nabokovfan87

What does the inside look like? My 75 is an aqueon branded stand manufactured by sauder.

I forget who, they said they just used an old 1/2 gal milk carton or a large measuring cup/bowl.

I am talking about KH adjustment to stabilize PH from swings. not PH. You stabilize KH, then adjust PH as you need to.

This is the one I've heard. I don't see anything in the thread, but if you find something you have success with, be sure to post it here!

Potentially from the large rock in the middle. Seiryu will change your water chemistry.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh

I'd recommend trying the community blend as well for KH to "stabilize" PH you want it over 6.

Maybe Flip Aquatics has a video on this issue? I'll have to research. They have don't videos on shrimp specific items but I don't know if any are designed around buffering the KH specifically. Maybe the shrimp king has something also.

I have had some issues with BN from the store, just issues with them adjusting to my water. I had harder water. Low PH. What are your parameters? Maybe that helps out.

Very sorry for your loss @Guppy Guy. I hope someone is able to help and this brings you some solace.

I completely agree. I replaced the foam, but honestly that's not mandatory. I would suggest taking a pair of wire cutters / side cutters and removing some of the bottom of the basket as I showed in the post. Beyond that, adding a piece of sponge to the window cutout will make your filter operate "as it should" without any real hassle or detailed rework. I don't think drilling holes ever works. I have one I did drill, but the size of holes you need to achieve anything beneficial just introduces more bypass. If you're looking for something that has similar features but doesn't have as many issues, the marineland or aqueon HoBs are pretty similar. I'd suggest stuffing them both full with sponge and leaving it at that. Pretty much no matter what HoB it is, you're going to end up adding/cutting some sponge. Very cool, thank you for this. I just tried it out, worked fine. I definitely agree that we should have to or shouldn't need to do something like that in order to feed the fish. In the saltwater side of things this is a "feature" and is something they do have where there is a feed mode people go into and it turns on/off certain things using their controllers.

What behavior do you tend to see? Up downs or moreso chasing around the tank? I've seen both. The chasing and the female looking for a place to deposit. I also have "learned" to sort of write.some things off as them playing in the flow vs. more panicked up downs on the glass.

Seems to be a trend of turning them all the way down. Interesting. I just put silicone over mine, waiting to run tests, but it's going to be interesting to see those results.

@Phillipany advice?

I did, no idea why but:

Because you're having a severely low starting PH, you might need 2-3 Lbs of crushed coral to buffer the water. I would highly recommend adding more to the substrate if you can. I would also recommend having something to manually dose buffering agents during water changes. I have some seachem alkalinity buffer for my use. Others have recommended baking soda. Thinking about this issue I have two points I'd like to consider. First, are the shrimp losses due to a lack of GH/Calcium in the food or the water? Second, how much KH buffer to you need to raise it to your target. Let's say you want to go from a dKH of 0 to a dKH of 6-8. This would give you the ability to have a stable PH. I don't mean it will ensure it, but it gives you the ability to have a stable PH. At this point, you'd be running aragonite substrate or trying to condition water change water by having it in a big container somewhere with a pump head and aragonite. Let's say it takes 1Lb of Crushed coral to get it from 0-->2 dKH. Regardless of whatever that does to PH, it's not enough to get it to your desired result. So your option is time or to add more buffer. So let's say we triple it. The first time you change water it will likely dilute things and then you have to wait for the substrate or HoB to leech out more buffer into the water column. This is where preconditioning the water helps and where adding buffer manually during WC might provide a more stable environment longer term. I don't know if that helps, but I hope it explains the struggle you're going through. Your first task is to get the KH where you want it to have a stable tank. Usually this is above 6dKH or 60ppm. For my own tank I'm shooting for 80ppm. Then you can use PH adjusting chemicals to adjust your PH, or better yet. Add wood for the shrimp. For reference from ACO: " Crushed coral is a great tool for raising the pH of your water. We use it at 1 pound of crushed coral per 10 gallons of water when mixed in with our gravel. Crushed coral dissolves continuously over time. The lower your pH is, the faster it dissolves. As the pH rises, it slows down how fast the coral dissolves. Crushed coral adds a bit of hardness to the water and it significantly boosts KH which buffers pH from swinging."

