# Low ph in shrimp tank



## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

This subject has come up daily lately! Long and sort of it is, it's fine. Neocaridina shrimp (cherries and their color variants) are FAR more adaptable than bees; and if you're going to keep both, best to cater to the more sensitive shrimp. pH swings from 0 dKH certainly are nothing to worry about with buffering soil keeping things steadily acidic. I breed Neos in Caridina tanks currently. I can't say scientifically that they have the same survival rate of offspring and such, but they seem to be normal, thriving colonies. When I tried keeping bees in Neocaridina conditions, that didn't work out so well.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Sorry I have to disagree with the above. The cherries need kh to properly molt. You should keep. Crystals and cherries separate. Get the cherries back in your tapwater and keep doing what you're doing with the crystals. 

Edit. 

I'd actually get salty shrimp gh/kh and use that for your rodi for the cherries. Your kh from trh tap is too low too

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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

Hmm. 3 tanks going currently:
Goldenback yellow Neos with pintos (0 dKH):








Blue dreams with tigers (0dKH):








Orange Neos with CRS (0dKH)


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

You got like 6 neos in each tank visible. The other caridinas are in much higher numbers. This clearly indicates what I said is true. I'm not even trying to argue here. It's basic husbandry of the shrimp. Neos require kh. Sorry but it's a fact. Sure they can 'last' without it, but you'll never having a thriving colony in caridina parameters. 

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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

OK dude.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Lol. Why so mad. You're giving out bad advice. 

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## Roboto (Mar 24, 2020)

I must have gotten really lucky with these guys in 0kh.

RO water using only seachem equilibrium to bring gh up to 8.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Your previous posts said you got the shrimp berried. Those are young shrimp in a new tank. I'm positive they will not thrive unless you add kh to your water.

Again, not fighting with anyone. Trying to give good advice so people can have success.

But do you, if you want to have a colony of 20 shrimp that slowly dwindles you can risk it. Or you can raise kh to 5 or 6 and have hundreds of shrimp. 

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## Roboto (Mar 24, 2020)

Thanks for the info.
They've been molting well. I counted 30 shells earlier in the week.
I'll definitely keep a close eye on them if things get wonky I'll up the kh for sure.
For now though, I'll keep on with the experiment.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Roboto said:


> Thanks for the info.
> 
> They've been molting well. I counted 30 shells earlier in the week.
> 
> ...


All good! Look into it yourself and Google neocaridina parameters. It's just proven husbandry that they need kh. You can keep a colony going for a while without it but it's not a long term solution.

I breed them all so I've spent a lot of time learning what they need.



















































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## [email protected] (Jun 27, 2020)

Is my ph to low. I don’t know which reading to believe? 
Do you think it will be my driftwood causing the drop? 
Not sure if I need to remove it or if it’s ok?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> Is my ph to low. I don’t know which reading to believe?
> 
> Do you think it will be my driftwood causing the drop?
> 
> Not sure if I need to remove it or if it’s ok?


Nah ph is fine. The soil and driftwood both lower it. Focus on gh, kh, and tds.


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

bsantucci said:


> ...It's just proven husbandry that they need kh. You can keep a colony going for a while without it but it's not a long term solution.


Just to throw it out there, I bred neos in aquasoil without KH for years. Had more than I knew what to do with. So the word "need" isn't necessarily true.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Asteroid said:


> Just to throw it out there, I bred neos in aquasoil without KH for years. Had more than I knew what to do with. So the word "need" isn't necessarily true.


Curious what was your water source? There may be exceptions based on other factors but as a rule neos generally won't thrive in less than 2kh or so.

I've heard and seen random exceptions to the rule but I don't think that should be taught to beginners. 

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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

bsantucci said:


> Curious what was your water source? There may be exceptions based on other factors but as a rule neos generally won't thrive in less than 2kh or so.
> 
> I've heard and seen random exceptions to the rule but I don't think that should be taught to beginners.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk


Tap water (KH 2 , PH 7.5), easily went to zero KH with aquasoil. Just curious, I don't know the answer, but what is it with Neos that would require KH as opposed to Bees.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Asteroid said:


> Tap water (KH 2 , PH 7.5), easily went to zero KH with aquasoil. Just curious, I don't know the answer, but what is it with Neos that would require KH as opposed to Bees.


