Lexi B Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Hi everyone. I've been doing some detective work on my fish tanks, but i am absolutely perplexed on this matter. On my regular water tests, i've noticed that my ph has suddenly become very acidic in both of my tanks. I have a 20L, which is about a year old, and 5g which is only a few months old. Both tanks have a high ph, the 20 is at 8.0 and the 5 is 7.8. They both have a little bit of crushed coral mixed in the substrate, which i know raises ph, but i don't know that it's supposed to be this harsh. Other than the coral, there aren't a lot of similarities between the tanks. They both use the same type of sand, and get dosed with easy green and easy carbon as directed for their light and plantedness. The 20 has drift wood and river rocks as the primary hardscapes, while the 5 has seiryu stone. I don't believe the rocks are leeching. The tap water I use is, if anything, slightly basic. About 6.8. While the 5 gal seems to be doing alright, I suspect the high ph has contributed to the loss of a few cherry shrimp, and difficulties with corydora barbels. Where should I go from here? Is the coral to blame? How can I make my tanks safer for my pets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brymac1 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 I think you have acidity/basicity mixed up. pH above 7 is basic, below 7 is acidic. I have kept cherry shrimp in 7.8 pH water just fine before. But if you were wanting to lower it, you could remove the crushed coral and do water changes with your 6.8 pH tap water to slowly bring it down to the desired level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexi B Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 1:13 PM, Brymac1 said: I think you have acidity/basicity mixed up. pH above 7 is basic, below 7 is acidic. I have kept cherry shrimp in 7.8 pH water just fine before. But if you were wanting to lower it, you could remove the crushed coral and do water changes with your 6.8 pH tap water to slowly bring it down to the desired level. Oh. Yes. My mistake. I'm just not sure where the source of my issues are coming from, and the pH seems to be the only outlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brymac1 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 3:17 PM, Lexi B said: Oh. Yes. My mistake. I'm just not sure where the source of my issues are coming from, and the pH seems to be the only outlier. It's most likely the crushed coral, which can have a fairly strong impact on pH in small systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laritheloud Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 I have a ph of 8.0-8.2 in my 29 gallon and my 10 gallon tanks, the former with corydoras and the latter with neocaridina shrimp. Neither have had issues in this water. Have you checked other water parameters? If the cory's barbels are eroding, it might be an infection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexi B Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 1:51 PM, laritheloud said: I have a ph of 8.0-8.2 in my 29 gallon and my 10 gallon tanks, the former with corydoras and the latter with neocaridina shrimp. Neither have had issues in this water. Have you checked other water parameters? If the cory's barbels are eroding, it might be an infection. Yes, I posted in diseases as well about the cories. All my other parameters seem to be ideal on paper. Ammonia, trites and trates: 0 Kh:6 Gh:8 Water temperature: 78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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