Making Alkaline Water for Sulawesi Shrimps

[chromes03]

Hi all,

I need your opinion about making higher ph water....I am trying to purchase some Sulaweis Cardinals to add to my addition but wanted more advice before I do so....

For making Alkaline water..would you

1. Use Treated Tap Water and adjust the ph and gh/kh to get the right number you are looking for? Or
2. Use 100% RO water and adjust the ph and gh/kh to your needs? Or
3. Use a mix of say aged tap water/Ro and adjust?

Any suggestions or Comments would be great!

My tank is currently cycling for 2 weeks now...w/ 100% old fish tank water and old filters....water conditions are
ph 8.0, gh 4-5, kh 4-5, temp 80F...Is this acceptable?

Thanks

[Aria]

I use conditioned and aged water but stay away from chemical pH up or down for my shrimp

[chromes03]

Hey Aria,

How do you get your ph to be 8.0 w/out chemicals?

[^fearNofish^]

Hi !

I used coral sand as base substrate and prepared the aged water soaked with coral chip for at least 3 days.

Hopes it helps !

Cheers !

[bossteck]

Just add a couple of bags of coral chips into your filter, if possible use coral sand as your substrate. Our tap water is already 7.4-7.6, at least that's the reading I got in my area. The coral chips / coral sand will help to buffer your water hence maintaining, if not increase the pH.

[chromes03]

Hey

How much coral chip to water ratio do you use? B/c I know that too much coral chip will cause the gh/kh to rise high..Thanks

[chungck]

Hi guys,

I have also a tank with Cardinals....and very succesfull too...after a slow start....
Last october I was in Hong Kong at the Golden Fish Market and bought 10 of this Sulawesi Cardinals.....for fun.. .....at home in Holland...

In the first two weeks I lost one by one....and did not know what it was.....later on I came to the conclussion that my PH was to low..... so I did a lot of waterchanges.....and it came to a hold.....8 of 10 died....two left......were they a couple, i did not know.....

at 23th of December one of the Cardinals got eggs.......I was very happy, it was a christmas present......

after 20 days the berried shrimp hatched 15 shrimplets.........and the succes story didn't end......totally she got in 3½ month 4 times eggs.....and now i've got about 60 shrimplets out 4 generations.....and she still alive and well.....

I'm keeping them in a Aqua40, with a lot of Lavarocks at a temp. of 26,8 degrees
every 10 days a waterchanges.....tapwater.....

Last thursday I bought some Yellow cheek as well......no loses..doing well...

Here some photo's

[chromes03]

Thank you all for the help...

Hey chuck...Nice piictures! I am getting Cardinal, yellow cheek and harliquin next week...i will post some pictureif they don't die... ..thanks again for the help...

[Aria]

Hi

Besides using coral chips I use Old Sea Mud Rock to increase the pH

[Casablanca]

Hi

Besides using coral chips I use Old Sea Mud Rock to increase the pH

Hi Aria

Old sea mud rock increases pH?

cheers,

[Aria]

Hi Aria

Old sea mud rock increases pH?

cheers,

It does have an effect on pH besides intoducing trace minerals benificial to shrimp - although not as dramatic as coral chips.

[taygu]

Hi, some bakery shop sell alkaline water, wonder is it safe to use?

[chungck]

Hi,

My tapwater at home ( here in Holland ) is already almost 7,4......

So alkaline water...from the tap

Update......some photos

Yellow Cheek with his Mask.....funny isn't it...

[Philosophos]

Aragonite makes a nice buffer. At typical aquarium temperatures/conditions, you can't go above 8.4-8.6pH before it precipitates out of the water. Baking soda might help depending on how the shrimp handle sodium. The plants might not like it.

-Philosophos

[Aria]

Aragonite makes a nice buffer. At typical aquarium temperatures/conditions, you can't go above 8.4-8.6pH before it precipitates out of the water. Baking soda might help depending on how the shrimp handle sodium. The plants might not like it.

-Philosophos

Does aragonite provide a better buffer compared to coral chips when it comes to shrimp?

[Philosophos]

Aragonite is far cheaper, assuming you don't have beaches made of coral chips where you live. The chemical doing the work is exactly the same; CaCO3. People use it as a substrate in place of coral in salt water tanks here.

If you're wanting to be very precise, you could figure out dosing for CaCO3 in your water changes to maintain a certain pH and alkalinity. I've always found it a bit tricky because of the other buffering systems in play.

-Philosophos

[Aria]

Aragonite is far cheaper, assuming you don't have beaches made of coral chips where you live. The chemical doing the work is exactly the same; CaCO3. People use it as a substrate in place of coral in salt water tanks here.

If you're wanting to be very precise, you could figure out dosing for CaCO3 in your water changes to maintain a certain pH and alkalinity. I've always found it a bit tricky because of the other buffering systems in play.

-Philosophos

Hmm I'm using it as a substrate in one of my shrimp tank as an experiment and notice that the water is especially cloudy. In comparison, another tank with innert substrate and a few large pieces of coral chips has crystal clear water.

In addition to calcium, I read that it releases magnesium. Also in the tank is a coupler pieces of driftwood. I'm wondering what cause the cloudiness..

[Philosophos]

If the driftwood is still leeching tannins, or you've got CO2 pumping in, then it's probably eroded CaCO3 floating around. The formula would be:

CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O → Ca(HCO3)2

(blatantly stolen from wikipedia)

I'm guessing the group of acids involved with tannins would do something similar. Try boiling the driftwood for 12-24 hours. It may not eliminate all leeching, but I've found that it helps.

If bought commercially, both aragonite and coral should be nearly pure CaCO3, besides maybe some small impurities. Your GH test is only concerned with mineral cations, and KH the carbonate/bicarbonate ions. Both are related to calcium and magnesium, with some other minerals having lesser importance. An increase in GH or KH does not indicate the proportions of how much magnesium or calcium is being added. It could be all calcium related, or all magnesium. Maybe something else. Either way, if you know you're adding pure CaCO3, then it won't just turn in to magnesium at random.

-Philosophos

[Aria]

If the driftwood is still leeching tannins, or you've got CO2 pumping in, then it's probably eroded CaCO3 floating around. The formula would be:

CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O → Ca(HCO3)2

(blatantly stolen from wikipedia)

I'm guessing the group of acids involved with tannins would do something similar. Try boiling the driftwood for 12-24 hours. It may not eliminate all leeching, but I've found that it helps.

If bought commercially, both aragonite and coral should be nearly pure CaCO3, besides maybe some small impurities. Your GH test is only concerned with mineral cations, and KH the carbonate/bicarbonate ions. Both are related to calcium and magnesium, with some other minerals having lesser importance. An increase in GH or KH does not indicate the proportions of how much magnesium or calcium is being added. It could be all calcium related, or all magnesium. Maybe something else. Either way, if you know you're adding pure CaCO3, then it won't just turn in to magnesium at random.

-Philosophos

Haha unfortunately the driftwood in question has moss growing on it so boiling it now is not an option

I do not dose CO2 in any of my shrimp tanks. And all my tanks have similar set-ups with small variations - still experimenting I agree its the combination of driftwood with leaching tannins and whatever's coming out of the aragonite that's the culprit. Other combinations are not giving me cloudy water.

I was initially concerned about my shrimp - which I didn't expect to be hardy. But they seem to be thriving - so now it becomes more a question of aesthetics I suppose..

[kang79]

for cardinal blue dot.

don't worry too much. pH8 and hard water is good enough. i had success in 3 weeks. give them more rocks. aggrassive shrimps