New journey and questions

[kyle0901]

Thank you, is there anything I can do now other than replacing substrate? I mean the soil can’t reduce pH forever right? If I replace enough water its pH will eventually become higher right? Or is there a better solution? One more died today and I panicked.

[sliphorn]

Thank you, is there anything I can do now other than replacing substrate? I mean the soil can’t reduce pH forever right? If I replace enough water its pH will eventually become higher right? Or is there a better solution? One more died today and I panicked.

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The substrate will keep the pH low for a very long time. You will continue to lose shrimp. I am uncertain as to why you used this particular substrate. Did you not read the information here before using it? You must change the substrate. Others may give you ideas on how to approach this.
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[Varanus]

I've never tried to replace substrate with the shrimp in the tank before, so the following is far from expert advice, but given the likely alternative of more shrimp dying, it seems better to do something. To minimize stress and the risk of scooping out shrimp, you'd probably want to use a relatively small implement, perhaps a small cup (make sure you rinse it with distilled water if it's been exposed to any bleach or detergent). You could then steadily remove the substrate. It'll take some work but the amount in a 10 gallon tank shouldn't be too hard.

Once you've gotten most of it out (getting all of it may not be necessary or doable), the next priority would probably be to do a partial water change (maybe start with half of the water). Removing the low ph water and replacing it with water that has the right mineral content (by mixing salt made for saltwater aquariums with distilled water) should bring things closer to what the shrimp like. If the ph remains low after everything has settled then you may have to change more water out.

As for adding new substrate, just be careful not to bury shrimp when you do and keep in mind you don't need a lot (less than an inch in depth is plenty). Your water will also likely be cloudy for a bit (you can try to get sand or gravel that advertises itself as already rinsed, but it's not necessary) but should clear up over time.

I notice you don't seem to have a calcium source in the tank either. Be it it limestone, cleaned pieces of coral, or even eggshells, it would be good to add something. This will help the water too.

I still want to know where on here you got the idea that the shrimp soil substrate is recommended. I find it more likely that you mistook info on freshwater shrimp somewhere with info on the supershrimp. Their needs are quite different, as quite a few freshwater species in the hobby may benefit from low ph water, so shrimp soils are made with them and plants in mind. Supershrimp tanks are made with a quite spartan brackish water environment in mind.

[kyle0901]

Thank you guys very much. I don’t remember where exactly I saw people using this substrate, it could be here or youtube, I somehow thought this is OK, but I promise I saw more than once and there are super shrimps in it, not fresh water shrimps. I have never kept any aquarium animals other than the super shrimp. I can’t say I used this substrate because it was recommended by anyone or something, but I didn’t see a place where it warns me against it either. I just had the impression that choosing substrate isn’t critical for this type of shrimps, the key is to correctly cycle the tank. Had I read anything otherwise I would’ve never picked it in a million years.


The picture I posted was from before the shrimp army arrived. Now I also have some crushed corals inside tank for keeping the pH in check. As you can see from my smaller tank I used sands for substrate, the pH in that thank is very ideal.

The exact situation of my tank is this: water is exactly same in every way as my smaller tank except for the pH value. I had them tested. I got the shrimps on June 10, 9 of the 100 shrimps died the first week, then around 10 days no deaths. Just as I thought everything finally goes to normal, 2 more died in the next 3 days. Other than death they look really happy, swimming casually all day and grazing for food, most showing red color, no sign of stress at all. They look active and very OK to me.

If you calculate the death rate thats 10%, Maybe it is still acceptable but to see a dead body on the bottom every other day pains me. It was like a knife carving on my heart.

I will do a 1/5 water change tomorrow to bring back the pH a little bit, see how everything goes and start from there. It’s not like I don’t want to change the substrate now but if I do it I think they will be stressed even more, eventually I could end up mass killing them. Too many thing can go wrong. I have no more tanks nor space to make a new home for them and my smaller tank is too small to house all of them while I redo the tank.

I wonder if it is a good idea to keep adding crushed coral everyday to the tank to level up the pH gradually? Maybe a smoother solution is the best way to go.

I would really like to buy some calcium carbonate from here but like I said I don’t live in the US so I have to use things I can get here. And crushed corals are so far the best I can find.

[sliphorn]

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If you have a marine fish store nearby you can purchase aragonite. It is commonly used as a substrate in marine, brackish, and African cichlid aquariums. It will bring your pH up to the desired level.
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[kelseylynn0725]

Hi! I'm also pretty new at this but if you add some of the calcium carbonate shell/pieces from this website then that should help to buffer the pH and possibly help raise it to a more ideal level. I may be wrong but I would give it a go, along with maybe stacking the lava rocks in all or a couple of the corners of the tank so they have a more similar environment to their natural habitat. I have been adding a little Hawaiian spirulina to my tank (a tinyyy amount of the spirulina mixed with a little tank water, I inject it with a clean squeeze dropper from a random product i used). Good luck!

[Dch48]

For a calcium source I use pieces of cuttlebone broken off one that was intended for pet birds. They are readily available.