Alternatively, just use magnesium sulphate and calcium sulphate. The fabulous IFC Fert calculator can help you calculate based on the ratios and GH you wish to achieve.
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Remineralizing RO Water
- Thread starter NathanB
- Start date
Aqua sobriquet
Member
I’ve been doing that already and the shrimps still died out. I could add some Epsom salts I suppose but exactly how much and how often? I’d like to get some more shrimps as they’re great at helping to keep the tank clean, but I don’t want to risk harming the Corydoras. I’m not one for using test kits if I can avoid it.
Edit: According to ProShrimp, TDS should be around 120-250 and my tanks are well within that range.
Maf 2500
Member
You would still need a little KH though, so would suggest reducing the calcium sulphate and adding a small percentage of tap water. (to add carbonate and calcium while reducing sulphates)
Maf 2500
Member
Assuming James the planted tank guy got his calculations correct, add the 2g per 25L that he suggests, at every water change. (Based on volume of water change water, not based on tank volume.) That actually sounds like quite a lot but a large percentage of the Epsom salts is just water so it is not as much mg as it might seem.
I apologise for not knowing your history of shrimps passing away. Without knowing the details it may or may not have been related to the water chemistry
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
You are probably adding some magnesium (Mg) with your fertiliser? I'd aim to add about 5 ppm, it isn't really for the shrimps, it is much more the plants.
Sorry to hear that. In my experience Cherry shrimps are absolutely fine in hard, alkaline water, it is soft water that kills them off.
Using the precise and accurate <"Snail Shell Index">, for Cherry Shrimp you need to keep the water hard enough so that you have some Ramshorn snails (Planorbella duryi) that survive to <"somewhere near full-size">.
cheers Darrel
Every water change, you can use the IFC Fert calculator to work out how much to add.
Aqua sobriquet
Member
I’m not bothered about the Shrimps, as I made the mistake of having a couple of colours they all eventually reverted to their natural boring colour. I can now buy a single colour and start again, provided I get the water parameters correct. I should add that it’s taken a couple of years for them all to die out. There are still some in my 37L which gets similar water treatment?!
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
Not sure at all, I'd probably just harden the water up a little bit and make sure they have a good diet? I sometimes wonder about having a harder water tank for <"Theodoxus fluviatilis">, and if I did? I'd definitely keep them with Cherry Shrimps.
cheers Darrel
MichaelJ
Member
True, but the problem with both CaNO3 and MgNO3 is that you are getting a tremendous amount of NO3 for even a modest amount of Ca or Mg. In case of MgNO3 it is almost 1:6... with CaNO3 the ratio is 1:3... so for instance, if you are targeting 18 ppm of Ca (2.5 dGH) with CaNO3 you get a staggering 56 ppm of NO3... but of course it could be used in a combination to provide NO3 if you front load your NPK with your WC (which I do myself).
Over the years I have experimented with various solutions for remineralization in order to avoid the collateral compounds that our tanks don't need in excess. One compound I really wanted to work was Ca Gluconate, but it just ended up causing what I still believe was a massive bacterial bloom - even in small amounts combined with CaSO4 (I had a long back and forth with @X3NiTH back in the day on the issue trying to figure out what was going on - wish I could find the link as it contained a lot of good insights from @X3NiTH and others). Gluconate is an organic compound - essentially a sugar derivate, so I suspect it just served as super food for bacteria in the tank. I've had similar problems with Seachem Fe Gluconate years back when I was using that, but at the time I didn't know enough to make the connection 🙂
Cheers,
Michael
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Aquavitro Mineralize, I Tried replicating this few times and the solubility of Ca Gluconate was very very low in the solution, majority of the Ca and Mg in this product came from Ca and Mg Chloride, both are highly soluble. one can basically just make a stock solution using Ca and Mg Chloride. but then again the Chloride levels would become bit high when added to the aquarium. its still better to Mineralize the water using CaSO4, CaCl, MgSO4 combination.
and yes, the bacterial bloom and a surface film were quite common symptoms when you use gluconate based products.
