# Neocaridina in Soft Water



## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

Yeah I say scrap the neos on jump to Taiwan bees xD

Or

Start a new tank with your tap for your neos.

Gonna have to raise that gH a little bit though.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

You could go crystals, they would love that water and are cheap for lower grades. you can even go for a mix of red, blacks and golden/snow whites and let them breed and get all kinds of patterns and probably some browns eventually or just pick 1 kind and stick with them. CRS being the most popular nowadays.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Hm... inert substrate that looks like aquasoil. Not too sure about that since it's like round little pellets. I know UP shrimp sand and fluval shrimp stratum kinda have that look, as does akadama. But all of those are also buffering substrates as well.

If you're going to add crushed coral you're pretty much wasting your buffering substrate. I would honestly just buy some tigers or low grade CRS since your parameters are close to what those like. If you really want neos set up a new tank with inert substrate (i like flourite black)!


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## Loumeer (Feb 13, 2012)

Honestly CRS and CBS dont do much for me. The only shrimp that really caught my eye so far are Pumpkin shrimp, OEBT, and the Royal Tigers that Speedie carries. I am afraid to drop so much money for a begining colony of shrimp. I honestly am not sure what OEBT really even need for a tank. I guess I just assumed I would start with a neo colony because they are the easiest to maintain and learn and then build up to pickier shrimp. 

Also right now my SO and I are sharing a 1 bedroom apartment so this 10 gallon is the only option right now. No way for me to set up another tank until we move sometime down the line.

So it is definite that neos will not do well in soft water. I just need to make sure because quite a few people from my previous post were fairly adamant that neos would be alright in my water. I just wanted to make sure before I broke down my tank and redo everything.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yea.. sadly neos like 90% don't do well in such low pH :\. I'm sure there are some people that will say they do, but if your pH is really 6 after buffering that's kinda bad. However... when your substrate starts to lose it's buffering ability the pH will go back near 7. So you could just add coral to raise the pH and wear down your soil? Waste of money though :X


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## Loumeer (Feb 13, 2012)

diwu13 said:


> Yea.. sadly neos like 90% don't do well in such low pH :\. I'm sure there are some people that will say they do, but if your pH is really 6 after buffering that's kinda bad. However... when your substrate starts to lose it's buffering ability the pH will go back near 7. So you could just add coral to raise the pH and wear down your soil? Waste of money though :X


When you say "wear down your soil" is that a physical thing? If I put coral in my tank will the Aquasoil turn to mush? Or will it just lose its ability to buffer water and still retain its nutrients for the plants?


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

Lose its ability to buffer


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Loumeer said:


> When you say "wear down your soil" is that a physical thing? If I put coral in my tank will the Aquasoil turn to mush? Or will it just lose its ability to buffer water and still retain its nutrients for the plants?


Both. It will lose it's ability to buffer, and it will also turn to mush. As the nutrients for plants get used up I don't think that degrades the physical shape of the grains, not sure about that. But the buffering ability definitely seems to be correlated to the substrates shape.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

I'll send you some of my liquid rock if you send some of that soft water. >_>


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## anh (Jul 20, 2009)

i keep my palmatas outside with ph of 8 and tds off the chart and they grow over an inch and are always berry.


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