[teqvet]

So i did a search on water change and didn't really find anything relevant to what I am looking for.

For those keeping shrimp in heavily planted tanks, how often, if at all do you change your water?

Lyric's tank is well planted, and floaters grow at such a rapid rate.. her tank maintains a 0/0/0 scale across ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. TDS is staying at 108.

She just got her shrimp on Friday and already has 1 berried and at least 4 that are saddled. I had planned to help her set this tank up with Barr's method (at least I think that's the directions we followed, for the most part)

Just add top off water for evaporation? (looks like maybe every 3 weeks she might need a gallon at most)

Thx for the insight.

 

[DaveP1982]

I think just topping up evaporated water can lead to problems due to the minerals that are left behind building up. Not sure though I'm sure someone else can confirm or dismiss that.

 

[bostoneric]

thats why use RO water and we test the tank water often. evaporation is part of owning an aquarium, especially during the summer months with fans to keep the water cool.


top offs = RO
water changes = remineralized.
i dont think there is any hard rule for when to do this. I just monitor my water, either by random testing or when i notice algae growing its usually a sign its time to change the water.

 

[randpost]

I think just topping up evaporated water can lead to problems due to the minerals that are left behind building up. Not sure though I'm sure someone else can confirm or dismiss that.

It depends. Topping off with r/o water adds nothing. Tap is a different story.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[jmf3460]

I do a water change in my 10 gallon shrimp tank like once every 3 weeks. I usually do 1.5 or 2 gallons of water, I rarely ever clean my filter though, maybe once this year.

 

[randpost]

Do you mean ei dosing when you say Barr's method? If so, if you do it with no modification you will need to do 50% water changes weekly.

I have 150 RCS and I dose ei. As long as you match the water parameters for the water change, the shrimp are fine.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[teqvet]

thx guys!

 

[wicca27]

some people here do water changes every week of 20%+ some do top offs and change when parameters swing. personally i test every couple days and if the parameters start changing i do water changes. if you use tap water you will need to do changes more often due to mineral content of your water. evaporation will cause the tds to go up pretty fast if you are doing top offs a couple times a week. ro it wont creap as much. the main think to remember is keeping the parameters stable. one planted tank i had with crs i only had to do a water change ever 2-3 months, with the new tb im getting i will be keeping a much closer eye on thing for a while till i get used to them.

 

[zerodameaon]

there's a rule floating around the internet of 50% water change once a week. that is over kill. 50% once a month is more realistic. I would say once every 2 months is fine. I have pushed for over 4 months with no change, by then i started to get some problems of quicker algae growth.

Are you EI dosing? Doubtful, so your advice is horrible because you omit the reason as to why you do 50% a week.

 

[Matuva]

In a heavily planted tank, I'd monitor the water parameters and just top off with RO or rain water, and do 10~15 water change if necessary.

That's what I do on mines, and they go just fine.
I have even noticed that I had more troubles and lose shrimps by performing the 10-15% water change each week.

Keep in mind that one of the success key in shrimps care is stability

 

[natemcnutty]

I range from 50% weekly on a 29 gallon medium tech, a couple low tech tanks at 25% weekly, ~10% weekly on my QT, and 25% every other week on my low tech at work.

I personally have plants in all of my tanks, so every couple of weeks is the least frequent I'll change water now, though I have gone much longer in the past (several months).

For shrimp, I found coloration and shell thickness to degrade over time when I went a couple months without a water change. Parameter shifts are hard to account for over long periods of time too.

For plants, the long term issues I ran into were signs of Mg deficiencies even though my GH was at the top of the range of my shrimp even with a 1:3 Ca:Mg ratio. I was told to test more frequent water changes to replinish Ca/Mg ions, and it made a big difference. I don't know enough chemistry to know whether what I was told is true or not, but I can't argue with the results

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[aubie98]

I do a 30-40% water change on all my tanks (10, 9, and 4 gallon tanks) weekly. I dose PPS in the 10 and 4 gallons, and while there probably isn't really a need to do so, I like it and it keeps me focused and attentive to the tanks (not that I"m not obsessively looking in them regardless!).

 

[clownplanted]

I do a 50-60% WC on my high tech 60 gallon weekly. In that tank I am really pushing the limits of co2(45ppm)/ferts(full EI 6x week) so if I skip a week I can tell the tank is telling me it is time for a wc. For my three shrimp tanks I do a 20-25% wc each week. I may go 2 weeks at most if the nitrates do not creep up over 10ppm in my shrimp tanks and never let them get over 10ppm. I figure all the food and ferts and extra stuff you add to a tank that nature cannot remove as quickly as say a stream or lake means we need to ensure we freshen up the water.

 

[ILikeRice]

20% water changes + trying to match parameters with sitting/tank water. Some recommend refilling at interval for shrimp keeping to reduce abnormal reaction to changes via shrimpspot

 

[clownplanted]

20% water changes + trying to match parameters with sitting/tank water. Some recommend refilling at interval for shrimp keeping to reduce abnormal reaction to changes via shrimpspot

Very good point with the matching parameters and to add to that when I do my shrimp tanks water changes I do them very very slow. I have a pump that I use to fill the tank with a lever on it that I turn down that fills the water VERY slow. So about 2 gallons or so it takes about 2 hours to fill in the tank. What this allows is the buffering substrate to ensure that it can buffer the new water easier as it does not have to do as much at once. Also this ensures the cooler/heater can adjust the newer water to the level in the tank even though I closely make sure the temp is close as it is of the new water.

With my RO/DI water I remineralize about 5-7 days ahead of time in a bucket and use an airstone to ensure that the gasses are gone.