I think what you're showing there is the answer. You still were adding kh to the tank. So they'd get some before the soil buffered it. How long did you keep the soil in the tank? Adding kh to buffering soil depletes the buffering pretty quick to be honest so your water may have retained kh after a whole.

Bees come from soft water naturally. Neos come from slightly harder water environments. I think just evolution honestly causes the need. Low kh with neos you'll start seeing slowing populations, some molting problems, and the ring of death sometimes. 

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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

bsantucci said:


> I think what you're showing there is the answer. You still were adding kh to the tank. So they'd get some before the soil buffered it. How long did you keep the soil in the tank? Adding kh to buffering soil depletes the buffering pretty quick to be honest so your water may have retained kh after a whole.
> 
> Bees come from soft water naturally. Neos come from slightly harder water environments. I think just evolution honestly causes the need. Low kh with neos you'll start seeing slowing populations, some molting problems, and the ring of death sometimes.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk


Ok, so I hear what your saying, but when someone states that KH is zero, it's almost always due to an active soil pushing it down there and they're confused about it. So this is more about giving someone advice not to worry that the KH is zero, since as you stated the buffering of soil will end. My KH was zero for a very long time, I can't tell you for sure if it ever moved up when I had the shrimp in there. 

Most species adapt, especially if tank-raised, so wasn't sure why neos wouldn't as well.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Asteroid said:


> Ok, so I hear what your saying, but when someone states that KH is zero, it's almost always due to an active soil pushing it down there and they're confused about it. So this is more about giving someone advice not to worry that the KH is zero, since as you stated the buffering of soil will end. My KH was zero for a very long time, I can't tell you for sure if it ever moved up when I had the shrimp in there.
> 
> 
> 
> Most species adapt, especially if tank-raised, so wasn't sure why neos wouldn't as well.


OP stated they are using RO water now though. So they are starting with no kh which is why I jumped in. When their tank was thriving it had a half degree of kh so I'm sure they were using tap at that point.

Fish are much more adaptive to water than shrimp. I don't know why, that science is above me. Maybe someone else can chime in here. But there are also fish that are exceptions, see discus.

Also, neos can do OK in buffering soil but it's kinda a waste to ruin buffering soil when they don't need it. Sand or inert gravel makes more sense for neos so you can maintain kh. 

Like I said I'm just trying to push best practices, not exceptions to the norm.

[emoji106]

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## Roboto (Mar 24, 2020)

Asteroid said:


> Just curious, I don't know the answer, but what is it with Neos that would require KH as opposed to Bees.


This is the million dollar question in my eyes, and I know the standard answer from a kh believer will be "natural habitat."
But that really depends more on where they were bred, how long they may have been captive bred and what conditions they were in rather than what their ancestry lived in 10+ generations back.

Scientifically it would make sense that calcium is important for molting, and that's part of gh so my current breeding experiment with 0 KH (and a smallish seiryu stone) continues on.

I started with over 30 shrimplets, they are 3 weeks old and I still have more than 30 and I've seen more than 30 molted shells so in the short term all looks okay.

I'll track the experiment in my tank journal for sure.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Roboto said:


> This is the million dollar question in my eyes, and I know the standard answer from a kh believer will be "natural habitat."
> 
> But that really depends more on where they were bred, how long they may have been captive bred and what conditions they were in rather than what their ancestry lived in 10+ generations back.
> 
> ...


I agree and don't agree at the same time haha. I'm curious to see your findings over time.

My point like I said above is to discus. No amount of home breeding makes them survive better in harder water. Same with GBRs. They survive for a while and then just die.

Experiments are fun though so please keep us posted! 

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## Roboto (Mar 24, 2020)

bsantucci said:


> I agree and don't agree at the same time haha. I'm curious to see your findings over time.
> 
> My point like I said above is to discus. No amount of home breeding makes them survive better in harder water. Same with GBRs. They survive for a while and then just die.
> 
> ...


Ah, rams... I keep bolivians and I had one tank where a stone was leaching some kh increasing materials driving my ph up, and another tank without that problem.
Same water for both (RO mineralized with seachem equilibrium). Bad tank would have kh near 6, PH in the high 7's and my bolivian rams (and cories) kept slowly withering away while they were thriving in my other tank without that problem.
Finally solved the rock problem and now have slightly acidic water in both with kh near, or at 0 and everyone is happy. 

So, I also agree and disagree as I've seen the "they adjust fine regardless of their natural ideal environment" fail over and over. Otos, neon tetras, etc... But there are so many chemicals that simply stating PH and KH as a definitive defense of a hypothesis is incredibly incomplete...

