• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

ICP Water Test Results

Qwedfg

Member
Joined
21 Feb 2022
Messages
116
Location
Rhode Island
Hello all,

I recently got an ICP test on my water and was hoping to get some feedback on the parameters.

Some background information...

I have been having a problem with red cherry shrimp in my tank. I bought 10 a couple months ago and their population has slowly dwindled down to 3. From what I've been able to ascertain they die when attempting to molt although I have not caught them in the act. I also have been having some hair algae issues as well but I'm thinking that is probably not related to the source water.

I dose the EI method in a 60 L tank with ADA substrate. The water source is from my well prior to the water softener. There is a typo on the report for chlorine as it is given as PPM when it should be PPB...there is no chlorine added to my water system. Thank you for any insight you can provide.
 

Attachments

  • testresults.JPG
    testresults.JPG
    194.5 KB · Views: 142
I'm no expert, but the one thing that jumps out at me is the low level of phosphate. Although given the levels of calcium and magnesium that's not really a surprise, as it may very well be precipitating out as insoluble calcium phosphate.
 
Thanks for the response. This is from my well prior to fertilizing, perhaps I'll send another test in from my tank. After doing some research it seems I should try to increase my calcium and magnesium levels. Is there a supplement that would be best for this? I have some magnesium sulfate which I haven't been using but obviously that has no calcium so probably not best.
 
Have you not been adding any GH, i.e. Calcium or Magnesium to your water before adding your water to your tank? If not, then yes that is almost definitely what your issue is. I’d recommend at least a GH of 4 for them, but 6 might even be more optimal with a Calcium to Magnesium ratio of 3-4:1. You can add Calcium with CaSO4 or Calcium Chloride and Magnesium with Epsom Salt. FWIW, adding some GH is a vital part of EI dosing too.
 
Have you not been adding any GH, i.e. Calcium or Magnesium to your water before adding your water to your tank? If not, then yes that is almost definitely what your issue is. I’d recommend at least a GH of 4 for them, but 6 might even be more optimal with a Calcium to Magnesium ratio of 3-4:1. You can add Calcium with CaSO4 or Calcium Chloride and Magnesium with Epsom Salt. FWIW, adding some GH is a vital part of EI dosing too.

Ok thank you. I have had persistent algae issues with this tank (set up in march) first with awful stringy diatoms and now with hair algae/GSA. This is despite playing around a lot with my CO2 and lowering my light levels. Some of my stem plants like Rotala Green have curled leaves at the top nearest the light and I am wondering if that could be linked to low levels of calcium or magnesium? I just ordered some CaSO4 so hopefully by next week I will begin dosing MgSO4/CaSO4 and look for any improvements in my plants.

I would also like to order some more shrimp but am nervous as I don't want to kill anymore of them I feel quite bad about it. I have had cherry shrimp in the past when I was less knowledgeable about planted aquariums and they grew to huge numbers without any real thought on my part so I was very surprised when I started seeing dead shrimp. All of my tanks have been run on well water but this is the first aquarium I've had in the new house since we moved 4 years ago. The well here must be significantly more deficient than those in the past but I never tested calcium or magnesium so I have no reference.
 
Ok thank you. I have had persistent algae issues with this tank (set up in march) first with awful stringy diatoms and now with hair algae/GSA. This is despite playing around a lot with my CO2 and lowering my light levels. Some of my stem plants like Rotala Green have curled leaves at the top nearest the light and I am wondering if that could be linked to low levels of calcium or magnesium? I just ordered some CaSO4 so hopefully by next week I will begin dosing MgSO4/CaSO4 and look for any improvements in my plants.

I would also like to order some more shrimp but am nervous as I don't want to kill anymore of them I feel quite bad about it. I have had cherry shrimp in the past when I was less knowledgeable about planted aquariums and they grew to huge numbers without any real thought on my part so I was very surprised when I started seeing dead shrimp. All of my tanks have been run on well water but this is the first aquarium I've had in the new house since we moved 4 years ago. The well here must be significantly more deficient than those in the past but I never tested calcium or magnesium so I have no reference.
Once you get some GH in there the shrimp should be fine. True calcium deficiencies are pretty rare in aquariums, but you could actually have one for sure. Magnesium issues are definitely more common, but your plants could definitely be struggling because of the low levels of both. You have decent surface agitation right?
 
Once you get some GH in there the shrimp should be fine. True calcium deficiencies are pretty rare in aquariums, but you could actually have one for sure. Magnesium issues are definitely more common, but your plants could definitely be struggling because of the low levels of both. You have decent surface agitation right?
I have a Eheim 2213 left over from my last tank and an Eheim 350 surface skimmer. I have been thinking about getting a bigger filter but am not sure thats my problem. This algae has been driving me mad. I have noticed my stem plants dont grow nearly as fast as they did in my last tank and there is some stunting going on even though I am dosing EI this go round and my CO2 has been pretty high (according to m y drop checker).

I don't think I have any o2/co2 issues as far as the shrimp are concerned as they always have been going about their business as usual. I've been making very slow adjustments to CO2 and monitoring the shrimp for any negative signs.
 
Back
Top