RO water and crystal shrimp?

[14crazychris]

Hi there

I have been doing a lot of research on red crystal shrimp and am nearly ready to set a tank up. I am going to be going for a bucephalandra on lava rock theme with moss. The plants are already established on the rocks in my other tank I just need some final help.

I am going to be using RODI water but not sure what is the best way to re mineralise it. I will be having a sand substrate. What would be the best way to achieve the correct TDS, GH and KH?

Oyster shells in filter
Crushed coral in filter
Liquid buffer
Mineral powder buffer?
RO/ tapwater mix

Have done lots of research but can’t work out which is the best product to use. Any help would be great!
Cheers Chris

 

[Edvet]

How is your tap water?
As i understand RCS are quite hardy. If you just cut it with tap water 50% it would make waterchanges easy and doing a lot of waterchanges is always good.

 

[14crazychris]

My tap water is really hard, and I though crystal bee shrimp were quite sensitive. Could do an RO tap water mix 75:25? Not sure if it’s a waste buying minerals or crushed coral/oysters?

Cheers

 

[Edvet]

I can't say for sure about sensitivity,just that cutting it with tap water wil make it easy to do frequent and large waterchanges, in my book better than remineralising with all kind of miracle products.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

My tap water is really hard

You would probably be all right with 10% tap : 90% RO. If you want do add some dGH, without adding any dKH, you can use the DIY re-mineralising mix from <"James' Planted Tank">.

@Iain Sutherland has kept Bee shrimp <"long term with success">.

cheers Darrel

 

[soggybongo]

Use this formula for remineralising my rcs tank.

0.4g Calcium Chloride Dihydrate
2.0g Calcium Sulphate Dihydrate
2.0g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate
0.7g Potassium Carbonate
25 litres Water

The above solution gives:
24ppm Calcium
8ppm Magnesium
16ppm Potassium
7ppm Chloride
GH=5
KH=1

 

[14crazychris]

Ok cheers! That’s really helpful, know what I’m going to do now. One other thing, I’m going be doing a bucephalandra only tank however I have read that you cant use fertilisers with crystal shrimp. Was going to purchase the all in one evolution aqua liquid plant food, can I use this or would there be a better type of fertiliser to purchase for shrimp tanks?
Cheers Chris

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

I use ferts with cherry and bee shrimp no problem...
If it's copper you're worried about, don't be, it's present in such small quantities infects compared to meds...