# Who use tap water for shrimp?



## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

That's all i use but I'm just dealing with rili and cherry shrimp

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Tons of people run a mix of ro and tap for their bee type shrimp.


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## AquaPipes (Jun 4, 2012)

First, your PH sounds right for Southern California tap water, but your GH does not. GH for most Southern California water sources should be much higher. Here in Orange County, my GH is >10 and my KH is sky high as well. TDS varies throughout the year from around 280 to as high as 500.

Now to address your questions:
1) The content of tap water can change throughout the year as your local municipality may switch water sources at any time with no notice. Often water is pulled from 2 or more sources depending on the time of the year. This makes it hard to maintain consistent water parameters.

2) The chemical treatment used in the water may change throughout the year.

3) While Aquasoil or similar will help lower PH, by starting with high PH/KH water, your Aquasoil will lose its buffering capability more quickly necessitating changing the soil more frequently. Also, my experience is that Aquasoil won't take PH 8 water down to 6.5, or if it does it takes a long time. 

4. Even if you get the PH right, your TDS is likely to still be too high for the shrimp.

Neo's and Amanos do great in Southern California tap. CRS and other bee's usually do not. I know of some who have managed to keep them alive in tap, but don't know of anyone who has gotten them to breed in 100% tap. There are however plenty of people who mix aged tap water with RO to get the correct parameters for their shrimp, rather than using supplements.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I filter my tap water through a DIY peat filter to lower ph/gh/kh and use that in my tanks and so far my crystals are doing good. Here is my thread on my filtering, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175620


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

I use plain old dechlored tap water for everything. our tap water has a low pH and is pretty soft. I only have red cherry shrimp though.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I did have a problem using tap water in my Shrimp tank and I killed several batches of RCS, I then decided to go RO and not try shrimp again until I had clean water. But there is more to this somewhere and I can't explain it but it was a 2.5 nano and I also had a 150 with shrimp and survival was not an issue in the big tank or I should say unless it was death by predation. But it is definitely easier to keep good parameters in a larger tank were mistakes get absorbed by the volume.

I now keep Taiwan Painted Fire Reds and Tangerine Tigers in the nano.


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## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I use tap water and switch between soft and hard water every few months since I move the tank to school. I have never had a problem with RCS.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Rcs can live in unfiltered bucket for weeks! Mine did just that when I moved.


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## KenRC51 (Oct 13, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> I filter my tap water through a DIY peat filter to lower ph/gh/kh and use that in my tanks and so far my crystals are doing good. Here is my thread on my filtering, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175620


Thanks for sharing. I think I'm gonna try that. I have a RO system at home but when changing lots of gallon it will take forever to fill it up. I have a few gallon jug saved up for my 9g tank. If I plan to setup a 20g shrimp then I might need another alternative so your method seems to be pretty cool. I'll give that a try. 

What type of peat did you buy? Is peat moss the same? Here is a link from amazon which I plan to buy from. http://www.amazon.com/Espoma-PTM8-8...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341867516&sr=8-1&keywords=peat


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## cookymonster760 (Apr 30, 2011)

i use tap water no additives or anything granted we have springs here so the water comes out just right for shrimps or fish hope that never changes


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

I use straight tap + water conditioner for my SS CRS and they're breeding well. I don't do huge water changes though, only 10-30%


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## causemisahastheeyes (Feb 28, 2010)

Only cherries here, and they breed like mad in my pH of 8.4.


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## KenRC51 (Oct 13, 2011)

Funny how some of your shrimps even crs does well in straight with water conditioner. When I first started the planted tank back in Dec 2011 my first tank was my 9g CRS tank. I had like 8 of them in there. I used straight tap and treat with amquel. Shrimps were doing fine till the molted, once they molte the die. 

After that I change to RO and add some Fluval shrimp mineral water hardner to a GH of 4-5, after that no dead CRS.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> I filter my tap water through a DIY peat filter to lower ph/gh/kh and use that in my tanks and so far my crystals are doing good. Here is my thread on my filtering, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175620


this is amazing. i will be making one of these with a recirculating style system that way i can fill the bucket and filter till i've reached the levels i wanna be at


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

KenRC51 said:


> Thanks for sharing. I think I'm gonna try that. I have a RO system at home but when changing lots of gallon it will take forever to fill it up. I have a few gallon jug saved up for my 9g tank. If I plan to setup a 20g shrimp then I might need another alternative so your method seems to be pretty cool. I'll give that a try.
> 
> What type of peat did you buy? Is peat moss the same? Here is a link from amazon which I plan to buy from. http://www.amazon.com/Espoma-PTM8-8...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341867516&sr=8-1&keywords=peat


go to ace harware or somethings. spaghnum peat moss is like 5 dollars for a bag that size


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