thekonexperiment Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hey guys, I've recently ran into an issue with one of my tanks and would like to hear your advices about lowring ph in an established tank. I have an 3.5 gallon tank that contains a few mishclings and one panda taiwan bee. This tank has been set up for almost 1 1/2 year. It seems that my mixed ada amazonia/malaya has finally lost it's buffering capabilities. I just checked the ph and it is around 8.0. I would like to transfer the shrimps from the 3.5g into my 20 gallon tank. The 20g tank has been running for the last 2months and it is now fully cycled. The PH in my 20g is 6.0 and PH in the 3.5g is 8.0. How do i transfer the shrimps over without shocking them due to high PH swings? thanks all, kon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariumlover10 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Add some driftwood, it will slowly lower ph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Drip acclimate. miwu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted January 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 should i saftely lower the ph in my 3.5g until it matches the 20g tank first then transfer the shrimps into my 20g tank? if so, what is the rule of thumb when lowering ph? how much ph can i lower before my shrimps reaches their threshold? I was thinking about using Fluval Peat Granules or Peat moss to lower the PH in my 3.5g. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dendrobatez Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 A fellow shrimper on here recommended borneowild humic, after I got it I realized I didn't need it in my shrimp tank So I have it in my chili rasbora aquarium and it keeps it a steady 6.3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted January 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 thanks for your advice guys. I just added some driftwood 2 days ago. Havent seen any changes yet. As for DRIP ACCLIMATING...what would you reccommend on the time frame to drip acclimate from a PH of 8.0 to 6.0? should this be done over 3hrs? 5hrs? days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted January 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 thanks. will try the borneowild humic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 What about small water changes with distilled water right from the grocery store if you dont have access to RO water. ? you could change a half gallon each day and have it down in a week I bet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miwu Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 I would just drip acclimate them for at least a day or two. If they're all healthy and not stressed out at the moment, they should be fine. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch3fb0yrdee Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 May I ask how come the ph started to creep up? I've have a tank using ADA Amazonia and it's roughly 2 years old and the pH for that tank is still holding strong. I'm still between the 6.6-6.8 range. I do waterchange with pure rodi + mineralizer which I think helps extend the life of the substrate. Do you do the same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted January 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 My situation was a bit different. I used 100% Tap water the first year when I had my Malaya Shrimps and I think it used up alot of the buffering abilities. My TAP water's PH is really high, i just checked a couple days ago and it's at PH 8.3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pictokid1983 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 why not you try out and let them live in the 8.3ph conditions and see how the malaya shrimps fare? mine is around 7.6ph and they have started breeding. 2-3 were berried and i use those normal reef sand inert. no active substrate nor chiller too. malaya are quite hardy and breed easily as long your tank is matured and healthy. i also heard of others telling me that when your tank is matured etc, the ph usually will drop just a wee bit probably by 0.5-1.0 (im not sure how true that is though). but since u mentioned your tank been running for a year, logically speaking should be pretty matured already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 agree just drip acclimate. Why waste energy on fixing the old tank it could result in shock if the small tank drops PH too fast from adding this or that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted January 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 @ pictokid1983 . i dont' have malaya shrimps in that tank anymore. I know the malaya shrimps are hardy...thats why i used 100% TAP water for a year with the malaya shimps. I then decided to remove the malaya shrimps and go with mischlings and a TB panda in there(using 100% RO water). Fast forward 6months, my substrate now has lost it's buffering abilities. and because of that, I don't think my mischlings and panda TB will survive 8.2ph water for a long period of time.... @Greenteam i wasn't going to fix the old tank up. I just wanted a way to acclimate the old tank's PH to match my new tank before transferring the shrimps over to my new tank. Once that is done, I can replenish the old tank with new substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manticore Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 the most important thing to lower pH is knowing first what KH you have. KH is the main value that will stabilise your pH in certain levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 Thanks, but this thread is a bit old. I have since switch that tank to a shrimpy daddy only tank. RyeGuy411 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesHe Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 I will drip acclimating the whole old tank with the water from new tank. for couple days. once pH of both tanks are close, then move it to new tank. thekonexperiment 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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