# Amano shrimp how many in my tank



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Hello guys, I have a 25 litre tank (iwagumi). How much amano shrimps would I need to keep te algae away, but still maintain a tank that isn't crowded.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Might try 3 or 4?

Although I'd honestly recommend a larger tank for amanos. If they don't like the water, they'll just crawl out....


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> Might try 3 or 4?
> 
> Although I'd honestly recommend a larger tank for amanos. If they don't like the water, they'll just crawl out....


Thanks, not really a solution with my budget atm


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

I've heard 1 per 2.5g, but it really depends more on how much algae which depends on how much light/nutrients you have. I was fine with 1 amano and 2 nerite snails with the stock light on my 5.5g Fluval Spec V version 1. But a few weeks ago I built a new light outputting 8.5w and the green spot algae exploded all over the s. repens and on the glass and on my anubias. I now have 5 amanos, which I'd say is just too many for a 5g, but they're gettin' along and they all have a nice vein in em so I know they're all well fed...

So the moral of this story... depends on your tank/algae, only you will find the answer, but start with less and see how it goes.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

FishRFriendz said:


> I've heard 1 per 2.5g, but it really depends more on how much algae which depends on how much light/nutrients you have. I was fine with 1 amano and 2 nerite snails with the stock light on my 5.5g Fluval Spec V version 1. But a few weeks ago I built a new light outputting 8.5w and the green spot algae exploded all over the s. repens and on the glass and on my anubias. I now have 5 amanos, which I'd say is just too many for a 5g, but they're gettin' along and they all have a nice vein in em so I know they're all well fed...
> 
> So the moral of this story... depends on your tank/algae, only you will find the answer, but start with less and see how it goes.


Thanks for the info. I have an 5 watt led build in my tank. Gonna start with just 4 amano's in the tank. I guess adding fish will be to much?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> Thanks for the info. I have an 5 watt led build in my tank. Gonna start with just 4 amano's in the tank. I guess adding fish will be to much?


Maybe, but I won't tell the overstock police if you don't 
Tho they'll prolly come after me now that they know I've way over stocked amanos LOL.


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## sfshrimp (May 24, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> Hello guys, I have a 25 litre tank (iwagumi). How much amano shrimps would I need to keep te algae away, but still maintain a tank that isn't crowded.


10-15 minimum.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Currently in dry start method so still figuring out what I am going to add to the tank. It´s an iwagumi so don´t want it to be crowded. I like neon tetra but my tank is to small for that. Was thinking about green rasbora but then I read that amano´s are a must in your tank.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

So what do you guys think about a 6,6 gallon with 4 amano's and 6 green rasbora?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

I'd wait and see if there's much algae before adding more tha 1 amano. 

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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Hmmm problem is I need to travel a good amount of distance for amano's.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> Hmmm problem is I need to travel a good amount of distance for amano's.


 online?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> Hmmm problem is I need to travel a good amount of distance for amano's.


Oh well, then you may end up feeding them  

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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

FishRFriendz said:


> Oh well, then you may end up feeding them
> 
> Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk


Once a week or so. They need to clean my tank lol.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

BettaBettas said:


> online?


Online they go per 5 or 10. Conclusion my tank is way to small haha.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Amanos aren't a must, prevention is better than cure! Staying on top of maintenance etc. is more important in order to limit algae. Although Amanos are great algae eaters.
I would just stock smaller shrimp, like RCS. They won't have as much as an impact on algae but will still help reduce algae. Also smaller shrimp can help provide a bit of colour and their effect on the bioload of your tank is almost negligible. Snails are also an option.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Opare said:


> Amanos aren't a must, prevention is better than cure! Staying on top of maintenance etc. is more important in order to limit algae. Although Amanos are great algae eaters.
> I would just stock smaller shrimp, like RCS. They won't have as much as an impact on algae but will still help reduce algae. Also smaller shrimp can help provide a bit of colour and their effect on the bioload of your tank is almost negligible. Snails are also an option.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yeah gonna do my best to prevent the algae. I'm a beginner so a little help from the amano's would be nice I guess. What about RCS lol they will breed and I will soon have a tank with more than 20 of them? Amano's dont breed easily, so I will be guaranteed to stay with just 4. Do you think my tank will not have enough color with just amano's, seiryu stones, green plants and rasboras with a black background?


