pH snd fertiliser

[revolutionhope]

hi I have a barebottom tank with rcs I want to shutdown and unfortunately rhe ph in that tank is around 6.5 while the tanks I want to move them to are around 7.5. I want to raise the ph in the barebottom tank over the course of a few days. can anyone advise a good way to do this and how rapidly can I safely move the pH?

I was thinking of using baking soda; is that unwise?

also I want to know is it ok to use any kind of liquid aquarium plant fertiliser with cherries? I think the one I have was made by fluval but the label is lost. I did use it before in my rcs tank without any ill effect that I noticed but now that I am taking this more seriously I wanted to know if it is ok brfore I use it on my quite lightly populated spiderman and blue velvet tanks? (plants look very hungry in there!)

thanks in advance for any tips and advice u can spare for a newbie!

love n peace

will

[inverted]

Why don't you just drip acclimatise the cherrys to the new tank? Easier and safer.

I use flourish but only occasionally.....

Edited February 1, 2015 by inverted

[Tankeyone]

I use flourish with my Cherries, full dose amount but only half as regular, i.e. 5ml per 250L every 10-14 days. 

[revolutionhope]

i hsce heard of this but how to go about drip acclimatising? and how long would rhe process need to take? would it be practical to do this with 2000+ shrimps?

[revolutionhope]

pls excuse my ignorance! in the past I have acclimated fish or shrimp in a bag by adding a little water gradually manually. the tank they are in is 3ft. the culls will be going to a 4ft with other rcs in already. and the bright red ones will go to a 2ft.

Edited February 1, 2015 by revolutionhope

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Drop a bag of cleaned dry aragonite into your filter. After a week, it will go up to 7.0+. The dosage is 180gram for every 50L of water.

 

If you tried to adjust the pH with chemical and with livestock in the tank, the pH will swing wildly and causes a lot of stress.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Shrimpy Daddy

[revolutionhope]

hmm where to get aragonite from or perhaps would any old limestone work maybe i could about add crushed seashells instead as that would be very easy for me to get a hold of! my budget is very limited!

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Crushed seashell may work but will leech a lot of sodium, potassium and chloride. Aragonite is very cheap too. Just get it from marine aquarium and ask for "coral sand". Look at the packaging and it should write aragonite.

[revolutionhope]

ah ok. how much would bw required do u think? the tank is filtered with 2 eheim 2213 canisters but there is an old otto pf1200 sitting around that would be easiest for me to use!

[Shrimpy Daddy]

180gram for every 50 litre of water.

 

Make sure it is the dry type and not live type. Also, you will need the coarse grade. The fine grade is like sand and can't be put into filter bag. ;)

 

By the way... you mentioned about dosing fertiliser, what type of fertiliser are you intending to dose? Fertiliser will affect pH too.

[revolutionhope]

I think it is fluval plant micro nutrients but I havent used it for a long time! I think the ph has just drifted lower because theres no gravel to buffer in this tank ! and theres a good quantity of driftwood and ial!

[revolutionhope]

btw thankyou all for your advice!! :-)

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Micro fert does not change pH much. Just take note that most PO4 in the market will plunge the pH and KNO3 will increase the pH.

 

If you have driftwood, aragonite will be the best and gradually neutralise the pH. However, it really depending how much organic acid the driftwood leeches on how fast you could get the pH up. The good thing about aragonite is that it will stop dissolving when there is no acidic component in the water.

 

You are welcome.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Shrimpy Daddy

[revolutionhope]

awesome thanks!! the fluval micro nutrients safe with cherry shrimps then too I take it?

[Shrimpy Daddy]

Personally, never use the Fluval micro before. But do note of micro, they contain copper. As such, you need to split the dosage into daily dose. In this case, the level will not be high at any point of time. Micro will precipitate very quickly and most of them will disappear the next day. This will prevent them from building up too much, including copper.

[revolutionhope]

that makes sense. tq daddy u rock!

[Shrimpy Daddy]

No worries, mate. Have a nice weekend. ;)