I have had waves of "excitement" with the hobby, but I think the answer to the question you posed has a few other topics that speak to where you're at. One of my things growing up that I really enjoyed was watching, learning, and getting hands on in the kitchen. My mom tells me that before I could even speak I was watching Yan Can Cook and all I remember is growing up watching Emeril and being so annoyed I had to go to bed some nights. I'd watch Maria Batali, Good Eats, Tyler Florence and Wolfgang Puck and I would just absorb everything. I had no idea how to cook, but I studied and learned from them. I would help my mom with dinner almost every night growing up and that was how I learned all the family recipes. Eventually she let me cook. Corrected me, and I never "did it the right way", but I've come to learn that cooking isn't about being right and precise. Not for me and how I enjoy doing so. I will say, despite my dreams and wanting to be some passionate chef cooking italian food somewhere, I opted not to go that route because I didn't want it to be something I ended up hating. I love it so much and it's such a release for me emotionally, mentally, that I just don't want it to be something I do to death. I want cooking for others, those moments, to be special and unique. Please enjoy.... The other thing I enjoy doing is writing. I won't get into specifics and honestly "writing" comes in so many forms that it's not about one type for me. I enjoy the process and the moment. I enjoy trying to tell a story and trying to articulate (be it poorly at times) in some way how exactly I want to describe the essence of a moment. Maybe it's such the smallest detail that only I'd ever pay attention to and appreciate, but it's something that I try to put words to something that is..... integral. There's a powerful energy to that feeling and it's something where I do have days where I can write 5-15 pages without even blinking. Other days I will flat out refuse to do so because I'm not mentally able to dedicate myself to that medium. There are other days where I mentally am ready for it, but physically just don't have the time or place to do so. I'll think about what to say in my mind, try to take mental notes for later, but later never comes. Again, it's one of those things where I don't share some of those things because I just don't want it to become a negative. I think that mentality speaks volumes. With my aquarium, it's a place of peace, serenity, and it's a place where I can take my design mind and put it to use. Even just messing with what way the rock is laying on the substrate, spending time to observe, it's a great way to escape uneasiness and anxiety in that way for me. When I'm frustrated I will go and clean filters. When I need time to meditate, I will get some tea or coffee or a beverage and go observe the fish. I cannot recommend that last one enough. I'd love to challenge everyone to take 15 minutes and just stare. Force yourself to sit there long enough and be absorbed into that world and ignore the things around it.... I definitely understand what you mean when you say there's a line between it being a job and being a hobby. I think something like having too many tanks really does hurt a lot of hobbyists. It also can be down to perspective and how you want to view the work. If you focus on making time to enjoy the glass box, maybe that makes it something a job won't ever become.... I can't think of the last time someone meditated at work. I do understand what it's like to go to work and "get away" from it all. To feel less stressed because you are working extremely hard at the desk.

You should check out aquahuna. I think 9 times out of 10 someone has a display tank in their store, they special order something for that tank. They definitely won't just sell it. That being said, you can talk to the store owner, pay up front, have them order you one in.

If you have a pleco cave, they should basically hang out there, then pop out to the wood to eat during the night hours. That's how mine are. they both fought over the same cave despite having 3-5 in the tank. I took the caves out due to other issues (plants) and they ended up just finding their spots on the wood.

I swear, I am trying to read some complex cipher sometimes when I get my strip tests results some days. LOL

I do this no matter what filter. It's just good practice. With the ACs you have to fill them up after you complete maintenance. How did you baffle it? The water bottle trick? Is it "easier" to reduce the flow? I don't like the flow adjustment on the 35. It's not nearly as fine detail as the 55 and higher models. I'm guessing you have one piece of sponge, the matrix in there, and then the CC in there? Were you running anything else in the basket? I honestly get the indicator without fail... 12-24 hours after cleaning it. This makes a LOT more sense! I'm glad to hear it's working well for you. Lowering the flow definitely helps cut down the bypass. If you add a piece of sponge on the "window cutout" you should basically never have an issue and you'll get a bit better performance before it does bypass.

Ask me anything. I've seen/tested/done it all with everything but the tidal 110. I don't have a tidal 110 because I opted for 2x Tidal 75s. Turn it off for 20 minutes when feeding, then turn it back on. The Kasa plugs do have a timer function, awesome little way to handle this. I just got some. There's definitely people that LOVE ACs and there's definitely people that hate ACs. Tidals are the same way. This is where I broke down my history / issues with the ACs. I cannot tolerate them! I tried, tried many times to appreciate their design. I just can't. It's a very, very old product that is screaming for a 30 year update.

PH points to being low in what I'm seeing. PH ~6.3-6.5 KH/GH seem to be off to the scale on the right, dramatically so. I don't think I've ever seen KH that high. The pads are somewhat dried out. It was a question I had asked here. An interesting point of discussion.

I walk into the room, test the water, sit it on the towel so the results are clear. I usually drip on the stool or front of the glass, wipe it. I usually have a very annoying time with buckets and the vaccuum and walking around the room trying to find a place for it while I'm dumping the water and filling it with fresh water. Then I'll add the fresh water and get that EVERYWHERE. It's a hassle. Buckets are annoying to use. There's a lot of my hands in the tank to adjust something or in the muck in the HoB, then trying to rinse them off in the bucket and dry them off before walking around the house.

KH is 0 in the pond? If you want to, post a pic of the KH on the scale for comparison sake so we can see! 🙂 (I mean the 180 vs. 300 KH one)