's actually safe, healthy or even good for what it's being advertised for. I see this a lot in other hobbies that involve animals. (look at human products for example...)

A shrimps main diet should consist of biofilm and algae. The first 5 ingredients? Animal protein and fillers.

Aquarium Food & Nutrition: Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine



> *Ingredients*
> Fish Meal, Flaked Corn, Wheat Flour, Rice Bran, Soybean Meal


You take a look at the Shrimp Cruisine... it's hardly better. It's the *5th* ingredient that is finally algae.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578



> *Ingredients*
> Fish Meal, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Cuttlefish Meal, Heat Processed Soybeans, Dried Seaweed Meal




I'm not a nutritionist, nor do I claim to be, just that from my limited knowledge, there are better foods out there. Better foods that rely more on vegetable/algae based ingredients than animal based. Some of the "algae wafers" or "algae pellets" out there, algae isn't even in the top 5 ingredients! Ideally, you want it in the top 3 ingredients, if not the first ingredient. If it's not even the top 5 ingredients at least, then how can you even call it an algae wafer? Wouldn't it be "algae infused" instead? 


Just something to think about now... 



As far as the water, any without lawn chemicals?


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## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

I got plenty of algae and biofilm in the tank. I use the pellet as supplement.

As water wise, I maybe able to find a source from basement. Need to double check if it's pre or post softener.


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## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

I tested un-softened water. GH is 8, KH is 5. I'll try to do 30 to 40% change in the next few days. Should I change lower amount for the to adjust?
Forgot to mention, another adult died a few days ago. Shrimplets are still good so far. Don't want to wait too long to change.


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

Those parameters should be just fine for them. I would do a 50% wc asap with that water. They should be much happier. 


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## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

I'm waiting for the water temp to match. Water from the faucet is very cold here.


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## viodea (Jun 27, 2017)

Did a water change last night and noticed shrimps are more active in open space when pump is turned off. I'm considering turning the pump down to reduce current flow. I hope that won't cause me algae issue.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Zoidburg said:


> To be clear, just because a product is advertised for something, doesn't mean it's actually safe, healthy or even good for what it's being advertised for. I see this a lot in other hobbies that involve animals. (look at human products for example...)
> 
> A shrimps main diet should consist of biofilm and algae. The first 5 ingredients? Animal protein and fillers.
> 
> ...


Been using the Hikari crab quisine for year's with my own shrimps.
Many other's also.
Your dislike? of the product is duly noted, but does not mean it's no good.
Is but a way to introduce calcium to their diet which helps with molting, in addition to other food(s) that may or may not be present in their environment.


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