Struggling with Shrimp/Planted tank advise

[AverageWhiteBloke]

You can't beat floating plants for many reason IMO. They make fish and shrimp more comfortable, it's built into their genes to avoid open water where they can get eaten by predators from above so they are not as shy, they create shaded spots in the tank, they get their co2 from the atmosphere so not robbing it from the submerged plants, the roots provide safe places and food for young fry and they grow quite rapidly consuming large amounts of waste combined with unlimited co2 to pump oxygen down into the column through their roots plus the roots provide a great place for beneficial bacteria to live. On top of that they will be the first to let you know if there's a shortage of fertiliser in the tank.

What's not to like 🙂 Every tank should have some.

 

[tayloss]

So, a little update on progress..

I’ve removed the CO2 system from the tank on Monday and have continued to do the 2.5ml fertiliser daily but not add any additional KNO3 since Sunday and everything appears to be clearing up nicely..

Still early days, but I don’t think it was the right time to run CO2 in a tank destined for Shrimp.

I added some blue velvet shrimps who have settled in nicely and are now very active, so I may or not have overdosed the tank...

Certainly won’t be making that mistake again and will allow the tank to level where it seems happiest!

Thanks,
Chris


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kadoxu]

You can still inject a low amount of CO2. My Fluval Chi has Red Cherry Shrimp and I inject 1 bubble every 5 seconds. Not much, but better than nothing.

Anyway, glad to see you in the freshwater side of things! I'm also on Ultimate Reef following the crazy guy doing the huge tank in his garage!

 

[tayloss]

You can still inject a low amount of CO2. My Fluval Chi has Red Cherry Shrimp and I inject 1 bubble every 5 seconds. Not much, but better than nothing.

Anyway, glad to see you in the freshwater side of things! I'm also on Ultimate Reef following the crazy guy doing the huge tank in his garage!

Yes, I know who you are and have seen your messages in other posts 🙂 I'm adding some CRS into the tank tomorrow, so am looking forward to it.. for now I'm going to leave the CO2 out as the tank is seemingly doing ok!

 

[Chubbs]

I have red Fire Sakura Shrimp in a high tech, heavily planted, community tank. They’re doing fine. I really don’t think CO2 effects them. I just think plants and hiding places are the key to success.


And a pre filter sponge to stop them from being sucked in

 

[sciencefiction]

I think plenty of advice is given already. I just wanted to mention that the best water for those shrimp is stable water. I wouldn't be concentrating on particular GH, PH and KH reading as long as there is some of each and the TDS is within the soft water range. . You just need the TDS to be stable. So if you're re-mineralizing the RO water with some tap water, then the TDS of the mixture should read the same each time, regardless of the individual PH, GH and KH parameters. For example if you aim at 160ppm TDS, then the mixture for water changes should read about the same each time.

The problem with a KH of zero is that keeping a tank with that low KH can make swings in nitrification and when you think the individual water parameters are to blame, ferts, co2, etc..., it is actually basic water quality issue, and how well ammonia and nitrite are being dealt with by the system. In nature some fish/shrimp do live in zero KH. In fish tanks that can be detrimental due to the fluctuations that causes. You do need some KH reading in your water mixture. Apart from that, you need a stable TDS, none of the rest of parameters matter. During nitrification the KH is continuously depleted. We do water changes to replenish it. If you're starting with a zero, you'll have really hard time managing the water quality. I know very experienced fish keepers have kept such water but it is really an extreme situation, and perhaps daily water changes are needed to keep a tank like that stable.

 

[tayloss]

Just wanted to give you all an update on the tank and the progress I've made over the last few weeks!

I've added a mix of Cherry Reds/Blue Velvets shrimps who have settled in nicely and also produced the first batch of shrimplets 🙂

On the algae front, since removing the CO2, I started to dose Seachem Excel and daily ferts and now my tank is algae free and is now being a pleasure to look at! I've also adjusted the lighting period so that its on between 7am - 10am and 3:30pm - 8:30pm.

Anyway, I always say a picture speaks a thousand words, so here is a video I made of the shrimp in doing their thing.. Thanks for all your help and support and maybe I can get to grips with CO2 in a future tanks!



Thanks,
Chris