Why do most CRS breeding tanks have milky/cloudy waters?

I personally don't believe the water is milky or cloudy. I believe the sides of the tanks have algae, etc on them. I have several new tanks set up below some "seasoned" tanks. The older tanks have a similar appearance of those in your video...the new tanks look cleaner because the glass is spotless.

soc200 said:

I personally don't believe the water is milky or cloudy. I believe the sides of the tanks have algae, etc on them. I have several new tanks set up below some "seasoned" tanks. The older tanks have a similar appearance of those in your video...the new tanks look cleaner because the glass is spotless.

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Same here, the cloudy tanks seem to be dirty glass on the back and sides. Same with petstores alot of tanks will have a "haze" if you look through the sides of the tanks but if you look through the front they are usually clear.

I've never seen a breeders rack that is dirty or cloudy (water, not talking about glass) all the time.

Crs are not hard to breed in the overall picture, they are sensitive to a few things but if you keep things stable, set it for the right temp and keep things stable (yes stability is key) you will have babies in time. Don't worry about if your water is the right cloudiness, they are finicky at first and will take time too settle in but once they start breeding you are usually set to go as long as things stay stable.

Clean water is required for shrimp.

-Gordon

One of my tank has that cloudy water. I just don't know how to make it clear i tried an 80% water change and it's still cloudy, but it doesn't seem to effect the cbs at all. I just leave it alone and just do my routine.

NeoShrimp said:

Here is what I mean:

4 out of 5 CRS breeding tanks I've seen look like these, yet they have tons of baby shrimps

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Quite a few of mine look like this, but if you look straight down in the tank they are crystal clear. I like to leave the film on the tank for the babies to feed on, that is most likely what your seeing.

probably some trade secret lol. But im not sure that is sorta curious.

NeoShrimp said:

Here is what I mean:

4 out of 5 CRS breeding tanks I've seen look like these, yet they have tons of baby shrimps

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I think you are just looking too deep into it, I can show you 10 clear tanks for 1 cloudy tank. Some tanks might have a tint too them because of IAL's, driftwood, etc.

The tank you linked looks like it is a mixture of dirty glass (almost looks acrylic by the rounded edges), scuff marks, and the light reflecting off of it and shadows from the floaters.

2 tanks side by side everything identical except water clarity are going to have the same breeding rate. That's just my opinion. I have never seen a article showing cloudy water increases breeding in shrimp lol. I wouldn't worry if your water is crystal clear. There are a ton of things that can make a tank cloudy even moving a plant can turn up mulm and give it a temporary cloud.

Yeah, perhaps it could be a mixture of those reasons. I have seen crystal clear tanks with lots of baby shrimps too, especially those reg legged CRS's : )

Btw, I am unsure in terms of water hardiness being 125mg/L. Everywhere I search it says in terms of 3-6dH but how is that compared to mg/L? :/

I understand what you're saying. When I had thousands of cherry shrimp in my 15 gallon it was cloudy like this. It is free floating algae and bacteria that you are seeing. The baby shrimp are able to feed on this. This brings me to the belief that this kind of water is ideal for breeding tanks and overpopulation. I would also do 80-90% water changes and the tank would get cloudy the next day.

NeoShrimp said:

Btw, I am unsure in terms of water hardiness being 125mg/L. Everywhere I search it says in terms of 3-6dH but how is that compared to mg/L? :/

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Divide by 17.9 to get dGH or dKH.

Rainer said:

Divide by 17.9 to get dGH or dKH.

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Thank you! :biggrin:
So I calculated 6.98 dGH. Is that ok?

This is the range that I could find online that is "normal": GH of 4-8 dGH

Sounds right. 4-8 is listed as "soft" on one site I saw, but 8-12 is listed as "medium hard".

Rainer said:

Sounds right. 4-8 is listed as "soft" on one site I saw, but 8-12 is listed as "medium hard".

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What is your dGH and are your CRSs breeding ok?

NeoShrimp said:

The tanks with the most beautiful looking CRS combinations I have seen are in cloudy/milky like waters. That is so odd! I was told "clean" water parameters is key.

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It was just the tank glass. As mentioned in the video, the water TDS was maintained in the range of 110 - 130 MicroSiemens (70.4 - 83.2 ppm). IOW, the water was very very clean.

i think it's all the shrimp sperm floating around because they are making babies all the time in it.


jus keeding.:icon_cool

i add calcium montmorillonite to my shrimp tanks and it gives it a LITTLE bit of a haze but its not as bad as the pic that was posted.

Perhaps it could be calcium montmorillonite. But anyways, after all the replies and searching, I think the main focus is low TDS, GH, KH and pH besides A & N's @ 0 : )