Freshwater aquarium water quality

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Jameshydet
Egg
Egg
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:18 am

Freshwater aquarium water quality

Post by Jameshydet »

Hi I am fairly new to the aquarium hobby and have quickly got hooked on the chemistry of water and it's quality as I believe this to be key to success with fish/shrimp keeping?
So I got an api water test kit and then got an api kh, gh kit and a tds pen.
So got my ammonia to 0 my nitrites to 0 and nitrates at around 5ppm my kh is 1 my gh around 14 and my tds at 450 ppm.
So I tested my tap water and it is 420ppm, I have read that if you wish to breed high grade shrimp this needs to be lower than 200 ppm.
So I went to the local supermarket and found a value spring water with only 98 ppm great so warmed it slightly added a drop or 2 of seachem prime and did a 30% water change with the value spring water and checked the tds and it has gone up to 610 ppm?? So I am now puzzled as to what could of  happened .? Is it something to do with water buffering issues? I have some algee shrimp in there already which seem happily feeding and dashing around but was hoping to introduce some cherrys when I get the water quality correct?   please help :)
KenCotigirl
Senior Shrimp Master
Senior Shrimp Master
Posts: 759
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:46 am
Location: Old Bridge, NJ

Re: Freshwater aquarium water quality

Post by KenCotigirl »

Just a few questions:

1. Was the tds 450 just before the water change or days before?
2. What is your sustrate and hardscape? Some material increases tds.
3. How long have you been cycling the tank?
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