# crystal red shrimp breeding in high ph..



## bodo

My crs tank has been running for over a year and a half now..i started with 10 SS quality shrimps and now the tank has over 100+.... I used ADA to start the tank, but kh back then was still low (less than 1). So, I added alkaline buffer to boost it to 4-5....However the ph also started to increase and its been at 7.8 all the time. I also added equilibrium to increase gh.

Everytime i test the water and the ph is 7.8 but the shrimp are still breeding... 

My question to all the shrimp experts here are... 1) ph of 7.8 is way above what ppl has been talking about of the low ph for crs... how could this happen?

2) if i ever start another tank & use ADA, should the kh be so low? I do not want to add alkaline buffer again because I think the alkaline buffer is the reason why my
ph being so high.

Thanks

Chris


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## Ebonbolt

Not sure on the shrimp, but yes, alkaline buffer is the reason why your pH is at 7.8. Different buffers keep the pH stable at different values, and prevent major fluctuations from occuring.


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## kam yiu

did you change the water ,and if the shrimp is fine you no need to do anything , before my old tank with ada soil for two years and i used ph down to keep ph 0n 6.2


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## Jojodog

I also notice my ph went up, though not as high as yours, when I used alkaline buffer to raise the kh. I also use acid buffer to bring ph back down. The down side of using seachem buffers is it also raises the tds. I have my kh=3 gh=5 tds= 200 and ph is steady at 6.6 with or without co2. Right now I have about 15 crs/cbs shrimplets, 1 crs, 2 cbs and 1 golden bee berried


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## bodo

interesting.. i guess i should have used ph down or acid buffer to bring down the ph at the beginning.... anyone have other ideas?


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## effox

Like kam yiu said, don't change anything.

If it's working for you, don't worry about the higher PH.


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## trevorhoang

lol im soo jealous....10 crs and 1 year later u got 100? lol tahts crazy


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## fxbillie

I have 30 CRS to start in 20g planted tank, and now after a year down to 10. Just the opposite of Bodo. Sigh. I can keep discus healthy & growing but not CRS. I am using one year old ADA. Adult shrimps do breed with shrimplets, but they don't survive much. Perhaps 2 survived for every 10 shrimplets. The older shrimps are dying off, so the population is shrinking. I don't change water much, just top up when needed. I use a small Aqua Clear filter, nothing fancy. Bodo you are doing well. Have you learned from members here how to breed CRS? Can you share some more tips, like what is your filter, how do you do water change (like how often and what %)? What type or brand of ADA you use? I heard African is better. What do you feed the shrimps and how often? How about the shrimplets, what do they eat? Sorry, too many questions. Thanks.


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## MananaP

Many have bred them in PH over 7 with no problem. If they are breeding constantly and babies grow up and everything is fine then i would now change one bit. If you however do decide to set-up another tank you might have done yourself a favor of not spending money on expensive substrate such as ADA. If they are fine with PH 7.8 and has been used to it for over a year i would make the new tank using silica sand or river sand which is inert and use our tap water which has a PH of 7+ and just add GH booster. GL!


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## kam yiu

if you want shrimps easy breeding and survived ,a big sponge and air pump is in need , most breeder of japan ,they are using underground filter and a big sponge that was i learned in japan


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## bodo

If ADA is used, it is supposed to buffer the water. So even if our water has 0 kh, should we worry about ph swing?


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## bodo

MananaP said:


> Many have bred them in PH over 7 with no problem. If they are breeding constantly and babies grow up and everything is fine then i would now change one bit. If you however do decide to set-up another tank you might have done yourself a favor of not spending money on expensive substrate such as ADA. If they are fine with PH 7.8 and has been used to it for over a year i would make the new tank using silica sand or river sand which is inert and use our tap water which has a PH of 7+ and just add GH booster. GL!


Thanks Frank, its a good idea, i might want to try.. btw, those 10 shrimp I started with were from you.  Thanks again.


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## bodo

fxbillie said:


> I have 30 CRS to start in 20g planted tank, and now after a year down to 10. Just the opposite of Bodo. Sigh. I can keep discus healthy & growing but not CRS. I am using one year old ADA. Adult shrimps do breed with shrimplets, but they don't survive much. Perhaps 2 survived for every 10 shrimplets. The older shrimps are dying off, so the population is shrinking. I don't change water much, just top up when needed. I use a small Aqua Clear filter, nothing fancy. Bodo you are doing well. Have you learned from members here how to breed CRS? Can you share some more tips, like what is your filter, how do you do water change (like how often and what %)? What type or brand of ADA you use? I heard African is better. What do you feed the shrimps and how often? How about the shrimplets, what do they eat? Sorry, too many questions. Thanks.


Hi fxbillie, I don't water change much, may be 5-10% a week, I have a aqua 50 and a eheim canister (forgot the model but its a small one) over my 20g long. I got the ADA II from patrick and feed them with sometimes blood worm or shrimp food(from patrick)....


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## MananaP

bodo said:


> Thanks Frank, its a good idea, i might want to try.. btw, those 10 shrimp I started with were from you.  Thanks again.


Sorry BUT my name is not Frank.


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## bodo

MananaP said:


> Sorry BUT my name is not Frank.


lol.. its been so long i got those shrimps from you i even got the wrong name...... Steve??


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## shaobo

bodo said:


> lol.. its been so long i got those shrimps from you i even got the wrong name...... Steve??


LOL~~ getting close.... Try again...


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## bodo

shaobo said:


> LOL~~ getting close.... Try again...


lol got it .. Stephan

hey shaobo, what is your opinion on 0 kh when using ADA, is it normal? should we worry about ph swing?


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## fxbillie

bodo said:


> Hi fxbillie, I don't water change much, may be 5-10% a week, I have a aqua 50 and a eheim canister (forgot the model but its a small one) over my 20g long. I got the ADA II from patrick and feed them with sometimes blood worm or shrimp food(from patrick)....


Thanks for the reply. That is every good filtration for a 20g. When I was at Patrick's store in Richmond, he seems to be using only sponge filter. Also when I bought some shrimps from Jiang604 (Frank), he has tanks with underground filter. So I am puzzled how much filter is needed for shrimp tank. Do you feed your shrimps daily or every few days. I was told that shrimps can die easier if fed daily. Any truth to that? Looks like MananaP's shrimps are productive. Perhaps I will get some from him. I need half dozen CRS to add to my tank.


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