Jump to content

Ph 7.6 but I want to keep plants, shrimp, and tetras


PlaneFishGuy
 Share

Recommended Posts

The pH in my tank is steady at 7.6. I want to keep live plants, tetras, and shrimp. I was looking at Seachem Neutral to get to to 7.0 (which is reported as top end for shrimp and tetras) but the review on using Seachem Neutral with live plants and shrimp are a bit sketchy.

My other water parameters in week 1 of cycling the new tank are below. Any thoughts on the Seachem Neutral? is 7.6 too high for shrimp and glowlight tetras? Am I going to be fighting the pH forever and should I just pick new fish/inverts?  

Week 2 cycling water parameters (API Test Kit) 

kH - 5

gH - 6 

pH -7.6

NO2 - 0

NO3 - 0

NH3/NH4 - 0

I got into this situation where my grand plans for this tank have been de-railed by testing my tap water without resting it for 24 hours and assuming I had perfect 7.0 water out of the tap....I started cycling my tank and saw a huge difference when testing. I tried testing for false positives from water conditioner, etc. but I am confident after learning the hard way my water is 7.6. 

lesson learned - hoping some of the veterans out there can help me salvage my plans of keeping plants, shrimp, and tetras. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, PlaneFishGuy said:

The pH in my tank is steady at 7.6. I want to keep live plants, tetras, and shrimp. I was looking at Seachem Neutral to get to to 7.0 (which is reported as top end for shrimp and tetras) but the review on using Seachem Neutral with live plants and shrimp are a bit sketchy.

don't tell my shrimp and tetras at ph7.8+

You'll hear a lot that you shouldn't chase a pH because doing so can be really unstable.  I think its actually pretty rare to come across a pH sensitive fish.  I'd just go for it and just make sure to acclimate before introduction (or don't some have good results just plopping into their water).

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My cherry shrimp do well at 7.4. I've had so-so luck with cardinal tetras, so I'm softening my water using RO to see if it helps. I wouldn't worry about the shrimp, just acclimate them slowly. If you can find captive bred tetras that were bred in water parameters similar to yours, they'll likely do better than wild caught. I've also read speculation that hardness/mineral content can be harder on fish than ph. Most important thing is to keep parameters stable, and most folks seem to recommend not to chase certain parameters with chemicals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lost a lot of shrimp, when I first started my tank.

Now, they're doing good. 

What I think is the difference is that there is now some algae and micro-creatures. 

People say to wait for the ecosysem to develop. That parallels my experience.

pH 7.8.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ererer,

For cycling, I set up with eco-complete planted, and used water from another cycled tank, and have been doing some "imaginary feeding"  

Its a bare tank with substrate, HOB filter, and a light

I could be doing it all wrong...Ive been out of the hobby since 2002 before we had the amount of information today so I am stumbling my way back in trying to wade through the massive amounts of information available on the webernet 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@PlaneFishGuy does your test kit show anything in a cycled tank? So there was this one time someone was having trouble because the nitrate and ammonia tests have 2 bottles, that have to be used according to the instructions...And the test they were familiar with was one step or something...

Anyway, my neocaridina are basically little cockroaches. They live in anything. Try to find some bred local to you and you will have better luck. I have had hudreds and hundreds now, and have lost only 6--four were in the first week. In the ensuing months, one was an injury. one might have been old age (this does not count death by acara, betta, guppy, or pea puffer). My pH has ranged from 6.6 to 7.8 in various tanks, and they have thrived in all. The one major factor is that they need a ready food source. Load your cycled tank with a couple of catappa leaves or alder cones a week before they arrive and you will likely be ok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Brandy Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely go back and redo the test with a little more precision. I am confident I am following the directions but have never felt great about how I interpret the color charts. I have one cycled nano tank to compare so I will recheck my work. 

That being said glad to hear the neocardina/cockroach comparison - that was the impression I had before ending up in the chemistry death spiral....

Appreciate everyone's input.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, PlaneFishGuy said:

For cycling, I set up with eco-complete planted, and used water from another cycled tank, and have been doing some "imaginary feeding"  

My understanding is that there is very little beneficial bacteria suspended in the water column, it's mostly on surfaces. I'd recommend taking some of the media from your cycled aquarium filter, and add that in with your new media on the filter for your new tank. Continue adding an ammonia source to help promote the beneficial bacteria to reproduce.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7.6 is just fine for anything you want to put in the tank. My pH is 8.0-8.2 out of the tap depending on the day. I tested a lot when I got back into the hobby then decided that there are more important things to worry about. All my plants (well... not Val) and all the fish and shrimp do very well and breed. My advise is to concentrate on working towards balance, don't mess with anything that isn't causing real problems.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with everyone else! I have cardinal tetras in pH 7.4-7.5 and they are totally fine. I have soft water out of the tap so I struggle to get my shrimp enough calcium, but I don’t think the pH is an issue. I have heard that some colors (such as blue) are more fragile than the others because they’ve had to be inbred farther from the wild type colors. Something to consider—not that it’s stopping me from trying to raise blues. 😄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...