I'm trying to keep this hobby simple and trying to avoid having to do too much to differentiate the tanks I keep from each other. I'm preferring to add more permanent materials (rocks, driftwood) to the tank to regulate the important things to create the best water for the fish. While only mixing up the same brew of water for all the tanks (currently have 4 running, 1 cycling and two on standby for the next whim.)


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Roboto said:


> Ah, rams... I keep bolivians and I had one tank where a stone was leaching some kh increasing materials driving my ph up, and another tank without that problem.
> Same water for both (RO mineralized with seachem equilibrium). Bad tank would have kh near 6, PH in the high 7's and my bolivian rams (and cories) kept slowly withering away while they were thriving in my other tank without that problem.
> Finally solved the rock problem and now have slightly acidic water in both with kh near, or at 0 and everyone is happy.
> 
> ...


See now this is interesting haha. I have kept bolivians in everything, even with seiryu like you noted, and i've never had a problem. Also just tap with it. I feel like bolivians are bred enough that they handle all water at this point, maybe not liquid rock, but they do fine i've seen. I have had certain cories suffer though, more of the expensive/rare ones though.

GBR's though, just don't handle anything other than pure pristine water for longevity.

Agreed on keep it simple. My caridina tanks are all set up the same for the most part. buffering soil. some rocks or wood (only cholla) and buce/ferns/subwasertang with floaters.

I remineralize all mine with the same product to the same TDS/gh 4.5-5. the only tank i alter a bit more is my royal blue tigers, which I add tds booster to bring them to like 175 tds. My others are 130 tds.


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## Roboto (Mar 24, 2020)

My culprit evil rock leeched much more than a Seiryu. It would probably be great to add in a sulawesi tank. 
Creating this little ecosystems is fun and challenging, but sad for the few bolivians and cories that slowly kind of withered away and had no appetite while the others were thriving in another tank. It really was slowly wreaking havoc on the rams, the otos and the false julii cories. I would have just moved them over to the happy tank but I wasn't sure if I had some strange disease happening and naturally didn't want to introduce it to a healthy tank.

Luckily I have that sorted out and I can start restocking that trouble tank again.


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## looool[email protected] (Jun 27, 2020)

Ok... so still confused about what to do. Thankyou for all the food for thought. So I’ve made a decision to reconstitute my ro water with some kH in it... the same as my tap water. I know this is going to effect the longevity of my substrate, but I do love my cherry shrimp and my CRS and there’s definitely been a change in population since I started with ro water. And my kH and pH have dropped. 
I don’t have another tank to move my RCS to, so I think it’s the best I can do for now. 
I’ll update you on my progress...
Thanks again for all the information. 
Cheers Louise

Bump: Ok... so still confused about what to do. Thankyou for all the food for thought. So I’ve made a decision to reconstitute my ro water with some kH in it... the same as my tap water. I know this is going to effect the longevity of my substrate, but I do love my cherry shrimp and my CRS and there’s definitely been a change in population since I started with ro water. And my kH and pH have dropped. 
I don’t have another tank to move my RCS to, so I think it’s the best I can do for now. 
I’ll update you on my progress...
Thanks again for all the information. 
Cheers Louise


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## Haroutvartanian630 (May 14, 2020)

*Low ph*

i need help. In my 1o gallon crystal red tank i used to use fluval shrimp stratum with RO water and bee shrimp mineral to get tds 120. My Ph would be around 6.2. My stratum got old and was time to change so i decided to not use active substrate because cleaning and changing it was a nightmare. I went ahead and redid my tank a 2 months ago with regular shrimp substrate that i use for my neos by aqueon that doesnt buffer at all. Im still using RO water with bee shrimp mineral to get tds of 120. The problem starts when i went to check my ph in the tank. My ph is 5.2. The ph meter is fully calibrated so i know it is accurate. I had a lot of almond leaves and cones in the tank so i removed it but that didnt really make a difference. My question is , is 5.2 ph too low for cystral reds? My objective is to get them to breed. I dont understand why my ph is lower now vs what it was with the buffering substrate i was using which was meant to lower my ph. Should i leave it be or raise my ph to 6.2. Right now bee mineral doesnt have kh so i was thinking if i mix salty shrimp gh kh with bee shrimp mineral Gh , 60 tds each, it will give me a kh of 1, gh of 5 , and tds of 120 before i put the water in the tank and the kh shoul help to stabilize my ph around 6 . What do you think? What should i do , leave it alone or add some kh? Why is my ph lower now then i was with active substrate when i didnt change any thing else i was doing. Please help!


