Upgrading My Shrimp Tank

[Mamashack]

Thanks, TT!
It's just over 2 hours since I started the acclimation and the TDS is now at 195 ppm. Marvel seems to be happily munching on his cholla log which I've put in there so he's occupied and hopefully less stressed.
It is a bit labour intensive doing it this way, but I feel in control and the dogs can't get to the acclimation bucket. With the drip method I'd have to have the bucket on the floor, but it wouldn't be as tying.
I don't mind - s/he's worth it!

 

[TallTree01]

Good luck mama! Hope your new friend pulls through.

 

[fm1978]

He's a tough old guy that! Good for him...
 
Best of luck with the acclimating, you're definitely doing all the right things! I applaud your dedication!
 
Did you get your pearls in yet? 

 

[Zikofski]

wow, sorry just read this thread start to finish finally found the time to read it fully , thats cool about the TDS i am learning so much, but about what u said with calibrating, and TDS, would addings fertilisers like i do EI method and dry dosing increase my TDS? I'm thinking about getting one esp if its only £6 but like u said calibrating it how can u be 100% certain its correct? also your nitrate is low, I'm pretty sure my nitrate in my tank is way more higher more like 10 to 20ppm all the time so is my tap water so is that going to be a problem as i probably won't be able to get that any lower? seeming i add nitrate into the tank as well for ferts I'm still a little confused over the whole EI method and stuff wish someone would clear it all up for me haha.
 
but very nice and fm WOW i want them, look hard to spot against a dark substrate tho but once my carpet grows make it easier to spot, how much is he selling them for?  i so want them look so lovely
 
back to marvel i am glad you named him such an AWESOME name and glad he's still alive and doing well, be interesting to see how the other shrimp u have bought looks, u said you get them today?

 

[Mamashack]

They have just arrived a few minutes ago so I'm going to check their water stats and get cracking with acclimating.
I believe there is a solution you can get to do the recalibrations, Zik - haven't really looked into it yet as I reckon it should be true for a but yet.
Fm might be able to give a fuller explanation
TTFN - pictures later!!!

 

[fm1978]

I honestly wouldn't worry about calibration of your TDS meter. It says to use Sodium Chloride to calibrate but beyond that I wouldn't know how. At £6 it's a great device to have and if it only lasts a year before it's results start to go crazy I'd think that was good value! A good test of course would be if you get hold of some RO water and if doesn't read 0ppm then it probably needs to be calibrated. I would think it'll last quite a while anyway.
 
Ferts will increase your TDS, sometimes quite substantially, so you might want to tread carefully with how much you use or select plants that don't need any extra ferts or CO2. I know first hand that certain types of Copper based additive are not tolerated at all by any shrimp. 
 
You Nitrate will be a problem over time with sensitive shrimp and ideally it should be 0ppm, which is difficult under normal circumstances, especially if you have a not insignificant amount already in your tap. AJ from easishrimp recommended a Nitrate reactor from ebay or something like that but I eventually found that the Nitrax sponges from Juwel do a good job of keeping control of Nitrate levels. There's 4 tabs inside the sponge so £5-6 isn't too bad an investment as opposed to £50-100 for a reactor.

 

[Mamashack]

I can get hold of R.O. water (from work) which I believe can be between 0 and 10 ppm in theory whereas tap-water can be anything from 20 ppm upwards.
I'm not concerned about the calibration fluid really - just thought I ought to mention it if Zik is thinking of getting one.
 
Well the new arrivals are in their new home. I felt I had to acclimate a fair bit quicker than Marvel as there was 0.5 ppm ammonia in the travel water and quite a lot of waste. So I speeded the process up to 10 ppm in 5 mins as the starting TDS was 170 ppm (not as close to 250 ppm as I was expecting). The whole process took 1 hr 20 mins as opposed to the one this morning which took 3 hrs 50 mins (when maybe I had been a bit too cautious!)
There are at least 12 shrimp I think (difficult to be sure as they were bombing about all over the shop in the bucket!) and of differing sizes - 1 adult I think with most of the rest juveniles and there's 1 teeny tiny one. I wouldn't have seen it if it hadn't moved in the bucket.
They were almost transparent and just looked like pairs of black eyes with guts in the bucket, but now they look really good against the dark substrate.
 
The cholla log is very popular with most of them it seems altho some are dining on marimo moss balls this evening!
Am letting them settle in and will take pictures a bit later 

 

[Mamashack]

Here's a couple of pictures I've just taken:
The first one have ringed a white pearl next to Marvel a blue pearl for comparison:

 
 
 
Cholla picnic table!

 
I had hoped that having a few more shrimp would stop me staring into the tank to make sure Marvel was ok
Now I find I'm staring at it trying to spot the teeny one to make sure it's ok too! From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail it's only about 0.5cm and it's so sweet and not a bit phased by the bigger ones and thinks nothing of walking all over them! lol
It's not on either of these pics unfortunately.

 

[Zikofski]

wow they look lovely but honestly marvel blue? i can't tell the difference but they all look lovely shrimp those white shrimp look great against the dark substrate

 

[Mamashack]

I agree - they do look good don't they?
I have to admit I was expecting darker blue too but the pictures on the advert were misleading to say the least.
Difficult to believe it's the one in my signature isn't it? The colour doesn't show up as well in the longer shots.
Could be a bit of camouflage going on too if it feels somewhat threatened by the newcomers.
Haven't seen anything untoward - I think they are just avoiding each other for now. Hopefully they will become one big family unit eventually

 

[Mamashack]

Finally managed to get a picture of the teeny tiny shrimp with another one for comparison.
If I tell you that the "big" shrimp is only about 0.75 cm long - you'll be able to judge the size of the teeny one:
 

I think I will call this teeny one Atom as in Mighty .......! lol

 

[TallTree01]

Dawww, the blue is really shining through mama!

 

[Zikofski]

they both blue shrimp, atom and the big one look like blue jellys to me

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks guys, I think it's just the green of the moss ball affecting their colour - they definitely look white against the substrate and as they are white pearls (apart from Marvel) that's a good thing. It's also difficult to get true colours on phone cameras.
Maybe they were still getting used to their new surroundings when I took the pictures - they were truly transparent in the acclimation bucket! All eyes and guts! lol
 
The nitrate is holding at 4-5 ppm so it must have been the vallis that was beginning to melt that was raising it (I hope!)
I had some leftover water I'd prepared for the acclimation process and I'd a feeling some would have evaporated as I'd left it uncovered and yes it had gone up to 263 from 250. So I checked the shrimp tank as well and that had gone up to 263 also.
My question now is do I add ordinary dechlor water to get it back to 250 or is that rise acceptable for the shrimp. 
I guess before I got the shrimp that would have been happening in other tanks too without my realising it. So is it a reasonable rise or do I have to do something about it?
If it needs adjusting every day that's going to be a bit of a pain in the 'arris!
This picture maybe shows their colours better apart from Atom who still looks a bit bluish:

 

[Zikofski]

personaly stability is better for the tank if its constantly changing up and down daily then maybe that could be bad for the shrimp? better to leave it and if it gets to high to the upper end of the scale then maybe change, but then something must be causing the rise so try and  find what has caused or causing the rise, 263 is close enough to 250 so should be fine from what you have said before but if it keeps creeping up to 300 then maybe think about bringing it back down but if u need to do water changes every day to keep it 250 then maybe that is just as bad for the shrimp than letting it rise for a week
 
still lovely pictures they look so cute i am jelly