# Water company results



## Trebor127 (8 Feb 2018)

I've been having a read over quite a few threads and I think it has just baffled me with alot of scientific answers...

I have checked my water on united utilities and it says that I have soft water (which I knew) but the rest of the results are baffling to me and don't really mean much. If this was your water would you be adding to increase results?


















Cheers

Rob


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## tam (8 Feb 2018)

Wanna swap water? I have 22.1 degrees clark!

What do you want to have in the tank?


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## Trebor127 (8 Feb 2018)

tam said:


> Wanna swap water? I have 22.1 degrees clark!
> 
> What do you want to have in the tank?



Im guessing its good results then!

Not sure what im stocking with ATM but will more than likely have shrimp and a shoal of maybe rasboras or similar.


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## Kalum (8 Feb 2018)

Pretty similar to mine, low on magnesium so I add some in as part of a gh booster with calcium at water changes to bring the dGH to around 6/7, you'll be on the low side for keeping shrimp at the minute

Apart from that just normal EI dosing for me but will be watching how the plants react and changing to suit


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## tam (8 Feb 2018)

I think so - it's soft to start with so you can make it pretty much what you want, much easier than making hard water soft where you have to take stuff away. Don't worry about the traces of other odds and ends that's normal. It's nice your nitrates are low too - it means it's easier to keep them in check with a water change if you need to. 

I'd decide which shrimp you want to keep and mix it up to meet their needs. The rasboras will be happy with cherry or crystal shrimp water. There are powders for shrimp specifically, gh boosters/remineralising powders or DIY recipes, whichever you prefer.


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## Trebor127 (8 Feb 2018)

tam said:


> I think so - it's soft to start with so you can make it pretty much what you want, much easier than making hard water soft where you have to take stuff away. Don't worry about the traces of other odds and ends that's normal. It's nice your nitrates are low too - it means it's easier to keep them in check with a water change if you need to.
> 
> I'd decide which shrimp you want to keep and mix it up to meet their needs. The rasboras will be happy with cherry or crystal shrimp water. There are powders for shrimp specifically, gh boosters/remineralising powders or DIY recipes, whichever you prefer.



Is there any particular brand/product you recommend?


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## tam (8 Feb 2018)

I use TMC Tropic Remin which gives about GH7 KH4 if you start with RO and follow the directions. Salty Shrimp do one each aimed at Crystal (GH+) and cherry (GH/KH+) shrimp. Seachem do one too - again generally seem well reviewed Equilibrium (raises GH) and they have other buffers you can pair with it for KH/ph - it's also aimed at planted tanks so might be worth consideration. 

Any of those would be fine. I just picked the TMC because it does GH & KH in one product and I think it worked out slightly cheaper than the Salty Shrimp (GH/KH) at the time.


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## Trebor127 (8 Feb 2018)

tam said:


> I use TMC Tropic Remin which gives about GH7 KH4 if you start with RO and follow the directions. Salty Shrimp do one each aimed at Crystal (GH+) and cherry (GH/KH+) shrimp. Seachem do one too - again generally seem well reviewed Equilibrium (raises GH) and they have other buffers you can pair with it for KH/ph - it's also aimed at planted tanks so might be worth consideration.
> 
> Any of those would be fine. I just picked the TMC because it does GH & KH in one product and I think it worked out slightly cheaper than the Salty Shrimp (GH/KH) at the time.



Ive just bought TNC gh boost.

 Ill be dosing ei to.


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## PARAGUAY (9 Feb 2018)

United Utilities water is described as soft to very soft that’s all you really need to know, TNC are quite helpful should you need dosage help with their TNC boost.


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## Twisted Melon (9 Feb 2018)

tam said:


> I think so - it's soft to start with so you can make it pretty much what you want, much easier than making hard water soft where you have to take stuff away. Don't worry about the traces of other odds and ends that's normal. It's nice your nitrates are low too - it means it's easier to keep them in check with a water change if you need to.
> 
> I'd decide which shrimp you want to keep and mix it up to meet their needs. The rasboras will be happy with cherry or crystal shrimp water. There are powders for shrimp specifically, gh boosters/remineralising powders or DIY recipes, whichever you prefer.



What would a high nitrate be tam? Mine says 5.42. 

Cheers


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## tam (10 Feb 2018)

Twisted Melon said:


> What would a high nitrate be tam? Mine says 5.42.



Mine is 18.3, the legal limit on drinking water is 50. A maximum of 20-40ppm tends to be the most quoted for fish - lower for very sensitive ones and some shrimp. It's not worried about as much in a planted tank - some is good for plants so it often gets topped up as fertiliser. Higher tap nitrates are more of an issue if you have a heavy fish load and are trying to dilute it - if your source water is 20, your tank is never going to drop below that and you need to do a bigger change to lower a high value in your tank (it will rise over time from the nitrogen cycle). Again, lowish is nice because it's easier to add more in if you need it than to take it away if you don't want it. Either way 5 is fine


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## Twisted Melon (10 Feb 2018)

Thanks tam!


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## Lee iley (26 Aug 2018)

Hi guys I have just done a test from United utilities and it says my hardness Clarke is 7.14 is this ok for cherry shrimp and amano shrimp as I have lost 2 shrimp in the last 2 days.


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (27 Aug 2018)

That should be fine for the shrimp. Other things to think about... is the temperature ok? Have you changed anything with the tank in the last week? Are the pH and nitrates ok? I'll keep thinking what it could be but check those out for me first...


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