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kunzy

By kunzy
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kunzy Shrimp Keeper

kunzy

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Whats the best natural way to raise ph up in your shrimp tank?

my tank with ADA aqua Soil is currently sitting at 6.0...

would like it near 6.6 or so..

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MrShrimp Shrimp Breeder

MrShrimp

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Rain water is acidic to start with. A thick layer of Ada soil will also lower ph. If you don't want to use RO water then you can mix rain water and tap water ( make sure you remove the chlorine). Tap water is around ph 7.6 ish and rainwater would be in the near 6 ( I'm guessing). You can also reduce the thickness of your soil to reduce the buffering. I think it's your rain water that is keeping your ph at 6

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BlueBolts Shrimp Guru

BlueBolts

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Why raise it ? What shrimps are you planning to put in there ? I have my CRS in PH 5.2-7...and all great.

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Garnelchen Shrimp Master

Garnelchen

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Tap water is around ph 7.6 ish

That totally depends on where you are and where your tap water comes from....tap water should sit around 7 though.

I don't know what you concider "natural" but the easiest way to rise your pH is Bicarb of soda (Baking Soda). From memory a rule of thumb is 3 g in 100 L (roughly 1 Teaspoon) raises the KH by 1 and that will raise your pH as well.

Depending on the size of your tank it is the easiest to make a solution of 1 Teaspoon of bicarb in 1 Liter of rain water. Then add some of the solution (measure the amount you are using) gradually to your tank over the next couple of days until you get to your desired pH.

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Garnelchen Shrimp Master

Garnelchen

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Why raise it ? What shrimps are you planning to put in there ? I have my CRS in PH 5.2-7...and all great.

And that is probably the much better advice! Just leave it alone! :)

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MrShrimp Shrimp Breeder

MrShrimp

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@garnelchen, adding baking soda isn't the natural way. I'm just answering the question what kunzy had ask.

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kunzy Shrimp Keeper

kunzy

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hmm thanks for all the ideas... what do you guys think, rainwater? or tap water d-chorlinced? im keeping snow whites in a 3 ft tank? whats best for them and why?

i always thought rain water "its natural" sorta thing LOL:D

i will be adding salty shrimp to all my water from next week.

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BlueBolts Shrimp Guru

BlueBolts

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SW at PH 6 is perfect. Buying buffering soil, and then trying to raise it, is counter-active. The SW will be perfectly fine at that PH, and over 6 month -2 years, the PH will slowly rise...once it gets above 7, then the question will be, how to lower PH, which tends to be the common question with us shrimp keepers.

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kunzy Shrimp Keeper

kunzy

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Thanks for your help BB!

What do you think is better? Rain water or normal tap water? any helpers :D

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Garnelchen Shrimp Master

Garnelchen

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That depends on the parameters of your tapwater!

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Garnelchen Shrimp Master

Garnelchen

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@garnelchen' date=' adding baking soda isn't the natural way. I'm just answering the question what kunzy had ask.[/quote']

There is no such thing as natural and un-natural...if you want to raise the pH, you need to raise the KH and to do that you need to add carbonate.

Whether you achive that by using snail shell or rocks or NaHCO3 does not make any difference....other than that baking soda will not affect your GH.

NaHCO3 does occur as a natural mineral called nahcolite....or as the white stuff called baking powder in supermarkets. Same difference ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
jayc Shrimp Guru

jayc

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Rain water is acidic to start with.

Wait a minute. Rain water should be neutral 7.0.

Acid rain might have a pH lower than 7.0 due to pollutants - hence the name acid rain.

However' date=' we are lucky enough to live in a country that isn't too polluted to have acid rain, doesn't mean it can't happen. Just the likelihood of it occurring is lower.

Rain water is however low in GH & KH, making it "soft water" due to a lack in buffering capabilities.

It is this soft water nature lacking in buffers that allows the pH in rain water to drop easily in an aquarium due to other factors like nitrification process, peat filter material, drift wood, etc. Creating the illusion that rain water is acidic. It's not, it's right on neutral and it doesn't take much to tip it over to either acidic or alkaline.