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

just saying, I have 4 amanos total in both my five gallon tanks, I split them up. so I have 2 amanos in each, they do a good job at getting the difficult algae  tank is spotless so sometimes I have to feed them here and there. for reference , Also idk if you know, amanos when they breed, there young aren't able to live in FW, they need SW (I think, or brackish?)


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> Yeah gonna do my best to prevent the algae. I'm a beginner so a little help from the amano's would be nice I guess. What about RCS lol they will breed and I will soon have a tank with more than 20 of them? Amano's dont breed easily, so I will be guaranteed to stay with just 4. Do you think my tank will not have enough color with just amano's, seiryu stones, green plants and rasboras with a black background?


I don't recommend seiryu stones simply for the fact that they raise the pH levels as well as the hardness of the water, that could thus result in TDS shock once it comes time to do water changes...


Rasboras might eat the cherry shrimp, but if you get a shrimp population going and get the tank heavily planted, they should be fine. One downside though is that cherry shrimp might hide once you add fish to the equation. Alternatively, you could have a shrimp only tank. As the babies grow up in that tank, you could slowly move some of the larger offspring into the community tank.

Maybe not as good on algae as amanos, but still enjoyable little creatures.



As far as breeding amanos go... they can, and do, reproduce just fine in fresh water! The issue is that the offspring, once hatched in fresh water, need to be in brackish or marine water within a week of being born. If you don't transfer them, they'll die or just become fish food. Granted, they aren't easy to raise even if you do manage to get them into brackish or marine water!


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

BettaBettas said:


> just saying, I have 4 amanos total in both my five gallon tanks, I split them up. so I have 2 amanos in each, they do a good job at getting the difficult algae  tank is spotless so sometimes I have to feed them here and there. for reference , Also idk if you know, amanos when they breed, there young aren't able to live in FW, they need SW (I think, or brackish?)


To bad that I need to order five of them online. Didn't know only 2 would do the job.

Bump:


Zoidburg said:


> I don't recommend seiryu stones simply for the fact that they raise the pH levels as well as the hardness of the water, that could thus result in TDS shock once it comes time to do water changes...
> 
> 
> Rasboras might eat the cherry shrimp, but if you get a shrimp population going and get the tank heavily planted, they should be fine. One downside though is that cherry shrimp might hide once you add fish to the equation. Alternatively, you could have a shrimp only tank. As the babies grow up in that tank, you could slowly move some of the larger offspring into the community tank.
> ...


The hardness of my tap water is: 7,45 - 10,08 dh
PH level is: 7,67 - 8,39 

Will this be okay with seiryu stones/shrimp or a big problem?

What about RCS breeding until what count will they stop, or never lol? 

I thought I would be fine with my tap water as aqua soils and pressurized c02 drops the ph level right?


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Nigel95 said:


> To bad that I need to order five of them online. Didn't know only 2 would do the job.
> 
> The hardness of my tap water is: 7,45 - 10,08 dh
> PH level is: 7,67 - 8,39
> ...



It's typical for many vendors to sell a minimum of 5 or 10 shrimp.


As far as your tap water and setup... to me, that just sounds like a bad idea!

I mean, if you don't mind your soil becoming exhausted in a shorter period of time than it's expected to last, then go for it! But if you want to get at least a year, or longer, out of that soil, you really should switch to remineralized RO water using a GH+ only mineral supplement.


Buffering soil + tap + seiryu stone = short lifespan of soil


Basically, any time you do a water change, there's going to be a pH difference and potentially a huge TDS difference, too!


Although cherry shrimp can breed on a buffering substrate, generally speaking, they do best in a low tech tank with sand and no CO2!



So I would definitely recommend setting up a shrimp only tank and keeping it simple! (amanos could go in the community tank, but give the cherries their own tank) As you get a breeding population up and running, you can slowly try introducing the cherry shrimp into your higher tech tank.


