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I just cycled a new tank, it's 20 gallons and planted. The plants are starting to grow in and algae is everywhere. However, ever since I added some driftwood to finish the scape, the pH has been super low, like 6 or below. It's bright yellow on the strip and doesn't even register as one of the colors provided. I tried boiling the wood for several hours to release tannins, but when I returned the wood to the tank, the pH dropped again. Normal pH from tap is more in the range of 6.5-7. So far, the stocking is "pest" snails that are breeding and doing well, and 4 amano shrimp I added 2 weeks ago that seem to be fine as well. I added 3 nerite snails 2 weeks ago also, and unfortunately two of them have already died and the third one has not been doing well, just stays put most of the time. Even with a low pH, I wouldn't expect a nerite to die that quickly. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, it has been cycling for more than 2 months now. GH is very high, at the max number, which is what my tap reads. Here's what I really want to know: What do I need to do to add neocaridina shrimp to the tank? I want to breed them. Is the pH too low? Will they just die? Would adding crushed coral fix the problem? Or should I remove the driftwood (since I don't know what else would cause the pH drop. The substrate is also inert gravel)?

Hi everyone. I've tried journaling in general several times but failed to be consistent. This time I'm doing a fish tank journal, so hopefully it being my hobby will keep me consistent, lol. Anyway. August 2023. My cousin gifted my little sister a 1 litre fishbowl with a guppy pair. Really beautiful pair. Female was a grey belly with mosaic tail, and the male was a dragon head. The male died in September 2023 and mom asked me to get another one, so I got a leopard guppy. Mom and sister flew away for vacation for 2 weeks in November 2023. Initially, I wanted to give a gift to my sister to make up for skipping many festivals and occasions. So I started planning out a bigger tank. With a very tight budget that was my entire savings, I decided to go with a 8g cube. I got it with fluorescent gravel as substrate and an internal filter. That was it for the beginning. I cleaned it, added water, dechlorinated it and immediately put my fishes in. I didn't know about cycling until 2 days later. I started a fish-in cycle from then. Here's a pic from that day. Yes you're also seeing an Albino Corydora because I was told to get it for bottom clean-up. 2 days later, I DIY'd a lid using sunboard, old CPU fan and a 3W blue spotlight laying from a festival decor. A week later, I thought my tank looks like the horrible fluorescent gravel overstocked glofish tanks. I decided to remove all gravel and switched to white sand. I also got an Anubias trimming, and a good bracket light for a full spectrum lighting. (At this point I had studied a decent bit about PAR and aquarium lighting) A couple of days after, I was told on many Discord communities that keeping the albino cory alone is a bad idea and the tank is also too small for him. So I exchanged it for 2 cherry shrimps. What happens next is actually kind of funny. I add my shrimp and one of them immediately disappears. I spend hours trying to find it but I can't. The next day, I see this. I asked around, experts confirmed my suspicion that the guppy had consumed a cherry shrimp and passed away the next day because of being unable to digest it. I quickly removed the other single shrimp remaining in my tank and gave it back to my local fish store. To replace the leopard guppy, I got this beautiful double swordtail guppy. I also wanted to maintain a 2f:1m ratio so I got another female guppy. At this point my tank was finally how I planned it to be. Although, this female was very pregnant and I had to do something about it. I quickly got a 20 litre water bottle from a grocery store and cut it in half. I also bought some chicken screen and zip ties and put together this. The female guppy somehow passed through the net the next day so I had to make it double layered to make the holes harder to pass, since both layers were offset and would cause the holes to be unaligned and smaller. Meanwhile, the tank got 2 nerite snails. I wish I knew about their bioload before getting TWO of them, haha. Enjoy a pic of them eating a slice of blanched cucumber. I decided to get two plants for better nitrate processing. Here's the weird part. A week after the leopard guppy died from presumably eating the cherry shrimp...... A CHERRY SHRIMP SHOWS UP IN THE TANK! I had already given away the other so there were supposed to be none! So the guppy did not die of eating a shrimp, because he never ate one! I immediately gave this shrimp back to the LFS. Fastforward to 10th December 2023. The grey female guppy (oldest one in the tank) passed away from Nitrite poisoning. I forgot to mention, I've been doing the cycle without a test kit because I can't afford one and it's too overpriced here. Worry not, it's coming in the next month or two before I get my next tank! By now, the pregnant fancy female had given birth at noon! I assume there to be around 25-30 fry. I got an air pump, tubing, air stone, T joint, knobs, and a sponge filter. Aimed to sell these fry so I wanted them to grow real healthy! Here are two pictures from 12th of December. The guppies look blurry, but this is the last time you'll see them....

I usually add Seachem Reef Calcium for calcium supplementation for my mystery and nerite snails. This time I bought the wrong thing and didn’t realize it until I opened it—this time I got Reef Complete, which has magnesium and strontium added. Anybody use this or know if it will be ok in a freshwater planted tank with rainbowfish, tetras, and cories? I had just poured the first capful (20G dose) into my 55G tank when I realized it was a different color, so I didn’t put a full dose in yet.

My husband and I have a relatively new (4 months or so) 75 gallon tank. Everything is going well, the water parameters are good. The fish, plants and mystery snails are doing well but the nerites are basically catatonic. Does anyone have any thoughts about what they may need to perk them up?

Are there any businesses that sell male only nerite snails (No female nerites)? We know some people don't mind nerite snail eggs all over their aquariums, but we're not. Been there - Done that. 🙂

I have a 150 gallon tank. Water is soft 3-5. I want to keep Nerites maybe other snails but the fish I have are in their comfort zone. What can I do to help them survive? If I add a wonder shell or cuttle bone is that going to mess with my water hardness to a point my fish are stressed? I really don’t know how much these items effect the water the fish are in.