The Planted Tank Forum banner

changing shrimp water with diff ph

2K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  Soothing Shrimp 
#1 ·
I woke up and realized I didn't know the answer to this.

I just bought some substrate to lower my water ph in anticipation for some shrimp I plan on getting.

Target water ph is 6ish, and I have 8+ water.

How do I do a water change with such drastic differences in water ph?

Will dripping in be okay?
 
#2 ·
Hey Bryce, here's what I'd do. I would either drip it in OR go to Walmart and get a few jugs of their RO water. Test it. My Walmart water tests at 6.4 pH, and about 2-3 TDS. Not sure if that's going to be the same for all RO water at Walmart or what (it says Drinking Water on the label). The gallons are .88 each. THEN, when those are empty I'd take them to the little refill machine and get it for .37 cents a gallon (these are just the prices for mine, yours may vary). These also test at 6.4 pH and about 5 TDS or so coming from our local machine. Keep 3-5 gallons on hand at all times, remineralize as you need to and use that water. The reason being is it's going to keep from exhausting the substrate so quickly plus it's going to hit that pH right where you need it to be every time, no worrying about dripping in. And for the 3 gallon, gosh, a few gallon jugs will last gosh, 2-3 months. I think that would take a lot of stress off of the situation:) My .02 on it anyway!
 
#4 ·
My walmarts water is identical..I also use the one marked spring water which comes from north louisiana (so you may not be able to get it the same) it tests at 6.4 ph 0-1 gh 0-1 kh ad 12 tds..same price btw also. I use an air hose to slowly add rather than pour in just to stress the guys a little less.
 
#13 ·
I'm pretty sure it testing error and since it has no TDS there no way you can accurately measure with ph test kit/pH probe since there no ions/buffering to read. It either ph of 7 or lower when water expose to CO2, pH will drop to 6ish. So don't worry about the ph 8 thing and change your water normally.
 
#11 ·
TDS = gH <> pH

Don't know about CO2 molecules but my RO water reads 0 dkH. If you don't have carbonates in water there's nothing getting the pH up besides the water from the source or you're doing something you're not telling us.

pH 8 needs a lot of kH to be that high or special treatment with lots of Oxygen bubbles. AFAIK there's two ways to mess with pH:

1 Chemically by adding an acid (vinegar for example) or a base (some form of hydroxide)

2 By changing the CO2 concentration in the water. At the bottom of it it's the same as the first method since CO2 will generate H+ ions just like adding an acid would.

I compiled an article about the chemistry in the aquarium from internet sources. However, it's in my native language. I might translate it provided no copyright is claimed on the information. It's basic chemistry after all :D
 
#16 ·
My filter tests at 11 TDS right now. That's just about as good as mine gets due to my very low water pressure.

Finny thing. I just set up two tanks yesterday out of curiosity.

#1 One has substrate and water. No sponge filter, and no hob.

#2 One has substrate, water, and just an hob with new bag filter.

Both have been left to sit the night.

#1 measures 7.1ph

#2 measures 8.1ph

Weird, huh?

Next I'm going to run a sponge filter in the 7.1ph one and see if the ph changes.
 
#17 ·
Just to throw in a quick one on "Spring" water...

Months ago I bought a sealed gallon jug of it from the local Walmart. Checked the water's parameters, which turned out not much different than those from my tap. Even the tds were high. Turned out it was bottled in a town about 10 miles away from my apartment. (Checked the label)

I had the feeling that it was basically unfiltered tap water.

I went back to buying distilled.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top