# API pH down does not work?



## HiepSTA (Aug 23, 2011)

its because youre using 100% RO water

RO water has no buffering capacity, meaning that it will keep the same ph

unless you remineralize your water, it will be very hard to change your ph. i know 30 drops in my tank would have sent the pH down by to like 4.0

i put in .5 ml the other day in my 4gal and the pH shot down to like 5.5 and i freaked out, i added some tap water (ph 8) to try and balance it out, luckily i only lost one shrimp


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

Oh really? By remineralizing it, you mean add some of those Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement until gH is about 4-5 correct?

I will do that then. Won't need to do a H20 change at this point correct?


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## HiepSTA (Aug 23, 2011)

i would do a water change just in case the pH down starts to work now that theres minerals in the tank, if it kicks in after you added the minerals then i feel like you may have already overdosed the tank. you know what i mean?

how big is the tank?


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

HiepSTA said:


> i would do a water change just in case the pH down starts to work now that theres minerals in the tank, if it kicks in after you added the minerals then i feel like you may have already overdosed the tank. you know what i mean?
> 
> how big is the tank?


It is a 5.5 gallon tank. So should I just take out a couple gallons then?


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## HiepSTA (Aug 23, 2011)

omg yes hahaha, the .5ml i put in was about 6 drops


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## Bahugo (Apr 18, 2011)

So wait you are using 100% RO water and have a ph of 7.6?


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## PC1 (May 21, 2010)

Bahugo said:


> So wait you are using 100% RO water and have a ph of 7.6?


This confused me as well, I would test the waters PH going into the tank. Something is seriously off somewhere if you have no stones in a 5.5g and its fluctuating up that high. Should be around 6 or so.


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

Bahugo said:


> So wait you are using 100% RO water and have a ph of 7.6?


I find that weird as well. The pH off the RO water is 6.8, yet in the tank its reading 7.6? Just Manzanita, moss and cholla.



PC1 said:


> This confused me as well, I would test the waters PH going into the tank. Something is seriously off somewhere if you have no stones in a 5.5g and its fluctuating up that high. Should be around 6 or so.


It was around 6.5 before adding in the shrimps, not sure how it rose to 7.6pH lately :frown:


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## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

Well this certainly has sparked my interested. By chance do you have a GH/KH test kit? Would definately like to see before and after test results.

Also, what type of substrate might you have in there?

Oh...and friendly piece of advice...toss the pH chems in the bin.


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## Jaguar (Oct 13, 2011)

james0816 said:


> Oh...and friendly piece of advice...toss the pH chems in the bin.


+1 

Also, HiepSTA got it backwards. RO water having no buffering capacity means using chemicals should cause your pH to swing wildly - buffers are what help it hold a stable pH, ie. through the nitrate cycle, which produces constant acids that would make your pH bottom out over time if you had no buffers whatsoever. 

Something is heavily buffering your pH, I would guess whatever you're using as substrate. Get a kH test kit and you'll know.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

If the shrimp are breeding, babies are living, mom's are molting and breeding, don't worry about whatever your number is. I'm sort of done going by some recommended number on a website as opposed to how my shrimp are doing. Watch the shrimp. Many people have breed crystals in a 7.6pH water and others in 5pH and others who seem to copy everything someone else does and can't get anything to breed. There is lots of other factors involved than just pH/gH, etc. My TDS is 260 right now and my crystals are more active than even, babies all over the place, snowballs in there breeding, and according to the numbers, I should do about a 40% WC to get the TDS down to 150 or so, but why bother is everyone seems happy. I see a new molt at least once a day, so something is working right in there. Last time I checked my gH is, it was 7 or 8, but I left it as everyone was doing fine. I could see a whole new batch of babies that hatched in the past few days, so I'm not changing anything because this number or that number. Yes, they are good guidelines and very helpful if you're not having any breeding going on, etc, but when things are working, don't rock the boat. lol. My opinion anyways.


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## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

I have had nothing but bad experience with pH adjustment products. There are too many variables in a fish tank for a product like that to be effective. I tried some controlled experiments a few months ago with these and found that they really do not work as advertised. Peat and crushed coral work much better for pH adjustment in my opinion.


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

james0816 said:


> Well this certainly has sparked my interested. By chance do you have a GH/KH test kit? Would definately like to see before and after test results.
> 
> Also, what type of substrate might you have in there?
> 
> Oh...and friendly piece of advice...toss the pH chems in the bin.


I tested the kH and gH last night and it was 2.5 for both. Added 1ml of Fluval Shrimp Supp. and this morning, gH went up to 3 while kH remained the same. pH was still at 7.6 so added another 2ml of the FSS. Will test again sometime tonight.



Jaguar said:


> +1
> 
> Also, HiepSTA got it backwards. RO water having no buffering capacity means using chemicals should cause your pH to swing wildly - buffers are what help it hold a stable pH, ie. through the nitrate cycle, which produces constant acids that would make your pH bottom out over time if you had no buffers whatsoever.
> 
> Something is heavily buffering your pH, I would guess whatever you're using as substrate. Get a kH test kit and you'll know.


Thank you for clarifying this : )



GeToChKn said:


> If the shrimp are breeding, babies are living, mom's are molting and breeding, don't worry about whatever your number is. I'm sort of done going by some recommended number on a website as opposed to how my shrimp are doing. Watch the shrimp. Many people have breed crystals in a 7.6pH water and others in 5pH and others who seem to copy everything someone else does and can't get anything to breed. There is lots of other factors involved than just pH/gH, etc. My TDS is 260 right now and my crystals are more active than even, babies all over the place, snowballs in there breeding, and according to the numbers, I should do about a 40% WC to get the TDS down to 150 or so, but why bother is everyone seems happy. I see a new molt at least once a day, so something is working right in there. Last time I checked my gH is, it was 7 or 8, but I left it as everyone was doing fine. I could see a whole new batch of babies that hatched in the past few days, so I'm not changing anything because this number or that number. Yes, they are good guidelines and very helpful if you're not having any breeding going on, etc, but when things are working, don't rock the boat. lol. My opinion anyways.


All my babies are growing fast and very active. I certainly agree with you on this but I guess I am paranoid by all the info that babies die with high pH. I guess all the raw data online did get to me afterall. After tonight of pH still won't budge, I'll just add enough of the FSS to get my gH and I'll stop at 4-5gH and just focus on that rather than pH. Would you agree with me?



wetworks said:


> I have had nothing but bad experience with pH adjustment products. There are too many variables in a fish tank for a product like that to be effective. I tried some controlled experiments a few months ago with these and found that they really do not work as advertised. Peat and crushed coral work much better for pH adjustment in my opinion.


Thanks for clarifying this. I guess I'll just sell it then for anyone that needs it since I only had the kit for like 3 weeks, and used it at most 10 times? Still have 240+ tests to go! :biggrin:

PS: I like your SN. Reminds me of a recent movie I saw with my bf. Horrible bosses. That movie is so hilarious! It really got me ROTFL : )


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