# RO Water and Shrimp



## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

Otto72 said:


> Bit of noob question I guess but I have never tried/used RO Water before.
> If you start with RO Water in your Shrimp tank, do you water change with RO water every time or use treated tap water for water changes?
> 
> thanks for your time guys


I add pure ro/di water to replace evaporated water. For water changes, you need to use something to reconstitute the water with minerals. I personally use something mordalphus recommended...fluval shrimp mineral liquid I think.

edit:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22515

a little bottle goes a looooong way. I use it in 6 tanks and I've barely used any in a few months. Since you only add it for water changes...you only use a few mL for 5g (from my experience with ro/di water)


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## Otto72 (Oct 1, 2010)

hmm had a read on that page and I saw this;

*'Mineral supplement increases GH (general hardness) of aquarium water'*

why would you want to increase general hardness of water? I thought that RCS and CRS like soft acidic water conditions with a GH of around 6.5-7 right?


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## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

without going into the inorganic world of chemistry...dGH is basically the measurement of the concentration of certain metal ions in water (like calcium and magnesium). When you run tap water through a ro/di filter...you are basically filtering out everything...including these necessary ions. They need to be replaced. RO/DI water has a theoretical pH of 7. In my tanks...the fluval stratum buffers it down a bit to 6.4ish

edit: little clarity


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

Actually, CRS prefer a GH around 4 and not 7. KH of 1 to 2 would be fine. Mosura and Fluval both make a fine mineral supplement. One other advantage of using RO/DI water is a lower TDS level, and that's pretty key for sensitive shrimp, but not so much for RCS, blue pearls, or the like.


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## LedxZep (Sep 25, 2009)

I actually use R/O water for repacing evaporated water and water changes as well. Is this a bad thing for CRS?


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## xxxSHyXAxxx (Mar 16, 2011)

LedxZep said:


> I actually use R/O water for repacing evaporated water and water changes as well. Is this a bad thing for CRS?


I do the same however I check the KH and GH each time to keep the levels consistent. It’s important to maintain a suitable level of KH and GH in the water even for cherry shrimp because the minerals help to keep their shells strong and (I may be waaaaaaay off but) it helps with successful molting.


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## LedxZep (Sep 25, 2009)

Do you test GH and KH with test strips?


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## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

xxxSHyXAxxx said:


> I do the same however I check the KH and GH each time to keep the levels consistent. It’s important to maintain a suitable level of KH and GH in the water even for cherry shrimp because the minerals help to keep their shells strong and (I may be waaaaaaay off but) it helps with successful molting.


if you continually replace water with straight ro water during water changes...you will (in theory) eventually pull all of the disolved ions out. Without adequate gh/kh....you can have a pH crash due to a lack of buffers in the water. There are many things that can prevent this...but the normal method is just to ensure you have healthy levels of gh/kh. I personally test mine with a gh/kh drop tester from foster and smith. it was $7 and works just like the other api tests.


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## Otto72 (Oct 1, 2010)

youjettisonme said:


> Actually, CRS prefer a GH around 4 and not 7. KH of 1 to 2 would be fine.


What shrimp product would you recommend that would buffer the GH and KH down to these correct levels for CRS? 
Also what GH and KH should RO water be when you buy it from a store?
Lastly I have Oliver Knott's substrate left over from last year I havn't used, 3 x unopened bags, I was thinking of using these for three ada shrimp tanks I will be getting in the very near future, I read this lowers the ph to the correct levels for CRS shrimp.

Sorry about all the questions but I really want to get this right first time if possible


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## astrosag (Sep 3, 2010)

Nothing, to be my knowledge, lives in hypo-tonic environments.

The only purpose for using it in shrimp tanks is so that you can set your Kh and Gh levels to what you'd like working from a baseline of 0 and avoid TDS from tap water as opposed to constantly fighting tap water (which is different from region to region) to get the Kh and GH and even pH. So RO/DI is really a tool to get ideal water conditions...not really the end product that you want your shrimp living in.


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## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

"Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement provides shrimp tanks with beneficial minerals while establishing optimal General Hardness levels" "Dose to maintain dGH of 3 to 6. 5mL will increase approx. 0.6 dGH or 10 ppm of CaCO3."

Mordalphus recommended this to me for ro/di water. I've been very happy with it...no problems at all. It was about $5...I believe one bottle will last a long, long time. I use 2-5 mL for every 4 gallons of ro/di water. The bottle has 120mL. Don't use it to replace evaporate water...the minerals don't evaporate


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## zachary908 (Feb 12, 2011)

I use mosura mineral supplement in my soon to be OEBT tank, and it easily keeps the levels where I want them.


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