Here are some older threads that talk about seiryu stone in the tanks....
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/88-shrimp-other-invertebrates/1051561-bad-day.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8...rates/275506-how-long-do-rocks-raise-tds.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8...0635-sieryu-stones-how-do-i-control-them.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/88-shrimp-other-invertebrates/190473-very-high-tds-levels.html



Do you know both the GH and KH of your tap water? And the TDS of your tap?


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> It's typical for many vendors to sell a minimum of 5 or 10 shrimp.
> 
> 
> As far as your tap water and setup... to me, that just sounds like a bad idea!
> ...


Still so much to learn. Idk how my tank was going to look after spending all this money w/o this forum!  

I might stick to amano's as I have no other tank left.

I can't find GH, KH and TDS of my tap water .

1. Is any ro water system okay, can I buy them from someone who used it already? 
2. What do you mean with shorter lifespan of the soil. Like how many months and does this mean I have to restart my tank after the soil lost his function? 
3. How long will the soil function if I buy a RO water system.
4. The ro water system is just adding tap water and the perfect water will turn out the system? Then I add GH+ supplement to reach what gh/kh/ph level? 
5. Are cheap gh/ph/kh tests with just strips accurate enough? 
6. Do I fill a bucket with 10 litre with RO water for a 50% WC in my ~25 litre or do I have to mix tap water and RO water?
7. On the market are like ten billion different test kits. Which do you recommend that are really necessary?
8. Is adding less livestock going to make this situation easier?
9. How often do I test, every water change or just once till I know how much gh+ I have to add?


lol tons of questions, thanks for helping

In my 6.6 gallon iwagumi journal in signature are all my specs of the setup.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

*1. Is any ro water system okay, can I buy them from someone who used it already?* 
Not sure what it's like in the Netherlands, but here in the USA, RO/DI water can be purchased from a grocery store, fish store or a place that sells water. It should have 0 GH and KH with under 15 TDS.

Alternatively, one could purchase an RO/DI unit to be installed in the home.


*2. What do you mean with shorter lifespan of the soil. Like how many months and does this mean I have to restart my tank after the soil lost his function?* 
With most buffering substrates, you are expected to get about a year of life out of the soil before it needs to be replaced. Using remineralized RO water, it is possible to get 2+ years. Using tap, the buffering soil may only last 3-8 months before it looses it's buffering capacities and no longer lowers the pH of the tank.

It helps to buffer the water by removing KH, aka carbonates and bicaronates. Most tap water has KH in it, so the faster the soil absorbs KH, the quicker it will lose it's buffering capacity.

Once the soil is exhausted, all you need to do is replace it! Although, if the soil leeches ammonia, it is recommended to let the soil "cycle" itself in a bucket while doing water changes, then start to slowly change out the soil in the tank... say 25% to a max, 50% at a time. Below is approximately how long a few different soils has lasted for someone. Of course, experiences will differ.











*3. How long will the soil function if I buy a RO water system.*
Short answer, expect around a year, if not longer.



*4. The ro water system is just adding tap water and the perfect water will turn out the system? Then I add GH+ supplement to reach what gh/kh/ph level?* 
If you choose to buy an RO/DI unit, then yes, you feed tap water into it and clean water comes out one area and the dirty water comes out a different hose.

You had GH+ remienralizer *ONLY* to whatever desired GH for the tank. For Neos, it's recommended to go about 6-8 GH.

Neos generally do prefer some KH though, but KH on a buffering substrate isn't good, so you would avoid a GH & KH remineralizer.


The easiest way to measure out GH in water is to add the amount of remineralizer to the RO/DI water (or clean rain water would be fine, too!) that you want (6 GH? 8 GH? 12 GH?) and then measure the TDS. As long as your TDS meter is calibrated, you can mix the remineralizer to the desired TDS and the GH should be about equal every time.


When you top up the tank, use RO water! When doing water changes, use remineralized RO. You can change the amount of remineralizer you use based on the tanks parameters.


