Shellies and PH

[Angela1108]

Hi guys. So I've always done heavily planted tanks. My 12g I plan to convert over to shellies. My LFS has multis that I want to grab.

Currently that tank has a PH of 7.4 kh of 2 and gh of 5. I know it is low and people have suggested crushed coral to me. And another friend is giving me some limestone rocks to add also. My only concern is the ph swing when I do a water change. I am not starting with a ton of them (will probably get 4 or 6max) so I don't anticipate huge water changes.


Should I worry about the ph swing at water changes? I had also planned on using seachem cichlid salt to help raise the gh and kh and will add it back into the water for water changes before I add it to the tank. Should that help? Any other ideas are more than welcome


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[Nils]

I think you'll be fine during water changes. Unless it's more than 50% it really doesn't change the pH too much. Shellies are very hardy fish that are hard to kill so it would next to no affect on them even if the pH was changed. I personally wouldn't mess with the pH too much, trying to fix because in most cases you'll end up doing more harm than good.

 

[Eggheadfish]

Tangs don't appreciate large water changes anyway...as long as you keep the ph stable that's more important, 7.4 isn't really that bad. If you want to try to buffer with rock or crushed coral that's ok but it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to mess with the water. You can always set your clean water for changes in a bucket and tinker until it matches the tank params before performing the water change.
Good luck! Shellies are a ton of fun

 

[Angela1108]

Thanks guys!! I think I was starting to over worry about it I have two friends who are giving me a little crushed coral and limestones to add so I should be good! My husband is off tomorrow so I will be able to move the current guys and plants into the other tank to start setting it up for the shellies. Once I get the tank set up I will post some pics


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