Crs tank ph
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Are they breeding for ya? If so, don't mess with anything. If not, you may want to play with the params. 
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I have 3 berried females right now. I have no idea how many babies because I never move things around in there and there are way too many hiding places. I was just wondering if the ph was okay. It's honestly the first time I've ever checked it and the tank has been going over a year
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5,117 Posts
It's not in the ideal range, no. They usually like a lower pH in the 5-6.8 range.
With that said, some people have lucky raising them in a higher pH. As Soothing said, if they are doing ok, don't mess with it. The best way to lower pH is active substrate + RO water and that means tearing your tank apart, buying jugs of RO or getting an RO machine, etc. Also, what is your end goal, just to have nice CRS in a tank and if you get some babies and they are self sustaining, fine or breeding and getting the max out of them you can.
Since there are lots of hiding spots, I assume it's planted well and it's a nice planted tank with some shrimp?
With that said, some people have lucky raising them in a higher pH. As Soothing said, if they are doing ok, don't mess with it. The best way to lower pH is active substrate + RO water and that means tearing your tank apart, buying jugs of RO or getting an RO machine, etc. Also, what is your end goal, just to have nice CRS in a tank and if you get some babies and they are self sustaining, fine or breeding and getting the max out of them you can.
Since there are lots of hiding spots, I assume it's planted well and it's a nice planted tank with some shrimp?
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Well since your tank is setup, for now, I guess just look and watch and see if you get babies and no major deaths. You may get lucky and the water is soft enough, or you got some stronger-than-normal gene shrimp that can handle the bit different water.
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Depends on the pH of the RO water. The RO I get at Walmart is 6.4 so yes, if you did a 50% change with something like that it would lower it down But I wouldn't do such a heavy change if it's just to lower the pH. I'd do a couple of 10-20% changes per week for a couple of weeks to drop it down. Alder cones and IAL are reported to have pH lowering capabilities due to the tannins but I sure haven't seen them do anything in my tanks but I also don't use a ton of them. You'd probably have to add quite a bit to get affects from it and of course when the tannins stop leeching out the pH would go right back up.
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The pH of RO/DI water doesn't matter so much, as there's no carbonate in the water to buffer it at any set point.
Whats your GH/KH?
Whats your GH/KH?
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How long has the tank been setup. If they have been going good for some time I don't see any need to start messing with stuff.
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It's been up and running for almost 2 years. I just added the crystal reds in with the yellows less than 6 months ago. So far I've only seen 2 surviving babies. That's what has me wondering what is going on. To be honest, I never check any water. I change all my fish tanks every 1 or 2 weeks depending what fish and my shrimp tank I only do a 30% change once a month.
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When it comes to sensitive critters like shrimp - even when you're 100% confident in your abilities - it's often best to have a handle on parameters by testing every week or two.
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I would up the water changes, as babie survival is tied to good clean water, stable conditions and the right conditions. As well as feeding some baby food. I do water changes weekly, sometimes bi weekly if I feel I need to. PH is a bit high though that might be a baby survival issue as well
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lower grade crs can handle the higher ph better than the higher grades i belive. ive had my crs (a-s grade) breed in water that had a ph of 7.4. didnt have alot survive but they did breed. so i say if it is working stay with what you are doing but if you want to get into higher grade or more picky shrimp i would think about ro water and a buffering substrate
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Water changes alone won't cut it if you don't know your parameters. You could be just causing yourself more problems without meaning to.
If your local store doesn't have a liquid test kit or can't order one for you, you should consider getting one online. It'll help you a great deal.
If your local store doesn't have a liquid test kit or can't order one for you, you should consider getting one online. It'll help you a great deal.
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