*5. Are cheap gh/ph/kh tests with just strips accurate enough?*
Unfortunately, no. These can easily become contaminated and don't have a broad range of results. Liquid tests are just more accurate.



*6. Do I fill a bucket with 10 litre with RO water for a 50% WC in my ~25 litre or do I have to mix tap water and RO water?*
If you already have the tank set up, you'll want to start by figuring out what water parameters you want, then slowly mixing tap and RO together, or just doing small water changes with remineralized RO. Small, as in 15% or less water changes.



*7. On the market are like ten billion different test kits. Which do you recommend that are really necessary?*
A popular brand is API, but I've heard good things about the Sera test kit. Some use Nutrafin or another brand. Main thing is is to make sure you get a GH and KH LIQUID test kit. Avoid test strips!


As far as TDS meters go, any that you can calibrate should be fine! Over here, they are cheap and typically have 2 metal prongs that test Total Dissolved Solids in the water. Calibration solutions are sold separately.



*8. Is adding less livestock going to make this situation easier?*
Not really... I mean, if you were to purchase cherry shrimp, it doesn't matter if you get 5 or 50, they are still going to need correct water parameters.

Fish are more forgiving of water parameter changes than shrimp are, but it's still a good idea to try to keep soft water fish in soft water, hard water species in hard water.



*9. How often do I test, every water change or just once till I know how much gh+ I have to add?*
I'd recommend to test every time at least for the first few changes and once you get the hang of it, you could test once a month or less!

The TDS meter is the easiest way to tell you how "clean" the water is. It doesn't tell you what IS in the water, only that the water could be getting dirtier. Lets say you remineralize to a GH of 5 and you end up with a TDS of 150. After a week of water evaporation, waste, food, etc, the TDS may raise to 180. If you top up with RO water, maybe you'll get it down to 170, but it's still higher TDS than desired... so you could perform a water change with fresh water that has a TDS of say, 135. At the right percentage, this brings the TDS back down to 150.


And testing TDS is the easiest thing! You just take a TDS meter (like some pH pens), turn it on, stick it in the water and it gives you a reading!


*I can't find GH, KH and TDS of my tap water*
If you have your own kits, you just do your own testing. 




It's really confusing at first, but once you understand it, it's real simple!


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Zoidburg said:


> *1. Is any ro water system okay, can I buy them from someone who used it already?*
> Not sure what it's like in the Netherlands, but here in the USA, RO/DI water can be purchased from a grocery store, fish store or a place that sells water. It should have 0 GH and KH with under 15 TDS.
> 
> Alternatively, one could purchase an RO/DI unit to be installed in the home.
> ...


Thanks for all Your information. Def Will try when got more money lol. 

So if I'm on a budget I Could spare 10 litre rainwater per week. Fill it with some gh+ and test the TDS?  

I can't clean my soil because of carpet plants.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

I can't imagine it would be fun to replace the soil with carpet plants... lol 


As long as you live in a clean area (i.e. away from polluted cities/factories), then rainwater should, in theory, be fine to use. And yes, that's the jist of it!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

TBH having a lot of small shrimp won't be a big concern so don't worry about it being overpopulated. TBH you could even go for the Amanos, it's nust they are quite big so may not really be the best choice for your tank. RCS would be the way to go.
BTW I know you've scaped your tank so I wouldn't rip out your stones just because they alter the water chemistry. Stay on top of water changes, and you shouldn't have too much of an issue, especially with RCS which are very hardy.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Opare said:


> TBH having a lot of small shrimp won't be a big concern so don't worry about it being overpopulated. TBH you could even go for the Amanos, it's nust they are quite big so may not really be the best choice for your tank. RCS would be the way to go.
> BTW I know you've scaped your tank so I wouldn't rip out your stones just because they alter the water chemistry. Stay on top of water changes, and you shouldn't have too much of an issue, especially with RCS which are very hardy.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


1.How much water changes do you recommend like 1 or 2 a week?
2. Is 5 RCS enough to start with?
3. Will RCS do anything about the algae? For example the amount that 1 amano eats is compared to how many rcs?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

