# Need help with water parameters !!



## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

It is a 10 gallon tank, about 5 weeks old. I do weekly water change, I would say around 40-50% . I fertilize premixed PMDD I bought from AquariumFertilizer. I am using API master test kit to test water. I keep my water around 78-80 degrees. I read somewhere shrimp breed faster around that temperature, not sure if it is correct or not. I had 12 adult shrimp in the tank, 6 or 7 of them are dead, most of them died in the same week. I did count around 16 babies in there, there could be more. I feed very little so there is hardly any waste, around 2-3 flakes every other day. The aquarium had only about 10 stems of Rotala Indica , this weekend it got moderately planted, will have more planted by the end of this week.

Water parameters are / were : 

This morning Last week
Ph : 6.0 6.4
NH3 / NH4 ( Ammonia ) : 0.5 1
No2 ( Nitrite ) : 1 0.25 
No3 ( Nitrate ) : 10 10

Based on Ammonia Calculater, I have 0.001 ammonia in the tank. 

I would love to bring ammonia and nitrite to 0 in the test kit results. I presume there would always be some nitrate in the water. Also, do I need to worry about my low Ph ? I know probably lower Ph is good for my higher ammonia in the water. 

I use tap water, tests this morning showed high Ph of 8.0 and 0 Ammonia.

Forgot to mention, I use DIY Co2.

Any help with understanding how to fix my parameters would be greatly appreciated.

- Dave


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## Quetzalcoatl (Feb 13, 2009)

I don't particularly see any problem with your parameters.
I assume you are wondering why your shrimp died. There are too many possibilities that it is nearly impossible to really tell you what went wrong.
It could be that your shrimp had some disease to begin with. It could be that you did not match the water good enough. Maybe you didn't treat the water well enough that you had some chroline left over. Perhaps your tank is not cycled enough. Etc...
The best I can say from the information you gave is maybe you are changing too much water. 
Are the pH level, temperature, and TDS same between the water you are changing and your tank water? If not, changing 50% at time can be harsh to your shrimp. 
It is easier for the shrimp if you change 10% at a time, 5 times a week, then change 50% at a time, 1 time a week.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Some of the changes could be a result of disturbing the substrate as you planted. Give it time to settle down and let the plants do their thing.


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## Rockylou (Nov 5, 2008)

Dave, 

You say your tank is 5 weeks old. How long did you wait before adding shrimp? Was your tank fully cycled?

Also, what water conditions were they accustomed to prior to your buying them? My LFS uses RO water and I use tap, so extra care (and more time) is required during acclimation.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

I think that might have been one of the mistakes,the tank might not have been fully cycled, and I didn't have a test kit to check. They went in after 2 weeks, I expected it to be cycled by then. I used water from my old tank and old filter.

The shrimp came from another tank of mine, they have been in that tank for at least 3 months, or born in that tank.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

Got my API gh/kh testing kit this morning.

My gh is 11 and kh 4. Seems to me that my gh is a little high considering the chart that comes with the kit shows only up to 12.

I tested my tap water, gh came to 4. Since I use tap water for my aquarium, what would cause my gh to go up that high in the tank ? 

One thing I should add to my post#1 is, for substrate, I use Seachem Flourite.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

davesnothere said:


> Got my API gh/kh testing kit this morning.
> 
> My gh is 11 and kh 4. Seems to me that my gh is a little high considering the chart that comes with the kit shows only up to 12.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you have something in the tank leaching either Ca or Mg, since that is what gh measures. In any case, gh 11 won't kill your shrimp. Flourite, to my knowledge, won't cause any gh increases.


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## Quetzalcoatl (Feb 13, 2009)

Are you using any rocks in your tank? Maybe that rock is causing the GH to increase.
In my opinion, GH is not that important in planted aquarium. When someone say this plant needs soft water, it means you want water with low KH (which measures Ca and Mg ions). As for your shrimp, high GH will not kill them. In fact, slightly high GH should be favorbable since Ca is used to build their shells.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

I only have plants and a driftwood in the aquarium. Is there a possibility that PMDD would increase Gh ? It is possible I am dosing a little higher than what I should,would that do it ?


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## Rockylou (Nov 5, 2008)

Dave,

Did you figure out what was going on with your shrimp tank?

Mine are in a low tech tank (no ferts) with some galaxy rasboras and are doing well.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

I haven't. Gh and KH are still 10 and 4 respectively.

I guess I will live with it as long as they do not do harm to my shrimp.

This morning : 
Ph : 6.8
NH3 / NH4 ( Ammonia ) :0
No2 ( Nitrite ) : 0
No3 ( Nitrate ) : 20

I guess higher Nitrate is expected when Ammonia and Nitrite are 0 ?


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