Help!! PH crashing post-move

[jamie_lynn]

Okay, here's the update:


For the first time in two days, the water in my tank is holding its pH, and has held it for the past 8 hours. In fact, it appears as though the pH is starting to go up on its own, without the assistance of water changes. I'm assuming that this is the result of the coral, correct?


My working assumption is that I should continue to test the water regularly over the next 48 hours, just to make sure the pH doesn't crash again and everything balances out. And, also to see where the coral sand places my pH. Once the tank is stabilized, should I remove the sand or leave it in given the already high pH of STL tap water?


Thank you again for all your help. So far, the shrimp are still hanging on, though I can tell they are stressed by all the changes. With that said, they ate both last night and this afternoon though, so that makes me feel more hopeful.

 

[jamie_lynn]

p.s. -- I can tell that a very light dusting of the sand escaped the filter and entered the tank. I can see some small grains on some of my plants. Should I be at all worried about that? Or is it safe for my freshwater tank?

 

[TMaier]

Good to hear your shrimpies are feeling good enough to have some chow.

The whole crushed coral thing for me was about a month long of figuring out what was the right amount. At first the ph was higher than I liked but after a few weeks it hit 7.4 and has been holding there. At some point I suspect it will lose some punch and I will have to replenish it. As Caliban stated most critters will tolerate lower ph. It is huge fast swings to avoid.

I keep snails and if my ph is low the shells suffer. Otherwise my fish would be fine at 6.8 or perhaps lower.

And the sand should not hurt your plants. Don't let it get into your filter motor.

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[jamie_lynn]

Thank you, TMaier!


I'm not concerned about the low pH as such, only about the amount of swinging from high to low that was happening.


I think I may not have much choice but to gradually raise the pH level for my tank. The tap water here in St. Louis (post-aeration) registers at about a 7.8 pH. Pre-aeration, it registers at 8.4. That was actually part of what initially caused me to worry: watching water with that high of a pH quickly drop to <6.0 after being placed in my tank.


At present, my pH is stabilized at about 6.8. Adding STL water through PWC's is bound to gradually raise that pH, I would imagine.


Now that pH is stable, though, I feel fine to just very gradually raise the pH in the tank through the regular process of careful/slow weekly PWC's. I'll keep an eye on it, and if the pH goes up too high via STL's water supply, I will remove the coral sand. We will see though -- if it evens out as yours has done at a reasonable level, then I'm happy to leave it in. It has certainly helped me greatly over the last 24 hours! Thank you again for the advice, I definitely appreciate it.


The shrimp are much better tonight. They are even swimming around their tank a little, and have left their favorite drift wood hide out, at least for a short time. They also ate again this afternoon. So, that is good to see.

 

[TMaier]

You are welcome. There are so many wonderful generous people on this site to help each other. Sometimes it's just a matter of who chimes in first. Glad Caliban backed me up with the amount recommendation. I would have been a bit stumped on that.


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[Caliban07]

Leave the coral in.


To put you mind at ease here is my ph at the height of carbon injection.



It's about 7.2 from the tap but maybe slightly lower in tank, say 6.8 at night with no carbon injection. When it gets to 5.9 from 6.8 that's roughly 8x more acidic and this happens over the course of about 4-5 hours. Every day.

I have ottos and Amano shrimp living in these conditions with the Amano's even breeding. Large swings due to weak acids do not harm fish or shrimp. There's many more things to be worried about in an aquarium than ph swings. ?


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[jamie_lynn]

Okay, thank you for the tip Caliban7. I appreciate it. I will leave the coral in. I know the long drive also probably took its toll on the shrimp.


In any case, the shrimp seem much better today, and are up to all their old antics. They have finally gone back to swimming around their tank and foraging about for food. So, I'm happy to see that. They were accustomed to a 7.8 pH back in Berkeley, so maybe the drop was just a little too drastic for them all at once.


Have you managed to successfully breed the Amanos?? I mean, mine are pregnant all the time, but after reading several articles, I decided trying to actually keep the babies alive was going to be too difficult for a newbie like me, especially with all the transferring between brackish water and freshwater...


I've considered getting ottos too at some point. I love watching them - so cute! But I figure I better wait till I have a larger tank. Originally, I was going to put a betta in with the 3 Amanos in my 5 gallon but decided against it when I realized I would be moving soon. Plus, it's fun to watch the Amanos do their thing and I know they would probably hide a lot more with a betta in the tank. So, in the end, my tank is just shrimp (and several live plants) for now.


Thank you to everyone who helped me through all my move worries. Much appreciated.

 

[jamie_lynn]

Oh, one more thing -- Caliban7, what is that yellow stick that you have that has the pH reading on it? Pretty cool... I've not seen that before. I've just been using the typical freshwater test kit... I probably don't need anything more than that given that I just have one small tank, but that doesn't stop me from being curious...

 

[Caliban07]

Okay, thank you for the tip Caliban7. I appreciate it. I will leave the coral in. I know the long drive also probably took its toll on the shrimp.


In any case, the shrimp seem much better today, and are up to all their old antics. They have finally gone back to swimming around their tank and foraging about for food. So, I'm happy to see that. They were accustomed to a 7.8 pH back in Berkeley, so maybe the drop was just a little too drastic for them all at once.


Have you managed to successfully breed the Amanos?? I mean, mine are pregnant all the time, but after reading several articles, I decided trying to actually keep the babies alive was going to be too difficult for a newbie like me, especially with all the transferring between brackish water and freshwater...


I've considered getting ottos too at some point. I love watching them - so cute! But I figure I better wait till I have a larger tank. Originally, I was going to put a betta in with the 3 Amanos in my 5 gallon but decided against it when I realized I would be moving soon. Plus, it's fun to watch the Amanos do their thing and I know they would probably hide a lot more with a betta in the tank. So, in the end, my tank is just shrimp (and several live plants) for now.


Thank you to everyone who helped me through all my move worries. Much appreciated.

Ph is just a ratio. It doesn't really mean anything without knowing the other parameters, like KH and gh, TDS perhaps. Your shrimp are probably more interested in the latter two and maybe your older water was different for those parameters.

Coral will buffer the ph and increase the general hardness a tad. I believe calcium is good for shrimp? Molting etc. Tap water normally contains a lot of calcium.

That's a good question actually, The males go nuts for a day or two bombing round the tank then I notice the female carrying eggs soon after. I've not seen her release them. I only have 4 so if I count more then I could say I have successfully bred them but I haven't seen them to be honest. I should have been a bit clearer when I said breeding.

The yellow stick is a ph pen for spot checking ph and checking the drop during the photoperiod when injecting carbon. If you have a KH of about 4 or less then a 1-1.2 ph drop equates to roughly 30ppm co2 so I use it to make sure I'm adding enough.

I'm really glad your shrimp are back to normal and that we could help.


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[TMaier]

Ph testing pen. Very cool. I borrow my hubbies when he hasn't buried it somewhere in his garage.


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