I’m at my wits end, any advice, encouragement, or instruction would be greatly appreciated

[Colin_T]

A single aquarium snail shell is not going to raise the pH of 30 gallons of water to 9.0.

Shells, limestone and coral rubble only take the pH to 8.5 so there is something changing the water.

 

[foxgirl158]

A single aquarium snail shell is not going to raise the pH of 30 gallons of water to 9.0.

Shells, limestone and coral rubble only take the pH to 8.5 so there is something changing the water.

I did a very large water change this evening. I will re test the water tomorrow with a different pH test as I have two master kits and will post the results here.
ETA that I tested the other two tanks with the same test and got much lower results, so I have a feelings it’s accurate but I’ll use the other one tomorrow just the same.

 

[itiwhetu]

Ammonia: very close to, if not quite, 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
pH: off the charts
Not sure how to find gh and kh, sorry

You need to get your nitrates down and your pH close to 7

 

[foxgirl158]

Just retested my nitrate and pH with a different kit. Here are the photos of the tests, plus my interpretation of the results.
pH: 8.8/off the chart
Nitrate: 10ppm