How do I safely do a water change, i.e. vacuum the substrate, without sucking up baby shrimp?
I've got a 10G with shrimp and a pair of cory with fry. I use sand and gravel substrate with some moss and plants. When I do my watch change, I just suck out the top to avoid getting the fry and the baby shrimp. However, I've noticed that my pH has been dropping. The pH out of the tap is about 7.6. The pH in my shrimp tank is about 6.6 - 6.8. I've read on the fish forum that that waste in the substraae could cause the pH to drop. So that's probably my problem. I need to know how to change the water properly and safely without losing live stock accidentally. Thanks for the advice!
How do I vacuum the substrate?
Moderator: Mustafa
Re: How do I vacuum the substrate?
Never vacuum a shrimp tank. To prevent gunk from building up and screwing up your water you should have burrowing snails (Melanoides tuberculata, aka Malaysian trumpet snail, or Terebia granifera) that will eat most of the gunk and do regular water changes. Also, substrate that barely covers the bottom should be all that is needed in a shrimp tank.
As for your ph...it's never a good idea to speculate. Get yourself a liquid kh measuring kit and measure your kh. If your kh in the tank is the same as your kh from the tap, then I would not mess with anything. ph is directly dependant on kh. You may not have measured the ph properly after all. Finally, do a thorough search on the keywords "vacuum" and "substrate" and any other relevant keywords and keyword combinations since most of these topics have been discussed many times over the years and you can get very valuable information from old posts.
PS: I took the liberty to make the above post a separate topic since it was posted in the "frequently asked questions" sticky thread, where it does not really belong (it's not an FAQ thread, it's just *about* the FAQ article).
As for your ph...it's never a good idea to speculate. Get yourself a liquid kh measuring kit and measure your kh. If your kh in the tank is the same as your kh from the tap, then I would not mess with anything. ph is directly dependant on kh. You may not have measured the ph properly after all. Finally, do a thorough search on the keywords "vacuum" and "substrate" and any other relevant keywords and keyword combinations since most of these topics have been discussed many times over the years and you can get very valuable information from old posts.
PS: I took the liberty to make the above post a separate topic since it was posted in the "frequently asked questions" sticky thread, where it does not really belong (it's not an FAQ thread, it's just *about* the FAQ article).
Re: How do I vacuum the substrate?
I have some asolene spixi's and apple snails. Are they good substitutes for MTS or should I get real MTS for the shrimp tank? My substrate consists of sand and gravel 'cause I was told by a LFS owner that the more substrate I have in the tank, the better it is for the bacteria. Now that I have about 3" of substrate, how do I safely remove most of them without killing/removing my baby shrimp?
I'll see about getting a kH test kit. I use the API master kit to test my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. I say the pH is "about" a certain level 'cause some of the colors are so similar that I can't tell the difference sometimes.
I do know for sure that coming out of the tab is basic while water in the tank is acidic.
Lastly, I did a search on "water change" and just didn't see anything that was relevant in the first 20-30 postings. I'll try "vacuum" and "substrate" next. Thanks again for helping out a newbie.
I'll see about getting a kH test kit. I use the API master kit to test my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. I say the pH is "about" a certain level 'cause some of the colors are so similar that I can't tell the difference sometimes.
I do know for sure that coming out of the tab is basic while water in the tank is acidic.Lastly, I did a search on "water change" and just didn't see anything that was relevant in the first 20-30 postings. I'll try "vacuum" and "substrate" next. Thanks again for helping out a newbie.
Re: How do I vacuum the substrate?
If you need to clean the gravel, try using a turkey baster to clean up the problem areas.
Re: How do I vacuum the substrate?
spixis are not a substitute for MTS. Turkey baster method has the same problem as vacuum method (sucking up baby shrimp), just in a more limited space. Plus, at the rate gunk accumulates in a tank you would have to use the baster every other day.