Disaster in shrimp tank!t

[finfayce]

In the last few weeks, I have lost 3 amano shrimp and a full grown Nerites snail.
My sponge flitter stopped working. I had to order one from Amazon. Local Petco( the only pet store for 3 hours either way). Also i had added gravel. I rinsed it several times. It claimed to be dust free. It was not even though i was careful adding it.
Now 3 amano shrimp are dead and a Nerites snail. Although when i looked up the age, some amanos being 3 years old- are considered a typical lifespan. My info comes from online info. The extra gravel killed some of the bladder snails. I won't replace any shrimp or snails until this tank cycles for awhile.
My test readings were all in proper range. The ph is 7.6. I read " invertebrates " prefer ph levels of 8.0 -8.2.
Will water changes and cycling the tank take of care of the ph- if it's not high enough? Or should i buy a product to raise the ph?

 

[Colin_T]

The pH is fine for freshwater invertebrates and you don't want to make it higher if you are cycling the tank because ammonia is much more toxic in water with a pH above 7.0. The higher the pH, the more toxic it becomes. Ideally you want the pH around 7.0 for cycling if there is livestock in the tank so there is less chance of them dying from ammonia poisoning.

You should monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading above 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If the old sponge filter hasn't dried out you could put that in the new filter to help speed the cycling process up.

 

[finfayce]

The pH is fine for freshwater invertebrates and you don't want to make it higher if you are cycling the tank because ammonia is much more toxic in water with a pH above 7.0. The higher the pH, the more toxic it becomes. Ideally you want the pH around 7.0 for cycling if there is livestock in the tank so there is less chance of them dying from ammonia poisoning.

You should monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading above 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If the old sponge filter hasn't dried out you could put that in the new filter to help speed the cycling process up.

 

[finfayce]

Thanks for the reply. I did reuse a sponge from a new filter. After the disaster , I purchased a small sponge filter and a new air pump. I'll keep my eye on the levels. I feel bad the tank got into bad shape.