How we check our numbers.
A wrong parameter on a shrimp site does not just mislead, it kills a colony. So every figure we publish is anchored to a primary authority, every disagreement between sources is resolved in the open, and every guide is kept current. Here is exactly how that works.
How we research a figure
When we state that a species wants GH 6 to 8, or that copper at hobby dosing is lethal to invertebrates, that claim has to come from somewhere we can defend. Our research follows the same order every time.
Start from primary authorities
We begin with the most authoritative source available, not the easiest to find. For water chemistry, biology, and disease that means university extension fact sheets, peer-reviewed studies, and government species data. For products it means the manufacturer's own dosing specification.
Confirm against a second authority
A single number is a starting point, not a fact. Wherever a figure matters, we confirm it against at least one independent primary source before it goes into a guide.
State ranges, and say what they depend on
Living animals do not live at a single decimal point. We publish working ranges, and we name the thing that actually matters most for that species, usually stability, so a reader knows where the edges are.
What we anchor our figures to
Every number on this site traces back to one of these. If a claim cannot be tied to a source like this, it does not get published as fact.
- University extension fact sheets Land-grant and aquaculture extension programs (the .edu world) publish reviewed material on water quality, invertebrate biology, and pathogens. This is our default first stop.
- Peer-reviewed studies For physiology, tolerances, and breeding biology we go to the published literature, not to a summary of a summary. We read what the study actually measured.
- USGS species data For native range, salinity needs, and life cycle (the reason an Amano larva needs brackish water, for instance) we use government species records rather than hobby retellings.
- Manufacturer dosing specs For remineralizers, buffering soils, dechlorinators, and treatments we cite the maker's stated dosing and composition, then flag where shrimp keeping needs differ from the label.
What counts as a source
We anchor a figure only to a primary authority: a university extension fact sheet, a peer-reviewed study, official species data, or a manufacturer specification. Secondary write-ups can flag that a claim exists, but they are never the reason we treat it as true.
When sources disagree
Good sources contradict each other more often than the hobby admits. One extension sheet lists a wider temperature band than a study; a manufacturer's dose assumes a tank we are not running. When that happens we do not just average the numbers and move on. We work through it.
- Weigh sources by authority and by how directly they measured the thing in question.
- Prefer the narrower, safer range when a reader's animals are at stake.
- Say in the guide that sources disagree, and explain which one we followed and why.
- Picking the most generous number because it makes a species look easier.
- Blending two figures into a false middle that no source actually supports.
- Hiding the disagreement so the page reads as more certain than the evidence is.
Corrections policy
We get things wrong sometimes, and a care site that pretends otherwise is not one to trust. Our rule is simple. When we find an error, or a reader points one out, we fix the page rather than quietly leaving it, and we are open about meaningful changes.
Small fixes, a typo or a clearer sentence, are corrected on the spot. Substantive fixes, a wrong parameter, an unsafe dose, a claim that turned out to be unsupported, are corrected as a priority, because someone may be acting on that number in front of a live tank right now.
If you spot something that looks off, tell us. Corrections from readers are taken seriously and checked against the same primary sources as everything else. You can reach us through the contact page.
How we keep numbers current
Care advice drifts out of date in two ways: the science gets refined, and the products change. We account for both.
When a manufacturer reformulates a remineralizer or revises a dosing spec, the figures that depend on it are re-checked against the new label. When newer research sharpens a tolerance or overturns an old piece of hobby lore, we update the guides that relied on the old understanding rather than leaving the previous version standing.
The aim is steady, not theatrical. We would rather quietly keep a number correct than slap a fresh date on a page that did not change. What you read here is meant to reflect the best primary sources we have at the time you read it.