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## Asteroid (Jul 26, 2018)

bsantucci said:


> OP stated they are using RO water now though. So they are starting with no kh which is why I jumped in. When their tank was thriving it had a half degree of kh so I'm sure they were using tap at that point.
> 
> Fish are much more adaptive to water than shrimp. I don't know why, that science is above me. Maybe someone else can chime in here. But there are also fish that are exceptions, see discus.
> 
> ...


I hear you on the RO, but nothing stated so far tells me OP needs to reconstitute with KH. Also with my tap I think the buffering substrate would last quite a while. If your getting more than a year out of it without issue that's a pretty long time without KH. The Neos seem very adaptable as they have obviously been bred forever. I bred them in KH zero, ph 6.5 and now they are just as prolific in KH 12-16, PH 6.5 (Seiryu stone / co2) for over a year.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Asteroid said:


> I hear you on the RO, but nothing stated so far tells me OP needs to reconstitute with KH. Also with my tap I think the buffering substrate would last quite a while. If your getting more than a year out of it without issue that's a pretty long time without KH. The Neos seem very adaptable as they have obviously been bred forever. I bred them in KH zero, ph 6.5 and now they are just as prolific in KH 12-16, PH 6.5 (Seiryu stone / co2) for over a year.


OP stated since the switch to RO that their cherries population is decreasing. Isn't that telling that they need kh? They were fine before when tap was a source.

The other problem with tap and buffering soil aside from depletion of the soil buffering capability is that you're now creating ph swings. Tap is coming in with kh and ph and then the soil pulls the kh out and lowers the ph at every water change. That's also a stresser. Lastly she's using stratum which is quite possibly the least buffering soil out there. If you get 6 to 9 months of buffering with tap that's a miracle, even if you have a low kh tap source.

Unless you're quite literally testing your water in the tank 3 days post water change every week you really can't defend these facts. I'd be blown away if you could prove using tap with weekly water changes and stratum that it's still buffering to 0 kh after 6 months.

I'm enjoying the discussion here though. I've said there's exceptions to almost all rules but realistically this doesn't happen often with neos or caridina. 

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Haroutvartanian630 said:


> i need help. In my 1o gallon crystal red tank i used to use fluval shrimp stratum with RO water and bee shrimp mineral to get tds 120. My Ph would be around 6.2. My stratum got old and was time to change so i decided to not use active substrate because cleaning and changing it was a nightmare. I went ahead and redid my tank a 2 months ago with regular shrimp substrate that i use for my neos by aqueon that doesnt buffer at all. Im still using RO water with bee shrimp mineral to get tds of 120. The problem starts when i went to check my ph in the tank. My ph is 5.2. The ph meter is fully calibrated so i know it is accurate. I had a lot of almond leaves and cones in the tank so i removed it but that didnt really make a difference. My question is , is 5.2 ph too low for cystral reds? My objective is to get them to breed. I dont understand why my ph is lower now vs what it was with the buffering substrate i was using which was meant to lower my ph. Should i leave it be or raise my ph to 6.2. Right now bee mineral doesnt have kh so i was thinking if i mix salty shrimp gh kh with bee shrimp mineral Gh , 60 tds each, it will give me a kh of 1, gh of 5 , and tds of 120 before i put the water in the tank and the kh shoul help to stabilize my ph around 6 . What do you think? What should i do , leave it alone or add some kh? Why is my ph lower now then i was with active substrate when i didnt change any thing else i was doing. Please help!


Ph is lower cause no buffering substrate and you have no kh. That's it. The leaves will lower it more with tannins too. Your shrimp may do ok. If you don't like cleaning up and changing substrate and don't want to change the tank get a buffering substrate and put a good amount in a stocking. Tie the stocking on the other end and drop it in your tank. That will buffer the water and it's an easy cleanup and change when it stops buffering. [emoji106] 

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

[email protected] said:


> Ok... so still confused about what to do. Thankyou for all the food for thought. So I’ve made a decision to reconstitute my ro water with some kH in it... the same as my tap water. I know this is going to effect the longevity of my substrate, but I do love my cherry shrimp and my CRS and there’s definitely been a change in population since I started with ro water. And my kH and pH have dropped.
> 
> I don’t have another tank to move my RCS to, so I think it’s the best I can do for now.
> 
> ...


