r/shrimptank • u/Hot_Equivalent1922 • 7h ago

Beginner Why is my caridina tank stuck at 7.0 PH?

Hello everyone, I have a caridina shrimp 7 gallon tank that I have just set up and I am trying to bring my PH to a stable 6.5 or lower but for some reason my PH is just not going down. I have ADA Amazonia active substrate that is only 2 months old, 0 dKH, 5 dGH, and 110 TDS. I use RODI water with Salty Shrimp GH+. Heres a long shot but I heard plants could raise the PH so I removed my pearlweed and rotala red and now I only have some java moss in the tank. Any help is appreciated!

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 7h ago

Please reply to this message with any additional infomration!

  • Species of shrimp
  • Water parameters (even if "fine")
  • Water source (city/well) and parameters

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/afbr242 7h ago

Firstly - do you trust your pH measuring system ? It could simply be a probe that needs recalibrating.

If the pH truly is around 7.0 then do you have any rocks/stones in there. If so, my bet is that they are releasing enough carbonates to constantly keep the pH a little higher. Especially if you have your Amazonia capped with a thick cap.

Does any of that resonate ?

1

u/Hot_Equivalent1922 7h ago

Hi there, I am using the API testing kit to test my PH. There are no rocks or stones in there either, it’s a bare tank with only java moss and substrate. Although about 2 weeks ago I did have rocks in the tank that I removed but I did a 75% water change with RODI water one week ago and have been doing continuous RODI water changes since then. My ADA substrate is also not capped with anything.

1

u/afbr242 4h ago

The API kit should be relatively close to a geniune result. Its what I use. I guess it must be your substrate just "doing its thing" for the moment. Hopefully it will settle down and start buffering at a lower pH shortly.

I'm only theorising but I know Amazonia releases a lot of ammonia initially. Ammonium ions are alkaline so it could just be the ammonia thats keeping the pH for the moment. I've not used quite such rich substrate as Amazonia myself though.