I have had some amano shrimp in the tank for just over 2 weeks and they seem happy enough and appear to have evaded the discus long enough for me to consider trying to increase their number in the new year.
My only concern is that, being a discus tank, I use rainwater, and as a result have a very low gh and kh (3 and 1 degree respectively). This combined with the addition of CO2 in the water means that the ph is of course quite low, at around 6.
Given the 'acidic' nature of the water, and the fact that there are so few carbonates in the water, might this be a long term problem for the shrimp who presumably have a calcium based shell?
Should I try to increase my gh and Kh at least a little, and if so, what is recommended in order to achieve this. I don't want to change from using the rainwater, it's worked so well my tank for several years now!
Thanks in advance for any advice!
My only concern is that, being a discus tank, I use rainwater, and as a result have a very low gh and kh (3 and 1 degree respectively). This combined with the addition of CO2 in the water means that the ph is of course quite low, at around 6.
Given the 'acidic' nature of the water, and the fact that there are so few carbonates in the water, might this be a long term problem for the shrimp who presumably have a calcium based shell?
Should I try to increase my gh and Kh at least a little, and if so, what is recommended in order to achieve this. I don't want to change from using the rainwater, it's worked so well my tank for several years now!
Thanks in advance for any advice!