Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Okay, I got a lot of questions, most amateurish, but oh well. Please help answer some and thanks beforehand, appreciate everyone's time.

Questions:

1) What do you use to measure the nitrate, nitrite, ph, GH, KH, levels in your tank? (Something not too expensive, is accurate, and pops out a number) Brand name or where I can find it, something someone has found to be accurate and good quality.

2) What is GH, KH, nitrate, nitrite? How is it introduced into the tank to begin with, how does it effect shrimps and snails, and what is used to control the levels?

3) How long does it take red ramshorn snail eggs to hatch?

4) I hear that sometimes you have to add iron or calcium to help your shrimp or snail to moult or grow correctly with strong shells/exoskeleton, what kind of medicine can you use, hopefully something naturally and can be dealt with without purchasing more things.

5) How come cherry shrimps lose their color and become pale during the night?

6) Does java moss grow better if it was rooted into an object like drift wood or does it grow okay just scattered inside the tank?

Thanks beforehand
Nathan T.

nathan515

You might try, to do a search on a few of the question.

For pH , a pHep5 meter

For Java Moss, I have it attached, and just floating and it seem to do just fine both ways.
I find it is a slow grower.

Have a Great Day
John

You can buy tester strips or the drop testers to test your water....do an online search and i'm sure you'll find a good deal somewhere. The strips aren't as accurate as the other tests.

Nitrite is produced when a tank is new and "cycling" and it's bad for fish, shrimp and snails. Good bio bugs that grow in your filter eventually convert nitrite into nitrate in a cycling tank. Your nitrite reading should always be 0 in an established tank with a reading for nitrate less than 40 (the lower the better but not zero). Regular water changes dilute the amount of nitrate in your tank and plants help too but shouldn't replace water changes.
I would do a web search to read up on this info and it's very important to know for your shrimp, fish and snails.

Here's a link with info on GH and KH

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-chem.html

As for the red ramshorns I would say 2 to 3 weeks. I bought some blue ramshorns eggs and put them in my tank and saw nothing for about a month until the other night when I saw a weird looking snail....a cute baby ramshorn. Good luck with your reds....I hope you get the blood red ones.

Some people add liquid calcium and iodine. I used to add calcium for my snails shells and I have some iodine but don't know what it's for. I would do a search on this site or online for more info.

I can't say i've seen my cherry shrimp lose their colour during the night....perhaps i'll turn the tank light on next time I can't sleep and see if mine fade too. Mine were light orange when i got them from my lfs and they didn't even look like cherry shrimp....they are nice and red now thankfully.

Good luck.