Cycle - low ph and kh, high gh and TDS

I have set up a 20 gallon long planted tank, which ideally is going to be a shrimp and snail tank. I've cycled it with ammonia, and for the past week it has been consuming 2 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours. Last night I tested it and there was about .25 ppm left (maybe a little less). I thought it was odd, so I broke out my other tests:

Tank -
PH 6.0
Temp 74F
Amm. .25 ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 40-80
TDS - 353
Gh off the charts 14 drops turned it similar to Olive green (API kit). Maybe I did the test wrong, or the tube wasn't rinsed well. I will test again to make sure
Kh 0 (1 drop and it was yellow)

I realize this is due probably from cycling causing my nitrates to sky rocket as well as my kh to be used up and cause my ph to crash. I did also use a bottle of safestart during cycling (used when I saw nitrite occurring naturally).

I tested my well water (new house filter was put on 2 weeks or so ago) to get a new base line, but this was with water sitting it out for only 15-20 minutes prior to testing:

Ph 6.4
0 amm, ites ates
0 cu
10 TDS
0 GH
0 KH

I guess my question is, can I do a big water change and remineralize my well water to get my cycle back on track? I have salty shrimp gh/kh because I bought an r/o unit since when my cycle first started there was a big difference in my water and the tank (before house filter was changed).

Any advice is appreciated! If you need other info just let me know.

 

Bumping this up for you

 

Hi, just saw your thread here.

Have you been using the RO water in your tank up until now? And have you been using the product you mentioned? I am not familiar with salty shrimp GH/KH but will look it up.

Do you want to keep using the RO water and buffers or switch to tap?

Your PH is too low, I'd try and see it up towards the upper 6's at least so the nitrifyers have a better environment. They tend to vastly slow in reproduction at 6.5 and I think pretty much go dormant at a ph of 6.0.

Let me know which water you want to use first.

Edit:I looked up the product and it should do what you want though it may not buffer enough but like you said that could have dropped from ammonia dosing.

 

I'm sorry if you see me reply multiple times, my phone seems to make my replies disappear in my end.

I have not used my r/o unit at all. I set my tank up with well water, and the wc I did during the nitrite spike was well water. I got the unit as a safety thing once I realized that tank params were swinging away from my regular water, but was not enthused for it since I hate the idea of 3 gallons of waste water for 1 gallon of purified water. I had bought a jug of r/o water before the unit came just for top ups, though, and have used it just FOR that.

I did not do any pwcs after the nitrite spike, which was a bad idea. Yesterday, I tested my well water and realized that the new house filter has given me basically soft, clean water just from that! I just have to test it every time I need tank water because params will shift wildly when the house filter ages.

I did a large water change yesterday with remineralized well water. Tank afterwards read:

Ph 6.6
Nitrates 5
Gh 6 to 7
Kh LOW. 1 drop and the vial was clear yellow
Tds 183

I dosed the tank up to 2 ppm at 7 pm last night, and tested this morning to see what the tank was doing. Ph was 6.6, ammonia was .25, Nitrites at 0, tds at 195.

Not too bad, but I am worried about the lack of buffering (also I am so tired of retyping this. Please let this attempt go through!).

 

Your saltyshrimp product does not seem to do be doing anything for your KH but your GH looks good.

You can use baking soda for KH which will increase the PH to a more desirable level too. I would mix in 1 tsp for the 20 gallon (with some tank water first). Test after a few hours and lets see what your KH is at. You'll probably need to do this with every water change once you figure out the right amount.

I'd recommend some crushed coral for In between water changes. You can put it in a media bag in your hob or just mix it into the substrate. Sea shells work, aragonite, limestone. You can find crushed coral at most of the pet stores either in the substrate section or the sometimes small jars are in the betta sections of crushed shells. This will prevent ph crashes and slowly increase and hold the KH for you (thus PH).

I would ask if you are on a water softener or its just a filter but based on that super low KH I am guessing its just a house filter. Is it a filter itself or some type of unit that runs separately?

 

It's just a filter, no separate unit. Baking soda it is. I was iffy on using it when I'm going to be housing shrimp. This is something I'd have to add each wc, correct?

 

Baking soda is just a bicarbonate. You could order Seachem Alkaline Buffer (that's what I use with water changes) in addition to getting some crushed coral. The minerals should help with molting also.

 

Thanks for the help! Baking soda is in and I'll test in a couple of hours

 

Ok sounds good. I meant to say I also have a shrimp tank. Its about 6 gallon and right now I have about 30 adult and baby shrimp in there.

I use both alkaline buffer and Seachem Replenish (for GH) probably like your saltyshrimp product. Does it list the ingredients on the back?

 

It doesn't have the ingredients listed. I got it based on seeing it recommended on various shrimp sites. It is supposed to raise gh/kh by a 1.0/0.5 ratio, but seemed to struggle with kh in my tank. Before this, I saw they had a stand alone kh product, but if seachem product works well, I could just get that.

So if I add crushed coral and raise kh/ph, I would just add baking soda or other buffer to my water bucket during water changes to match params, correct? Does baking soda last until it's removed with a wc or does it degrade over time?

Also, I know this is off topic but since you keep shrimp, how difficult is it? I wanted to start with rilis and maybe later add a caridina species.

 

The only species I have are the davidi. I ordered 10 Grade AA red cherry shrimp from theshrimpfarm.com (Neocaridina davidi) and I'm sorry to say that for whatever reason they all died within a month BUT all their offspring lived and now they are having babies too and I've had them for quite a few months. Quite a few of them came to me already berried. I really don't know why I lost the original stock. It was slow, over a month or more. Maybe the water they were raised in was just too different from my own.

Then I ordered 10 yellow shrimp off aquaticarts (same breed) and the same thing happened. I think I have one adult left maybe. But now they're all breeding like crazy and are constantly doing their funny little swimming around the tank. I feed them on top of a log covered in marimo with pellets and they practically bury it getting to the food.

I don't think I've had one of the offspring die in a couple of months so I think my guess is right as to why the parents died as its the same water source and I add the same minerals each week during water changes.

 

Thanks I like hearing people's experiences. I've wanted a shrimp tank for a long time, and now that my killifish have all died, I thought now was the time, though I am super nervous!

 

Went ahead and tested:
kh - 3
Gh 6 to 7
Ph 7.6
High range ph 7.8
Tds 229

I do see undissolved bits of baking soda on the gravel. Hope that's okay. Also, ph isn't too high, now, is it?

 

No I think that looks good. Pick up some crushed coral this week and you'll be set.

Don't be nervous, just don't blame yourself if you lose some. Shrimp are very sensitive but the ones that make it seem to live a fairly long time. I've always noticed that with ghost shrimp. I might pick up some Amanos tomorrow for my main tank to eat the algae.

I started a thread on nano fish that would do well with shrimp in my 6 gallon and the input I have gotten so far are endlers, chilI rasboras, Pygmy sunfish, sparkling gourami's.

 

Will pick up coral tomorrow after work. I've been reminding myself I will probably lose my share of shrimp when I start, and not to rush the beginning. Getting an aged, stable tank is my #1 goal right now. In the future if the shrimp are successful and I have a nice colony going, I was thinking of emerald dwarf rasboras, if I want to try fish. Endlers are beautiful fish, too!