One population is going to drop either way in my opinion. Crystals if you add kh above 1 or cherries if you remove kh entirely. They just aren't meant to be together. You can keep tigers with crystals in 0 kh or tigers with neos in 2kh too if you want to mix and match. Cherries and crystals just really don't work together. 

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## Haroutvartanian630 (May 14, 2020)

Thats a good idea but im confused, Isnt buffering substrate supposed to lower my ph? So youre saying in this case, if i add buffering substrate , it will increase my Ph. So do you think i should aim for a ph of 6.2 by adding some kh?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

It will increase it a bit and level it most likely. I wouldn't add kh you don't need it. The ph you're at now isn't really accurate since you have no conductivity in the water. 

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## Haroutvartanian630 (May 14, 2020)

what do you mean by i dont have conductivity in the water and my ph isnt accurate?


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Some of y'all have never heard of the search function and it really shows.

Not meant to be rude but more common sense. Use the search function. Seriously. It is your friend. You'll find thousands of posts when there's something you don't quite understand. Thousands of tank journals. Thousands of in-depth discussions about issues like this.

If you're new to forums, search, search, search. New to shrimping? Same. _Search._

Yes, you can and should start new discussions. But ignoring what already exists and is at your fingertips is borderline awful.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

[email protected] said:


> Hi there
> I’ve had my tank set up with fluval stratum, drift wood and plants for 6 months now. I was using tap water and had my ph at 6.3 Kh 0.5 gh 5. I’ve recently switched to ro water using gh only to reconstitute to the same tds I have in my tank. I also bought a more expensive pen to monitor parameters. (All calibrated) now I have a range of ph results to choose from
> Old pen 6
> New pen 5.8
> ...


"Fancy" shrimp can thrive in ~5 pH and potentially even lower! I have YKK's breeding in a tank that, when originally set up, was at 5.5 pH, although I'm not sure on current pH, but it's still acidic.

The pH is *NOT* an issue for your Crystals.

Would not recommend adding KH to the tank. If you raise parameters too much and have thriving Neos, then your Crystals will likely suffer. *UNLESS* they are "low end" crystals, that may live in slightly higher parameters. If they are high end crystals, such as PRL, then you definitely do not want higher parameters.




Haroutvartanian630 said:


> i need help. In my 1o gallon crystal red tank i used to use fluval shrimp stratum with RO water and bee shrimp mineral to get tds 120. My Ph would be around 6.2. My stratum got old and was time to change so i decided to not use active substrate because cleaning and changing it was a nightmare. I went ahead and redid my tank a 2 months ago with regular shrimp substrate that i use for my neos by aqueon that doesnt buffer at all. Im still using RO water with bee shrimp mineral to get tds of 120. The problem starts when i went to check my ph in the tank. My ph is 5.2. The ph meter is fully calibrated so i know it is accurate. I had a lot of almond leaves and cones in the tank so i removed it but that didnt really make a difference. My question is , is 5.2 ph too low for cystral reds? My objective is to get them to breed. I dont understand why my ph is lower now vs what it was with the buffering substrate i was using which was meant to lower my ph. Should i leave it be or raise my ph to 6.2. Right now bee mineral doesnt have kh so i was thinking if i mix salty shrimp gh kh with bee shrimp mineral Gh , 60 tds each, it will give me a kh of 1, gh of 5 , and tds of 120 before i put the water in the tank and the kh shoul help to stabilize my ph around 6 . What do you think? What should i do , leave it alone or add some kh? Why is my ph lower now then i was with active substrate when i didnt change any thing else i was doing. Please help!


An alternative is to get either a HOB or HOB breeder tank and simply put substrate in there and have that circulate through the tank. When it's time to switch out the substrate, you simply remove HOB, replace substrate, put back on the tank.

The pH is *FINE* for your shrimp, too! Lack of breeding could be due to parameters, diet, age, substrate or other factors. Were they breeding on Fluval?

What is the "shrimp substrate" you are referring to? What brand?

How long have you had the crystals for?


