Sexy Shrimp: How High Is High No3?

[Caine]

All the info I've been able to find about Sexy Shrimp is that they do not tollerate high NO3 levels. My question is "How high is high?" for these shrimps?

I have a little 10x10x10" invert tank that seems to be doing well so far. It has only one little frogspawn. Its pretty happy and it has grown up a bit from when I first got it. I'm feeding it weekly with a little chunk of shrimp on Thursdays followed with a water change on Saturday. NO3 levels are 20ppm just before I do my water change which resets it down to about 5 or 10 ppm or so (I'm not good at reading the colours).

Are those safe levels for sexy shrimp? If no, how high is still safe for them?

Thanks!

[The Grizz]

Really need to get those levels down to zero. To me it sounds like you are feeding way to much & not doing a big enough water change.

[Nano]

Yup.

May want to test your source water as well. Cut back feedings as said as uneaten food pollutes the water column adding to the issue

Inverts (primarily shrimp) are fairly sensitive to changes in parameters and high ammonia/nitrates etc. So ideally you want good water quality for them.

[fishoholic]

I've had sexy shrimp adapt to higher levels of No3 (20-30) but ideally you should try to keep it below 10.

[Caine]

Thanks for the replies. I don't think there is any uneaten food because I feed the little chunk right into the frogspawn mouth. I'm doing about 50% water change once a week. Would you suggest two 50% changes a week or one big paired with a couple smaller ones to bring those nitrates down? Its only about 4 gallons total water so it doesn't take much to do a small water change. I'll feed a smaller chunk of shrimp to see if that helps too.

[fishoholic]

That a lot of food for that size tank, I never feed my frogspawn frozen (it might catch some free flowing mysis every now and then but that's about it). I would cut back to feeding 2-3 pieces (not chunks) of mysis a month. You could add a few drops of phyto once a week to feed the corals with. Sexy shrimp need mysis but 1-2 pieces each a day is lots.

[Caine]

I dunno if we are talking the same sizes? Just to be sure, the chunk I am feeding is usually 2mm x 2mm x 2mm. I cut up that small cube, defrost, turn off the pump and let it sink into the frogspawn's mouth then turn the pump back on after a couple minutes.

If that is big I'll try to chop up the shrimp even smaller.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Caine

I dunno if we are talking the same sizes? Just to be sure, the chunk I am feeding is usually 2mm x 2mm x 2mm. I cut up that small cube, defrost, turn off the pump and let it sink into the frogspawn's mouth then turn the pump back on after a couple minutes.

If that is big I'll try to chop up the shrimp even smaller.

I meant 2-3 single/individual pieces of mysis off of a cube, no chunks.

[Caine]

Ah. Okay. Does my newbness show at all? thanks a lot for the info.

[The Grizz]

It's not hard to over feed a tank especially when you think you are on the right path. I also like to rinse the Mysis a little to get the juices off it can be a potent as the Mysis it's self.