ktk4beees Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 1. Cory mention a certain substrate in a recent YouTube Video and I just caught part of it so am not sure what he said. He was talking about breeding Crystals and I have an interest in doing that so I would like to know what he used to be successful. 2. My RO water also come out as 7.0 with a TDS of 0 and I know the PH is high for Crystals but I dislike using API PH down as it uses Sulphuric Acid to accomplish it. I just find it creepy to use Sulphuric Acid for anything let alone what animals will swim in. Does anyone use anything else to lower their PH? If so can you make suggestions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Marks shrimp tanks is a really good resource for shrimp care. Essentially, you want an active substrate. Aqua soils is what you're looking for. I would suggest contrasoil or something like Amazonia. Fluval stratum should work as well but is very light and was not my favorite choice. On 5/30/2023 at 6:20 AM, ktk4beees said: Does anyone use anything else to lower their PH? If so can you make suggestions. That is the job of the active substrate. It absorbs minerals. You can also run an off-gas test to try to verify what your PH is after 24 hours and the water has stabilized. (Just run it in a container with an air stone then test) As a final option, seachem makes a product called alkaline buffer. Second to that botanicals and peat moss balls are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktk4beees Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 3:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Marks shrimp tanks is a really good resource for shrimp care. Essentially, you want an active substrate. Aqua soils is what you're looking for. I would suggest contrasoil or something like Amazonia. Fluval stratum should work as well but is very light and was not my favorite choice. That is the job of the active substrate. It absorbs minerals. You can also run an off-gas test to try to verify what your PH is after 24 hours and the water has stabilized. (Just run it in a container with an air stone then test) As a final option, seachem makes a product called alkaline buffer. Second to that botanicals and peat moss balls are available. Will active soils raise my already high PH? I can keep the TDS low but have no idea how to lower the PH to a level Crystal Shrimp can live with. I will try and check out the Seachem product and see what it does. Thank you for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktk4beees Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 5:00 PM, ktk4beees said: Will active soils raise my already high PH? I can keep the TDS low but have no idea how to lower the PH to a level Crystal Shrimp can live with. I will try and check out the Seachem product and see what it does. Thank you for the info. Sorry maybe I was not clear I have 7.0 PH and from what I have read, Crystal shrimp want parameters in the 6.0 range so I need to lower from 7.0 to 6.0 and I really do not want to use API's Sulphuric Acid if I do not absolutely have to. Seachem Buffer raises PH and I need it to go in the other direction or do I have the whole thing messed up in my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 On 5/31/2023 at 2:00 AM, ktk4beees said: Will active soils raise my already high PH? No, active substrates decrease the ph. However, caridina shrimp tanks aren't all about ph. Ph, gh, Kh, tds... They all matter. If you have a high kh, you will not be able to decrease your ph with active substrate really. In my tanks with active substrate with high kh, I barely read any decrease on ph tbf. What's your kh from the tap? Ideally you should have RO water for caridinas and remineralize it. They are picky about parameters very much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 4:00 PM, ktk4beees said: Will active soils raise my already high PH? No. They would absorb minerals and lower the PH. On 5/30/2023 at 4:00 PM, ktk4beees said: I can keep the TDS low but have no idea how to lower the PH to a level Crystal Shrimp can live with. I will try and check out the Seachem product and see what it does. Thank you for the info. Here's one of Mark's videos. I highly recommend his stuff. It helped me a lot to get my tanks going and set me on the right path for my neo tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktk4beees Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 5:19 PM, Lennie said: No, active substrates decrease the ph. However, caridina shrimp tanks aren't all about ph. Ph, gh, Kh, tds... They all matter. If you have a high kh, you will not be able to decrease your ph with active substrate really. In my tanks with active substrate with high kh, I barely read any decrease on ph tbf. What's your kh from the tap? Ideally you should have RO water for caridinas and remineralize it. They are picky about parameters very much No my water is from an rodi water system and pulled before the DI part. It reads 7.0 PH TDS 0 GH 0 KH 0 I have the remineralization powder for either GH and KH or just GH but the PH down I bought was API and that is the problem. It's ingredient is Sulphuric Acid and I dont want to use it. If the substrate will handle the issue GREAT and I wont worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktk4beees Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 Great Video Thank You. Observation and just curiosity. He uses tap water to help the algae grow? Sounded like he might be on a well too but his TDS is way lower than mine so I might just use the rodi water which is close to his tap water TDS just a bit lower. I understand substrate a whole lot better. So far I have been using the inert variety due to my well water. Now that I do have to RODI system I have been using that to make coffee and it is amazing the difference (slowly changed the fish to it too). I'm almost embarrassed to say this but I never much thought about the water chemistry part of this. I have never lost a fish and the one that started this whole shebang in aquariums is a fancy goldfish. Got it as a little one and it grew so did the number and size of tanks I started to own. She or He is a beautiful 14 inches from tip of tail to mouth. Her fins are rimmed in white is it is quite the sight in the blue lights. I digress sorry, Now I have been learning mountains of things about water chemistry thanks to all of you and I appreciate you patience with me. I bought Amazonia powered soil and away I go. I know now the target area for the TDS and will keep testing till I get the right GH and KH numbers. One, probably not final, question is about crushed coral. Is it part of this equation? He did not use it I noticed but others do so who is right in this area? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted May 31, 2023 Share Posted May 31, 2023 On 5/30/2023 at 5:50 PM, ktk4beees said: One, probably not final, question is about crushed coral. Is it part of this equation? He did not use it I noticed but others do so who is right in this area? For caridina, no. You'd use the shrimp GH buffers. (no KH or low KH to keep the PH low) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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