Looks normal to me. I will suggest to do water cycle longer. At least for another week or so and do update on your water parameter readings.
Hi
I'm having problems with my pH and kH.
2 Feet Tank
ADA Soil
Eheim 2213
Aquazonic 2 T5 tubes
1 DW
Hornworts, Frogbits, US Fissiden, Weeping Moss
Using API Liquid Test Kits,
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 5.5
gH: 3
kH: 1
Tank has been cycling for 25 days already. The pH used to be 6.5, but today it dropped to 5.5. I just did a 50% water change to try bring pH up. Would like to keep Shrimps like Chocolate/FR or CRS. Is there a need to bring up my kH and pH. If yes, how do i do it?
Need help lol Thanks...
Looks normal to me. I will suggest to do water cycle longer. At least for another week or so and do update on your water parameter readings.
Really? I thought pH 5.5 is too low. Will it go back to 6.5 on its own? Also I read that having low kH like 1 causes pH to fluctuate anyhow?
i think let the tank cycle longer. i cycle my tank about 1 month plus, using ADA new. ph around 6. Normally, i just check ph n gh only.
Well, Ada soil normally range from 5 to 6.4 (based on my own experience)
That's why I mention is normal to me. After awhile when the water cycle is more or less done, you should be able to achieve close to 6.
So it's ok? Thought 5.5 pH is too low for shrimps like Sakura or fire red?
I agree that is the normal range... I have kept my PRL in PH of 4.3... They are fine... My tanks reaches this PH when I was doing my reset... So there is not really much of a cycle when they are sharing the same parameter...
TS, the parameter you have given is fine for CRS... So don't need to bother and tweak it... Just let it cycle well and get ready to put in shrimps...
钱不是问题!问题是。。。我没有钱。。。
花钱像拉屎一样简单,赚钱像吃屎一样难。。。
http://alvinchan80.blog.fc2.com
Thanks for the response Hmmm... Okay then. I guess it's normal lol. Hopefully my pH increases again. What about my kH? It seems quite low and will cause my pH to be unstable?
But I won't be keeping crs at the moment. I want to play with some chocolate shrimps or sakuras first. Is it still ok? How about my other parameters? They good?
钱不是问题!问题是。。。我没有钱。。。
花钱像拉屎一样简单,赚钱像吃屎一样难。。。
http://alvinchan80.blog.fc2.com
I see. Alright. Anyway if anybody has any thing that can give it to me for bacteria do let me know here like piece of sponge in ur filter from your established tank.
Try adding less than a handful of coral chip, bury it in the soil somewhere in the soil. Mine have the same soil. I bury some in the middle, it's maintain at 6.3-6.5 and I like it that way. My fishes not having issue with ph. Extra one you can keep it somewhere in a plastic container and store it away.
钱不是问题!问题是。。。我没有钱。。。
花钱像拉屎一样简单,赚钱像吃屎一样难。。。
http://alvinchan80.blog.fc2.com
i did thought of that but i prefer a natural way. and didnt want to risk having adding too much coral chips or face the problem again when the coral chips wear off or something lol
Like Alvin said coral chip is not advisable for shrimps tank. Nature way use aged tapwater aged for a week ph should 7. After a month you ph will buffer around 6.0 but bear in while if continue user of the tapwater that way your soil will deplete it buffering like in 6-8 months. So I would suggest once you reach the ph you want switch to distill water. Just my unworthy cents of opinion.
Actually wondering will there be harmful effect in the event of hanging a small bag of coral chip to bring up the PH abit?
I notice that there's still detectable amount of ammonia in the water.
When ammonia get's broken down to nitrite, the hydrogen from the NH3 get replaced with oxygen. The freed hydrogen then reduces pH of the water. So it is normal for a cycling tank to have low pH due to the accumulated ammonia being broken down by the newly colonized bacteria. Once this ammonia is gone, pH will slowly rise with water change until it reaches an equilibrium with the source of H+ (there's enough H+ in the water that the soil can no longer passively leech anymore into the water, and the release of H+ from ammonia breakdown is being countered by waterchange).
Using coral to "buffer" the pH works in different ways depending on whether the pH is meant to stabilize above or below 7.
For tanks with waters that are meant to be acidic, the coral chips produce KH that essentially cancels out some of the constantly produced H+ ions from ammonia breakdown and soil.
This means that the KH a test kit can detected would always be low at acidic pH (it is being constantly reacted with H+). pH will slowly go up depending on how much KH is being produced, which is in turn depending on how low the pH is (hehehe, confused? The lower the pH, the faster the coral chips break down, the more KH is produced) until a new equilibrium is reached.
This also means that both the coral chips and the soil are depleting each other. Chips will get smaller and smaller, while soil loses acidity.
This may sound counter-productive, but in order to change the pH's equilibrium (to a desired range) and to buffer against pH crashes, some coral is not a bad idea IMHO.
I keep a very small amount of coral chips (around 10 pcs?) in my tank which I constantly add or remove (so don't bury them please) to keep my pH at 6.0-6.2. Sometimes I overdo things and pH goes down to 5.8 or up to 6.4, but it's easily remedied. A pH monitor helps alot in this case but don't expect instant pH changes as it may take a full day to see the effects of any removal or addition of coral chips.
However, avoid dumping in a bag of coral chips. The pH spike may cause an ammonia spike that could get toxic.
Yes, I agree with Don. Small amount is about 1-2 phalanges (section of finger), so really not a lot. And best of all is that it has calcium which I am interested to see if it helps in molting which so many shrimp keepers have been complaining about.
hmmm..
i have questions lol.. im lost trying to make my tank look nice and relaxing to look at. all i have now is just a few pieces of wiremesh with us fissidens tied to them. my tank seems really plain
will shrimps hide no matter how good the water is? because i have a DW but it has plenty of hiding spots for shrimps to hide. and i wouldnt want all my shrimps hiding and i cant see them.
anyone can advise on this?
Shrimps hide when stressed, sick, moulting or berried. If you cannot lure them out with food, it means they are likely hiding from the above reasons.
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