1. I do quite a lot to begin with in the first month, especially since I used ADA Aquasoil. My usual schedule is like the first week every day, the second week every second day and so on. You probably won't have to go this crazy, but I do recommend freuqent water changes at the start, unless you are using ADA Aquasoil, then I would follow this routine. I always change 50% when I do a water change. I'll continue to do biweekly water changes after the first month if I'm still having algae problems. Water changes helps remove waste organic matter which is what algae thrives on. If everything is stable I just change the water once a week. A thing to note I don't usually have any livestock during the first month of my setup. I allow the soil to leach all the Ammonia first and for my cycle to be complete, as well as letting the system mature. I recommend waiting a while before livestock it just helps you avoid problems. A 50% water change once a week should be enough for you to keep you parameters stable from the stone.
TL;DR: Keep up frequent water changes at the start. After that once a week should be fine.
2. Yeah 5 is fine, although 10 is the common number, it makes the probability of having at least one of each sex very high.
3. They will do an okay job, TBH though I can't even quantify how well either eat algae. I never know if my algae is going away because my system is maturing, or plants outcompeting algae etc. There are tonnes of factors so it is hard to measure these things. Generally I would say that RCS would have much less effect on algae then Amanos though. In the end, algae eating critters are gonna be less important in battling algae than good maintenance, but they are still good to have. RCS should do the job for you fine. If you are having real bad algae problems the solution won't be Amanos.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Will mosquitos larvaes be a problem in my rain barrel during the summer? Probably some gonna sneak into my tank, will the rasboras or shrimp eat this? @Zoidburg


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Mosquito larvae would become fish food.



You can always filter the rainwater and/or boil it, too.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Free fish food, so it would work out quite nicely I think. Although you may wanna minimise mosquito breeding for your own comfort.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Guess I'm lucky I bought a mosquito net for next summer. Not sure about my mom with a mosquito nest in the house


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

So yeah with like 10 RCS and maybe breeding for more, is it still possible to put some green rasbora's in it? Like how many max? @Opare


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Yeah it will be fine, bioload from shrimp I tend to consider almsot negligible. Just go with the amount of the fish you wanted originally, 6 I think it was.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

So yeah I want to flood my tank soon, but probably not going to fall any rain for the next 14 days. Would it be okay to just use tap water for the start up and daily water changes? As soon rain will fall I will switch over. Or would you recommend to wait till there is going to fall some rain. @Zoidburg


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Do you know your tap water parameters? If they are okay you could use them throughout. If they are liquid rock then using rain, but remineralising it with salts is a good option.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Opare said:


> Do you know your tap water parameters? If they are okay you could use them throughout. If they are liquid rock then using rain, but remineralising it with salts is a good option.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The only info I know about tap water is:
pH: 7,67 - 8,39
Total hardness: 7,45 - 10,08 (dH)
Used a converter to get ppm (mg CaCO3/l)?
ppm: 124,94 - 178,48

How much salt per gallon?

Added some pics of the converter. Left is the min, right is the max hardness.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Your tap water seems fine for plants and the shrimp you plan to keep IMO.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Opare said:


> Your tap water seems fine for plants and the shrimp you plan to keep IMO.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


FeelsGoodMan 

I just bought a rain barrel still any benefits of using this later on?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Yeah, your water is quite hard, so if you want to keep more difficult shrimp/fish/plants in the future (e.g crystal red shrimp) you will need it.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Opare said:


> Yeah, your water is quite hard, so if you want to keep more difficult shrimp/fish/plants in the future (e.g crystal red shrimp) you will need it.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I already want a 20 gallon long but just going to stick wtih this one till soil runs out. Thanks for help.

In 2018 we don't have hard water anymore says the producer.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Yeah get this tank running well first. You will learn a lot from keeping this tank that will help you in the future with bigger projects. Reading stuff can only get you so far, practical experience is super important.
Rainwater will still be more customisable in the future, you never know what they mean by 'softer water' TBH.


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