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## [email protected] (Jun 27, 2020)

Thanks Zoidburg. I’ve had crystals (grade A) for about 4 months now, but just bought 10 high grade sss 2 weeks ago. My CRS are berried and loads of babies. My new ones are fine, but my RCS are slowly dying off. No new RCS babies when they were doing well a couple of months ago. I was planning on swapping over to CRS anyway as I’ve got Fluval statum and my parameters were better for them ( I think that was your advice way back when I started my tank and I’d chosen the wrong shrimp). My problem has occurred when I’ve changed to ro water reconstituted with shrimp king gH+ doing 10% WC every 2 weeks and topping up with ro to compensate for evaporation. My gH has stayed similar at 5 but my kH which was about 0.5 is now unrecordable. My pH has dropped from about 6.3 to 5.9 (new pen meter, calibrated) API still seems to read slightly over 6.. yellow with a greenish tinge that turns completely yellow if I add a drop of my pH 4 buffer. 
TDS 170. 
I’ve read everyone’s advice and had decided that maybe having a small amount of kH in the water would stabilise my pH a little higher and maybe help my RCS survive. The new SSS CRS have been bred in aged tap water on aquasoil. Our tap water here is soft TDS of 120 gH 5 kH 3. So I was thinking that the small amount of kH is what I needed to solve my issue as it seems to be the only thing that has changed. 
So my WC water has a pH of 7.6 kH 3 gH 7 TDS160. I’m doing 10% over 2 days. I’ve only put 5litres in at the moment... but maybe I should stop and do some more water with just gH. 
I do have another tank with some fish in it (unfortunately mollies and white clouds which will hunt the shrimp) with inert substrate gH 9 kH 3.... I think I may need to catch my remaining cherries and put them in there.. I’m confused because my cherries were doing fine until I started with ro..... 
any help would be great 
Cheers Louise


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

@[email protected] I truly wonder if this started as soon as you switched to RO water, or if there was any chance that it started prior but wasn't noticed until after the switch.

If you don't have many Neos you could get a HOB breeder tank, stick a piece of sponge on the outlet and put the shrimp in there. That way, they'd be safe from the fish?


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

This. Do this if you can. Terrific idea. Definitely a tool every person with a tank should have. 

Hagan/Marina make three common sizes that are usually all less than US$20. If you have a small rimless tank, they may require a bit of support beneath them. But if your tank has a rim? Should be fine to use any size. 



Zoidburg said:


> If you don't have many Neos you could get a HOB breeder tank, stick a piece of sponge on the outlet and put the shrimp in there. That way, they'd be safe from the fish?


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## [email protected] (Jun 27, 2020)

Yes your right. I had some unexplained deaths of my neos early on aswell.. I bought the wrong shrimp for my substrate.... the tank was initially set up as a planted fish tank and before I put fish in I discovered shrimp and now it’s a shrimp tank...but I knew nothing about shrimp at that stage, so I got the wrong type. They seemed to be breeding ok, so I thought they were alright, but it’s obvious now that I have CRS that they are thriving and my neos aren’t .. I need to try and move them into my other tank..... i have quite a few.. maybe 20... mostly males by the look of it..... 
My fish in there are quite old and I’m not restocking them, so over the next year or so they’ll probably go. Then I can use that tank just for neos..... 
thanks everyone for your advice !!!


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## Haroutvartanian630 (May 14, 2020)

Im not planning on keeping them together, It is a crs only tank. just removed the active substrate and put an inert substrate. Basically what im asking is , would adding little salty shrimp gh kh to bump up the kh to .5 so it could stabilize the ph at 6 since there is not active substrate , would that work? I would mix a little salty shrimp gh kh and the rest would be bee shrimp mineral gh that totals 120 tds. If i can stabilize my tanks ph at 6ph with a little kh instead of using an active substrate , will that be the same thing?

Bump: Thanks for the reply. Ive had the tanks for about a year. Its a ten gallon tank. The substrate i have now is aqueon shrimp substrate. I guess what im trying to ask is,would adding little salty shrimp gh kh to bump up the kh to .5 so it could stabilize the ph at 6 since there is not active substrate , would that work? I would mix a little salty shrimp gh kh and the rest would be bee shrimp mineral gh that totals 120 tds. If i can stabilize my tanks ph at 6ph with a little kh instead of using an active substrate , will that be the same thing?


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## [email protected] (Jun 27, 2020)

Hi, I’m no expert, but I know that almond leaves and cones produce tannins that drop your ph (along with driftwood which seems to be affecting mine). It’s said that the cones produce more than the leaves. I use Purigen in my filter to remove the tannins. It comes in a small 100ml bag. You could try that.


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