Freshwater Shrimp Tank Water Parameters
While preparing to set up an aquarium for freshwater shrimp, the main concern I had was around the water:
- Will NYC tap water be suitable? If not, what should be done to ameliorate it?
- What range of water conditions will the shrimp (Neocaridina) be able to tolerate? Will that overlap with that of our snails?
- How should I measure the water quality?
Our tank has currently been up and running for several months. It is heavily planted, has required very minimal water changing, and so far all the critters seem to be happy. The shrimp are regularly reproducing, as well as the snails that hitched a ride with some of the plants we bought.
It took about a month to cycle the tank to the point where we had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10-20ppm nitrate, and we waited until this was done to put in any shrimp or snails.
For water testing, we’ve used both the API freshwater master test kit and Aquarium co-op multitest strips. The test strips are much easier to use, and seem to produce results comparable to those of the API test kit, except for pH and the fact that the strips cannot measure ammonia, while the API kit does not measure GH or KH. After initial setup, I haven’t been worried about ammonia so I don’t regularly test that any more.
Comparison of test kit results for aquarium water, NYC tap water, and distilled water
What follows is a comparison of the API and Co-op test strip results for water from our aquarium, NYC tap water, and distilled water. (See the bottom of this post for pictures of test results from the strips and test kit.)
API freshwater test kit:
| Our tank | NYC tap water | Distilled water | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 7.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| ammonia ppm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| nitrites ppm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| nitrates ppm | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Co-op multitest strips:
| Our tank | NYC tap water | Distilled water | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| nitrites ppm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| nitrates ppm | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| KH ppm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GH ppm (dGH) | 200 (11) | 0 | 0 |
Some notes:
- NYC tap water is indeed soft. It is basically equivalent to distilled water along all the measured dimensions. Note that the tests are (afaik) unable to detect chloramine which NYC (generally?) uses instead of chlorine, so if using NYC tap water you’ll need to de-chloraminate it yourself.
- The API and Co-op tests basically agree on everything but pH. I am inclined to believe the API test kit here that our water is roughly neutral pH, since I only top it up with distilled water now that I’ve got it running, and also there is enough crushed coral to in theory prevent it from become acidic.
- To convert ppm to the typically seen dGH (degrees of hardness) just divide by 17.9, or multiple to go the opposite way.
- GH measures Calcium and Magnesium, but apparently crushed coral is not a significant source of magnesium, so it is possible that the Ca levels are fine/good but Mg levels could be low. I have no reason to be concerned about this for now, given that most aquarists don’t seem to be terribly concerned about it and everything in the tank seems healthy.
What is the desired range of water parameters for Neocaridina?
There is little agreement on what the desired water parameter ranges are for Neocaridina, other than:
- any ammonia or nitrites are bad
- nitrates shouldn’t exceed 20 ppm
- you need some GH and maybe some KH
- it is more important that parameters are stable than that they are within some narrow range
| measure | recommended range (dGH) | recommended range (ppm) | source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GH | 6 - 14 | 107 - 250 | https://www.shrimplyexplained.com/the-shrimp-school/basics-of-gh-for-shrimp-tank/ |
| KH | 0 - 10 | 0 - 180 | https://www.shrimplyexplained.com/the-shrimp-school/basics-of-gh-for-shrimp-tank/ |
| GH | 6 - 8 | 107 - 143 | https://aquariumshrimpkeeping.com/what-should-gh-be-in-shrimp-tanks/ |
| KH | 3 - 6 | 54 - 107 | https://aquariumshrimpkeeping.com/what-should-gh-be-in-shrimp-tanks/ |
| GH | 8 - 10 | 143 - 180 | https://plantednanotanks.com/shrimp-water-parameters/ |
| KH | 6 - 9 | 107 - 161 | https://plantednanotanks.com/shrimp-water-parameters/ |
| GH | 4 - 10 | 72 - 180 | https://www.shrimpscience.com/articles/shrimp-tank-gh/ |
| KH | 2 - 10 | 36 - 180 | https://aquariumshrimpkeeping.com/what-should-kh-be-in-shrimp-tank/ |
Our tank has been doing very well at about 12 GH (above most of the listed upper bounds) and around 0 KH (below most of the listed lower bounds).
Pictures of test results
For pictures of the results, shown first are the Co-op test strips:
Next, in order, the API results for pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.