On another note about adding carbonates ... To raise both GH, add magnesium sulfate (MgS04) or more common know as Epsom Salts. It's used as fertiliser, so your plants will enjoy it.

Bicarb/baking soda will raise the pH temporarily, but pH will fall again if your water isn't buffered. MgS04/ Epsom Salts will buffer it a bit more since it also raises GH.

I'm not saying Kunzy needs to add anything, since 6.0 is perfect for the shrimp he is keeping. Just another method of raising pH.

Reducing pH is a bit more complex as we all know.

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Wraithie Shrimp Breeder

Wraithie

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NaHCO3 does occur as a natural mineral called nahcolite....or as the white stuff called baking powder in supermarkets. Same difference ;)

Just a note on this, make sure you use baking SODA or bi-carb soda, baking POWDER is different and has other things added, like rice flour :)

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BlueBolts Shrimp Guru

BlueBolts

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... To raise both GH and KH simultaneously' date=' add calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or more common know as Epsom Salts. It's used as fertiliser, so your plants will enjoy it. The calcium is good for shrimps.[/quote']

Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate (MgS04), not CaC03. It does raise GH by increasing Mg. Using Epsom Salt to raise GH will alter the Ca:Mg ratio....ideally @ 3:1 to 4:1.

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jayc Shrimp Guru

jayc

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apologies, you're right.

I was fooling with calcium carbonate CaCO3 two days ago and had it on my mind.

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blindfisherman Shrimp Breeder

blindfisherman

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Wait a minute. Rain water should be neutral 7.0.

Acid rain might have a pH lower than 7.0 due to pollutants - hence the name acid rain.

However' date=' we are lucky enough to live in a country that isn't too polluted to have acid rain, doesn't mean it can't happen. Just the likelihood of it occurring is lower.

Rain water is however low in GH & KH, making it "soft water" due to a lack in buffering capabilities.

It is this soft water nature lacking in buffers that allows the pH in rain water to drop easily in an aquarium due to other factors like nitrification process, peat filter material, drift wood, etc. Creating the illusion that rain water is acidic. It's not, it's right on neutral and it doesn't take much to tip it over to either acidic or alkaline .[/quote']

Shouldnt rainwater be <7.0 as it reacts with the CO2 in the atmsphere forming a weak carbonic acid as it falls.

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blindfisherman Shrimp Breeder

blindfisherman

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@bb' date=' do you know the ph of rainwater ???[/quote']

Pretty sure I read 6.2 the other day.

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MrShrimp Shrimp Breeder

MrShrimp

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I just did a google search and Australian rainwater is below Ph 6. Any thing under ph 5 would be consider acid rain. This is from CSIRO Australia.

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mr_c265 Shrimp Breeder

mr_c265

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Natural distilled water with nothing but dissolved atmospheric CO2 is pH5.8, always.

It's when there are Sulfides and NOx in the air that you get acid rain.

Rainwater in a non polluted area is always 5.8, rainwater in the city is likely to be closer to 5.

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mr_c265 Shrimp Breeder

mr_c265

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Ok, i have to clarify something in this thread.

NaHCO3 is an effective method of bringing pH up, it increases the KH (Magnesium Sulfate does not), but not the GH. GH is increased by CaCO3, which is slower to dissolve, which also increases KH.

HCO3- is an effective buffering ion, not sure where the idea of it being temporary comes from, it is a very important buffer, namely the one that keeps you alive and prevents your bones from decaying inside your body.

It works by countering pH changes (to a degree, i won't explain the equilibrium constants), i.e either becoming protonated in an acid or becoming deprotonated in basic solutions (again simplified). It works better at buffering acidic water up than basic water down (this is due to the equilibrium constants and pka1 and pka2, trust me on this)

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blindfisherman Shrimp Breeder

blindfisherman

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Natural distilled water with nothing but dissolved atmospheric CO2 is pH5.8, always.

It's when there are Sulfides and NOx in the air that you get acid rain.

Rainwater in a non polluted area is always 5.8, rainwater in the city is likely to be closer to 5.

Im getting closer :) the other day you corrected my guess at high 6's to 5.8 and todays guess was 6.2 maybe next time someone asks I might be able to remember 5.8 lol

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